Mikes Blog

It comes back
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You gain more by giving than you do by demanding. Whatever you need or want or otherwise seek, find ways to offer.

If you wish to learn, a powerful way is to teach. To be better understood, do the work and spend the time to understand.

Life, and the people who live it, reflect your attitude back to you, often with remarkable fidelity. Those around you regularly pick up on and mimic your priorities, your actions and expressions.

You can’t compel anyone to treat you better. Yet you can choose precisely how you interact with everyone else, and that has a big impact.

You have much more power than you may realize. That power is best exercised not through complaints and demands, but with the contributions you make and the genuine favors you offer.

Listen patiently, care sincerely, engage respectfully, speak and act honestly. Because one way or another, it comes back to you.

— Ralph Marston

Forego something easy
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Want to help yourself grow stronger, more purposeful, more capable? Choose to forego something easy each day.

Easy activities entice you into wasting time, losing focus, and setting aside purpose. They lull you into carelessness and complacency.

Those are not ideal states in which to experience and fulfill the potential of your life. You deserve more richness and depth than what is found in the easiest choices.

Just because an easy option is available doesn’t automatically make it the best option. That’s especially true when you extend your consideration beyond the fleeting moment and into the whole of your life.

Certainly it’s foolish to impose unnecessary burdens on yourself. Yet it’s also shortsighted when you deny yourself the opportunity for challenging, meaningful and satisfying effort.

What is easy, what is empty, cannot fill you with value, no matter how much of it you get. Look for opportunities to replace it with experiences and activities that are not so easy, yet much more enriching.

— Ralph Marston

The long haul
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Quick progress is possible but it’s usually not sustainable. Real improvement comes when you’re in it for the long haul.

Every action takes place in the short term, in the moment. Be prepared to take those immediate actions and to keep doing so well into the future.

If a problem can be resolved quickly, that’s great. But if immediate gratification is your default expectation, you’ll be disappointed more often than not.

Instead, embrace opportunities to make investments in your life that are ongoing, consistent, disciplined. Not only do such investments bring valuable results, they also build in you powerful character and resilience.

Putting forth a spectacular effort today is outstanding. But don’t deceive yourself into thinking it will spare you from doing work tomorrow.

Those aspects of life that bring meaning and fulfillment, you’re in for the long haul. Continue to discover for yourself what a good thing that can be.

— Ralph Marston

Here and now
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Here and now you can forgive, laugh, appreciate, enjoy. Life’s goodness is really not so distant or difficult.

From pain to healing, it’s not that far. From conflict to cooperation, you can jump in an instant.

Stop caring so much about proving you were right. What makes life worth living is who you can be, the love you can give.

Here and now is one little slice of time for you to fill with simple goodness. Offer a small kindness, a bit of understanding, a little effort that adds to life’s beauty.

Encourage and you’ll find encouragement. Act in the direction of your highest hopes and bring them steadily into reality.

There’s always space for improvement, and your beneficial actions can fill that space. Here and now, add to the value and meaning of life.

— Ralph Marston