Motivation Articles, Essays, Tips and Advice

Posted 12/18/2003 by Josh Hinds

Have A "Big Bang" Mindset!
By Jon Gordon

In the spirit of Independence Day, remember that you have the freedom to choose. Life is a choice. And everyday you can choose to have a "big bang" mindset. You can choose to believe that you create your life everyday through your words, thoughts, choices and actions.

While we have all been created, we now have the opportunity to create our lives one thought, one word, one choice, one action, one energy source at a time.

Where Richard Carlson tells us not to sweat the small stuff, and he's right, I believe that life is all about the little things. We don't create our lives by focusing on the big things: the big projects, the big promotion, the big car, the big house.

Rather we create our lives by doing the little things and allowing the big things to happen. If we read one book a week for 30 years that equals 1560 books. That's a lot of knowledge. If we put basil in a burrito instead of cilantro the taste would change dramatically.

The difference between rain and snow is only a few degrees. They say football is a game of inches. To reduce crime in New York City, Mayor Rudy Guilianni focused on preventing small crimes. What he and the world found out was when you arrest people for small crimes you get big reductions in murders and other felonies.

As someone who has owned restaurants, I have found that a restaurant's success is all about the little things. Success is built one customer, one meal, one ingredient at a time. Our lives are no different.

When we have a big bang mindset we accept responsibility for our life. We know that we have the power to create success or succumb to failure. Our life is the result of each choice we make and each action we take every day. A positive thought leads to a new opportunity in your life.

A positive conversation with a group of people leads to a plethora of new friends and contacts. Walking in the morning before work makes you feel more energized which leads to a promotion.

Choosing fruit, nuts and raisins as snacks instead of snickers bars and chips on a daily basis makes a big difference in your health and energy level. Drinking Green Tea instead of coffee in the afternoon day after day will increase your energy over time and help protect you against cancer.

It's not the big things that you do once that matter. It's the little things that you do every minute of every day that means everything. With a Big Bang mindset you realize that life is a series of seconds and moments that when added together equals your life.

You are a work in progress, a creation that is still being created. Therefore with a big bang mindset you seize each moment to create the life you want. You create your life one thought, one word, one choice, one action at a time.

ACTION STEPS

1. Focus on your thoughts. Are you choosing positive thoughts or negative thoughts?

2. Focus on your words. Are you surrounding yourself with positive words or negative words? Are you speaking positively about life or are you always complaining.

3. Focus on your choices. Are you making good choices that benefit you or bad choices that hurt you?

4. Focus on your actions. What are you doing to create your life? Do you have a good plan and not follow through or do you take action on your positive thoughts and plans.

May your day be filled with boundless energy!

Jon
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Energy Tips by Jon Gordon, The Energy Addict. For additional tips, go to www.energyaddict.com

Just Five Minutes Longer
By John Harricharan

The story has been told and retold countless times about the battle of Waterloo. Poems have been written and songs have been composed detailing every conceivable aspect about it. The English tell it one way and the French share it from a slightly different point of view.

History and legend has it that after Napoleon Bonaparte's army was defeated and the Duke of Wellington prevailed over the French, Napoleon was taken away and imprisoned. One day a group of newspaper reporters came to visit. They had obtained permission to hold an interview with the famous French general, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Even though Napoleon was in prison, he carried himself with dignity and looked with piercing eyes at the group of reporters gathered there before him. Questions were asked and answers given. The reporters wrote every word down.

This would, indeed, be good reading. They would boast to their children and grandchildren how they stood before the great general on that long ago day.

Suddenly, from the back of the room, a voice, somewhat more gentle than the others was heard above the din. "Mon general," the reporter said, "Tell me why the English won at Waterloo. Did they have a superior army?"

"No!" replied Napoleon.

"Well, did they have better weapons?" asked another reporter.

"No!" was the answer again.

Then the first reporter asked again, "Why then, Mr. General, did the English win?"

Napoleon's eyes slowly swept across the room. The silence was so deep that it was almost deafening. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Then he replied, "The English fought five minutes longer."

From the mouth of the great general himself came the answer, "The English fought five minutes longer". Many times, five minutes longer is all that it takes. Times have changed from the days of the Emperor Napoleon. But many things still remain the same.

Sometimes victory is just a few minutes away. Yes, I know, we all go through terrible times. In today's world many of us are faced with crisis after crisis.

For most, there is never enough money, no jobs, poor relationships, ill health and the list could go on and on. Of course, there are good times, too, but the hard times usually block our vision of the good times.

When things get really bad, we turn this way and that looking for some help or at least some hope to keep on keeping on. Anything will do--a kind word from a friend, a paragraph from a good book, a stray piece of music from the
radio, even a Hollywood movie.

Some people will be there for you, others will turn and run from you, fearing for their own well-being. Still others may throw you a crumb of money, or food and hope you won't ask for more. Be grateful. They do as they see fit to do at the moment. Your jon is to just keep on keeping on.

When you are down in the arena and the dust is in your mouth and you can hear the screaming of the crowd, remember, "The English fought five minutes longer."

Sometimes it's so bad that one day at a time is too long. So go one hour at a time. And if that's too long, then how about five minutes at a time?

Success is sometimes just yards or minutes away. There are times when the last few yards may seem like miles and the last few minutes may appear to be hours. But if you keep on keeping on, if you do not let hope die, if you have faith in the goodness of the universe and the Force that created us, you will win in the end.

Why did Napoleon lose to the English at the battle of Waterloo? The English simply fought five minutes longer.
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John Harricharan is an award-winning author, speaker and the creator of the ground-breaking "PowerPause" system for success. He has shared the lecture platform with such well-known speakers as Deepak Chopra, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Og Mandino, Eric Butterworth, C. Everett Koop and others. To learn more about the "PowerPause" and see why critics are raving about it go here.