1. The key to accomplishing goals is showing up:
It used to devastate my mother to see me trying out for different teams and not being chosen. I was limited because I had polio as a child. My mother even suggested that it was ok if I lay back and not try to do so many things. She was sad when I would be disappointed on not making this or that team. Then little by little I started getting chosen for teams, and ultimately accomplishing personal goals. I remember a friend asking my mother how I was able to do this. My mother’s answer was classic: “he just kept showing up.” That became my motto in life. Want to accomplish goals? Just keep showing up.
2. When you are explaining you’re losing:
Growing up I belonged to a controversial religion I felt l I had to defend when I was asked a question about it. I almost always felt like I over explained. So one day I decided to simply answer the question I was asked without explanation. For example:
Question: Did your religion practice polygamy?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Did your prophet have thirty wives?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Do you believe in polygamy?
Answer: No.
Question: aren’t you going against your religion?
Answer: No.
After a while people stop asking questions. Life proceeds just as it did before the questions were asked.
3. Getting angry causes more problems than it solves:
I used to believe that getting angry helped me get what I wanted. I believed it until I didn’t believe it. I stopped believing it because I never got what I wanted when I became angry.
4. Rational vs beyond rational:
99% of my challenges are solved by means of using my rational mind. In very rare moments, I’ve had “beyond rational” (spiritual) experiences which helped me solve problems that were overwhelming me.
5. Pneumonia vs depression:
Once I was ravished by viral pneumonia that just about killed me. I’ve also been hit by anxiety and depression. I have always told people I’d rather have life threatening pneumonia than depression. I’ve changed over the years. I don’t want either one, but . . . anxiety really sucks.
6. The best explanation is the easiest explanation:
The best explanation is most often the simplest explanation. For example, if you find a dinosaur bone, and carbon dating says it’s about sixty million years old, it’s probably about sixty million years old. If you try to prove it is only six thousand years old, that’s neither an easy nor simple explanation. You’re probably going to have real challenges trying to prove that. For that reason, it’s probably not the best explanation.
7. Efficiency is the key to authenticity:
I have spent a life time stripping away layer after layer of pretense. The more I strip away, the more efficient I become with my life. The more efficient I become, the more authentic I feel I am becoming.