Don't Play The All or Nothing Game

Written by Michael D. Pollock


A few nights ago, while surfingrepparttar late-night television offerings, I found myself entranced by a rather astute looking, young man giving all he had as he delivered an incredibly passionate speech. The topic of his speech was civil rights, and it was being televised by C-SPAN.

Inrepparttar 101884 bottom, right-hand corner ofrepparttar 101885 television,repparttar 101886 name ofrepparttar 101887 speaker was displayed as "Jesse Jackson, Jr., Rep. Illinois." I quickly realized I was listening torepparttar 101888 36 year-old son of civil rights activist, Reverend Jesse Jackson. It caught my attention because I didn't even know Rev. Jackson had a son, let alone that his son was a U.S. Congressman forrepparttar 101889 state of Illinois.

The young Congressman Jackson spoke eloquently, authoritatively and passionately. Withrepparttar 101890 television camera focused only on him, I couldn't see his audience, but I imagined him to be speaking to hundreds or maybe thousands of people.

He spoke without notes, and his words flowed smoothly. His thoughts were clear, concise and respectful. He confidently addressed questions fromrepparttar 101891 press as passionately as he delivered his speech.

As Congressman Jackson completed his remarks, andrepparttar 101892 host thanked him for his time,repparttar 101893 C-SPAN camera began to "pan out" and take in a wider view ofrepparttar 101894 room in which Mr. Jackson gave his speech.

Within seconds,repparttar 101895 camera showedrepparttar 101896 entire room. As it turned out,repparttar 101897 audience I imagined to number inrepparttar 101898 hundreds or thousands was actually about 4 people, as well as about a half dozen members ofrepparttar 101899 press.

A total of only 10 people sat before Congressman Jackson as he passionately poured out his heart and soul to them!

At first, I was amazed that Congressman Jackson could get himself so "inrepparttar 101900 zone" for such a small audience. It made me think how discouraged I might feel if I were to give a speech and only 10 people showed up to hear me.

Then it hit me . . .

I was guilty . . .

Caught red-handed . . .

I caught myself playingrepparttar 101901 "all or nothing" game. Maybe you know this game. It's when I tell myself there are only certain times I can put myself "out there" completely, passionately and authentically.

Usually, it's only whenrepparttar 101902 stakes are high andrepparttar 101903 game is big. Or I can only be totally who I am in certain situations or with certain people. I'm a master atrepparttar 101904 game. I know exactly where, when and with whom I can totally be who I really am and speak my truth withrepparttar 101905 same passion, authority and eloquence as did Congressman Jackson.

You Can't Predict, You Can Prepare

Written by Kathy Gates


When opportunity knocks, can you openrepparttar door? When misfortune strikes, can you make it through unscathed?

When you are faced with risk, uncertainty, and repparttar 101883 unpredictable, your ability to deal with it is directly tied to your ability to absorbrepparttar 101884 consequences. Successful people know that in order to be "choosey" in life, in order to put themselves in a place of control over their lives, in order to make decisions on what they want instead of what they have to do, they must first have reserves. They know they cannot predict repparttar 101885 future, but they can prepare for it.

Reserves means: extra, a stockpile to draw on, more than you need, insurance, back-up plan, escape plan, Plan B, safety net. Call them whatever you want to - what it means is "It's not a problem".

Reserves exist in bothrepparttar 101886 practical andrepparttar 101887 emotional levels of our lives, and consist of both material and nonmaterial things. You must have not only material things like money, furniture, house, cars, computers, or clothes. You must also have love, leisure, support, space, time, happiness, and opportunity. The emotional reserves in your life are every bit as important as repparttar 101888 physical ones.

With reserves in place, you are able to live your life looking forward instead of always digging yourself out of a hole. With reserves you remove repparttar 101889 fear of acting on what you want, because you are able to affordrepparttar 101890 consequences. With reserves, you have enough support to make a mistake, you have enough money to get you through, you have time to work it out, you have enough self-love to learn instead of quit.

Withoutrepparttar 101891 reserves, stress and fear are your motivators. Think of it on a small scale: Ever been caught with a dying printer cartridge? You have to make a special trip, usually at an inopportune time. With a reserve you have a back-up, stocked at your convenience, not when dictated byrepparttar 101892 circumstance.

Think of it on a larger scale: Ever get hit with some unpredicted expenses? Without a reserve of money, you have to choose what bills to pay, and what becomes a backlog. Without a reserve of money, you become motivated to go to a job you hate byrepparttar 101893 fear of not having that paycheck each week. Without a reserve of energy, stress, adrenaline, and possibly even caffeine, drugs, or alcohol arerepparttar 101894 motivators to get you out of bed each morning.

Reserves takerepparttar 101895 fear out of making a mistake. Reserves takerepparttar 101896 pressure away. Without reserves you can't make mistakes or misjudgments -repparttar 101897 consequences are too high. You end up walking on eggshells. Without reserves you can't take advantage of short term opportunities - you simply don't haverepparttar 101898 resources to spare.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use