More Encouragement about Failure

Failure is an event, not a person.

I write a lot about failure simply because I encounter individuals who seem to face failure so much.  The amazing thing is this; a lot of people still confuse their failure with their life.

Here is yet another important principle to ponder along this line.

Failure is an event,

not a person.

~Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar

For me, that is about as encouraging a thought as it gets.  We tag our lives as “failure” when all that has happened is we failed at something. 

How many different ways can we say this?

~I make mistakes.  I am not a mistake.

~Failure is not final.

~Just because we failed at something does not mean we are a  

   failure.

~Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.

  

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Other Twenty-five Letters

This quote is going around on social media sites.  Love it.  So, here’s my addition to this great thought.

Be Flexible

  Consider alternatives

    Do the next right thing

Endure

  Forget the past

    Grunt it out

Hone your skills

  Innovate

    Just do it

Keep going

  Love the defeat for what it teaches

    Mindful of what you need to do better

Notice small improvements

  Open other doors

    Persist

Quality mentoring

  Resist the urge to stop

    Staying power is your friend

Train mind and body

  Understand self

    View disappointments as stepping stones

Walk it off

  Xtra effort is always in vogue

    Yes wins the day

      Zoom across the finish line

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

We Learn to See

People with acute people skills learn to read people.

Artists amaze me with their abilities to see and bring to life on canvass what they see.

Business people see a spread sheet and can judge the health of a company.

My doctor looks intently at certain areas of my body to make a diagnosis.

Seeing is both an eyesight skill and an insight skill.

Can you see a person for whom he/she really is?

Can you see body language and other non-verbal signals?

Can you see the political climate in your homeland?  Do you realize what it may mean down the road?

Seeing is so much more than eyesight. 

A slump shoulder

A downward glance

Open and closed body

We see these signals every day, but do we really “see”?

What are your spouse’s signals for happiness, sadness, disappointment, frustration, anger, romance?  Is it a tone of voice, or a particular body stance?

We would do well to learn to “see” with clarity.

A word to ponder.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Do Be Does

I’m reviewing the book Psycho Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz with revisions by Dan Kennedy. 

Here is a choice thought to nibble on:

“You cannot do things without being the kind of person who does those things.”

You must be to do.

DO

What are you willing to do to become the “who” you desire?

BE

What is required of you to become the person you want to become?

DOES

What does a person do who exemplifies the role model you wish to pattern yourself after?

My DO

I have adopted the mindset of a writer; therefore I am willing to spend time every day at my keyboard writing.  Some days my output is minimal, yet I show up every day – every day.  I have also increased my reading time, for the books I read directly affect the writing I produce and the quality thereof.

My BE

Pretty much summed up above, but to recap, I show up, every day, at the keyboard and write something.  That is what writers do.  I am a writer therefore that is what I choose to do.

My DOES

The writers I study are voracious readers, and they have a dedicated schedule for their writing.  They are all over the clock as to the time of day they chose to write, but the main thing is they WRITE.  I am a smart guy, so I’m going to do what the big boys and girls do who write.  I write, I work it into my life schedule and I do the job that needs to be done.

Have you figured out your Do Be Does life yet?

Worth pondering – seriously!

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Seed of a Word

What’s in a word?  Nothing but the seed of a possibility.

One properly said word can move and shake, inspire and resurrect, bring eye sight and insight, and make night become day. 

All from one properly placed word. 

Words are the keys to your better life –

Relationships

Employees

Children

Vendors

Voters

Readers

Words properly used, properly meant, well said, and well placed can make all the difference in the world.

All you have to do is find out which words unlock the doors that are now closed and less productive in your world.

That’s all!

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Power of "No"

 I hate “no”.

You don’t get far with a “no” staring you down.

Have you ever considered, however, the importance of ‘no”?

“No” has saved me a tremendous amount of pain in certain relationships.

“No” has kept me from going certain places I wanted to go but was denied.

“No” has kept me from jobs that looked great on the surface but in hindsight proved that they would have been a disaster.

“No” can be a good thing.  Give your “no’s” plenty of space and room to sprout and watch for what comes up. 

You’ll be really happy that you allowed some “no’s” on your path.

Consider!

(Photo courtesy of Ken Sjodin Photography)

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

The Flight of Ideas

I love the idea of The Flight of Ideas.  That is the only time ideas go anywhere.  When we give feet and wings to our hopes and dreams we are giving flight to our ideas. 

In the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach says this: 

“Not one of them had come to believe that the flight of ideas could possibly be as real as the flight of wind and feathers.”  (P 76)

What ideas of yours need to take flight?  Ideas are very real things.  Sometimes they just need a push, a gust of belief to make them soar.

Believe in your ideas!

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Real or Imagined

It is now a well-established fact that the sub-conscious mind cannot tell the difference between a real and an imagined experience.  Numerous experiments have been conducted with Olympic athletes.  In these sessions each athlete is asked to perform their sporting event in their mind.  The amazing thing is that their synapses fire in real time while imagining their sport just as they fire when their event is actually being performed.

This gives a whole new spin to the “theatre-of-the-mind” concept.  Earl Nightingale said it a long time ago –

We become what we think about.

You and I often dream of visiting “Someday I’ll”.  The key is to make it a vivid picture, complete with all the details. 

We are only limited by our ability to imagine. 

And we thought make-believe was just for kids.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Great Compliment

Compliments come in all varieties, sizes, shapes, and degrees of sincerity. 

You look good.

  You smell good.

You did a good job.

      You are just really average.

Ah, but a truly great compliment … now that is something to behold.

I absolutely adore this note written to Walt Whitman.

“Dear Sir,

I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of Leaves of Grass.  I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed.  I greet you at the beginning of a great career.”  

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Especially love that last turn of words. 

Masterful! 

Never have I seen a time when people from all walks of life are so hungry for a proper word of encouragement. 

What can you and I do about this?

I wonder.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Forgive Self

Some critical concepts ahead – go slowly, read carefully and take them to heart. 

If you make a mistake, or a dozen mistakes in life, remember this –

“You have made a mistake.

You are not a mistake.”

Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Everyone – EVERYONE stumbles and falls occasionally.  And the secret to overcoming is to stand up, brush yourself off and move own down the road. 

I’ve used this quote before:

“Just because you made a mistake

doesn't mean you are a failure.”

How about “Five Practical Steps of Self forgiveness

1.     Acknowledge and understand your feelings of guilt. Face up to them.  Don’t deny them.  Sit down and try to have an honest straight-forward dialogue with yourself

2.    Determine to clean the slate, to put the situation attached to the guilt behind you as best you can.  Commit to a brief time period, day, week, monthly, during which you will take all of the corrective actions you can, then you will free yourself from it once and for all. 

3.    Take corrective action.  Apologize, make amends, repay,

4.    Give yourself a kind eye treatment.  See yourself as the good descent person you are who made a mistake.

5.    Strengthen your commitment to meaningful goals and focus on their achievement. 

Taken from Psycho Cybernetics

By Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Bad actions do not equal bad person

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

You're Born a Human

Ever met a born loser?

How about a born salesman?

It is a nice sentiment when people say “He is a born ___.”  However, I question that logic. 

We become something after learning, growing, practicing and observing.  We may have a pre-disposition toward a skill or talent but it is highly unlikely that a person is born that way. 

Whatever God put within you at birth is nothing more than seeds and possibilities.  You add the magic ingredients – the practice, the study and the hard work to become whatever you dream of becoming. 

I was somewhat of a natural at music.  My family was musical, with several pianists and nearly all of us sang.  Except one brother.  He didn’t sing much, or even like music.  Did the music gene miss him?  I think he just had interests in sports, sales, and excellent people skills.

Seth Godin says this:  “You aren’t born anything but a human being.”

And what an opportunity we have to become the absolute best human being in whatever field we choose.  What a choice!

Choose wisely.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Get Out by Going Through

When difficulties come our mindset is typically to get through them as quickly as possible.  That’s natural. 

I can’t think of any instance in my life when I could have escaped the hard times once I was in the middle of them.  I had to plow through.

Here’s the heart of what I want to say.

 

Sometimes the only way out is through,

and we need to remember what we went through.

The first part is important; the second part is essential.

Remember to “remember” to avoid the distasteful.

To get through …

 Ask for help

  Evaluate and reevaluate

   Go as slowly as necessary

    Go as fast as allowable

     Be patient

And then …

Learn from the experience.

P Michael Biggs

Offering Up-Moments

One Moment at a Time

Reach Everyone?

Just because we create something, do we really believe we will reach every person in the world, or in our town, or in our county?

Probably not. 

Seth Godin has helped me immensely with this thought.  It’s okay to be a niche person and have a niche product.  I have some family members who don’t read every single brilliant word that I write. 

I saw a commercial on TV last night for a jazzed up high-performance auto.  The monthly payment on it was $999.  That is definitely not in everyone’s reach.  This particular manufacturer has identified their market and they are in pursuit of only those individuals.

You can’t reach everyone.

But you can reach those compatible individuals who do like what you produce, write, sing, and say.  THAT is where your success lies.  THAT is the market for you.  You’ll never reach me if you’re trying to sell kilts.  I’m just not a kilt kind of guy.  Now, produce a really nice starch-able blue button-down collar shirt and you’ve got my attention.

“Define your mission and stick to it!”

Herman Wouk in Winds of War

Love that.

P Michael Biggs

www.up-words.net

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time