Woman Power Wednesday - Barbara Jean (Bowman) Malcom

BeBe (January 10, 1936 - September 12, 2018)

Goal Oriented Thinking - clarity, focus, and concentration

Mornin' Lu Lu. It's Stay Whole Tuesday and we are talking Goal Oriented Thinking versus Reaction Oriented Thinking from Brian Tracy's best seller Get Smart! I like the subtitle, which is How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field. Not a bad thing to spend some time on and especially at your young age. 

Yesterday, I wrote about turning points, financial success (don't lose money) and the importance of focus (don't lose time). Today, I want to touch on something Tracy calls the big three: clarity, focus, and concentration.

I try to always have specific, written, time-bound goals in each of the four areas of life we often discuss. I usually have 2-3 goals in each area. Some are long term goals, one year or longer and some are more immediate, between one and six months. I usually break them down this way, using Stephen Covey talk: 

• To leave a legacy (spiritual goals, community goals, St. Michael's)
• To live (wellness, fitness, golf goals)
• To love (family, friends, social goals)
• To learn (professional or intellectual development, career goals, financial)

It is important to write your goals using what Tracy calls the three p's: present tense, personal and positive. For example, "I am a top five Autodesk Named Accounts Sales Representative, a trusted technology and strategic advisor to three of the worlds largest companies (Google, Comcast, and EA) and I earn $X dollars by January 31, 2019."

When you set goals using the three p's and write them down, your mind starts to believe you can accomplish your goals. And when your mind starts to believe, you start to take actions that move you towards your goals. Tracy says, "When you write down a goal you take it out of the air and you make it clear and tangible. You can see it, touch it and read it. It now exists, whereas before it was only a figment of your imagination."

And that brings me back to clarity, focus, and concentration. Once you know where you are going, you have to learn to make your goals the highest priority each and every day. You have to be crystal clear about what is most important to you and then you have to take actions that move you in that direction. You also have to learn how not to be distracted by non-essential, unimportant interruptions. In today's world of texts and social media, it is easy to flounder around and spend time on things that really have no impact on your ability to accomplish your goals. Learn to block out time to be laser focused on your highest priority tasks - the tasks that move you toward your goals.

Get Smart: Goal Oriented Thinking vs Reaction Oriented Thinking

It's Make it a Great Monday, and we are all catching our breaths from the near big upset on Saturday in College Station. What a fun start to your college football career, Lucy. Loved your picture of 'J-i-m-b-o' with your Chi O buddies. Kathy Hopke thought you were doing that for her husband, Jim - Ha!

So I've been reading and listening to material by Brian Tracy, someone whom I used to pay a lot of attention to years ago when right out of college. Mainly a book titled, Get Smart, How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field. I plan to share some things from the book over the course of the next several weeks.

One of the chapters I have been thinking about quite a bit is titled, Goal Oriented Thinking vs Reaction Oriented Thinking. This is a good time in your life to think about setting goals. I am recalibrating some things as well in my life. 

Some of the key take-aways:

Turning Points - "Throughout your life, you will have a series of turning points. These are moments, insights, or experiences that can take a few seconds or a few months. But after one of these turning points, your life will never be the same. Sometimes you recognize these turning points when it takes place. In most cases, you only recognize that it was a turning point in retrospect." What turning points have you already had Lucy? Isn't it interesting to think about what lies ahead and how your professors, your mentors, and your friends will impact your life in the months and years ahead as an Aggie?

The key to financial success - "Did you know that the top 3 percent of income earners, earn and acquire, on average, ten times as much as the bottom 97 percent? And did you know that only about 3 percent of people have clear, specific, written goals and plans that they work on each day. The other 97 percent have hopes, dreams, wishes, and fantasies, but not goals. And the great tragedy is that they don't know the difference." I know in my life, I always accomplish more when I have clear, concise, time-bound, written goals.

Don't lose time - Financially successful people have a simple mantra, which is 'don't lose money'. But they also practice another key habit, which could be phrased 'don't lose time'. "The fact is that when you have clear, specific, written goals and clear plans to achieve those goals and you work on them every day, you save an enormous amount of time. You will accomplish more in a few months or a year than most people will accomplish in a lifetime!"

Here's a great quote from Thomas Carlyle:

"The person without goals makes no progress on even the smoothest road. The person with clear goals makes rapid progress on even the roughest road."

