Tag: personal-growth

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Your Focus Defines Your Success

“Garbage In, Garbage Out” doesn’t just apply to computers—it applies to your life. The people you spend time with, the content you consume, and the habits you build shape your future. Want better results? Choose better inputs.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

“You are what you repeatedly do.” – Aristotle

“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” – John Kuebler

“Your life is controlled by what you focus on.” – Tony Robbins

The old phrase, “garbage in, garbage out” doesn’t only apply to computers and databases. It applies to how we live our lives.

Our inputs—the people we surround ourselves with, the information we consume, and the habits we cultivate—shape our outcomes.

If you spend time with amazing, imaginative, productive, and adventurous people, chances are you’ll start adopting some of those same qualities. At a minimum, you’ll develop personal goals that push you to emulate those qualities in your own way.

On the other hand, if you surround yourself with negative, self-destructive, bitter, or complacent people, their mindset and behaviors will slowly seep into your own life. Even if you think you’re immune, habits and attitudes are contagious.

Small Choices Compound Over Time

Consider this simple example.

If you exercise at least three days per week, you’ll see progress. Do it five days per week, and your results will be even better.

But if you instead have the habit of drinking a large chocolate shake for lunch every day, the impact won’t be immediate, but with time you’ll notice a negative shift in your health and energy levels.

Neither of these changes happen overnight.  But over months and years, they define who you become.

Our small choices create big results.

The Status Quo Trap—It’s Hard to Change

It’s obvious that if you run toward a cliff, ignoring all the warning signs, you’re in for a big fall. But in real life, it’s rarely that clear.

Like the boiling frog who doesn’t realize the water is heating up until it’s too late, many people stay in toxic environments, bad habits, or unproductive routines because the declining results are slow and gradual. It doesn’t feel urgent—until suddenly, it is.

Our Inputs Dictate Our Outputs—So Choose Wisely

Our mind works like an algorithm.  What we feed it shapes what it returns to us.

If we constantly consume negative news, gossip, or toxic social media, our mindset will reflect it.

If we surround ourselves with people who challenge us to grow, read books that inspire us, and engage in meaningful conversations, our perspective will shift toward productivity and fulfillment.

The good news? We choose. And by making intentional choices, we set the trajectory for our future.

Challenge: Take an Inventory of Your Inputs

For the next week, pay attention to what’s influencing you.  Your environment, the content you consume, and the habits you engage in.

Who are the five people you spend the most time with? Are they making you better?

What are you reading, watching, and listening to? Is it fueling growth or draining your potential?

What small habit could you start today that would improve your future?

The inputs you choose today will shape who you become tomorrow, next year, and a decade from now.

Your choices matter.  Make them count.

Photo by William Topa on Unsplash

Commitment Leads to Fulfillment

Zig Ziglar once said, “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”

This perfectly describes the driver of true achievement. It’s not just the initial desire or excitement that propel us, but the dedication to stick with something until the end.

I accidentally saw this idea come to life during a recent road trip.  I stopped by a taco shop.  It happened to be near a beach and was clearly a popular local destination.  The tacos were excellent, but that’s not the point of this story.

As I sat on the patio eating my carnitas tacos and enjoying the view, I couldn’t help overhearing a conversation at the table that less than two feet away.  Two early-twenties (by my estimation) men were talking about how amazing the surfing had been earlier that morning. 

I got from the conversation that they had been surfing together since they were teenagers and this morning’s session was a long-overdue reunion of sorts since they hadn’t surfed together in quite some time. 

One of them made a comment that stuck with me: “Surfing is the only time I’m really alive. I know what I’m doing and can feel the water telling me what to do. I wish I could get that kind of fulfillment out of the rest of my life. I feel like I’m just wandering around, waiting until I can surf again.”

It wasn’t long before his friend responded, “I know what you mean. I’ve had to settle down these past couple of years. I got a dog, and it’s been a lot of responsibility, but he’s amazing. He loves the beach, so I take him there as often as I can.”

Then came the real kicker. The first guy, the “wandering” one, responded, “Maybe that’s something I should do. I can’t get motivated at work and just want to quit. Maybe getting a dog would help me commit to the work.”

He used an extremely important word—commit. It was evident these two men are deeply committed to surfing. It’s their passion, and it gives them a sense of fulfillment that’s absent in other areas of their lives. Surfing isn’t something they merely do—it is something they live for. But beyond surfing, they lack the same kind of dedication. Their passion for the sport brings them joy because they are fully invested in it, heart and soul.

The wandering friend’s dilemma isn’t uncommon. Many people struggle with finding motivation in their daily lives.  They haven’t truly committed to something that extends beyond their comfort zone or personal hobbies. They desire fulfillment without realizing that commitment is often their missing link.

