John Pederson tagged me with this “what are your secrets to a successful life” meme. Now, I’d like to dedicate this meme to my grandmother. I’m home visiting my family and my grandmother, who is 92, is just a wonderful person. The day that she found out we were coming home to visit, she went up town and made sure she had Easter gifts for all 7 of my children. She makes sure to buy each of them a treat for the drive home and just loves to have them visit. (Me, on the other hand she can take or leave!) She knits each of them a new pair of slippers each year. To pass her time, she makes tiny touque/mitt pin-on sets which she sells and then donates all the money to local charities. She’s a great lady!
#1 – Live one day at a time – many people look forward to “tomorrow” without paying attention to the day they are in. Planning is a good thing and spending time looking forward is necessary but we need to remember to be in the present, day by day.
#2 – Be in the room – I don’t know where I heard this but it is something that I remind myself about all the time. When you are doing something or with someone, focus on the activity or the person not something else. Give the person your attention and be open to them.
#3 – Take time to get off the road – my grandmother reminds me of this regularly. Life is the accumulations of our experiences and encounters. We need to take time to slow down and enjoy our experiences with other people, especially those who are close to us. One of the worst statements is “Not now, we’ll do that ……..” because it may not happen that time will come again. Our commitments need to be met and kept but we don’t need to fill each moment. Leave time to enjoy our experiences and encounters.
#4 – Meaning – find what gives your life meaning and follow it. “Money isn’t everything.” is completely true. Being fulfilled and happy will bring greater joy than money.
#5 – Learn to laugh and do it often. Laugh with friends and family. Be able to laugh at yourself!
#6 – Hug those you love – human contact does something to us. It brightens our day and makes feel wanted and connected. In our fast paced world, we sometimes don’t take the time to be with the one’s we love and care about.
#7 – Be willing to try something new. Learn a new skill, read a new author, meet new people. Life has so many options for us but we often get caught in a rut because it is comfortable and the rut becomes so deep we don’t know how to get out.
#8 – Be willing to make mistakes. That is how we learn. In being willing to make a mistake, we are not worried about always being “correct” which frees us to try new things. Mistakes help us to learn what we did wrong and change – they deepen our understanding.
#9 – Be humble – we all can do things well but often our ego gets in the way and we close ourselves off to others’ ideas and knowledge. Let others know that you appreciate their efforts and assistance.
#10 – connect with the spiritual – not necessarily a religion but that which is larger than you. My faith has given me the strength to try new things and go new places knowing that there is a larger plan to life than just mine. It sustains me during times of difficulty and helps me to be humble when things are going well.
These are things that I believe help me to have “success” in life.
Tagging – missprofe
2 responses so far ↓
Thanks for sharing your secrets, and for the tag.
#2 – Be in the room – is a great way to look at this concept, one that I seldom see in such lists, but is it ever important!
#10 – connect with the spiritual – is often missing too. I think spiritual is different than religious… you can be both, however spiritual transcends worship and is more about affecting the human spirit, both your own and those around you, in a positive way.
… Also, you have inspired me to also dedicate my response to a grandparent as well.
[...] Now I’m supposed to tag a few more folks. I’d like to hear from Chris Lehmann(principal at the Science Leadership Academy), Kelly Christopherson(an administrator who blogs–but I see he’s already been tagged), Patrick Higgins (who I just “met” on Ning.com), and Vaughn Branom (a librarian in Houston). [...]
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