1. Video clip I liked this week…
I believe I had seen this before, as I don’t think it’s new, but I thought it was worthy of sharing. The clip I saw on Twitter was titled “Work smarter, not harder.” Since YouTube videos are easier for me to share, I found the same clip there, so that is the one I’m posting. In regards to working smarter, not harder, that is something I try to think about often when pursuing tasks. Blood, sweat, and tears are often helpful, but what if I could get the same results, or even better ones, by working smarter instead of harder??? Hmmmm. Here is that clip…
2. Mistake I made…
I typically do not watch the news or read a lot of news-related articles. Well… over the past two weeks, I got sucked into the news and the election. What a waste of time and emotion. I was reminded why I stay away from the news. And I realized more than ever before how the media impacts my state. Not worth it! There are two big reasons I will never let that happen again. First, the news is not news. Stories get spun to support agendas, thus leaving you without factual, meaningful, useful data or information. Second, my getting that so-called news had no impact on my subsequent actions or decisions regardless of the emotions that it provoked. Think about it… all that time and energy you sunk into focusing on the presidential race did not change who you voted for, nor did it affect the outcome in any way. All it did was yank your emotions up and down and cause frustration… thus negatively impacting your day and your life. Oops! I’m back on track avoiding most news articles and all news shows.
3. Something I reminded myself about this week…
As I have found myself getting emotionally sucked into the woes of the world, I went back and pulled out notes from Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. (Click here for the Amazon link to this book.) Frankl was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, where he watched his whole family get killed and narrowly escaped death himself. He wrote this book in only nine days after being liberated. I have reflected on his main point ever since reading the book in college… Between a stimulus and a response is a small gap. In that gap is our ability to choose. One of his great quotes… “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” I reminded my kids (after reminding myself) that regardless of what is going on in this world (or this election) (or this pandemic), we have the ability to choose our response. We can be angry, fearful, or outright paralyzed… or… we can continue pursuing our goals, be successful, be kind, and keep our eyes on the bigness of our purpose. If Viktor Frankl could do what he did after going through what he went through, I know we can too. So, whatever your thoughts are regarding the division in our country, the pandemic, this election, etc., remember that your response to these things will determine your success or failure and your happiness or despair.