It was as though this young man had stumbled upon the key to unlocking motivation and purpose: he needed to commit. Whether it is work, relationships, or another area of his life, the power to find meaning and fulfillment can only come from his willingness to fully invest in something.

Goethe once said, “At the moment of commitment, the entire universe conspires to assist you.” This idea aligns with the realization that real fulfillment only comes from investing fully in what we do. When we are all in, we aren’t just going through the motions—we are owning the process, taking charge of the outcome, and continually working toward our goals.

The wandering surfer may never have thought about his job as something worth committing to. To him, it was just a means to an end, something he had to do so he could afford to spend time doing what he really wanted—to surf. But if he can shift his mindset and fully invest in his work with the same passion and dedication he gives to surfing, the fulfillment he seeks might not seem so elusive.

Fulfillment doesn’t come from merely reaching a goal or winning a trophy. As Cardinal Pell put it, “Commitment to a worthwhile goal brings fulfillment and meaning, even if the path is difficult.” The true joy and deep sense of satisfaction come from the commitment itself—the effort, discipline, and perseverance that drive us toward our goal.

If you’re handed a trophy without having worked for it, it’s meaningless. You know deep down that you didn’t earn it, didn’t push through the challenges, didn’t grow in the process. But if you earn that trophy through your own hard work and dedication, it’s a symbol of something far greater than the achievement—it’s proof of your commitment.

In the end, what we commit to is what brings meaning to our lives. Whether it’s our relationships, our careers, or even something as personal as surfing, the act of giving our all, of pushing through the hard times, is what fills us with a sense of purpose.

The wandering surfer wasn’t lost because he lacked passion; he was lost because he hadn’t fully committed to anything beyond the waves.

To truly live a fulfilling life, we must commit wholeheartedly. When we do, we’ll find that the truest sense of fulfillment comes from the dedication and growth that only commitment can bring.

Photo by Blake Hunter on Unsplash

Stepping Stones or Defining Moments? The Choice is Yours

Life is filled with stepping stones—moments that can either define us or simply become a small part of our journey.

When faced with challenges or opportunities, we can see them as just another step or as a moment for growth and clarity. Carl Jung once said, “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”

I recently re-watched a documentary about the Navy SEALs.  Every Navy SEAL candidate faces grueling hardships: physical exhaustion, frigid cold water, mental strain, and the constant threat of failure.

Some candidates see each challenge as an opportunity, a chance to push beyond their perceived limits and grow stronger. They embrace the pain, keep their focus.  They find strength in their determination and their fellow candidates. These candidates transform the hardships into defining moments, emerging on the other side as Navy SEALs.

Others, however, let the same hardships overwhelm them. Fear, frustration, and exhaustion cloud their resolve. The challenges, instead of being opportunities for growth, become insurmountable barriers. These candidates wash out, not because they lacked physical capability, but because they couldn’t shift their mindset to see the hardships as stepping stones rather than obstacles.

None of us are born with skills.  It’s easy to watch some Youtube videos and think woodworking is totally doable.  Any new woodworker can attest to the uneven cuts, the wobbly joints, and the frustrations that can come from trying this new hobby.  But, by learning from the mistakes, honing skills through practice and even more failures, projects begin to go more smoothly.  The final products are less uneven and wobbly…and the process becomes much more enjoyable.    

Learning and growth come from our willingness to take lessons from every experience. Reflecting on each attempt, seeking feedback, and choosing to improve.  It’s the decision to learn from every encounter that turns these stepping stones into personal and professional development milestones.

However, clouding our experiences with fear, frustration, anger, or other limiting emotions can lead us to ignore the growth opportunities these experiences present. When we let negative emotions dominate, we risk missing out on valuable lessons that can propel us forward.

It’s difficult, but essential, to manage our emotions and maintain a positive outlook to fully benefit from the lessons we can learn. 

The stepping stones in our lives are all potential defining moments. It’s up to us to decide whether we let them pass by or seize the opportunity to let them shape us. We can turn every step into a defining part of our journey.

It’s not just about the stones we step on but how we choose to step on them that defines our path.

p/c – Joshua Earle, Unsplash.com

Emotional Energy (The Secret Fuel for Great Leadership)

Emotional energy is the most important personal resource for a leader.  Leadership is demanding.  Leading is a verb and that action requires a tremendous amount of energy, emotional energy. 

If your emotional energy reserves are low, your leadership will suffer.

What is Emotional Energy?

Emotional energy is your internal fuel tank. It’s what keeps you motivated, resilient, and mentally strong. For leaders, high emotional energy is essential.  It fuels your ability to inspire and guide your team. When you’re full of energy, you’re more positive, proactive, and effective.

Emotional Energy Drains

Several things can sap your emotional energy:

  1. Troubles at Home: Personal issues and family conflicts can weigh heavily on your mind, leaving you drained.
  2. Doing Too Much at Once: Multitasking and overcommitting can lead to burnout.
  3. Feeling Like a Failure: Constant self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy can deplete your energy.
  4. Worrying About Small Stuff: Focusing too much on minor details that don’t matter will waste your energy.

