Now some of this stuff is just normal wear and tear, or a fluke, but the leak really got me thinking…

Consider the fact that one sloppy soldering job connecting two pieces of pipe 12 years ago is now causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.  One case of someone not checking carefully enough on something that was going to be permantently buried under concrete.

What are the equivalents of that in your life and work?

Sure, a single typo probably isn’t going to cause thousands of dollars of damage, and even this isn’t the life-and-death matter of, say, working on the space shuttle or packing a parachute. But what is the worst-case scenario that could play out if you cut corners and do less than your very best work?  Even if the risk is very low, sometimes the consequences are so high that you simply have to take the time to do the job right.

So while I’m generally all for keeping a positive outlook and expecting the best, sometimes you really have to ask, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Have you had an experience in your business or personal life where one small mistake had huge consequences? Please share it in the comments.

Cynicism is so 2000-late. Get over it. It’s not hip or cool or intellectual. It’s only occasionally funny, and then best reserved for the appropriate context, which is not everyday conversation.

Ayn Rand was even more detailed in her indictment of cynicism:

There is nothing so naive as cynicism. A cynic is one who believes that men are innately depraved, that irrationality and cowardice are their basic characteristics, that fear is the most potent of human incentives—and, therefore, that the most practical method of dealing with men is to count on their stupidity, appeal to their knavery, and keep them in constant terror.

In private life, this belief creates a criminal; in politics, it creates a statist. But, contrary to the cynic’s belief, crime and statism do not pay.

A criminal might thrive on human vices, but is reduced to impotence when he comes up against the fact that “you can’t cheat an honest man.” A statist might ride to power by dispensing promises, threats and handouts to the seekers of the unearned—but he finds himself impotent in a national emergency, because the language, methods and policies which were successful with parasites, do not work when the country needs producers.

Ayn Rand Letter, III, 26, 3

I find this rather bizarre, because I think of myself as quite modest…maybe not “humble”, but certainly modest.

I think we have a kind of screwed up idea of what modesty really is.

See, much of what passes for modesty is actually false modesty. Downplaying or denial of ones own capabilities or achievements is not modesty.

True modesty is the acknowledgment that what you achieved, you did not achieve entirely alone through sheer force of personal will, combined with the recognition that on any given day, under the right circumstances, there’s someone else who could probably do what you did.

Whether it’s your parents, a teacher or mentor who inspired you, the team or friends that supported you, the giants on whose shoulders you stood, or whatever your idea of a higher power is — you didn’t do it alone. Share the credit.

And even if you won first place — guess what?  A very slight change in circumstances, and the contest could have gone the other way.  Even if you set a world’s record — records will always be broken.  Guinness adds about 2,000 new world records every year (out of around 50,000 submissions!). Simply acknowledge the capabilities of others, and put your own achievements in perspective — you’re not a better dancer/singer/runner/driver/etc. — you simply performed better on that day than everyone else who was there that day.

Be proud of your achievements, but never at the expense of others. That’s true modesty.

“If you done it, it ain’t bragging.”

Variously attributed to Bear Bryant, Will Rogers or Walt Whitman

What Your Body Does and Is — Is Amazing

In fitness and health, people have this tendency to despise what their body does, or what their body looks like. We want you to take a minute right here to remember that your body is incredible. Women and men alike have lots of self-confidence issues about how their body looks, or what their body does. It’s important though, that despite all of your perceived negatives, there’s a very specific reason your body does that.

If you are vascular (man or woman), it’s showing that your skin is tight to your body. Your muscles are firm. When you squeeze something and your veins pop out your strength is showing.

If you have fat, it means you have a surplus of food in your life and a surplus of energy to store. It means your body is properly storing energy as it believes it will need in the future.

If you are pale, you have been afforded a life where being in the sun all day with no clothes is an option, not simply a fact you live with.

If you have stretch marks, it shows the battles you have fought to earn them.
If you gained them from gaining muscle, you have grown so much and so fast from where you started that you have marks, showing how quickly you achieved significant results and progress.
If you have them ’cause of the weight you have lost then they’re showing how you managed to shape and mold your body so quickly.
If they’re from pregnancy, it’s showing that you have survived and gone through one of life’s most painful experiences, and out of it gained one of life’s greatest joys.
Even if you’re fat, hell it’s simply a distinguishing factor that makes your body unique.
And one day, if you want them to be, those will be your warrior marks too. They will remind you of where you started.

When you sweat be thankful that your skin and glands work properly to keep your body from overheating and damaging itself.

When you have “gross” bodily functions be glad your body uses those to expel toxins from itself.

If your thighs are large be glad you have large powerful legs.

If you have acne be glad that it probably means you have active hormones.

If you can’t lift a lot of weight, be glad you have realized this and are making efforts to change it. So many go their whole lives without ever  testing their body’s limits.

Your body is an incredible piece of art. It’s genuinely amazing what all it can do and how many little things simply go into you twitching your finger or clicking a mouse. Your body is so magnificent, so impressive and amazing in all regards.

However your body is as it is, it is there not because of a dysfunction, or some deficiency in your body. It is as great as it is and not worse because of your body’s amazing ability to adapt, to survive, to improve and to continue to function.

Don’t get down on yourself because you are the result of millions of years of evolution. You are made up of the same cellular material as the people you sit and envy.

It may sound cliche, but it’s the truth when we say that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

If you found this as inspiring as I did, please leave a comment, either here or there, and share it far and wide. Also, be sure to connect with Muscle Motivation on their blog, Tumblr and Facebook.

No accurate thinker will judge another person by that which the other person’s enemies say about him.

Napoleon Hill

Google should post that as a disclaimer on searches on people’s names! Some of the nicest, brightest, most spiritual people I know have been the brunt of someone’s negative rants online, and unfortunately, if they shout loud enough and often enough, they can easily created a distorted perception of someone who has years or even decades of fans and satisfied customers.

Want to make the world a more positive place?

Tell about your positive experiences online. Write a review on Yelp or CitySearch. Give a recommendation on LinkedIn. Share about it on Twitter and Facebook. Rate it on Amazon or Google.

Don’t make stuff up. Don’t whitewash the truth. Just be every bit as willing — eager, even — to tell about good experiences as bad.

Suppose you wrote a program that translated written words into vibrations. Perhaps the specific vibration would depend on the length of words, number of syllables, tone of the sentence, punctuation, and other factors. Presumably, Hemingway’s text would create different pattern of vibrations from Shakespeare’s sonnets, and so on. My hypothesis is that we humans are so wired for language that the patterns of the vibrations that originate from the written word would register to us as both human-made and – here’s the best part – unpredictable. That’s the Holy Grail.

More at Dilbert.com

All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination.

Napoleon Hill