Five Words To Change Your Life
Five words that can change your life: Hope, Cope, Survive, Thrive, Soar.
These five words can, do and will continue to change and save lives.
Hope: Not the wishful thinking (“I hope I win the lotto”) type, but “the true inner feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.” (Dictionary.com)
Imagine if you knew how to instantaneously tap into hope whenever you needed it, for whatever reason.
Hope keeps you going in the face of doubt, fear and the great unknown.
Hope keeps you from giving up and, instead, develops your perseverance and persistence muscles.
Hope is the inner seed that is necessary to continue to go forward into action.
Cope: Once you have hope as your foundation, you can now go into action. Cope is “to struggle or deal, especially on fairly even terms or with some degree of success.” (Dictionary.com)
When you cope you get by. No matter how small it might be, progress is made.
Coping is the beginning of creating positive momentum for your life.
You begin to see how your efforts are moving you forward.
You also know how to deal with challenges, struggles and even failure, and keep moving.
Hope + Cope = Survive
Survive means “to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence.” (Dictionary.com)
As you build on hope and cope, you develop survival skills. These skills begin to occur automatically because you have practiced them and have developed some confidence around them.
Surviving means you have gotten yourself to a place of stability…ground level zero.
You have recovered successfully.
Many people survive, but never grow past this point.
Many people get comfortable with surviving.
Remember, life is a progression:
Hope > Cope > Survive > Thrive
Thrive means “to prosper; be fortunate or successful, to grow or develop vigorously; flourish.” (Dictionary.com)
When you thrive you are building on the foundation of hope, well developed coping skills and having established yourself as a survivor.
Thriving is a willingness to go beyond the norm.
Beyond average.
Beyond mediocre.
Beyond what you already know and into the great unknown.
Thriving means to take significant risks, because you are going past where you’ve ever been and perhaps, as well, beyond where anyone else has been before.
Thriving means you are willing to stand up, stand out and make a stand for what you believe.
It means letting go of ego, fear and the need to impress others.
Thriving means to be not just outside the box, but to destroy the box and create your own new paradigm.
Perhaps this is the master success formula for life:
Hope + Cope + Survive + Thrive = Soar
Soar means “to rise or aspire to a higher or more exalted level.” (Dictionary.com)
Thriving sets the tone for soaring. Whereas thriving takes tremendous effort, soaring is the outcome from all that hard work, effort and risk
Just like an eagle soars in the thermals, you too will enjoy soaring through your life as you follow this progression.
Soaring is the positive consequence for hard work, many risks and always keeping the ego (and fear) in check.
Soaring does require a huge commitment to be extremely responsible and accountable due to your high level of visibility.
Many people choose not to soar because they don’t want to be seen as the “center of attention.”
Soaring is not accomplished to be in the limelight, although it often results in such.
To soar, you must shed your ego and have no worries what others will think, say or do in response to your soaring.
To soar is to have reached the pinnacle of life.
It is also from where you must be willing to be a role model at the highest level and a mentor to others who seek to accomplish the same.
Hope.
Cope.
Survive.
Thrive.
Soar.
These five words describe what we all need to stay on the positive side of life.
Addiction, depression and divorce, for example, scarcely exist when you live in the progression of hope, cope, survive, thrive and soar.
These are the stepping stones of greatness.
Will you step up, step out and step into your greatness?
Marry YourSelf First!
Joe Monks: Blind Film Director Who Aspires to Inspire
Meet Joe Monks.
(http://www.joemonks.com/)
A blind film director.
Read it again: A blind film director.
Are you trying to figure out how that works?
Joe lost his eyesight in 2002 as the result of his long-time battle with diabetes, but he didn’t let that hold him back, as he wrote and directed The Bunker.
Joe recently received the Achievement in Cinema award at the 2011 Gasparilla International Film Festival.
(And The Bunker is being submitted to the Cannes Film Festival this year.)
Joe didn’t know he was going to have to give a speech at Gasparilla until about 10 minutes before he went on stage.
His impromptu speech was beyond “touching” as he challenged every participant present with his powerful oration.
He began by sharing with the audience the old cliché of “when one door closes…” but he put a brand new spin on it.
He suggested that we not look for another open door when the door closes, but rather, we need to remind ourselves that just because a door is closed, it doesn’t mean it’s locked.
