Forever Grateful

Dearly beloved,

I turn to you on the end of the long count, as b'ak'tun is at 13.0.0.0.0 today. I was utterly surprised the media has not hyped the Mayan apocalypse more than it actually did, and neither do I want to hype it. I want to make use of that occurance to have you look back at your personal year 2012, close the circle, and have a look at yourself in the mirror. We could all live up to this day, we could all form and shape that year to our convenience as much as we had control over it...and I merely want to encourage you to do one thing: be grateful!

This year did have ups and downs, it was a rollercoaster in any possible way, but look at all the things you have, all the things you were able to achieve, all the good and bad things you were able to experience throughout 2012 that brought you to the here and now...and be grateful. Say 'thank you' to all the greatness you had in 2012, get that smile back on your face, let this deep feeling of insatiable satisfaction fill your heart. Among all the little things that didn’t work, look at the many things that did work. The job you have, the opportunity to go to school/college/university, the roof above your head, the fact that you live in a peaceful community, the friends you have that make you forget the bad times and make the good ones even better, be grateful for all that. This is not ordinary, this is not common, this is a gift, a grace, and an incomparable greatness...be grateful. Appreciate it, don’t be envious, obstinate, stop longing for what you once had, or what someone else has, look at your own riches, your own wealth in life...and be grateful; as mentioned above: let this deep feeling of insatiable satisfaction fill your heart, for it will help you to take this momentum of 2012 into the new year. Winston Churchill once said: "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference," let your attitude be a little thing that can and will make a big difference...make sure your attitude is right, pure, and true...and be grateful; please do yourself that favor...and be grateful!

Appendix:

2013 is knocking at your door, a new year, for many a new beginning, a new chance, a new opportunity...take 2012’s momentum into the new year and continue your path with your head held high. Add value, add virtues, add meaning to your life. You have set new goals? Work towards them, enable them, create opportunities, generate them; you want certain things to happen? Make sure they happen; it ain’t that hard, it ain’t that difficult: “Opportunity is [only] missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work“ (Thomas Edison). Get your attitude right and get back to work...but most of all: be grateful for being able to do so.

I wish you all blessed holidays; thank you for reading my blog and giving me feedback. I hope it could inspire some of you to make this year a special and ambitious one, I hope it could fuel you to fight for your dreams as I fight for mine; and it is a pleasure to share with you the inner process behind all the motivation I hold. Have a great start in 2013!

The Long Run

This year is slowly, but surely, coming to an end, 2012, wow, what a year!!! Thou cannot say that about your year? Why? Take another look around, what has 2012 given you, what has it done to you, what has it made you become? A friend told me about how messy and awful 2012 was for her, and I’m pretty damn sure she is not the only one to perceive it that way; but give it another shot, take another look around, take a minute for an in-depth retrospect, for a holistic review—open your eyes.

When I specialized on international economics there was one phrase, one concept I was always fascinated with: the long run—not in terms of an approach regarding capital markets or modern economies, but by the concept itself. The long run in our life. Is not 2012 a tiny part of our whole life? What is one year compared to 78.2 (life expectancy in the United States), in accordance to that 2012 is approximately 1.28% of our God-given time on planet earth. So don’t be discouraged, if 2012 was not as good as expected. If this year was not your year, see it as a tiny little piece to the puzzle, a tiny little part of the whole full-on beautiful picture(s) we call our lives.

Don’t see this year as a year itself, widen, spread, endow, enlarge your perspective; see it within the whole context, within your whole life, and furthermore try to embed it in 78 years of greatness, entrench it in 78 years you have been given to walk this planet, to live, to love, to breathe. Open your eyes for the long run, what has this year done for you, what’s it meant for you in the long run? Retrospect truely, retrospect wisely. Are you not at a far more advanced point of view than you were a year ago? Have thou not gained anything, have thou not gained a lot, actually? Are you not at a "different level of wisdom, different level of understanding?" (Ray Lewis) This year has brought you to a point you never saw coming, things happened you had no clue about a year ago. Even if not everything worked out according to plan, you can still consider yourself lucky for all the experiences you were able to make. And experiencing things you never expected, not a year ago, shall encourage you to keep driving, keep going on, keep making it through this world, progressing within your spirit, and not least your life.

