The Impossible Dream

Let me sing you a song.

“To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go

“To right the unrightable wrong

To love pure and chaste from afar

To try when your arms are too weary

To reach the unreachable star”

The Impossible Becomes Possible

What is your unreachable star? 

  What mountain are you attempting to climb that looks impossible? 

    What goal is still in sight yet still out of reach? 

      Are you a conqueror? 

        Do you have an Impossible Dream? 

If you do, then you are in the company of some possibility dreamers, you know. 

Roger Bannister dreamed of nothing but running.  He was the first man alive to run a less-than four minute mile, and his 3.59.4 minute mile became a possibility in 1952.

John Kennedy dreamed that Americans would one day explore the moon and beyond.

At age 70 Harlan Sanders had just started frying chicken.

Erin saw in her students what no one else saw.  In a tough inner city school Erin Gruwell (Freedom Writers) changed attitudes of hate and despair and prejudice into acceptance and growth and possibilities.  She was a possibility dreamer who gave feet and wings to her dreams, and the dreams of her students, and they worked together as these dreams became possible.

I have a quote hanging on my office wall and it reads:  “Only those who can see the invisible can accomplish the impossible.”

So what is your impossible dream?  What beats inside of you that continually stirs your secret longings and wishes?  Do you sometimes feel that you will explode unless you accomplish this impossible dream?

To run where the brave dare not go

I met a high school student recently and she is going on a YWAM summer mission’s trip?  She sees possibilities for impacting lives for the greater good and she is running to that dream.

To try when your arms are too weary

Are your arms weary of trying and trying again?  Try one more time, and then try again.  Winston Churchill said “Never, never, never give up.”

No matter how hopeless, no matter how far

I am hugely impressed with Lance Armstrong’s grand success at winning seven consecutive Tour de France bicycle races.  He never looked back when his diagnosis of testicular cancer came knocking.  He got treatment, got over the cancer and pedaled his way into the history books and became a symbol of a conqueror and a possibility dreamer for all of us.

To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause

Can you say

    I fought giants and won.

        I conquered dragons.

            I climbed enormous mountains.

            I helped people along the way

        I overcame debt.

    I graduated from the University

     after my kids were grown.

I learned how to do _____.

I read.

I studied.

I won!

I rose above it all, no matter how high, no matter how deep, no matter how far!

And the world will be better for this,

That one man scorned and covered with scars

Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,

To reach the unreachable star.

Go, dream your dreams

Give them feet and wings

And live your life without regret!

(The lyrics for The Impossible Dream are written by Joe Darion and from the musical Man of LaMancha)

We Color Our World

How we see ourselves determines how we color our world.  

Earl Nightingale wrote and spoke of it.  Hundreds of others talked about it.  It’s in the Bible.  This color pallet, simply stated is this; “You become what your think about.”

You become.  What is the dominant thought you hold in your mind, right now, of you, your talents, your ability to succeed or fail on any given task? 

Your thoughts are a predictor of the outcome of these and so many more events you face on any given day, every day of your life. 

We become what we think about.  We color our world according to our thoughts.

The Bible says it this way in Proverbs:  “As a man thinks, so is he.” 

For a long period in my life, I lacked the ability to approve of myself.  Oh, I put on a good front, but deep down, I had some self-esteem issues that plagued me and haunted me until one fine day I discovered the phrase “I APPROVE OF MYSELF.” 

It hit me out of nowhere and I realized on that day that I truly did not approve of me.  I needed to approve of me.  I had been successful in other career tracks.  Yet, I was still haunted by this basic lack of self-approval. 

What a difference that made in helping me change the colors of my world.  It began with my ability to see myself in a different light, and then moved on to others areas or my life. 

I APPROVE OF MYSELF. 

This is such a simple message, yet one that needs to echo around the world.  We are made in the eyes of a Divine Being who knew us from before birth.  He designed us with amazing skills, instincts, and a brain that still boggles scientist as to all of its capabilities.  We are amazing!  Not in a haughty, self-absorbed way, but in a good and wholesome self-concept way. 

We are worthy human beings.

We are capable of so much.

We can do, and go, and become.

It starts with our own approval rating. 

I wish I had a magic stamp that I could use to go around and stamp the words “Approved” on people’s heads. 

Oh, we could wear it proudly on the outside, but until we internalize those concepts, and act as if we really did approve of ourselves, it would all be for show.

I am acting as if …

I am coloring my world through the lenses of acceptability. 

I approve of me!

Do you approve of you?

  

What People Want Most

Every person, everywhere, seeks a few basic things in every human interaction.  I seek these things.  My wife wants these.  My grandchildren do.  Everyone I know seeks these essentials when it comes to every human interaction on earth.

1.     Hear what I say.  Listen to my words, notice my body stance.  Consider my feelings.  Hear me out without jumping to conclusions or second guessing me.  Don’t finish my sentences for me, for you may misinterpret what I am saying.  Listen with your whole being.  Then I will give you the proper attention and focus on what you have to say in response to me.

2.   

            Validate me.  Every person alive wants to be validated.  Validate means to deem worthy.  Every person you meet wants and needs to feel they are a person of worth in your eyes.  Give them what they want the most in the world.

3.     Look at me.  Don’t look over my shoulder.  Don’t look at your cell phone.  Don’t look at the clock on the wall.  Look at me.  I am here, now, and I need some attention.

4. 

     Remember my name and use it.  That is a highly regarded people skill that people love.  It is impressive when others remember your name.  That means you are valued.

5.    

     Respond in a timely manner when you commit to respond.  Enough said. 

6.     Always tell me the truth.  Will your product do what you claim?  Will I have a better life?  Are there down sides to what you are promoting?  Tell me what is important for the moment we are in conversation.

