Her mom leaned down, took one of the handles of the plastic bag and they walked out of the store with the bag of apples between them, each one shouldering half of the weight.

A simple lesson, you say.  Ah, but aren’t the simple lessons the most powerful ones?

Geese set an awesome example of teamwork.  As they fly in “V” formation, the flock adds 71% to their flying range.  When a goose gets sick or shot down, two other geese fly with it to protect it.  They stay with the fallen goose until it dies or is ready to fly again.  They also honk to cheer the leader on!

Can we be that protective of each other in our own lives?

This week has been a challenging one physically.  Never take the act of walking for granted!

I tend to grouse when someone offers to help me lift a heavy load or open a door.  It has been easier to accept assistance this week, as I’ve mentally visualized the picture of the mother and daughter each holding a handle on the bag of apples.

We are all ONE … here to fly stronger and make each other’s load a little bit lighter.

What does teamwork mean to you?  What’s your best example of seeing it applied in your life?

Warm regards,

Since the age of five, he knew he would be a doctor.  I was there when he opened his letter of acceptance to medical school, and I’ve witnessed his 40+ years of service to his community as a family practice physician.  He will often say he’s a servant to his patients.  His eyes light up and he becomes animated when he tells stories of relieving someone’s pain or working through a log jam in their life.

He is a success story that keeps unfolding.  He is my brother, Arthur R. Davis, Jr., M.D.

The “servant” concept came together for me in an “a ha” moment this morning, as I read an email from Jonathan Budd entitled, You’ve Been Brainwashed.  His basic premise is that the barter system, the ancient source of money, still applies today. Our thinking is “How can we get money,” not “How can I serve?” or “What do I have to offer?”

Here’s the bottom line of his email:

”YOU ARE WHAT’S VALUABLE.

It’s your energy, your skills, your knowledge,
your passion, your heart that has built our
world & continues to do so.

Stop trading it for peanuts.

Reclaim your value.  Re learn how to Barter.
And constantly invest in GROWING your
own skill sets & god given talents in life.

This is the sure fire way to get ahead in
our economic system that is STILL based
on Bartering… yet most people have forgotten
& are under the delusion of “Money” as the
resource (it’s not).”

Jonathan is offering a community at Life Transformation Now that will allow you to examine and expand your own personal power.  I’d love to have you join me on the other side if this resonates with you.

As YOUR servant, I am ready to turn the word disability on its head—into ability.  I am here to help anyone who has a disease or log jam in their life refocus their energy, live above what keeps them feeling “less than,” and pursue life to the max!

Here’s a brief recap of my story.

Carpe diem,

Day 20 of a 30-day video challenge arrives.  I draw a blank.

The fear of limiting beliefs can bring you to a standstill.

In the morning emails, there is a video from Jonathan Budd.  He shares a heart-to-heart conversation on how he’s changing his life by facing the fear of his  false beliefs.  The gist of his limiting belief was that if he stopped working he’d fail.

Within the hour, Andrea Goodsaid and I were discussing his video and she pointed me to her response.  It was one of the most powerful comments I’ve ever read.  With her permission, I’ve copied it here:

When the Universe whacks you over the head with a lesson, it is time to listen.  Two powerful mentors spoke to me that day.  With their guidance I examined some of my limiting beliefs.

If you haven’t watched Jonathan’s video, I highly recommend you do so.  It might be a life-altering event for you, too.

With Love and Light,

Whether we are conscious of it or not, the smallest decisions we make on a daily basis produce our lifetime results.

Steve was a struggling English teacher, living paycheck to paycheck.  He wrote a 55-page story about a high school girl.  Then despondency set in.  Certain that this would be yet one more in a long line of rejections, he threw the papers in the trash.

The next morning as his wife was cleaning house, she emptied his trash can, saw the partial manuscript, wiped off the cigarette ashes, read the story and took it back to him along with some words of encouragement.

She was right!  He went on to finish the manuscript and the paperback rights sold for almost $500,000.  This launched the career of Steven King, the most successful writer of the 20th Century.

What Tabitha King pulled out of the trash was a penny.  Just one penny’s worth of action.

Flip back the chapters of history to December of 1955.  In Montgomery, Alabama, a weary, black seamstress climbed on a city bus and sat down.  She refused to give up her seat to a white guy, thus breaking the law.  The bus driver threatened to arrest her.

She was fined, ridiculed and harassed; however, Rosa Parks will go down through the annals of history as the woman who sparked the movement that would abolish legal segregation.   Her case was the catalyst that rocked the United States and changed the course of history.  Yet Rosa Park’s action was just a penny’s worth.  She simply stood her ground when asked to give up her seat on the bus.

The slightest actions build on each other.

What if you were to improve yourself today just three tenth’s of one percent?  That would be .006 percent tomorrow and then .009 percent the next day.  In just one year’s time you will have improved by 100%.  One step towards eating healthier food, or focusing on the greatness in your child or partner, repeated each day, will produce a mega-change in 365 days.

