I pulled into my driveway not long ago from dropping my kids off at school and I spotted a big black crow eating French fries that had been dropped there the day before.  Knowing what I know about crows, my immediate thought was, where is the mate?  Seconds later the second one showed up on queue and started helping out. I learned years ago that crows are monogamous and stay paired for life. Apparently they’re not aware of any other options but to stay together and work through they’re problems and differences.

The most recent American statistic on divorce is one out of every two marriages and increasing fast.  I’ve observed over the years that we tend to be willing to spend so much time and money on the wedding, but so little time and money on maintaining the marriage.  Who would’ve thought that crow’s could give good marriage advice?  Maybe we can learn a bit from their “never-say-die” or “never-say-divorce” commitment and way of life in terms of marriage.

I challenge you to leverage your stubbornness and use it to stay in that marriage.  Stick around and invest your time and money in an attempt to work it out.  Can we do it is an easy question to answer “Yes” to, but Will we do it is much more difficult to answer with a “Yes”.  No need to answer out loud or raise your hand, just hear and understand and make your plan if you can.

Marriage advice from a couple of crow’s.  Hmmmm.

Let’s continue to Make it Great.

Driving under the influence can get you a ticket to jail, but living under the influence can get you a ticket to living a great life.  Living under the influence of what, you may ask.  Well, it’s living under the positive influences of those that are around you daily.

To whom are you listening to and with whom are you associating with daily?  Are you choosing to invest most of your time with those who or positive, encouraging, uplifting and supportive, or have you become comfortable in the company of those who are discouraging, disgruntled, argumentative and pessimistic?  Your honest answer to this question will dictate whether or not you end up living a life fraught with stress, strain and heartache or a life of joy, happiness and fulfillment.

I invite you today to seriously consider being caught living under the “positive” influence in this life.  It’s never too late to start making it GREAT! 

GREAT WEEKEND !!!

Don’t be “Too Busy” to read this Post today:

My observation of my group-home boys has afforded me the ability to witness first-hand the power of Association.  Each one of the boys entered the group-home system at no fault of their own and before entry each one of them could’ve been defined as “decent” kids.  But after entering the system they were exposed to the consistent, negative behaviors of the group and overtime they too have slowly assimilated and adopted the same negative behaviors.

This comes as no surprise to me because the Law of Association is an enormously powerful law that affects all of us.  The good news is that this law can also be leveraged for “Positive behavior” too.  A boy that grows up in the absence of an adult, positive male role-model in his life will have a dramatically increased chance of becoming the common denominator of his surrounding environment, good or bad.  But a boy who has that consistent male figure around to model the positive behavior will have a dramatically increased chance of growing up with some positive behaviors to withdraw from his mental memory bank as he gets older.
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Over the years I’ve discovered that the struggles and hardships of our lives have a way of wearing “Most People” down and forcing them to seek the comfort and shelter of a life that’s less challenging. 

This behavior usually results in an average, mediocre life of lack-luster accomplishments outside of the area of our biggest gifts and passions.  Focus and discipline are the two key components that are absent here and without them, it’s almost impossible to stay on course and achieve anything great or significant in the area of our passion.  The ability to maintain discipline and keep our minds focused and sharp is the biggest asset we can possess in the times of struggle and adversity.

So I say to you today, refuse to be a volunteer victim of a personal recession of years and years of no improvement.  Refuse to stay stuck in an old mindset and continue daily disciplines that no longer serve you well.  If this is you, I encourage you to break out of the personal recession and renovate, innovate and recreate so you can positively stimulate your mind, body and soul in the right direction to improve your situation. 

No volunteer victims seeking mediocrity here today.  We will continue to steer clear of the “Most People” syndrome and continue to upgrade our mental computers with the good stuff.  We choose to once again lean forward in this life and make it GREAT!

For those of you who’re striving to accomplish some type of big goal or dream, I encourage you to “stay on the right track” as you consider the following questions today:

How many times are you willing to fail before your success shows up?  How many losses are you willing to endure before you get your win?  How many “No’s” are you willing to hear before you get your “Yes”? 

Yes my friends, these are indeed the tough questions that we all must answer with a high number before we can obtain that significant goal or dream in our lives.  So I say to you today, be sure you’re ready to tackle these questions with an unshakable resolve to endure until you WIN. 

So exactly how many setbacks and no’s and no-shows are your goals and dreams worth?  Hmmmm…   No need to answer out loud, just make me proud as you stand out from the crowd.

Be sure to set your numbers HIGH as we continue to move forward in our attempt to make this good life GREAT!   “Stay on the Right Track”