Be firm in removing negativity from your life. Good men enable your fortunes by pushing you to your best; they don’t push you in the opposite direction. And good men don’t expect much in return.

Great men are contagious

Successful men breed success in others, and great men have inspired others to become great. When a man’s skills are strong, they’ll attract competition (a sense to compete and become better than the other). As a result, men find greatness because of the great men around them; men will always try to achieve more, drawing inspiration from those they admire. Healthy, competent competition is the source that inspires men to become excellent.

THE FINAL WORD

Remember the good men in your life, past and present. Surround yourself with them because they’ll help you succeed in life — and seeing you succeed is reward enough for them. Stand proud next to the good men in your life.

So you want to be a professional ________? Are you willing to give up your life in exchange for a new one? I think I’m hitting that point in life where I’m starting to say “no” more often to things a few years ago I would jump at the chance to do for people. I want to spend my time doing ______. So sorry, I can’t play hockey this weekend. I mean playing hockey would be awesome but the reality is I haven’t skated in like 10 years, and I’m not sure my skates even fit. They are in the closet. Dusty. Unsharpened. They include many slashes and are probably dying to be used, but in my mind they are retired. We had some good shifts on the ice though. Where was I? Oh yeah, the point. So I want to do “this thing” and I know I need be very mindful of how I spend my time. Can I give one night a week to this endeavor? Two? Four? Or…is it just a hobby? Should I give up? Or should I push through and stay disciplined to do “this thing” that potentially could be very rewarding personally. Those are a lot of question marks, but the truth is I really do believe in that 10,000 hour rule. Not familiar? Check it out here. Do you want to be a painter? Go paint 100 things and see if you’re any good. Want to be a rockstar? Cool. How many songs have you wrote this year? How many shows have you played? Oh, you go out every night? Stop. You want to be a rockstar, remember.

At what point does the dream stop? At what point do we realize it’s just a dream? Or is it? Can we honestly look at ourselves and say I’m going to do this to be there this time next year? Again, I think we can control the outcome no matter what, but I’m a person that likes to challenge myself. I suggest this, if you want to be a painter, paint. Stop wasting time doing all these extraneous hobbies and focus on painting every minute you can. Of course we have to get by and work, but over time you potentially could change your current life for a new one. It will take a lot of hard work and discipline. But how bad do you want to do want it? I’m sure your level of effort will be the tell tale sign of whether or not things work for you.

Have a situation that relates? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

With a new year upon us, I found myself driving into work thinking of this execution and how I could apply that to other things in my life. The interesting thing is I feel like I’m learning “how things work” for me and what this world’s expectation is in so many different ways. That is a really hard sentence to put on display since I normally am 90% unsure of myself and my abilities. But in the end I feel like the scale is tipping. With taking in how my creative process works and being able to filter through my skill set I’m learning that any goal is reachable. Things are working. Momentum is building. People say “take the bull by the horns” but they never tell you what to do next. I think I know, now. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep doing the things you have done to gain that momentum and gain that “stride.” That is a revelation I’m really excited to think about.

I read and watched a lot of inspirational things throughout the days of 2012 and this is a small story for me to expose. So what’s next? Don’t stop. If you can set goals for yourself, whatever they may be, and keep them in your sights, you can do some big things for yourself and others. So keep doing!

Happy New Year to anyone reading.

SDG

I’ve had some great convo’s with some friends and those conversations seem to continue. Most of them are in the vein of “you can do this” or “good for you man, keep going.” However, for me it’s just the beginning. I want to look at what life will be like when I’m 40. I don’t want to be huffing and puffing just getting mulch at Lowe’s. Through all this I’ve really enjoyed using the Nike+ app. I’m sure to some point it’s annoying to see my social news feed post every time I go out for a few miles, but for me it means a lot. It’s a daily reminder to keep going.