I’ve employed a new habit in my life as a daily reminder to work on the three-tenths of one percent.  I back my car into the garage.  This simple act reminds me to deposit that penny back into an action that will hit the three-tenths of one percent each and every day.

“Every day, in every moment, you get to exercise choices that will determine whether or not you will become a great person, living a great life.  Greatness is not something predetermined, predestined, or carved into your fate by forces beyond your control. Greatness is always in the moment of the decision.”

“But you need to start with a penny.”  Jeff Olson

Procrastination

“Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends. “ William Shakespeare

There are five top reasons I procrastinate.  While I originally thought they were listed in the order of importance, it was easy to pluck examples from my life in each one of these categories.  This list is directed toward blogging; however, it easily applies to any other area of your life.

Can you identify with any of these?

1.    Must Be Perfect. This requires going over an article at least five times.  Had I known that blogging would become a full-time passion, I would have majored in English in college.   Since nothing is worth publishing until it is perfect, days go by while I contemplate re-writes.  Videos are scrapped for a noise here, a Jing box you can see in the lower left hand corner, or a sentence that is out of place and won’t fit anywhere.

2.    Have All the Facts. This article can’t possibly be ready to publish, because I have more volumes to read on this topic.  I don’t have a grasp of all the fine-print details yet.  There is so much more to learn about this topic, or there is another class coming up in two weeks where I might learn more about this.  Perpetual student syndrome is hard to shake.

3.    The Blame Game. This game includes all of the reasons you can’t do something.  It is generally circumstances that are out of your control.  If only the neighbors weren’t so loud I could concentrate on writing.  I could shoot great videos if I had a decent camera and lighting equipment, but my tax bracket was so high I couldn’t save money for the equipment.  I would eat better and thus have more energy to write if the manufacturers of food didn’t offer such poor quality food.  Playing the blame game absolves you of responsibility for your actions!

4.    Busy Doing Nothing. There are phone calls to make, friends to connect with, banking and grocery errands.  But you’ve been really busy today!  Your email, Facebook and Twitter accounts have been incredibly demanding.  You’ve had to check them on a regular basis.  It is now 9:00 p.m., the “To Do List” has collected dust on your desk, with nary one single item crossed off.   Phew!  Much ado about nothing …

5.    Dreaming About It. Picture what you want and daydream about it.  Goals?  Well, they aren’t set yet.  That will go on the To Do List for tomorrow.  Goal setting is easy.  It just requires some imagination and a little bit of writing.  Goal achieving, on the other hand, demands that you step outside of your comfort zone and take risks.  It requires scrapping these reasons, thinking outside of the box, perhaps embarrassing yourself a little, but moving forward without fear.

Do you identify with any of these points?  Can you name some other great reasons to procrastinate?  I’d love to hear your favorite ones.    Can we bury them together, wipe the slate clean and begin anew with a powerful To Do List that will focus on our WHY and bring us one more step towards our goals?

Let May West’s statement ring in your ears:  “He who hesitates is last.”

To Our Abundant Growth,

Dar

1.    The ability to absorb. This means taking in the atmosphere, the color, the scenario, the sounds, the smells.  Most people are just trying to get through the day.  Change that around and get FROM the day.  “Join the University of Life!”  Wherever you are, be there to absorb it, picture, capture it and take it in like a sponge.  “Casualness leads to casualties.”

2.    Learn to respond.  Let life touch you.  Let the feelings strike you.  Our emotions need to be educated as well as our intellect.  The Blind Side, a poignant movie about reaching out, making an enormous difference in someone else’s life, made me laugh and made me cry.  (If you haven’t seen it, please put it at the top of your Netflix Queue.  You won’t be disappointed).

3.    Learn to Reflect.  Go back over your day.  Take a few minutes to reflect so you capture that day.  “A day is a piece of the mosaic of your life.”  Take some hours at the end of the week to reflect.  Capture that chunk of time.  At the end of each month repeat the process.  Take a weekend at the end of the year to establish that year firmly in your consciousness bank.  Remember the emotions, the complexity, the highs, the lows.  Lock in the day, week, month and year.  Review what worked well and what didn’t.  “Make the past more powerful to serve you in the future.”  Become more valuable in your marriage, as a parent, or as a business partner.  In addition to having some solitude for reflecting, take an opportunity to reflect with someone else by stating:  “I’ll take care of me for you if you will please take care of you for me.”  Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.  Become better than you are!

4.    The ability to Act. Act when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.  Action has to be as soon as possible.  The law of diminishing intent applies here.  If you don’t translate that idea into action very soon, a month from now it is cold and a year from now it can’t be found.  Good health?  Is that your goal?  Get the process started immediately.  Capture the disciplined activity now!  “All disciplines affect each other.”  If you say this is the only place I let down, that’s not true.  Everything you do has a cumulative effect.  “Every new discipline affects the rest.”  The first little action will inspire you to go forward.   The greatest value of discipline is self worth.  “Neglect starts as infection.  If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease.”  How many people have a library card?  3%!  “A guy specializes in happy hour, but doesn’t have a [library] card.”  Why be part of the 97%?  Do the BEST you can do.  “The objective of life is to ACT.”

