13 Things I Never Told My Children

From “Things I Never Told My Children”

I’m sure I demonstrated my “real” values to my kids as they were growing up — good and bad.

That’s easy.  We live, they watch and the truth comes out.

What I didn’t do was actually tell them what I thought and believed to be true.

The truth was, I didn’t really know.

I might have harbored some theories and ideas, but I was born a skeptic — as at least one of my daughters would tell you — and there was not much that I really “knew” was true.

Rather than say something that I didn’t know to be true, I tended to keep my mouth shut and just not say anything.

As I grew older and my kids became adults, I often wished that I’d tried to tell them my theories about living a successful life and recently I began to consider writing down some ideas.

I thought you might be interested in commenting on some of the things I’m thinking.

Keep me on the right track and give me a reality check, because one man’s truth is another person’s folly.

What else can I add to this outline of things to talk about?

Here are a few things I’m thinking about mentioning to my children …

First of all …

You make a difference, whether you want to or not.  Just by existing you impact thousands, but if you leverage the art, science and technology available to you right now, you can impact millions and make the world better by sharing the things that make life better.

How to do that?   Well here are a few ideas to test out .

Take some time to think …

• Start with a blank sheet and think big.
• Forget the past and live in the present.
• Let go of the things you can’t control.
• Believe In Yourself.
• Realize that your potential is limitless.
• Realize how successful and wealthy you are already.
• Figure out what you’re so passionate about.
• Think about what your definition of success really is.
• Create your life by designing your life with care.
• Challenge yourself.
• Decide exactly what you want and where you want to go.
• Set a goal.
• Set a deadline and make a plan to get there.
• Focus on the important but stop the bleeding.

Take some time to be …

• Be Extraordinary
• Be Loving
• Be Faithful
• Be Kind.
• Be Understanding
• Be Giving
• Be Grateful
• Be Humble
• Be Thoughtful
• Be Gracious
• Be True
• Be Forgiving
• Be a Problem Solver.

Take some time to feel …

• Have Faith
• Have Hope
• Have Love
• Have Joy
• Have Laughter
• Notice the pain and suffering around you
• Empathy

Take some action …

• Dream. Discover.
• Do it now.
• Follow Your Passion.
• Test your theories.
• Do something every day to move toward your goals.
• Take risks.
• Increase your true friends and deepen your relationships.
• Learn something new.
• Build trust.
• Build a team and find others to do things that you shouldn’t focus on.
• Play
• Rest
• Sleep
• Smile and Laugh

Analyze the results …

• We never know the impact we make on others because we don’t measure it, so measure your results.
• Make self-examination a habit.

Adjust your actions …

• Use More Leverage
• Follow the 80/20 Rule
• Repeat reproducible positive results.
• Success is impacted as much by what we remove from our lives as it is by what we add.

Avoid the pitfalls …

• Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.
• Don’t waste your time.
• Don’t live someone else’s life.
• Don’t be trapped by dogma
• Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own voice.
• Don’t fear change.
• Remember, there will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear.
• Ask the question “Is your success externally driven or internally driven?”
• Business with bad people is always bad business.
• Take care not to clutter your home and your life.

Practice Positive Persistence …

• Before you do it, think of the profound cost of any upgrade in your life.
• Always be true to yourself.
• Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
• Figure out what your values are and live by them, in business and in life.
• Resolve in advance that you will persist until you succeed or until you find a better option for progress.

Be proactive …

• Focus
• Ask Why.
• Invest in yourself.
• Become more valuable.
• Look for great mentors.
• Learn how to balance life.
• Get Help
• Build a support group.
• Question the Obvious.
• Measure your results.
• Learn Sales
• Get ready for rejection.
• Look after your health.

Accept …

• Love
• Friendship
• Kindness
• Flaws

Use best practices …

• Values and ethics first.
• We can do so much more working together than we can alone.
• Continually deepen your important relationships.
• Treat others with respect.
• Be creative.
• Maximize for happiness, not money or status.
• Work hard.
• Rather than focus on work-life separation, focus on work-life integration.
• Spend more on experience than things.
• Don’t put your life on hold while you wait for your problems to be fixed.
• Being busy does not always mean real work is being done.
• Take care of your money – really understand the difference between good debt and bad debt and stay totally away from consumer debt.
• Tell the truth with kindness.
• Only systematize and automate things that are working.
• Remember the minimum effective dose and apply it to your health, fitness, happiness and all

Give back …

• Giving is a gift to the giver.
• Success unshared is failure.

Remember …

• You don’t have to be perfect to be amazing.
• Imagination is more important than knowledge.
• The price of success is hard work..
• Failure Is Inevitable.
• Seeming to do is not doing.

Check out some of the many ways we can work together make your life better at: