Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Balancing Proactivity with Patience

At Freedom Focused, we often teach the truism that TRUTH is PARADOXICAL. We do so because understanding the paradoxical nature of truth is absolutely indispensable to earning the highest levels of Existential Growth.

What exactly does it mean when I say: "Truth is Pardoxical?"

Good Question!

It means that any truth usually carries with it a corollary truth that may initially appear or seem to contradict the very principle with which it harmonizes. That's a mouthful... so it's usually easier if I illustrate the point with some specific examples and simple aphorisms.   

Example #1: In order to build your muscles up stronger, you must first tear down their fibers so that, through natural repair processes, they can then be enhanced beyond their original state. 

Example #2: If you seek authentic personal success or greatness, you must forget about pursuing both and dedicate yourself to a cause greater than yourself or a person/s other than yourself. Then, in the words of Viktor Frankl, "success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it." 

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it."*

 Viktor Frankl   

Example #3:  The best romantic relationships tend to flower when you are not intentionally pursuing romance. In the words of the poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox: All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon the sand.

"All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand."

 Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Click HERE to read Wilcox's full POEM: Upon the Sand  

Aphorism #1: Less is more.

Aphorism #2: "Try hard not to try so hard!"**

Trying too hard to get, do, or be something usually undercuts your efforts to achieve. It's like a golfer who swings her club too hard in an effort to hit the ball as far as she possibly can, and in the process ends up either shanking the ball off the fairway, or worse—missing the ball and hitting the ground. Or, like an automobile driver who overcorrects a steering error and ends up rolling his vehicle instead of getting back on track between the lines.  

Aphorism #3:  "Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself; sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof."  Jesus

Obviously we need to learn from the past and plan/prepare for the future. But if we fail to fully and effectively live in the present, we will fail to maximize our present power, no matter how effective our plans may be.

Click HERE to learn more about the Power of Living in the Present.    

The  P/PC  Balance

Dr. Stephen Covey famously taught a principle he called the "P/PC Balance." In this example, "P" stands for "Production" and "PC" stands for "Production Capability."

If a person, team, or piece of equipment spends too much time producing and not enough time caring for and properly maintaining one's self, group, or tools, the result will inevitably be damage and burnout, which, in-turn, undercuts—or even devastates—production.

If an individual, team, or tool is to maximize production in the long run, one must focus on production capacity all along the way.

That's just the way things are.

That's why you get your car's oil changed. It's also why you visit the doctor, dentist, and/or other healthcare professionals on a regular basis—whether you are presently feeling any pain, or not. It's also why we take time off on the weekends, spend quality time with those we love, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and go on vacations. It's why we take walks, exercise, engage in recreation, swallow our vitamins and otherwise tend to our nutrition. It's also why we read, study, ponder, and pray and/or meditate.

It's not how fast you start the race.
It's how well you pace the race!
A common mistake human beings often make is exercising impatience with the P/PC balance principle. When we get impatient, we make decisions aimed at boosting production results in the short-run. While initially beneficial—or at least seemingly so—such decisions inevitably come at the expense of our long-term production capability. It's like a distance runner who starts a race too fast—a mistake I often made as a young and inexperienced runner. It feels good to start off faster than everybody else and find yourself in the lead after the first lap of a mile race. The problem is that you still have three (3) laps to go! I've learned from first-hand experience that the thrill of being in first place after the first lap does not compensate for the embarrassment of being passed up by a crowd of runners who chose to wisely pace themselves for the full-distance of the race. Such impulsive moves only betray your own impatience and immaturity as a competitor. 

Life is full of opportunities for service, contribution, and achievementthe successful pursuit of which demands that we properly balance proactivity with patience. If we fail to properly achieve this balance, we will fail to reach our full potential in whatever we set out to do.

Understanding the importance of this balance—and effectively implementing it into my personal and professional pursuits—has been paramount to my greatest successes in the past, and is similarly crucial to whatever I aim to accomplish in the future. 

One of biggest reasons I failed so often in my romantic pursuits (before I met Lina) was because I was often too impatient. I wanted to see results in my dating life immediately. But let's face it, that's not how love usually works. It took a long time to win Lina's heart. Four months passed in between our first date and our first kiss. And an entire year passed in between deciding to date exclusively and becoming engaged. It was then another six months before we were married. If I had not been willing to exercise great amounts of patience in my pursuit of Lina, she never would have felt comfortable dating me, and I never would have won her heart. This same scenario has played out in other areas of my life and career as well. After 18 years of diligent toil, focused effort, and steady growth and improvement, Freedom Focused is still not my full-time job. But with patience, I get a little bit closer with each and every blog article I publish.  

