por Almon Gunter
Quiet - Still and Peace
Time and Purpose
The Seven Gemstones of Pain: Breathe and Think 1. Breathe deeply. 2. Practice mindfulness and positive thinking. 3. Distract yourself. 4. Share your story. 5. Keep in touch with family and friends. Don’t self-isolate. 6. Let your body do its job. 7. Pain makes you think.
The 7 Gemstones of Practice: Repetition and Will 1. Reduce the number of distractions while learning. 2. Practice getting better by taking one bite at a time. 3. Repetition is the key to your overall success. 4. Model experts when you practice. 5. Set a goal for every practice session. 6. Seek immediate feedback always. 7. Have the WILL.
Perseverance: Adapt, Adjust and Overcome 1. Don’t be afraid to fail. 2. Understand resistance. 3. Begin to take risks. 4. Keep your goals in mind. 5. Set clear benchmarks. 6. Remember your ‘why’. 7. Have the grit to overcome.
The 7 Gemstones of Perspective 1. Discipline your mindset. Your thoughts influence how you view the world. Images and stories you allow in your mind influence your view on everything and everyone around you. 2. Strive to have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is a decision and like any skill requires repetition and purposeful intention. 3. Take responsibility when you are wrong. Be willing to admit I and then move on. Shame and blame only creates more mistakes. 4. Find a mentor that will help you to grow. Surround yourself with people who are highly skilled and trained in the things that you need to improve on to guide and teach you. 5. What you feed your mind matters. Work on your memory. Feed it positive words and images. 6. Keep an open mind. Stop counting yourself out before you even try. Count yourself in and see what happens. 7. Recognize the difference between impact and intent. Intent is what you mean to happen. Impact is what does happen. What we intend to happen is often misinterpreted.
The 7 Gemstones of Persistence: Belief and Never Give Up 1. You have to know and believe in what you want. If your motive is strong enough you will go through whatever difficulties that come your way. 2. Burning desire to go after what you want. When you have a burning desire to fulfill your objective you are more likely to maintain a high level of persistence. 3. Be self-reliant. Have the ability to block out negative behavior, talk, and energy from others as well as yourself. Know that you can execute your plan. 4. Have a definite plan. Don’t waiver back and forth on what you decide to do. Seek the right information, for the right plan, at the right time, for the right reason. 5. Create an alliance with a person or persons that encourages you. No one wins alone. 6. Create good habits and then execute them daily. The mind absorbs and becomes part of the daily experiences upon which it feeds. 7. Never Give Up. Concentrate daily on executing your plan for the fulfillment of your purpose. Take no plays off. Every day means every day.
The 7 Gemstones of Patience: Discipline and Focus 1. Stop resisting. Meet inconveniences, challenges and unplanned mishaps with calm instead of resistance. You have a better chance of keeping your mood steady and patient. 2. Recognize and acknowledge the effects of impatience. In the moment of impatience ask, Do I have control over the situation? Is the feeling of impatience helping or hurting me? 3. Embrace the situation. Assume the obstacle or whatever is making you anxious was put there to slow you down, make you adjust, or rethink your position. 4. Practice being patient with smaller stuff. Little wins add up to big wins over time. 5. Slow down to go fast. Focus on getting things right the first time. Rework often leads to stress which usually results in a loss of patience. Do the work on the front end. 6. Step back and shift your focus. Sometimes walking away and focusing on an entirely different task is what’s needed for you to get back on track. Breathe and proceed. 7. Discipline and commitment leads to consistency which leads to success. Patience is a by-product of being disciplined. Know how to hurry up and wait. Trust the process.
The 7 Gemstones of Opportunity: Preparation and Timing 1. Understand who you are. Ask those close to you the following questions: What do you admire about me? What do I offer others? What am I naturally good at? 2. Believe in what you offer. Develop your skills so you are viewed as the expert. If you believe in yourself others will believe in you too. 3. Step out of your comfort zone and be open to the possibilities. Opportunities rarely happen when you’re in your comfort zone and there is more than one way to achieve your goal. 4. Be decisive. When opportunities appear, take advantage of them with confidence. 5. Develop and work your plan. Pick your strategies and tactics and then stick with it. It sounds simple but you have to execution is the most important part of the process. 6. Surround yourself with the right people. Nothing good comes from hanging out with buzzards. Spend your time with positive people. Soar with eagles. 7. Think about what service people need and then identify what you do best that will fulfill that need. Timing is everything.
The 7 Gemstones of Ownership: Sacrifice and Commitment 1. Start dreaming. How do you want your life to look? We cannot make any changes in our lifestyle if we don’t know what it is we actually want. 2. Determine what is holding you back. Once you know want, zone in on what is stopping you from acting on what you want. 3. Face your fears. Identify what it is that scares the heck out of you and then make a plan to overcome it. Face it head on. 4. Make the changes. Once you know what you are afraid of, it’s time to make the changes. 5. Own your mess and then sacrifice all that you need to to clean it up. What you want and who you are matters. Success no matter how small or how big comes with sacrifice. 6. Commit to doing the work every day. When you take ownership for your life it is important to remember that every day is game day. Commitment means all other options have been cut off. 7. Focus on results instead of regrets. Don’t worry about what hasn’t happened. Focus on creating what you want.