Always room for excellence

The above image was taken from “Excellence Wins” by Horst Schulze

I truly believe that, no matter our chosen field of endeavor, if we strive for excellence there will ALWAYS be room to succeed.

Excellence is achieved by a commitment to daily steps and decisions. And it is never over.

Striving to improve is excellent.

And remember, the joy is in the journey, so make sure you choose to attempt to be excellent as something you actually like doing. I don’t think excellence would be sustainable if there wasn’t happiness to be found in the striving 🙂

Have a most joyfully-excellent Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

This thing (these things) will help you

Do you know what this thing is?

Funny enough, it is a “false ceiling” that came on my recent deodorant purchase. Basically it keeps the deodorant safe from any crushing damage that could cause the actual lid compress into the deodorant stick.

Why am I writing about this?

Because in our world, there are lots of things that would damage us should we not have an extra layer of protection. And I’m not talking about physical damage or physical protection.

When life throws crushing troubles (or even minor troubles) at you, realize the false ceiling layers that save you and help you get through (relatively) unscathed.

Whether that layer is your faith in God, your friendship circle, your mental fortitude, or your ability to realize that the problem isn’t what damages you, it’s how you choose to respond, or a combination of those and many more, the reality is you will make it through.

Sometimes it is easy to forget we have these layers of protection and we take them for granted.

Sometimes, the situation is so hard we forget they are there.

However, if we just take the time (especially in good times) to remember these protections, they serve us well when called upon.

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Red light = invitation

We’ve all done it.

We are in a hurry, trying to get to work, get home, meet a friend, etc and a red light pops up forcing us to stop.

We huff and puff and allow frustration to take hold.

But what if we change that mindset (it is entirely up to us after all)?

What if we allow the red light to be an invitation?

An invitation to breathe. To reconnect to the present, to pause.

We are so busy driving toward the future, we forget to savor the present.

Maybe the red lights are there to invite us to relax, and to remind us to savor the moment we are in.

Flip your mindset.

Enjoy the pauses that are “forced” upon you.

And have a happy Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

At the end of the day…

I am reading The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan.

One chapter I really like discusses how at the end of the day, about an hour before bed it is IMPERATIVE to turn off the tv, the phone, tablet, etc and to truly relax, read and ideally journal.

Messing with technology before bed is all too commonplace (A study quoted in the book stated that over 90% of participants looked at their phone (scrolled) just before bed). The detriments time doing so include: brain waves activating rather than shutting down, suppressing melatonin from the blue lighted screens, and delaying the all-too-important REM sleep.

Instead, unplug, relax and journal. All it takes is to write down 3 wins from the day you had and write 3 you’d like to achieve tomorrow.

Keep them small, but true goals (“having my coffee” is probably not a lofty goal).

When you look back at your wins, think of the people you’ve lifted up and connected with as well.

The world needs connection and you play a huge role in that.

Have an awesome day!

Happy Monday

-Dr. Lindeman

Obsessive vs Harmonious Passion

Are you obsessed with your goals?

It happens often.

We want something so bad (promotion, a better personal record, a certain salary, some form of measurable success), that we are obsessed with attaining it.

Our happiness becomes tied to “when we succeed.” We fool ourselves into thinking “If I can just get ___, then I will be happy.”

This is obsessive passion.

Harmonious passion on the other hand, is being happy now in the process of attaining success. It is about seeing how far we’ve come already compared to how far we have to go.

And research shows that being obsessively passionate pushes you more toward negative emotions and thoughts. Further research shows, negative thoughts are killers to growth and success.

Gratitude and other positive thoughts however, allow for creativity and flow to take place.

When we are grateful about how far we’ve come while keeping an eye on where we want to go, we see the whole picture and the full beauty of life.

You will have a more probable successful outcome when you can decide to be happy now, be grateful for where and who you are, instead of grasping at something to try to make you happy.

Expand your vision today 🙂

-Happy Wednesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Numbers

We, as humans, focus a lot on numbers.

I know I do.

As a chiropractor/business owner, numbers are a measuring stick on how well we are doing. New patients, patient visits, collections, expenses, etc. These all help us gauge our success.