I confess that PATIENCE been a difficult lesson for me to learn, and I am not alone in my experience of this challenge. For me, the reason for its difficulty lies, in part, in the fact that I am naturally more proactive than I am patient. Proactivity is a wonderful trait; but like everything else, can get you into trouble if it is not balanced. I have always been an inherently hard working, proactive person. That is a good thing. But unbridled and bereft of patience, it tends to get me into trouble that is preventable.

To illustrate, athletes who train too hard tend to get injured. People who try too hard in relationships tend to push others away. Workaholics are usually not fun to be around, and may sacrifice their health, happiness, and personal relationships on the altar of career achievements. Entrepreneurs who are unwilling to adjust to market realities typically go out of business, and so on.  

As I have built Freedom Focused over the past 18 years, I have often had to learn to bridle my burning passion for action and temper it with patience. There have even been times when I've had to force myself to "sit still and wait" at various occasions and junctions. One of the hardest things for me to do is to sit still and do nothing; but there are times when the best possible course of action is inaction—strange as that may sound.  

It's not easy for me to sit still and not do anything. Action and proactivity are such fundamental elements of my nature and personality that it is usually easier to just jump in and take action. Nevertheless, there are times when the best thing you can possibly do in a situation is... absolutely nothing! There are times when we must work, and there are times when we must wait. If we fail to heed both commands in a wise, strategic, and disciplined manner, we will not succeed in the long run.

Thus it is that Longfellow exhorts us to "Learn to Labor and to Wait."*** And thus it is that the Good Book reminds us: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Farmers understand that even their hardest labors and best efforts are at the mercy of the irrevocable laws of nature. No matter how ambitious one might sow, one must rely on the merits and mercies of nature to reap a bountiful harvest. And nature can sometimes be a punishing master. If you don't believe me, just ask any farmer who has lost a crop to the elements (e.g. hail, flooding, fire, etc.). Moreover, even with the best of luck with the weather, a farmer must WAIT for appointed passages of time before one can reap a mature harvest. Premature harvesting aimed at "seeing how the roots are doing" will undercut one's hard work every time. 

As self-action leaders, we must learn how to work hard and be diligent. But we must simultaneously develop our capacity to patiently wait upon natural forces over which we have no control. If we fail to do so, we will find that those same natural forces will, in time, have their own way with us, the results of which will be, to say the very least, undesirable.   

"Learn to Labor and to Wait."

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow        


-Dr. JJ

July 28, 2021
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 222nd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 221 FF Blog Articles.  

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

Notes:

* From Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl

** This is a quote from the movie, The Disorderly Orderly, starring Jerry Lewis. The speaker of the quote is a nurse who is continually frustrated by the main character's (Lewis) annoying penchant of messing things up by trying too hard.  

*** From Longfellow's poem, A Psalm of Life

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Living in the Present

People often speak of the "Past" and the "Future" as if such things were just as real as the present; and in a sense, they certainly are. In another sense, however, there really is no such thing as the past or future. There is only the present—the eternal NOW. Viewed in this light, the past is nothing but a previous "Present" and the future is nothing but a pending "Present."

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to attend a broadcast of a speech delivered by the famous historian and author—David McCullough—who has written a collection of marvelous books on famous American leaders, including John Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman.

George Washington
1732-1799
In his speech, McCullough was commenting on and promoting his book, 1776, which focused on the leadership of General George Washington during a critical year of the American Revolution. As McCullough spoke about this unique year in American history, which took place over 200 years ago, he said something very interesting I will never forget. He noted that the men and women of the revolutionary period did not live in the past.

They lived in their present.

Washington Crossing the Delaware in December 1776
He went on to remark that unlike us twenty-first century citizens, who look back on them and comment on the strange nature of their hats and clothes and customs and vernacular, their whole world was unfolding for them in real time. Consequently, there was nothing strange about it to them—it was all just as real and vivid and vibrant as our lives are to us today.

