The Story: A Glass of Water and the Moral of the Story Is.....

Once upon a time................... a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled with students. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the typical “glass half empty or glass half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I’m holding?”

Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds.

She replied, “From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn’t matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it’s fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me.”

As the class shook their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them.”

The moral: It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses and worries. No matter what happens during the day, as early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down. Don’t carry them through the night and into the next day with you. If you still feel the weight of yesterday’s stress, it’s a strong sign that it’s time to put the glass down.

Blindingly Obvious (BO): You Are NOT Everyone Else

You Are NOT Everyone Else

I am super-competitive. As are most people who run companies, I am pretty sure. So I tend to work harder when I feel colleagues/competitors do the same.

Don’t do it. 

You’ll hear about lots of other folks who apparently work incredible hours, or otherwise do amazing things by stretching their limits. I’m here to tell you, there’s always a ‘but.’ 

Steve Jobs worked constantly to build up Apple and Pixar. But he died tragically at a young age and alienated many around him. 

Lance Armstrong won more Tours de France than anyone else in history. But it turns out he cheated the entire time. 

You are not everyone else. Be very, very careful about using comparisons to drive yourself forward.

Blindingly Obvious: An adjective describing something that is so plain to see that it is easily overlooked. 
Note: Not to be confused with someone who's obviously blind!

Motivational Monday: Tempting Fate

Don’t Tempt Fate

No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it’s important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam.

Don’t try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound.

Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

The Story: Shark Bait and the Moral of the Story is .....

During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank. As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.

The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.

Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off. Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behaviour every few minutes to no avail. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.

This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fibreglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.

The marine biologist then removed the fibreglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.

The Moral of the Story: Many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful.

In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go. 

Blindingly Obvious (B0): Taking Care of Yourself is Part of YOUR Job

The Blindingly Obvious (BO): 

Taking care of yourself 

IS part of your job

I’ve been working absurdly hard for about two months now: My daily schedule started at 5:30 AM and generally ended at 9:30 PM, with little or no break or pause, except on a rare day off, when I’d collapse in a stupor. 

If you’re a CEO or President or Dad or whatever, you may think that by working more, you’re doing more of your job.

Untrue. 

Part of every leader’s job is to remain upright when necessary, prone when healthy and sane at all times. If you don’t, your body and mind have a funny way of saying, “Cut the crap, idiot.”

For me, this moment came Tuesday, I came down with the dreaded man flu. All that time of working, eating on the run, not sleeping my 7 hours a night caught up with me.

Basically, my body said Enough, David. You want to go non-stop for weeks? Fine. But you’ll pay the consequences.

Taking care of yourself is part of your job. Do it. Otherwise your body will make you.

Motivational Monday: Focus On What You Will Do, Not What You Won't Do!

Focus On What You Will Do, 
Not What You Won’t Do

Do you want to successfully lose weight?

Quit smoking?

Or put a lid on your bad temper? 

Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. 

Research on thought suppression (e.g., “Don’t think about white bears!”) has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behaviour — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, 
"What will I do instead?"

For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like “If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down.” By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

Let me know how focusing on what you will do works for you.