This blog is called “It’s All about People.”  It really is AAP. 

Have an enjoyable weekend and a better week!

A Word about Courage

I am a reader.  I have to be in order to find enough material to spark the ideas I seek in writing a weekly blog.  My recent favorite read is Julia Cameron’s book The Right to Write.  She covers the gamut on a dozen topics of interest, relative to writing, and often they can be stretched to other applications as well. 

For instance …

“You do not need the courage to write a whole novel. 

You need the courage to write on the novel today.” 

I don’t know if any of you want to write, however, I do know you have a dozen other issues that confront you on a daily basis that need to be confronted and dealt with in a timely manner.

We can’t read War and Peace in one setting, but we can read it in its entirety a few pages at a time. 

Relationships don’t get mended with one conversation, but you start the process with one moment of courage when you begin the reconciling.

My son-in-law is a building contractor and he builds beautiful homes.  I’ve never know Erich to finish a home in one day.  But he works every day on each project until the job is finished. 

Do you need the courage just for today to do something?  Is there a conversation that needs to happen, a wall in need of paint, or a document that needs to be written?

All you need is the courage to do something today that moves you closer to what concerns you, or excites you. 

There are no three-step-solutions that need to be presented here.  I don’t know of any workbook that we need to follow.  All it takes is a simple dose of courage, just for today. 

          A Dose of Courage

Step up, screw your courage to the sticking place, and write, talk, make a phone call, start the business, clean out the closet, get the paint can out, or whatever it is that is staring you in the face and begin the process. 

                            One dose of courage.

  Just one.

Those kinds of actions have given birth to page-turning novels, block-buster movies, impressive monuments, institutions that better mankind, and lives of immortal stature. 

Just have courage for one moment in time. 

Just one dose of courage, just for today.

Do It Anyway

People can be the worst, can’t they?  We do our best.  We try.  We reason.  We go out of our way, yet sometimes we get sand kicked into our eyes. 

Sometimes, we do a thing simply because it needs doing.  This is a fundamental principle of living.  Nothing happens until someone steps up and finishes the task.  

This poem based on something Mother Teresa wrote once is perfect for our thought today.

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful you will win false friends and true enemies.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

Fight for some underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

Give the world the best you’ve got and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

Go and live your life.

Dream your dreams.  Give them feet and wings.

Give a helping hand to someone in need

Read and study in your area of interest.

The world is waiting for someone just like you who will dare to make a difference.

Do it anyway!

Hitting Home Runs

We love home run hitters.  They are in every profession, every enterprise in the world.  And they are in every home.

Home run hitters are heroes.  They are the stars.  Yet a pretty great baseball batting average is .300 – 3 hits out of 10 times at bat. 

Baseball great Babe Ruth was once asked what he thought about after he struck out.  "I think about hitting home runs," the Babe answered.  Babe was the home run king.  He was also the strikeout king. 

Yet he is known for his homeruns.  I like that. 

What Babe is focusing on in the above quote is this:  Sure, I struck out, but next time around, or in tomorrow night’s game I’m thinking a big home run is in order. 

Can we wrap our minds around this mindset?  It’s not that we are perfect.  We don’t win in every human interaction, and we don’t make every sale.  We don’t always discipline our kid’s right, and our key relationships sometimes have strife.  The key is our attitude toward “next time.” 

Next time I’ll say some more appropriate things.

Next time I’ll prepare more, listen more, and offer more benefits to my customer.

Next time I’ll do it better than ever before. 

And we can.  I can see myself doing any given task just a little bit better than the last time.  Can you? 

The secret – “If we can see it, we can achieve it.”  It’s the age old adage given by Earl Nightingale, Napoleon Hill, Og Mandino and a thousand other success gurus. 

Fix in your mind the end result you want and you increases your chances of actually seeing that fact come to pass. 

Babe Ruth struck out more times than he hit home runs, but Babe Ruth is Mr. Home Run King!

What can you see? 

People Buy People First

Dale Carnegie talked about it.

     Napoleon Hill mentioned it.

          Earl Nightingale spoke of it frequently. 

Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley, and countless other success gurus have talked about, promoted, and preached this idea and it is still true.

People Buy People First.

Earl Nightingale called it “The First Four Minutes.”  We have anywhere from 30 seconds to four minutes to make a good first impression. 

I imagine that this is not the first time you’ve heard this thought.  And I can assure you that it will not be the last time you hear it.

Just this week, I was in a store when a young man walked in asking for employment. 

He was wearing baggy basketball-type shorts, black tennis shoes, and a pull-over tee-shirt that had seen better days.  As I sized this young man up, I quickly decided that he probably didn’t stand a ghost of a chance for a job with this particular retail store. 

Did this young man have marketable skills?  Was he teachable?

We will never know, and if he doesn’t learn some simple principles like “People Buy People First” then he will forever be looking at the sad end of an endless trail of job rejections. 

His dress spoke loud volumes long before he reached the area of the store where I was so that I could hear his request of the sales clerk. 

He didn’t understand that employers buy people first, and then they buy talent, experience, and a person to fill a job. 

And so do your customers.  They buy you and then they buy the product you represent.  But, they are buying you first, or not.

I’ve spoken with managers and owners of business establishments who hire men and women.  Here is what they say.

-Look your best.  Dress up rather than down.  That doesn’t always mean a suit and tie, but appropriate  

  slacks, shirt and shoes do make a huge statement. 

-Don’t bring your best bud with you to the interview.

-Do bring a pen to write with.

The number one things most hiring managers want to know is this, "Can you make a positive contribution to our enterprise?"

And they get their first impression largely from watching and listening to the person in front of them. 

People buy people first.