Mike Hofer Edition 7 – Self-improvement

This edition is about self-improvement and making a positive impact on others. I always like quotes from leaders and I especially like these. The quotes are telling us something and can be inspiring. I also wrote a couple questions and some of my thoughts. I believe the quotes are inspiring and I hope the questions are thought provoking, how we choose to respond to these is up to us. “if it is to be it’s up to me” – William H. Johnson

Great! Inspiring Quotes

“Beware of the barrenness of a busy life” - Corrie Ten Boom

• Busy does not mean you are having impact on yourself or others.

• Spend your resources where you have the greatest positive impact on yourself and others.

“It’s not what I have to do, it’s what I get to do” - Donna Otto

• Sometimes we all might complain about our jobs, tasks, and responsibilities.

  • We need to remind ourselves that we enjoy the people we work around and the great people we have met because of our job(s).

  • Some tasks that we don’t like today would make others very excited to have our exact chance (ex. travel, meeting new people, meetings, etc.)

  • The “rookie mindset” is a good one. Which means, when we were rookies, we were more excited about just being there and getting to participate. As we age and gain experience, we should keep the “rookie mindset” of being excited just to be here and experience people and the surroundings.

“Once the opportunity arises, it’s too late to prepare” - John Wooden

• Plan ahead and be ready to take advantage of the change of circumstances and opportunities.

• Anticipate what is ahead and be prepared.

• Always be ready:

  • Prepare - Practice - Play - Repeat

"Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution" – Albert Einstein

“I am not good around bad people”

• Surround yourself with good people, because they make you better.

• Great people are genuine, trustworthy, but not necessarily nice all the time. Being nice is different than being kind.

  • Some people are kind, because they care to tell you the truth.

  • Sometimes the truth can sting a little. Therefore, give and receive feedback with positive intent to improve the person and situation.

  • Don’t be around people that put others down to build themselves up. Be around great coaches that know how to give feedback and coach for better outcomes.

“Try to talk to yourself vs listening to yourself” – Jon Gordon popularized from Dr. James Gills, the only person to complete six double Iron Man triathlons.

• We tend to make up stories that are likely not real and often times talking down to ourselves.

• Ask yourself, would you talk to your friend the way you talk to yourself?

  • Likely, you would never put your friend down the way you put yourself down.

  • Talk to yourself, like you are encouraging a friend. Tell yourself that you are good and will get better, and likely you will.

“Don’t follow your passion, take it with you” – Mike Rowe

• Sometimes we might get to do what we want all the time, but likely not all the time.

• We can always bring a good attitude to nearly any situation.

• Make the best of any situation you are in, there will always be something to learn.

“Being positive won’t necessarily ensure success, but being negative surely will not lead to success” – Jon Gordon

• Make the best of any situation.

• "Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right”. Henry Ford

“The hardest person to lead is yourself” – Bill George

I thought these were great quotes for this edition and now here are the questions to ask yourself and my short advice.

Answer these 3 questions:

• I am at my best when?

• I feel my best when?

• What would I tell a friend to do to live a happier life?

These are three areas that I feel that I have done and seen others do over time to be at their best.

#1 Exercise: We all have read it, heard it, tell ourselves we will do it, etc. Without citing any more research, we can all pretty much believe the more we exercise, the better. It’s very rare to really overdo exercise. If you are really at danger of doing too much exercise, you are probably in a league of your own and don’t need much advice on this topic. For the majority of us, here are a few points that help me to stay active and I try to get better at.

• Walk and talk – for me, this is a great way to catch-up with friends and family. If they don’t mind a little background noise of the occasional dog, wind, bird, etc. background noise, it’s a great way to catch-up and get those 10,000 steps in per day!

  • Take on an advancement to walking and Ruck – walk with a weighted vest or some weight in a backpack is great way to increase the intensity.

    • The backpack can contain some jugs of water to add weight. If you push a little too far and get really tired, you can pour out the water to reduce the weight and/or drink some to stay hydrated.

