Forming Friendships

Much has been discussed about the advantages and disadvantages of the current method of communication and forming friendships. I can see the inherent disadvantages of communication via texting, email and IMing. Much of the face to face communication has been lost. Since I started this post, I connected with a friend that I haven't seen since High School nearly forty years ago on Facebook! Let me go on record as officially endorsing this social media trend!

Expectations

I have done an incredible amount of reading on intelligence, the difference between races and ethnicities and cultures. I've discovered in my fifty-six years of living on this rock called Earth that the difference between us has never been about intelligence or aptitude, but expectations. In certain cultures the expectations that a child was going to excel in Math or Science is baked in. Just like the expectation that a child would excel in sports is a foregone conclusion. You probably could picture that child as I described the characteristics... It's all about what a parent expects from the child. I am reminded of the story of Thomas Edison. It is said that as a child he came home from school one day and handed his mother a note from the teacher wrote that she instructed him not to read. Thomas Edison's mother opened the note and read it silently to herself. Then she read it aloud to her son. "Dear Mrs. Edison, your son has exceeded the abilities of our staff to instruct him and we will no longer be able to teach him at our school." Several years later when Mrs. Edison had passed, Thomas Edison was going through her letters and found the note from the teacher. It read, "Dear Mrs. Edison, your son does not have the intelligence to keep up with the other students and we cannot address his needs at this school. Please find an alternative." Mrs. Edison had homeschooled him from that day forward.

Persistence

Of all of the virtues which have been portrayed in writing since ancient times one of them takes prevalence over intelligence, wisdom and charm. It is persistence because it is the engine that powers the other virtues. You can get all of the other virtues if you try long enough.

Word of Mouth

In marketing circles it accepted that the best form of advertising and marketing is word of mouth advertising from a friend or associate. It is the least expensive and the most credible as well. I finally figured out where my word of mouth advertising comes into play... There's a Spirit deep inside each of us that desires our word of mouth testimony. This Spirit craves it! It's free! It's from a credible source. This Spirit provides you with everything that you need and some of what you want.

Keeping Secrets

As a Life Coach for many years one of the exercises that I give my students is to write the clues that God has given them about their purpose; their gift. I realized that as long as I have been teaching this principle I have never been 'the man in the mirror' and taken an honest look at my own life. But today it finally hit home...it all made sense. I have always loved writing and I have an aptitude for it. I am a writer! In spite of all of the things that I've done, I am a writer.

Why pursuing your dream should never be a sprint!

When watching a sprint during a track meet a lot of effort and energy is expended in a brief amount of time. Marathon runners; on the other hand talk about the importance of pacing oneself. Marathons also have obstacles like the steeplechase. Life has obstacles as well. Unlike the steeplechase, however; sometimes those obstacles come with no warning. You can't prepare or plan for them. Some people call this serendipity. Other people throw up their hands and shrug their shoulders and say, "Caca happens..." (Most people don't say Caca...) It is said that 10% of life is what happens to us and 90% of life is how we deal with it. Take your time and stay focused.

Consistently consistent

I'm posting this for one reason and one reason only. I want to be consistent. Consistency is critical to achieving success. It has been said that 'practice makes perfect'. Someone once told me that perfect practice makes perfect. I abandoned any illusions of perfection and chose instead to focus on consistency. Consistency breeds success and success breeds happiness.