“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.”
–Martha Washington 1732-1802, First American First Lady
“Man is not a creature of circumstance, rather circumstances are creatures of man”
–Benjamin Disraeli
Live With Intention,
Dr Bill
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt, Former American First Lady
“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.”
–Denis Waitley, Author and Speaker
Funerals have a way of re-focusing priorities.
Wise words from Jim Rohn;
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”
“A life worth living is a life worth recording”
“I always carry two books with me, one to read and one to write in”
–Jim Rohn
Live with Intention,
Dr Bill
We attended the funeral of a friend yesterday. We experienced a wonderfully exhausting emotional roller coaster throughout the day as we were reminded of our own mortality, insignificance, significance and more.
I was once again struck by the importance of leaving a legacy, living your life as either an example or a warning and the incredible balance in life. The balance between dark/light, hot/cold, young/old, joy/sorrow and our interpretations or perceptions thereof.
“You’ll seldom experience regret for anything that you’ve done. It is what you haven’t done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.”
–Dr Wayne Dyer, Author and Speaker
What I am aware of this morning is the Life is a series of “Moments“. One of the Blessings of building our/your business is who you become in the process of building it. Because we work hard we earn the opportunity to live a life without regrets, we create the opportunity to celebrate life’s closet crying moments, “failures” (learning experiences), successes and more. We all have choices and opportunity. And of all the “Moments” we have in our life; none are so important as the moment you discover who you truly are and the magnificence that is yours and yours alone.
Live With Intention,
Live with Passion,
Dr Bill
For business owners or Sales reps this little phrase has been passed down for many generations; Stories sell, Facts only tell. The most important part of any presentation is you telling your story of why you started your business – in 2 minutes or less – because that’s what people will remember.
Another comment/observation from molecular biologist John Medina from his book Brain Rules; “One important area of research, is the effect of emotion on learning. Emotionally arousing events tend to be better remembered than neutral events. They persist much longer in our memories and are recalled with greater accuracy than neutral events.”
Don Norman in his book, Things That Make Us Smart, says, “Stories are important cognitive events, for they encapsulate, into one compact package, information, knowledge, context, and emotion.” Stories capture the big picture.
Example; remember the last really GREAT movie you watched. Now, what specifically do you remember?
It is extremely likely that you remember a particular scene…vs what you were wearing or what you ate during the movie or what theater you were in. And if I were to ask you to describe the scene you could do so with accuracy and with the same or similar emotional intensity you experienced at the theater.
Example; most baby boomer men will remember Clint Eastwood’s line; “Go ahead – Make my Day!” not because of the cleverly written dialogue, rather because of the intense emotion(s) attached to it….and from that one line we defined a whole character, and now an era. Can you remember the rest of the dialogue form that movie or most others? Most likely NOT.
This is because neuroscientists discovered several years ago that our brains remember pictures first. THEN it remembers the emotional context, and lastly, it remembers language. (In fact in any human interaction, only 7% of the communication is the words we use, 35% is the tonal quality, and 58% is our body language.)
In other words, we don’t just listen to stories; we see images and feel emotions. We actually experience the story as if it’s happening to us. And because a person can remember your story, they can remember your key point which then can be transformed into an actionable event called making a “sale”.
Live with Intention,
Dr Bill
