Was Yoda Wrong?

For many years if you asked me one of my favorite quotes, I might reply with “Do or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda

I would give that answer partly because I love movies and because I am a huge Star Wars fan. I also love the wisdom in the simple phrase. It addresses the mindset of fully committing to something and burning the bridges leaving no option for failure.  Clearly, I still love the advice given by the greatest Jedi Master of them all, but maybe it isn’t right all the time?

What about the person who is sitting on the sidelines scared to get in the game?  What about the person who is so concerned that their new product or business idea has to be perfect so they aren’t even taking action?

“Do it” implies that our attempt will succeed.  If we don’t think we are “ready” yet, we may wait to do anything. Waiting, procrastinating, fear of failing is what keeps us from making progress.  We are never ready. If we wait for the feeling of being ready, we may never act.

Who am I to challenge a Jedi Master? I’m just a normal guy. I can’t use the Force to send objects flying through the air. But I can try.

Maybe that is the right advice sometimes.  Let’s just try. What if we don’t succeed? Well, let’s just try it. Let’s take the first step.

Let’s not be scare to try and fail.  At least, we started. We should celebrate trying. It is a whole lot better than not trying.  Once we are trying and taking action, Yoda’s advice makes sense when we want to master it. We have to fully commit and go beyond trying. But we don’t have to start there.

I have challenged a Jedi Master. I may have failed in my attempt, but at least I tried. I can feel good about that.

 

What If Energy Was the Goal?

It seems almost all health experts have different opinions. There are certainly a lot of common themes that all the experts agree on like eat more organic green vegetables. No one really denies that is a good idea.

Some will boast of the health benefits of being a vegan while others will sound just as convincing on why we should live on a high protein meat diet.

Many promote the health benefits of vitamins and nutrition while others say it is wasted money and does nothing for your overall health.

This can cause us to just think, “What is the point? I could die tomorrow.”  And therefore, we don’t worry about our health because we aren’t sure if it makes a difference anyway.

There really isn’t anything we can do to guarantee that we live longer. We can try, but we all know our time is limited and we don’t know how long we have.

So what if energy was our goal?

I don’t mean the fake and temporary energy that we get from a Starbucks or Monster energy drink. I mean real, consistent energy throughout the day. What if that was our goal?

Maybe we don’t know if the vitamin regime that we take will add any extra years to our life, but do we have better energy throughout the day when we take it?

Maybe exercising in the morning doesn’t extend my lifespan, but do I feel more alive the rest of the day if I do it?

What if we made energy the goal?  I think it helps us cut through the confusion on what we should do. At least it does for me.

What gives you more energy?

How to Have More Will Power

Will Power!  Have you ever felt like you needed more of it!  Is there something in your life that you know you “need” to be doing, but you aren’t doing it?

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Decision Management vs. Decision Making

Making decisions can be exhausting.  Most of us do not like making decisions.  It is why when we are finally “off” for the day and it is time to go out to eat, we usually select the same places.  It is just easier to not have to make a new decision.

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President’s Club Trip to Barcelona, Spain

I love incentive and rewards trips.  I have always enjoyed traveling and visiting new places around the world.  If you are in sales or in the insurance industry and you have rewards trips available to you, I encourage you to work hard to earn them.

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