Ordinary Radical Life

Attitude Quotes

Quotes are amazing ways to change the way we think about the world. Changing our world begins with changing our attitude. Here are some great quotes about attitude.

Attitude determines altitude.
       - Anonymous

…Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home.
   The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our attitudes.
       - Charles Swindoll

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.
       - Johann Wolfgang Goethe, from “Faust”

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
       - Eleanor Roosevelt

You can’t expect people to look eye to eye with you if you are looking down on them.
       - Anonymous

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.
       - Anonymous

Earth Day - April 22, 2008

On April 22 I hope you all take 2 minutes out of your day to show appreciation for our beautiful planet. Take 2 minutes out of your day to watch the following video HeartMath Apprecation Video. See how an ordinary action can change the world!

Joyful, Jubilant Learning

Check out my recent posting and other great posts at Joyful, Jubilant, Learning.

http://www.joyfuljubilantlearning.com/joyful_jubilant_learning/

Total Leadership

I always get excited when a new book comes out that I just know I will enjoy reading. I had a sneak peek at one of those books in this month's edition of Harvard Business Review. Total Leadership is a new book by Harvard Business Press that will be hitting bookstores in June. I have already pre-ordered my copy at Amazon.

The purpose of total leadership is to improve performance in all four domains of life - work, home, community and self - by creating mutual value among all of them. The HBR article is brilliant and summarizes the major ideas of the book. Bottom line, total Leadership is a different way of approaching goal setting. It takes on the concept of redefining goals as a series of experiments. In essence, goal setting is a trial and error process and we should not be afraid to make mistakes. The article summarizes some great ideas of how we can design an experiment to improve all domains of our live. These include:

• Tracking and reflecting
• Planning and organizing
• Rejuvenating and restoring
• Appreciating and caring
• Focusing and concentrating
• Revealing and engaging
• Time shifting and "re-placing"
• Delegating and developing
• Exploring and venturing

The website http://www.totalleadership.org/ has some excellent resources as well that are immediately available prior to the book being released. If you are looking to making changes in your life in all areas, this may just be the book you need to move you in the right direction.

Writers blog till they drop

Every weekend I spend some time reading my favorite blogs and catching up on a weeks worth of news and reading. When I first started to do this I had probably 30 blogs that I found interesting enough to keep on my "favorites" list. However, I quickly found out that the volume of material coming in from 30 blogs was often too much to absorb or handle. I didn't want to spend my entire weekend reading blogs after all. I have scaled that back to about 15 or less that I keep up with on a weekly basis.

I am always fascinated how the world of technology is changing how we work and live. A fascinating story about blog writers was posted http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6236771.html. I thought about how hard it is to read all of that and never considered the length of time it takes people to write all of the blog content. This article provides some insight into the negative impact that blogging is having on some peoples lives. Keeping a balance between different aspects of our live is critical. Physical, mental, spiritual aspects of our lives must be considered when planning our week. I always refer back to Stephen Covey's big rocks/small rocks story and sharpening the saw (7th Habit of Highly Effective People). Planning the big things in our lives first will allow us to accomplish more and have a much better life than if we only concentrate on one aspect of our live which consumes us. I hope these bloggers find that balance in their world.

Maintaining Energy

I received an email today from Success Magazine. It had an excellent note on maintaining energy, something that we all want to be able to do.

"Several simple changes in your daily life can dramatically increase your energy levels. To get the most out of yourself without exhaustion, learn how to respond in a calm, positive way to the inevitable ups and downs of your work and personal life. The key to maintaining a healthy pace in the office mean taking time to separate yourself from the rigors of work-life, so take a break! Be sure to devote one full day a week resting your mind and body. Experts attest that taking time to refresh yourself spiritually and mentally means you will produce more in the other six days, and make fewer mistakes, than if you worked seven days straight."

I try and take a break from work, computers, etc on Sunday. This is my day to recharge and catch up on my spiritual development, family, and relaxation. A small change making a big difference in our quality of life.

The Morning Coach

We all know that the steps we take in the morning often determine the success we have for the remaining part of the day. I believe that our morning routine is critical to the success we have in life. If we make small ordinary changes we can create miracles. This can come in the form of exercising or meditation or even prayer. I started a new morning routine last December which has certainly changed my life. For Christmas I asked for an IPOD. Since then I have discovered a new world in podcasting. Through a random search through the ITunes store, I stumbled upon the Morning Coach (http://www.morningcoach.com). The Morning Coach is lead by JB Glossinger. His daily podcasts on personal productivity have helped improve my life in so many ways. I look forward every day to learning and growing as an individual and person through listening to his wisdom and advice. The amazing thing is that he does this for free. I have felt so strong about his work that I recently made a contribution to his site for no other reason than to tell him how much I have appreciated the impact he has made in my life. He is a great life coach and is taking daily action to change the lifes of thousands of people helping them manifest their dreams into reality. If you have an IPOD I would highly recommend that you subscribe to his podcasts and if you don't you can always listen to his calls through his website. Hope your mornings are good ones.

Live without a TV

Last September, we bought a very nice LCD TV. Today in less than a year later the thing just stopped working.... totally out of the blue and totally unexpected. So not only did we not watch TV today we also did not have to worry about watching it tonight during Earth day. I know some people don't have a TV and other people don't watch much if they do. I sadly say that we do tend to watch more than the average family. So having the TV out of commission today was a change for us, and I have to say a good one. It felt good not to have the thing on. We all of a sudden had a chance to focus on each other. I spent some quality time with my daughter answering some trivia questions. The house was quiet and comfortable. I enjoyed not having the distraction in my life. Yes it was hard to miss some of the final four and march madness games and all the other sports I like watching on the weekend. But, I think having a quiet opportunity to reflect and spend some time with my daughter was a much better gift than any TV show I could see. Perhaps if we made a commitment to reduce the amount of TV in our lives then we would all be better off. Maybe I just might hold off on calling that repair man for a few days.

Earth Hour

I hope all of you plan on participating in Earth Hour tonight and turning off your computers, lights, etc. Let's show the world what a difference one person can make. A small ordinary action changing the world. http://www2.earthhourus.org/

Amazon Kindle!

Last month I had my birthday. Before my birthday my mom asked me what I wanted. She said she would go out and buy me some nice clothes. After all, the only time I get new clothes is when my mom or my wife happen to buy them for me. But this year was different. I wanted an Amazon Kindle. This is Amazon's newest electronic reader. When I first heard about this new gadget coming on the market I couldn't wait. I no longer would have to wait for the UPS man (or woman) to deliver my Amazon books. I could instantly download them in the blink of an eye. I thought my mother would freak out at the $400 price tag. But I influenced her telling her that I could recoup some of that money by the lower cost of books. Any type of sales pitch I could toss out in order to win her over. Well it worked. For over a month now I have been using my Kindle and I absolutely love it. I am hooked. My only major disappointment is that not every book in the world is out there yet, but I suspect it will be some day. For a version 1.0 product I think they have done a very good job. It is obvious that others like the Kindle as well as seeing the huge backlog that Amazon has waiting to manufacture and ship these units. If you are a book lover and you have $400 or a mother who has $400 then you should certainly consider the Kindle.