"All the so-called "secrets of success" will not work unless you do." - Author Unknown
I spoke at my Toastmasters club today. I shared a speech that was previously given by General Douglas MacArthur back in 1962. In that speech he talks about not substituting words for actions nor choosing the path of comfort. That stirs something in me. To many times I spend in "lip-service" or "do as I say, not as I do" or don't put forth the effort to make changes.
Success takes effort. Effort takes determination. Determination takes responsibility. Responsibility begins with you (or me).
"Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success." - Swami Sivananda
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Clutter
"You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy." - Eric Hoffer
Had a garage sale this past weekend, cleared out some junk that we felt we needed at the time but ended up in the basement/garage/closet. Made a little cash, pennies on the dollar, but still cash and actually restrained ourselves from visiting other sales and buying more crap to replace the crap we just got rid of.
Do you have clutter? I don't mean just physical clutter, but mental clutter. How do you spend your week? Do you look at the end of the week and wonder where your time went? I suggest sitting down and mapping out your week. You get 168 hours, no more, no less. Successes have used their time wisely, finding ways to increase their success in all areas of life.
How's your time map looking? Spending time on 'clutter'? Change it!
"He who buys what he does not need steals from himself." ~Author Unknown
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
Had a garage sale this past weekend, cleared out some junk that we felt we needed at the time but ended up in the basement/garage/closet. Made a little cash, pennies on the dollar, but still cash and actually restrained ourselves from visiting other sales and buying more crap to replace the crap we just got rid of.
Do you have clutter? I don't mean just physical clutter, but mental clutter. How do you spend your week? Do you look at the end of the week and wonder where your time went? I suggest sitting down and mapping out your week. You get 168 hours, no more, no less. Successes have used their time wisely, finding ways to increase their success in all areas of life.
How's your time map looking? Spending time on 'clutter'? Change it!
"He who buys what he does not need steals from himself." ~Author Unknown
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Future...
"The course of life is unpredictable... no one can write his autobiography in advance." - Abraham Joshua Heschel
I recall a scene from the movie "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" where John Connor is having a conversation with his terminator protector about something his mother carved onto a picnic table - "The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves..."
We often resign ourselves to our own self-imposed prisons by telling ourselves that it's our fate - we are where we are and that's all. Our minds have been conditioned over the years to a thinking pattern that keeps us from our true potential.
The statement above is true, the future isn't set. We have the ability to change our lives, our careers, our health (to some extent), we have the ability to act and not react to what comes our way.
Choose your own fate, follow your dream...
"The past can't see you, but the future is listening." - Destin Figuier
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
I recall a scene from the movie "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" where John Connor is having a conversation with his terminator protector about something his mother carved onto a picnic table - "The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves..."
We often resign ourselves to our own self-imposed prisons by telling ourselves that it's our fate - we are where we are and that's all. Our minds have been conditioned over the years to a thinking pattern that keeps us from our true potential.
The statement above is true, the future isn't set. We have the ability to change our lives, our careers, our health (to some extent), we have the ability to act and not react to what comes our way.
Choose your own fate, follow your dream...
"The past can't see you, but the future is listening." - Destin Figuier
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Faith...
"To me faith means not worrying." - John Dewey
Take it the way you wish, but miracles & blessings happen all the time. Some go unnoticed, while others end up being newsworthy. When you look for them, you will find them. Maybe it's that parking spot in a busy parking lot that opens up right in front of the store you need to visit. Maybe it's finding the exact change needed to purchase an item or finding a $20 bill when you thought you only had a $5 bill.
I had a noticeable blessing today. I have been belly-aching about this for quite a long time. I am a member of a local Toastmasters club, a group of people training and practicing to become better public speakers. I fell into this group when I lost weight and wanted to tell my story. It has helped me hone my public speaking skills and speaking style. I've met a lot of people and there is a core group of people that are there each week to support each other.
I've advanced in the group and I believe currently I am the highest ranking person with the designations of Advanced Communicator Silver and Advanced Leader Bronze. I am also currently serving to the best of my ability as president of the club.
