Transformation - Improve Yourself

“A Saint was a sinner who never gave up” — Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

“Never Never Give Up” — Winston Churchill

Most successful people experienced some type of adversities like all humans, but they always emerge even stronger because they face them head-on.

Anything is possible, and so you just go ahead and make the change! Improving little by little is worth the effort, and it's even self-fulfilling.

A thoughtful process to consider during transformation to improve yourself:

1. Recognize the problem because you are not happy with the current situation. Honestly confronting the facts of the current reality helps to make it easier, and to make the right decisions

2. Feel the urgency of your condition and that you want better results. Seek help - get a coach or mentor as your guide, or form/join a support group. You may also take a relevant course

3. Develop a strategy with the support of your coach or mentor as to how you are going to achieve your objectives. Communicate any change in vision and objective with your support group

3. Commitment to take action. Be empowered to take daily action based on your vision or objectives. Commitment helps to see the goal in your mind's eye daily, morning or night, waking up with that in mind, and before you go to sleep – so that nothing deters you to give up, but only motivated to achieve results no matter what, which leads to point #4

4. Persevere to never give up until the objective is achieved. Celebrate short term wins and then look forward to the next win

Just Keep on keeping on no matter what.

Here are some examples of things people can improve on:

A. To increase or double income - by when? Time it reasonably - maybe to get a new job by what date?

B. Change in lifestyle from unhappy life to a peaceful, joyful, fulfilling life…

C. To increase productivity at work or work/life balance by using your best resources - 'time' effectively and efficiently…  

D. To lose weight from 200 to 170 pounds…

E. To create something that no one has ever created...

The Stockdale Paradox: When Prof. Jim Collins interviewed Vice Admiral James Stockdale regarding how he survived as a Vietnam POW, Stockdale said "You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

Therefore, in addition to retaining absolute faith and conviction that you can and will overcome and succeed no matter what, you must also be pragmatic for as long as it takes to succeed. May you grow in intelligence and compassion as much as you grow in strength!

“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” -- Wolfgang Riebe

“Winners never quit and quitters never win." -- Vince Lombardi

“Most of the important things in the world have been done by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. -- Dale Carnegie”

You may connect with Elliot Wilson @: https://twitter.com/Ell_Wilson; https://www.ellwilson.blogspot.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliotwilson6/

Social Justice; All Lives Matter

Social justice promotes fair and equality in society whereby everyone is treated fair and equal under the law and guiding principles of society regardless of race, colour, caste, creed, religion, or sex. Throughout history, where there is social justice, you would consequently find peace, harmony, and prosperity in society as a whole.

We can definitely view the issue of social injustices using the 3-legged stool philosophy to approach how we endeavour to solve this problem. The platform of the stool is the social injustice including racism, gender bias, etc., that needs to be completely eradicated.

The first leg of the stool is the systemic injustices as beautifully elaborated by Seth Godin: “The systemic, cruel and depersonalizing history of Black subjugation in my country has and continues to be a crime against humanity. It’s based on a desire to maintain power and false assumptions about how the world works and how it can work. It’s been amplified by systems that were often put in place with mal-intent, or sometimes simply because they felt expedient. It’s painful to look at and far more painful to be part of or to admit that exists in the things that we build. We can’t permit the murder of people because of the color of their skin. Institutional racism is real, it’s often invisible, and it’s pernicious.”

Therefore, we have serious work to do to treat all men and women as equals.

The second leg is the data that supports the social injustices as factual and truthful. There are historical evidence that have been collected for over 400 years! Hence, it is absolutely unjustifiable to deny that social injustices exist in our society.

Finally, the last leg, probably the most important part of the equation, is the ability for each individual to speak up and stand by one’s conviction of change to a critical point of the willingness to die for what one believes is right for our society. The founding fathers were willing to die for Liberty when they signed the Declaration of Independence. Socrates, Galileo, Mahatma Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King died for what they believed in. This may seemed drastic but are you willing to die for what you fervently believe is the positive change our society needs? If so then stand up, speak up, look up, motivate up, encourage up, and vote up!

“We need a voice against racism, we need many voices against racism and brutality. And we need to stand up and say that black lives matter.” — Senator Mitt Romney

“If, going forward, we can channel our justifiable anger into peaceful, sustained, and effective action, then this moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals.” —  Former President Barack Obama

I end with a quote from Kaleth O. Wright, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force:
“I must do better. Like you, I don’t have all of the answers, but I’m committed to seeing a better future for this nation. What have I been doing? Not enough. I can only look in the mirror for the solution.”

You may connect with Elliot Wilson @: https://twitter.com/Ell_Wilson; https://www.ellwilson.blogspot.com

Grateful to be Alive

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” — Henry David Thoreau

“If you can't do what you want, do what you can.” — Lois McMaster Bujold

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of damage and we are yet to see the cases declining globally. However, this is also the time for mankind to take a step back and reflect on those things and virtues that are more important in life, such as love, family, kindness, gratitude, generosity, peace and humility.

In addition to wearing masks and washing our hands frequently, physical distancing (social distancing) and self-isolation have proven to tame the widespread of the pandemic and save lives exponentially. However, we sometimes miss the ordinary human connection of shaking hands, hugging friends, tapping the shoulders of colleagues/co-workers, and the way we are simply accustomed to the exchange of human energy. 

Nevertheless, we can rest assured that this too shall pass as it is a temporary situation for mankind to learn something that would make us stronger, better, and kinder in the future. At the same time, we would miss and honour all those dear ones who couldn’t make it and have passed on.

We are grateful that through video and digital technology, we can somewhat still see and talk to people globally as most of us would like to be seen, heard, and have our expressed emotions valued. 

We can use You-Tube, Zoom, WhatsApp, text-messaging, phone calls and emails to connect with love ones, family, and friends to express our love. We can also check up on those long-forgotten acquaintances in this inauspicious times just to see how they are doing. This is the time to also reach out to some old folks or physically challenged people in your community to see if they need any kind of help taking into consideration physical distancing. It would definitely warm their hearts as any act of kindness goes a long way! 

This is also a time for reflection - taking inventory of our lives, where we are, how did we get here, and where are we going? It is also a time to start working on some of the good/great ideas that we have been hoarding at the back of our minds for a long time, and start planning and working on them virtually/remotely. This way we will be able to bring them to reality when we are able to go out again from self-isolation. Have fun pursuing your passion!

Stay safe and be well! 

“The only way to see a rainbow is to look through the rain. Happiness is a journey…not a destination” — Wolfgang Riebe

“We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.” — George Washington

You may connect with Elliot Wilson @: https://twitter.com/Ell_Wilson; https://www.ellwilson.blogspot.com