Learning from Footprints on the Moon

Have you heard?  There are footprints on the moon.  Really.  And what does that tell us?

~The sky is no longer the limit.

~We can learn the impossible and make the future happen.

~We may make mistakes along the way, and we will learn how to overcome those mistakes and make new ones.

~The risk in not going is greater than the risk of trial and error.  If we’re smart, we will figure out the problems and go.

~We may have to invent a few new products and methods along the way, and we are capable of doing just that.

~We are smarter than we think.  We are more capable than we give ourselves credit for.

~We take the baby steps.  We learn the minuscule rules of nature and physics.  We think in new ways.

~We share our collective knowledge.  What they do in Asia might have implications for what we do at NASA.

~If we can make footprints on the moon, what else can we do?

Now, forget that we are talking about the moon and apply these ideas to your own world – your own dreams and desires.  How does that change what you want to do, where you want to go, what you want to be?

Perhaps all you need is a new way to look at your situation.

Hope this helps. 

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Some Thoughts on Desire

We long for, we want, we desire, yes, we even crave for a thing.  That is desire.  Desire is a strong motivator.  It pushes us to do more, get out of bed earlier, work later, go places to learn information yet unknown.

We desire … therefore we are then able to achieve.

I’m writing today in terms of the good side of desire.  We all have a working knowledge of the dark side of desire, but let’s be different.

Desire keeps us moving toward a worthy objective.  Seth Godin offers some great insight: “Standing still is the riskiest plan of all.”

~What to Do when It’s Your Turn

Desire pushes you and me to work on our worthy ambitions.  I am able to write four blogs each week and then produce a podcast based on those blogs because of desire.  Desire is what gets me out of bed early most morning.  Desire propels me to read, and mull, and meditate and do everything else that is now a part of my personal agenda.

What is desire doing for you?  How badly do you want the thing you desire?  And the ultimate question is this … What are you going to do about that?

When desire is in play, reason steps aside.  I know of a man named Maxcy Filer from Compton, California who took the bar exam 48 times before passing it.  He had desire.  DESIRE.

He took it in San Francisco, LA, San Diego, Riverside and anywhere else in the state of California that offered the bar exam. 

He spent $50,000 in testing fees, and it took him twenty-five years to finally pass the bar ... and he did.  He had DESIRE.

That’s what desire did for Maxcy. 

What is desire doing for you?

Where is desire pushing you to go, to be, to conquer, to start, to stop and to become?

When great desire kicks in, nothing can stand against it.

Wayne Dyer gives us a final good word.

“Whatever has to be done, 

it’s always your choice.”

I think that means desire starts with you and me.

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

Are You an Original?

The title asks an important question, doesn’t it?  Are you an original?  And how do you answer this question?

Your finger prints are original and unique to

you.

Your eye prints are also.

So is your voice pattern.

And how about your DNA?

I’ve written on this topic three other times, if you care to check them out.

In my blog “A Time for Rhyme” blog on September 12, 2017, I wrote Sometimes I Steal.

http://timeforrhyme.blogspot.com/search?q=sometimes+i+steal

“In All about People” on February 24,2014

I Am a Thief

http://peoplebrief.blogspot.com/search?q=sometimes+i+steal

And in “Morning Notes” on October 14, 2013 I wrote a piece called Sometimes I Steal.

http://up-words.blogspot.com/search?q=sometimes+i+steal

When it comes to talent development, I’m a thief … until I learn to make it my own, and then it becomes original. 

How else are we to become original?  We learn from others.  We copy.  We mimic. 

Paul McCartney of the Beatles once said, “I emulated Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis.  We all did.”

I love this.  Listen up.

~Johnny Carson tried to be Jack Benny and ended up being Johnny Carson.

~David Letterman tried to copy Johnny Carson but ended up being David Letterman.

~Conan O’Brien tried to be David Letterman but ended up being Conan O’Brien.

And by today’s standards we would all consider each of these individuals unique and original in their craft. 

As a young drummer, I listened to Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Joe Morello for hours at a time.  I would slow down their recordings to hear their drum licks and then emulate them.  Soon I was taking their style and making it my own.

Austin Kleon, in his book Steal Like an Artist, said this

I love what Goethe said: 

So, what do you love?  Then first borrow it.  In time, you’ll make it your own and then you will truly be an original.

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Failure Is Not Shame-It's Learning

What is failure?  We all know part of that answer, don’t we?

Failure is missing a three-point conversion play in the final two minutes of the football game. 

Failure is losing a boat-load of money in a

business deal gone bad

Failure is a thousand other actions that do not bring the desired results.

But none of them are worthy of shame. 

~I have a weak heart that requires surgery to repair.  Am I to be shamed for this?

~President Trump hasn’t been successful in getting a lot of his promises in play after ten months as President.  Should he be shamed for that? 

~The Seahawks lost a close game yesterday?  I know, let’s shame them and call them bad names and curse them, even burn the 12-man flag.  That will teach them. 

Hardly. 

Failure happens.  We sometimes lose.  We don’t hit our sales quota, we miss a sale to that eager buyer, we misunderstand our spouse in a critical relational moment.  Our bodies quit responding.  We fail.  We are not to be shamed for it.  It happens.

On the other side of these failures?  A learning moment.  What is the takeaway.  What can we do better the next time around?

Ah … that is the piece we need to understand.

Maybe, as Seth Godin says, “failure is required.  Failure in the service of learning, of experimenting, of making things – this is essential.”

Can you imagine shaming a six-month-old baby we are pushing to learn to walk?  No way.  It happens.  They fall down, we pick them back up. 

I think my point is made now. 

Final thought – be kind to yourself in this shaming issue as well.  You are not a superman or woman.  You will have off days, weak moments, and sometimes our bodies just don’t work as we wish.  The negative self-talk actually stops growth, it stops finding the good and right solutions.  Allow yourself a moment of grace, a moment of growth, and your body a moment of whatever it needs.

Maybe I failed.  So what.  I am not a failure.

P Michael Biggs

It's All About People Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration