My Riffs

Narrow minded people are challenged and challenging to be around.  Nobody intents to be narrow minded, but it happens. And one way it happens is by having a narrow knowledge base.  So expand your knowledge base. Doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to everything you learn and know. But have a broad knowledge base so you can handle a diverse array of people and situations. And you can relate to them better. You can draw upon that knowledge to communicate your different audiences.  Broad knowledge will help one with being relatable. 

Most of the time, they just need a good listener.  People don’t need you to fix all their problems.  They just need someone who can listen.  Both so they can feel understood but also so they can just get their feelings out.  Practice actively listening. Practice giving your attention to someone. 

The quality of your life is directly proportional to the quality of relationships you have.  Find great people, spend time with them and you’ll have a better life. 

One basic and easy way to make friends is simply to be friendly. Being friendly will attract friendly people.  Being miserable will have the opposite effect.  So to have friends, learn to be interested in other people and friendly. 

Don’t leave unsaid. I’m primarily talking about positive things. Say them. Give the compliment. Say the positive thing.  Also, find a way to say the difficult things, just say them the right way. 

When you don’t feel like doing something is when the time it really counts. Because if you stop then you’re not being consistent. And consistency is how you make gains.  Of course the task has to be aligned with your goals.  When it gets difficult is when it really matters and makes a difference. You can’t level up when it’s easy. 

How do other people and situations get us mad and frustrated? For most of us, it could be far too often.  One life hack to slow down on the frustrations at others is to learn to get curious.  Here’s an example, someone cuts you off in traffic. Get curious, ask what could be going on in their life that would cause them to be so inconsiderate. Or maybe how could they have learned to be so inconsiderate.  Somebody doesn’t communicate with you or not how you wanted? Get curious. What could have been going on in their day or their life that caused them to treat you that way? Come across an angry person? Wonder about what could have happened in their life to make them this way.  If you stay curious, it makes things less personal and more about the person or situation you’re dealing with. Not to shift blame or responsibility, but to help yourself get less frustrated or angry.  Everybody is dealing with more than we know. If we give them that grace, we will make dealing...

To have a good perspective, you have to have a good range of knowledge and understanding.  Otherwise our perspective is our small, narrow viewpoint. A good perspective is one that is informed and balanced, one that’s well rounded.  The more you learn the more you can shape your perspective into a more balanced one. 

I’m leaving a trail behind me.  So are you.  Are we leaving a trail of casualties or are we leaving a trail of beneficiaries? 

Do good. Do good wherever you go.  It doesn’t have to be extravagant. It can be small acts of kindness. But leave a trail of goodness. That’s a legacy worth leaving. 

Leaders take the brunt of criticism.  Some deserved and in good leaders, most undeserved. Leaders of character don’t let the criticism get to them, they continue to lead and inspire. They don’t become what their attackers are.  Good leaders accept criticism that makes them better and let the rest roll on off. If you’re gonna lead something, learn to handle criticism. 

How good is your foundation? And what is it made of.  It will be tested. When and how we usually don’t know.  But it will be tested! So do what you can to strengthen your foundation. It will need to be strong to survive the test of time. 

Remember in terms of gratitude. Forget in terms of being wronged.  Look back in Gratitude, but don’t look for the hurts and pains. 

There’s too much darkness in the world. Be a light.  The good news is that light is so much more powerful than dark.  Be a light and be powerful. 

Knowing what’s right but not doing it is a great injustice. If someone needs a hand and we don’t lend it, we’re now sharing responsibility for their plight.  Lend your hand, it not only lifts those who need it, but it lifts yourself as well.   

If you have to do something, do it with joy! Joy makes everything better. So if you’re gonna do something, do it with joy! 

How can we make the burdens of life lighter? By voluntarily doing hard things. The easier we try and make life, the harder it gets. It seems easier to avoid hard work. It seems easier to not discipline yourself. It seems easier to spend rather than save. It's easier to avoid than confront. It's easier to take shortcuts than do it right. But taking the easier path makes life harder. Maybe not immediately but eventually. The more things you voluntarily take on and face, the easier life gets. 

