“Much effort, much prosperity.” –Euripides

I can remember when I was a much younger man, possibly last week, when I was thinking how great it would be to do less and make more.  The end result was wasted time in the areas that bring me the most growth.  I think this concept can span many different aspects of a life; a lack of effort and the attitude of I want more for less.

I took time to look at the effort that I was putting forth in some of those aspects, what I found was there was more time wasted than applied and some of the applied time had poor intention behind it.  I think I see a great deal of this attitude in my surroundings as well.  I hear people often saying how they are not getting enough out of their efforts when questioned how strong those efforts or how focused their intentions are, the honest answer is that there is a lack.

We live in a time and place where it has becoming increasingly easy and accepted to wait around expecting things to change.  I think that time is about to start changing, if for no one else, it will in my life.  If I want my life to change today I need to put forth the effort to change it, not just sit back and think about how the world needs to tilt towards me.

Get up, get out and make something happen.  Focus on a goal that has been sitting around and put some honest intended effort into it.  I have one in mind already and I am sure you do to…go, go ahead…DO IT!

Affirmation: What I get reflects what I put in and today I am going to give it all I got.

Call To Action: Decide on a goal that you will place some intended effort into and share it with a friend and us.

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_{Copyright © 2011-2012, Change Your Life Friday. All Rights Reserved.}

“The four laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation and repetition. The goal is to create a correct habit that can be produced instinctively under great pressure. To make sure this goal was achieved, I created eight laws of learning; namely, explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, and repetition.”  -John Wooden

When I was a boy I would constantly challenge myself out in the driveway to make foul shots into the basketball hoop we had.  I would shoot foul shots all of the time, sometimes hours would pass by.  I would set goals like “I am not going inside until I can make 10 in a row.” I would practice and practice and practice.  I never became a pro but I got better.

As time has passed I tend to find myself believing that I need less practice because I am older or more accomplished or maybe just because I am a “grown-up.”  The end result is an acceptance of mediocrity in a great deal of little things in my life.  I pick up new hobbies or ideas and immediately put them to work without practicing them like I did as a child.

I feel this idea of practice through repetition carries almost more use now than when I was younger.  Today I am not so interested in being a great free-throw shooter but I do want to be a better human.  What this means to me is that I need to take the time to challenge myself to be more principle centered, more forgiving, more honest, more caring and more loving.  I just cant assume that since I comprehend these things I will be skilled enough to use them when I am put in a position of pressure just because I understand them.  I need to constantly find ways to practice through repetition.

Affirmation:  I know that I am my habits. Today I choose the highest and best self I can imagine.

Call to Action: Determine one principle or action that you would like to better learn in your life and take one minute out of each hour and focus on it.  Find a way to take action on that principle and put forth the effort.  Know that the work you put in will allow you to better respond when the old habits would seem to be easier.  Share what you are building through practice below.

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“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau

Our words and actions affect the people we come in contact with every day. Yesterday, a good friend shared an experience he had. He walked into the bank for his biweekly visit to cash his paycheck. He exchanged pleasantries with the teller and she looked at him and said “It is the greatest day of my life.” My friend replied “Oh yeah why is that?” and she answered “because I choose it to be.”

Rewind two weeks with the same teller and she asks, “How is your day?” He responds with “It’s the greatest day of my life.” “Is that because you got paid today?” she quickly shot back. “No, it’s because I choose it to be.”  This initial connection was fueled by a conversation that occurred two months earlier.

My buddy was in a discussion with a group of people and as another guy approached he turned to the guy and said, “How are you?” and without a flinch the guy exclaimed “It’s the greatest day of my life.” Taken a back my friend responded “How come?” as you can probably predict his response was “Because I choose it to be, and tomorrow I get to wake up and have the greatest day of my life all over again.”

Before he left the bank the teller told my buddy she was in total awe after their initial conversation. One of the teller’s co-workers walked up and thanked my friend for always having such a positive attitude. The connections we make on a daily basis are important and significant. Do we want to be a positive force and surround our self with positivity or not?

Affirmation: I am connected to everything and everyone. I am a drop of good in this Ocean of life.

Call to Action: This week notice a new way you can connect with a family member, old friend, or bank teller. Please share with us that connection.

_{Copyright © 2011-2012, Change Your Life Friday. All Rights Reserved.}

“We loved with a love that was more than love”  – Edgar Allan Poe

Love seems appropriate this time of year. The confusion of love, the wonder of love, is it the right kind of love, am I getting enough love, or better yet am I giving enough love?

I am blessed to have incredible friends in my circle, one of my most respectable friends used to tell me that Love is the meaning of life. Although I looked up to him, I took what he said with a grain of salt. As I have grown older, I realize it is not just the romantic love he was speaking of. There is: the love I have for my family, the love I have for my friends, the love for the beauty of nature, of art and the ingenuity of man.  As I grow into a more loving adult I become a better person. I can love people through their faults today. I can love the seemingly unlovable.

Today I believe that love is part of the meaning of life: To love and be loved, to build relationships and nurture them, to be a friend, a brother, a son or a daughter, sister, a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or just a good listener to lend an ear. If we share our knowledge and our compassion with others we will receive it in places we never expected.

