Knocked off your tush (part 3 of 4)

Continuing our series of what you do when life gives you a roundhouse kick in the head and you suddenly end up sprawled out on the canvas… (read part 1 and 2)

Here is point No. 2: Focus on what’s good, right and possible. Stop dwelling on the obstacle.

As Roger Crawford said in our interview together, “Focus on what you CAN do instead of what you CAN’T do.”

Think about it, if you had disfigured limbs from the elbows and knees down and only three fingers… total and three toes total… on only one complete leg, it would be pretty difficult not to think about all that you couldn’t do versus what you could do.

Now look down at your hands and toes. Imagine what you can do, IF… you only focus on what you CAN do, given whatever limitations or obstacles you have, or think you have, instead of repeatedly focusing on all you cannot do. Please take this message to heart… and to your focus. As Roger said, “Problems in life are really possibilities, depending on what we choose to dwell on.”

I also have an important warning to offer you regarding this point:
Be sure the obstacle is not SERVING you.

It could be serving as a convenient excuse as to why you are not doing better or trying harder. Take notice of what you talk about. Do you continually talk about the obstacles you are facing or the positive progress you are making without even a mention of obstacles? Do you relish in lamenting, whining or even joking about the tragicomedy of your day? Or do your stories focus on the comeback, the hopefulness and the victory?

This is a key point: If you like talking about ‘woe is me,’ read more »


Best,

Andy Rodie

Knocked off your tush (part 2 of 4)

Continuing our series on what you do when you get knocked on your keister, let me lay out a four-point plan you can use to overcome any obstacle you will ever face in life—a plan to turn any tragedy or setback into triumph.

Here is No. 1: I interviewed Roger Crawford recently, who was born with a physical handicap that affected all four of his limbs from the elbows down and from the knees down, leaving him with two fingers on his left wrist on one on his right, a partially developed right leg with three toes, and his left leg from the knee down was amputated. But he became a world-class tennis player, recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the most accomplished athletes in history.

During our interview Roger made this very profound statement: “We are, often times, the one who creates our own handicaps.” Meaning, many times our obstacles are self-induced. Or, even real obstacles continue to have a hold on us because of these mental handicaps. I think we lose proper perspective. So true.

This might help you gain perspective…

A few nights ago my wife was feeling a bit stressed and down about a project that had not gone according to plan. She left the house in a bummed out mood and came back a transformed human being.

I asked her what the heck happened and she told me the story of Jimmy…

Jimmy always has a big giant smile on his face. Jimmy cleans people’s fingernails and toenails for a living. Georgia, curious why this man is always so happy, asked how he grew up. Jimmy explained he was one of nine from a very large Vietnamese family. Jimmy’s father had been loyal to the American military during the Vietnam War. He was ordered to pay restitution, which he was told would be an imprisonment term of 2 1/2 weeks. Three and a half years later, weak, starving and brutalized in what turned out to be a labor camp, his father was released.

With his release, Jimmy’s father was determined to leave Vietnam and take his wife and nine children to the United States. To do so they had to read more »


Best,

Andy Rodie

Knocked off your tush (part 1 of 4)

Great blog form Darren Hardy at success magazine.

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I like to point your attention and creative imagination toward what’s positive and what’s possible in the world—to look for and see the abundance, potential and opportunities of life.

And that is a good thing… and a very necessary thing if we want to move our lives in a positive direction and toward that greater abundance.

BUT, what do you do when you get knocked down? And you will. This is LIFE we are talking about. It is not always blue skies, singing birds and pretty rainbows outside. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it even storms and sometimes it even comes with the added drama (and potential pain) of lightening and thunder. What do you do then, Mr. Sunshine?

That is what we are going to address in this four-part series: When you get knocked on your tush in life, how do you get back up so you are not knocked OUT?

The interesting thing is, during the times of strife, struggle and challenge that the true achievers are born. Never mind the analogy of the true birth experience, having to overcome the incredible obstacles involved in literally being born. But after that first trying experience—and the slap of the doctor and your first cry—it is during the other challenges and obstacles of life when achievers are born.

Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.” It is only when we are presented with those challenges that we get to separate ourselves from other men and women.

Imagine this: You are at the very top of your game. Let’s say that game is in one of the most competitive and rivaled fields in the entire world. After decades of painful discipline, sacrifice and relentless commitment, you finally rise to the top, the very top in fact, and then tragedy strikes….

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Best,

Andy Rodie