Life will be what you make it.  It doesn’t mean it’s easy or things are fair. But it will be what you make it.  You can’t change what happens to you. But it will be what you make it. 

The best day is when you've connected with people. When you're accomplished something necessary and when you've bettered yourself in someway. Humans have different areas that require time and attention. We need to be conscious of our minds, our souls, our body and our environment that affects all those things. Tend to these things and you will be a complete, healthy person.

We’ve been given life.  Make sure you live it to the fullest.  Try things. Make lots of connections. Have lofty goals, and actually try to reach them. Laugh a lot. Love deeply. Find your purpose and live it passionately. That’s how you truly live. 

Being fair doesn’t always mean being the same.  It means treating everyone with the same love and respect. 

Pain is there for a reason.  Pain can teach us a great deal. We may not want to go through the pain again, but we’re grateful for the lessons we’ve learned and the strength we’ve gained.  Pain lets us know where limits are. Pain lets us know something is wrong. Pain lets us know we can be fragile no matter how tough we may think we are.  Pain can lead to gain. It’s all in our attitude towards pain. 

Keep pushing.  Don’t sit back and relax. At least not for long.  Sitting back means moving back. Push forward. 

Some days are just special. It's good to slow down and acknowledge those days. There's enough negativity and bad news. When there's something good to celebrate, go all in!

When I get better, you get better.  We can lift each other up and we can drag each other down.  Get better and others get better.  Surround yourself with those that are getting better. 

Learn the art of conversation.  You will learn a whole lot just conversing with people.  Everybody has something to teach us, so speak to people. Ask questions and learn. 

Doing nothing is tiring.  But the better way to get tired is to be productive.  There’s time and place to rest and do nothing.  But doing something meaningful is the best way to get tired. 

I’ve wasted way too many days.  I’ve lived too long as if I have unlimited time.  Let’s live like time is short. Let’s do the things we should do knowing time is short. That will be a better guide as to what’s important and necessary. 

Be interesting, but also be really boring. Boring as in go to bed early. Get up early. Eat healthy. Read books. Go for walks. Have healthy habits. Those simple and possibly boring things will make you strong. No need to be wild and erratic. There's time for spontaneity, but do a lot of boring things. The mundane, hard work you put in incrementally makes you better.

There’s really no shortcut. There’s just cheating yourself.  It takes work. The more you lean into that the better off you’ll be. Accept the work and just do it. Shortcuts seem promising but they don’t end up where you wanna be. Do the work. Embrace the work and the work will get you to where you need to be. 

Division leads to failure.  Unity leads to success.  Division isn’t a good leadership tactic. Try uniting, don’t feed division. 

A mistake becomes a choice when you make it twice.  A mistake you accept becomes a habit. Use a mistake to learn and adjust. 

It’s so easy to slip.  When we do well we tend to slip backwards.  Don’t let yourself slip. The progress you’ve made, don’t go backwards. Progress isn’t linear and sometimes we can’t help to go backwards or sideways. But don’t allow the trajectory to continue. Get back on track and aimed in the right direction asap.  If you’re slipping, aim forward and you’ll get there even if it’s two steps forward and one back. Keep aiming forward. 

There must be higher principals that guide us.  When we’re in moral dilemmas or simply difficult situations we must have higher principals that we operate by.  People without principals live by all their lower level instincts. 

Peace requires action sometimes. Otherwise it’s just peace faking. Not peace making.  Peace making may require hard conversations that don’t feel like peace first. 

It's a special kind of person who just can find a way. They're the person who can think outside the box, who can pivot, who is creative and who can endure. It's a mix of skills that anyone can learn though. Our biggest hold back is ourselves. If we take the limits off ourselves we can become a person who can navigate complexities and always find a way.

Endurance is an underrated skill.  Many start strong and fall off.  But people who can start and endure make it to the finish lines. 

Someone has to have a vision.  Aimless people are dangerous.  It takes someone with a vision to lead and provide an elevated purpose.  If you have a vision for how things can be better, share it! You don’t know how big of an effect it could have. 

Everyone wants to feel good.  How you feel depends on what you’re consuming primarily.  It’s impossible to feel truly good when you feed yourself junk. That goes for junk thoughts, junk words, junk entertainment and yeah event junk food.  Wanna feel better? Start feeding yourself better. 

