Happiness

Happiness is not a matter of fortune or worldly possessions. It is a mental attitude. It comes from appreciating what we have, instead of being miserable about what we don't have. It's so simple, yet so hard for the human mind to comprehend. - Anonymous Quote

At Carnegie Mellon University, there was an exercise for Professors to imagine that they were going to die. What would they say if they knew it was their "Last Lecture"? For Randy Pausch, a 47-Year-Old Professor, it was not an exercise. It is his reality because he is dying of Pancreatic Cancer. In the video below, he gives his “Last Lecture”. If you have not seen this, I urge you to take the time to watch.

Randy Pausch original lecture (approximately 107 min.):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184&pr=goog-sl

Link to his website at Carnegie Mellon University:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Second Chances

We're given second chances every day of our life. We don't usually take them, but they're there for the taking. - Andrew M. Greeley

Recently, I saw someone I admire get a second chance. A friend of mine had some problems, the kind of problems that give us all nightmares. He was heading down a path of personal destruction. He made some mistakes and some bad choices.

But he turned himself around. He looked at himself, what he was doing with his life and decided to make his life better. He gave himself a second chance.

It was not easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is easy. There were setbacks and he had to take responsibility for his actions and his life. But he did it. Now, he smiles again, he’s funny and fun to be around.

Consequently, other people have given him a second chance. And that’s really what’s important.

The lesson: Give yourself a second chance first.

Practice...

I recently read a great article in Wine Spectator entitled 10,000 Hours by Matt Kramer. Essentially, the article talks about expertise. According to Daniel Levitin, cognitive psychologist and author of This Is Your Brain on Music, it takes approximately 10,000 hours to achieve expertise in any field.

“In study after study of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a week, of practice over ten years.”

Kramer goes on to talk about 10,000 hours in the context of wine expertise. He concludes that real experts “not only put in the time, they put in their hearts.” And perhaps that is the true mark of an expert. Practice and Passion.

Passion is what drives people to be great. Practice is what builds expertise. If you truly love what you do and commit yourself to disciplined practice, there is nothing that can truly deny you from achieving expertise.

What Passion do you intend to Practice?

Changes...

Change seems to be the only constant in life. After 20 years with the same employer, I’ve struck out on my own. Change is sometimes thrust upon us. Other times, change is necessary if we’re going to grow and move ahead. In my case, it was a bit of both.

After being with the same employer for so long, I needed a new challenge. Rather than look for another job (while it was safe and initially appealing), I wanted the challenge of building and growing my own business. I wanted to feel excited about a new venture. It’s often been said that, on our death bed, we don’t regret what we have done so much as we regret what we did not try. I did not want to look back at my life and think “Man, I should have started my own company…”

I’ve had the honor of coaching a number of individuals in my career. At some level, each individual had issues with the fear of trying something new. So, when it came time to really DO this, I found myself feeling the same kind of fear. But here’s the thing I found myself saying – feel the fear and do it anyway.

That’s the lesson I’ve taken from this…

See our company website at www.wrightoneconsulting.com