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It’s surprising how easy it is to lose sight of the important things in life. Busy schedules and regular routines have a tendency to put the brain on autopilot.
When things aren’t going quite the way you’d like them to, it’s often because you’ve lost focus on what really matters. But focusing on life’s fundamental truths can be difficult, especially when they remind you that you’re heading in the wrong direction.
The best things in life don’t come easily, and failing to observe yourself carefully is a sure path to mediocrity. I believe that Socrates said it best:
“The unexamined life isn’t worth living.”
Socrates’ observation also applies to business. When Eric Schmidt was CEO of Google, he famously said, “We run this company on questions, not answers.”
Life and business run on questions, not answers. You should be asking yourself regularly if you’re headed in the right direction.
Many of life’s essential truths need repeating. We need reminders that help us to stay focused on them. Keep these truths handy and they’re sure to give you a much-needed boost.
1. Great success is often preceded by failure. You will never experience true success until you learn to embrace failure. Your mistakes pave the way for you to succeed by revealing when you’re on the wrong path.
The biggest breakthroughs typically come when you’re feeling the most frustrated and the most stuck. It’s this frustration that forces you to think differently, to look outside the box and see the solution that you’ve been missing.
Success takes patience and the ability to maintain a good attitude even while suffering for what you believe in.
2. Being busy does not equal being productive. Look at everyone around you. They all seem so busy—running from meeting to meeting and firing off emails. Yet how many of them are really producing, really succeeding at a high level?
Success doesn’t come from movement and activity. It comes from focus—from ensuring that your time is used efficiently and productively.
You get the same number of hours in the day as everyone else. Use yours wisely. After all, you’re the product of your output, not your effort. Make certain your efforts are dedicated to tasks that get results.
3. You’re only as good as those you associate with. You should strive to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who make you want to be better. And you probably do. But what about the people who drag you down? Why do you allow them to be a part of your life?
Anyone who makes you feel worthless, anxious, or uninspired is wasting your time and, quite possibly, making you more like them. Life is too short to associate with people like this. Cut them loose.
4. You’re living the life you’ve created. You are not a victim of circumstance. No one can force you to make decisions and take actions that run contrary to your values and aspirations.
The circumstances you’re living in today are your own—you created them. Likewise, your future is entirely up to you. If you’re feeling stuck, it’s probably because you’re afraid to take the risks necessary to achieve your goals and live your dreams.
When it’s time to take action, remember that it’s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than at the top of one you don’t.
5. Fear is the #1 source of regret. When it’s all said and done, you will lament the chances you didn’t take far more than you will your failures. Don’t be afraid to take risks.
I often hear people say, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?” Yet, death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you.
The worst thing that can happen to you is allowing yourself to die inside while you’re still alive.
6. You don’t have to wait for an apology to forgive. Life goes a lot smoother once you let go of grudges and forgive even those who never said they were sorry. Grudges let negative events from your past ruin today’s happiness. Hate and anger are emotional parasites that destroy your joy in life.
The negative emotions that come with holding on to a grudge create a stress response in your body, and holding on to stress can have devastating health consequences. Researchers at Emory University have shown that holding on to stress contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease.
When you forgive someone, it doesn’t condone their actions; it simply frees you from being their eternal victim.
7. Live in the moment. You can’t reach your full potential until you learn to live your life in the present.
No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future. It’s impossible to be happy if you’re constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality (good or bad) of this very moment.
To help yourself live in the moment, you must do two things:
1) Accept your past. If you don’t make peace with your past, it will never leave you and, in doing so, it will create your future.
2) Accept the uncertainty of the future. Worry has no place in the here and now. As Mark Twain once said, “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”
8. Your self-worth must come from within. When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own destiny. When you feel good about something that you’ve done, don’t allow anyone’s opinions or accomplishments to take that away from you.
While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Regardless of what people think of you at any particular moment, one thing is certain—you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.
9. Life is short. None of us are guaranteed a tomorrow. Yet, when someone dies unexpectedly it causes us to take stock of our own life: what’s really important, how we spend our time, and how we treat other people.
Loss is a raw, visceral reminder of the frailty of life. It shouldn’t be.
Remind yourself every morning when you wake up that each day is a gift and you’re bound to make the most of the blessing you’ve been given. The moment you start acting like life is a blessing is the moment it will start acting like one.It shouldn’t be.
After all, a great day begins with a great mindset.
10. Change is inevitable—embrace it. Only when you embrace change can you find the good in it. You need to have an open mind and open arms if you’re going to recognize, and capitalize on, the opportunities that change creates.
You’re bound to fail when you keep doing the same things you always have in the hope that ignoring change will make it go away.
After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Life doesn’t stop for anyone. When things are going well, appreciate them and enjoy them, as they are bound to change. If you are always searching for something more, something better, that you think is going to make you happy, you’ll never be present enough to enjoy the great moments before they’re gone.
Bringing It All Together
Staying focused and asking the hard questions can be extremely uncomfortable. But we don’t learn and grow by sticking with what’s comfortable.
Please share your thoughts in the comments section, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.
Want to learn more? Check out my book Emotional Intelligence 2.0.
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My beloved Stockholm.
My colleagues and I from A Demand For Action (ADFA) have for almost three years worked daily on exposing the reality of terrorism that has targeted the indigenous people of Iraq and Syria. ADFA is an international organization that is based in Stockholm, Sweden; many of our followers, sponsors and members live in this beautiful and peaceful city. Yet, perhaps because of our proximity to the stories terrorism has left behind in the Middle East, we have all entertained the idea that an attack could happen here in Sweden as well. For the most part, these thoughts are repressed. We have serious work to do ― we dispel negative thoughts and carry on.
I had spent my Friday morning researching the chemical attack in Idlib, Syria, and the USA’s missile attack against Homs, also in Syria. An editor had given me the idea that I should write both versions of the current Syria story: the one that claims Bashar Assad had used a plane to spread poison at children, and the other where terrorists have themselves poisoned the children to induce world leaders to scream “bomb Bashar, the devil!”
After interviewing eleven people in Syria, Lebanon and the U.S., reading articles, watching TV-reports and listening to several radio stations for hours, I sat down to first sort it out and then write my analysis, from both angles. I wanted to give a more objective picture of the situation. At that time, for me, the situation and my focus was Syria. Little did I know it was soon going to be much closer to home.
The Swedish news app Omni disrupted my work with a shocking headline: “Truck drove into crowded street in Stockholm.” I froze. I started making calls to everyone I know that works in the city, the street turned to be Drottninggatan, the most crowded shopping street we have. The phones started to ring ― siblings, parents, other relatives, friends, colleagues, we all called each other. Minutes passed, foreign media started to try to reach me. They wanted to know more about what at that point was being called a suspected terror attack.” I asked them to follow my Twitter account.
Anyone from Stockholm has a connection to Drottninggatan in some way. I myself have relatives and friends working there and others who live nearby. The truck was stolen outside a friend’s restaurant. I spoke to the police and medical people that I know. Many of my relatives and friends were stuck and couldn’t get out of central Stockholm till late in the night, friends that witnessed the heroism and selflessness of the Swedish police after the attack.
I cannot remember how I first got in contact with #OpenStockholm. Here people were using social media to help anyone in Stockholm affected by the attack, from warmly offering and opening up their homes as a place to stay, to offering hot meals. I quickly decided to help spread this information. As a journalist the thing I can do as best is to report, so I did that. Friday evening I joined the people with cars and could drove people who were stuck in the city. I contacted relatives who have restaurants and asked them to join #OpenStockholm as well. I’m so proud of everyone who stood up for one another, strangers helping strangers. Yesterday my beloved Stockholm burned brighter with humanity.
I’ve been checking social media since 5 a.m. this morning. Most people are showing their solidarity with the ones who have lost someone and the ones who have been injured. Many have changed their profile pictures, and have added the Swedish flag.
I came to Sweden as a little kid. This country raised me, it gave me opportunities that my country of birth never could, that my parents could never dream of. I feel so much gratitude, as do so many others who are immigrants to this country. An old man who shares my ethnicity, Assyrian ― also known as Syriac or Chaldean ― asked his grandchild to join #OpenStockholm to help others in anyway. It was only a couple of years ago that this man had to flee Syria.
It’s not time for “I told you so, we knew Sweden would be attacked.” It’s time for love, humanity, compassion and cooperation. It is time to defend our society, our values, and the secular culture that we all love, where everyone is free to believe in whatever they chose, love who they want, and be who they want to be. A police officer told me this morning: “we are overwhelmed with all the help we have received from the public, and how people have followed our advice and have come together to help each other.” There is a saying I’ve heard many times: ”When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” We Swedes got going. I am proud of the people in Stockholm, my city.
I am a proud Swede.
*Evette Haddad and Izla Chabe contributed to this report
Saturday night news in Sweden:
Swedish police have arrested a man who is “likely” the perpetrator, killing at least four people and injuring more than a dozen. The suspect is a 39-year-old from Uzbekistan and was known to intelligence agencies. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said authorities believe it was a “terror attack”.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Just after having Dover sole and dessert with the President of China on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump secretly unleashed a missile attack against an airfield in Syria.
Post-dinner, Trump urged “all civilized nations to end this war.”
It was a shocker, not the least of all to his house guest, President Xi Jinping of China.
To the world at large, the geopolitical fallout will be significant following weeks of confusing signals and mayhem in Washington.
“This changes everything,” said former Quebec Premier Jean Charest at The Economic Club of Canada lunch in Toronto on Friday.
He described it as a dramatic 180-degree pivot that strengthens Trump’s hand in all negotiations, including ones involving trade. Besides that, it gives Trump the moral high ground because the strike was in retaliation to alleged war crimes committed by Syria’s President Bashir Assad, who the U.S. says was responsible for a chemical weapons attack on civilians.
It also makes him appear stronger than former president Barack Obama, who threatened a similar retaliation for a chemical attack in 2013 but did not act unilaterally after Britain backed out.
Another political significance is that, in one fell swoop, Trump has pitted himself against Vladimir Putin for failing to prevent the use of chemical weapons by his ally in Syria. Russia immediately condemned the attack and warned of dangers in the relationship.
It means America’s back and that’s a good thing.
This in itself somewhat distances Trump from allegations that have dogged him concerning investigations into whether his team colluded with Putin to hack and harm Democrats during the election.
Going forward there will be no decoupling of foreign policies from economic ones. For instance, the top of the agenda on Friday with China was likely what Xi would do to neutralize the North Korean rogue regime as well as about trade concessions that could bring jobs back to the U.S. rustbelt.
China officially condemned Syria but also America’s attack. But everywhere else allies and trading partners, led by Canada, announced their support for their military intervention.
Oil and gold rallied but markets were skittish, given that consistency of message and actions do not characterize the Presidency thus far. Tough talk by Trump and his cabinet this week may be walked back next week as has happened many times before.
The timing was propitious too in order to get concessions from China, said hawk Senator John McCain. “I’m glad he’s talking to the Chinese President at the same time (as the attack against Syria).… It’s a nice coincidence.”
He added that the world must deal with Putin and with the “crazy fat kid” (North Korea’s Kim Jong-un) who’s “irrational” and has nuclear weapons.
McCain and others called for serious remedies concerning North Korea as well as against Putin for his support of Syria and invasion of Ukraine.
“We have to talk about Ukraine and about giving the Ukrainians lethal defensive weapons,” he said on MSNBC.
Next steps are unknown, but the Trump team made it clear that they want Assad removed and a multi-lateral solution to the Syrian catastrophe, a goal that has eluded the world for years.
If this is the path, then allies, and notably those enjoying trade surpluses, will be expected by this President to step up. This includes a quartet of countries — China, Germany, Japan and Mexico — who collectively represent a trade hemorrhage for the United States annually equivalent in size to the GDP of Massachusetts or nearly half-a-trillion dollars.
Canada is not in the trade cross-hairs despite intentions to “tweak” NAFTA.
“Canada is not a problem in terms of the U.S. trade deficit if you include services,” said former Canadian Trade Minister Jim Peterson at the Canada-U.S. Law Institute annual conference. “The U.S. has a trade surplus with us.”
But the U.S. deficit with the quartet is a priority: China’s surplus in goods and services with the U.S. was US$309.7 billion in 2016; Germany’s was US$67.7 billion; Mexico’s US$61.7 billion and Japan’s $56.3 billion.
Canada has trade deficits with these four plus with the U.S. Even so, while NAFTA talks will be aimed mostly at Mexico, Canada may be sideswiped.
Fortunately, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has established good relations with the Americans. As former U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman noted at a recent trade conference, “no country is closer to the West Wing than Canada.”
This combined with goodwill and socio-economic integration will mitigate attempts by American protectionists toward Canada’s protected agricultural, financial, or other sectors. But Canada will have to spend more on defence than it currently does, billions more per year to curry the favour of Washington.
Even so from a global security viewpoint, the world can breathe easier now, said former Canadian external affairs minister John Baird.
“It means America’s back,” he said. “And that’s a good thing.”
First published National Post April 6, 2017
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The nanny state has got this guy feeling like a snake on a leash.
South Dakota snake owner Jerry Kimball was positively “dumbfounded” to learn he could not let a snake roam freely in a park. Kimball was fined $190 for not having his 4-month-old fire bee ball python on a leash, and he is not happy about it.
“It was April Fool’s Day, so I thought he was playing a joke,” Kimball told Argus Leader about being ticketed by an animal control officer. “They’re not fast creatures. They’re not going to run away.”
The thing about snakes, though, is that they can still move. Which is why the officer suggested Kimball put a leash on his pet.
“He was literally asking me to put a rope around my snake,” Kimball told the publication “I was like ‘dude, no.’ I was dumbfounded.”
Kimball said in a Facebook post that he was holding an “educational meet and greet” featuring his snakes, through his group Sioux Falls Snake Adventures. Though Argus Leader only mentions one fire bee ball python, a photo of the citation states that there were two ball pythons on the grass with “nobody holding them.”
Kimball was ticketed for “animals running at large.” Last year, 253 citations were issued in the city of Sioux Falls for violating the rule. Kimball, however, doesn’t think it should apply to his snakes.
While he might have to leash his pet, Kimball could take solace in knowing that as of this week, he would theoretically be allowed to legally ship reticulated pythons and green anacondas one state to another within the continental U.S. Yay!
Kimball said he plans to fight the ticket.
“That’s my purpose in life: To let people know that snakes aren’t killers,” Kimball said. “What better way to give back than to help people understand these misunderstood creatures?”
Because nothing will help people feel more comfortable with a python than having it roam freely in a park.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) – A U.S. soldier was killed while conducting operations against Islamic State in Afghanistan late on Saturday, a U.S. military spokesman said in a message posted on Twitter.
“The soldier was mortally wounded late Saturday during an operation in Nangarhar Province” in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. Navy Captain Bill Salvin said in a message on the official Twitter account of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission.
The soldier was a Special Forces operator, Salvin told Reuters separately.
The circumstances of the death were unclear and Salvin said more information could be released later.
Islamic State’s offshoot in Afghanistan, known as the Sunni jihadist group’s so-called Khorasan Province, is suspected of carrying out several attacks on minority Shi’ite Muslim targets. U.S. officials say intelligence suggests Islamic State is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighboring Kunar province.
Estimates of its strength in Afghanistan vary. U.S. officials have said they believe the movement has only 700 fighters but Afghan officials estimate it has about 1,500.
The Afghan Taliban, which is trying to overthrow the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, is fiercely opposed to Islamic State and the two have clashed as they seek to expand territory and influence.
(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati and Idrees Ali; Editing by Leslie Adler and Bill Trott)
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It’s tempting to oversimplify the ridesharing industry into an ideological battle: Lyft is the kinder, more generous outfit that donates to the ACLU, while Uber is a champion of hyper-capitalism that makes political compromises in the name of its bot…
Once again, scientists are looking inward to explore the next frontier. Researchers at Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) announced this week that an excavation is planned in which the team will attempt to successfully drill all the way through Earth’s crust for the first time in history.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