What needs to get done, just do it.  Delay usually makes it more difficult.  So just get it done. You won’t regret it and you’ll gain some momentum. 

The saying is something along the lines of people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Our effectiveness with people is more effective when we show we care. So caring for people is more important than sharing our opinions and suggestions.  Care first. Help will flow from there. 

Fear fails us.  Fear is meant to inform us, but it fails us when it drives us. 

To learn effectively you have to be willing to learn.  Life offers many free lessons. The more you take for free the better you’ll learn. If you reject learning you’ll only learn through hard lessons. 

My decisions do affect you. Have you ever been driving and someone throws on the brakes ahead of you and suddenly people all have to do the same behind? On the road, what other people do effects us quickly and deeply. Life is much the same. My words, actions and behaviours have a spill over effect. If everyone behaved in such a way of being mindful of this principle, we would have far fewer negative incidents.  My decisions effect you. Your decisions affect me. Let's make decisions based on if we're making things better or worse.

What needless weights we carry. It's usually a choice to carry the things we carry. Sometimes the weight even becomes part of our identity. The thing about weight is it gets heavier the longer you carry it.  The other thing about weight is, you can lay it down whenever you decide to. So let go of the needless weights. Don't worry about who will carry it or where it will be dropped. Just lay it down, let it go and move forward lighter.

We waste so much time waiting. There’s a time and place to wait. But we still waste so much time just waiting.  Waiting for our turn, or waiting for someone else to do it.  What if we actioned everything we wanted to do? What if we became a people of action? Words, ideas and plans are fantastic. But they’re only as good as the action they inspire.  Go, do it!!

A break isn’t quitting.  A break can fix you. If you need a break, take one. Don’t quit though. Know how long your break will be. Then get back at it!

Do the hard work. Most people avoid the hard work.  Take the hard work on. You’ll be the better for it. Easy work won’t make you much better. Hard work will, if you stick with it. 

Lead. Live in a way that makes others better.  It doesn’t matter how many people are following you, it just matters that you lead.  One person can change the world.  That may be you or it could be the person following you.  So lead, be an example! 

Sometimes change happens in the blink of an eye.  And you have to adjust quickly.  You can’t entirely prepare for such rapid change, we rarely know what’s coming.  But live life with gratitude for every good moment.  Hold loosely the things that don’t truly matter.  Clutch tightly the ones that do matter. 

Get as many wins as early as possible. Small wins count.  Start with winning and you’ll set the path in a good direction.  Yes, finishing strong is important too. But if you start with wins, you can finish strong even easier. 

Fear renders us inoperable.  We become paralyzed by fear.  Fear can be used as a tool to teach us, caution us and help us.  But it has to be kept in check. Logic has to be applied against it. Fears are usually oversized in comparison to their truth.  Use fear and don’t let it use you. Control fear, don’t allow it to control you. 

Disappointed? Don’t stop.  Set backs? Don’t stop.  Plan changes? Don’t stop.  Criticism? Don’t stop.  A pause? Still don’t stop.  Barriers will come. But don’t let them stop you. Let the barrier be the way forward. 

Give your gifts freely.  It may be a creative gift, or maybe a technical gift. It may be a skill like speaking or encouraging.  Whatever your gift is, give it freely.  You’ll likely find your purpose there. 

Facing a challenge will tell you a lot about yourself.  Do you shrink back and complain? Or do you rise up and meet it regardless of how you feel? Your mettle is revealed in challenges. 

Listen to understand, not to react.  Respond, don’t react.  Let your interactions be like that and conflict will be reduced with those you don’t understand. 

Winning doesn’t actually look like a big bank account, fame or corporate success.  Really true winning looks like a healthy body and mind.  Purpose.  Great quality relationships. Peace.  That’s truly winning.  Set your sights on that type of success. 

Be ready.  Be ready for things to go as planned.  But.  Be ready for things to go differently.  Be prepared to adjust. 

