Tag: personal development

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Win a Free Cruise!

Win a free Cruise!

by Carlin Day

Have you ever got the call about a free cruise? You’ve won a free cruise! What a great day! I have never met someone who actually won a free cruise, but yet the calls go out everyday announcing to people that they have been selected to win.

You have not won a free cruise. Although it is sad, I do have something better to offer than a free cruise. How about a better life? Did you know we can all make our lives better. The way we can do this is by improving ourselves and the lives of others. It can be done by elevating value.

Something that has changed my life over the last couple of years is the thinking of how you change the course of a big ship. A cruise ship would be a good example of a big ship. If you are going to change course, it must be done slowly. A turn will take time and eventually you will have changed course.

If you think of your life as a giant ship, the ship is made up of all the habits you have formed over all the years of your life. If you are to make changes, they will be slow. If you make changes slowly and with a planned course of action, you actually can make changes.  The key is starting to turn and making sure you have the discipline to start the small changes. Following small changes will eventually turn into big changes.  Here is a quote about making changes.

“The secret to Momentum in life can be found in the word Momentum….you create it Moment by Moment…”
-– Doug Firebaugh

If you want to change anything about your life, you can do it. Make a plan for where you would like to be in 5 years. Slowly, start making the changes that will get you where you want to be. At first, the changes will not be noticeable. After a period of self discipline success, the changes start to accumulate, and eventually expand exponentially.  If you were going to change your life, here are some obvious but powerful areas to start.

  • Health – better eating, better activity
  • Spiritual – increase prayer, increase reading, increase activity
  • Money – improve money habits, improve financial literacy, talk to professionals
  • Time – Improve time management. Do you know how much time you have in a day?  Answer

This list does not require money. It requires self discipline.  As the quote says, “moment by moment”, the changes can be made. No one wins a free cruise, but if you understand how to change, you can get your life on the course you desire.

Questions:

Has anyone won a free cruise?

If you had to give a speech or performance two weeks from now, what area of your life would work on the most?

Is there a better way to make a plan than on paper or journal?

Carlin can be contacted at carlin@elevatingvalue.com

 

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How do you build?

How do you build?
by Carlin Day

There are all kinds of things to build. You can build a business. You can build a house. You can build a fortune. You can even build muscle.  A person will use all kinds of different tools and an assortment of different materials, yet the process of what is happening is the same. Something is being built. Two questions come to mind when I think about something being built. Do you know what materials you are using? Do you know how to build?

What materials are you using?

Believe it or not, a person is always building something. They are using one day after another and stacking all the days up. The finished process is the life that has been built. During those days, they are also building other things (actual individual projects).  Everything that you think, listen to, and talk about, is building you! These are the materials that you are using.

How to build?

My kids can build incredible things out of legos and blocks. What’s funny is that sometimes they decide what it is after it has been built. This would never happen when a builder builds a house. The builder looks at the completed house and says “Well, not really what I was going for.” No, the builder has exact plans. There will be small changes, but the finished project will be very close to the original plan. When a person builds a sand castle, there is usually not a plan. One bucket of sand goes here. One bucket of sand goes there. In the end, you may add a flag or a lookout tower. A person then steps back and says, “It looks pretty good”. I always say “I sure am awesome. Kids, this is how you build a sand castle” Even though I can build a great sandcastle, very rarely is it incredible.  I also never use plans. When there is a big sandcastle contest, the winner most definitely had a plan. Going back to the question on how to build – the answer is that if you want it to matter, and if you want it to be of value, you use a plan. If it is something that does not matter, you probably do not need a plan.  You can just have fun and understand it is just a sandcastle or a block tower. The ocean tide or some playful kids will destroy it.

Take Away

If you are always building, you are always using some kind of planning. Valuable things require planning and things that are of little value require no planning. Start planning and start doing things that matter. Do you want to be a better friend? Start planning ways to do it. Do you want to start a business? Start a real business plan. Here is a question to leave you with.

What is something small you can build, that will create enormous value?