Thursday, December 20, 2007

Rules I live By

HAPPY WINTER !! Are you having a great day? I certainly hope so, because me and Tony The Tiger got it goin' on!

I want to share with you a few of the rules that govern my life. Everyone has rules they live by. Not everyone realizes it, but we all have hard-wired internal rules that govern our every action and reaction, the way we take things, understand things, rules that govern our assumptions, rules that determine when we should be offended or elated, rules that define who we are, what we do, where we go, what we say. RULES ! They do a body good -- sometimes.

A problem occurs when we have rules that make us do things and we don't realize what our rules are :-). Violating one of our governing, internal rules -- that we don't realize exists -- can cause us a LOT of pain and stress. Not only that but many people know what their rules are, and don't know *why* they are, which tends to cause a different conflict.

Both of those conversations may be topics for another time, but today, I'm just sharing a few of my own governing rules. I'm not promoting them, justifying them or explaining them -- I'm merely stating them, in no particular order. Feel free to comment, if you like.

My Governing Rules

1. I am KELVIN.
2. Positive, Upbeat, Motivated and Uplifting (PUMU) -- always.
3. If I'm breathing and walking around on my own power... it's a good day.
4. Perspective -- use it or lose it.
5. I don't want nobody who don't want me.
6. If looks like duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck... it's probably a duck.
7. Never interfere with a working relationship.
8. Seek first to understand, then be understood.
9. I help those who help themselves, first.
10. Be good to my friends (includes family members).
11. In my next relationship, neither of us will have to change to make the other one "happy" or comfortable.
12. I never ask God to do anything for me, that I can do myself.
13. Reality is relative.
14. The best way to predict your future, is to create it.
15. You can't talk your way out of something you behaved your way into.

And, that's pretty much... me. I might have missed a few, but I tried to think of the principles I use most often. If I stop to really think about them, one or more of those probably fits within another rule. But generally if I find myself quoting it to people fairly often, I know it is a rule of mine, so I listed it here. Maybe one day I'll explore the rationale behind some of them, one at a time.

Anthony Robbins (there's that name again) notes that some of the most profound wisdom of the ages, is expressed in short, concise sayings: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Love thy neighbor as thyself, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." I try to do similarly for my own wisdoms.

Incidentally, a few of those are adopted directly from other people. As Charlie Brown once said, "I quote the truth wherever I find it."

Have a grrrreat day.

Kelvin

Friday, December 14, 2007

Decision: Is it Real or is it Memorex?

A couple of weeks ago I got together at my house with some folks, and I put the word out that I had no snacks to offer, so if they wanted to munch while they were here, they needed to bring their own snacks.

"I am not a crappy host", but the reason there was no munchy type stuff in the house, is because I had just thrown out everything that wasn't good for me, because I's let my weight get up to 200 pounds -- kinda chunky, albeit loveable, for 5' 6 1/2" ish (I squeeze all the height out that I can without lying), and thus the lab tests from my annual physical revealed some stuff that made my doctor nervous -- all weight related -- and he was kind enough to point out to me in a somewhat graphic fashion the exceptionally painful, potentially deadly existence I was about to enter.

Now, you might think... gosh, Kelvin hit a bit of bad luck, a few things went wrong and he needed some help... Nice try. Fact is, that what Kelvin needed was some discipline. Kelvin knew better, because 5 years ago Kelvin had this problem before and kicked it's butt. I lost nearly 30 pounds in 30 days, and kept it off (plus or minus 2 pounds) for over 3 years, and in the last year or so... I just kinda... slipped (jumped head first?) off the wagon, and reversed nearly ALL the progress I had made, with resultant health consequences. PLUS, I'd just spent $87 on three pairs of dress pants three weeks before, and now I couldn't button them and still breathe? HA ! No.

NOTE: Whether it is success oriented, business, weight loss, runner training, a relationship, or mountain climbing, whatever you did to win that battle and get to your success level, if you stop doing it... you *will* slide back down the pole and have to start over again.

So here I was back at this juncture again, and... I made a decision, and threw away the stuff that wasn't going to help me get to where I need to be, because a decision is not a decision, until you do something to activate it. If you're "gonna do it later," that's not a decision; its' just s wishful thinking. When you make a decision, you must do something immediately to activate it, or your brain knows that you're just kidding, and wont' help you.

And whenever you make a decision, of course, stand by for "the test". When I went to work on Monday a client brought in a BEAUTIFUL chocolate bunt cake -- thick luscious chocolate icing, and when she opened the box lid the aroma permeated ever air molecule in that office, and you could almost taste that cake. I stood there looking it, decorated with sliced almonds... standing on their ends... like little grave stones. Needless to say with the picture in mind, resisting the cake was (heh heh) a piece of cake :-) and guess what?! I lost 6 pounds in under two weeks since I made that decision, and those pants fit now... and I look *goooood* in them (smiling). But I'm not back to my weight target yet, so I do not relent until I'm done.

So when you make a decision, is it real? or is it Memorex. Do you act on it? or just talk about it ?

Make a decision. It does a body good.

Kelvin