Yesterday was about teaching, but today is about learning. To be a good teacher, we have to be an excellent learner. You can't teach better than you've learned. And you haven't truly learned something until you're knowledgeable enough to teach it. Do the due diligence of learning. It's a lot like work, but it's well worth the work.

It’s our job to teach the next generation. We can’t expect better results and behaviour than what we teach them.  Don’t expect things we don’t teach and model.  Be a good teacher and you’ll outlive your life 

We can spread good everywhere we go. It could be as simple as opening a door for someone. Or simply smiling and looking someone in the eye.  Spread good. People need the good you can give. Give to others and you will feel better yourself. 

Learn to be honest, but don't beat people over the head with honesty. It's a rare occasion someone needs to be hit with such a hard dose of honesty. If you need to deliver a truth, do it clearly but also kindly. Your honesty won't be received if it's delivered with an ill intent. The truth is powerful, so use it with wisdom.

How do we make a difference? Hatred in this world has escalated to a boiling point where we don't know the consequences of breaking the things we've broken. But how do I make a maximum contribution to good? It starts with getting my head right and my heart right. Everything flows out from there. I can't make positive changes in the world if I'm not right inside. So start internally and work out from there to your closest contacts. It will make an effect because everyone you touch will cause a ripple effect.

We're all becoming someone and something. Every day. I'm not the same person I was yesterday. I'm being formed and changed daily.  There's only two options too. You're either becoming a better person or a worse one. There's no neutral. Am I more patient, kind, forgiving and loving today? If the answer is yes than I just may be becoming a better person. If you can answer yes over a sustained period of time than you for sure are becoming a better person.

Community is so important because it’s what we end up reflecting.  Surround yourself with great community and you’ll be great.  Surround yourself and glean from them. 

Looking down shuts off the world.  When we look out and up our world enlarges.  Keep your eyes upward and outward. You’ll see possibilities, needs and things larger than yourself.  That gives us perspective and hope to grow and reach. 

Some days are heavier than others. In those moments we need to think more, feel more and be close to those who are important in our lives. And pray, pray like its the most important thing you can do.

Hatred is never the way to counter hatred.  Only love can drive out hate, as Dr Martin Luther King said. 

The best way to change things is to be the change.  Being an example and setting a vision are the catalysts for change. 

Keep the pedal down, don’t ease off.  Rest, relaxation and breaks are okay and even necessary.  But don’t let off the gas.  Sitting back gets you behind faster than you may think.  Stay on it, don’t let off and keep pushing! You’ll see the reward. 

Build yourself and branch out.  Don’t work on yourself to the point of making everything about yourself.  Work on yourself to the point where you can be effective in helping others. Take care of yourself but look to help others. Your own problems seem to diminish when you help others.  Work on you but don’t get stuck there. Work on you and then reach others. 

You know a good person by what they produce. Do they build others up or tear them down? Do they sharpen people or make them more dull? Be someone who sharpens other people. Be someone who makes others better. It's a much better endeavour to lift others up and make them better. Sharpen people, don't dull them.

You can unite or divide. Truth can divide but if it’s done in love it can unite.  So we don’t have to shy away from truth to unite.  Some people are divisive.  Some people are uniters.  The goal should be to unite. Being divisive doesn’t have a good end. Try to unite even if you have to speak hard truths. 

You learn something interesting when you push through something. The lesson often is simply, you can do it! It's usually easier than you think it's gonna be.  The real lesson is, what have we missed simply because we were scared to push through? Simply because we were scared to try? There's not as much to be afraid of as we we've grown up to think. The world is moldable, adaptable and usually fixable. Don't be afraid to try. Don't even be afraid to "fail". For true failure is giving up. Push through your fears. Push through those imagined barriers. There's something good on the other side.

You are what you do daily, not what you do occasionally.  Occasional habits don’t make up who you are. It’s something you occasionally do.  But who you are is what you do on the daily. 

How much mercy can you show for other people? It’s the amount of mercy you’ll receive.  Mercy doesn’t mean being taken advantage of. Mercy doesn’t mean being irresponsible or making bad decisions. But mercy means choosing kindness and wisdom instead of judgment and hatred. 

