We measure many things by milestones.

I'm amazed, really. A three year milestone!

Today marks the 156th time I've shared a Thursday Thought message.

Three years of weekly messages about life’s blessings, challenges, and everything in between. Inspired by what I read, listen to, observe, or somehow experience. Published on Thursdays! (usually)

I started with sending text messages to my family. God bless them for their support! They enabled me to start sharing my voice.

After adding a few friends and my mother (God bless our mothers!), I eventually expanded beyond text messages and started sending them via email and publishing them on my website and LinkedIn.

What are you waiting to start?

What's holding you back?

Take a small step. Ignore the fear (it's a liar).

With each little step, you get closer to your own milestones.

Know that the best is yet to come.

Just get started.

Create your life.

🙌

Stay positive.

Have fun.

Be nice to yourself.

Give yourself a chance to be great.

Create your life.

🙌

When we commit, we agree to do something fully, not just picking and choosing the easy bits.

We cannot predict nor control the complexities that might arise or obstacles we may face.

We CAN commit to taking action and adjusting our behavior based on what we learn.

Commit to small things and bigger things will follow.

Commitment is about dedication to doing our best.

Commitment is about dedication to becoming the best version of ourselves.

What is your commitment today and this week?

Create your life.

Are you willing to open your mind? Are you open to the possibilities that might exist?

Be open to:

🌷 other perspectives, especially opposing perspectives.

🌷 ideas regardless of their source.

🌷 other ways of doing things.

🌷 working with others.

🌷 sharing your challenges and asking for help.

🌷 changing direction based on new information.

Allow yourself to be surprised by what you may discover from your openness.

Create your life.

What does focus mean in your life today or this week?

Perhaps focus means:

👉 splitting what you have to do into small pieces so you can complete each in a short amount of time.

👉 giving all of your attention to only one thing at a time.

👉 removing distractions so you can finish what needs to be done.

👉 creating more clarity in your perception of a problem to solve.

Whatever it might mean to you right here and now, give focus to something and see how much you can accomplish.

You might delight yourself!

Create your life.

🍀

Have you ever taken a day off from work to attend your child's activity?

I wish I did more of it when my kids were younger.

Sure, I attended their events and carved out an hour or two here and there. I rarely took a full day off.

Work was "too important" and I could not "afford the time."

This translated to me missing out on some of life's happenings.

Thankfully, my perspective has changed over the last several years.

What changed?

I became more aware of what's important to me.

I became aware of how much I value my family and spending time with them.

I chose to put my values first. I chose to put my family first.

In the past (and sometimes in the present) I would "say" family was important and yet my actions did not always align.

This week, I had the pleasure of witnessing my daughter's excellence (like her brother's before her).

She created a documentary for her high school history class and was one of a handful of students in her class to qualify for the city-wide history fair.

I took the day off to provide encouragement and support.

Of course, she didn't need it!

Did I miss out on "stuff" at work? Maybe. Most likely not.

Did I enjoy a day with my daughter and my wife (who also took the day off)? Absolutely!

I did not want to miss out on sharing the adventure.

I made an intentional choice to take the day off. This aligned with my values.

What's important to you?

Do you make intentional choices based on your values?

When you align your choices with your values, when you put your values first, you get more fulfillment out of your time on earth.

Don't miss out. Make the choice to enjoy what's important while you can.

Create your life.

🍀

We show respect for others when we listen to understand, not reply, and without interrupting to say what's on our mind. We show respect for ourselves when we honor our values and exercise self care. We show respect when we value other people's opinions and perspectives. Respect builds relationships and fosters trust.

Where and how do you want to show more respect?

Create your life.

Sometimes you need to live big and not shy away from expressing who you are or what you believe. Let yourself be seen. Share your thoughts. Make the choice to be brave. Show courage.

Create your life.

What can we learn from the Olympics about chasing and realizing dreams? Over the previous two-ish weeks, I found myself captivated by this once-every-four-year sporting event spectacular.

As an American, several events only come across my consciousness thanks to these multi-national athletic games.

The stories abound about these athletes from all parts of the world who wait four years.

They all have the dream to compete against the world's best.

They train and train and train some more.

They do what they need to do in order to be the Olympian of their dreams.

👣

I am no Olympian. I do have dreams. I dream of being a great leader, to help others grow and become great leaders themselves, to be a great colleague and friend, to be a great husband and father. I dream of being someone who makes a difference in our world.

Who do you want to be? What's your dream?

The blessing of our human condition is that we get to decide. You get to decide.

You get to decide who you want to become.

Like the Olympians pursuing their dreams, we must also take action to realize our dreams. We must take small steps.

Who will you be?

What is it that you need to do in order to be that person?

Create your life.

👣

Remember, how you choose to see the world determines the world you see.

👀

When you see the GOOD,

look for the GOOD,

expect the GOOD,

you find the GOOD and . . .

the GOOD finds you.

🙈

Create your life.

.

The above is a snippet from Jon Gordon's book, "The Carpenter"

From the moment you wake up, you make decisions. It all begins between your ears.

Do I get up now or lay in bed a little longer?

What clothes to wear? Does this shirt go with my pants?

What and when do I want to eat?

Do I listen to music while getting ready? Which playlist? Do I listen to a podcast? Which one?

Each day continues with decisions, decisions, and more decisions. Some conscious and others less so.

Truth is . . .

You get to choose.

You get to choose how you act.

You get to choose how you react.

You get to choose how you interact.

You get to choose what you feed your mind, body, and soul.

You get to choose who you want to become and what steps to take to get there.

You get to choose.

What's going on between your ears?

What choices are you making today?

Create your life.

I find myself focusing quite a bit on gratitude these days. When I uncover things in my life to be grateful about, big and small, I encounter even more for which to be grateful. It's almost like I'm a gratitude magnet. 🧲

Even while spending most of my days at home, I find gratitude for my life, my health, my wife, my son, my daughter, my friends, good beer, enjoying friends and good beer together, sunshine, white blankets of snow, being able to go outside for a walk, having food to eat, ice cream, and so much more.

For what are you grateful?

We wrestle with challenges, loss, and pain almost every day. What possibilities arise when you start with gratitude?

Let gratitude flow out of your heart and see what flows into your life as a result.

Take time each day to be grateful.

Become a gratitude magnet.

Create your life.

"Wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure. Your heart contains your dreams and wishes and knows how to deal with them. You cannot escape from your heart. It's always inside of you. It's better to listen to what it has to say. In that way, you will never be surprised. ... People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams because they feel they don't deserve them or fear they won't be able to achieve them." -- taken from The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

❤

What an enjoyable story! I originally listened to The Alchemist a couple of weeks before I embarked on my journey to become a certified professional coach. That's what my heart said I should pursue. The timing was perfect. It was a hugely exciting moment in time for me!

What is your heart saying to you?

Take a minute. Pause. Listen.

What is your heart calling you to do?

Don't let fear get in the way. 

Listen to your heart.

Pursue your dream.

Create your life.

Dreams don't have to be "big" - they have to be yours.

Whatever you're aiming at or working towards, make sure you're doing it for YOU.

Don't do something because someone else wants you to or because society says you should.

That will likely lead to resentment and unhappiness down the road.

Take action because it's something YOU want to do.

Make it YOUR dream.

Create your life.

☀

Want to remain positive and upbeat? Try to focus on what's good instead of focusing on what's wrong. The easy path, the path of least resistance, is to keep looking for the good on the surface. Sometimes you might need to look under the cover. You might need to search for the good. The good exists. Shift your focus there and see what happens.

Focus on what's good and avoid the trap of negativity.

Create your life.