Habit's for Life

Habit is the link between goals and accomplishments. You’ve heard it said that it takes 21 days to establish a habit, why?

According to Julia Layton, “Habits are essentially patterns of behavior that become "worn in" to our brains. Someone who wakes up every morning, pours a cup of coffee and lights a cigarette, in that order, every morning, has that pattern built in to his or her brain, in the form of well-used synaptic pathways.”

With patience, persistence, and predilection you can teach yourself whatever you choose to learn through the power of habit. Since December 2003 its been my privilege to share my “Thought for the Day” via the web, on Twitter, at pball001. (This has since morphed to a podcast). Sometimes I ask myself why? Who really reads this stuff? Does it make a difference? Then I realize - (I do) that reading or listening daily to a variety of books - biographies, science, philosophy, mysteries, travel logs, or whatever tickles my fancy - my mind, through practiced habit, selectively picks out passages or quotes that motivates my thinking at that time.

My conclusion is this; its too easy to get caught up in “Stinkin’ Thinkin’ as Zig Ziglar called it. Like the morning cup of coffee (forget the cigarette) we all need a daily reminder (I do anyway) to look for the good in ourselves and others and approach life with positive expectations.

Earl Nightingale said it so simply, “We become what we think about, but the thinking is up to us.”

Yes my friends, believe it or not, its a choice. You can continue to be an Excuse-i-ologist - someone who has studied and mastered the art of the excuse - (you don’t have to look far to find one, just look in a mirror), or you can take action today. However there are times, admit it, (almost daily) that this choice is hard to make.

So, my remedy is a daily quest for a quote appropriate to the thoughts and actions I want to cultivate as a student of positive life experiences. My intention, is to keep these short bites designed to get you (and me) to stop for a moment and think about the positive experiences in your life. With today’s technology (FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, and texting) we have an amazing power to communicate with family and friends in ways we overlook, simple yet powerful experiences. Establish the habit of finding the best in yourself and others. It is education for life.

Here’s today’s installment, "He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Updated 11/18/2022

Comments

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Retirement Talk

In this episode, Patrick & Huck: Retirement Talk . . . We all get caught daydreaming sometimes, don’t we? Just like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn might’ve done, lazyin’ by the river with a fishing pole in hand and the BIG wide world spinn’ in their heads. This morning, with coffee steaming and plans bubbling, I found myself driftin’ into a chat with none other than my imaginary friend–Huck Finn himself. Patrick: “Mornin’, Huck. Say, I’m mighty curious what you’d make of this retirement business.” Huck: “Well now, sit tight, ‘cause I’ve been thinkin’ on that too. Only thirty-one days 'til you're sixty-nine — whew! You're talkin’ ‘bout quittin’, hangin’ up your spurs, Givin’ the workin’ life its final good slurs. Ain’t got no debts, no mortgage, no fuss, Just clean livin’ and freedom waitin’ on the bus. Most folks’d throw hats in the air, cheerin’ loud and proud, But you? You’re starin’ out yonder, lost in some cloud. You're dreamin’ of cyclin' and books and guitar...

The Summer Surprise

In this special episode, The Summer Surprise . . . Well, howdy there! It's me, Huck Finn, and lemme tell ya, somethin' special happened just the other day. We called it "The Summer Surprise.” Phew-wee! That ol' post box, it coughed up somethin' good! Wasn't no bills, nor them pesky ads, and thankfully, no regular ol' rocks neither. Nope, this here was a letter, folded up neat as a pin, looked a bit like one o' them school lockers, just sittin' there waitin' to be opened. It was from young Sierra, a mighty fine friend, and she'd gone and made some pure, honest-to-goodness artwork with her own two hands. My fingers they was all thumbs, just itching to see what kind of wild wonder she'd whipped up this time. I unfolded that paper, careful-like, you know, and bless my bare feet, there it was! A picture of a whole gymnasium and a mini-soccer field, all done up in colors that just popped. She'd used crayons and pencils, and you could tel...

Drifting with Purpose

In this episode, Drifting with Purpose: What Huck Finn Teaches Us About Finding Your ‘Why’ . . . Have you ever re-read a book and felt like it had changed while you weren’t looking? That’s exactly how it feels diving back into Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to be swept away again . It had been decades since I first met Huck and Jim. But here I am – older, hopefully wiser – and finding their journey down the Mississippi more powerful and more relevant than ever. This isn’t just another dusty classic. Twain's masterpiece is a living, breathing story – one that speaks through laughter, danger, awkward truth, and uncomfortable beauty. It’s a book that dares you to ask: “What kind of person am I willing to be?” Right now, I’m deep into Huck and Jim’s incredible journey, and what’s striking me the most isn’t just the plot or the river—it’s the voice. Twain’s masterful use of local dialect pulls you straight into the 19th-century Amer...

On The Fly

Search This Blog