Here is this week’s vlog. It’s about letting the Universe help you by listening and allowing. Leave a like if you enjoy the video. Feel free to comment here or there about what you think. Agree or disagree. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I post a video on YouTube. Have a great week. Peace.
So I’m going for another interview tomorrow at 1pm my time. It’s definitely a job I’d like, which is a plus. I’m guessing like the last interview I talked about, though, I won’t know for sure how I did right after the interview. They have a few people to interview so I’m guessing that even if I do well I won’t be offered a job for a few days. I’m good with that. There is a similar position at another company that I’m interested in as well, so I’d like to have both interviews done before getting an offer.
Speaking of the last interview, here we are weeks later and I still haven’t heard anything back. It’s easy when you don’t hear back to assume that you didn’t get the job or that you didn’t interview well, but it’s important to always keep in mind that they are only assumptions. Until you get confirmation you were passed over you just don’t know. And even if you do get passed over it doesn’t necessarily mean you interviewed poorly. I’ll give an example.
Years ago at my current company I applied for a promotion. At first there was only going to be one promotional slot and I knew I had some good competition for the job. The day of the interview came and I gave it my best. They passed along at the end of the interview that because they did have such a good talent pool they were actually going to promote two people. I left the room feeling really good. I felt I had answered all the questions well and carried myself with great confidence. Plus I now knew my chances of getting the job had just doubled.
Alas, a few days later, I got a call from the head of the promotion board telling me that I wasn’t chosen. I thanked her for considering me and asked if I might get feedback on how she felt I could improve for the next opportunity. She told me that, as I had felt, I had interviewed very well and there wasn’t much room for improvement. They just had numerous, highly qualified candidates and they had to pick two out of a larger group of very deserving applicants. She told me the differences were minor and shouldn’t be looked upon as suggesting I wasn’t a good choice. I was highly encouraged to apply when the position opened again in the future.
The head of the promotion board was a straight shooter, and definitely not one to needlessly flatter someone just to make them feel better. So I knew the feedback was genuine. And the ones who did get the jobs were excellent choices. There was no shame in losing out to them. I had done a great job, it just wasn’t my time.
Which is why it’s important to stay positive about these things, even if you do get some bad news that you didn’t get it. There’s no reason to assume the worst before hand. Plus, sometimes the Universe just sees a better option for you around the corner. Which is what happened in my case.
About a week after finding out that I had not gotten the promotion a totally new position opened at my location. A position I very much wanted, well more than the one I had just been passed over on. Had I not been passed over, though, I probably wouldn’t have applied for the new position. Which would have been a shame as I got it and really enjoyed doing that job. The Universe was right, it was better I had waited.
So I go into tomorrow’s interview with that same mindset. I’ll do my best answering the questions. I’ll answer the questions with confidence. And when the interview is over I’ll wait and see in patience. Maybe I’ll get the job. Maybe I won’t get that one, but I’ll still go on to get the other similar position at the other company. Either way I just trust that the Universe will put me where I need to be when I need to be there.
So whether or not you have an upcoming interview or other life choice, I hope you carry that same mindset with you. Trust that things are as they are meant to be, knowing the Universe has your back. Have a great day tomorrow. Peace.
Here are the results of this week’s weigh in. Let me know what you think. Like if you enjoy the video. Leave a comment letting me know how I did, or how I could do better. Subscribe and click the bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video to my YouTube channel. Have a great week. Peace.
It’s a concept that has been around for quite some time. You’re the sum of the five people you hang around with the most. It isn’t an exact science. You aren’t the literal sum of those people. If you showed me five people I couldn’t calculate specifically what the man, or woman, hanging out with them would be like. But overall it is a true concept.
If you hang around with people who think “this is it, this is all that I ever will be” what are the chances that you’ll be a person with goals and ambitions? Not very high. Even if you started out without that limiting belief, how long would it take, being reminded daily by your five that “this is it”, before you just came to accept it as true?
