Mikes Blog

Come to life
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Come to life today. Live your life right now.

The tide will rise, the tide will fall. Fortune smiles on you a while, then turns away for a time.

Through it all, live your life. Set your intentions and follow through on them.

Life and love, richness, wonder and beauty are all meant specifically for you. Step beyond the fear, rise above the doubt as you journey through the magical experience of being you.

Feel the energy that is your life and let it flow throughout your world. Now is when you get to be the best you’ve ever been.

You’ve waited and wondered and worried long enough. Come all the way to life today and find delight in what you can know and do and see and be.

— Ralph Marston

Change your mind
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You are allowed to change your mind. When you learn something new, when you experience something different, you can alter your opinion accordingly.

You can change your mind and still be you. That’s true even if you’re heavily invested in a particular perspective.

There’s much value when you can be steadfast in your thinking. But there’s no value in being stubborn when quality, credible evidence contradicts your thinking.

When any opinion ceases to have a solid basis in fact, doubling down on it is not an effective response. Instead, open yourself to other possibilities, to informed and tested perspectives.

An important part of being right is admitting when you’re wrong. Anyone who refuses to do so cannot maintain credibility.

Give yourself a powerful, yet adaptable grip on reality. Be resolute in your perspective while at the same time willing to change your mind.

— Ralph Marston

Choose well
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What are you choosing right now? What will it add to or take away from your life?

The circumstances of your world do not just appear out of thin air. Many of them come from intentional or habitual choices, and a large portion of those choices are yours.

Some choices provide quick, trivial, pleasurable benefits at the expense of significant costs that come later. The problem with those choices is that later does eventually come.

Other choices impose burdens on you initially. Yet as you continue to willingly shoulder the burdens, those choices result in great, enduring value.

Any given moment offers countless options, with each one leading to even more options. Your ability to choose among those options provides immense opportunity.

Take that opportunity seriously, thoughtfully, and choose well. The quality of your life depends on your choices.

— Ralph Marston

Do the hard stuff
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Seek out what’s difficult, do what’s difficult, what challenges you. Learn to do more than what you’re already able to do.

You won’t get it perfect the first time. You may not even get it done at all on the initial attempt.

But the point is not to waltz through the task with no effort or trouble. The point is to build your knowledge and hone your skills.

Let yourself be humbled by the challenge and the complexity of a worthwhile pursuit. Be inspired by the opportunity for excellence that exists within life’s difficulties.

Discover again and again the value you can create by embracing and mastering those difficulties. Feel the irreplaceable satisfaction of acquiring, applying, and deepening your skills.

Do the hard stuff, the complicated stuff, the stuff that demands the best from you. A life of excellence is well worth the effort.

— Ralph Marston