Musings by John Weir

“It is the repetition of affirmations that leads to beliefs, and once those beliefs become deep convictions, things begin to happen”. – Claude M Bristol

This B-Alert system is a really helpful guide to your day. Give it a try.

B- is for Blueprint. Plan for the day. Either the night before or in the morning. The night before is more helpful as it is proven that your subconscious aids you to systematically work through your next day’s plan in your sleep. It’s really quick just do it for 10-15 minutes. Your plan should focus on your most important achievements, appointments, purpose and objectives as well as those daily things you need to get done. This really helps me because as I tick each one off I feel a bit accomplished and spurs me on to get the rest of my tasks done and it makes you feel like you are the one in control from the start.
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A- is for Action. The amount of action you put into your day will determine your score. Well-planned action! Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.

L- is for Learning. A well-planned day is taking time to expand your knowledge. Be curious. Develop the habit of reading something stimulating/ challenging or gives you the edge. It gives you that extra boost of positive energy. Watch documentaries, biographies or learning channels. Also learn from your everyday experiences. How did you overcome your last challenge? Learn from others. What do successful people do? Use other people’s experiences. Keep your eyes and ears open, ask questions. Don’t lose that curiosity about the world and ourselves we seem to be so passionate about when we’re young. Why is it assumed that we have learnt everything we need to when we leave school? We can constantly improve and develop.

E- is for Exercise. Even if it is just fitting in some Wii Fit in your every day or using the stairs instead of the lift or doing some sit ups on your bedroom floor. Exercise improves sleep, increases energy, relieves stress and anxiety, protects against injury, promotes good posture, aids digestion, enhances your self-image and makes you live longer! Eat well and don’t neglect that poor body of yours that is constantly working so hard to keep you going and never stops.

R- is for Relaxing. Relax! Make sure you fit some you time in your day, plan for it. Don’t feel bad about it. When you are well-rested and relaxed you are more productive, more creative,better focused and your energy is boosted. Even take a nap.

T- is for Thinking. Before you go to sleep, close your eyes and take a few snapshots of your day. How did you do? What did you do well? Are there any adjustments you could have made? Focus daily on the progress you have made. Be alert to shortcomings but don’t beat yourself up!! Find some things to be grateful for, I try to at least think of 10 and suddenly I remember so many more things to be thankful for and it really does make you feel good before you go to sleep and makes you realize how many good things happened in the day! Even if its just the fact you just got home safe, you had a nice meal, your family is well etc..

Write (Below) in your daily diary and just tick each off when you have done each. This really helps me and makes me that much more productive and balanced. Hope this helps.

B
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A
L
E
R
T

Thanks to Jack Canfield for the B-Alert concept.

I often use Mind Mapping to create goals for each area I use to categorize them. I write the goals and then decide on the time span for each one. I may wish to achieve some in less than 90 days, others may be longer term goals. I usually have more than 21 goals at this point so I pick the three most important from each category and these become my 90 day goals. I keep a note of the other goals, and these will usually become integrated into my weekly goal setting session.

If you want to know why I use mind mapping to help me create and achieve goals I will direct you to Chuck Frey who can explain it best. Here is a link to his excellent summary:

10 reasons why mind mapping software should be the foundation of your personal productivity system.

I use three different mind mapping programs, based on where I am at and what I am working on. The first is Xmind, and you can find it here. I have been using the free version for some time and find it very helpful. It is what I used to create the Hub Picture over at JohnWeir.me. Xmind is also what I use to open mind maps made with iThoughts.

iThoughts is a very easy to use app for the iPhone when I am on the go and need to see something visually. At close to $8 it still is a great bargain for the features and usability.

The most complete, and customizable program I use is Personal Brain. The website explains it best.

“It starts with a single Thought and grows more powerful as you use it. Think of it as a living mind map with unlimited space for everything you want, are learning or need to remember. Each idea can grow and evolve with all related Thoughts instead of being separated in folders or lists. Use PersonalBrain to manage specific projects or as an "everything in your life manager" to get the big picture on your ideas and find the right information in seconds.”

Personal Brain goes way beyond other mind mapping programs I have seen for a reasonable cost.

I encourage you to try Mind Mapping for yourself and see what you can do with it.

Currently I have 21 goals to achieve in 90 days, divided into seven categories:

• Financial; This covers how much I want to earn and how much I want to save. Also reducing debt and increasing contributions.
• Business; This concentrates on what I want to achieve with my business and where I want it to be when the 90 days are up. Goals for promotions, raises and important tasks.
• Spiritual; Goals in the area of my walk with God, my prayer life, Bible study and church meetings.
• Fun; It is easy to forget the fun side of life. I use this section to note fun things to do and how many days to take off work.
• Health; This makes sure I am thinking about exercise and healthy eating.
• Relationships; Includes family, friends and work relationships.
• Personal; This section contains my goals that don’t quite fit any one of the other areas.

On this day 10 years ago we had put an offer to buy our first home. We had been searching and looking for the right place and it was clearly God that picked out the house for us. It was not my first choice. Our first choice kept being blocked and it became clear after we moved that had we purchased that house we could never have been happy. It was across from a park that had lots of activity.

So we are waiting to hear and the news came on. So very devastating, and yes it did delay getting an answer on our attempted purchase.

Those two events will be forever tied together in my mind due to the combined circumstances.

Here are seven *spectacular* ways to make your Monday rock – and I bet they get you off to such a great start the whole week will rock too!

