Thursday Thoughts: What You Do Speaks So Loudly

(Source: thiswaytojoy.blogspot.com via Pinterest)

Today's Thursday thought goes along with another more well know quote: actions speak louder than words.

What do you say you believe in?

Do your actions support your belief or work against it?

You can say that you value a sustainable earth, but your friend notices you throwing away plastic bottles instead of recycling, or driving somewhere when you could walk.

You say you want to lose weight, but your friend sees you continue to sit on the couch and watch reality television when you could exercise and order an extra dessert even though there is no special occasion.

Will your friend remember your words or your actions? And what will make a larger long-term impact, your words or your actions?
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Thursday Thoughts: Another Ode to Books

Earlier this week I wrote an ode to books. It only seems fitting to follow up with a quote about books, especially on the heels of the release of a movie that dramatized one of the most successful series of books of our time.

I remember the release of the seventh book in the Harry Potter Series. I had friends visiting me in New York City, two adults and one teenager. The night before the book came out, we decided to check out the official Harry Potter block party at Scholastic, where they were counting down to midnight when the book would be released. The line to enter the party was blocks long. After calculating the hours we would wait just to enter, we decided instead to just say a quick hello to a friend of mine who worked for Scholastic and was already inside. While chatting across the barricade with my friend, someone influential recognized me from a show. In one of those quintessential New York moments, we were wisked into the party as the special guests of the president of Scholastic.

The next day, the teenager in our midst was completely engrossed in the book, as were many people in the city. It was fun to see almost everyone reading the same book on subways, buses and in city parks. It was impressive when you saw someone near the end of the book, because you knew that everyone started at the same time. Even more so, it is so rare that everyone in our country is caught up in a book, and therefore caught up in the same set of ideas.

In this case, perhaps the movie lives up to the book. Having not seen this weekend's blockbuster movie, I have no opinion, although I trust the many people who tell me they enjoyed it. This is also a rare case when many of the people who saw the movie actually read the book. I encourage you to remember how enriching that is. The next time you consider seeing a movie based on a book, read the book first. And then read another book that hasn't even been made into a movie. There are so many exciting ideas and stories for your imagination to enjoy.
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Live life fully and deeply. Find out more about one-on-one coaching by email or phone. The next round of Online Interactive e-courses start August 2 and run for four weeks. All coaching is firmly grounded in organizational psychology, business administration, theology and the very best philosophical thought from around the world.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Keep Your Things Together While in Transit

Since I live in New York City without a car, I spend a lot of time on public transportation. Sometimes I am in transit long enough that I need more than one thing out of my bag: a snack, a book, an iPod, perhaps music that I am memorizing (which is what I've been doing lately on public transportation). However, I have learned over the years to keep all of my things together inside my bag. I only take out what I am am actively using at the time: first a snack, and when I am done my book, etc. I have seen too many people have their things all over the seat beside them, and then suddenly see a connecting train and jump up to catch it, leaving behind something important. Even on airplanes I keep everything inside my bag except what I'm currently actively using, ever since I left behind a favorite book in the pocket of the seat in front of me, having stored it there before snoozing off on an international flight. Sometimes it becomes necessary to keep my wallet out to show a ticket or passport more than once during a trip. Thus, I use my wristlet as a wallet since I can have it connected to me when it's not inside my bag.

Keep your things together to have a smoother trip.

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Monday Morning Musing: An Ode to Books

(Photo: The Reader by Jennifer Zwick)

I love social media. Here I am writing a blog, and I also keep up with Facebook and Twitter. I even have an account on Google+, although I don't really understand it yet. I love how I can scroll through short posts from friends that keep me updated on events that range from personal opinions to worldwide news events. I also love the unexpected conversations that crop up, allowing me to exchange ideas with a wide range of people.

Recently, I noticed that by scanning through unrelated bits of information all the time, I don't need to pay much attention. One sentence has nothing to do with the next because they were written by two different Facebook friends or Tweeters. Social media actually encourages one to forget about the previous sentence since it is not related anyway. Even a blog generally only has a couple paragraphs. Once I had Twitter and Facebook on my phone, I developed a certain expectation that I'll get brand new bits of information at all times.

