When adversity hits us or someone close to us, it is human to say “Why me?”.

In 1987 when famed Mouseketeer Annette Funicello, who died recently, found out that she had multiple sclerosis she saw the illness as a calling to help raise money to fight the disease.  She raised millions through her fame and misfortune by establishing the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Diseases.

But it doesn’t take starting a fund to work through adversity.

Women with breast cancer often volunteer their services to help others affected by the disease.  I know of one woman who for years made wigs for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Disease, accidents and misfortune are not on our wish list for sure but often adopting a “can-do” attitude about fighting back not only helps the patient but those around them as well.

It gives life a more defined meaning and a healthy perspective when dealing with misfortune.

“Cancer didn’t bring me to my knees, it brought me to my feet.” 
~ Michael Douglas

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One of the best things about constant contact with others on our mobile devices is that we can easily converse with more people and faster than ever before.

One of the worst things is that we can easily converse with more people and faster than ever before.

We seem to know what to do with spam and unwanted email.  There are programs that will shut these things down.  After all, email looks more and more like junk mail – the kind the postal service delivers.

But when it comes to work, our friends, family and new family (Facebook friends and virtual buddies), email is becoming a drain as well as a pain.

Some ideas I’ve adopted seem to help:

1. Everyone who takes the time to write to me gets a timely response – and happily because as you’ll see prioritizing email responses allows for better, more meaningful communication.
2. In an age of Twitter and texting, aim for short responses that are as succinct and meaningful as the best tweets.  It works for email.
3. Manage digital communications with you in control.  That is, a phone call is a tool for talking to some people, as texting is a way to reach others.  There are many tools that add up to communication.
4. If someone invests a lot of time to write a long email, invest a lot of time to return a meaningful (not necessarily long) response.

Life is stressful and constant contact makes us more stressful.

See these things as tools and not burdens.

You didn’t have to answer the phone 10 years ago and you don’t have to communicate with anyone that isn’t worth a thoughtful succinct response.

Email is becoming outdated because texting and Twitter are tools that many find more useful.  Whatever works, reduce social stress by taking charge of your digital life and using the tools that we all share more effectively.

“I don’t believe in email.  I’m an old-fashioned girl.  I prefer calling and hanging up” – Sarah Jessica Parker

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For many of us our daily routine is a stressful reminder that we often juggle responsibilities, work hard to pay the bills, deal with rising expenses and handle family and relationship problems that often sap our energy and optimism.

William James said, “The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it”.

What a great sentiment.

To be thought of for something worthwhile.

It can relate to our families, our careers, relationships and civic pursuits.  Often we’re motivated but life gets in the way.

Turn it around today.

Along with the necessities of life, make a one sentence vow that includes how you want to be thought of – what you’d like to contribute.  To not have this important sentences on your smartphone or a piece of paper is like driving without a roadmap.

One sentence.

I want to be thought of as a great friend.  Or a helper of those less fortunate.  Or a motivator.  A mother.  A dad.  A person who inspires others at work.  You get the idea.

Why live life another day without this simple roadmap to happiness and it starts with a sentence that keeps you on target even when daily living takes us places we don’t want to go.

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.”  — Leonard Bernstein

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Some think it is luck.

Some say successful people have a drive that is so strong that they are willing to roll over anybody or anything to get what they want.

Sorry to disappoint, but most successful people in this world whether that is measured by money or the happiness from personal achievement know that the unspoken secret of success is exceeding expectations.

A 23-year old at their first real job can rise up fast if they exceed – not just meet – the expectations of those who hired them.

But it’s not just how much you make or what others think, it’s about personal satisfaction and accomplishment.  A person may make an average salary but have an above average life because they exceed their own expectations and that of those around them.

I know many teachers in this category.  You may be able to think of others.

And the best way to exceed expectations and become successful is to try harder.

One of my favorite chapters in my book is about The Ted Williams Principle – the baseball great who was the last person to hit for a batting average of over .400 in a single season.

His manager was ready to let him sit out the last game of the season to guarantee that he’d make the grade.  Had Williams gone hitless that day, it would have driven his batting average for the year down to under .400.

William refused to stay out of the lineup and played that day – getting additional hits to solidify his modern day record of .406.

So to exceed expectations personally and those of others, bat 1.000 trying harder.

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The things that we imagine in life are often worse than what is stressing us out.

Scientists know that whatever we imagine our brains already experience as if it has happened.

Imagine you’re going to get fired and even if you don’t, the brain has already processed it as the stress of being fired.

Fear a lost relationship?

Done deal as far as the brain is concerned.

There is no arguing that there are many, many things that can reduce stress in our lives from massages to medication, but one powerful way to get stress under control is to realize that what we fear – what stresses us out – will most likely never happen (or won’t happen with the severity we fear).

But the baggage it leaves behind hurts more than what actually happens.

The researcher Amit Sood refers us to the wisdom of Mark Twain who said:  “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened”.

