Attitude | Bryan Clifton

From the Blog

Feb

Procrastinating Focus

Posted by Bryan Clifton at 3:51 pm

We don’t lack the desire to change. We lack the focus necessary to make the change happen. To change requires action, and action does not exist without focus.

The problem is focus is easily diverted. Jumping from one task to the next does not make you more effective. It makes you a serial quitter. Your focus is cut each time, thus reducing your ability to get the job completed efficiently.

Understanding the difference between a great opportunity that is deserving of your focus and a time-wasting habit can only be developed over time. Discernment is needed to make wise choices.

Not all opportunities are created equal. With every chance you take, there is a reward. Some are larger than others.

We spend hours and hours talking about the things we need to do…only to fail to do them because we do not have the time. Here is a novel idea, what if we quit talking about what we have to do and actually did it? Action must take the place of procrastination. Focus on the task at hand. Get it done. Then go on to the next great opportunity.

Feb

Wedding Tourism

Posted by Bryan Clifton at 8:14 am

Get off the tourist track. Engage with local people. Find ways to interact on a personal level. Participate in family events. Have discussions with people who you cannot speak with. That is how you see what a country values.

At the wedding last week, I was extremely uncomfortable. I slept a few feet away from my future food while it was butchered. For the record, machete chopping is a tremendous alarm. The house did not have air conditioning or internet. It lacked a shower and the doors were not conducive to my height (I hit my head a lot). But it had something that our homes often lack. Community connection and interaction.

The entire village came together to share in the love of this young couple. If you got married next week, how many of your neighbors would help you? An even better question might be, have you met your neighbors?

This attitude was my main takeaway from Leyte. It took traveling halfway around the globe to see the value of a close-knit community bonding together to meet a common goal. It is simple yet profound. We do not have limits when we all work together.

They decorated a church, set up a reception area for 500 people, butchered 8 pigs and 3 cows, prepared the food, entertained guests, had a wedding, delivered the bride via water buffalo taxi, and most importantly had a great time doing it. I never saw a person lash out in frustration. The opposite was true. They throughly enjoyed each others company and loved the work they were doing. They did all of this in about 15 hours. That is amazing.

This was the highlight of my trip. It was so fun to interact with the people of the community and get to know them as best I could.

Do me a favor, take a trip outside your comfort zone. It does not need to be outside the country, but it should be slightly nerve racking. Situations like that force you to reassess what is important in your life. It is a good habit to do from time to time.

Feb

Be a Traveler, Not a Tourist

Posted by Bryan Clifton at 9:00 am

I want to be a traveler, not a tourist.

Tourists go from one place to the next taking photos of everything in sight. Their memories are saved on SD cards and iCloud. They see things, but rarely interact and engage.

Travelers, however, see what is going on and interact with their surroundings to create something different. They engage with their environment and make an impact. They leave an impression.

Tourists are noticed because they stand out of the crowd. They take pictures of the culture around them rather than becoming part of it.

Travelers blend in with the crowd. They go with the flow. They eat local food, stay in the homes of families rather than pricey hotels, and see parts of the country that is not found in a guide-book.

Being a tourist is easy. It comes natural to most people. But a traveler understands what they saw. They can explain the purpose of the photo, the meaning behind the story, and the reason why a random conversation with a stranger on the bus made the trip unforgettable.

QUESTION:

Which one are you?

Feb

Core Problems

Posted by Bryan Clifton at 9:05 am

Problems are not as they seem.

On the surface, what looks like a problem is normally the symptom of a larger struggle going on internally. We try to fix what is noticeable. We take medicine for the symptoms, even though the reason for our sickness is unseen.

Unless we fix the core of the issue, the problem will continue to recur. Addressing the symptom does not fix the problem, it only prolongs the suffering.

Working on the symptom and not the core is like attempting to fix the walls of a house without making sure the foundation is secure. The core must be solid before anything else can be addressed. Attempting to fix the top layer of a problem without a solid foundation is pointless.

While this makes logical sense, we fail to put it into action. Constantly we run around putting band-aids on problems that need surgery. It is time to accept the momentary pain to create a brighter future. Address the core of the issue, not the symptoms.

What is the core?

Your core is your spiritual relationship with God. Spiritual relationships are not a separate section of your life. It is the core that everything else is built around. Without a solid spiritual relationship, other things play the part of “core of your life”. The problem with this is they are not suited for that spot. A constant feeling of loss exists, and the only cure for it is the right core.

God cannot be replaced by money, more education, athletic abilities, or other relationships. But each of these items have a part to play when built around the right core. With the right attitude, money becomes a blessing to allow great things to happen. Education becomes a tool to help others and not gratify yourself. Athletic achievements allow for a platform to show true character and purpose. Tim Tebow anyone?

Without a solid foundation, the rest of your life is destined to collapse at some point in the future. It might be tomorrow. It might be 10 years from now. But without a core that is solid, the rest of your life is built upon a shell that is slowly in decay.

The core of your life must be in check before you can fix the other layers.

QUESTION:

Is the core of your life in check? If not, what will you do about it?

Jan

Shipping an Idea

Posted by Bryan Clifton at 8:43 am

One day, you will either say “I’m glad I did” or “I wish I had”. – Zig Ziglar

The process of transforming a dream into a reality is hard and strenuous. Anyone can dream and have a great idea. Turning that into a tangible product is a completely different issue.

Every day millions of people come up with ideas to change the world. But how many people act on them?

The world is full of people with great ideas burning inside them. The problem is that they stay inside. They never make it to reality. We all have a friend (or maybe it is us) who have an idea they have talked about doing for years, yet it never shifts from and idea to an item.

We want our idea to be perfect before we ship. We spend days, month, or years working on it, only to fail to ship when the time comes. Why?

Shipping makes your idea a reality. It forces it out of your mind and into life. It allows it to grow and morph outside your brain.

A 100% idea kept inside is worse than an 80% idea that shipped to the public. When you ship an idea, you start the feedback loop. You tweak and adjust. You gain confidence. You make mistakes that you learn from.

An idea kept in your head is a theory. It is not a product. Theories are useful, but they need to be tested. Shipping is the method to test your idea. It’s not perfect, but its out there. You have accomplished something remarkable by making it that far. It is more than most people will do.

Before you start shipping every idea in your hear, understand that not all ideas are worth pursuing. If we acted upon every idea we had, chaos would be the result. Unfinished projects would dot the landscape like broken tree limbs after a hurricane.

In order to get something you want, you must give up something you have.

If an idea is worth pursuing, what will you give up to make it happen? Time? Money? Other ideas?

The real question is why are ideas left incomplete? What causes great ideas to be abandoned?

Fear.

Fear of the unknown. Fear of judgment from others. Fear of financial stability. Fear of anything you do not already know.

It is hard to accept an idea until it is a reality.

Once the idea has traction, fear shifts to anticipation.

Anticipation is an easy bandwagon to get on. Many people do that. Since others have thrown support behind it, I should join the crowd.

But will you step out before the crowd and champion an idea in the face of risk and uncertainty?

QUESTION:

What idea do you have that needs to ship?

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