If your five just likes sitting around all day and watching movies on the tv, or perhaps playing Xbox or Playstation, what do you think your waistline is likely to measure in at? Do you think that if you suggested that you should all go out for a walk that would go over really well? I’m guessing you wouldn’t have many takers. So instead you just sit there with them and do as they do.
If your five likes to hang out after work at a local diner for grub and smokes, are you going to wear a mask and eat a salad? Unlikely, since we associate with the group we hang with. I used to do this. I didn’t smoke myself, but sitting at a booth when everyone else does made that more of a semantic than a fact. And I certainly wasn’t eating healthy, and it showed.
Whoever your five are, and however they behave, we all have an inherent desire to fit in. So when the five does something unhealthy, we do it with them. When the five engages in negativity, we get negative too. If the five assumes the worst in every situation, we don’t boldly stand up and say “Not me, not today. I’m thinking positive!” No, we acquiesce to the group mindset and start planning for the worst.
So the five we hang out with are vitally important to our life and well-being. Who are your five?
Are they your coworkers? We spend 40 hours a week with these people, not counting thinking about work on the way in and decompressing from work on the way home. Are your coworkers happy? Do they look at the future brightly? Or do they go on about how work sucks? Do they spend the 40 hours wishing they didn’t work there? Do they gossip about other workers behind their backs?
Are they friends? Would they spend all day staring at a wall if they could? Do they assume the worst in others? Do they sit around all day engaging in frivolous tasks? Or do they go out for hikes? Do they spend time looking for ways to make life better? Do they find the best in others because they’re always looking for the best?
Are they your family? Have they told you that your family is at a certain station in life and that’s just how it is for you, too? When you tell them your plans do they offer criticisms and limiting beliefs? Or do they help you find a way to make your plans happen? When you tell them of your long-term goals do they gleefully dream big with you, or remind you that you need to be realistic? And by realistic they mean keep your aim low so as not to disappoint yourself.
Here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter who your five is. And it doesn’t matter why those five are the way they are. The commonality in everything I mentioned above is you. No matter who those five are, you are chosing to associate with them. Are those five building you up or knocking you down? Do they nurture, or neutralize? Are they your cheerleaders? Or are they the millstone tied around your neck?
When it comes to coworkers, friends, and family you have the ultimate decision of who you spend your time with. You have to decide what’s most important. You have to decide who is most important. If the people in your life right now are not there to help you become the best version of yourself, is that their fault, or yours? If you work in a negative environment then you need to decide. Which is more important, happiness or your paycheck? I’d rather earn less and smile more. If your friends are sedentary or have negative attitudes, the blame lies in your choice to be with them instead of people who will lift you up and make you whole.
Even when it comes to the big one, family, you still have to decide. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, or fun, but it’s necessary. If your family has bought into the notion that life is drudgery, and you have to accept your meager status, you have to choose to leave or stay. That’s on you. I’m not saying never see your family again, just make sure that you spend the majority of your time with a new five that makes you better, healthier, and happier. Who knows, maybe when you do go back and spend time with the fam and they see what you’ve become some of them might jump the ship to the happy boat, too.
The key is to remember that you aren’t being selfish taking care of yourself. Refusing to spend time with negative old friends or family who bring you down isn’t self-centered, it’s self-preserving. It all goes back to the concept of you can’t fill a cup from an empty pitcher. Chosing who you associate with wisely is about putting yourself first, which isn’t a bad thing no matter how many times you’ve been told it is. When you make yourself whole first you’re a better person for everyone whose life you’ll touch because you’ll be touching those lives in a positive way. And that’s not a good thing, that’s a great thing.
So spend some time considering who your five are and start making choices. If they aren’t the five that’s best for you start thinking about who your ideal five would be and get to looking for people who fill that bill. It’s good for you, it’s good for them, and eventually that’ll make things good for everyone. All because you didn’t just choose, you chose wisely. Have a great week. Peace.
