The Mind of KLH

While I was laying on the couch… in the back of my mind I knew I should write a post on this blog of mine…but the couch felt so comfortable…and comfort has a way of disabling ambition and progress.  I have these dreams and big goals…and I know fully well that I will never achieve what I want in life, if it’s up to this damn couch.  So…I decide to sit up, grab the laptop, and start writing…even though I didn’t want to.

Here’s the thing, at the other side of ‘didn’t want to’ is a whole new world.  A world of accomplishment and dreams come true.  Any worthwhile goal will require of you sacrifice and discipline.  You WILL have to give up things.  You WILL have to do certain things, and stop doing others.  You WILL have to be patient and persistent.  You WILL have to say no to yourself…perhaps a lot more than you’ve been accustomed to.  But that is the price of accomplishment.  I heard someone say you must ‘give up what others have now, to have what others cannot have tomorrow’. 

Now trying to one up the Jones’s is not what that is about…at least not in my mind.  It’s about being willing to not watch that really funny TV show and practice your guitar.  It about not going out with your friends so you can complete the report for your college biology class.  It about getting up off the couch to write your blog, even though you have a right to be on that couch because you worked all day.

There is a price for success.  The price varies depending on what it is you want to be successful at…but please be clear, there is indeed a price.  Success demands that you pay that price up front, and in full, before you can have it.  You can’t get a discount…you can’t get a ‘hook up’, you have to pay.  The good news is, success has a layaway plan!!!  You can put down a small deposit and pay a little every day, or every week.  As long as you keep paying, the Universe will hold your ‘merchandise’.  If you continue to pay until your balance has been met, success will give itself to you.

So do you want to be successful?  Are there things you want out of life?  Places you want to travel to? You can have it all.  However you have to pay the price.  You have to put in the work…Even When You Don’t Want To.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

Yes that’s right time does keep on slipping…Steve Miller says “Into The Future”.  I’m not sure what the future part means, but I do know about time slipping away.  This ’slippage’ is a very big challenge when you’re trying to accomplish goals.  You can want to earn $20,000 more this year, lose 20lbs., or start a new business and it all seems good, exciting, and possible at first..  But then, time keeps on slipping, and before you now it a week has passed, a month, and then a year.  Eventually you give up on your goal, or even forgot you ever set a goal.  Yes…’time keeps on slipping’, and if you are ever to accomplish things you have got to prevent the ‘slippage’.

So, how do you prevent time from slipping away?  First you have to be present, or to put it another way you have to be aware.  Be aware that you have some important goals on the table that require action.  Be aware that if you do not act that time will indeed keep slipping away.  Be aware that there is no better time than now. 

If you have a goal you want to accomplish I would suggest that you commit to acting on that goal on a regular time schedule.  Some things can  and should be acted upon daily…other things may be better suited to weekly or monthly action.  The important thing is to commit the consistency.  Consistent action will prevent time from slipping away from you.  Consider this…February 2012 will come, and it will go.  The question is where will you be in relation to your goal? 

If you would take even a small action on a regular basis to move you closer to your goal, then February 2012 will look a whole lot better to you.  Don’t let procrastination rob you of the future you want for yourself.  Act on your goal regularly.  Now…don’t kid yourself into thinking you only need to complete an action once a month, when really you should be acting once a day.  Be honest with yourself…and be true to what is REALLY in your best interest.

How do you want your future to look?  If you want your life to be different than it is now…you’re gonna have to do things differently.  Take time regularly…preferably daily (there… I said it) to move yourself closer to your goal.  If you give it half a chance time will slip right through your fingers like water…Don’t let it.

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH

Well…I think this may be the first post I’ve written that begins with a question…and a question (good ones at least) deserves an answer.  It is so hard to do big things because they ARE BIG.  It’s easy to say “I want to be rich”, but it’s hard to get rich because that’s such a big thing.  Or, “I want to lose 50 lbs.” That’s hard to do because 50 lbs. is a big thing ( the pun really isn’t intended).  How about a couple more:  “I want to buy a house on a lake”, “I want a Mercedes S550″, “I want to be a successful singer, rapper, basketball player”.  You understand what I’m getting at.  These are all big aspirations.  It’s easy to say them…but much harder to do…because they are big.

So, how do you accomplish big things?  The answer is very simple…you break them down into small things.  If you want a million dollars in the bank, you’re most likely not going to be able to do that with one big deposit. Because of that most people will never become millionaires.  If a person could diet and exercise for one week and lose 50lbs. everybody would be willing.  The fact of the matter is it takes many weeks of very hard work and sacrifice to lose 50lbs., so most people who need or want to, will not.  It’s too big of a goal, it’s too hard. So what you have to do is break it down.