See the whole picture, see things in the long run, maybe this was a transition period, a transition year; maybe you had to leave a height of your life and are still on a saddlepath to another higher height (to keep reference to economic terminology)...then of course you think this year may have been awful, weird, not promising, but if you see it in the long run, does that year not make sense? Let me tell you something: it will make sense. At some point, maybe in a month, a year, a decade you will look back at 2012 with a smile on your face saying "now I see, why 2012 was the way it was, now it makes sense in the whole context of my life"; see it like that, my beloved readers, and ride with it.

The English social reformer John Ruskin once said: "The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." If 2012 was toil, pain, blood, sweat, and tears—accept, respect, and acknowledge what it made you become: the wise and experienced person you now are!

...on being relentless!

Dear marvelous readers,

it is about time I return to writing my blog, to provide the final stages of the 2012 tonic, to enable you all to suck in, to inhale the final tailwinds of momentum…in order to bring this overwhelming year to a good end, to FINISH STRONG! I myself had to take a few days, weeks, and months off my writing, because this time between the last blog and this one was merely indispensable with regard to experience, to making use of the relentless drive I had been able to experience throughout the summer; for it has shown me what I really am capable of if there is a will…

Let me enlighten you:

Time had gotten rough, wild, crazy, unexpected, and at parts been definitely right at the edge of what a human being is able to handle. One thing, however, has stood by my side, regardless of whatever there was, one piece had been bunned up, tightened to me, and by now blossomed and progressed within me: H.E.A.R.T. – and is that not a great indicator of perseverance? Times get rough and you feel out of place, what is the best you can do? Withstand, proceed, drive; you've been knocked down? Get the hell back up and keep pushing, keep driving.

I am asked a lot, why I do certain things others don't and won't do, why I downgrade on sleep in order to get my daily deeds done, why I sacrifice a whole lot to enable opportunities, to make things happen…and there is only one answer: because I can and because I want to. Period! Do we have to justify and explain what others don’t understand?

Travis Lazarus McCoy sums it up in one inspiring statement: "Determination, perseverance, if you don't speak that language then we ain't try'n to hear it." These two concepts are a privilege, an honor, and something so beautiful it takes a person with great and grand heart to understand it. We have all heard "if there's a will, there's a way," but does that remain a sole and desolate statement, or does that become a mirror, a reflection of our heart, our momentum, our spirit? Let determination and perseverance become a part of you, let it evolve, let it grow within your heart. Why would you not give everything you have, even more, why would you not outgrow yourself for what you believe in, for your goals, for your dreams? Is it not worth it? Go out there and fight for your dreams, your goals, achieve what you always wanted to achieve, claim what is yours!!! Don't let people who have no clue about determination, dedication, perseverance, tell you different, who are they to tell you what you’re doing isn’t right; just because they don't have the heart to do it? If they understood a damn thing about momentum, motivation, and inspiration, wouldn’t they stop asking you why you do certain things, because they're engaged with fighting for their dreams? Be RELENTLESS…do your thing, keep driving; they ask you what difference it makes? Tell 'em you make a difference, you step up for what is yours, you make things happen, you make sure things happen, you get up, where others don't, you step up, where others bow down, you rise, where others fall…and you will be successful, where others fail.

When you have heart, you don't need to listen when others try to discourage you, just because they lack the heart to step up for their dreams. You got heart? Tell them: "I do my thing, and I ain't waiting on nobody; nothing is slowing me down. You can knock me down, but you can't keep me down. I will get back up, and I keep driving, I keep walking down my path; throw in more obstacles, throw in more challenges...test me, challenge me, for I will prevail, my heart will prevail!" Bring this year to a good end, finish strong, baby!

Let Dustin Lynch tell you: "There's a want, and there's a need." And where both come together, there is a relentless heart noone can shut down, the heart of a person one cannot stop, one cannot shut down, one cannot slow down. Where want and need meets, there is a relentless heart, there is a relentless person bleeding tenacity and sweating perseverance.

...there lies understanding of what being relentless really means: HEART!

TEMPVS FVGIT

Dearly beloved,

I am writing to you in the midst of my commotio cerebri aftermath, an incident in which I had to face a tremendous momentum shift, you all may laugh, I was undergoing what yet I tried to prevent everyone from having...and I am not going to lie, the foundation of my drive, my perseverance, my tenacity, the foundation of it all was shaken – and all of a sudden I reproached myself with what is written on old longcase clocks: tempus fugit!