From that point onward, I never looked at history quite the same again. The entire, vast, panoramic vista of the past began to come into present focus for me. Consequently, its unfolding scenes of drama and drudgery were no longer painted in the the blacks and whites of archaic photographs and illustrations, but in the full spectrum of lucid and lustrous colors provided by my present imagination.

Throughout history, the greatest men and women, boys and girls, were those who figured out how to most fully and effectively live in their own present. And regardless of the generation in which a person was born, those who spent too much time dwelling on the past or worrying about the future, ended up floundering, faltering, or even failing by comparison. That is the Power of the Present, or as one author—Eckhart Tolle—puts it in the titles of one of his bestselling books: The Power of Now.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882
A great philosopher and poet of the nineteenth century—Ralph Waldo Emerson—once put it this way: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift—that's why they call it the present!"  

"Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery;
today is a giftthat's why they call it the PRESENT!"

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

All human beings spend time thinking about the past and preparing for the future. If disciplined and exercised in moderation, both activities are important and can serve as productive uses of one's present time. But taken to extremes, a fixation on the past can quickly begin to consume us in regretful brooding, while obsessing about the future can fill our minds and hearts with unrealistic hopes or immobilizing FEAR—also known as False Evidence Appearing Real.

Obviously we should reflect on our past thoughts, speech, and actions in order to analyze our results and make course corrections in the future. We should, of course, also plan carefully for our future. Nevertheless, wise self-action leaders avoid the "analysis paralysis" that evolves from spending too much time on the past or future. Instead, they spend most of their time being fully engaged in and otherwise seizing (Carpe Diem) the present moment—the eternal "NOW" of their lives. By so doing, they live their lives to their fullest and experience the most happiness, joy, and success along the way. By so doing, they further discover that their past and future has a way of taking care of itself as long as we are doing our best in the present. As Jesus once insightfully put it: Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself; sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

"Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself; sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof."

 Jesus

In what ways do you get bogged down in either your past or future? What could you do TODAY to begin living more fully in your PRESENT in ways that will empower you to let go of the past and more effectively prepare for the future?  


Whatever that thing is, do it... and do it NOW!


"Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time; for that's the stuff life is made of."

 Benjamin Franklin

          

-Dr. JJ

July 21, 2021
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 221st Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 220 FF Blog Articles.  

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

The Role of Failure in Success

I have been thinking lately about the vital role that failure plays in all of our greatest successes as human beings.

Think about it...

  • Abraham Lincoln lost more elections than he won. His career record in politics was 5-6.
  • Thomas Edison failed several thousand times before finally discovering the secret to the incandescent light bulb. Along the way, he maintained an incredibly positive and proactive attitude. To wit... when a journalist asked him about his many "failures" to succeed in his quest, Edison corrected the correspondent, saying: "I haven't failed at anything; I've successfully discovered thousands of ways that won't work!"   
  • Michael Jordan failed to make his high school's varsity basketball team as a sophomore. He also played seven seasons in the NBA before earning his first World Championship ring.
This same patterns has played out extensively in my own, personal experiences. For example:
  • Dr. JJ
    Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) held me captive in a variety of ways for over two decades, but after getting lots of help from others (including professionals), medication, self-help, and plenty of assistance from that Higher Power, the disorder is now effectively managed and under control.  
  • I was rejected 130 times by 80 different women before finding success with my amazing wife, Lina. And it was worth the wait, because of all the women I ever dated, she is the best gal for me.    
  • I have failed endlessly in my efforts to build my educational business. In fact, to this day, after 18 years of struggle and toil, it still is not fully launched, but I have had a variety of publishing and other successes along the way, and my big break is still out there somewhere just waiting to knock on my door.  
Judging by the patterns articulated above, do you think there is any real doubt in my mind that I will eventually hit the jackpot—one way or another— in my professional pursuits as well?

While there has been no shortage of frustration and discouragement along the way, I remain as confident as ever about my long-term success potential as a writer, speaker, leader, and organizer. Like Edison, I merely view my "failures" as stepping-stones along my never-ending pathways to greater and higher levels of success, service, and contribution.

—Charles Darwin
In adherence to the advice of the famous scientist, Marie Curie, I will persevere until I succeed. Moreover, aware of the great truth declared by the English naturalist, Darwin, I recognize that my capacity for creativity, flexibility, and change are even more important than raw talent or acquired polish.  