Dues for the next semester are coming up on October1st and with Bren without a job and our emergency fund getting dangerously low - I was going to have to step away from the group. It was a hard choice to make, but we didn't/don't have the $40 to continue the membership. I let the officers know last week of our situation and that it may be time for me to step down until our finances got back to normal.
After the pastor's sermon on Sunday, I began to think about my decision to quit the club. I was going to let the group know today (Tuesday) at the meeting that I would be unable to continue in the club after October 1st. Instead I decided to let God lead, if He wanted me to continue my training as a public speaker, He would provide the money to do so. I was leaving it up to Him and trusting his direction.
I talked to the treasurer after the meeting and asked about possibly making payments or working out some sort of arrangement so that I could continue leading the club. He told me that the other officers had discussed the situation and felt led to pay my dues for the next semester out of the club treasury.
So, there was my answer. I guess I need to continue leading and training. I would have been a little bummed if it didn't work out, but if it did happen that I couldn't continue - I know deep down that there is somewhere else that I needed to be at that point in my life.
Keep the faith and let God lead. You never know where you'll go, but where you end up is where He wants you to be...
"Faith makes things possible, not easy." - Author Unknown
MattyV
http://iweighedmorethanjared.com/dead.aspx
Take it the way you wish, but miracles & blessings happen all the time. Some go unnoticed, while others end up being newsworthy. When you look for them, you will find them. Maybe it's that parking spot in a busy parking lot that opens up right in front of the store you need to visit. Maybe it's finding the exact change needed to purchase an item or finding a $20 bill when you thought you only had a $5 bill.
I had a noticeable blessing today. I have been belly-aching about this for quite a long time. I am a member of a local Toastmasters club, a group of people training and practicing to become better public speakers. I fell into this group when I lost weight and wanted to tell my story. It has helped me hone my public speaking skills and speaking style. I've met a lot of people and there is a core group of people that are there each week to support each other.
I've advanced in the group and I believe currently I am the highest ranking person with the designations of Advanced Communicator Silver and Advanced Leader Bronze. I am also currently serving to the best of my ability as president of the club.
Dues for the next semester are coming up on October1st and with Bren without a job and our emergency fund getting dangerously low - I was going to have to step away from the group. It was a hard choice to make, but we didn't/don't have the $40 to continue the membership. I let the officers know last week of our situation and that it may be time for me to step down until our finances got back to normal.
After the pastor's sermon on Sunday, I began to think about my decision to quit the club. I was going to let the group know today (Tuesday) at the meeting that I would be unable to continue in the club after October 1st. Instead I decided to let God lead, if He wanted me to continue my training as a public speaker, He would provide the money to do so. I was leaving it up to Him and trusting his direction.
I talked to the treasurer after the meeting and asked about possibly making payments or working out some sort of arrangement so that I could continue leading the club. He told me that the other officers had discussed the situation and felt led to pay my dues for the next semester out of the club treasury.
So, there was my answer. I guess I need to continue leading and training. I would have been a little bummed if it didn't work out, but if it did happen that I couldn't continue - I know deep down that there is somewhere else that I needed to be at that point in my life.
Keep the faith and let God lead. You never know where you'll go, but where you end up is where He wants you to be...
"Faith makes things possible, not easy." - Author Unknown
MattyV
http://iweighedmorethanjared.com/dead.aspx
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Shortcomings...
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again. Because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, he who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat". - Theodore Roosevelt
Feeling like a failure today? At least you tried. Think of those that don't try, stay in the shadows of the "comfortable and familiar" and get up to try again!
I've failed time and time again. I've failed as a father, a husband, a friend, a co-worker, a leader. But I continue on knowing that my destiny is much greater than my weaknesses suggest.
"Be true. STAND!" - Mother Abigail, "The Stand"
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
Feeling like a failure today? At least you tried. Think of those that don't try, stay in the shadows of the "comfortable and familiar" and get up to try again!
I've failed time and time again. I've failed as a father, a husband, a friend, a co-worker, a leader. But I continue on knowing that my destiny is much greater than my weaknesses suggest.
"Be true. STAND!" - Mother Abigail, "The Stand"
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
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