How is time running out? Why am I on hold all of a sudden? Can there be a single incident to take it all away? Why can I preach and proclaim certain things, but have a hard time fulfilling them myself? There were unlimited, boundless questions bugging me for days that I even went through all of my older blogs in order to find answers. Time was running, tick, tock, my momentum has stopped, but the world kept spinning. Remember those time lapse infomercials I mentioned? The everyday rush did its duties, I saw the world passing by at supersonic speed, powerless, watching the world move with me standing still, watching the world move without me.

Sometimes we just feel like we cannot keep up; and sometimes a single incident can trigger us falling back in time, being powerless watching this world spinning and our lives being still. Time flees – et tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. Then we think we are wasting our time, or wasted our time in the past, for it is said that "lost time is never found again." But I can calm you down. Time flees, but yet we made it to a point in which we think about it. I hereby want to quote the motivational speaker Mr. Earl Nightingale, who said: "Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." Does that not feel like a gigantic relief? It is not too late, even though we are on hold, we still have time to get back on track, to get back to where we were. Time flees, and it flees wether we do something or not, so despite a momentum shift, or incidents slowing us down, we all should have the heart to continue, to carry on, to do our deeds regardless of whatever is stepping in our way. Soon enough is well enough. And let’s put it this way: if a single incident all of a sudden shakes the foundation of your motivation, or your perseverance, the heart you have been carrying for a long time, does that not mean that you are moving on a high level, that you carried your motivational drive for a long time? Does this momentum shift not show you, how fast you are moving with and in this world?

This is something you can only see once you stop – and let it not only show you how fast this world is spinning, realize how fast you are moving yourself in order to keep up with this rushing world. If you keep up with this world for a long time and have one single incident throw you out of bounds all of a sudden, ain’t it merely an indicator that you got what it takes to keep up with this world? Are other people not thrown out of bounds as well? But they struggle getting back on track, because they do not realize their drive and their ability and heart to keep up with this world. So my fellow readers, let a sudden stop not discourage you, let it fuel you, fuel you to get back on track and keep driving on the fast lane of life. Tempus fugit? Tempus f*ckit!

Make a Difference

My dear readers,

now that you encourage your fellow friends it is time you take your own encouragement to the next level—start doing; and the perfect time for that is: today!

Army General George S. Patton once said, that "a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." We all tend to postpone our deeds to future dates, tomorrows, days after tomorrows, et cetera. This somehow makes it easier for ourselves, because we can relocate responsibility from now to somewhen in the near or far future—at least we think it makes it easier on us. Why do we tend to do that? Because we are afraid of taking care of things now, so we declare it "deeds to be taken care of tomorrow." Why don’t we do things right away and knock them out already? Why do we not see that doing more today means doing less tomorrow?

We can overcome this by asking ourselves a simple question: will this make a difference? If you want to be more explicit, ask yourself: will this make the difference? This little question can and will make a difference. When you ask yourself, wether the things you’re about to do will make a difference or not you are more likely to getting them done, for you already consider doing something—so why not do it? Execute, do, and make a difference. You wonder why so many people live dull lives and are uncertain about what they really want in life? Because they want to do their things tomorrow, they don’t want to make a difference now. And these people will wake up someday and start wondering: why haven’t I done those things back then? Would that have made a difference? Why did I pile and stack up all those things and not knocking them off my list back then? A bit more here and there, how much greater could I have it now, wow. In order to save you from this experience I ask you to make a difference, to not postpone your deeds to later dates, to start doing things, and doing them now. If you get up and start DOING things right away, they will make a difference, and if you do so, you will not wake up in a couple of years with an infinite sequence of 'what-if-questions,' because you know one thing, you’ve been taken care of things, you’ve been doing all you could to make a difference—and you made a difference.

In addition to that you can make a difference for the benefit not only of yourself but also for a community. Let this discourse be a mere extension of the On being Heroic blog. The opportunity to make a difference, to make a change is in your grasp, don’t hesitate, make use of it.

APPENDIX: This is, however, of tremendous importance, if you have big decisions to make—regarding your career, friends, a person you love, apologies, and so on. This question will help you to 1. evaluate wether to do something or not, and 2. getting yourself into a position in which you can do something. And that will make a difference; and yet it will give you satisfaction and serenity, because you don’t wake up someday wondering, you took care of things and made a difference and no longer have to wake up in calamity one day. Do things now, build a reputation, because "you can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do," (Henry Ford) do things now, and...make a difference.