• I believe joining a gym is a great investment. For me, it’s been a great way to exercise with my wife, Amy. We talk between sets of weights, view some of the T.V.s, etc.

  • For us, paying for a gym membership is a little extra motivation to use what we are paying for.

  • The heaviest weight at the gym is the front door.

• Don’t make not having a gym membership an excuse not to exercise.

  • If you prefer, find some of thousands of YouTube videos on home work-out options.

• Try some Competitive activity

  • Even if you don’t win, you learn to compete and lose graciously.

  • The competitive activity can become a motivation and/or an obligation to be there for your teammates, opponent, game, match, etc.

• Exercise becomes a positive addiction that you will crave getting those positive endorphins from exercising.

• If you miss a day, don’t stop because you have a feeling “all is lost”. Just keep going and even doing a little bit every day, is better than nothing.

  • I like lifting weights 4 days a week, biking 3 days a week, and walking every day.

  • It’s great we have a dog to walk every day too!

#2 Take Care of Your Mental Health: I am at my best when I am mentally strong because:

• I had a good night’s sleep. Try to get at least 7-hours of solid sleep. Some key tips for me

  • Wind down an hour before bedtime.

  • Dark, cool room for sleeping.

  • Limit or abstain from alcohol and caffeine, especially in the evening.

• I recognize that failures are not failures, they are learning opportunities and I have learned to enjoy the process to achieve something vs only wanting a positive outcome.

• This took me a long time to realize, and I still struggle with it. However, when I bring myself back to the mindset that every experience, every person, every day brings me the opportunity to learn and get better, what really do I have to lose?

  • Of course, this mindset is a lot easier when the financial house is in order.

  • I hope you enjoyed my earlier lessons on saving, investing and spending wisely. Get or keep your financial house in order and your mental health will improve too as you think about life as a journey of experiences to appreciate both the good and tough times.

• Talking to myself, don’t listen to myself.

  • I can fill my head with negativity or positivity. “Feed the positive dog”. – Jon Gordon

  • As a competitive person, it’s easy to tell myself that I should be better at whatever or should not have made a mistake, etc. I believe being self-critical and using self-deprecating humor can help us stay humble and humorous form time to time. Still, being too self-critical and self-deprecation, should be limited in it’s use.

  • Stay Humble, use some Humor, but be Hungry to get better. Believe in yourself and surround yourself with people who believe in your ability to improve.

#3 Have Empathy: gain the ability to understand, share, and possibly resonate with emotions, thoughts, and experiences of another person. I like to say “see things from another point of view, because there are always two sides to the story”.

• I often think that if I had different circumstances, I would not view the same event in the same way as I do today. I ask myself:

  • Would I have the same understanding of my beliefs of right and wrong, if I grew up in a different place, had different parents, surrounded by different people, etc.

  • Therefore, I think to myself that someone is acting the way they act for a reason. I should understand that reason before passing any judgement on the person who has a different viewpoint likely due to their circumstances.

• Listen to understand. In the past, I really did not like this phrase. However, now I do. We all have reasons to view things as we do.

  • If you really were in their shoe’s today, had all their experiences of the past, had all the people they see, etc. Would I believe or act any different than they are?

• Even if you very much disagree, be curious enough to learn why they think that way. As a Christian, sometimes I wonder if would be a Christian if I were brought up in a different family that were not Christians.

• You will often hear me say that “The Little Things can make a big difference”.

  • That said, sometimes, don’t sweat the small stuff.

  • Our challenge is to understand when good enough is good enough, and when things demand perfection, and cannot be compromised.

As I get older and hopefully wiser, I realize that:

• In the beginning, we likely traded health for wealth. At the end, we will likely trade our wealth for health.

  • I try to do things now for physical and mental health that my future self will appreciate that at least I tried!

• My view is based on what I have learned and experienced. Others’ viewpoints are due to what the have learned and experienced.

  • I try to have empathy and not judge too quickly.

• To paraphrase Matthew 7 3-5 “why do I look at the wood speck in my brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in my own…first cast the log out of my eye”.

Make every day count and get a little better each day.

Lessons and Learnings |

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