Looking Ahead By Looking Back

POINT TO PONDER 

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."

                                                -T.S. Eliot

 

Friday Reflections 2014: Year in Review: 

 

Into the New (January 2, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/01/into-the-new.html

2014 is upon us and it is entirely in our power to make our journey what we truly desire. There is a reason that the rear view mirror is small. Our focus should be on the expansive possibilities in front of us. This year, this day, this moment is ours to make what we want out of it, if you can keep your eyes on the road ahead.

 

The Reflecting Back: The Ricky Williams Story (January 9, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/01/the-back-.html

Ricky Williams walked away from the very things we value. We have been conditioned to believe the solution to our problems is found in the external: money, power, job security, and fame. We think that if we can get to next level, to the next big paycheck, then perhaps then, things will get better. I think Ricky Williams was polarizing because he had all of those things, but for him; it wasn't enough. And if it wasn't enough for him, a man who seemed to have it all, then what did that mean for the rest of us?

 

40 Years Ago: First Encounters In the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave (January 23, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/01/40-years-ago.html 

“We are very hungry, what food do you have?” The guy said “Only thing I got left is a hot dog.” Coming from strict vegetarian families we were in total shock. “Hot Dog?” We had heard that in America, they ate cows. But Dogs? Yuck. We turned around and left. 

 

A Matter of Perspective (February 13, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/02/a-matter-of-perspective.html

Lizzie Velasquez reminds me that whatever challenges we face, it is up to us to decide what we choose to focus on and who we want to be. Because Lizzie proves that there is always a silver lining on the horizon, if we are courageous enough to look for it. 

  

The Ultimate Fighter (February 20, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/02/the-ultimate-fighter.html

When I look back on this experience I come away with five important things:

1. You focus on what you can do, not what you can't. 

2. You work hard even if you might not be feeling up to it.

3. There is a clear difference between theory and practice. Theory means nothing unless you get up, make mistakes, and work through them. You learn best by doing. 

4. Repitition leads to flow states. By doing something over and over, you stop thinking about it, and it becomes second nature. 

5. You can always learn from others, no matter what is the assumed "experience level.”

  

Warren Buffett's Magnificent Seven (February 27, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/02/warren-buffetts-magnificent-seven-.html

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.

 

Road Not Taken (March 6, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/03/road-not-taken.html 

"If you don’t know where you going, any road will take you there.”

  

Get Rejected! (March 13, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/03/get-rejected-1.html

So what is the secret of success? Failure. Don't believe me? Check out some of these photos of rejection letters that have been circulating around the internet recently. 

 

SILENT LEADERS (March 20, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/03/silent-leaders.html 

...real leaders don't just provide answers, they prepare you to find them for yourself when they are no longer around. 

 

Oh Bull! (April 3, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/04/oh-bull-.html

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

  

The Young and the Restless (April 17, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/04/the-young-and-the-restless.html

New employees come with good credentials, enthusiasm, ambition, high hopes and many with a lot of passion. The challenge is how to keep up those qualities once they get melded in/sucked in to the organization’s systems for a few years.

 

Age: Mind Over Matter? If You Don't Mind, It Does Not Matter." (May 15, 2014) 

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/05/age-mind-over-matter.html

"Ask yourself three questions. First, what comes easy to me but harder to others? The second question is, what would you do for work for years and years and never have to get paid for it? And the third question is, how can you be of service and how can you give back?” 

 

A man with one watch knows what time it is; A man with two watches is never quite sure. (July 3, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/07/a-man-with-one-watch-knows-what-time-it-is-a-man-with-two-watches-is-never-quite-sure.html 

This is what happens with giving an overdose of training to the new hires and delivering massive training blasts to all employees. The office shelves get full with training binders, checklists for “training completed” are in compliance ... but in most cases what was taught is not ever put into practice.

 

Just Give Me The Facts (August 2, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/08/just-give-me-the-facts-.html 

Can a fact ever be divorced from the interpretation of that fact? Or does the truth always lie somewhere in between, where each person's truth is different from the other? Perhaps, it is not the truth that matters but how we use it to get what we individually need? 

 

Robin Williams (07/21/1951 - 08/11/2014) (August 14, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/08/robin-williams.html 

"Risking is just for me, it's always been kind of the thing like, just trying different things. That's what the drill is... But why do I risk it? Cause the gains are pretty great when you do take a chance and you find something new - when you do find a new area…" 

R.I.P. Robin McLaurin Williams. We will miss you. 

  

What Are You Thinking? (August 28, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/08/what-are-you-thinking.html 

"If everyone is thinking alike, then nobody is thinking.”

  

*Play For the Name On the Front, Not the Name On the Back. (November 6, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/11/play-for-the-name-on-the-front-not-the-name-on-the-back1.html

25 Guys.

1 Common Goal.

Win Today.

 "...tonight I was proud to be together as a team, in a hostile environment, with just us...brothers that play for the name on the front, not the name on the back.”  -Hunter Pence

 

The Other Side of Practicality (November 13, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/11/the-other-side-of-practicality.html

"So many of us chose our path out of fear disguised as practicality."

 

Brooks Was Here (November 20, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/11/brooks-was-here.html

Often we run, hide, and self destruct in the face of change. This scene has always been profoundly sad to me because I never would have thought that prison would be a place that anyone would want to go. But for Brooks, it seems prison is the only place he wants to be because Brooks' prison isn't a place, it's the inability for him to hope and to change. His prison was in his mind. 

It makes me think of the things in our lives that are prisons and the reasons we stay within them. When we chose not to change, our inability to adapt can lead to stagnation. Stagnation means no movement. And no movement is akin to death.

We must keep moving. And changing. And growing. We must fight the prisons we set for ourselves in our mind. 

 

The Second Act (December 4, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/12/the-second-act.html

I'm happier now, and not because of any "things" I've acquired or any "achievements" that have come my way, but for one simple fact: I'm not trying to "become" anything anymore. I'm happy with who I am, what I am, and where life is taking me. It's not perfect but I now realize that the better version of myself doesn't exist in any dreams, or in the promises of tomorrow. It lives in the here and now. And that’s the only time of which we really have any control. 

 

A Blockbuster Blunder (December 11, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/12/blockbusterblunder.html

"The highest form of ignorance is rejecting what you don't know.” 

 

It's a Wonderful Life* (December 18, 2014)

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2014/12/its-a-wonderful-life2.html

...the truth of one’s own life isn’t in the taking, in the acquisition of more and more things, but of the giving of oneself to others.

  

REFLECTION

Here's to a magnificient 2015! 

Comments

[Curious friiend in China]

Another year past accompanied by the wisdom of the Friday Reflections. Looking back on the themes, so rich and meaningful for life and work.
I’m so appreciative of being one of the audience benefited from reading, and thinking of having it in Webchat might benefit even more people, and maybe translating into local languages…
thoughts?