I’ve had a few things shared with me and I wanted to turn them around today. One was a Nike spot that I really love. You can watch it here. I’m a huge fan of Nike advertising and it seems that every ad reaches to the core of what I enjoy about sports. What I love about about this “Find Your Greatness – Jogger” ad is that we all have our own greatness. Now some goals may be reaching the olymipics, others may not be so grand, but I’ve realized that amidst all the things that are happening in life there’s still that inner thing that drives us to be who we are without consequence. I think in the creative field it’s easy to compare yourself to others, and be a tiny bit insecure. I know I can certainly be that way. However, as I grow older I’m beginning to see that I need to focus on me internally. My mind, my body, what I want, what I want to do, and just work towards it.

So for me running isn’t about flexing my abs in Vegas next month it’s about what life could be if I work hard enough 5 years from now. I doubt I’m alone. I know we all have our own things we’d like to conquer and I think we can all conquer them. Surrounding yourself with the right people and the right attitude can change everything.

There’s also this article that I read today that explains how running literally saved this mans life. Pretty awesome stuff. You can read that article here.

Cheers,

SDG

I found this great article and wanted to share as it has hit a few points that were in my mind. Mainly, how you spend your time. I’ve gotten some advice from trusted friends and they have made me aware that I need to say “no” a bit more often to the small things that orbit my life. That way, I can fully embrace and work on the things that make me feel good. I’m not sure if I 100% agree with this, but I do think there’s something there to pay attention to. Am I putting too much effort into sowing projects that will have zero return on my life or my time? I have no idea. I really just try to work and be around people that are smarter than me and know more than me. Hoping to learn more in return of course. Frienships are cool too, and you never know when you can make a new friend (even at the young age of 32.) Long story short, here’s a snippet from the share article below…”The point is – if your trajectory isn’t perfectly aligned towards your target, you’ll find it harder to reach that target than if you spent just a bit of time once in a while adjusting your trajectory and reviewing how you’re doing things.”

I hope the link makes you think a bit. Please share it, and I promise I won’t scoff.

Music Think Tank – Are You Reflecting On Your Goals?

We Stopped Dreaming – Pt 2
http://www.penny4nasa.org/

So where am I going? The answer is I’m heading north for a week to Petoskey, MI. It’s truly one of my favorite cities and one showroom for what I think the “Pure Michigan” campaign embraces. So cheers to the countdown. I’m really excited and I’m sure if you’re reading you know what it feels like as well. It’s kind of like being a kid that week before summer vacation. I love how those feelings stay consistent as we grow up. For some reason maybe I thought they would fade away, but I’ve been proved wrong and I’ll gladly admit it. It’s a beautiful thing.

To learn more about Petoskey, you can visit there web site, here.

SDG

So I did just that. Long day of work, came home and opened up the house for a few hours of a wonderful breezy afternoon. All I heard were the kids making friends, dogs barking, and lots of outdoor activity. I ran a few errands and it’s really cool to notice people and their facial expressions when this contrasting weather hits. We’re all so much happier. The other side of that coin is I also am growing fonder and fonder of Michigan. Having lived here all my life, it’s a completely beautiful state, but I think I only fully appreciate now that I’ve done some traveling and get to see it in contrast. One of my favorite movies, Vanilla Sky, has that appropriate quote “The sweet ain’t as sweet without the sour.” I couldn’t say it any better than that…so I won’t even try.

Maybe all of this is just another step forward in gaining a bit of life balance? Which reminds me of a nice read from the Herman Miller Lifework Blog. Amy Freezor writes a nice piece talking about What’s Outside Your Window and why we stare out of it a bit more as Spring approaches.

Check out her Blog over at the Herman Miller site.
What’s Outside Your Window

SDG

As a good friend had shared with me, remove emotion from the equation and try to see the truth in the criticism you receive. Hopefully looking back you’ll find it helped you grow and progress in your life. My two cents.

Why Being Wrong Makes Us Angry 

SDG