Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 27th

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them. - Ann Landers

Theodore Roosevelt…our 26^th president had an amazing life.  His younger years were largely shaped based on his poor health.  He would often have severe asthma attacks and occasionally have nighttime asthma attacks that would appear as if someone was trying to smother him.  Even with his poor health, he was a very inquisitive and energetic child.  

Through his 60 years, he accomplished many things according to various sources:

• studied biology at Harvard

• wrote over 35 books

• read over 10,000 books

• established the Rough Riders

• won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War

• worked as state legislator, police commissioner, and governor in New York

• worked on his ranch in the Dakotas

• was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy

• war hero

• hunted big game

• explored and named an uncharted Amazonian river

• was the youngest president

• became the first president to fly in a plane

• became the first president to leave the country in order to oversee the production of the Panama Canal

How do you think he was able to accomplish so many things in life?  He developed the habit of the strenuous life philosophy.  Here is an excerpt from a speech he gave in Chicago on April 10, 1899:

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. – The Strenuous Life – Theodore Roosevelt

With his health problems growing up, he decided not to be one that would sit back, procrastinate and not take action.  He would often take on tasks that most men winced at because he believed in the strenuous life.  Because of this philosophy, he developed a unique self-discipline and many habits that will be discussed in the coming weeks.

Resources:

http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/09/22/productivity-hacks-from-teddy-roosevelt/

http://www.bartleby.com/58/1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - January 20th

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. - Napoleon Bonaparte

What decision do you have to make today?  Have you been agonizing over it for a while?  Yesterday, I finally made a decision that I had been waffling over for 2 months.  Once I made it, I had peace and knew I made the right decision.    

You may be thinking, “Terri, why was this decision so hard for you?”  The decision was hard because it was part of MY plan to fulfill my personal purpose statement and 2015 goals.  However, I discovered it was not something I was supposed to do. 

At the end of July 2014, I applied to speak at a conference for a group in both November and May.  I was selected and participated in the November conference.  The May conference organizer approached me at the November event and said that I had conducted a great session and was excited for May.  That morning, I had been thinking I was not sure it was the right thing for me to do.  When she said this, I told the conference organizer that I wanted to review my schedule before I confirmed that I would speak.  My schedule was pretty crazy for 2014 and I was concerned that I would not be able to spend adequate time on the presentation and did not want to do a disservice to the conference attendees.  She was fine with that and asked that I make a decision by the end of January. 

How did I FINALLY make the decision?  I weighed everything I have going on, looked at my personal purpose statement, 2015 goals and 2015 priorities.  I weighed the pros and cons of how it would be beneficial and mulled it over in my brain for a long while. 

Yes, I could have done it.  However as I told the organizer, I had a few things come up just last week that I had not planned for in 2015 that are going to cause my schedule to be even more hectic than I expected.  To be fair to the attendees, I would not have the time to spend on creating the presentation as I had desired when I originally applied.

At the end of December, my boss and I had a discussion.  He told me to pick the 3 main things I wanted to focus on for work.  Everything else that came up would either be handled or fall away. 

I learned from the conversation with my boss and through this situation that I need to be more focused on the important things in life.  Certain things may be important, but I have to truly think over the pros and cons.  If it is that important, I need to remove another priority so that I do not overload my life. 

My challenge to you is to find your top 3 priorities for 2015 based on your current life situation, goals, purpose statement, etc.  By having all of these items written down and being able to review them to make decisions, you have a clear road map to make help make wise decisions. 

HAPPY TUESDAY!!!!

Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions. - Unknown

P.S. If you would like information about writing a personal purpose statement, goals or determining your priorities, please contact me and I will be happy to assist.