Nothing wrong with that.

The problem arises if we put too much emphasis on the numbers and forget the meaning behind them.

Numbers only measure finite things and no matter what we “do”, I highly doubt our purpose lies in the finite.

Our why goes much deeper than what we can measure.

Keep track of the numbers, most definitely, but more importantly, don’t lose sight of what the numbers actually represent.

And dwell a bit more on the things we cannot measure: connection to our patients/customers/co-workers, passion for what we do, the reason we get out of bed and go to work, making each person’s day just a bit better, spreading joy, having fun, expanding life through our “jobs.”

We cannot measure those things directly, but they are the necessary ingredients for any numbers to materialize.

Have an awesome day!

-Dr Lindeman

Both of these images are from the book: The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

High fives! 🙌

You should definitely check out The Ed Mylett podcast and Mel Robbins book: The High Give Habit

There is power (and research) in celebrating small victories, congratulating ourselves, and setting intention.

One thing the book and this podcast episode touches on is the fact that, unfortunately, we are prone to feeling unworthy of celebration. In fact we are prone to feeling unworthy in general.

We can raise that baseline simply by incorporating small celebrations and acknowledgements of our amazing worthy-ness into our daily lives.

We all deserve love. And we definitely deserve to love ourselves.

We have survived every crazy challenge that has been put before us to this point.

We have overcome many obstacles.

We do A LOT of things l, very well, every day.

We impact lives (whether we know it or not).

We have style.

We have grace.

We smile, we laugh, we love, we help, we even provide energy for others (including nature).

We are amazing.

Listen ti the podcast, read the book, and HIGH FIVE yourselves today!

Happy Tuesday

-Dr Lindeman

Your mind matters

This is a snapshot from: It Takes What it Takes by Trevor Moawad

I really like the book and I thought this was powerful.

Your thoughts exert incredible influence in your daily life.

Sometimes you can’t control your thoughts, negative things, judgmental thoughts, etc will pop up. However, you can decide how much emphasis to place in those thoughts and you can always re-frame the next thought as a rebuttal to the negative.

You can always decide to focus on the positives in your current reality instead of false negatives.

You are the captain of your ship and you can choose to steer wisely, toward a more positive future.

Happy sailing!

Have a fantastic day!

-Dr Lindeman

Not in spite of… BECAUSE of

I love this quote. My uncle posted it on Facebook, actually.

So thank you, Uncle Al.

This quote is sooo true. I recently read a great book “The Obstacle is The Way” by Ryan Holiday.

The whole premise is that, contrary to popular opinion, our challenges don’t hold us back, in fact they are exactly what propel us forward.

Now, I don’t think we should go looking for tragedy.

Life is hard enough.

But I do think we need to take a good look at our challenges and think about how, when we overcome our obstacles, our lives will be improved.

It is impossible to grow without obstacles.

In fact, in a human embryo, if the cells are not stressed, they don’t divide and grow.

How many instances can you think of that felt horrible at the time, (a lost job, a break-up, a “no”, a door closing) that actually allowed a much brighter future to manifest?

It’s ok to get upset about challenges.

However, realize that these challenges he’s are what will actually create the future you desire. Or even more, they will allow a much brighter future than you imagined take shape.

So smile in the face of adversity, and know the challenges are your building blocks to your dream life.

Happy Monday!

-Dr Lindeman

How are you defined?

If you aren’t on Simon Sinek’s daily notes to inspire list, you should really consider it!

This tidbit today was great!

I believe too often, we define ourselves by what we do. “I’m a chiropractor.” “I’m a teacher.” “I’m a potato chip critic.”

Those are all the jobs we chose, and we should be proud.

However, the bigger thing is WHY we do them.

If we are happy with our careers, it is more than likely because we get to express what we truly care about in life through our field.

We are defined by what we care about, and how we choose to make a (happy) living is our way to express what we care about.

So if you are feeling burned out, a bit sluggish or etc, tap into what you care about, connect that to what you are doing today and I promise you, your day will be immensely brighter (for yourself and for everyone you come in contact with).

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

-Dr. Lindeman