We all know the saying, 'If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." This is a great time in your life to think about and pray about where you are going and then start to define, in crystal clear written goals, how you are going to get there. You don't have to whip these out all at once, but I believe you should be thinking about, journaling about, and praying about your goals.

More on Goal Oriented Thinking coming soon.

Happy Sunday - a few photos from the weekend

Lucy and her Chi O pals spelling Jimbo!

First real game at Kyle Field: Aggies vs #2 Clemson Tigers

Rafferty's at first Westlake Game on Friday Night

Hanging with the Bench's on Saturday Night

A special Saturday Nugget: Curt Langford named CEO and President of Texas Tech Alumni Association

Curt Langford taking over as Alumni Director at Texas Tech

So incredibly proud of my good friend Curt Langford, who will take over as CEO and President of Texas Tech Alumni Association on October 1, 2018. Curt replaces legendary Alumni Director Dr. Bill Dean. 

I have always referred to Curt as the Mayor of Lubbock, TX. His father, Dr. Thomas A. Langford was an ordained minister, a Professor of English Literature at Texas Tech and an Associate Dean and Dean of the Graduate School at Texas Tech. This story about Dr. Langford, written by Austin writer Byron Browne made me think of Lucy's story this week about her professor and the unexpected pop quiz. I believe there were some kids walking into that class a tad late as well? I too have a book I treasure signed by Curt's father. The best line in the story is,  “That’s fine,” he began. “Do you have an excuse for the game the other night?” It reminds me so much of something Curt would say, or perhaps one of my other dear friend's Ricky May!

Curt literally grew up on the campus and his collection of 'Guns Up' photos with college mascots around the country says it all about his love for the University. If you are friends with Curt on Facebook, and I bet you are, send him a note wishing him the best from every Singletary one of us. Curt returning to his alma mater to lead the Alumni Association is akin to Uncle Ricky returning to Chapel Hill and starting the Carolina Blue Honors Foundation. It is the world working the way the world should work.

Here's the press release and also a fun post from Curt saying goodbye to all of his friends at Balfour.

Proximal stability leads to distal mobility

A walk in the park

Hey Lucy,

I hope your week has been a good one. It is Fit as a Fiddle Friday and I'm sharing a bit about Kettle Bell Walking. I recently took a couple of fitness classes from a guy named Jonathan Fleming. He is the primary strength and conditioning coach for Bud Norris, the closer for the St. Louis Cardinals. He also is TPI level three, which is as credentialed as you can get for golf fitness. TPI = Titleist Performance Institute. Side note, your mom took a TPI class a number of years ago as part of her professional development training for physical therapy. Cool!

Jonathan convinced me that in order to improve my golf game, I needed to rebuild my body from the center out. In his words, "Most of us over time develop movement asymmetries, deficiencies or dysfunction."

One of Jonathan's favorite sayings is proximal stability leads to distal mobility. That means your core has to be strong so that the rest of your body can function effectively as an athlete. I am sure you can relate to this as a life-long dancer. While important for all sports, it is especially important to have a strong core in rotational sports, like throwing a baseball or hitting a golf ball or a tennis ball.

So Mom and I have spent the past (nearly) three months doing a 20-minute kettlebell walk most mornings. We typically switch between seven positions, using just one 10-pound kettlebell: (1) suitcase carry (right & left); (2) rack position (right & left); (3) waiters carry (right & left); and (4) kettlebell behind the back with two hands. The goal is to walk with a normal stride and to walk as if you were not carrying any weight. In other words, use your core! Note that we are not using a very heavy weight and anybody trying this should certainly start with a small amount of weight in order to avoid injury.

The results have been outstanding. By combining these walks with other plank and core exercises, plus some flexibility and balance training, my golf game has improved and my low back does not have anywhere near the amount of soreness and fatigue that I had prior to this program. I am all in on the kettlebell walking.

Stay fit Lu,

Dad

P.S. Good luck Aggies vs Clemson Tigers and Game Day in College Station! Dawgs play on the road against 24th ranked South Carolina. Heels have ECU. Chaps have a good one tonight vs Cy-Ranch. Yale's opener is not until the 15th.

Another nugget for today - Cindy Fuller's birthday!

Love these paintings / special gifts from Aunt Cindy! She is so special and somehow puts up with Uncle Mark's shenanigans. Photo at the bottom I think is from our wedding, 30 years ago this month. (-;

Mark, Cindy and baby Mac Fuller