One of my oratorical heroes from history is Winston Churchill—who not only saved the world from the evils of Nazi fascism, but did so with two very unique weapons: the persuasive power of the English language and the enormous force of his own personality. 

A young Winston Churchill in uniform at
Sandhurst Military Academy

(i.e. West Point in U.S.)
Despite his enormous legacy of success, Ole' Winston faced his own share of failures and setbacks throughout his life and career. In his early 40s, the Allied disaster at Gallipoli in World War I cost him his career as First Lord of the Admiralty (i.e. Secretary of the Navy in the U.S.). After experiencing a political rebound after the Great War, Churchill found himself on the outside looking in once again throughout much of the 1930s, which are famously referred to as his "Wilderness Years."

But he never gave up trying to use his energy and voice to fight for what he believed was right. And when the time was right, his country called upon him in its hour of greatest need at the outset of World War II—when Western Civilization stood on the brink of collapse from a truly ominous and evil foe.

Despite Churchill's advancing years, which placed him near retirement age in 1940, he took up the reigns of power at a moment of unprecedented importance in the history of Great Britain, Western Europe, and the World-at-large. In the end, Churchill and his Allies came off conquerer over the monstrous Adolf Hitler and his fiendish minions and their unprecedented military might.

Churchill is famous for saying that: "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm."   

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm."

 Winston Churchill

Churchill conferring with Roosevelt during World War II
The fascinating thing about this quote is that Churchill—with his famous two-fingered "V"-for victory salute—does not, in the quote, equate success with winning.

He doesn't say: "Success is winning the battle." 

Churchill obviously wanted to win very badly, and was willing to do whatever victory required. Yet victory in and of itself was not the essence of success for Churchill. And it is no secret that the British Empire and the French Republic and their Allies faced their share of difficulties and setbacks during the early years of the worldwide conflict.

No. It was not victory alone that defined success in the eyes of Winston Churchill. What then was the essence of success for this lion of a leader?

CONSISTENT and CONTINUAL EFFORT bolstered by an undeviating and dogged DETERMINATION regardless of the present status of thingsTHAT was the essence of success for Winston Churchill. And anyone who has carefully studied his steady leadership throughout the crisis years of 1940-1945 know that it was this philosophy that eventually led to the gradual attrition of fascist forces and the ultimate victory for the Allies.     

Cultivating this MINDSET for a holistic and comprehensive commitment to eventual victory—which assumes complete and absolute dedication to a cause all along the way—has been my aim since I was about seven years old, and has demonstrated itself in a variety of passions, desires, and goals. 

I have always set my sights high in my life
It all began as a seven and eight-year-old with a growing desire to do all sorts of things—and do them well! From mastering foreign languages and the art of playing the piano to eventually becoming President of the United States, my goals were many, varied, and always ambitious. Along the way, I would, of course, make it to the NBA, and perhaps win some Olympic Gold Medals as well.

I was very passionate about my undertakings, and genuinely believed that with focus, hard work, and consistency, I could eventually do and/or be just about anything I wanted. I was also blessed with a supporting cast of family members, teachers, and friends, who were typically as positive about my potential as I was. 

Along the way, I gradually grew up—as we all must. As I did, I learned that all human beings have limitations, including myself. I also discovered through experience that I was clearly better suited for some activities than I was for others. For example, while I was passionate (in theory) about foreign languages and the piano, I discovered through trial-and-error that I had very little natural genius or personal proclivity for either activity. Thus, I began to increasingly specialize based on my most prominent in-born aptitudes, personal propensities, and preferred preparations.

At age 8 or 9, I took great pride
in sharing a name with "Air Jordan"
Along the way, I discovered that I possessed an above-average level of athletic coordination and talent. One of my top skills as a youngster was playing basketball, and with a lot of practice, I became a pretty good basketball player. Those who knew me well in elementary school and junior high school will verify this fact. In my own mind I was better than I really was (of course), and I very seriously (albeit naïvely) assumed I would someday play in the NBA. 

Then something interesting happened. During my 9th grade year, my love for basketball began to wane severely. It was the first time I had ever been part of a serious, full-length season of any team sport, and I discovered that my joy of playing with a basketball was greater than my joy of playing on a basketball team (there's a pretty big difference). Consequently, and much to my surprise, I decided not to play on the basketball team after 9th grade and instead focus on a different sport I had always shown promise in—middle distance running. 

