36525 days to live

“The future will depend on what we do in the present”

Mahatma Gandhi

(1869-1948)

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We all know this, it is so simple to understand when we read it. However, the challenge is not only to read it and understand it, the real challenge is to practice what we understand so well.

Yes, practice it day in day out, especially when you have distractions, a bad day or a good day.

Whatever is your dream, your project, your goal, pursue it relentlessly without wasting time.

You need a burning desire to keep you absorbed and focused, even when you have so many responsibilities and distractions.

Will you?

What is it that differentiates those that spend their lives dreaming and those that wake up each day and make their dreams come true? 

I believe that:

                   the No. 1 difference is : WORK .

                   the No. 2 difference is : WORK ,WORK.

                   the No.3 difference is  : WORK, WORK, WORK.

I know, we need talents, good ideas, and some luck, but it has been my experience that in almost every field of activity,

CONTINUOUS WORK seems to  be the way to go.

If you know otherwise, I’m listening !

Unreasonable        by Seth Godin

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It’s unreasonable to get out of bed on a snow day, when school has been cancelled, and turn the downtime into six hours of work on an extra credit physics lab.

It’s unreasonable to launch a technology product that jumps the development curve by nine months, bringing the next generation out much earlier than more reasonable competitors.

It’s unreasonable for a trucking company to answer the phone on the first ring.

It’s unreasonable to start a new company without the reassurance venture money can bring.

It’s unreasonable to expect a doctor’s office to have a pleasant and helpful front desk staff.

It’s unreasonable to walk away from a good gig in today’s economy, even if you want to do something brave and original.

It’s unreasonable for teachers to expect that we can enable disadvantaged inner city kids to do well in high school.

It’s unreasonable to treat your colleagues and competitors with respect given the pressure you’re under.

It’s unreasonable to expect that anyone but a great woman, someone with both drive and advantages, could do anything important in a world where the deck is stacked against ordinary folks.

It’s unreasonable to devote years of your life making a product that most people will never appreciate.

Fortunately, the world is filled with unreasonable people. Unfortunately, you need to compete with them.

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And I like to think that I’m one of them…

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

George Washington Carver

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Every day, I witness too many people who are complaining. (myself included)

If only we would realize how short life really is, we would stop complaining and stop wasting precious time.

Since our time is so limited, doesn’t it make sense to figure out what we really enjoy and try to spend as much time as possible doing what we like? 

We all have responsibilities, but we also have spare time, and it is in that spare time that we can improve our quality of life.  

One of the ways I found to minimize my own complaining is to count my blessings every day. When I focus my attention on what goes well in my life, I notice that there is much more good than bad. If you have time today, take a piece of paper, make two columns, one for the good stuff and the other for the bad things.

Chances are that you will write much more on the side of “good stuff”.

Good health, good friends, healthy family members, good food everyday, living in a safe country, able to give money to charity, easy credit to buy the dream house, the big screen TV or the new car.

And the bad things…

Personally, I am not able to jot down a single thing this morning. Huh, perhaps a little discomfort in my neck…

Since I  have started doing this exercise many years ago, it has helped me realize that there is more good than bad for most of us, most of the time…if we choose to look at things this way.

It is an exercise that has to be repeated every day when possible, or as often as possible. When we neglect counting our blessings, there is a chance that people around us will notice it in our attitude. I could compare it to taking a shower, if we skip it for too long, someone somewhere will notice…

Do you find yourself complaining too much?

Don’t you think it’s a waste of time and energy?

Will you try to write down a list of the good things in your life?

Francois Henri “Jack” LaLanne (September 26, 1914 – January 23, 2011) was an American fitness, exercise, and nutritional expert and motivational speaker who is sometimes called “the godfather of fitness” and the “first fitness superhero.”^[1] Until age 15 he craved junk food and had behavioral problems, but he “turned his life around” after listening to a public talk by a well-known nutrition speaker.^[1][2][3] During his career he came to believe that “physical culture and nutrition — is the salvation of America.”^[4]

Decades before fitness began being promoted by celebrities like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons, LaLanne was already widely recognized for publicly preaching the health benefits of regular exercise and a good diet. He published numerous books on fitness and hosted a fitness television show between 1951 and 1985. As early as 1936, at age 21, he opened the nation’s first fitness gym in Oakland, California, which became a prototype for dozens of similar gyms using his name.

LaLanne also gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder as well as for his prodigious feats of strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger once stated, “That Jack LaLanne’s an animal!,” after LaLanne, at 54, beat a 21-year-old Schwarzenegger “badly” in an informal contest.^[1] Lalanne invented a number of exercise machines, including leg-extension and pulley devices. Besides producing his own series of videos, he invited women to join his health clubs and told seniors that they should exercise despite their limitations.

He was inducted to the California Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Source Wikipedia,  January 25, 2011

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Eight Lessons from the life and work of Jack LaLanne     by Seth Godin…

1. He bootstrapped himself. A scrawny little kid at 15, he decided to change who he was and how he was perceived, and then he did. The deciding was as important as the doing.
2. He went to the edges. He didn’t merely open a small gym, a more pleasant version of a boxing gym, for instance. Instead, he created the entire idea of a health club, including the juice bar. He did this 70 years ago.
3. He started small. No venture money, no big media partners.
4. He understood the power of the media. If it weren’t for TV, we never would have heard of Jack. Jack used access to the media to earn trust and to teach. And most of what Jack had to offer he offered for free. He understood the value of attention.
5. He was willing to avoid prime time. Jack never had a variety show on CBS. He was able to change the culture from the fringes of TV.
6. He owned the rights. 3,000 shows worth.
7. He stuck with the brand. He didn’t worry about it getting stale or having to reinvent it into something fresh. Jack stood for something, which is rare, and he was smart enough to keep standing for it.
8. Jack lived the story. He followed his own regimen, even when no one was watching. In is words, “I can’t die, it would ruin my image.”

He died last week at 96 ( 35185 days approx.). I don’t think he has to worry about ruining his image, though.