The challenge with breaking big goals down into small manageable chunks, is it’s hard to see how you’ll ever get to the finish line.  Right here I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…The Finish Line Is There…and it’s always gonna be there.  Even if you can’t see it from your current vantage point…it is there.  One of the qualities that most successful people have is vision.  Even when it’s not apparent to most people, a successful person can see the finish line.  So…they take small steps often.  Wanna be a millionaire?  I can tell you a very simple way…it’s not exciting…it’s not sexy…here it is:  Open a savings account and start saving $500 per month every month.  Next year increase the savings by $100, so you’re saving $600 per month.  Every year increase your monthly savings by $100 per month.  At the end of 20 years guess what???  You will have a million dollars in the bank.  This example assumes that you’re not making any interest at all…so in reality with compounded interest you’d get to that million even faster.

Want to lose 50lbs?  Start by going for a walk around the block, once a day…take 10 mins. to do it.  After a week, walk for 12 minutes a day.  Increase your walk by 2, 3, or 4 minutes a day, each week.  Start cutting back on calories gradually.  Have one scoop of ice cream rather than two, then gradually cut back to having ice cream once a week.  Do you see where I’m going?  You can accomplish anything if you just break it down into small chunks. 

Trust that the finish line will be there.  Do those small things consistently, and in time you will be amazed at the results you’ve achieved.  I heard a very smart man I listen to and read a lot named Micheal Niell say “all you can ever do is the next thing”.  It’s such an elegant approach.  Even if you want to literally build a rocket and launch a satellite into space, “all you can ever do is the next thing”.  Even NASA can’t design it, build it, and launch a rocket all at once.  They break it down, and do the next thing.  Do you want to start a business?  Do the next thing.  What might that be?  Maybe it’s just buying a book, to research the business, or taking a class to learn some skills. Then after that…do the next thing, then after that…do the next thing, and on and on. 

The bottom line is this, the reason why it’s so hard to do big things is because so many of us are under the false presumption that we have to do it all at once.  We psyche ourselves out of the thing before we even start.  STOP THAT!!!!  If you want to do something big…anything at all…break it down into small steps, ideally an action you can do today.  Once you’ve done that, do the next thing…then repeat.  You can thank me a year from now!

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH

It’s been a while since I’ve written…more than anything I’m writing to save myself…in the process I hope I can help someone else.  I’m a proud man, perhaps a little arrogant if I’m being honest.  So, as this recession wraps it’s bony ugly fingers around my neck trying to squeeze the life out of me, not only is it hard to breathe, but my pride is hurt.  I’ve gotten used to having things, doing what I want, without concern for whether or not I could afford it.  I never bragged about it, but I lived well and I was proud…and perhaps a little arrogant…ya dig?

So here I am, feeling small…afraid to pick up the phone.  People say “talk to the collectors, it’s better”.  But what do you say to the collector when you honestly don’t know when you will have any kind of payment?  I don’t have a good answer to that question.  I used to have two vehicles, now I have one…the one I use to make money with…it’s not cool…it doesn’t have the 20″ shinny rims…I won’t pick a girl up in it…so it hurts my pride.  I can’t eat out like I used to…and I’m finding out how expensive groceries are…I’m making choices I never had to make before…I feel small…and it hurts my pride.

If a friend of mine called and told me they were in this predicament, I’d know exactly what to say…but it’s not a friend …it’s me…and more often than I want to admit, I don’t know what to say….I’m afraid, and I’m embarrassed that I’m afraid, because men aren’t supposed to be afraid…so…here I am literally sitting in a dark room…pecking away at this keyboard, hoping…praying…thinking…meditating…wiping away a couple of tears…but a “man ain’t supposed to cry” that’s what the Temptations sang, that’s what people say.  So, what do I do here alone in this dark room, feeling hurt. and afraid? 

Well…maybe I can start by caring about myself at least as much as I care about my friends…and I wouldn’t let a friend stay in the dark, afraid and alone.  I would empathize with her, and tell her that I understand how hard it is for her right now.  I would gently correct her and tell her that it’s OK to be afraid, but it’s not OK to say she’s small…because she isn’t.  I would hold her hand and remind her where she comes from.  I’d tell her “you are made from the same stuff as, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey.  In the image of God you’ve been awesomely made.”  I’d tell her that “as hard as it is right now…if you look up ahead…there is a faint light, and if you walk towards it…it will move towards you.  That light will reveal a new, better, more fulfilling, and happy world.  In you my friend is a mighty power capable of overcoming anything thrown in it’s path, and achieving anything you can imagine.”  I’d say that for starters.

So…I think I’ll take some of my own advice…I’ll remind myself what I am made of.  I won’t belittle myself, I won’t continue to think I am small…because I am not.  I have goals and aspirations, I’ve always been a big dreamer, but I don’t know exactly what the future holds…but this much I do know…I am made from the stuff of stars…of  mountains…of Martin, Bill and Oprah.  They don’t know it…but they are my teachers, they showed me how…Jesus set an example for me.  He knew that if he could…so could I. 

I will not lie…I’m still afraid, but that’s OK.  In spite of my fear I will continue to work at what it is I am here on this rock to do.  I hope you will do the same.  Right up ahead there is light…I know it can be hard to see it…but keep on moving and it will move towards you…I’m not sure how I know that, but I do. 

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH