Cup of Joe Photo

Angels

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give. - George MacDonald

The Nature of Growth

While I was out at Anza-Borrego yesterday photographing desert wildflowers, I spent several minutes lying on my stomach watching (up close) this caterpillar eating this desert succulent. I was fascinated how it had climbed up the stem (about 10x it's body length) and starting eating close to the top of the plant. One bite at a time, up the length of the branch.

Earlier in the day, I had received a phone call from my good friend Brian Davis. He had finally got the news he had been waiting for. His company scored the Dept. of Education contract he had been working toward for years. I am so thrilled for him. The contract is valued in the 10's of millions of dollars. The fruit of his labor is very SWEET indeed.

Three things struck me as I considered the nature of growth, this caterpillar eating, and Brian's great news.

First, growth for a caterpillar or a company happens one bite at a time. All successful growth requires both time and energy. Brian has been climbing higher and chewing and chewing for years.

Second, often you have to go out on a limb. The measure of risk you are willing to take is directly proportionate the measure of reward that can be yours. I was extremely nervous with many of the choices and sacrifices Brian made for reaching his goal. He went way out on a limb, planning for his success. I admire his persistence in the face of great financial risk to accomplish his vision.

Third, his company, like this caterpillar, will soon have the wings to fly high. New opportunities can then be seen from this new perspective high above the earth. Both can leverage their new abilities and momentum. No longer limited to the ground, the sky is now the limit.

Congratulations Brian! I'm so proud of your amazing achievement. You inspire me to work hard toward making my dreams become my reality.

Re-New

Good Morning Friends,

I am renewing this morning after the flurry of activity in Las Vegas for the past week. Today is full of opportunities and I'm so excited to face the challenges ahead of me. I have a renewed sense of purpose, direction and motivation upon reflecting on the significant moments that occurred with old friends and new friends at the convention that has changed my life.

I'd like to thank all of attendees who made the effort to take notes through my presentation yesterday. Congratulations! You've done more for determining your goals than most people will ever do. Continue to refine those goals this weekend. Be sure to be specific and attach a completion date.

I'll do the same.

Have a wonderful weekend. Blessings,

Joe

Need a change?

Sometimes in order to make a change in your life you need to do something radical. I decided to buzz off my bleach blonde hair as part of a new era of empowerment in my life. It's a visual reminder of a small but significant change. I'll unveil my new look later in the week. I actually love it and I've been smiling about it for days.

What radical thing do you need to do to change your business perspective or personal life? Are you ready for a change? What are you going to do? I'd like to hear your plans if you'd like to share them.

Goals Saturday #2

I'm curious how everyone else is doing with their goals for the new year.

It's two weeks into January and I wonder how many people are already struggling with guilt and discouragement. I'm posting late today because I wanted to get my 4th exercise in for the week this morning to meet my goal. I had every intention of going to the gym yesterday, but I got behind on a couple projects at the office, then I had an issue with my alarm at the studio that needed to be reprogrammed, then it just got to late before I had a 3 pm appointment. Oh well. That is how life goes sometimes. I've found that being flexible with yourself and others really reduces the amount of stress in one's life. Just a thought.

This week I achieved the goals I set once again. It feels good to be successful. Unbelievably, I've really enjoyed living in the moment and cherishing each little blessing. I've gained new power over distractions and I'm journaling about procrastination and it's effects on those around me. Weird, is this journey of self awareness.

Though I met the 3 goals I set for myself this past week, I've failed on others. Christmas cards did not, and will not, be going out to family and friends. If I saw you around Christmas, you got one. Most of you didn't. Forgive me. OK, so now I'm letting go of the guilt and moving on. 2nd, I didn't even start the goals PDF I wanted to share with you all, to help you focus on your dreams. It's a big project and I just have not made it a priority. I've overcommitted again. Dang it.

So while I excelled in a few things, others flopped. I learned from both. I hope you had an empowering week toward your goals. Blessings on your journey.

Goals Saturday

I've added a new category to the blog - Goals. I'd like to make Saturdays "Goals Check" day. This will help me keep on track by publicly tracking my 2008 progress and hopefully encourage you on your journey too. Week one for 2008 has me rethinking my goals a bit. I plan to expand mine over the weekend. I found it easy to meet my 4 times of exercise. Being generous as well as living peacefully worked out well too. The challenge is though, how do you track peaceful living? It's pretty abstract. It's more of a feeling. I'm going to focus my goals and make them more tangible.

Also, I'll add "coming attractions" on Saturday as a glimpse into the week ahead. It's been difficult to post in the evenings for the next day. The great feature of TypePad is that I can preset the time and date to post. I have much more energy to type my thoughts in the morning, so I'll be grouping some of my posts together earlier in the week. and spreading them out daily.

This week's Coming Attraction will focus on goals and priorities. Stay Tuned.