On a limb with Claudia

Tuesday I asked why we bother with kindness. Frankly, I think it’s a good question.

We live in a world where kind people are seen as a little stupid or weak.

Over the last ten years, our entire culture has adopted either a Gordon Gekko, Wall Street mentality – “The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” - or a inverted Secret mentality – bad things happened to you because you manifested them in your thoughts.

And where has it gotten us?

I don’t need to list the unemployment statistics or deficit spending to make my point.  You and I know what the lack of kindness has brought our country and world.

Why bother being kind? Because kindness is the glue that holds us together.

Have you ever notice what a toddler does when s/he sees another child? What children know instinctively – we belong together, that’s someone like me, I want to be around him or her – we’ve lost in our ego drive to manifest success.

We are born with an innate desire to connect with other human beings. We are born to find another human being who understands us. We are born laugh when another person laughed; yawn when another person yawns; and imitate the latest fashion.

The only human beings who lack the drive and need to connect are psychopaths. That’s what makes this tiny, two percent portion of the population psychopaths.

We long to connect. We long to love. We long to live our lives within a community.

So here’s an idea:

If you want to be successful, why not try being kind first?  Yes, it’s a choice. Yes, it might not be your first instinctive reaction. But unless you’re brain damaged, you can learn to do something new.

Want more love in your life? Try being kind to the people around you.
Want to make more money? Be kind to everyone at your office. Say ‘hello’ when you pass. Get up and walk around once a week.
Want to lose weight? Try letting go of that unkind voice. You know the voice I’m talking about. Be kind to you. See what happens.

Kindness is the road that will take you where you want to go.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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In this video, Jeff Bezos discusses the difference between talent and your choices. He tells a poignant story of making his grandmother cry and the lesson of choice.

We are all talented. We live in a world that champions talent. Talent wins the day over and over again. But, as Bezos points out, talent is a gift. It’s not something we work for. It’s not even something you develop. Talent is innate, a gift given by genetics or God or some quirky soul that invaded our body at birth.

Kindness is a choice.

It’s not a very natural choice either.  It’s not like the hard choice to eat french fries over fruit. It’s not the easy choice to pee before a long race. It’s not a confusing choice of which college to go to or even if you should graduate from high school. It’s not even like the life changing choice to marry this person or that person.

Kindness is a cognitive decision to do something against parts of your nature.

So why do it?

I mean really. Kindness is hard. We’re all super busy. No one becomes a millionaire by being kind (or do they). And really aren’t we supposed to be aggressive, get our goals met, bash the man, or whatever our passion is?

Why be kind? Why bother?

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In the middle of the chaos of finishing the third Alex the Fey book, I received this fortune. Wow, talk about the right words at the right time.

Darren Hardy says we have a Microwave mentality. We all expect everything to happen overnight. We’ve forgotten the real key to making things happen – hard work.

Honestly, I needed to see this. I needed the reminder that it will take more time and more hard work to get where I want to go. There’s no express ride to success.

At the same time, Michael Bungay Stanier suggested I take a look at Chris Brogan’s video series on Overnight Success. If you can, follow the link. It’s helpful to see other people bust their asses to get their dream. At least it’s helpful for me.

There’s only one way to get where we’re going – time, hard work, and a belief that we will get there. Let’s get going!

Happy Monday!

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“Who is suffering by you playing small?”

- Dov Baron

Happy Monday!

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“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

–Albert Einstein

Happy Monday!

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Happy Monday!

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“Plenty of people miss their share of happiness,
not because they never found it,
but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.”
William Feather

Happy Monday! Enjoy it!

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“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
- Confucius

Happy Monday!

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“The only place where success comes before work
is in the dictionary.”
–Donald Kendall

Happy Monday! Good luck this week!

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This is an image by Banksy, the street artist, general annoyance of authority, and amazing person. What I love about Banksy is that he doesn’t wait for a platform. He doesn’t wait until he has money or when he’s retired or when he can get it perfectly.

Instead, he acts and acts big.

He’s funny.

And poignant.

This last one was created at an old Packard plant in Detroit. Because Detroit is falling apart, a non-profit art gallery stole this image to protect it.  So here you have a graffiti artist creating something that an art gallery wants to protect.

For more of these awesome images, go to his website. Or see his movie, Exit through the Gift Shop.

More than anything – get moving!

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