Thin Line

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They say there is a thin line between love and friendship and for American humorist Emma Bombeck, “There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.” That minuscule thing that determines where one ends and the other begins, that border, matters a lot.

Today I learned something in the least unexpected way. We were seated in the waiting area near the emergency room of a private hospital this morning waiting for the result of the laboratory test of my nephew (he had his tooth extracted yesterday and was suddenly bleeding terribly last night until this morning despite medication , my brother got into panic mode so my nephew was rushed to the hospital). Then it happened… that moment of impact that made that can make your hands grow cold and damp, and your heartbeat   quite unstable. Inside the Emergency Room (ER) was a man who happened to be the brother of my cousin’s wife (talk about the six degrees of separation, the connection of each person to one another), he had a heart attack, just weeks after being released from the ICUfor the same cause. There he was battling for his life, traversing between the thin line that separates life from death, and within a few minutes, he was gone. 😦 The cries of the family members said it all, and the first thought that entered my mind was when we went to the hospital when grandpa died last year.

Just as the cries subsided, my thoughts shifted to another direction. There I was wallowing in fear for the upcoming exams in school while there are people who are facing bigger battles, mine is just a tiny spec, something that is all in the mind. There are people who no longer have the chance to pursue what they were going after, before taking that last breath. There are those who can no longer hold the hands of their children or their parent, nor kiss their loved one before going to sleep at night; gone too soon.

Life has no expiry date to let you know when the time is up so it is best to live it to the fullest. American business woman, Mary Kay Ash was once quoted saying, “Some people drift through their entire life. They do it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. It happens so gradually they are unaware of how their lives are slipping away until it’s too late.“

Every person must make every moment count, to collect memories and not regrets, to leave behind happy thoughts and not heartaches and to be closer to the one who gave us life. Don’t hold back, let the people who matter to you know how much you care, how important they are and how much you love them. Carpe diem!

Procrastination

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The dreaded big “P” that hinders the accomplishment of a lot of things. A lot of people admit to procrastinating now and then. Why? Different people have different reasons and this often include: fear (of failure or of success), uncertainty about a certain goal, lack of determination, lack of motivation, or it has become a habit to put things off.

What if you really want to overcome the habit of procrastination?

Zig Ziglar once said,  “If you need to wake up in the morning and eat a live frog, you wouldn’t want to look at that sucker for too long!” Brian Tracy on the other hand took inspiration from Mark Twain who said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

What’s with the frogs and what do they have to do with procrastination? The frogs are what we tend to put off or postpone doing due to different reasons we tend to associate with the task, it’s hard, impossible, it can be done later, there is so much time to do it and other similar excuses. Swallowing the frog first thing in the morning gets more things done and allows us to achieve our goals.

How do you swallow the frog? The following points are taken from Brian Tracy’s book Eat That Frog (21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time):

1. Set the table
2. Plan every day in advance
3. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything
4. Consider the consequences
5. Practice the ABCDE method continually
6. Focus on key result areas
7. Obey the law of forced efficiency
8. Prepare thoroughly before you begin
9. Do your homework
10. Leverage your special talents
11. Identify your key constraints
12. Take it one oil barrel at a time
13. Put the pressure on yourself
14. Maximize your personal power
15. Motivate yourself into action
16. Practice creative procrastination
17. Do the most difficult task first
18. Slice and dice the task
19. Create large chunks of time
20. Develop a sense of urgency
21. Single handle every task

Stopping procrastination does not happen overnight, it takes dedication and determination to overcome it. Praying about it will definitely help a lot.

Inspiration

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Most of us have icons that we look up to, people whom we want to be like. They can be famous figures, persons who are well-known ages ago or at present, they can be simple people we admire for certain reasons, they can be our parents or someone from the family. Some people look up to their teachers, others want to follow the path of influential historical figures like Plato, Aristotle, Hemingway, Mark Twain, Gandhi, Thomas Edison, Mozart, or Einstein to name a few. The list of names are endless.

It is okay to have an icon, someone we can take inspiration from in order to succeed. BUT we must consider certain factors in choosing.

1. VALUES

Does/Did this person have positive values that can help me become a better person?

2. LIFESTYLE

Does/Did this person promote a healthy and positive lifestyle ?

3. RELATIONSHIP

Does/Did this person have healthy relationships with his/her family, friends, and colleagues?

4. LESSON

What lesson/s can I learn from this person that can help me achieve my goals?

5. CONTRIBUTION

By having this person as an inspiration, what can I contribute to the fund of knowledge or the world (even in my own simple ways)?

6. IMPACT

What positive impact did this person have in my life that I want to be able to pass on to other people?

7. SPIRITUALITY

Does/Did this person live his/her life to glorify and honor the Creator?