“Happiness is the art of learning how to get joy from your substance.”  — Jim Rohn

Sometimes that answers you seek and the happiness you desire lies inside of you and your abilities.

Greetings Blog Family,

It is the holiday season and I am away from my office on vacation. Around this time of year, every year, I visit my parents home in Michigan and get an opportunity to hang out with them and many of my friends that I grew up with. This is truly a great time for me as I love to dwell amongst great friends and family. There is nothing like it.

To bring in the quote of the week by Jim Rohn, happiness starts with you. It starts from inside of you and stuff you are built of. This time of year allows me to not only reflect on my substance, but meet and mingle with the rocks of my existence…, my parents. These are two of the greatest people in the world as far as I am concerned and I don’t have enough time to get very specific on all of the wonderful things that they have done for me.

* The gave me my determination to continue in pursuit of my goals until I accomplish them. We all know that it is a necessary ability to be able to go over, through, around, or under those obstacles that are sure to face you during  your journey.

* They gave me my passionto chase my dreams unencumbered. The fears and thoughts of what others may think about you have paralyzed many into non-action, but these thoughts are not wasted on me. I have the fire, belief, and ability to continue on the path that I have chosen as the best for me at this particular time.

*The gave my ingenuity to be able to adjust and alter my course while in pursuit of what I deem to be happiness. To be a success in any field you have to be flexible. At times you are going to have to learn new skills, understand different information, or even create original information to be the success you desire.

* They gave me my awareness to smell a rat when I do and to back away from people and situations that may be harmful. Sometimes you have to just trust your gut and even your eyes when they are seeing something you don’t believe is happening. In my life, I have had good friends turn on me, but it was this ability to smell a rat that allowed me to minimize the damage. Trust your instinct at times.

* They gave my vision of marriageafter more than 50 years together, I think I have had a small picture of what it takes to make a marriage work. Family is very important to me as it is a real stabilizer in one’s life. My life is no different and it is very important to me. I understand how to be an husband, father, friend, and mainly that you just have to work on getting better everyday.

* They gave me my appreciation for friendshipfor it is truly essential to the soul. There are some things that our souls just need in this life. One of those things is true friendship. If you have not had the opportunity to experience such friendship, maybe you don’t understand what I am talking about. But if you have experienced true friendship, then you know what I mean. A friend is very special and important on any and every journey you will take.

* They gave me my sense of humanity that allows me to see the world through the eyes of those less fortunate than me and give what I can to make the community a little better. The think about this world is that we are all in this together. There is no way around it. We have to help one another.

* They gave me my happiness for without the entire lot of these things, I could not have the love, family, friends, and opportunities that I do. It is wonderful to be able to create the world and life that you desire based on the substance that is inside of you. Remember, there are some very important people in your life that helped you to be come the person you are, honor and appreciate that.

Therefore, I agree with Mr. Rohn that happiness is the art of getting joy from your substance. Thank you to these remarkable people I am able to get much joy from my substance.

Who are you indebted to and feeling especially thankful for this time of year?

First in the Mind, Then in Reality

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Aim for success not perfection. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person...Dr. David Burns

Greetings Blog Family,

Perfectionism is something I have wanted to talk about for a long time here. I love how Mr. Burns references fear as the root cause of perfectionism because it is so true.

Most perfectionist won’t admit the root cause as fear, but the truth is obvious. The wild thing is most perfectionist are people that most would consider bold, talented, and considerably above average. However, these things don’t necessarily mean they are not ravaged by fear on a daily basis. 

It is easier to not do or produce something with the reasoning that you want to put your best foot forward. I call this “Procrastination by Perfection” and it is comforting because you can always say that you have the best “widget” on the market…you just haven’t released it yet.

Essentially, you are sparring the ego a potential bruising because of the fear of criticism that may rain down on your creation if you actually allowed the viewing public a chance to see it.

This is why you must aim for success and not perfection. You don’t want to hold yourself back trying to make something perfect that in your eyes will never be perfect. There are always better ways to do something. It is better to aim for success, get that “widget” out into the marketplace, then work to make constant improvements until you can get it to a level of satisfaction from yourself and the marketplace, then allow your creative juices to move on to the next project.

Don’t allow public perception the opportunity to hold you back. You are bright, talented, and willing to put in the work and hours it takes to be successful….go for it!

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