Have to? Or GET TO?

Jon Gordon has discussed this topic quite a few times on stage and in his books.

How many times do you think (especially on Monday’s) about what you “have to” do today?

“I have to go to work.”

“I have to take out the trash.”

“I have to pay that bill.”

“I have to unsubscribe from the free paper towels Monday email service. I still have no idea how they got my email…”

If you took the time and wrote out all the times you think about what you “have to” do, the list would be staggering.

If we could reframe those thoughts into “get to”, just replace one word, our world seems brighter.

You see, there are thousands of people who would love to GET TO do what you HAVE TI DO.

You have to go to work? Tons of people are out of jobs right now.

You have to take out the trash? A lot of people are homeless and don’t have a trash can to take out.

You have to unsubscribe from stupid junk emails? The world is full of people who don’t even own a computer.

And from another angle, everything we think we have to do, actually helps us somehow in our own lives.

So today, each time you think of something you have to do, spend twice the time thinking of how blessed you are to get to do it, and how whatever it is will actually help you in the long run.

Get to it this Monday 🙂

-Dr Lindeman

Count the seeds? Or the apples?

Too often, we are concerned with the results.

We measure our days, quarters, years in numbers.

We count the apples, so to speak.

Sometimes we forget that there would be no harvest without tending to the seeds, the efforts, the process, the journey.

The numbers are important. They are a way to see where we are at that moment in time. But they don’t tell the whole story.

Unless, we are hoping the story ends there (boring and finite).

No we forget that our efforts, our imaginations, our work ethic, our vision for the future and the connections we have and create with others will determine the bounty of future harvests.

It is impossible to precisely tell what the yield we be from our efforts.

But the key is to keep tending to the seeds, and to enjoy the journey.

Count the fruit, sure, but then get busy tending to the process :-).

Have a bountiful seed-planting Tuesday!

-Dr Lindeman

YOUR Race

This guy is probably very fast.

Odds are, I can’t match his speed on the ice.

mountain-bike-speed-big

This girl is probably very fast.

Odds are, I can’t match her speed on the mountain bike trail.

And odds are, the top guy probably can’t ice skate on a mountain bike trail as fast as she can ride, and she probably can’t ride as fast on the ice as this guy can skate.

The point is this:

THEY ARE GREAT AT THEIR RACES, BUT PROBABLY NOT AMAZING AT EACH OTHER’S.

You are the only person that is uniquely suited to running your race/your life.

And yet, you probably compare yourself to others all the time.

Today, focus on running YOUR race to the best of YOUR ability, and forget about what anyone else is doing.

And when you do find yourself comparing, just picture a guy in roller-skates trying to take 1st place in the 200 meter backstroke in the pool… and realize that’s what you’re doing 😉

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

-Dr. Lindeman

Don’t be the center

“Don’t be the center of attention at your office.”-Dr Greg Howard

This was said at the wonderful zoomcast conference this past weekend. Dr. Howard was bringing the point home that even though we run our chiropractic offices, we should not be the center of attention.

This can be applied to any job/position.

True leaders earn their position as a leader by focusing on the people they serve.

You can be given a title of “leader” by virtue of a job description, but people will not truly follow you unless you first put them in the forefront of your interests.

The world is full of powerful people.

They are not necessarily considered leaders.

In large corporations, there are CEOs, CFOs, Vice Presidents, etc. There are also an innumerable amount of leaders on every floor, in every group and in al situations.

Strive to lead others, by putting yourself second.

If we all focused on helping others, focused the groups we get to help (lead), I promise we all would be better off.

Lead strong (by loving others) today!

Happy Wednesday!

-Dr Lindeman

Pygmies and the horizon

This story was taken from the book below:

“About 50 years ago a Pygmy named Kenge took his first trip out of the dense, tropical forests of Africa and into the open plains in the company of an anthropologist. Buffalo appeared in the distance-small black specks against a bleached sky- and the Pygmy surveyed them curiously. Finally, he turned to the anthropologist and asked what kind of insects they were. “When I told Kenge that these insects were indeed large buffalo, he roared with laughter and told me not to tell such stupid lies.”

The Pygmy had no concept of a distant horizon, he lived his life in a dense tropical forest. His perception drove his reality.

Sometimes we need to borrow others’ vision in order to see what is possible. Sometimes we don’t have a concept of a distant horizon 🙂

Borrow a BIG vision for your future today!

Happy Thirsday

-Dr Lindeman

Ruminate or Marinate?

worry-never-robs-tomorrow-of-its-sorrow-it-only-saps-today-of-its-joy.-leo-buscaglia

It is so easy to worry, especially today.

Uncertainty promotes fear which feeds worry.

Worries are imaginary friends (and I call them friends because we do seem to spend a lot of time with them).

When we ruminate in worry, we rob our soul of joy.

Worry and hope/faith are two sides of the same coin, and we can choose which one to focus on.

Neither our hopes/dreams or our worries/fears have happened, so they both don’t exist. We just give power to them by virtue of our thoughts and emotions.

So we can choose.

We can stop ruminating in worry, and instead marinate in dreams and positive visions for the future.

It really is that simple.

But simple ain’t EASY.

We need to put in some work, to train our minds to focus on hope rather than fear, it doesn’t come naturally.

Get busy working/marinating today, create that habit of doing so and it will become easier.

And the future will taste all the more delicious for us doing so.

Happy Thursday!

-Dr. Lindeman

Your view/your future

This is an excerpt from the book: “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert.

Good book so far.

The point I want to make form the Shakespeare quote is that we need to create our own happiness.

We can “borrow” goals and visions from others, but ultimately, we need to steer our own ship.

Just because you see some successes make others happy, they may not make you feel the same.

Find what lights you up, and work toward doing more of that :-).

-Happy Monday!

Dr Lindeman

Grit defined

I just started reading this book (it was recommended by a friend).

I like it so far!

I am not a Cross Fit athlete but the lessons discussed can help in all walks of life.

I like what he wrote about grit.

We all need grit to succeed no matter what it is we want to succeed at!

Grit defies comfort. In order to grow we need to stretch our boundaries. We need to call and get back up. We need to fuel our lives with grit.

Have a gritty Monday, friends!

-Dr Lindeman

Persistence and the law of repetition

It’s a new year!

Time to set goals, dream big, change our lives…. and hopefully these intentions last past Jan 31st.

The biggest problem with resolutions (and therefore their failure) is that we set big, daunting goals that would require big, daunting changes in order to accomplish them.

As Ovid says, persistence is the key to lasting change.

If you want to accomplish something big, you are better off breaking it down into smaller chunks.

Want to exercise an hour everyday but you haven’t done so in years? Start with 5 minutes and work your way up.

The first step is the most meaningful on any journey. And each step after the first one can be all the more meaningful if we visualize them as ANOTHER first step.

Repetition and persistence are the keys to true growth.

Happy first-steps!

-Dr Lindeman

P.S. check out my book Purposely Positive: How to Live an Intentional and Inspired Life on Amazon for more strategies to help you live your best life!

CONSISTENCY

Thanks for sharing this today, Jessica! It is from Oprah’s book: The Path Made Clear and it is great!

We forge our character, our futures, and our very lives through consistency.

You may not realize all that you are consistently doing right now. But whatever those thoughts and actions are, they have lead you to the life you live now.

You can always change your habits, develop or improve on your consistency in the areas you want to experience growth in order to live a more fulfilling life!