"I Forgot" -vs- " I Chose Not To"

Accepting responsibility for our behavior is not always easy.  Making excuses when someone brings something out our attention that we did wrong is easy.

I have finally achieved success in trying to teach my 7-Year-Old Daughter the critical difference between accepting ownership when we do something wrong or even in a less-than-ideal manner.

She used to say "I Forgot" automatically and passionately whenever I would have to discipline her for not doing something properly.  This to me implied that she was not accepting responsibility for her actions and not making a mental note to improve or avoid making the same mistake going forward.  Which is exactly what kept happening, consistently, and to my dismay and frustration.

After Months of my pleading and educating her on the critically important difference between saying in a flippant manner "I Forgot" and, as a healthier and more beneficial manner, saying "I Chose Not To," she finally understands the difference.  She know properly responds "I Chose Not To."

The former ("I Forgot" to clean my room; to bring the dishes to the Kitchen; to put my toys away; etc.) conveys a quick excuse with no responsibility assumed or commitment made to improving in the future.

The ladder ("I Chose Not To") conveys her realization that she needs to accept complete ownership of her actions and that she has the ability to focus on certain matters as needed to improve and avoid making the same mistake twice.

Life Lesson For Us All: Always accept responsibility for our actions and the outcomes we achieve.  Excused get us nowhere and actually hurt us be not allowing us to improve, consistently, and as needed to work toward the goal of being the best we can be in life.

Making mistakes is human; not accepting responsibility and making recurring mistakes is unnecessary, hurts us in life and our pursuit of career goals, and is a detriment to our Growth and Personal Improvement.

Never Give Up

Never Give Up

April 16th, 2012

Not When the Goal and Mission is still important to you.

Not When you know that - deep inside your heart and soul where nobody can see - that once you cross that finish line (despite all odds, despite the nay-sayers, despite your personal challenges, despite your known and acknowledged weaknesses, despite the cynics who freely shared their opinion that you could not do it, despite the fact that so many who have gone before you have failed, despite the fact that you were slowed down and nearly stopped numerous times by unanticipated difficult obstacles that arose and tried to prevent your progressing) you will feel exhilarated, proud, renewed, accomplished, and stronger because you Achieved Your Stated Goal!

Giving Up is Easy.

Staying On Task is Hard.

Throwing in the Towel might be what most people have done and would do in your situation and considering what you are facing.......

     But, the question is, what are you going to do?

Revisit Your Original Thought Process when you made the personal decision to pursue this particular Goal. 

Is the reasoning still sound?  Do the factors that prompted you in the first place still exist?  Do you remember all of the benefits that you anticipated when you first embarked on this path to be achieved when you successfully achieved the Goal?  Consider the Costs and Sacrifices; did you anticipate correctly?  Do the forecasted Benefits still outweigh the forecasted Costs and Sacrifices? 

 

The Greater the Benefits to be Achieved the Greater the Sacrifice and Cost Required!

 

The harder you have to work to get there the greater the feeling of achievement once your Goal is Achieved!

 

A Renewed Commitment will be required numerous times on the way.

 

Consider.....

 

How Close are you?

How Much have you sacrificed?

How Much have you learned along the way?

How Much more will you learn if you persevere?

 

How Badly do you want it?

 

How do you think you Will Feel when you overcome all obstacles in your path to Achieve Your Goal?

How do you think your Family, your Friends, and all others you care about Will Feel when you overcome all obstacles in your path to Achieve Your Goal?

 

After honestly pondering these considerations......how do you feel and what are you thinking?

 

You know what you have to do.  You know where you want to go.  You know that deep inside you have the emotional reserves, the energy, the commitment, the drive, the desire; you know you have

what it takes.

 

Life is Short; Time is Flying By and Finite; You Have Set A Very Important and High-Priority Personal Goal that has not yet been achieved.

 

Now what are you going to do next? 

 

Never Give Up...Persevere & Recommit

Never Give Up...Be Creative and Find a Way

Never Give Up...Reach Out Openly To Trusted Mentors For Help

Never Give Up...Improve Your Planning & Execution

Never Give Up...Work Harder; and Work Smarter - Strive For Efficiency

Never Give Up...and Focus More On Helping Others Achieve Success & Happiness - doing so will result in greater and increasing success for you; we have to give more to get more!

 

See You At The Finish Line.

 



Curiosity & Age

Are we, once we slip out of Childhood, supposed to stop being curious? 

My Four-Year-Old, who will stealthily transition to becoming a Five-Year-Old in less than an month, is increasingly curious about all things.  Nothing and no question is out of bounds.  His creativity and imagination are sources of priceless questions: some I can easily answer; some I cannot answer; but all of them are welcome.

I tell my Son: keep the questions coming Buddy; this is how we learn.  If you keep asking questions, whenever curiosity kicks in and you want to learn more about any subject, concept, process, etc., before you know it you will have great knowledge. 

Then, I think to myself, if he, any child, or even us, would not hesitate to ask questions, or conduct immediate research and inquiry to close any knowledge gap that comes to our attention, we would in no time have great knowledge.  If we would all continue this worthy goal and process throughout our lives we would never stop learning.  We would never get bored.  We would continue to grow - and I think that's what life is all about - throughout our lives.  Middle-Age is not an excuse to stop asking questions and learning; and retirement is not an excuse to stop asking questions and learning.

My Father is 84-Years-Old.  He espouses this philosophy.  He always has numerous books at his bedside for periodic reading on diverse subjects such as Calculus, History, Philosophy, etc.  Last year he mentioned to me the possibility of and his desire to get a Part-Time Job.  Age is no excuse.  In fact, my Father conveys that all of his friends who retired extremely young and who both did not work, volunteer, or have a passionate hobby to sink their teeth into, all died young.  The mind when not challenged and stretched will give in to atrophy; then rapid aging; towards a slow death.  The mind when kept curious, seeking knowledge, challenged by new ideas and concepts, continues to grow and stays sharp.

Recently my Son has out of nowhere offered the following inquiries:

• Who created God?
• What are trees made of?
• How does the lightening cause the power to go out?
• What does an engine do?  How does it do it?

I always tell my Son keep asking questions; if I don't know the answer (quite common!!) we will research together to find us the answer.

The Joys of Parenthood.

Curiosity is a good thing.  I hope my Son is still seeking answers to great questions when he turns 100.