A new page is only ever a quick flip away.  A change of one day. Or a change of one hour or one minute.  We don’t have to wait for big changes to flip to a new page.  It just takes one small action to start a new page. Usually you can decide when you’d like it to happen. 

Start early whenever possible.  You’ll rarely if ever regret an early start.  We usually need that deadline to motivate us but if you can motivate yourself to start early you can do things better. 

The world is an interesting place. Explore! There’s great things to see, read, watch and listen to.  You don’t have to go very far to find interesting things to dive into. Explore your world, you’ll feel more alive!

Self talk matters.  Maybe more than any other talk. What people say to us can affect us, deeply. Words have caused people to do both great and horrible things. But it's the stories we tell ourselves that really shapes us. Do we tell ourselves we're capable and strong? Or do we say we're not capable and that it's just too difficult? The one person we believe is ourselves. The stories we tell ourselves we end up believing completely. You get to shape this. Don't feed yourself negative and self-defeating talk. Speak life to yourself!

Grand ideas of doing good is wonderful. But we need to start at home. We need to learn to do good to those within our immediate reach first. You'll get plenty of practice just doing good to those within your home and then in your immediate circle. Start there and you'll see the good you do expand. The grandest ideas will start right at home and blossom from there.

What's powerful? Power is often thought of as raw, overwhelming force. And that's true. What's more powerful than a tsunami or hurricane? That's powerful. But for humans, that same brutal power found in nature doesn't translate as effective power. Power is kindness. Power is clear and effective communication. Power is articulating great ideas. Power is showing and leading people in a better way. That's truly power. Force or coercion isn't really power. It's fear and force. And will eventually backfire. Be a powerful force. And that means be the best you were meant to be. Be kind and courageous, that's really what's powerful.

Are you okay with repetition? If not, discipline won’t be something in your skill set.  If you’re not okay with repetition you won’t go deep in any practice.  Building great things (including yourself) takes much repetition.  Of course make sure you’re repeating the right things. A rut is repetitive and non productive. Repeat good habits and it will be building blocks to greatness. 

Don’t miss twice, unless you want it to become a habit.  If you’re building something, don’t miss twice in a row.  Twice will become thrice. And then more. 

Think over the day today; or yesterday if that’s better.  Now think how much you were fully present and how much you weren’t. The moments when we’re present are the only moments where we can find true depth of fulfillment. If we can’t be present we can’t have quality relationships or experiences. We sacrifice so much quality to be ever connected to the online world. The more we disconnect from the digital world, the more we can truly connect with our more important real world. 

Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Harder to do than it sounds though.  Words can carry power. Carefully used speech can inspire and change. Craft your words carefully and use them effectively.  

Gratitude makes you a better person.  Gratitude makes your life better.  Complaining does the exact opposite.  Complaining accomplishes next to nothing. Maybe just negative things.  Make gratitude a daily practice. Make it a moment by moment practice. Learn to be grateful for seemingly little things. The more you can appreciate the little things of life the happier you will be. 

The more you live for others, the more purpose you have.  Not in regards of not caring about yourself. But in terms of finding purpose in helping other people.  Doing so will make you be the best you can be. It will also help others be the best they can be.  But when we get caught in selfishness we shrink.  Being about others is as high of a calling we can undertake. 

To become our best we have to keep getting better.  To get better we have to be honest and accept constructive criticism.  To get better we have to be humble.  To get better we have to be willing to work hard.  So becoming our best means taking step after step of getting better. Tomorrow do something that makes you better. 

So much energy is wasted on disappointment.  We live so often as if we’re surprised when things don’t go as we desired or planned.  But that’s literally part of life. Disappointment, especially when we have unrealistic expectations.  When things don’t go to plan, rather than waste time being upset by it, spend that energy on making alternate plans.  The longer you wallow the deeper the hole you dig.  So yeah it may be disappointing, but accepting part of life and forge ahead asap!

Only put out good work.  If it’s going to be sloppy or not good, don’t do it.  Only do good work. That’s something to be known by. 

How many times have we sold ourselves short? Saying, I can’t do it. And we don’t even try.  At least try. Give yourself a fighting chance. You never know unless you try. 

