How will you know when you are successful? How will you know when you have arrived? How will you know when you've made it?

Is there a certain destination, or date, or event that lets you know your goals have been achieved and you've made it to the top of the mountain?

Kara Lawson, the women's basketball coach at Duke University has a great talk that she gives to her team about when life will get easier. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDzfZOfNki4) The meaning of the talk is that life never gets easier, you just handle hard better.  

The same is true of success. Success isn't an objective, it's the relentless pursuit of your purpose in life. It's not the destination, it's the journey. And that is what so many people fail to understand.

We seem to think that when we reach certain milestones in our life that somehow our outlook will change. That we will magically become happier, more resilient, or more confident. That we will be smarter, richer, or more secure.

The destination will always outdistance us. There will always be more work to do, more assignments to complete, more knowledge to learn.

Stop stressing about when you will "become" successful. Spend more time focusing on the here and now, on the learning you are doing, the relationships you are building, and the love you are giving.  

Don't allow fear and regret rob you of the present by focusing your attention on the past and the future. Live in the now because your being cannot have any impact on the past and the future is not guaranteed.

Watch the short video below from an essay written by Robert Hastings that illustrates the importance of living for today. 

Also, please leave me a comment about your thoughts regarding the importance of living in the present.

What type of people become successful and why do those people flourish when others don't?

What would you say was the number one ingredient to become successful? Is it talent? Is it emotional intelligence? Is it IQ? 

Actually, the main reason some people prosper when others don't is grit.

Grit is defined by psychologist and researcher, Angela Duckworth, as a passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. It is having the stamina to put in the hard uncomfortable work that others aren't willing to do. It is the understanding that your goals aren't going to be achieved overnight, but will require effort, desire, and motivation over the long haul. It is sustaining the passion that burns in your soul.
 
But how do we cultivate grit in our daily lives? Researchers don't really know the answer to that question. But one thing that seems to be emerging from the study of what makes people gritty is that they have a growth mindset.

A growth mindset is the understanding that the ability to learn is not fixed and that trying and failing actually leads to improvement.

So the science seems to be pointing to the fact that the best way to develop grit is to identify your weaknesses and do the uncomfortable, scary, and hard work to improve those limitations.   

​Please check out the video below to learn more about developing grit in your life and leave me a comment about your thoughts on fostering grit.

Do you know how fathers came to be honored in the United States on the third Sunday in June?

The first known Father’s Day service occurred in Fairmont, West Virginia, on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men died in the worst mining accident in U.S. history.

Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a minister, proposed a service to honor all fathers, especially those who had died in the mine disaster. However, the observance did not become an annual event, and it was not promoted; very few people outside of the local area knew about it. Meanwhile, across the country in the state of Washington, another woman was inspired to honor fathers.

In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, was inspired by Anna Jarvis and the idea of Mother’s Day. Her father, William Jackson Smart, a farmer and Civil War veteran, was a single parent who raised Sonora and her five brothers by himself, after his wife Ellen died giving birth to their youngest child. While attending a Mother’s Day church service in 1909, Sonora came up with the idea.

Within a few months, Sonora had convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA to set aside a Sunday in June to celebrate fathers. She proposed June 5, her father’s birthday, but the ministers chose the third Sunday in June so that they would have more time after Mother’s Day (the second Sunday in May) to prepare their sermons. Thus, on June 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day events commenced: Sonora delivered presents to handicapped fathers, boys from the YMCA decorated their lapels with fresh-cut roses (red for living fathers, white for the deceased), and the city’s ministers devoted their homilies to fatherhood.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order that Father's Day be celebrated on the third Sunday in June, and in 1972, Congress passed an act officially making Father's Day a national holiday.

Over 100 years ago, two women recognized the value of honoring fathers in the same way we pay tribute to mothers, each year.

They understood the importance that fathers play in the raising of children, supporting their spouse, and providing for the family.

If you're fortunate enough to have had a man in your life who taught you the values of what a family was all about, loving each other, caring for each other, and supporting each other, make sure you take the time today to honor your father. 

I had the great opportunity to be a panelist on Wayne Brown's ET Project Panel with Zoe Fragou and Robin Dreeke, where we discussed the importance of leaders developing communication as a core strength.  You can watch the panel discussion by clicking on the PODCAST & SPEAKING VIDEOS button at the top of this page and scroll down and click on The ET Panel Discussion tab.