Tag: Positively Milwaukee

WHEN IS NOW A GOOD TIME? ⏳️

Every day someone runs a red light in an attempt to get home quicker and never makes it. Every night someone closes their eyes planning on what they are going to do the next day, completely unaware they will never open their eyes again. How many lives are not only ended every day, but can be turned upside down with an injury, a diagnosis or even a job loss or loss of a loved one? Countless. Most of them never thought it would happen to them.

These facts are not an attempt to get you feeling down. Quite the contrary. We can all agree that these statements are true. What this should do is create a sense of urgency to squeeze every last drop of joy and happiness out of the life you are  currently living. The best way to do this is by becoming the best version of yourself. That means investing your time and energy into improving who you are today. Not to put it off. When I appeared on the television show Positively Milwaukee, one of the things mentioned was that the time to learn to swim is on the shore and not when the boat is sinking. What this means is that preparation is better than reaction. If we wait until the moment is upon us, it is often too late.

Take a literal example of the Titanic sinking. How many people aboard did not know how to swim? Many might have thought they did not have to know. After all they were aboard a ship “so unsinkable even God couldn’t sink it.” Something I would not recommend uttering. The fact is that the people felt safe on the ship. They were not prepared for the disaster that occurred. Even the White Star Company, who owned the ship, didn’t feel the need to equip it with enough life boats. After all the law at the time said they didn’t have to. Many people lost their lives due to these decisions.

Life is much like a journey of a cruise ship. We are sailing smooth when out of nowhere we hit an iceberg. If we are not prepared, the results can be tragic. This could even include a loss of life. Many of the lives lost aboard the ship that day could not have been saved. As we mentioned earlier, there were not enough life boats. That is why it is important to be present and enjoy every second of life. The better version of yourself you are, the more you can enjoy life. The more present you are, the more grateful you are, even the more in shape you are can allow you to enjoy more of the fruits of life.

Considering these facts, when would now be a good time to start working on your journey of self-improvement and self-development? The sooner you start, the sooner you can start enjoying life to the fullest. Not to mention, you never know what icebergs are right around the corner.

ONE THING YOUR LIFE NEEDS RIGHT NOW! 😳

One thing that really drives me to the edge of insanity is people who are gifted the tools and strategies to positively transform their lives, but leave them back in the toolshed, so to speak. There is no sense of urgency. Maybe they are too far entrenched in their comfort zone. Their life is not ‘bad enough’ to propel them to take any action. There are some people who tell me that they tried some self-improvement strategies when their life was going south a while back and it didn’t work.

Many people hear some of what I have to say and falsely assume that I advocate to stick your head in the sand and ignore all of the negative aspects of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know life can be hard some days. A few years back I appeared on the local show Positively Milwaukee. The episode is on YouTube, I will leave the link below if you are interested in watching the episode. At one point, the host, Carole Meekins, asked a very poignant question. Why should people take action on improving their lives? Especially if they are ‘ok’ at the moment. My answer was also a question. When is the best time to learn to swim, on the shore or when the boat is sinking?

Some people failed to grasp the intensity of that question. Maybe they just figured they would stay out of the water? I am not really sure. While driving to write today, another, and perhaps more apt, analogy occurred to me. We need what is pictured in the two pictures above. The great wall of China? A castle? Yes and no. What we need is fortifications. Have you ever felt like life was attacking you? Things were tough at the office. You drove home and had car trouble. You finally get home only to discover things are also tough at home. Throw in a sickness or medical problem you are dealing with just for good measure. It can feel like you are being attacked on several different fronts.

Let me ask you a question. It the midst of all of this chaos, are you likely to sit down with a cupcake and this great book and say to yourself, “Let me see what I can do to lower my stress?” No. You are going to have to address the attacks you are in the middle of. Can we all agree at some point life will attack us? That the examples above, or a million others, could happen at any time? I think we can. What would a great king or queen do if they knew their kingdom was going to be attacked? They did not know when, but they knew the attack was coming. What would they do? They would prepare! How? By setting up some fortifications. Like the great wall of China, or a castle.

In our life, these fortifications are the tools and strategies we have in place for the fight we know is coming. They are self-care tools. They are stress-reduction strategies. Lists of songs and movies that make us happy. They are making sure our physical body is in top shape to withstand the stress we will put it under. If you are going to try and fend off an attacker, would you not want the best fortification you can? Think of the story of the three little pigs. They each had a house to hide from the big bad wolf. One built it of straw. Probably quick and easy. The big bad wolf enjoyed some bacon that morning. The next pig built one of sticks. A little more time and effort. Still, the wolf had some pork chops for lunch. The third pig build one of bricks. Invested a little more time and effort, probably while the other pigs were enjoying a roll in the mud. When the wolf came knocking, he could prop up his hoofs and not let it affect him.

The best time to be able to prepare for the fight that is coming in all of our lives, is to fortify our kingdom now. What is our kingdom? It is our mental and physical well-being. It is our stress level. It is also our relationship, our family and our friendships. That is why it is so urgent that we take steps to live an amazing life as soon as we can. We don’t want to be looking for shelter when we are under attack. No, we want to be well protected when the enemy arrives at our door.

WATCH THE EPISODE OF POSITIVELY MILWAUKEE I WAS ON!😀

MY EXPERIENCE ON POSITIVELY MILWAUKEE

Recently, I had the great pleasure to become a part of one of my favorite television programs, Positively Milwaukee. This show airs every Sunday morning on the local NBC affiliate WTMJ. The show is hosted by one of the most talented and passionate journalists I have had the pleasure of associating with, Carole Meekins. In 2012, I created my blog Secret2anamazinglife.com. For the last 8 years I have shared tools and secrets that will help the average individual reduce the stress and increase the joy in their life. In addition, I share stories that show the beauty in ourselves, others and the world around us.

Imagine my utter delight to discover there was a television show, and Facebook page, dedicated to highlighting the positive people and events of the city I live in. It was my new ‘must see TV’. Monday through Friday we may be inundated with the crime, corruption and violence that fill our television screens and social media page. Every Sunday morning at 9 a.m., Positively Milwaukee is there to save us. Like a gentle rain on a hot summers day, it is there to quell the fires of rage that can erupt with over exposure of negative news. Positively Milwaukee brings peace and hope to hearts around the city that have become overwhelmed with fear, sadness and despair.

In my seminars, talks I give to companies and communities as well as the one-on-one life coaching I do, I always advocate that people have 3 things in their life daily. I believe you should have something to be grateful for, something to look forward to as well as something to inspire you. Positively Milwaukee accomplishes all 3 for me. I am grateful to have a resource that not only shows me people and organizations doing great things for our community, but often ways that I can get involved. I look forward each week to discover who or what Carole Meekins has discovered and brought to our attention. Lastly, I find so many of the stories, as well as the job they do putting the show together, quite inspiring. Including Positively Milwaukee in your life can go a long way to helping you become happier and more inspired.

Imagine my feeling of elation when I was asked to be interviewed for this wonderful program! I am always excited to share my message and tools of positivity, and to do so on such a wonderful platform was a great opportunity. It began with a conversation with Carole several days before the filming. Watching her on television you can certainly pick up on the passion she has for the work that she does. Nothing could prepare me for the wonderful and engaging person I experienced in this conversation. From the first ‘hello’ I found her to be funny, insightful and caring. Most importantly, she was genuine. Carole Meekins truly cares about her city and the people in it. When the day of filming had arrived, we met with Jeff who was to do the filming and provide us with a connection to Carole. Our interview had to be done remotely due to the current pandemic. Jeff was not only extremely knowledgeable and great at his job, he was friendly and informative. As Jeff set up the equipment necessary to conduct the interview, he also did a lot to explain how it was going to work and take a lot of the worry out of the process. The actual interview itself was easy and felt as if I was talking to an old friend. Carole Meekins is not only a brilliant journalist, but a thoughtful and divine human being.

Walking away from an experience like that had me both nervous and excited. Not knowing how the finished product will look is always a bit unsettling. Would my message come across clearly? Would the camera add 20 pounds? Would people know that Jeff and I had the same color of shirt on that day? All of those fears were completely unfounded. The job done by those working on the show Positively Milwaukee could not have been any more amazing. Putting my interview together with pictures and videos from both my website and my YouTube channel they created a flawless presentation that was even more impactful than my interview alone. I will be eternally grateful to the hard-working staff of Positively Milwaukee for providing me an opportunity to help those in search of a more rewarding and fulfilling life.

