Do you take action every day in your personal life or business, or are you a procrastinator? Here are a few action-related posts you may have missed. Click on the Quote to read the full message:
“You cannot dream yourself into a character…”
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
“When nothing goes right, go left.”
Image from conversationswithdoggy-lama.com
Many of us have been told, throughout our lives, that humility is a sign of high character—we should not brag or call excessive attention to ourselves. Many of the Quotable Coach posts point out that focusing on others is a key to success.
Today’s quote, however, is more about your journey to pursue, achieve, and contribute your gifts, talents, and unique abilities—your greatness. Pursuing all that we can be is something we can all do with great passion and purpose. Our efforts contribute and build our characters even more.
Request a bit of feedback from those who know you best in your personal and professional worlds.
What good and great qualities and abilities do they say you currently possess that could be even greater if you put your everything into the effort?
Image from nnbtheatre.com
I was a young boy in the mid-sixties when Man of La Mancha was on Broadway. My mother, Rose, loved the story about Don Quixote, and loved to sing “The Impossible Dream.” Here are the lyrics, written by American lyricist Joe Darian:
To dream the impossible dream
to fight the unbeatable foe
to bear with unbearable sorrow
to run where the brave dare not go
to right the unrightable wrong
to love pure and chaste from afar
to try when your arms are too weary
to reach the unreachable star
This is my quest, to follow that star,
no matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
to fight for the right, without question or pause
to be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly cause.
And I know if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest,
that my heart will lie peaceful and calm,
when I’m laid to my rest.
And the world will be better for this:
that one man, scorned and covered with scars,
still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
to reach the unreachable star.
Where in your life is it time for you to follow your dream, be true to your own “glorious quest,” and help the world be better because of it?
Image from Flickr by Matt Knoth
I am currently writing a chapter for a book on personal development and soul transformation with 30 other authors. My chapter covers the concept of Personal Mastery, which has been of interest to me my entire life. I’ve even developed my own coaching program I call Personal Excellence Training, to help others reach their next level of achievement.
One key to the personal mastery journey of virtually everyone I’ve studied is the bold and often courageous pursuit of authentic gifts, talents, and interests that make their hearts sing. Their efforts at self-expression were frequently met with considerable resistance and outright criticism from their peers and the general public.
Perhaps they were simply singing their own special tune, one that was ahead of its time, that many did not yet embrace or understand.
Where in your personal or professional pursuits is it time to be even bolder and courageous, voicing your special tune regardless of whether others listen, or what they think?
Image from Flickr by Classic Film
Many people celebrated Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday this past December. In his famous song, “My Way,” – written for him by Paul Anka – Sinatra sings the phrase “Regrets – I’ve had a few.”
For many of us, regret is a common occurrence, since they are almost always associated with things we didn’t do rather than the things we did.
It is amazing the feeling we experience by simply summoning the courage to try something, even if it doesn’t work out. Somehow it is in the attempting of something new that we bolster our own self confidence and self worth.
What are you going to try today or this week that will make you glad even if you fail? What might it be like if you continued trying until you succeed?
image from novelideareviews.com
I never could understand why someone would ruin the story by reading the end of a book first. For me it was like being given the punch line to a joke without the story that led to it.
From a coach’s perspective, however, “reading the last page” can be highly useful.
Consider the process of envisioning a new and better personal and professional future. In this process, you would likely be asked to generate written visions, missions, and goals that represent the happy-ever-after future you desire. At that point, you can reverse engineer the measurable results and action steps that will lead you there.
How can reading the last page first on your most important professional and personal life stories act as a catalyst to make more of your dreams come true?
Years ago, I read The Five Love Languages to enhance my relationship with my wife Wendy. I still recommend this book to coaching clients who wish a better understanding of their partners. The gist is that there are different ways to show love. We almost always choose to show love in the way we like to receive it.
By tuning into the offerings of others, we can embrace their gifts in the way they are intended, instead of missing the message because we are not speaking the same love language.
How could you fully love the givers in your life by embracing every gift they have to offer, in the love language that fits them?
Image from Flickr by Elvis Kennedy
Do you sometimes feel life has passed you by?
Do you tell yourself you will have time – on the weekend, on the vacation, when you retire – to get to the things that matter?
Are you missing too many rainbows?
We cannot schedule the rainbows of our lives – we must seize precious moments as they occur.
How can you be more intentional and tuned into your world, so that you can find greater joy and fulfillment in life’s special moments?
image from Flickr by Giovanni Orlando
The dandelion is often considered a pesky weed popping up in our lawns each spring. We describe dandelions as “invasive,” as if they were an alien life form that must be eradicated from our lawns, parks, and ball fields.
When you learn a bit about dandelions, you discover their numerous health benefits, such as:
Instead of weeds, let’s talk about people. Who are the “weedy” folks you would like to remove or eradicate from your life? What might be possible if, instead, you made efforts to get to know them better?
Starting this week, Friday’s message will include links to a few relevant posts you may have
missed. Simply click the image next to the quote to read the message. Feel free to comment on any of the posts, and of course, on this message.
“It is hard to fly when something is weighing you down.”
https://www.thequotablecoach.com/what-weighs-you-down
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
https://www.thequotablecoach.com/do-what-you-can
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the
seeds you plant.”
https://www.thequotablecoach.com/seeds-you-plant
”It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
https://www.thequotablecoach.com/conquer-ourselves
“Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising
every time we fall.”
https://www.thequotablecoach.com/our-greatest-glory