The Mind of KLH

So…I’m on a job, and I ask the home owner what he did for a living.  He told me he worked for and retired from IBM.  He then volunteered this statement that really struck me, he said “We’ve had a wonderful life…my wife, our kids, three cats…we’ve really been lucky.”  As simple as that statement is, it’s equally unusual.  You’re more likely to hear someone say some version of “Same Sh^t different day” or some other complaint about how bad things are.  From time to time you may have someone tell you they’re “OK”, or “Fine”…but that’s usually about as good as it gets.

So I started to wonder how it can be that this retired gentleman could live in the same state as me in the same recession that the rest of us are in and say he’s had a “wonderful life”?  I should have interviewed him but the timing didn’t seem appropriate.  So, I’m gonna tell you what I think (being that you’re here reading “The Mind Of KLH”).  I think this was a man who probably learned early in his life that you get out of it, what you put into it.  You go to school and study hard, then graduate high enough in your class to get recruited into a great company.  Once you start working you look for a potential spouse who can be a great partner and an even better parent.  Get married, spend less than you earn, save that money and then buy a nice house where you can raise your children.  Keep saving and send them to good schools so they can repeat the cycle.

It’s nothing complicated really, it all comes down to this…make good decisions.  Carefully consider the possibilities and then make choices that will serve you well.  Most importantly though is to be grateful.  Even when you don’t have much, you have some..thing that you can and should be grateful for.  We live in a magnetic universe, and what we focus on is drawn to us.  What we focus on is what we are drawn to.  It is so very important to be aware of what we think about throughout the day.  Think about problems and problems will come into our home and take up residence.  Think about a “wonderful life” and…

So as I’ve been working in these peoples home for the last two days I’ve observed how happy they seem to be.  They eat breakfast together, sitting on the same side of the table.  They never say a cross word to each other (at least not in my presence).  The husband is a realtor…he says’s “it’s just to stay busy…I’m not making any money these days”.  The wife tends to the flowers and helps me choose which of the decorative tiles she wants on her back-splash…and I noticed how easily she laughs at my silly jokes.

As I look at them…now eating lunch…again sitting on the same side of the table, I think I get it.  They have a wonderful life because they decided…that they would have a wonderful life.  Seems like a plan to me.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

So I’ve been really unhappy with where I am in life.  I have felt not so good for a while now.  I have always wanted more for myself and I have always had something going to put myself in a better place.  However, here I am still unhappy, and still not where I want to be.  So what’s the fix?   For a number of years I have had a feeling or intuition about this question – What would happen if  a person focused on achieving a goal for 90 days? For whatever reason I never found out the answer for myself…I’ve always procrastinated…that is until now.  I am on DAY 14 of a 90 Challenge.  You may be wondering “How’s that working out for you?”

Well just a little while ago I walked into my house…after having walked home from the local Chevy dealer.  It’s only about a 5 or 6 minute drive, but I can tell you it takes a hell of a lot longer to walk.  I had to leave my big blue van to have the spark plugs changed.  It’s gonna cost me $90 more than they told me over the phone…ain’t it funny how that happens?  But I digress…I can’t afford the money to repair it, but I can’t afford not to do it either…so, I’m waiting for a call from the very unfriendly service guy who couldn’t give a damn about me or my pitiful van.  I’m 14 Days into this Challenge and I feel sad, alone, broken, down…but not out.  On the walk home I decided to write about where I’m at…writing always feels good to me.

So I have these goals.  They involve losing some weight, launching a new website, and some other things that I believe will put me in position to start living the life I want to live.  Achieving these goals won’t make me rich (at least not immediately), but they will put me on the right path.  So often we see the big picture and we don’t act, because it’s such a big picture.  Big things are almost always accomplished by doing a lot of little things.  No matter what it is you want to accomplish all you can ever do is the next thing.  I heard author Michael Neill say that.  All you can ever do…is the next thing.

So that’s what I’ll be doing for the remainder of my 90 Days…is the next thing.  Then…the next thing…and the next and so on.  Sometimes I’ll take a big step, like yesterday I called and turned off my cable TV.  Some people might think that’s nothing…but it was big for me and that’s what matters.  I turned it off to allow me the time to work on the things that are most important to me right now.  TV has always been a huge distraction and time stealer.  So for me it was big…VERY BIG!!!  Later today I’ll chip away at my website and move ever closer to my launch date of July the 4th.

These coming days won’t all be filled with dramatic leaps of faith, and gigantic displays of brute willpower, although there may be the occasional flash of magnificence .  There will however be a lot of little things.  Things that will gradually add up to bigger things.  I believe that effort on your own behalf,  compounds, like interest in your savings account.  It seems like nothing at first, and that’s the snag.  But in time your investment grows, and the more you put in, the more it compounds. Effort works exactly the same way.

I cannot stand being where I am in life.  Now don’t get me wrong there are things that I am grateful for, but walking home from the Chevy dealer ain’t one of them.  Day 14 will see me move closer to the life I want for myself.  From the outside it won’t seem like much, but that’s OK.  I know I am acting in my own behalf, and building a future that I can feel good about, a future that doesn’t involve walking home from the freakin’ Chevy dealer. I would encourage you to look at where you are, be grateful for what you have, but if you want more for yourself and or your family…Why not try a 90 Day Challenge of your own?  Write down some goals that excite you, and then break them down into small nuggets that you can do in one day.  I bet you’ll be surprised at what you’ve done…I know you’ll be proud.

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH