Looking for Bookmarks...

The other day I was telling a story about a bookmark the T.S.A. officials didn't like in my bag at the airport... (it's metal and shaped like a fish, so it looked just like a knife blade in the X-Ray intrusion machines.) Telling that story reminded me that I hadn't seen that bookmark in a while. So I set out on a short journey to find the trouble maker bookmark and in the process found several bookmarks that I had not seen for a while... Why? Because I tend to start reading a book, get part way through it, then someone promotes a new book with 7 easier ways to solve my life long problem and then I lay one book down and buy another, just to start the whole cycle all over again.

Let me tell you, I have started some really great books! And it vividly pointed out one of my glaring flaws: I have bought numerous "7 easy step" books to solve all of life's problems... I start things but I don't finish very many... Plus, if only I had read the books that I bought to solve my glaring problem, I may have solved my glaring problem and already been living happily ever after. SO, in the spirit of tackling my glaring flaw of starting and not finishing, I have grabbed several of the books I had once started but didn't finish and grabbed several books I have read but have not mastered and I set a goal (here I go again... starting a new project) to read this stack of new and used books in 2011.

It's been said by many very successful people that you will not out earn your personal development. Maybe that's why I tend to stay stuck in my comfort zone. Could also be that the application part of personal development hasn't been as good as it could. (Or maybe I haven't applied what I haven't read...) What ever the reason is... I'm getting unstuck this year and one way I will do this is by reading 25 books AND applying their principles.

Here's the list of books if you dare to take the challenge. These titles and number of books are of my choosing. You may want to read some of the same titles or you may want to chose different titles to read this year. Read the number of books reasonable for you. Feel free to share your list of titles here on this blog in a commentary.

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People (re-read)
2. The Magic of Thinking Big (re-read)
3. How to have Confidence and Power in dealing with people (re-read)
4. How I Raised myself from Failure to Success in Selling (re-read)
5. The 4- Hour Work Week
6. The Speed of Trust
7. The Five Love Languages
8. The Automatic Millionaire
9. Cash flow Quadrant (re-read)
10. Your Best Life Now
11. The Pilgrim's Progress
12. The E-Myth Revisited (re-read)
13. The Power of a Positive No
14. The Real Face of Atheism
15. Principle-Centered Leadership
16. Love and Respect
17. Feel The Fear and Do it Anyway
18. The Case for Christ
19. A Leaders Legacy
20. The Five Languages of Apology
21. Overcoming Crisis
22. Fresh Wind Fresh Fire (re-read)
23. Leading Without Power (re-read)
24. The Worlds Most Powerful Leadership Principle (re-read)
25. In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day (re-read)

The 3 Circumstances...

There are 3 types of circumstances... Those:

1. I can control and I do control...
2. I can control but I don't...
3. I can't control but I try to anyway...

Number one is the area in your life where you are practicing control and discipline.

Number two is the area where we have things we should do that we are ignoring or we hope they will just go away... "Maybe it won't happen to me."

Number three is where we are concerned about things or we worry about things that we have no control over. Like the weather, the political landscape or the crazy things that happen in Big Business.

Your focus should be on Number 2. Where are you "not doing"things that you should AND you know you are not doing what you should? What "could be and should be if you would just do what you need to?" Focus there and make 2011 the biggest year and best year of your life.

Mark C

Dream no small dream, for they stir not the hearts of men.

MonaVie's RVL in the news!

Click on the title of this post for the article on RVL!

Uncertainty...

Uncertainty is a permanent part of all progress; it never goes away! Furthermore, uncertainty isn't an indication of poor leadership; it just underscores the need for it; it's the environment in which good leadership is most often discovered. As a leader you may think you should always know what to do, but in reality there will be very few occasions when you are absolutely certain. Since you'll constantly be called on to make decisions with limited information, your goal should not be to eliminate uncertainty, but to develop the ability to be courageous and clear in the midst of it.

As you rise through the ranks, you'll be called upon to make decisions regarding relationships, money, time, values, opportunities and disputes. Eventually your decisions will show up on the bottom line, and there in the clear light of day your leadership will be judged. And there's something else you need to know; in that realm it takes longer to recognize your brilliance or stupidity, because you're forced to lead for long periods of time without the benefit of knowing whether or not you made the right call. And by the time your crop starts coming in, it's too late to change your agricultural procedure. You have to wait until the next planting season.

But don't let that throw you. It's not your job to remove uncertainty, it's your job to inspire clarity, courage, and progress in the midst of it. When you can do that, you're a leader!

Put first things first and you get second things thrown in. But put second things first and you lose both. CS Lewis

Contentment is realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness!

Make room in your mind for what is possible...

"Things may come to those who wait...but only the things left by those who hustle" Abe Lincoln