Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

The Importance of Mornings

I love the mornings even though I was not always a proponent of the early mornings.  However, for the past couple of years, I have been getting up early and going to bed much earlier in order to get roughly seven to eight hours of sleep a night during the week.

During the morning hours, I find that I am more alert, able to focus more easily, and everything just feels easier.  So, if I need to tackle something that requires a lot of attention to detail and concentration, I will have a greater chance of being successful in the morning hours versus towards the end of the day, when I am more tired.  It is always good to know your “peak hours” in order to set yourself up for success.  I am really glad that I made the move to getting up early and going to bed a bit earlier.  Even on the weekends we are now getting up earlier, which provides more time for us to enjoy the mornings together.  I encourage you to take advantage of the early morning hours — where so much more can be accomplished and enjoyed!

Blogs That Fill Me Up

Today I thought I would share what I’ve been reading lately that fills me up with inspiration.  I do not spend as much time as I used to reading blogs, for a variety of reasons including time and my desire to read more books.  I want to read blogs that build and inspire; and contain authentic stories.

With those things in mind, here are five of my current favorites that you might already be reading or might be new to you:

1. Today Is Going to Be Awesome — Lisa Congdon: I especially like the personal artists essays, which are inspiring.

2. Moments of Being — Dani Shapiro: Shares thoughts about living a creative life, specifically being a writer.

3. Elizabeth Gilbert: Contains interesting posts and thoughts about living a fulfilled and creative life.  I truly enjoy her posts.

4. Be More With Less: Contains interesting content about simplifying life and getting to the heart of the matter.

5. Gratefulness: Has interesting posts about finding gratefulness, in the smallest ways, along with sharing a daily, inspiring quote.

Inspirational Stones

I love inspirational quotes and sayings.  In fact, my fridge is covered in roughly 65 magnet quotes, give or take!  On my desk, I have a bowl of stones that I have collected over the past couple of years from my travels, each engraved with a word(s).  I find having them nearby inspiring, and I plan to continue to collect these types of stones!  These stones sit next to my wish ball and daruma doll.  I believe these all channel positive energy.

On another note, we are excited for Doug to come home this weekend from his travels!  During Doug’s trip, due to service and connection issues, we were unable to speak on the phone and Face Time together.  This has been the longest period of time that we were unable speak since we started dating, nearly eleven years ago!  Thank goodness for email and texting!  I know Doug is excited to see his fur girl, and we have missed him!  Tomorrow we are going to dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants and, after dinner, we are going to see a play!  And, most of all, Victory is ready to celebrate her Daddy for Father’s Day on Sunday!  (We think being ‘puppy parents’ counts!)

(We truly hope that Victory is on the mend from her infection, which we have been battling for over a month.  We should know for sure how she is doing in a couple of weeks when we complete a urinalysis after she finishes taking her current antibiotic.)

We hope that you have a great weekend and Happy Father’s Day!

Start Now: What Will You Regret When You Are 80?

This week I started reading, The Power of Starting Something Stupid, by Richie Norton.  I am about half way through this book, and it is a good read thus far.  I thought that I would share an interesting insight, the Bezos Test: Will I regret it when I’m 80?

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon.  Bezos stated, “If you can project yourself out to age 80 and sort of think, ‘What will I think at that time?’ it gets you away from some of the daily pieces of confusion.  You know, I left this Wall Street firm in the middle of the year.  When you do that, you walk away from your annual bonus.  That’s the kind of thing that in the short-term can confuse you, but if you think about the long-term, then you can really make good life decisions that you won’t regret later.”

Bezos did the “crazy thing” and became a legend and changed the world as we know it with his idea to start Amazon.

The Bezos Test: Will I Regret It When I’m 80?

The Bezos Test sets forth a set of questions to ask yourself, which leads you to the ideas that are most important to you, thereby outlining the ideas for you to focus on first.

Question 1: Do you have a pressing thought or idea that simply won’t go away?

Question 2: Looking at your list, what would you regret not doing?

Question 3: If you had only a short time to live, and you were required to rid yourself of all things from your list except for three or four, which three to four ideas would remain?

Question 4: If you had to prioritize these few things in order from most important to least important, which order would you choose?

“The common question that gets asked in business is, why?  That’s a good question, but an equally valid question is, why not?”  –Jeff Bezos

So what is your ‘crazy idea’ that you would be foolish not to start?  The best time to embrace your ‘crazy idea’ is now.