If you know someone who is experiencing the devastation of stress, please feel free to forward this email to them.

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Now that Tiger Woods is back on top and back in love, Nike, the company that stuck with him through his self-induced infidelity meltdown, is doubling down with an edge.

Nike’s new social media ad features a quote that says: “Winning takes care of everything” along side a picture of Woods sizing up a putt.  Woods is fond of saying that exact phrase.

But there has been somewhat of an uproar over the attitude of this ad as a poor example to children for winning at all costs.  And that disregarding morals seems to be legitimate if in the end you win.

Nike likes to do these types of ads and taken in that context you can make an argument for their effectiveness.

But the real message that winning takes care of everything is not really as offensive as it is just plain wrong.

It’s actually the other way around.

Losing and learning to grow through adversity is exactly the ticket to success.

No one bats 1.000 but dealing with adversity makes us better.  It’s about times at bat.

So a better message, albeit it less edgy is “winning takes care of losing if you grow because of it”.

This is a powerful message for those of us struggling to not become discouraged when bad things happen so feel free to forward this email to anyone who might like to hear that adversity is the step before success.

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There was a recent article in USA Today about how some members of Generation X is hoping retire before they hit 40.

Used to be that retiring at 55 was considered early.

Being financially independent at 40 is a great goal.  Walking away from work and ambition at that age is a killer.

In fact, age has nothing to do with retirement except for economic and health matters.  What’s the first thing a lottery winner does if he or she is smart?

Keep their job.

They’ve got plenty of money but they also need plenty of life and life is like a book with many chapters.  Turning the page is an adventure.  And if you’ve got the financial situation going for you, there are a lot of exciting pages that can be turned.

The Wall Street Journal had a piece recently about the new era retirement communities with lavish pools and clubhouses.  In the article a source said that builders would never sell a single retirement home without first showing a clubhouse because the clubhouse is the dream.

So if that’s your goal, go for it.

But if you want to set your own hours, pursue another dream and thrive on accomplishments – aspire, don’t retire.

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Ever notice how different a vacation somewhere other than home can do for your health, happiness and personal life?

And often it only takes a day or two back in the grind to return to the thing we needed to take a vacation from in the first place.

Try this.

Pick a week and make it a week of transformation.

Each day concentrate on one change and to the best of your ability, stick to it.  And if you don’t like the results, you can always go back to the old routine in seven days.

For example:

Monday – Build your self-esteem on how loving you are; not what worldly possessions you have.  See yourself the way your pet sees you and do it all day Monday.

Tuesday – Focus on your spouse or partner.  Disrupt the usual routine in every way you can think of.  If you eat dinner in the same place, take it outside.  If you watch TV together, don’t – talk, play games do something different instead.

Wednesday – Focus on changing the way you work.  Frequently, the boss not only sets the tone for the job but for our lives 8 or more hours a day.  Try giving away your power.  Give up making a decision.  Try this, you’ll love it.  For one day, be the kind of person you would really want to work with.

Thursday – Live in the now.  Focus on the awesome power of listening.  Sit down with someone you ignore everyday and show some person-centered interest.

Make a list like this for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and consider focusing on children, your dreams, relationships, civic pursuits and fun.

No life will ever change until someone gets up in the morning with a plan to disrupt the often boring and stifling routine that we settle into.

“Follow your dreams, listen to your heart and always be true to you”

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I met a remarkable 88-year old man in the doctor’s office last week.

He has leukemia and has to have 12 pints of blood drawn every time he is given medication to prolong his life.

I was just getting a simple B-12 shot but I came away with a lesson about living.

He talked openly about his terminal disease.  Complained that it was difficult to walk very far without getting winded but eagerly reminded me that he could still drive.

I said, “unfortunately we don’t get to choose the illnesses that we get” and he laughed.

At peace with what will happen next, he talked about the full life he lived grateful for every moment.

It reminded me of a Dr. Seuss quote.

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”

We have losses and we have gains.

When there are too many losses without a balanced number of gains, we are unhappy.

So another key to happiness is when faced with the small or major losses we experience in our lives, work actively to replace them with something that we gain to balance the ledger.

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Two steps.

One, exceed expectations.

Two, when something is wrong, promise to make it right.

This rule also applies to great customer service.  Imagine dealing with a business that is committed to exceeding your expectations.  And when something goes wrong, you hear a sincere promise to make it right.

In fact, I use that actual term in my dealings.  When it’s broke, we’ll make it right which means it has to be more than words to keep that promise.

A human being can ask no more of you than to do better than they expect and to fix problems until satisfaction is achieved.

Most retail businesses get this wrong – they talk a good game, but fall far short.

Most employees think pleasing the boss is so impossible that they often stop trying.

In relationships with children there is no room for empty parental promises and plenty of room to right the wrongs that come between you.

In the end what turns about being the right thing to do for others is ironically also the right thing to do for ourselves.

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