Emotional Energy Boosters

To keep your emotional energy high, think and act strategically:

  1. Prioritize energizing activities: Engage in things that make you happy and relaxed, like hobbies, exercise, and spending time with loved ones.
  2. Eliminate Energy Drains: Identify tasks and responsibilities that drain you and find ways to reduce or eliminate them. Delegate when possible and don’t be afraid to say no.
  3. Practice self-care in your daily habits: Make time to get enough sleep, eat well, and have quiet time for your brain to relax.  Purposely practice gratitude, take breaks, and prioritize good boundaries around your work-life schedule (this last one will take some effort, but the payback is huge).    
  4. Create a supportive environment: Surround yourself with positive people both at work and home. Foster open communication and a culture of mutual respect and understanding.  Recognize and celebrate achievements…when was the last time you wrote a personal email or sent a handwritten card to someone congratulating them on an achievement or milestone?

Emotional Energy and Leadership

When your emotional energy is high, you’ll handle challenges better, inspire your team more, and maintain a positive outlook.  Your positive energy will ripple across your team and multiply the potential for the entire organization.

What will you do today to protect and recharge your emotional energy? 

More importantly, how will you use it to transform your leadership approach tomorrow?

p/c – yours truly at a small lake in Hillsdale, Michigan. An energizing place for some quiet time.

Embrace Newton’s Motion: Breaking Free from Inertia

Newton’s first law of motion (also called the law of inertia), states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force. While this principle is foundational in physics, it can be applied to the way we live our lives. 

In our daily lives, it’s easy to remain at rest. We experience moments of doubt and confusion, low motivation, and a natural tendency to avoid change. This mental and emotional inertia can keep us stuck, making it difficult to take action or move forward. Organizations often reinforce this inertia with incentives that promote the perceived “safety” of maintaining the status quo.

As we age, this resistance to movement can become even stronger. We rely on past experiences, often using them as justifications for inaction. “It didn’t work before, so why would it work this time?” This mindset is a barrier to personal growth and fulfillment.

Unfortunately, a life at rest, devoid of risk and new experiences, can become empty and unfulfilling.

Our goal should be to actively push against the inertia holding us in place. This involves taking risks, trying new things, and offering our time and energy to others. Overcoming inertia requires a conscious effort to break free from the comfort of staying still.

The second part of Newton’s law of inertia emphasizes that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. This should be a powerful motivator. Once we start moving in a direction, it’s likely that we’ll continue to do so unless something actively stops us.

Turns out that those around us are battling their own inertia and may not have the energy to impede our progress.

By choosing to move, we can capitalize on opportunities that arise. While others remain stuck in their self-imposed rest, we can explore new paths, achieve our goals, and live our most fulfilling life long before they even notice what we’re doing.

Embrace the motion. Take action. Push past the barriers, especially self-imposed barriers.   The world is full of opportunities for those who dare to tap into the Newtonian motion that’s available to each of us…all we have to do is move. 

p/c – Benjamin Voros, Unsplash.com

You are the Observer: Using the Hawthorne Effect for Self-Improvement

The Hawthorne Effect refers to a psychological phenomenon where humans modify their behavior in response to being observed or studied. This effect was first observed in the 1920s and 30s during a series of studies conducted at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago, hence the name.

The studies were designed to investigate the relationship between lighting conditions and worker productivity. But researchers found that regardless of changes in lighting, workers’ productivity improved when they knew they were being observed. This meant that the mere act of being the subject of an experiment or receiving attention could influence individuals to perform better.

It also means this powerful personal growth tool is available to you. It turns out that you are the observer you’ve been waiting for, the catalyst for your own transformation.

“You can’t learn to swim by reading a book about swimming. You have to get in the water.” – Unknown

The Burpee Quest

Funny thing about burpees:  watching someone do a burpee makes it look super easy (barely an inconvenience).  If a Crossfit guy tells you that a good warmup is 10 burpees per minute for 10 minutes, you might think that’s totally doable…until you try it.  You’ll learn about muscles you haven’t used in years.  You’ll be reminded that gravity is not your friend, and that you’re not as coordinated as you thought.

What if you start by doing 10?  Not 10 per minute for 10 minutes.  Just 10.  Each day.

That’s a tangible and doable goal to start.  You can observe (there’s that word) your progress and set incremental milestones for more.  Maybe you move up to 20 per day the second week, 40 per day the third week. 

A great way to keep track of your progress is to track your progress.  Sounds simple…but most people skip the tracking.  Tracking is your way to observe (there’s it is) your progress, and lets you become your own motivating force.  Write the date and burpee count down on a piece of paper, in your favorite journaling app, or maybe in an Excel spreadsheet. 

