Stand your ground

How well do you stand your ground?

How well do you handle your emotions then?

How does it feel when you are successful?

What stops you from doing this more?

Who keeps challenging your boundaries?

Standing your ground is a good exercise.

Yet, sometimes we need to choose our battles.

We will get challenged constantly, and more by some.

Standing your ground successfully needs calm nerves.

Standing your ground needs confidence.

Standing your ground needs good self-worth.

Obvious Reasons

How often do you go with the obvious reason?

How often has the obvious failed you?

How complex are most topics?

Have you considered all the factors?

The obvious reason works for simple issues.

Complex problems do not have obvious answers.

Yet, we try to apply simple reasoning to complex questions.

Mixing complexity and simplicity rarely works.

Be sure to have analysed the structure,

then decide if you can go with the obvious.

Freeloaders

Where are the freeloaders?

Who are you dragging along?

Who does not take responsibility?

Who comes only when they have something to gain?

Most of us have a freeloader in our lives.

They always have a good reason,

not to take responsibility,

not to carry part of a burden,

to need help all the time.

Why do you tolerate them?

When is it time to move on?

Belonging Pressure

Where do you belong?

How important is belonging to you?

What have you done due to this need?

What consequences did these have?

Humans have a natural pressure to belong.

Most want to be part of a group.

We will do things to be accepted.

Often, these will come to bite us.

Belonging comes naturally with the right group.

Don’t twist yourself, look for the right people.

Processing Grief

How well can you grief?

How much do you hold in?

For how long do you hold it in?

How does it feel to release grief?

Some of us can process grief quickly.

Others, hold it in for years.

Some till the day they depart.

Bottled up grief harms us.

Is this in the interest of what/who you grieve for?

Retribution vs Progress

How important is retribution to you?

How important is progress for you?

Which one is more important?

What have you gotten out of retribution?

How does progress feel?

We are often faced with a choice:

Receiving retribution owed to us,

or progressing in life.

We can rarely right a wrong,

while we solve the problems caused.

Justice and retribution are overrated.

Life's End Preparation

How well have you prepared for your death?

What documents do you have in place?

What is important to you?

Who is important to you?

You can decide not to care and leave in chaos.

Or you can decide to leave order behind.

If the things you created are important to you,

and likewise the people in your life,

then there is only one right answer.

Being Proud

How often are you proud of yourself?

How often are you proud of others?

What makes you proud?

How often is it a matter of character?

Being proud is important.

Of yourself and even more of others.

Pride is the antidote to envy.

Being honorable, trying your best, and getting good results,

all of these are worthy recipients of pride.

Expectation Management

How much do you expect?

How often are your expectations met?

How does this ratio make you feel?

How much do you expect of yourself?

How much do you expect of others?

Managing our expectations is critical.

If we expect too much, we are constantly disappointed.

If we expect too little, everyone around us underperforms.

If we expect nothing, life takes its own path.

Expect maximum effort.

Expert minimal results.

That is a winning compromise.

Shedding the Past

What from the past haunts you?

How do you deal with it?

How important is justice?

How important is letting go?

Often, things from the past haunt us.

Decisions, contracts, people, a version of yourself.

Shedding the past is liberating.

To develop, we need to shed regularly.

Like a snake that grows, it needs to shed their skin.

Feeling Welcome

How welcome do you feel?

How welcome are you?

What is the difference between them?

Why is there a difference?

Often, we do not feel welcome.

Sometimes what we feel is correct.

Sometimes it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Not feeling welcome can be insecurity.

It can be a disappointment of expectations.

Or we simply are not welcome.

Hello Stranger

How often do you approach a stranger?

What makes you do it?

When do you shy away from it?

How does it go when you say hello?

We meet strangers daily.

Each is an opportunity for a moment.

A moment of joy and connection.

Or a moment of rejection.

So, we ask ourselves if it is worth it.

Or if we would rather stay with ourselves.

What and How We Carry

What do you have to carry?

How much of it did you choose?

How do you carry your burdens?

How much control do you have over the how?

Often, we have to carry things not of our choosing.

However, we can decide how we wish to carry them.

It is your choice if you are sorry for yourself.

It is your choice whether you get angry at the world.

It is your choice how much attention you invest.

It is up to you to do your best.

The Root Problem

How many problems do you have?

Which problems do you have?

Why do you have them?

How many root problems are there?

We may have many problems.

Yet, deeper, there are only a few root problems.

Often, one root is the cause of a dozen problems.

It is paramount to take time and identify these roots.

One root solved is worth hundreds of hours.

You will be surprised by how few root issues you have.

Stonewall vs Meltdown

How often do you get stonewalled?

How does this make you feel?

Why is the other person stonewalling you?

Or are they having a meltdown instead?

People’s behaviour often seems a certain way.

Yet, in truth, what seems may be mistaken.

Intent and action are often not aligned.

Panic on the inside can seem toxic on the outside.

But also toxic on the inside, can seem sweet outside.

Before you judge in finality, ask the other party.

Details are the Devil

How much attention do you pay to details?

What happens when you do not?

How often do they trip you up?

How often are they used against you purposefully?

The devil lies in the details.

Often, details are used against us.

If we do not pay attention, they will trip us up.

If you are weak in the details, find someone who is strong.

Use details to your own advantage wherever you can.

Details can be your guardian angels, just as they are the devil.

The Beauty of Nature

How much do you appreciate nature?

How beautiful do you rate it?

How often do you enjoy the beauty of nature?

How do you feel when you do?

Most of us walk through life obliviously.

Oblivious to what is around us and its beauty.

Nature, when enjoyed, is wonderful.

Yet, society sees no productivity in it.

Still, the level of relaxation is second to none.

Will this not fuel greater productivity thereafter?

Short-term Loss for Long-term Gain

How do you balance opportunities?

What do you focus on more?

Short-term gain or long-term gain?

How much short-term loss is worth a long-term gain?

Often, we need to take a short-term loss,

so that we can produce long-term gains.

Yet the immediate loss is painful.

But the long-term pain is ever more so.

We often lack the capacity to imagine future gain.

Thus, we overly focus on the short-term pain.

Cut the losses and focus on the future.

Waiting

How often do you need to wait?

How do you react to waiting?

How productive can you be while waiting?

What happens while you wait?

Waiting is part of life.

Some of us cannot focus while we wait.

Others are unfazed by waiting.

Some of us enjoy waiting.

Others lack patience.

Learn to be productive.

Learn to enjoy it.

We are powerless inface of waiting.

Disruptions

How often do you face disruptions?

How much do they disturb you?

How do you react to them?

What could you do better?

Disruptions are part of life.

Often, we are powerless in the face of them.

We need to go with the flow.

And control our inner self.

Whatever happens happens.

Deal with it one step at a time.