Simply Excellent

Simply Excellencent

Excellence is achieved through effort not by tools. Long before “there’s an app for that” ™ mankind has been achieving astonishing feats. The sum of motivation, dedication, and perspiration is how excellence is achieved. There is no tool, piece of software, or garment that can provide these three factors in sufficient quantities to achieve excellence. We may use a combination of tools in our endeavors but even without them we can still achieve excellence. The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Great Wall of China, the music of Beethoven, and the Greek Olympics all are phenomenal accomplishments, feats of excellence, that were achieved under our own power.

Our everyday feats of excellence only require that we continue to motivate ourselves, that we maintain our commitment to our goal and that we put in the required effort to see it to fruition. No matter the outcome always remember that you are simply excellent.

Keep Going – Lost

I went snowshoeing for the first time last night. It was dark, cold and snowing. Of the group of nine I knew one person and really didn’t know him all that well. 20 minutes in on what could be considered a light climb I am already struggling to catch my breath. My heart is pounding and I’ve already broken a sweat. At this point I am ready to give into FEAR , Fuck Everything And Run, and turn around and schlep back to the car. I don’t. Instead I close my eyes and in that moment I decide I am in it to win it. My focus shifts to relaxing and enjoying the moment. An hour and a half later we are back at the cars and I feel as though I could easily go further. What a delight. The organizer later told me that this was an intermediate level hike. Booya! Not only did I finish but I finished a course that I perceived to be simpler than what it was. Who has two thumbs and rocks? This guy. One step at a time. It literally took one step at a time with pauses along the way to absorb the energy around me and refocus on my goal, finishing. What a great experience. I can’t wait to do it again.

While schlepping through the frozen woodlands there were times where I would literally just stop, close my eyes and just be in the moment. Lose myself to the sensations, sounds and energy around me. Letting go of thought and will and just surrendering to the universe with no expectations. Lost and free. By allowing myself to be lost in a moment I was rewarded with a sense of freedom that I never felt before. Peace and tranquility that only nature can provide. Lost is like a drug and I want another hit.

Can’t Is For Pussies

Consciously Admitting Negative Thinking (Can’t)
When you say you can’t, you are telling yourself you will not. You are already admitting defeat and giving in to the forces that will hold you back. A failed attempt is better than no attempt at all. With failure comes an opportunity to learn and perhaps succeed on your next attempt. Making an Attempt manifests a can do attitude. It says I am willing to venture forth, acknowledge my fears and the obstacles before me and still put forth the effort to achieve my goal.

“I can’t” means you do not believe in yourself. It acknowledges none of your strengths and only exacerbates your weaknesses. “I can’t” reinforces weakness, it becomes stronger with each utterance to the point where you only see what you are unable to achieve and not what you can achieve.

Lessen your burden and believe in achievement not as an absolute state but a dynamic process by which we learn to succeed. Achievement is graduated success. Some gains will be great others hardly noticeable. Regardless of the gains just commit to doing it and you will, because you can!

Consciously Achieve Now – You can!

Poppin’ Shit

“Pray for him, cause some fools just love to perform
You know the type loud as a motor bike
But wouldn’t bust a grape in a fruit fight” – Jay Z, 99 Problems

I love all these couch riders, armchair quarterbacks, backseat drivers or whatever you want to call people who seem to only excel at flapping their gums. People who talk shit, or pop shit, need to be careful because usually it ends up on your face. I guess it is easier to hate on others than it is to handle your own business. Well if that is how you are going to spend your time then at least put a little effort in your game first. Get your shit half-way together then commence with the hot air storm.

Realize though that what we put out comes back 100 fold. Be prepared for your neigh sayers for they will come. When they do and your world is in a tizzy and before you ask why they are “hatin’ on me”, think back to all those you criticized to elevate yourself. Feel their pain wash over you as you become the focus of someone else’s ire.

Yawn…Done

Yawn. I’m bored
With you. Done
Peace out

Apple Lessons 1

We can learn a great deal about the pursuit of excellence from Apple. Under Steve Jobs direction Apple has been able to show what can be accomplished when you make quality, desirability, and innovation the cornerstone of your business. Apple products have an allure that tech products typically do not have. A sexiness in form and design that is often lacking in what can be best described as simple machines. Simple in their commonness and purpose.