Finishing my first 10K at age 8.
With my dreams of playing in the NBA altered by perspective and reality, I set out to discover my potential in cross-country and track. Despite an eventual State Championship medal in high school and an All-American citation in college, I learned over time that I was—at best—only a semi-elite track athlete. Unfortunately, semi-elite athletes don't qualify for the Olympics; nor do they sign professional contracts. 

During my year of collegiate competition, I developed a tremendous admiration and respect for Sebastian Coe of Great Britain. Coe was a former Olympic Champion and world record holder at my two best events—the 800 and 1500 meter runs. 

While watching a documentary about Coe during college, I heard his mother say something about her son that became burned into my soul. She said: "There was always something about Sebastian that drove him to be the very best at whatever he did. If he had not been talented at athletics, he would have found some other activity in which to excel." Mrs. Coe was right! In fact, despite Seb's world champion successes as a runner, he later became a successful politician and the lead organizer of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England—his home country.  

In light of my failure to reach elite status as a middle distance runner, those words of Tina Angela Coe bolstered my mind, heart, and spirit. I have always believed that I possessed the same kind of internal stuff that had driven Seb Coe, Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and Winston Churchill to the very top of their respective fields. The question was: having failed to reach the top (or having become disenchanted with) languages, the piano, politics, basketball, and middle-distance running, what outstanding talents remained whereby I could distinguish myself and serve others? 

Over the years, the answer to this question became crystal clear: writing, speaking, organizing, and leadership. As an adult, I have therefore chased after these new ambitions with the same vigor, vim, and joy that I pursued many of my previous pursuits. Moreover, I have discovered that in the long-run, the service I can provide to others through these endeavors is at least as satisfying—if not more so—than whatever personal achievements and rewards I receive for my individual exertions.  

To date, I've published six books and a dissertation, hundreds of articles in newspapers, periodicals, and academic journals, and 220 blog articles. I've spent approximately 10,000 hours composing with my pen, and approximately 5,000 hours speaking publicly all over the English-speaking world. Lastly, I've gained extensive experience leading, managing, and organizing in a variety of different positions and settings. 

Success is a Journey, not a destination
Despite all that, I still haven't caught my "Big Break" as an entrepreneurial business builder. But that's okay. 

Why is it okay?

It's okay because I've already enjoyed a LOT of success along the way.  I enjoy what I do regardless of the fanfare and plaudits (or lack thereof). There is enormous satisfaction and joy in the journey itself! Honestly... it is that daily joy in the journey that drives me more than anything else. 

Plus, I'm only 41 years old. Abraham Lincoln was ten years older than I was when the opportunity of his lifetime arrived. And Winston Churchill was 24 years old older than me was when his nation came calling. If two of the greatest men in history had to wait until they were 51 and 65, respectively, to finally have their life's work pay off in climactic fashion, I figure I can afford to be as patient as needs be.

Regardless how well a person might prepare prior to an opportunity finally arriving, the reality is that timing always plays a key role in its overall calculus. Make no mistake, opportunities will arise for everyone, and especially for those who conscientiously prepare themselves. We won't always know when our individual opportunities will arise. But we can always do our best to prepare for our own big (and little) chances in life by continually studying, practicing, and teaching. As long as we have paid the price in preparation, life will eventually provide all of us with our own, unique opportunities in due time.

The greatest work of all happens in homes
As you consider what your own "Big" (and little) Breaks" might be, remember that opportunity comes in all different shapes and sizes. Moreover, the best opportunities are often not highly visible with a spotlight shining on them.

For example, some of the world's greatest human beings have been unknown and unheralded mothers and fathers who quietly and obscurely, yet truly and nobly raised stalwart sons and daughters who, in-turn, performed noble deeds and/or raised honorable sons and daughters of their own. 

Can there be any greater personal contribution than that?

True Success is all about the
Direction You are Headed
Remember what we learned from Winston Churchill: results are not, in-and-of-themselves, the truest mark of success. He did not say that victory is success. He said that: "Success is going from failure-to-failure without a loss of enthusiasm."

