Putting Life Back Into Perspective

When the world gets out of kilter, daily life generally seems to follow suit.

The recent events of the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine and the Israeli conflict with Hamas have certainly added to life’s tensions for many concerned peoples around the world. Clearly, there were already ample things on the world stage and here at home in the U.S. to be plenty concerned about.

 

When it comes to worry and stress, people tend to lose touch with what it is in life that they have the ability to control and those things over which then have no control what so ever. The reality is that the virtual majority of what you have stress about will never come to pass in the first place. Moreover, you wouldn’t have any control of the circumstances even if they did some how come to pass.

 

There are times when the world around you is full of uncertainty and life’s future prospects look gloomy. When this occurs, you need to find a way of putting life back into perspective.

 

A few months back when I was at the neighborhood branch of my bank, I observed something on my bank officer’s desk that really caught my attention. It was a simple list of perspectives about life that I found very reassuring. I’m sure that Miss Judy would approve of me sharing them with you:

 

The Greatest Joy ………………………………………….. Giving

The Greatest Loss ……………………...…Loss of Self-Respect

The Most Satisfying Work …………...................Helping Others

The Ugliest Personality Trait …………………….…..Selfishness

The Most Endangered Species ………...…..Dedicated Leaders

Our Greatest Natural Resource ………………...…….Our Youth

The Greatest “Shot In The Arm” …………….…Encouragement

The Greatest Problem to Overcome ……………...……..….Fear

The Most Effective Sleep Remedy …………...….Peace of Mind

The Most Crippling Failure Disease ……………….……Excuses

The Most Powerful Force In Life …………………….... ……Love

The Most Dangerous Pariah ………………………….A Gossiper

The World’s Most Powerful Computer …………...……The Brain

The Worst Thing To Be Without ………………………….…Hope

The Deadliest Weapon …………………………...….The Tongue

The Two Most Power-Filled Words ……………………….”I Can”

The Greatest Asset …………………………………………...Faith

The Most Worthless Emotion …………………………... Self-Pity

The Most Beautiful Attire ……………………………..…. A Smile

The Greatest Gift …………………………………...…...Kindness

The Most Prized Possession ………………………….…Integrity

The Most Powerful Form of Communication ……….……Prayer

The Most Contagious Spirit ………………………….Enthusiasm

The Most Important Thing In Life ………………………...….God

When I consider this amazing list, I am reminded that while life is hard enough, you need not add to it by being hard on yourself. Life is short… best that you not hasten the process by worrying yourself to death. Scripture reminds us that there will be trials and tribulations, war and rumors of war. What you are experiencing today is nothing new in the grand scheme of life on planet earth.

 

There is a lifetime of abundant living in the list above, if you would simply employ these perspectives. Choose to take charge of those aspects of life over which you can exert some degree of control. Beyond that, take time to smell the roses, spend time with friends and family. View more sunrises at the beach, more sunsets from the mountain top and take more barefoot walks in the park.

 

Most of all, learn to enjoy the process and live life to the fullest… for time is fleeting.

 

Lastly, one final thought from an author unknown… “The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it.”

 

The Leadership Academy… Changing the way organizations and people work, perform and live.

Copyright © 2014 Developing Forward | Thomas H. Swank, CBC | All Rights Reserved.

The Top 5 Signs That You're Stuck

How many times in your life have you heard someone say “I’ve got to get my act together”? Or you may have heard it expressed as “I need to get my priorities straight”.

Be honest now… How many times have you said these statements to yourself? How many times has someone else said them to you? I would imagine that over the years, it’s been quite a few times.

These self professed acknowledgements are sure-fire indicators that something is potentially out of balance in your life or in your work. Perhaps both. While there are numerous potentialities for what may be occurring (or not) in your life, there is a high likelihood that you are stuck in one form or another. Worse yet, you may not even realize it.

Following below are the Top 5 Signs That You’re Stuck:

You’re Floundering. The most common sign of floundering is indecisiveness. This typically takes the form of waffling about making decisions and initiating the actions that you deep down know must be taken. One part of you says that you don’t know what to do or aren’t sure about what to do. Conversely, there is another part of you that instinctively knows what the right thing to do is, yet you can’t seem to pull the trigger.

You’re Disorganized. When your normal state of organization deteriorates into an inefficient state of chaos it’s a sure sign that you are not coping well and that something is affecting your life to a significant degree that is sufficient enough to disrupt your ability to remain organized.

You’re Procrastinating. Putting off your least favorite tasks or chores temporarily while you work your way down to the bottom of your list is reasonably normal. However, when you start putting things off for longer periods of time or even indefinitely this is not normal. The problem with true procrastination is that you disproportionately skew in your mind that which needs to be done. You build the task into a monumental event far beyond the scope of reality, i.e. cleaning out the garage is going to take me all weekend and will cause me to not be able to play golf with my buds on Saturday. Plus I’ll miss out on… (You get the picture).

You’re Avoiding. The act of avoidance differs from simple procrastination in that is not merely circumstantial, rather it’s 100% “intentional”. In variably what you are avoiding has a clear consequence associated with it. Consequences are generally painful, which may not always impact just you. Often times, what you’re avoiding will also cause pain or disappointment to someone else.

You’re Distracted. There are times in life when you will find yourself in a state of “overwhelm”. In such circumstances your state of overwhelm is going to cause you to be easily distracted. When your conscious brain becomes overloaded it enters into search mode looking for a way out of the pickle you find yourself in. Everything then becomes a distraction which only serves to further cloud the issue of what to do next.

In that you are a perpetual work in progress, the reality is that you will never truly “get your act together”. You will however find yourself stuck in a ditch along side the road of life from time to time. While it’s never a pleasant experience to endure, you will in the end get through it.

The correct mindset to adopt when you find yourself in one of these roadside events that will actually make more sense than the aforementioned adage… is “To get your life back on track”. Don’t allow your life to get put on hold for any appreciable length of time. Call a tow truck (get real help), get yourself out of the ditch and get yourself back on the road of life. Then put your foot on the accelerator and get back up to speed.

In the process, you would be wise to heed adage #2 from the intro above and seriously consider what is genuinely “important” and further enhance your recovery process by prioritizing the most important issues and tasks that will get you back on track, back up to speed and back in control of your life.

Copyright © 2013 Developing Forward | Thomas H. Swank, CBC | All Rights Reserved.