It is my sincere belief that Positively Milwaukee is a treasure to the city and that Carole Meekins is its crown jewel. By sharing the good that is in the hearts and actions of the people of the city of Milwaukee, they give many the urge to better themselves and all of us hope for a better future where we can all be good to each other.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE EPISODE OF POSITIVELY MILWAUKEE I WAS FEATURED ON

BETTER FRIENDSHIP THROUGH CHEMISTRY

Who wouldn’t want better friendships? Friendships filled with more understanding, more love and more productivity. It would be safe to say anyone reading a blog like this would. To do so we are going to take a brief look into the world of chemistry. Don’t let that scare you. We are going to keep this very simple. In school chemistry was not my best subject, so nothing here will be too complex. We are going to look at one of the most basic equations of chemistry and that is water. When two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen get together, it is not just 3 molecules getting together for coffee and hanging out. In this case a fourth thing is created and that is water.

You may be asking, and for good reason, what any of this has to do with friendship. It works the same way with people. In Napoleon Hill’s timeless book Think and Grow Rich, he mentions forming what he calls a ‘mastermind group’. That is a group of different people, all with different talents, that are working towards a common goal. The author claims that when these people gather together a new person is formed. One who is the combination of the thoughts of all the people present in that group.

One of the highlights of any day for me is to share conversation with someone who shares my passion in self-improvement. I always walk away with so much more knowledge and a different perspective than I had before the meeting. In the past week, I have had the pleasure of having 2 such experiences. The first came when a friendly and wonderful fellow named Ricky offered to buy me a cup of coffee for my birthday. It was the first time the two of us had an opportunity to sit down and chat. Ricky owns a local fitness studio called Peak Physique here in West Allis, where I live. Not knowing too much about each other I was wondering how the conversation might flow. It was amazing. We both spoke at length about topics in both the fitness and self-improvement industry. I left with a great deal of new information about the world of fitness as well as a new self-improvement book to read by an author we mutually admire, Jocko Willink.

The best thing about this meeting to me was the actions taken by my new friend Ricky. I am not sure why this is, but not many adults find it easy to make new friends. This gentleman thought that it might be beneficial for us to meet and become friends. Not only was this a very astute thought, but it took some courage to reach out and put into motion. I commend and thank him for taking this action. Not only did we both make a new friend, we discovered we also shared some amazing friends in common. Jodi, whom I have had the honor of knowing for some time, teaches yoga at his gym. Curtis, the gentleman who served us coffee, as well as several compliments, was a mutual friend. I want to take a second to recognize Curtis is also a man with a brilliant mind when it comes to self-improvement and I am eagerly looking forward to sitting down to a conversation with him.

Another divine new connection I made was with a very talented journalist, Carole Meekins. She had reached out to me to inquire if I would be interested in being interviewed for the show she hosts called Positively Milwaukee. It appears on WTMJ, the local NBC affiliate. As you can imagine, I am a big fan of this show which highlights the positive aspects of the city. Carole is a well-established journalist who is amazing at what she does. I was excited and honored to be part of this show. Little did I know, that would be just the tip of the iceberg of what I would get out of this meeting. I spoke on the phone with Carole a few days ahead of the planned day of filming to exchange information. I learned that not only was she a talented interviewer but had a warm and thoughtful personality. She was well read in the field of self-improvement and we talked for a good while about different authors and speakers we were familiar with.

The day of filming arrived and we shared some more great conversation. I hope this is also the beginning of a great friendship. It has always been my goal to host my own television show interviewing people and I cannot thank Carole Meekins enough for the opportunity to be a part of a show that displays how to do this better than any show I have watched in recent memory. From my new friendship with Carole I have gained a few different resources to explore as well as a renewed passion for exploring my dream of finding a medium in which to explore my desire to interview and uncover the beauty in all of the amazing people that surround us every day.

If you are thinking that you might like to establish a friendship with someone new, I encourage you to pursue that friendship. Both parties will walk away with far more than they started with. It seems comical to me that children seem far more adept at making friends than adults. If you need a little trick that might make it easier, I have one for you. As you are thinking about asking someone new out for a cup of coffee, a drink or just a great conversation, think of how you would feel knowing someone finds you valuable enough to want to pursue a friendship. You will never know the gifts hidden inside someone’s soul until you choose to unwrap them with friendship.