By Bigg Success Staff
November, 25 2007
Timeless Principles
On a previous post, in The BIGG Success Show, we discussed definitions of success. We said that our favorite definition is by John Wooden. He was named ESPN’s coach of the twentieth century. Believe it or not, we think that honor doesn’t begin to fully recognize his accomplishments:
By Bigg Success Staff
November, 25 2007
John Bramblitt is an unusually gifted painter. More importantly, he is an inspiration to countless numbers of people. We think you’ll be as inspired by him as we have been.
You see John has dealt with adversity for most of his life. He first experienced a seizure over twenty years ago. He had a kidney removed as a kid. He endured hearing loss. At eleven, he required glasses.
If all that wasn’t enough for a young man who had just turned thirty, he began noticing that his friends’ faces weren’t clear. A doctor diagnosed that he was going blind. The cause of his blindness is still unknown.
In the years since, John has experienced a lot. At first, he was sad, frustrated, and angry. He turned to painting, in part, to symbolically give God the finger.
That’s when he made an amazing discovery.
He sees better now than he did before.
He says he sees with one hand, while feeling the paint with the other
. The more he painted, the less angry he was. He found that, what he thought was a curse, has turned into a blessing.
So what can we learn from John Bramblitt?
You possess more abilities than even you know. Look at each day as an opportunity to discover gifts you didn’t know you had. To practice this, check out our 8 visualization exercise.]
John learned that he could distinguish colors by their feel. He developed his memory so he could picture the painting in his mind as he touches it with his hands. Get excited about all you can learn when challenges come your way!
John knows a painting is done when doing any more would take away from it.
We recently discussed John Wooden’s definition of success. We said that you must do all you can, but that’s all you need to do. When you do that, you have peace of mind. John achieves this with every one of his paintings, then he quits.
To learn more about John, check out the following links:
See John’s paintings. You’ll be amazed at this young man’s talent.
By Bigg Success Staff
November, 25 2007
Work-Life Balance
There’s a fantastic article by Stephanie N. Mehta with Fortune magazine. It’s entitled Confessions of a CEO, but it’s less CEO, more confession about one man’s dilemma to balance work and life.
The subject is Dominic Orr, who’s generally regarded as a very successful CEO. We admire Mr. Orr for sharing some of the difficulties he faced as he tried to become a complete man
.
We also applaud Ms. Mehta for this piece. We’ll hit some highlights here, but you should check out the full article to gain insight from a person who has, and still is, struggling to strike the proper balance.
We refer to a teeter-totter, in the title to our article, because it seems we often are up
on one side of the equation while being down
on the other. This is evidenced by a common problem faced by many of us today.
When you’re home, do you ever find yourself catching up on all the work you didn’t get done that day? At work, do you find challenges from home spilling into your day? So what lessons can we learn from Mr. Orr?
Organize your day. One solution Mr. Orr discovered was to work different hours. He didn’t work less; instead, he organized his day so he could spend time with his kids when they were available.
Define success properly. Mr. Orr felt constant pressure to not screw anything up
. That’s a tough standard to uphold. You should allow yourself to be human. Humans aren’t perfect. For a realistic standard, see 7 four things you must do to insure success.]
Do the right things right. First, determine what the right
things to do are. In other words, 8 visualize the future you want.] Then, you can do the right things right. If it involves things
, focus on efficiency. Find the shortest path to get your project completed. If it involves people
, focus on effectiveness. Connect with the person you’re trying to reach. Mr. Orr’s vision was to die a complete man
. This meant changing his ways.
Use balance to your advantage. Mr. Orr’s management style has changed as part of his journey. He’s more rounded now. That comes into play at work and home. Find ways to use lessons learned in one world to benefit the other. Now you’re using your balance to your advantage. Let your balance drive your success, rather than detract from it.
Get the cat out of the cradle. Note how Mr. Orr used the only model of parenthood he knew. What kind of a model are you setting for your kids? You’re creating your granchildrens’ childhoods now. Are you happy with how they’ll grow up?
Work your teeter-totter. Mr. Orr took time away from work after selling his business. He focused on his children. He tried going back to work and still found it difficult to balance his career and family. Make the teeter-totter your friend. Accept the fact that at times your work will be up
, family down
. Then make it reverse. Work the teeter-totter, don’t let it work you.
A balanced life is one of the most difficult challenges we face today. Following these tips will help you work toward a more balanced life. It’s a process. Take baby steps, but be sure you take at least one today.
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Yesterday, we discussed the four things you must do to insure success for your peace of mind. Today we want to introduce a visualization exercise to help you find your dream.
Start by visualizing your past.
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Today we’ll discuss two definitions of success. We thought that this was the best place to start our first blog here at BIGG Success. How do you define success?
We’re sure you’re familiar with the first definition of success – it’s the classic.
