Recognizing Opportunities In Adversity

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Do you feel that right now is a great time to be alive? Because I do. I feel so blessed every day to be able to experience everything that life offers on a daily basis. We are living through an unprecedented event, maybe not in history, but in my lifetime.

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I used to watch movies such as The Andromeda Strain and The Omega Man in which an unknown virus began killing humans. COVID-19 has created vast changes in how we work and live. It has devastated small businesses and left millions unemployed. As each day passes we get closer to “flattening the curve” and it will be interesting to see what the world will look like once everything starts opening up.

Are You Recognizing The Opportunities In Adversity?

It is said that adversity creates opportunity. Many people took advantage of the opportunities created during the Great Depression and became millionaires. While many people suffered, others took advantage of being unemployed and turned ideas into businesses. They saw the opportunity created by the Great Depression. Can you see opportunity created by the current pandemic? It’s out there, opportunity is always out there, you just have to be able to see it. When you see it, you then have to act on it.

Your Fingertips

For all the youth out there, I just want to say that we are living in the greatest time in our history. You can carry around the world at your fingertips. Everything has sped up exponentially, from communication with other people to becoming wealthy. Today, we can walk around with a computer in our pocket, we can search for any question that we have, and communicate with anyone throughout the world

Creativity

All it takes is a little creativity and you can make money without ever having to spend a day working a job you probably hate. I never would’ve thought that you could make money by videotaping yourself doing something that you do for one day, but people do. The ease at which we can obtain information today presents the greatest opportunity for all of us. You can literally find a step-by-step process to do anything. If you want to learn how to write a blog, there are bloggers who write blogs on how to write a blog.

I’ve always heard people say, “I can’t wait till my ship comes in,” and you might want to write this down, “Your ship has arrived. It is anchored just offshore and all you have to do is swim out to it and get on board.”

Final Thoughts

Thank you for listening to, Recognizing Opportunities In Adversity – Ep. 08. If you have any comments I would like to hear them. Subscribe to my email list by clicking on the button above and receive my checklist to keep you moving forward in attaining your goals.

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Recognizing-opportunities-black-train
All Aboard!!

“This Train Is Moving on, You Can Get on, You Can Get off, But the Train Keeps Moving on! We Are Going to the Top of the Mountain!”

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InspireChief32 Comments

The Beginning

I always enjoy the beginning. Where I live, here in South Florida, May 18th, was the day that we saw the lockdown and stay-at-home order brought on by COVID-19 begin to be lifted. Businesses were able to open including gyms (no gyms opened for some reason) and restaurants at 50 percent capacity. We haven’t been hit as hard as New York City or other parts of the world, so things will not change dramatically for us. We have been able to go outside, and exercise; most businesses have remained open.

I look forward to being able to resume my weekly Friday night date with my wife. It will be nice to return to our neighborhood Italian restaurant and actually be able to sit down and enjoy a meal. I wrote earlier about the anxiety caused by the pandemic and how the adversity of the situation also created opportunities.

The Beginning of Hope

As each day passes we seem to get closer to living the lives we lived at the beginning of the year. My offline businesses are beginning to come alive again and I’m seeing more work. This is good because these are what pay the bills and puts food on the table. I’m glad I took full advantage of the opportunities presented to me and started my online business. I love to commence a new project but it can be frightening. I know now that I will have to manage my time better in order to keep everything on track with my businesses and also provide time for myself and my family.

That First Step

I always enjoy the beginning. The beginning of a relationship, meeting a new person who you know will become a good friend, starting to read a good book. To me, the beginning of anything is always exciting. I’m filled with joy and anticipation when a new football season kicks off. It excites me to begin a new challenge. I love the feeling of nervousness and wonderment I get when I ask myself, “Can I really do this?”

I start a new business with the excitement of all the possibilities if it succeeds. I’m quickly filled with feelings of frustration and doubt as I have to learn so many new things. As I quickly overcome my fears, it just adds to the excitement of beginning something new. Starting projects are fine, but nothing compares with finding true love. I don’t know if I’ve ever found any better feeling than beginning a relationship with someone that you know will be there for the rest of your life.

Exciting

That Beautiful Feeling

I wrote last week about The Fateful Day That Changed My Life and how I met my wife. I’ll never forget that euphoric feeling when I first realized I was in love with her. I was walking on clouds for months and wanted to be with her all the time. She was always in my mind when she wasn’t there and would smell her perfume constantly. I felt sad when I couldn’t be with her. When I would first see her after being apart for some time, I was intoxicated by her beauty. Over time those rapturous, exhilarating feelings weren’t there but the feeling of love has remained, even after 28 years.

True Love

The beginning of anything that we do is exciting. For me, it’s exciting because it’s a time filled with possibilities. These possibilities are endless and keep our minds from focusing on the nervousness, frustrations, and fear of beginning to learn anything new. Once you begin anything there are no guarantees of success. It’s going to take hard work and persistence. If you don’t feel happy and excited about your new venture, then you’ll never start it. The fear of failure will prevent you from ever taking that first step.

7 Habits

The excitement and the anticipation of the success you will have will help you to control that fear and choke out those little “Doubt Demons” that are hiding and waiting to come out. As Stephen R. Covey wrote in his best-selling book, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” Begin your business, relationships, or projects with a vision of the outcome you will achieve. I didn’t begin my relationship with my wife thinking, “I hope this doesn’t end in divorce.” We would grow old together. I don’t start a business wondering if it’s going to work. Of course, it’s going to be a success and I can visualize all the people that I’m going to help with it.

I Hope This Works

How do we keep going after those initial feelings of excitement fade? How do we keep our relationships spontaneous and joyful once we settle into our daily routine? Here are a few tips I can offer:

  1. Don’t take your partner for granted. Appreciate every day because we are never promised another.
  2. Enjoy the journey. The view from the top of the mountain is magnificent, just don’t ignore all the beauty that you pass by on the way to the top.
  3. Be thankful. Openly express gratitude for what you’ve been given even when you’re facing some of life’s challenges.
  4. Follow the Golden rule. Treat your significant other as you would want them to treat you.
  5. Write down your goals together as a couple. Discuss your hopes and dreams and construct a plan to make it happen.
  6. Always begin and end each day with love and gratitude.
  7. Do something new that neither you nor your partner has done before. Get out of your comfort zone.
  8. Take long walks and enjoy each other’s company and conversation.
  9. Travel and make new memories. You will live tomorrow on the memories you make today.
  10. Always remember WHY you started in the first place. I’ll never forget the first time I ever saw my wife.
He Says It All

Even though excitement and euphoria fade, whether it be a new job, a new opportunity, or new relationship, you don’t quit on it. You don’t get rid of your car right after it loses that “new car smell.” You honor your commitment to it. Those feelings when you first start something are very thin and fragile. They fade away all too quickly. It’s the true feelings down deep inside you that give you the strength to weather the storms.

Final Thoughts

Do you have any tips or techniques that’s helped you maintain your relationship? How long has that initial euphoria lasted for you? For me, it’s lasted about two or three months. Please leave a comment below. If you have any questions or requests for topics I would love to hear them. If you like this post, click on the little star and feel free to share it with others it might help. As always, my posts are based on lessons I’ve learned throughout my life. I don’t claim to be an expert or professional therapist, I just play one on TV (some of you might actually get that joke).

“This Train Is Moving on, You Can Get on, You Can Get off, But the Train Keeps Moving on! We Are Going to the Top of the Mountain!”

Sharing

I believe in the power of sharing. If I read a good blog that really speaks to me and I believe it will provide value to others, I will share it. I have linked four books that I believe have value. In order to change you, you first have to change the way you think. Leaders Are Readers!

Sitting by the pool or on my sofa with a good book is something I still enjoy. I read all kinds of books, fiction, history, biographies, and motivational. I enjoy the quiet time I get with just me and my book. But we live in a fast pace society today where sometimes we need to combine our tasks. Do you find yourself short on time? Are you constantly saying, where did the time go? You are not alone.

I believe that we all feel like we don’t have enough time to get everything accomplished and what usually suffers is “me time.” “Me time” is especially important to all of us. A shortcut that I have found helpful is my Audible Membership and Kindle Unlimited Membership.

I listen to books on audible while I’m doing other things. I can listen while getting dressed, while I’m working out, and even while I’m preparing dinner for my family. It is a great way to get my reading in even when I have a full to-do list that I have received from my wife. She doesn’t take kindly to me ignoring her to-do list while I catch up on my reading.

An Audible Membership, it’s a win-win for both of us. I can download great books on this and listen to them with my AirPods.   I use my AirPods every time I exercise. They don’t fall out and the sound is great. With Kindle, I can download books, magazines, and my daughters can even download their college textbooks. This is so much easier than carrying a heavy backpack full of textbooks around campus. The books can be downloaded to any device and read with the Kindle app.

Both the Audible Membership and Kindle Unlimited Membership are currently offering a 30 day free trial. You can sign up by clicking on the links and give it a test drive for 30 days free. If you find it’s not for you, simply cancel your membership before your 30 days are up and you won’t be charged.

Do you know someone who is always in a hurry and can’t seem to take time for themselves? We all do. I would suggest checking out giving an Audible Membership as a gift. It is a great gift idea for someone who is always on the go.

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. A book that will change your life. It answers the question, Why do some people have everything and others struggle? The answer is simple, they know the secret. It has changed my life and can change yours.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This is an oldie but goodie that is full of relevant life lessons. It is a book that you hear speaker after speaker referred to. Successful people all have the same mentality and know you have to change the way you think to be successful. Only one percent of people set goals.

Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind And Defy The Odds by David Goggins. I really enjoyed reading this book and I found it very relatable. If you want to become more than you are today, read this book. After you finish there will be no excuses. David is just an ordinary guy who made the decision to be extraordinary and was determined.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. A must-read for anyone wanting to change their habits. A great book for managers and leaders. Covey teaches you how to transform your thoughts to not on help you, but also to help others. These are 7 principles to definitely incorporate into your life.

I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

InspireChief4 Comments

Choices

We have choices to make every day. Do we get out of bed now or do we roll over and go back to sleep? Do we pick up our phone as soon as we wake up or look at it later? What are we going to wear? What are we going to have for breakfast? We are inundated with choices that we have to make every day. In my blog titled, Anxiety (COVID-19), I wrote about the current situation that we are facing today and how that has created choices. We have a choice between faith and fear. I will always choose faith over fear. I see and hear people every day that have chosen fear. I can understand given the information that we are being fed why they chose fear. A lot of choices that we make in life are based on the information that we have been fed. If you are being told that wealthy people are just lucky and if you are not wealthy, then it is because you are not lucky. You do not believe that you can change because you believe luck is something you either have or do not have.

Nope!!

The truth is that wealth has nothing to do with luck and has everything to do with a willingness to change as well as the choices that you make. The Internet has created incredible opportunities for people to make money. There are people that make a lot of money posting videos of themselves. They made a choice to make a business out of posting videos. They found a niche and they spend hours shooting, editing, and uploading their videos. The vast majority of people have chosen just to watch videos of other people and spend hours doing so. One of the things that I tell people is; that you can make money online or you can watch other people make money online. It’s simply a choice that you make, but it also requires you to change.

The first step to making a decision to change is simple, you have to look inside yourself. Write down everything that you do during a normal day. The next day, read what you have written down. These are the habits that have gotten you to where you are now in life. If that’s where you want to be and you are happy then continue doing these things. If you are not where you want to be in life and want more out of it, then you have to change these habits. My advice, if you’re looking for a place to start, is to read or listen to books about the habits of people you would consider successful. Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a great book to start with. Successful people become successful not out of luck, but through their daily habits. If you want more out of life, ask yourself if you are willing to change. If the answer is yes, then there is no better time to start than now.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

  • Albert Einstein

Take your list of daily habits and review it to see which ones are holding you back. Compare them with the habits of your chosen successful people and write down your list of new habits that you are going to start developing today. Remember that it took you years to develop the habits that you have now and will take some time to develop new habits. If you stick to your new habits on a daily basis, before long, they will become your everyday life. Get ready for a new you. You might find that you are dressing better, eating better, sleeping better, and overall accomplishing everything you want to do.

I write about this in almost every one of my blogs and particularly in my last post titled The Power of Words, but for me, it’s so important that it needs to be said again and again. The number one thing I teach people is to always remember WHY you started something. WHY did you start that business, begin that relationship, want to lose weight, etc. Changing old habits is not easy. You might have been doing some of these habits for decades. We as humans tend to do things that are comfortable. Old habits are like a warm blanket, wonderfully comfortable. We are constantly pulled back to that warm blanket. New habits can be uncomfortable to tackle at first. When you feel yourself being pulled back to that warm blanket, you must think of WHY you wanted to make that change. By continually working on your new habits daily, they will then become your new warm blanket.

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The big question that you have to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to change in order to succeed?” Success just like faith and fear is a choice. If you choose to be successful and are willing to change your habits to do what successful people do, then you can live as successful people live. There is an unlimited amount of wealth but only a small percentage of people tap into it. The reason most people are not wealthy is that only a small percentage make the choice. They change their habits and are willing to do everything necessary to become wealthy. The universe will supply abundance for everyone. It’s not for just a select few, it’s for all of us, but you have to be willing to change in order to receive it.

What are your daily habits? Are you willing to change those habits? What is your WHY? Are you willing to take what life throws at you, shrug it off, and keep moving forward? Do you want to make money online or watch other people make money online? Don’t stand on the sidelines, put on the pads, buckle up your chinstrap, and get in the game. You are a winner, now go win.

Do you make good choices? I would love to hear your comments on habits that have made you successful. What are some habits that might be holding you back? If you like this post, click the little star below.

I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

InspireChief2 Comments