I have a friend who has a favorite statement, “It is what it is.” The phrase is certainly not his creation, nor is it unique to him, but I would definitely call it his catch phrase. It’s his go to response when something bad happens. And it’s a very stoic response. Good, bad, or ugly a situation is what it is and you just have to accept it as is.
Or do you? While I appreciate the sentiment, that there’s no use getting mad about a situation that has already happened, it’s not entirely true. A better way of phrasing the thought would be “It is what you make it.”
Viewing things as “It is what it is” suggests that you have absolutely no control in the situation. It’s totally beyond you. But in all situations you always have one absolute level of control, and that’s how you respond to it.
For example, you just got off of work and are ready to head home when you go out to your car and one of the tires is flat. “It is what it is” reminds you that getting mad about the flat tire doesn’t fix it. “It is what it is” reminds you that being mad won’t make changing the tire any easier. In fact, getting mad could make it worse. Certainly there isn’t anything wrong with responding to the situation with an “It is what it is” attitude and just fixing the flat in peace.
But what if you had an “It is what you make it” attitude? Instead of this being a flat you just have to take care of, you could view it as a way to test your life skills. You don’t change the tire very often so now you get to take a moment to show that you are self-sufficient. You could ask a coworker to stick around and keep you company while you change the tire. It is what you made it, a chance to socialize with your coworker. If your coworker can’t stay, is there some problem you’ve been meaning to devote some time to? If it is what you make it, this time just became thoughtful time to work on that problem.
While accepting things for what they are in an emotionally even way is a good thing, why not choose to take control instead? It is what it is can be good, but why settle for good? Choose it to be what you make it to be and make it great. Have a great day. Peace.
This week’s vlog is up. It’s on tracking your weight loss and why going strictly by the numbers isn’t the best approach. In it I discuss other options for keeping track of your progress. Check it out. Like and leave a comment to let me know how you’re doing. If you dislike the video or disagree with anything I said then leave a comment so we can discuss it. Subscribe and click the notification bell to be immediately notified every time I post a video to my YouTube. Have a great week. Peace.
I have not one, but two videos this week. The first is my weekly update. The second is a thank you video. I’ll put them both below. Great progress this week and I’m grateful to be over 500 views now. Thank you all so much for that. Leave a like and a comment on the video to let me know how I’m doing. Subscribe and click the notification bell if you want to be immediately notified every time I upload a video. I hope you’re week went as well as mine and I’ll see you next week for the next check in. Peace.
So I’ve been tracking how my YouTube channel has been doing in terms of views and minutes watched. I have a little spreadsheet I made just for that purpose. And this morning when I entered the numbers I saw that I had reached a happy milestone. I’ve gotten over 500 views.
I started my YouTube channel last October. It’s just barely over 4 months old so that’s about 125 views a month. I’m very happy with that number. Some channels may be growing way faster than that, but I also know that a lot of channels get started and never make it to 500 views. So it’s a good first big hurdle to have gotten over.
At the beginning of the year I decided to recommit to a full year of producing content for the channel at a minimum of 1 vlog per week. Now I’ve decided it’ll be 2 per week as I’ve started doing my weekly update in video form. If I manage to get a review video in at least every other week that would mean over 100 more videos to go before I make the final decision about the channel.
But honestly I think I’ve already decided. Every week the channel starts growing a little faster. The number of subscribers keeps slowly increasing. And at a certain point I’m guessing things will start increasing faster and faster and I’ll reach more and more people. In the end though, come December 31st if I still have one subscriber following me I think I’ll keep going because as long as I’m helping someone it just feels good to do.
I really hope that I’m reaching a lot more than 1 person of course, but even 1 will be enough. There’s 10 more months and some change to go and I look forward to spending it sharing with you guys who’ve made this journey worthwhile for me. I thank you for your support in watching my videos and following this blog. In a little over a month this blog will hit one year since I restarted it and I’ll do a thank you post and recap at that time.
To end this one I’ll thank you again real quick. If you have any suggestions or comments about the YouTube channel or this one, feel free to leave them here or there. I hope you’re having a great day. I know I did starting it out with that great news. I look forward to seeing you soon. Peace.
