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Popular ArticlesAre You Good Timber, Or Just a Scrubby Thing?
I think that everyone goes through hard times at some time in their life. I’ve had my share of hard times. I’ve been divorced, I know what poverty is, I flunked out of college, and had a heckuva time raising my boys.
All in all it’s been a good ride, but I can assure you I have had my share of hard times.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Have you ever seen the Disney movie Aladdin? Aladdin says to the evil genie, “You can’t kill me.” In which the evil genie says, “You’re right, but you’d be amazed what you can live through.”
One of my favorite sayings is, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
I found this poem the other day, I couldn’t find the author. At any rate, this wonderful poem about this law of life.
The Law Of Life
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
That stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
Who never had to win his share
Of sun sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow in ease.
The stronger wind, the tougher trees,
The farther sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength,
By sun and cold, by rain and snows,
In tree or man, good timber grows.
We live in a society that almost expects everything to be easy, to be instantaneous, and require very little effort. You’ve probably heard the saying, no pain no gain.
Why is it that we all want to take the easy route? We want life to be convenient, and if it’s not easy it’s not worth it. But the truth of the matter is, if it is easy it won’t stretch us, it won’t require that we use our talents, we would get lazy, lethargic, and whatever it is that we are doing most likely won’t be worth it any ways.
I read an article once were a multimillionaire was asked what his secret to success was. He responded that every day he did things that other people didn’t want to do. Most people don’t want to do the hard things, the things that require effort, or the things that aren’t convenient.
Is it really that simple? Is the difference between success and not simply doing things that are hard?
That is your assignment today – I want you to give that some thought. Are you good timber?
Everything is Starting to Make Sense
Listen to this guy for a few minutes and you begin to understand the secrets of the universe.
Doesn’t everything make sense now?
Creators Create While Right Fighters Fight
I don’t know who coined the phrase “right fighters,” but I bet if you’re reading this you know exactly the kind of people I’m talking about. Why, you might even be one of them. You see, a right fighter is someone who at all costs must be right.
A right fighter will sacrifice happiness, peace, friendship, and almost anything to be right. A right fighter will argue till the last drop of blood has been spilt. A right fighter would rather be right than happy.
Are you a right fighter?
When it comes to discussions with other people do you always have to be right? Do your ideas always have to be validated and heard? Does your need to be right become more important than your need to be happy? Or do you are erroneously belief that being right will make you happy?
I was once a right fighter. I used to sacrifice happiness all the time in order to prove my point’s, in order to be heard, or to be validated. It didn’t matter what I was fighting for I had to be right. I would fight with my mother, I would fight with my father, I would fight with my wife, I would fight with my coworkers, and anybody in order to be right. I didn’t care if I hurt other people’s feelings, it didn’t matter to me if I made others angry, all I really wanted was to be right.
Did I mention that I sacrificed my happiness? That was probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I would fight to be right thinking that that would make me happy, but the truth was I never really was happy. I had conquered too many people, had fought with too many people in order to be right. And by the time the skirmishes were over there were way too many casualties to experience happiness.
So I ask you again, are you all right fighter?
Here’s a few signs that indicate that you might be a right fighter:
- You feel angry if people don’t listen to you
- You don’t listen to other people’s point’s of view
- You don’t care about other people’s ideas
- You think that your ideas are the only ones that matter
If you find yourself guilty of any of these then you might be a right fighter. I don’t want to insult you, so I’ll come right out and say it: being a right fighter is a very sad existence. Especially when being a right fighter destroys so many relationships.
But being the creator doesn’t destroy relationships but creates creation’s that strengthen, and improve, and bless relationships. You see, creators don’t have to be right. Creators create. Creators creates creation’s that are valuable and important not only to themselves but to other people in a relationships.
Let me give you a few ideas of creations that creators create:
- A beautiful day. The creator could decide to create a beautiful day starting with the very moment they wake up in the morning. They roll over and give their partner kiss and a gentle caress. And then in the shower they hum a happy tune, make a delicious breakfast, and then plan the rest of their beautiful day. Then today set out to create it.
- Give the gift of love. Creators create gifts of love for the other people in their relationship. These gifts of love are as simple as a smile or a get well card or a small Post-it note that says thank you, or I was thinking of you. These gifts of love could be a flower picked in the yard, or a funny joke to brighten someone’s day, or a piece of candy. It really doesn’t matter, these gifts of life are just random acts of creation.