Humility is an underrated skill. A skill? Yes! A skill.  When people attain the peak of their profession, sport or pursuit, they can stay humble or be arrogant. Being arrogant is a huge vulnerability. It will eventually cost.  But being humble is a skill. Even if you’ve risen to the top. Humility will keep you sharp. It will push you to still keep getting better. Humility will let you know your weaknesses.  Stay humble, it will help your growth. 

Lofty goals are great! Everybody should have some lofty goals. Getting to those goals takes deliberate work though. Sometimes we start out on some goal with a bang! Working out, dieting, putting in extra hours of work, etc. But is it sustainable? Because if you can't sustain it, you likely won't achieve the goal. Doing something in the short term may have its place, but if it's a big goal or big change, the steps to get there have to be sustainable. That's why lots of good small habits have huge measurable results, just after a long time though. Make sure your goals have a sustainable path to pursue. Short term sprints likely won't have much of an effect on things.

Am I dependable?  It’s hard to be useful and helpful when you can’t be dependable.  Can people depend on me? I hope so, they may need me some day.  Stick to your word (if you’ve said you’ll do something of value). If you’ve misspoke, don’t stick to it :) Be someone. Be someone people can depend on. Cause some day you’ll need someone to depend on yourself. 

Rest is an important part of life. Without proper rest we can't function as needed. So while we need to rest, showing up is important. Showing up is a big part of the battle. If you don't show up, you can't gain. Excuses bar the way to simply showing up and we're stronger than we give ourselves credit for. If you say you can't, then you won't. If you say you can, you will.

Want to stand out at work? It's actually fairly simple, do good work. That means be thorough, check what you've done and make sure it's good. That alone will often have you stand out. Of course be dependable and get along with people. But good work will get you a long way.

Everyone carries a heavy load. However, it makes a huge difference what that load is. If the load looks like hate, resentment or negativity, it's a gruelling and debilitating load. But if the load looks like responsibility, discipline, work and love than it's a freeing load to carry. We all have to carry something and the things we carry will shape who we become. We're either getting better or worse and it depends on what heavy load we've decided to shoulder.

Save your best for those closest to you. It may be hard to give your family your best energy after a long day of work, but they deserve your best. Not the leftovers but your best. In fact they’re depending on it. 

There’s too much talk and not enough action.  The digital age has amplified the noise. It’s made the talk even cheaper.  It’s the ones who put their words into action that matter.  Be a doer not just a sayer. 

Perspective is something everyone has. The real important thing though is, how aware of our perspective are we? We all have biases and some baggage in our perspectives. The clearer we see these things in ourselves, the clearer we can see the world outside ourselves. We're all making judgements based on our perception. Try and realize that your perception is unique to yourself and maybe it's all informed. Be open to shaping and changing your perspective.

Maybe we should stop making people the enemy and make the wrong ideals the enemy.  If we can have that change of focus we may find common grounds and solutions quicker and better. 

Naturally we tend towards being weak and lazy. It takes real conscious and deliberate effort to break free of weakness and laziness. Cause if we just accept the natural course, we will get weaker and lazier. You have to swim upstream in order to break free of it. It's not easier but it's better. 

Here’s a thought, how do you think you make other people feel? How do people feel when they’re around you? How do they feel once they’ve left you? Try and think on that. How do you leave people feeling? Especially people who maybe can’t do anything for you.  How do you treat those people and make them feel? That says a whole lot about you. 

You may live in a free nation, but do you live freely? Do you live and give freely? Do you share freely? Do you speak truth freely? Do these things and make your world a better place. 

Are you just alive or are you living? Are you trying things or just playing it safe? Do you have dreams or are you merely surviving? Dream, try things and live!!

Routine is so important. You’re the sum of your routines.  But from time to time it’s good to have some variety. Maybe switch up some routines, or travel and change them up that way. It can foster new or better routines or possibly settle the existing routines.  Routines are often boring so some variety is like adding some spice to a great dish. 

Something interesting about laziness… it’s tiring. The lazier you are the more tired and unable you are. You want more energy? Expend some energy. Doing nothing gets exhausting too, so may as well use your energy on building things. That way you come by your tiredness honestly.