Does this matter? I think it does. I am the first to admit an interest in  wide range of topics, and often call myself, in the words of author Barbara Sher, a "scanner" instead of a "specialist". However, now that society feeds my scanning tendency 24 hours a day, I don't want to lose my ability to fully engage with an entire series of related thoughts from one author, which is why I now purposely seek out books. Books allow me to really understand a few things from all angles or meet new people and places. I never really stopped reading books, I just slowly shifted away from reading books in bits of spare time, saving it as a planned activity after I've already checked in with all my social media. And to be fair, I must admit I read on a Kindle, another electronic device, but the words are all there.

Deep, well thought out ideas from one source still have a place in our world. Pick up a book sometime soon, before you loose your attention span.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Plan Ahead to Have Your Work Done Early

Several times throughout a given week, things happen that make me say, "That would make a good blog post." And then I take a picture with my phone, partly as a photo for the blog and partly to remind myself of the idea. Then, when I sit down to do a batch of blog posts such as Tuesday Travel Tips, all of the photos are right there in my phone, ready to go. The system works well, right up until I get behind and have to do the Tuesday Travel Tip in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning, (and by wee I mean that only 9 of my 870 Facebook friends are currently logged in), and I just downloaded a "required" update for my phone, and in the process the phone forgot how to connect to the internet, and I can no longer email the photos from my phone to my blog.

And so, dear readers, that is how it came to pass that I am posting a Tuesday Travel Tip with no photo. I'm sorry. I promise I have all sorts of great photos waiting on my phone, which I will send to this blog for future Tuesday Travel Tips. I never would have even had to admit this small technical difficulty if I'd made sure that I'd worked further ahead on the Tuesday Travel Tips instead of waiting to do this only hours before it's "due."

Plan ahead to have your work done, so that things continue to run as smoothly as possible, even when something unexpected happens.

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Be Your Best You

My most viewed blog post of all time is A Walking Tour of Charleston, SC. I think I did fine with it, but I don't think it's 150% better than my second most viewed post, Now Boarding on Track 4, or twice as good as my third most viewed post, Lessons in Confidence from Maria Von Trapp. You see, the perfectionist in me wishes that the fourth place post, America's Leading Expert House Guest, ranked higher. I want people to start to get to know me as an Urban Nomad and someone with great additional insights for all types of journeys. I want to control the message.

You know what? You don't know how people are going to get to know you. You don't know what will "go viral", either online or person to person. Make sure that what you put out there in the real world and online is a great version of you. People don't expect you to be perfect. However, you do yourself a service by being the best version of the real you as often as you can. Being consistent is one version of integrity. Have your consistent message be something great. Not fake, great.

Do what you can to make sure that what you do, say and write would be OK if it went viral or was someone's first impression.

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Thursday Thoughts: Habits

(Source: staycalmandbreathe.tumblr.com via Dawn on Pinterest)

Two of my eCourses, Organize and Realize, wrapped up last week. In both of those courses, we talked a lot about forming good habits. That's why I love this quote from Aristotle:

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.

I think we can all agree that Aristotle knew a thing or two about excellence.

Will the things that you repeatedly do add up to excellence, or just a repetitive task?

What could you start doing in order to achieve excellence?

What could you stop doing that is standing in the way of excellence?

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Move toward excellence with proven, scientific methods to know yourself better, understand how your thoughts influence the world around you, and reach your lifelong goals. The next round of Online Interactive e-courses starts July 12 and runs for four weeks. Can't wait? Find out more about one-on-one coaching by email or phone.

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Tuesday Travel Tip: Truly Experience Things as They Happen

This is a sample of the red, white and blue appetizers we had on the roof of my friend's apartment as we waiting for the Independence Day fireworks to begin in New York City last night. I also have a couple pictures of friends and other rooftop views, especially as the sun went down. What I don't have is a picture of the fireworks. You see, I love fireworks, and if I'd been concerned about getting a good picture of the fireworks I would not have truly enjoyed the display. I would have focused on framing the photo, timing it out with the burst of color, and constantly wondering if I could make the next photo even more spectacular. However, I didn't want to "waste" this fireworks display by doing all that. Although the fireworks go on for quite some time, they don't happen every day, and I wanted to see them all. I also knew that plenty of other people were taking photos, and that it was being televised. If I really need to have a record of the fireworks, I can find it quite easily.

If you put all of your focus on saving the memory for later by trying to record it, you may never truly have the experience in the first place.

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