You are incrementally moving toward 100 burpees in a day.  You’re tracking your progress and will start to see the significance of each step toward your goal.

There’s something else you can observe (that word again).  Your body’s responses while you’re doing the exercise.  It will get easier as you go.  Easy?  No, just easier.  Your body (and mind) will begin to move to a higher level of performance.  Your baseline capability will increase.  Gravity still isn’t your friend, but you’re starting to learn how to partner with gravity to do the next burpee.

“Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous.” – Confucius

It’s been 4 or 5 weeks since you started this quest.  You’re now able to do 3 sets of 25 burpees each day.  You haven’t reached 100 burpees yet, but you’re well on your way.  If you’re like most people, you might observe (there it is) that you can lighten up a bit at this point.  You’ve totally got this.  You don’t need to push as hard to improve from here.  Your goal is in sight.  Don’t fall into this trap!

This is the moment to refocus your goal…push it out a bit…extend the finish line.  You’ve already mastered the movements, now you need to apply discipline and blow past your original goal of 100 burpees per day.  Parlay this achievement into the next goal? 

Maybe actually using the 100 burpees as the warmup that Crossfit guy described.  You’ve been working on just getting to 100 burpees in a day, but what’s the next exercise you can do after your burpee warmup?    

Same process.  Take it in increments, track your progress, celebrate your milestones, welcome to another new baseline, continue to improve, set the next goal.        

How can you apply this to your profession? 

Actively seek opportunities to acquire new skills. Embrace the awkwardness of not knowing exactly how to do something…and do it anyway.  Remember that the satisfaction of learning and growth is uniquely yours. You, as the observer, choose the path of continuous learning.  It’s the best way (the only way) to adapt to the evolving demands of your profession.

Improve your value in increments, track your progress, establish new baselines, continue to improve.  Sound familiar? 

Solicit constructive feedback from colleagues and mentors, appreciating external input as valuable guidance. However, remember that you are the only one who can internalize and implement these insights.  Nobody will do it for you.

“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” – Vernon Law

Your Keys to Self-Improvement

  1. Consistently integrate self-observation and improvement into your routine, recognizing that only you can chart the course of your personal growth.
  2. Reflect on your experiences, setbacks, and successes, understanding that the satisfaction of improvement is a personal journey. You are the sole interpreter of your progress.
  3. Remain flexible and open-minded, adjusting your methods based on feedback and new insights. As the observer, you continually determine refinements to your approach.
  4. Embrace setbacks as opportunities for growth, understanding that the satisfaction derived from overcoming challenges is a deeply personal experience. Stay committed to your objectives, recognizing that only you can appreciate the significance of your efforts.

The Hawthorne Effect is your friend (unlike gravity).  Use it and always remember that you are the observer, the driver, and the one who benefits most from your continuous improvement journey. 

Term Papers and Preventable Urgencies

Procrastination initiates a cascade of preventable urgencies, turning manageable tasks into overwhelming burdens and sowing seeds of chaos in our future.

Few things strike fear into the hearts of students quite like the term paper.

The teacher lays out the assignment – a substantial research paper requiring thorough analysis and a minimum of 5000 words.  Oh yeah…and half of your grade in the class will be based on how well you do on the term paper.  You have until the last week of the semester to get it done. 

You think about the topic.  You might even jot down some notes on your phone about how you’ll approach it.  But there’s no need to rush on this assignment.  You have plenty of time.  Besides, your friends are heading out to get some tacos and margaritas at your favorite Mexican restaurant.  This term paper can wait another day.    

As the weeks go by, a creeping feeling of impending doom grips your subconscious. You haven’t started work on that term paper.  Growing anxiety and stress become unwelcome companions as the deadline looms closer, and you realize the gravity of the task at hand. 

Unfortunately, you have other things on your plate that need more attention.  Ironically, many of these more-urgent items are other long-term projects that you had chosen to delay…until now. 

The urgency of the term paper magnifies as the deadline inches closer.  The once-manageable project becomes an overwhelming burden. 

You start to question the fairness of the assignment.  How can this teacher expect me to write 5000 words on this topic when I have all these other classes to manage and so little time to get it done?

A cascade of preventable urgencies engulfs your life, leaving you in a world of self-inflicted chaos.

Sound familiar? 

The term paper saga is a small-scale reflection of the self-inflicted busyness and chaos in our lives.    

Only a disciplined and methodical approach to our tasks can break the grip of procrastination.  Our bias must be toward thoughtful and immediate action, not mindless delays to another day. 

The time to start work on that long-term project is now, not tomorrow.  The time to continue work on that long-term project is tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day after that.      

Procrastination is a choice.  Each delay we accept sows seeds of chaos in our future. Every task we postpone adds to the burden our future selves must bear.