When we see our friend after they’ve been to the salon for a new haircut we will often take a moment to compliment them on their new look. When someone we know gets a new car we’ll show all sorts of interest in it and tell them what a great purchase they’ve made. If we haven’t seen an acquaintance for a while and they appear to be more fit than when we saw them last time we’ll ask them if they’ve lost some weight or if they’ve been working out.
When it comes to the people we see regularly we take time to compliment them and build them up. We even do this with people we don’t see very often but are acquainted with. Sadly, the one person we don’t generally pay this courtesy to is ourselves.
Why don’t we do this for the man (or woman) in the mirror? What’s so wrong about taking a moment to compliment ourselves on how nice our hair looks today? If we got something new at a great price, why can’t we be proud of ourselves about it? When we’ve been on point about our diet and exercise and the results are showing, is there anything wrong with taking notice and patting ourselves on the back?
We’ve been told since we were children that the answer is yes. It’s bad. It’s vain. It’s self-serving and therefore wrong. But is it really? Like everything its a matter of moderation. If you’re spending all day looking in the mirror admiring yourself, of course that’s not good. But a quick “looking good” in the morning when you’re looking good is just showing confidence. That’s a good thing. Being proud of yourself for making a wise purchase isn’t egotistical, it’s prudent. We should want to be shrewd in our business deals. Letting yourself know that you’re pleased with the success you’ve had isn’t self serving, it’s reinforcing good behaviour. Behaviour you should want to continue with.
So next time you see yourself in the mirror go ahead and be happy. You’re a good person and you deserve it. Smile and remind yourself you have a right to be happy. Be proud of yourself like you would be for a good friend who was succeeding. It isn’t wrong to be proud of yourself. It should only be worrisome if you can’t. Have a great day. Peace.
Have you ever scheduled a gym session in for the day and by day’s end it just didn’t happen? Did you ever plan on meditating to start your day but by the time you got to work you realized that instead of clearing your mind first thing it actually just slipped your mind?
We have a lot of rationalizations for these scheduling shortcomings. You got out of work late so you didn’t have time to stop by the gym on the way home. Or you got home and now you have other things to do so you just don’t think you’ll be able to squeeze time in for meditating. Or there are a backlog of other obligations you need to attend to and the gym and meditation room just aren’t high enough on the list to make the cut.
You really believe that you want to do these activities, if only there was time. But try as you might you just don’t seem to be able to find any room in your schedule to accommodate these activities. If only there were more time in the day.
Is that really true though? Is it absolutely impossible to work in anything more to your schedule?
Ask yourself this. What if, instead of meditating for half an hour, you were told that you’d be put in a room with your favorite celebrity for that same amount of time? I bet your schedule would be empty enough to fit that in.
Or if your hour of gym time, that you couldn’t possibly make today because your booked, suddenly become an hour alone with your fantasy crush. Would you text your crush to tell them that you just can’t spare the time? Probably not.
In reality we know that we could make the time for the activities if we were truly motivated to do so, we just aren’t. If you allow yourself to be fooled by the excuse that you just can’t find the time then you never look hard enough to find the real reason you don’ t do these beneficial activities.
So spend a little time considering why you can’t make that time. There are many reasons why people can’t find the time, but the only one that matters is the reason you’re not finding it. When you get your reason take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the center. On one side list the ways this reason is benefiting you, and on the other a list of how it’s hurting you. Keep the list with you and when you find that you “don’t have the time” to meditate or go to the gym take out your list and read it. I’m guessing the list of benefits won’t take much of any time to read, but the list of hurts will.
Hopefully when you’ve had a moment to see how your “reason” is affecting your life you’ll be motivated to get to the gym or clear some time to clear your mind. Do this often enough and you’ll get into the habit of going to the gym and meditating. And once it’s a habit you’ll easily find the time for it, no matter how busy your schedule really becomes. Have a great day. Peace.
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