1. Take time to set your mind. A little time in prayer, meditation or just reflecting on all the amazing blessings you have does *marvelous* things for setting your mind and spirit in a great state to start the week.

2. Stretch! Stretching does *great* stuff for body. It promotes blood flow, it works out kinks and aches and it makes you feel more flexible. And really, when we’re more flexible and we feel good our minds are more flexible too!

3. Do a bit of exercise. You bet. Strong bodies help build strong minds. Get those endorphins flowing, build muscle, feel buff.

4. Picture your week. Create the image of the week that you’re starting – and see it all going GREAT! See it just the way it should be. Don’t worry, even if things come up, you’d be amazed at how easily you can adapt those surprises in and help make them part of how great the week is!

5. Make today’s to do list. If you haven’t already done it the night before, do one now. Don’t make it exhaustive and don’t make it for the rest of the month. Today’s list is fine. Then find one thing you can get done straight away and get your first check mark!

6. Smile and say hello to everyone (yes, even "them") that you work with on the way into your desk/office/cube/work station. You’d be surprised at how much starting with a smile will make both their week and yours better!

7. Be *positive*! For real! This is pithy, but true. Look at things with a glass half full – heck – even go 3/4 full! – mentality. Sure, stuff happens, but look at it as an opportunity! Yes, I hear some of you thinking that you’re a "realist" or " too pragmatic" for that. Well, guess what! The most pragmatic thing you can do is to change the reality by going after those opportunities by unleashing your creative mind with a positive outlook for creative solutions with enthusiasm!

Here is a wise word from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from his work Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. It will help to know that the biblical context for what he is writing here is Psalm 42.

The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problem of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself, ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been repressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you’. Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have but little experience.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’-what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’-instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’.

What is the image that comes to mind when we think of the ideal national leader? Someone who has a grasp of the issues, who can see the big picture. Someone who is strong and courageous, who can hold his own in the arena of international affairs in times of war and peace. Someone who has a vision for the future and the ability to make it happen. Someone who, through his words and actions, can inspire and galvanize his people.

But in the old testament we find an altogether different measure of leadership. As the Jewish people approach the Promised Land, God appoints Joshua as the successor to Moses. And what is his qualification for leadership? That he is attuned to the spirit of each and every individual Jew.

The commentators explain that this is the overriding quality required of a leader. It is not enough for a leader to have grand schemes and plans. It is not enough for a leader to deliver soul-stirring addresses to the people. A leader must be able to relate to his people on every level. He must be sensitive to their needs and aspiration. He must empathize with their pain and joy. A true leader cannot stand off in the distance. He must be thoroughly attuned to the most minor requirements of his people in order to lead effectively. For a true leader, there are no little things.

A revolutionary general was trying to revive the fighting spirit of his trapped and starving guerillas. “If we can fight our way out of this corner,” he announced, “I will issue a large bonus to each man. You will have enough money to buy all the bread and meat and fruits and vegetables you need to recover your strength.”

The guerillas responded to the promise. They fought like tigers and were able to break out and get away. As soon as they got to safer territory, the general, true to his word, awarded each man his bonus. The next day, the one of the general’s aides stormed into his tent.

“Sir, a whole group of the men took their bonus money and wasted it!”
“Indeed?” said the general. “And what did they do?”
“Instead of buying food to rebuild their strength,” the aide said furiously, “they spent all their money on tiny tins of caviar!”

The general stroked his chin thoughtfully for a few moments.

“Thank you for telling me this,” he said to his aide. “It is important information. This caviar must have been very important to them if they would spend all their money on it even when they are starving and exhausted. Apparently, the men need occasional splurges of luxury to help them deal with the tensions of battle. I will make sure to provide it for them in the future.”

In our own lives, as we seek to grow spiritually, we must never lose sight of the physical needs of those around us. A great sage once said, “My spiritual need is to serve the physical needs of others.” There is profound spiritual fulfillment in bringing comfort and happiness to other people, even on the physical level. But in order to do so, we must be extremely sensitive and attuned, for as people are different from each other so are their needs.

Rabbi Reich is on the faculty of the Ohr Somayach Tanenbaum Education Center.

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

That’s Teddy Roosevelt speaking at the Sorbonne a century ago in 1910.

Some truths are timeless: The critics, your critics, will always be there, lurking and worthless.

There’s no storybook about "The Boy Who Followed Somebody Else’s Dream", no movie rights sold for the tale of "It Wasn’t Within My Purview To Consider Alternatives", no Sinatra tune entitled "I Did It The Way My Critics Requested I Do It".

All the songs, all the movies, all the books say the same damn thing about you and your dream for a reason, because it’s true!

You’ll be on a stone slab someday too soon — far too soon — and your children will look at you and you’ll look at yourself, and you’re going to ask, and they’re going to ask, and wherever you are right now just do me a favor and… stop

…and listen to the wind.

And count the years between here and birth — your birth,  — and count the years between here and death.

And count the words of your loved ones, and your family, and your friends, and your kids, and your own words in your own head about who you are and who you want to be and who you always wanted to be. And realize that that is beautiful. And that is what you were made for.

And count the words of the critics and naysayers and the negative people in your life and the words they’ve piled up like stones for you with their wants and their desires and their demands of you.

Count the piles and feel their weight and add them up and ask yourself…
Which one do you want to carry with you to the end? Which one do you want to carry for the rest of your days?

Which one is worthy of you?