Encouragement!

Dearly beloved,

since by now we are all motivated, dedicated, of great heart, overcame bad days...and keep driving, it is now our utmost responsibility to share it with the world—encourage other people!

Former U.S. Representative of Kentucky George Adams once said: "Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that one never miss the opportunity to give encouragement." We are now in a position to change things, to a-/e-ffect our fellows, to move this world by radiating, by sharing our heart for life with everyone else. People desire, while you inspire people, don’t wait on others to get motivated, be motivation—Kelly Rowland told us all, now you get to do it all: be a motivation. Encourage people, do not keep your heart to yourself, share it with the world, for you are in a position to make a change, and yet, not least, make a difference.

Most people tend to do things and only continue once they see success in what they are doing. Call that conservative, but the way we get motivated can easily be understood by studying the basics of psychology, take Pavlov’s Dog: a neutral stimulus can trigger a certain action (or a complex series of actions), cause and reaction—success seen creates motivation. But most people need to get that experience first, which can be hard at times. This is where we can do something for the benefit of others, this is where we need to step in...and motivate.

Nothing can be more inspirational, more encouraging than having fellow friends motivate us, nothing is more convincing than seeing a friend accomplishing; because we get motivation at first hand, and this is what this entire discourse is all about: MOMENTUM TO GO! Show the people your heart, your dedication, your perseverance, your enthusiasm, and let it all radiate within your motivation. Always wanted to be a leader? This is where you can lead...and make your fellow friends follow your lead. You got what yet they lack, give it to them, hand it over, share. Baby, you can be a motivation. You wonder why so many artists had/have muses? Because nothing can be as inspirational as a human being. Be that inspiration, and be happy to share your heart with the world: encourage.

Get Back on Track!

This today’s discourse I wrote immediately after suffering a concussion, because I felt like sharing an experience with you that I, to this extend, have not felt in a long time: unforeseen adjustments.

All of a sudden I was in a position in which I could not pursuit and accomplish my day’s plans, an unexpected action had put me on hold, this unforeseen event looked me dead in the eye saying: stop, sit down, relax, you will continue your deeds tomorrow. I did not like it at all, I thought about the plans I had for that day and how I was simply powerless and unable to work things off my to-do list. What does that mean for and to me? Does my momentum stop here and I have to start all over again? Is that a sign of failure, for I was not able to keep up the momentum, was I not perseverant enough? Is this the end of ambition, of my plans, is that what Langston Hughes referred to as a dream deferred? Well, it took me a while to figure out what has happened, and the answer to all these questions is simple: NO!

I was merely confronted with a new challenge: getting back on track. And I was excited to take on this challenge, because the U.S. American professor and author Maya Angelou stated quite truly that "nothing will work unless you do." I have to do, I have to get back up on it, and despite this little delay get back on track, and do...and then things will work again; and I will regain my momentum. This is where heart comes into play (and this is exactly why I consider it, among perseverance, one of the main pillars of success): if your heart is strong, you do not let days of unforeseen events get in your way. You depreciate them, call 'em a day, and continue with the same amount of heart, believe, and dedication as before. And these days do have a great side effect: they reveal, how much you have already accomplished on your relentless way to success—use this retrospect as fuel for the next and further steps in life.

Why is this not as easy as it reads? Because once we lose our momentum we immediately tend to trigger a bunch of 'what if' questions, leading us sometimes even as far as questioning our lives and deeds. If you want to continue after this unforeseen day of deferral, look back and take stock—and see this day of pause, on hold, as an intermediate stage on your long road to success...and furthermore be grateful and happy about the things you have already accomplished up to this day. Follow the words of legendary baseball icon George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr., who said: "Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back." Continue to do what you do, do not let anything slow you down. Former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the freedom of fear in 1941 (as part of his famour Four Freedoms speech); and we shall be free from fear and continue our drive, keep going and doing, get back on our perseverance and back on our track. Fear to fail, fear to drop out, fear to screw up, fear to lose grip? No, I do not understand these definitions. Let’s be free from fear, and get back on track, because we are of great heart.

...and you know what’s really impressive after a day on hold? When we get back to work immediately after like nothing ever happened—and this is how we do it!