The truest mark of success is measured in effort, discipline, consistence, persistence, passion, resilience, and durability. Countless heroes died before their battle had been won. While their moments of climax may have been bereft of an audience or applause, their legacy of greatness nonetheless lives on—burnished ever brighter by the tales of triumph told and retold by those who remain.

Next time you are tempted to give-up on a worthy goal, pursuit, or change-effort, I encourage you to remember the words of Ole' Sir Winston, who gave the following advice to a classroom of young people at Harrow, a private all-boys school in the Greater London area:

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in-nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

         Winston Churchill 


I close with some inspirational excerpts from a college graduation speech delivered by Denzel Washington, an Academy Award-winning actor. I hope his words ring as true and powerful for you as they did for me. 
Oscar Award

"I've found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks; nothing! Nelson Mandela said, 'There is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living. ...

"Do what you feel passionate about; take chances; don't be afraid to fail. ... Don't be afraid to think outside the box; don't be afraid to fail big; to dream big. 
"But remember: dreams without goals are just dreams. 

"Reggie Jackson struck out 2,600 times in his career—the most in the history of baseball—but you don't hear about the strikeouts; people remember the home runs. ...

"Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You've got to take risks. ... and I want to talk to you about why that is so important. 
"You will fail at some point in your life; accept it, you will lose. You will embarrass yourself; you will suck at something, there is no doubt about it. ... I'm telling you, embrace it because it is inevitable. ...

"Early on in my career I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical—a perfect role for me I thought, except for the fact that I can't sing. I didn't get the job. But here's the thing: I didn't quit. I didn't fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition. I prayed; I prayed; and I prayed! But I continued to fail, and fail, and fail; but it didn't matter because you know what, there's an old saying: You hang around the barbershop long enough sooner or later you're gonna get a haircut. So you will catch a break, and I did catch a break. Last year I did a play called Fences on Broadway. But here's the kicker: it was at the Court Theatre—it was at the same theatre that I failed that first audition 30 years prior. ...

"Every graduate here has the training and the talent to succeed; but do you have the guts to fail? If you don't fail, you're not even trying. I'll say it again: if you don't fail, you're not even trying! To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. So imagine you're on your deathbed, and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential—the ghosts of the ideas you never acted on; the ghosts of the talents you never used. And they're standing around your bed angry, disappointed, and upset. They said we came to you because you could have brought us to life; and now we have to go to the grave together. So I ask you today: "How many ghosts are gonna be around your bed when your time comes?"

Click HERE to watch Denzel Washington's FULL SPEECH

Click HERE to watch a MOVIE CLIP from one of my favorite movies featuring Denzel Washington's prodigious acting ability. This scene in the movie Glory helped Washington win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


-Dr. JJ

July 14, 2021
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 220th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 219 FF Blog Articles.  

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

And if you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to sign up to receive future articles for FREE every Wednesday.

To sign up, please email freedomfocused@gmail.com and say SUBSCRIBE, or just YES, and we will ensure you receive a link to each new blog article every Wednesday.  

Click HERE to learn more about Freedom Focused

Click HERE to learn more about Dr. Jordan Jensen

Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks



  

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

The Magic Space Between Stimulus and Response

My son, Tucker, as a toddler with Covey's 7 Habits
As a younger man just starting out in the personal development field, one of my heroes was Dr. Stephen R. Covey.

In 1979—the year I was born—Dr. Covey (a university professor at the time) and his family temporarily relocated from their home in Utah to the tropical Islands of Hawaii. The purpose of Dr. Covey's move was to pursue an academic sabbatical that would provide him with a break from teaching as well as an opportunity to think, write, and strategize how he would spend the rest of his career. It was during this sabbatical in Hawaii that the genius behind The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was born.

Perhaps the most significant match that lit the flame for this important work—one of the bestselling and most influential books of the 20th century—occurred one day as Dr. Covey was alone at a university library perusing its bookshelves. In the midst of this seemingly random perusal, he serendipitously happened upon a book—the title of which he did not even remember at the time*—that he opened and began to scan through. As he did so, his eyes came across a statement that struck his mind, heart, and spirit like a bolt of lightning—an idea that changed his life and led to his eventual organization of The 7 Habits material. 

The statement read...

"In between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response; and in our response lies our growth and freedom."*

If you have read or are otherwise familiar with The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you will instantly recognize this statement and its service as an overriding theme of the complete work. The power and truth inherent in that simple statement is a primary reason that The 7 Habits has been so successful and helped so many people over the past 32 years.