Affirmation: Love is all there is. I love me, others and life with all my heart.

Call to Action:  Find a spot in your life that you may not be showing love and see how love can transform your perception of that person, place or thing.

_{Copyright © 2011-2012, Change Your Life Friday. All Rights Reserved.}

“Enthusiasm is contagious. Not having enthusiasm is also contagious.” –Fortune Cookie

I think I figured it out, life that is.  It is pretty simple too. Step 1: Get up and get excited for the chance to be alive and breathing.  Step 2: Spread that feeling of excitement and enthusiasm to everyone you meet.  Step 3:  Accept that feeling back with the same joy that you gave it.  Step 4: Repeat.

Human emotion is more vigorously contagious than anything else in the cosmos, you see a baby smile, you smile. You walk into a room full of angry people and you are disturbed.  It happens instantaneously without thought or action.  For that reason a little bit of excitement for life will go a long way, also a total lack of interest will carry the same wave throughout your experience.

I am excited to be alive today.  Instead of just saying this or writing it on the Internet for all to see I need to go spread that feeling to all the people that I come in contact with today.  It is Friday, get pumped up, get excited, live a little, not just for You but for Us.

Affirmation: I accept and love that I am connected to everyone. Today I embrace this connection and enthusiastically spread joy and excitement to everyone I meet.

Call to Action: Determine one thing in your life that you engage with apathy. Let someone know what part of your life this is, and for one week bring enthusiasm to this area of your life. Let us know what  you will be changing in the comment section.

_{Copyright © 2011-2012, Change Your Life Friday. All Rights Reserved.}

“Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own; now they own you.”  – Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Welcome to February. This week a friend and I were discussing the things that are truly important to us. We watched a thirteen month old child experience the world around him as we conversed.  His seemingly random facial expressions caught my eye. After a few more minutes, it became obvious his expressions were deliberate because he was living in the moment.  He flipped through his picture book and would stop on a page that seemed the most interesting, as he took in the page, laughter and happy noises that only an infant can express followed.

Our conversation quickly moved to why it is such a challenge for us to live in the moment. I was able to recognize the distractions that have developed because I would just do them. Do I really need to check my Facebook every 10 minutes? Nope! Do I really need to check my phone for texts every 5 minutes even when my ringer is on? Probably not!

This simple conversation, which was interrupted due to the curious young man “inspecting” electrical outlets, made me really start to look at my life. I have some practices that serve me and some that I serve. I know today that through honest analysis and simple action these habits that have turned to rituals can be let go of. When, I am not a prisoner of mindless habits I can experience true freedom.

Affirmation: Today I am free to choose actions that serve my greatest good.

Call to Action: Look at your life and determine one habit that you would love to release. Share this with a friend and have them hold you accountable for one week on your road to freedom.

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“In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent.” – Loretta Lynn

It is the 2^nd Friday in January, the 2^nd Friday of 2012, Friday the 13th. For some in our world and culture, Friday the 13th is a day that brings bad luck and a fearful mindset. As the quote above says I think we can create our own luck, good bad or indifferent.

I talked with my grandfather yesterday about luck.  He told me, “I have been lucky to be a lucky man.”  I asked him if that has always been the case, he paused for a second and said, “YES.”  He then shared a story with me about how his luck would play out; he always carried a silver dollar in his pocket and when he was faced with a decision that could seemingly take time out of the day he would flip that coin. Never second-guessing the choice that was made for him, he would trust in the idea that he was a lucky man and the right outcome would present itself.

He has always believed that he was a lucky man so he trusted luck would come his way.  That belief became a mindset, which resulted in a way of being.  What his story didn’t tell me was how proactive he was in all of his endeavors; as a result he was constantly making his own luck.

I always have a choice, I can be as prepared as possible and believe I am lucky, accepting all good things that come or I can pout about how unlucky I am and see how that works out.  Today I know that I am a lucky man.

Affirmation: I take responsibility for making my own luck, I am prepared to share the gifts that come my way, I am lucky!

Call To Action: Today recognize an area of your life where good luck is present. Share a story about how lucky you are today and listen to a story where someone else is lucky. Pass on your luck in the comment section.

_{Copyright © 2011-2012, Change Your Life Friday. All Rights Reserved.}

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 6, 2012 is the perfect day for a fresh start. Why? The easy answer is, why not?     It is the beginning of a New Year and there is no better time to start something fresh and new.  Whether it be a new journey, project, stage in life, or even just a new attitude, NOW is the time.  Most of us have just recently hung our new calendars, stocked our new planners and started to put the last year of papers away.  Now I am faced with a year of blank days and a choice, I can look at these days with fear of the hows, wheres and whys that an unwritten year may hold or I can see those blank days as openings for the endless possibilities that an inspired life can bring. How we start certainly doesn’t determine where we will finish but I think an open mind and an open heart are two attitudes that I am ready to bring to this New Year.  Why not?

Affirmation: With an open mind and an open heart, I claim now is the time for a fresh start!

Call To Action: Take the first step on a new adventure today and share that with someone. If you are called to please share that action in the comments.

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