5.    Sharing. When you pick up a good idea, pass it on.  If you share a good idea with ten different people, you probably learn more than they do by repeating the concept.  “Sharing makes you bigger than you are.”  Can a full glass of water hold any more water?  Yes, but for it to hold more, you have to pour it out.  Then more will be poured in.  Humans have an unlimited capacity to grow.  A child will learn as many languages as you will teach them.  Expand your capacities by sharing with others.  “Pour out so your capacity grows.”  Then you can hold more of the next experience.  If you are too small in your thinking, you’ll not have the ability to share.  Some people have their cup turned upside down, so they can’t receive anything.

When asked about his personal actions, Jim Rohn said to follow his teachings, not his example.  Nevertheless, he inspired me to move forward EACH day and be a better, stronger servant than I was the day before.

To Our Continuing Growth,

Dar

Jim Rohn’s amazing four-part philosophy goes something like this:

1. Ants never quit. If they are going somewhere and you stop them they will look for another path. They’ll keep at it until they either find it or die. I’ve had firsthand experience with this when they invaded my kitchen last summer. We blocked one trail and they appeared in five other pathways.

2. Ants think winter all summer. They are stock piling for the winter, not snoozing on the job. They are preparing for the stormy, cold weather where they’ll need those supplies. Guess you could call them being realistic?

3. Ants think summer all winter. They are optimistic little critters, saying to themselves , “This won’t last long; we’ll soon be out of here.” And sure enough, the first warm day they are out and about.

4. What quantity will the ant gather during the summer? As much as he possibly can. The “all-that-you-possibly-can” philosophy.

The message is crystal clear: Never, ever give up; prepare for the lean periods; and reach beyond your abilities each day to be ALL that you possibly can be.  “The good life is not an amount; it’s an attitude, an act, an idea, a discovery, a search.“  Jim Rohn

To Living the Good Life,

Dar

The office appointment was at 10:00 a.m.  It was 9:31 and the paperwork was somewhere in one of four locations:  three piles of papers (mail, notes, birthday cards, books, CD’s) or in the filing cabinet.  No luck with it being properly filed, so the hunt began in earnest.  Papers went flying, I became a potty mouth, and frantically pawed through the disarray.

The necessary paperwork was in the third pile of stuff, surprise, surprise.  I left the house in a huff and was 7 minutes late for the appointment.

Can you relate to this scenario?  If so, I’m hoping you’ll help me out.

Resolution time!  Having such a disorganized office is VERY time consuming in the long run.  Had the paperwork been readily accessible, I would have saved 20 frustrating minutes, gotten to the appointment on time, and started the day with a much sweeter attitude.   And this experience is not a one-time occurrence.

So here’s my game plan for getting out from under the paper maze in my office.  These are simple steps (and I hope you’ll add to them) to clean up the clutter:

1.    Focus on one area a day to sort through.  Sound easy?  I tend to start at one spot and end up in five different places, so nothing gets finished.

2.    Work on that specific area until it is complete, i.e., I’m starting with the mound on my computer stand.  I will not look at another area until this one is organized.

3.    Start first thing in the morning before distractions arise.  I’ll get up half an hour early and BEFORE turning on the computer, I will slog through ONE designated area.

4.    Set a timetable for completing the task.  This will force me to avoid procrastinating.

5.    Broadcast your intentions.  I’m committing to have a fully organized office within the next 7 days.  There is nothing like putting out to the world what your intentions are.  Talk about accountability?

6.    After 30 days of a tidy office environment, reward yourself with something you’ve coveted.  Since it takes 29 days to break a habit, I’m committing to 30 days of a fully organized office.

Honesty can be brutal.  It is hard to admit that I’m a slouch at keeping my office under control.  If you have a similar issue brewing for you, will you make the commitment with me to clear away the clutter and turn a fresh page?

How do you keep the paperwork in your office under control?  What additional steps can you suggest for getting (and staying) organized.  I”m looking forward to hearing your tips and tricks.

Wishing You Organization,

Dar

It is my all-time favorite book, The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran.  While it would be impossible to summarize, I’ve chosen one passage that reflects my feelings for you, my fellow readers.  It is on friendship.

Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.”
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth:  and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness,
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Amongst my many passions in life, reading is near the top of the list.  Just the smell of a good book brings a smile to my face.

Over time we’ve shared lists of books that we have enjoyed.  I’m asking you to give me the title of that ONE book that you literally couldn’t part with—that you’ve underlined, spilled coffee on, accidentally dripped wax on the cover, and treasure.  No one-time reads need be included here.  I’m asking you for a book that’s part and parcel of your soul!

Thanks for your friendship.  I learn a lot from you!

With love,

Dar

There are so many lessons to be learned from Abbie on a daily basis.  She is often the teacher and I’m the student.  Here are just a few examples of what she has taught me.

“Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you’re not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!”  Author Unknown

It is often the simple things we tend to forget.  What lessons has your pet taught you?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Here’s to Wagging,

Dar