So it’s our job to pick the lock, take off the hinges or break the damn door down (that’s what Joe said!)
Joe went on to use another cliché about dropping the infamous pebble into a pond and how the pebble creates ripples.
But he added his ever so pithy Joeism to it: Because of the award he won the pebble (his movie, The Bunker) is now a bigger pebble and his hopes are that one of the now bigger ripples will get someone’s attention and they’ll say “Joe Monks won an award?!! He sucks!!” (Again, Joe’s words here!)
And for those people, Joe simply says, “Come get some…the door is open.”
Joe Monks is quite an inspirational story, to say the least.
And he’s a guy who could very easily have fallen into depression because of what he “lost” or even gotten into some addictive behavior as a way to cope.
But instead, he has gone forward and done what no one has ever done before.
No one!
And his wife stands by his side.
Segue…
This month’s empowerment topic is: The “Other” A.D.D.: Addiction, Depression and Divorce…What to Know, What to Do and How to Make it All Stick
If you or your loved ones have been challenged by addiction, depression or divorce, keep your eyes and ears open as you’ll be receiving some useful information.
(Click here for a resource for you right now.)
And if you have challenges you’d like to get answers to, feel free to stop by www.AskKenDonaldson.com .
Bring ‘em on and let’s create some break-throughs like Joe’s.
And Marry YourSelf First!
Ken Donaldson on GOALS: Go Out And Live Splendidly!
GOALS: Go Out And Live Splendidly!
Your acronym for the day.
When you get down to it, what are goals truly for?
Aren’t they designed for you to live your life fully, happily and with the most and best balance possible?
So, when you’re in the process of “doing” your goals, make them simple and succinct.
Remember that your goals work best when they are in alignment with your mission, vision and purpose (MVP), and your values, integrity and priorities (VIP).
Now, Go Out And Live Splendidly!
And Marry YourSelf First!!
Ken Donaldson: Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting
Ever wonder why more people don’t make the changes that would be best for them?
(Ever wonder why you don’t either?)
I was perusing the internet looking for research on goals and I discovered something very interesting.
There isn’t much.
At least that I could find or that was really reliable.
But what I did find was rather alarming.
Most people (about 80%) never set goals for themselves.
Most people who set goals (another 80%) never achieve them.
Take these numbers with a big grain of salt because they may not be truly accurate.
Suffice to say, however, that the vast majority of people do not either make goals or keep the goals they make.
Why?
One reason: Overwhelm.
People feel overwhelmed and go away from the overwhelm.
It’s actually our “normal” reaction to avoid overwhelm.
Yes…we are wired to go away from overwhelm.
The brain is programmed to alert you to anything that could be potentially dangerous and go away from it.
Fight or flight…you’ve heard of that no doubt.
The problem, however, is that goals are not dangerous.
In facts, goals are actually the opposite of dangerous.
Having NO goals is much more dangerous than having goals.
So the first step to effective goal-setting and goal-getting is to calm your mind.
Or at least realize that when the inner alarm sounds, there is no need to be alarmed.
In fact, if you can harness all that fear-based energy towards the goal, guess what happens?
Goal Accomplishment and Success!
Athletes know this all too well.
They take all that “anxiety” and they channel into their game.
Performers from every conceivable arena know and do the same.
So do extraordinary sales people.
And now you can too.
The first step: Make only one goal.
Allow you mind to really become comfortable with this whole goal thing.
Set one goal, then accomplish it, then set another.
Let your mind get used to goals.
Then set only two and accomplish those.
Start small and grow.
Additionally, visualize yourself achieving these goals with effortless ease and grace.
This sometimes can be challenging but if you practice over and over you will do it!
Be a goal-setting AND a goal-getter!
And I hope you’ll join me on Tuesday:
What, When, How and WOW: Move from Passive Goal-Setting to Exciting and Successful Goal-Getting
And today is a great day to:
Marry YourSelf First!
Ken Donaldson, Fox 13 and Financial Infidelity Part 2
Lies about money get tough to hide: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com
I visited my friends from Fox 13 again to discuss Financial Infidelity. Although they edited much of what we discussed (and it was really good…honest!) the overall message here is clear: Get honest with your honey and your money!
Marry YourSelf First!!
Marry YourSelf First! Audio
Marry YourSelf First is now available on audio! Click here to learn more
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