Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Life's too short to chase unicorns


Well its been about a month since my last post and its not that I haven't sat down a hundred times to write its just that life has thrown us many curve-balls this past month building upon all the curve-balls we have received this year. Typically writing has a tendency to put me at peace and de-stress/de-clutter but every time I have tried this year the amount of information regurgitation was on overload status. So while I will not overload you with a whoa is me blog post I will touch on a few things I have mentioned before and would like to reiterate in relation to how this year has gone for me/us. 

The best new impact habit I have created for myself this year to READ, READ, READ and READ some more. I have always been on the occasional quick read book list for most of my adult life until this year when Amazon and myself have become very close friends (sorry Britt). The wealth of knowledge, advice, motivation, creativity and personality development one can find via self-study is amazing and so easy to tap into. While some books lack in the build up in anticipation of what you thought they would be I still find that no matter what if you open yourself up to learning you can always come away with a pearl of knowledge. 

About two months ago I read a line in a book stating "Life's too short to chase unicorns". This grabbed my focus immediately as its something I agree with and disagree with at the same time. Unicorns in the business world are typically referred to that one start-up that got bought out for lots of money. For every one company that gets sold for a billion dollars there are thousands more that struggle to ever reach the potential of their creator. So basically the author was emphasizing the fact that life is too short to be wasting your time going for the moon when you can really focus on the now and build something that could be sustainable enough to drive happiness in your life. While I agree with the author in the sense of life's short I also believe that life is also too short not to chase the unicorns, not to have those moon shot goals and not to reach for something so far out of your ability just cause its not the safe choice. Life is about what you make it and in the Oergel household we believe in living each day to its fullest potential and constantly challenging ourselves to be better. To challenge ourselves to focus on the little things but also realize that those little things are the blocks to which once built will house the unicorn.

Through all the ups and downs this year and trust me there have been plenty that are to difficult to talk about I have come to the mid-point of the year with the one realization/true fact/emphasis that should engulf everyone's life. Each day we have is a gift so maximize your life in the present. Don't worry about yesterday as its in the past and there is nothing you can do to change it instead learn and apply to the present. Also don't focus to much on stressful situations in the future. I have learned one to many times this year that tomorrow isn't guaranteed so why waste precious energy, time and focus today on tomorrow. 

There are about a 100 things that will happen to you today that will be out of your control. Whether its the weather, stock market, car accident, the behavior of a friend, neighbor or co-worker or close family friend gets diagnosed with cancer. What you can control is how you and you only respond to these situations. Apply the strategy of changing the things you can change and everything else is out of your control and part of the roller coaster of life. When your co-worker does something to irritate you don't play their game but be the stronger person and try to understand where they are coming from. Offer support to the family friend diagnosed with cancer as a support system is the number one thing they need to know they have. Watch the world with an open eye to positive change and you will be amazed that the things you can control will develop and prosper with a successful outcome instead of stress and the feeling of failure. Communicate with people as this is starting to become a lost art.

The four people in the picture at the top are my support team, my laughter, my dinner guests, my cheer squad and most importantly the reason I wake up each day with a smile and know I have to give my best each and every day. Make sure you have a mission to your days and an objective to why you do what you do. 

Make It Count!!!

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