“We do not remember days; we remember moments.”
~Cesare Pavese~

Happy Friday Folks!!!

Many people go through life doing everything they can to have great days, weeks, months, years etc. This is obviously real important but sometime very illusive if we don’t focus on a different unit of time.

Well what unit of time is best to focus on? We must focus on the MOMENT. If we do everything we can to have as many great moments as we can then the aggregate of all those moments is going to be a great life.

When we think back on our fondest memories we typically don’t remember the whole day. We remember those Magic Moments that were so emotionally charged that our brains took a snap shot to hold onto them. We each want more of those and need to be deliberate about making it happen.

Remember to include others in your Magic Moments as much as you can. Not only will these moments improve your life but you will improve your relationships and the lives of those around you as well.

So what Magic Moments can you go out and create today? This weekend and then beyond?

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.”
~Calvin Coolidge~

Trying to do everything at once often leads to the type of overwhelm that causes people to do nothing instead of doing what they can in any given situation. This quote strikes a cord with me because it is something I struggle with at times. I sometime feel like there is so much to do that I can fall into the trap of not doing the most important thing that is right in front of me.

One of the most practical examples I have ever heard as to how to handle this issue is based in the following question. How do you eat an elephant? The answer is simply one bite at a time! Not that any of us will ever be eating an elephant but I am sure you get the point. This is the same way we must deal with everything on our agenda for life.

What project do you have to accomplish that you have been holding back on because it seems so big and so difficult and so overwhelming that it is easier to just avoid? What one step if taken today could get this project started; not finished but just started? Take that one step and then another tomorrow and then one more the day after. Sooner rather than later you will have developed momentum which is exactly what it takes to move through paralysis and onto completion!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“A wishbone without a backbone is nothing at all.”
~George Zalucki~

We all have lots of desires in life; many, many things we are hoping and wishing for. The important question that comes along with this is what exactly are we doing about them? Without the will, the strength or as Mr. Zalucki put it, the backbone to go after our wishes they will be little more than fairy tales.

Today is Wednesday and we have reached the midway point of this week. Are you on pace to create the results you set out to? We must each move beyond a simple wish and onto the actions that will create the outcomes that matter most to us! You can do it put your back in to it (in my best Ice Cube voice…lol)!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“I am old enough to know that victory is often a thing deferred, and rarely at the summit of courage…What is at the summit of courage is freedom. The freedom that comes with the knowledge that no earthly thing can break you.”
~Paula Giddings~

Happy Monday Morning and Welcome to August Arise Ventures Fam!!! It’s the start of a brand new month, a brand new week but most importantly a brand new day!!! Ready to make the most of the opportunity that each one presents?

We are two/thirds of the way through 2011. Can you believe how quickly this year is going? Whether we realize it or not each of us has plenty of victories this year along with some others that have eluded us. Where do we go from here? The only right way is forward. Forward with a winning attitude that says that I will make my innermost desires reality. I will do this today, tomorrow and beyond! 2011 is my year and I’m going to live it moving in the direction of my highest potential. I will not be stopped!!!

Just because you haven’t won in any given area of your life does not mean that victory is beyond your grasp. It just means there’s some more work to do. Each and every one of us is a work in progress. I don’t know anyone who has arrived at their highest potential and has no where else to go. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t run into struggle and difficulty on a day to day basis and that don’t have anything left to overcome. I do know people who are constantly raising the bar in life and who are committed to constant and never ending improvement. Still I know others who allow even the smallest difficulties in their lives to break their spirits and keep them trapped in a world of I can’t, I don’t know how, nobody will help me etc. Which life do you want to live?

Today I choose to walk with the heart of a Lion! I will decide now what victories are in store for me today, this week, this month and the rest of this year! I will make these decisions with the understanding that no earthly thing can break me unless of course I allow it. Why would I do that? The answer is I won’t and I don’t believe any of you will either. Lets walk together and make this week amazing! Lets make this month memorable! Lets make the final 3rd of this year magical. The good life is our birthright if only we are willing to go about the business of taking it! Lets do it!!!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.”
~Steven D. Woodhull~

Happy Friday Folks! Ready for a great weekend? Well lets get through a great Friday first!

What is life all about if not our choices? Where we are today is a direct result of the choices we’ve made in life up to this point. Where we find ourselves tomorrow will be a direct result of how we choose to live today. So what things can you focus on today to ensure yourself a better tomorrow?

Thinking of the choice referenced in Mr. Woodhull’s quote, how do you get up in the morning. Do you get up dragging and feeling pessimism about the day to come or do you jump up excited about the possibility that the new day brings? This simple choice can have a profound effect on your feelings as well as your effectiveness throughout the day. Starting on a positive note has a habit of helping you develop the momentum to infuse optimism and positive expectation throughout your day. Of course not doing so will have the opposite effect. It’s a simple choice that isn’t always easy to make. It’s the right choice nonetheless. Are you willing to make it?

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“Your goal should be out of reach but not out of sight.”
~Anita DeFrantz~

Happy Hump Day Ladies & Gents! Time for a Wonderful Wednesday! What goals will you work on today that will ensure forward progress in your life?

We each have some kind of goals that we are working towards. Small or large any goal worth having is a goal worth having a vision for. If you can’t see it in your mind it is unlikely you will be able to create it in your world. When it comes to your personal vision for achievement and advancement, seeing is believing and believing is where success begins!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“The winners in life think in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate on should have’s, would have’s, & cant’s.”
~Unknown~

How do you feel when you start talking about all the things you should do in life? What about when you think of what would have happened if you had just done something from your past differently? Even worse how do you feel when you consider something you want but have the feeling you can’t be, have or do it? I think we all go here sometimes and can relate to the fact that these thoughts and feelings don’t lead us anywhere near where we want to be. Good thing there is another way.

Winners feel different because winners think different. Winners walk around with a World Series Attitude and focus their attention on what its going to take to win. Can you imagine someone trying to win a game focused on the the thoughts that the other team is better and feeling like they can’t win? This doesn’t make sense in sports and it doesn’t make sense in life. The very next time and every time thereafter that you look in the mirror know that you are looking at a winner! Take the feeling that thought gives you and go out and do what winners do. WIN!!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach in Search of Excellence