- Yield the right-of-way. Since creators are more concerned about creating creations they are not so concerned with being right, therefore, it’s very easy for creators to allow others to be right. In fact, this yielding of being right is a very important piece in the process of creation. Creations require many different pieces in order to be complete, and most times other people’s insights and ideas are integral pieces to the finished creation.
- Joy. Creators love their creations, and bringing their creations into existence is more important than anything to a creator. The reason for this is that true creators experiences euphoria, joy, a happiness like no other when their creation finally exists.
Next time you feel the urge to be right, stop and think for a moment about the creation’s that you would rather create instead. I guarantee you if you create creations of value it won’t be so important to you anymore to be right.
You Don’t Need Creativity To Be A Creator
Did you know you don’t need creativity to be a creator?
Every time I talk about creation, creating, and creators inevitably someone brings up the thought that they don’t have a creative bone in their body, that they’re not creative, that they are not imaginative, they’re not artistic, they have no creativity, and that whatever I’m talking about is not interesting to them, because they just have never been very creative, and they don’t want talk about creativity.
Believe me, I understand. But what I’m about to say might actually clear this up for you forever.
You don’t need to be creative in order to create.
I want you to put a smile on your face. Do it right this very second.
Good.
There, you created. You just put a smile on your face, and that is a creation. The definition of “create” is to bring into existence, and the definition of “creator” is someone who brings things (creations) into existence. So by definition you are a creator. You brought something into existence – the smile that wasn’t there before.
And you didn’t even need creativity in order to create the smile. Creativity is not a prerequisite in order to create. It’s not even a necessary component. Creativity relates to the quality of your creation but it’s not necessary in order to bring a creation into existence.
So what does all this mean to you?
You need to recognize that you have the power to create whatever you want to create. The fact is, you are where you are today because you created what you are today. You are sitting where you’re sitting because you made the choice to sit there; you created that experience in your life. If you had desired to create a different experience you would be sitting somewhere else or walking somewhere else, or in a different place altogether. But you are where you are right now because you chose to be where you are right now – you created this experience.
If you recognize that everything you do is a creation then you can start to quantify or measure your creations. You could start to quantify and measure the creations that you create.
Then you could make your creations more valuable and important to you.
Have you sent out an e-mail today?
If you sent out an e-mail today you are a creator. You created that e-mail. That e-mail did not exist until you wrote it and sent it. Recognize that you created it.
Now you can measure it, and improve it. You can measure how fast that e-mail went out, how fast you typed it, and you can even measure the quality in which you typed it, how many words you typed, how many paragraphs, or how many sentences. You can measure how fast you typed it. You can measure even the quality of what you typed: did it communicate the message that you wanted it to communicate? Did it accomplish what you wanted it to accomplish? All those things you can measure and improve upon to make your creation more valuable and important. And again not a single one of those requires creativity, but nevertheless, sending that e-mail was indeed a creation that you created.
Since you can measure the creations that you create you can quantify the quality and value that you give your creations.
Too many people do not consciously create creations that are valuable in their lives. Instead they live their lives on autopilot, or they create by default; they don’t consciously create experiences that are valuable and important to them – they just live by default.
This morning did you consciously create a wonderful experience? Did you create a wonderful creation called “getting ready for work?” Was it a wonderful creation? Did you have joy in it? Did you make it a beautiful creation for the people around you to enjoy as well? Did you make it a beautiful creation for yourself? Did you make it a memorable beautiful creation for you? Or did you just wake up, hop in the shower, brush your teeth; you know, do the regular rigmarole and then come in to work?
Today I challenge you to look at the creations that you create and ask yourself is this a creation that I think is important, is it valuable, or is this a creation that I created by default?
You Are Important
I want you to know how important you are to my future success. I am not kidding. I mean it.
Too often we think that we are-all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips, that we can get along without anyone else’s help. But I recognize that this blog wouldn’t amount to anything if it weren’t for you.
I need readers. I need people who are actually interested in the subject of creation. I need people who want to be creators – or I am just sitting here typing on a blank wall.
You are important to me. You are the reason I am writing. I want you to know that I appreciate you.
Since this venture is relatively new. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time marketing this site. I intent on doing a ton of marketing these next few months, but for now this is just a beginning.
I would like to know what you would like me to write about. What interests you about creation? What do you want to know about being a creator? What is your perspective on the whole subject?
I would greatly appreciate your comments. I hope that we can begin a dialog about creation and creators. I am passionate about the subject and want to share my findings.
Send me a comment – I appreciate it!
