3 Things I learned last week…10/12-18/2015

Same old stories: When I was 17-20 years old, there was a group of us guys that hung around with each other all of the time.  We did what a lot of people that age do, which is enjoy life, go to college, party, work, and get in to things that I would never do now, at least not on purpose.  By the time we were 21-25 years of age many of us were at very different stages and milestones within our lives.  We would tell those stories of the good old days and what we did back then.  We would relive those moments over and over again. Then I remember this one day when we were reminiscing about the good old days, which is fun and I always enjoy it and always will, I said we need to create some new stories.  Some new experiences. Some new adventures.  And throughout my life I have tried to do just that.  Remember the good stories, but create new ones.

This week I was reminded again what happens when you don’t have any new stories to tell.  You don’t have new experiences to share. You don’t have new situations, good or bad, to talk about.  If you are telling the same stories over and over again, reminiscing about the good old days, it means that you aren’t living with the a mindset to grow and try new things.  Sure we don’t want to do what we did in our late teens, or in my case, my middle twenties. However, if we are telling the same stories over and over again, with the same concepts, it means there hasn’t been any evolvement or growth, and new experiences is where fun and growth take place.

Watch what people do, not what people say:  The great Andrew Carnegie said this many years ago. I know this to be true as well, however, at times you can get faked out.  We all can get faked out.  Doing is always more important than saying. In the last week, I have watched a lot of people do more saying than actually doing.  Watching this has really motivated me to always be sure I am a doer not just a sayer.  We all need these reminders in our lives at times to keep us on the right path.

Old information packaged differently always looks new and exciting:  One of my mentors said to me a few years ago to read the books of dead people.  The more books I read from a few generations ago, the more I realize that fundamentals never change.  The human psyche and psychology of what motivates us, is what it is, it is ingrained in all of us as humans and although we have evolved our human nature of what drives us and motivates us hasn’t changed.  I have read some of the latest business books or books in the area of personal and self development and many of them are very similar to what was written decades ago on the same topics, just packaged a little differently.  It is fun to read the new and the old. Both are critical to your success.

To your success and your future.