Each individual is the Sovereign Ruler over his or her own life.
What kind of a self-action leader will YOU choose to be?
Genius that he was, Dr. Covey instantly recognized the incredible power inherent in this statement. In fact, he was almost overcome with the recognition of and excitement that this simple statement had the potential to change the world by influencing individuals everywhere to more fully take responsibility for the agency and power they have each been granted to determine their fate by wisely choosing their responses to whatever stimuli may arise their personal and professional lives. 

As human beings, we cannot always control what happens to us in our lives, relationships, and careers. But... as the above statement so powerfully affirms and reminds us, we always have the freedom to decide what we are going to do next; in other words, we are always free to choose our own response to whatever happens to us. And as all truly proactive and responsible persons recognize and acknowledge, the power we possess to choose our response is usually much more powerful than whatever else may happen to us along the way... at least in the long-run!

This fact helps to explain why some people start out in their lives or careers with so little power, authority, influence, or wealth, yet manage to end up with so much of the same. It also assists in explaining why some people face devastating physical, mental, emotional, cultural, or social dangers, difficulties, or even disasters, yet end up finding a way to transcend their adversity to become successful and happy anyway—again, at least in the long-run.  

Despite the lamentations of the nay-sayers
the United States—warts and all—remains
an unprecedented beacon of liberty, freedom,
opportunity, and happiness. 
We live in a world where, sadly, many are prone to (wittingly or unwittingly) condemn large sectors of our national or global society (sometimes including themselves) to a pre-determined fate based on their personal history, birth, race, culture, or socioeconomic standing.

Just as sad, a growing chorus of bitter voices seek to respond angrily and divisively to America's past and present sins, rather than laud how far we have come while continually championing improvement efforts. Every nation's past—and present—is obviously imperfect; however, constantly belaboring the point takes up valuable oxygen and energy that could be invested in making real improvements in the here and NOW. 

Such vitriol was on display in many corners of the U.S. over the Independence Day weekend. Instead of spending America's birthday heralding her many virtues and achievements—made possible by the principles of agency, equality, liberty, freedom, and self-government set forth in her Declaration of Independence and Constitution—such voices sought to demonize the same by magnifying and then focusing on her foibles and flaws. That's no way to unite our Country, much less form a "More Perfect Union." People who make things better—the true builders in any society—seek to build up everyone and everything they meet; divisive derisiveness never built anything of beauty or honor that lasted. 

At Freedom Focused, we are not naïve to the very real challenges that countless individuals do indeed face based on pre-determined factors. Nor are we ignorant to America's past and present sins. However, we concurrently proclaim from the rooftops—and at the top of our lungs—the equally powerful potential that people everywhere have to rise up and build a better life for themselves if they are given the education and opportunity to do so. Moreover, when it comes to authentic opportunity, there is perhaps no other nation on the Planet that has offered—and continues to offer—more of it to her citizens (and citizens of other lands) than the United States of America.

Freedom Focused is therefore grateful to the august founding fathers and mothers of the United States, and we admiringly acknowledge the lasting legacy of their unprecedented achievements. After all, without them, we would not have the same access to the righteous principles of just constitutionality and personal freedom upon which much of the SAL philosophy and model is based.    

Freedom Focused exists to extend educational opportunities to anyone who is willing to focus, learn, work, and endure. Our educational platform is founded on the idea that each of us—no matter who we are or aren't—possesses the power to choose our response to what happens to us, and therefore none of us need be consigned to a pre-determined fate based on external variables beyond our control. By focusing often and always on what one can control, rather than fixating on those things that one cannot control, each of us can begin today to make a better life for ourselves, no matter how difficult things may have been in the past, or how challenging they remain in the present.

That is the hope of Self-Action Leadership; and that is both the premise and the promise of Freedom Focused. The questions you must ask yourself are: 

Will you embrace this hope?  

          Will you take advantage of this promise?     And lastly...

                    Will you help others seize upon the precious opportunities afforded thereby?  

  

-Dr. JJ

July 7, 2021
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 219th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013. 

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 218 FF Blog Articles.  

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Notes:

*This statement has been attributed to both Viktor Frankl as well as Covey himself -- due to the commonality with which he quoted it.  

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