This same thoughtfulness and attention to excellence can be equally applied to ourselves. If we were to look at ourselves as a product that is being offered to the public what would the reviews say about us? Although some reviews would focus solely on our outward appearance what I am referring to is what lies beneath. The unseen. Would people wait on line for days just to be in our company? Would we be so magnetic that our friends would be clamoring with excitement to hear our latest news? Would they forgo spending time with others to be in our presence? This may sound far fetched but just what are you offering the world around you? What kind of product are you?

Our existence is not static. At any time we are capable of assessing our position in the market and coming up with a strategy to provide a quality product that is desirable and innovative.

Potential Pussy & Potential Dick

Watch this video of Chris Rock discussing platonic relationships.

Recently I was involved in a somewhat heated discussion with a male friend of mine over what I like to call “Potential Pussy” and the “Pussy Conversion Rate” and what he likes to call platonic friends.

Bullshit. He’s crazy as cat shit (thanks Tariq). First of all I have had many female friends and not all were by some misplaced step that landed me in the dreaded friend zone. However the majority were. Truth be told. Most of my female friends were that because I did not successfully convert the pussy. A low conversion rate. However they were still potential pussy. Like Chris said above, just because I landed in the friend zone did not mean I was not trying to convert that pussy. I had to stop and watch and analyze the market. Look at trends and past performances. Then I would make another attempt at the pussy conversion. Any man that tells you otherwise is a god damn liar or gay! It is our nature to pursue pussy.

Women ,also as Chris said, keep dick in the glass. Potential dick. Come’on son! Why have 20 friends 15 of which are straight dudes if you are not looking to have a dick on backup? That’s plan B, C, D, E, F and G. You damn well know that if things got bad you would be looking to convert one of those back up dicks into your everyday driver!

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with potential dick and potential pussy. What I am saying is that you need to call it what it is. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are better than the rest of us because you call these relationships platonic. (Samuel Jackson) Shit mutha-fucker your ass just needs to get off of the god-damn high horse and recognize that you need to convert these mutha-fuckers.

We are sexual by design. The constraints we place on that design typically go against our true nature. It is better to recognize our nature and design and try to find constructive ways of working with it.

On that note I leave with the words of Biz Markie.

Snow Isolated

Muted snow falls
Sound blanket
Winter’s cold roar

Self Help

Is it me or does self help seem like it ought to be an oxymoron ? Unless you are incapacitated any help that you obtain, whether it be guided or unguided, would qualify as “self help”. If you are taking steps to improve yourself then any assistance received to that end does not negate the fact that you are helping yourself.

Self-help is a clever marketing slogan used to sell books. It removes the stigma associated with the terms psychology, mental health, therapy and counseling. It makes it accessible to those fearful, ashamed or without means to access the help of a professional. Although being formally trained as a mental health worker does not make one any better than a good friend who can offer good advise and sound counsel.

Help is help. How we obtain and process help is irrelevant. What matters is our growth. So I suggest we change the self helpmonicker to personal growth.

How

I am beginning to feel that life is less about what, where, when, who and why but what really matters is how. The other questions are important but how, at least to me, seems to address our state of being or if you will our state of mind. Let me explain. I can be at a physical location that I want to be at, yet events could be unfolding around me that are causing me great distress. I identify those feelings with, what am I feeling. Now my state of mind is how am I feeling. You see the difference? I might feel any range of emotions about what is taking place around me, however how I choose to let those emotions impact me addresses what my state of mind is and will likely continue to be.

Even in the best of times we may find ourselves in an emotional state that changes our perspective about what our circumstances. Ultimately how we feel about ourselves will allow us to perceive even the bleakest of moments in a different light.

If you look around you can easily find instances of accomplishment not so much by what was done but how it was done. In this context whataddresses the mechanical aspects of accomplishment and how addresses the state of being.

Take a look and see for yourself.