“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”
— Douglas Noel Adams
Archives for posts with tag: self improvement
Sunday June 16 is Father’s Day. Here in the U.S. it’s celebrated on the third Sunday in June. I was surprised to learn how many other countries around the world celebrate this day (check it out on Wikipedia, I don’t want to bore you with all the different dates)
I’d just like to take this opportunity to reiterate why I started this blog and what I hope you take from it.
I find guys are left out in the wind sometimes. See, girls are taught how to act like a lady, men are told how to treat a lady, we even see schools that teach manners to young women so they can be more sophisticated. Guys don’t always get those instructions in life. We rely on our fathers, father figures, or sometimes any male near by as we grow up to figure out how the heck we are supposed to act.
In this day and age of increased divorced or absent fathers, us guys can be in real need of some help. So I hope to give some info on random guy topics. (And all of it is up for debate – in fact I encourage any feedback and discussion you guys and gals want to contribute) and if there is a topic you’d like more info on, let me know.
In my career I find myself wearing the hat of a parent, marriage counselor, addiction counselor, neighborhood mediator, community liaison, legal counselor, information desk, and sometimes even a life coach of sorts. So I hope to spread the wealth to the guys of the world both for themselves or to pay it forward and pass any lessons or info onto other guys, maybe their sons and ultimately we can all be better guys.
So to the fathers out there: happy Father’s Day! And to everyone else, honor your father today. It isn’t always easy to be in those shoes. We aren’t always taught how to take care of ourselves but are supposed to know the right way to handle kids and and a wife and all the things life throws at you from time to time.
Guys! Fathers and sons, take the day to reflect on how you can better a better guy!
– and tell all your friends to start reading growingupguy.com 🙂
So it’s the start of a new year. Everyone and their brother is talking about New Years resolutions. It’s nothing new, we do this every year; I will lose 20 pounds , learn a new language, become debt free, etc, etc…
And good for you for making those New Years resolutions – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have my own.
But I want to offer you a new view on those resolutions. It’s a simple tweak of language and mindset – but it’s so simplistic it’s hard not to see how you will not be successful.
Your mission: make goals just as you have. Use the ones I mentioned above for sake of conversation. But here’s the twist… I have to credit one of my mentors JB Glossinger for this mindset, I’m simply passing it along – let’s thinks of our resolutions, or goals, as trajectories.
Do you see the simple difference? You set a goal of losing 20 lbs. but end up only losing 15. Wouldn’t you say that’s still a success? It’s 5 lbs shy but you still lost 15 lbs!
You want to learn a new language. At the end if the year you still aren’t fluent but you can hold a simple conversation or maybe you can understand when someone speaks to you. That’s still pretty good!
You end the year and still have some debt. But you paid off your two largest credit cards and continue to chip away at what debt is left.
So you set your goals and name your resolutions. And still give them 100% and plan on reaching them. I’m not saying to half ass it. Just don’t disregard any progress you make along the way.
And then hidden lesson is that although you may end the year still working to complete your goals – by then your actions may well have become habits. Healthy lifestyle habits that you will continue to carry with you.
Also, don’t wait for New Year’s Day to make goals and make yourself a better person. That’s the tradition that we always abide by. But what’s wrong with making some goals in July or October?
Whenever the inspiration to improve yourself hits you, latch on to it! You’ll be a better man for it.
GrowingUpGuy 