The president of the United States made an announcement. He announced that the rule prohibiting E15 gas was going to be lifted. This will provide some relief in the price of gasoline for travel, and do some minor damage to the environment.
Prior to the lifting of this rule gasoline in the United States had a 10% limit on Ethanol in the gasoline. Now with lifting the rule the gas can have up to 15%. The 15% causes more smog and that was why it was capped at 10%. Now the smog is concerning and the best solution for travel are renewable sources of power. In a perfect world gasoline would not be used at all however we live in an imperfect world and gasoline prices are high. The E 15 should reduce price by a dime a gallon and that is better for consumers.
The solution to change the gas mixture is by no means perfect however we must not let perfect be the enemy for good. Until renewable sources are plentiful and inexpensive this maybe the best solution for now.
We will most likely never reach perfect and sometime we will have to make bad decisions as good as we can. That is a tough balancing act and one that you will get better at with practice.
Baseball wasn’t fun till Jackie Robinson played. Jackie Robinson was the first Black American to play baseball in the MLB in the United States. Jackie Robinson was an all star and did make the game of baseball more fun to watch and play. Jackie Robinsons struggle with racist people was real and harrowing. He and his family endured what no one should and there story was not particular for their family. Many Black Americans endured this racism in America at the time and still do today.
Diversity is important, necessary and lacking in almost all parts of society. Racial and cultural diversity make everything better. To think that anyone would argue against diversity seems like lunacy however I watched the leadership in the United States argue against diversity on the United States Supreme court.
Without diversity a home, neighborhood, nation, world, and eco system will collapse. When you stand among the racists and commit hateful acts you destroy not only the ones you are commiting hateful acts toward but you also destroy yourself.
I am going on vacation soon and I woke up this morning thinking it was Thursday… It is not it is Wednesday. The self talk invaded and the words it’s only Wednesday invaded my mind space. I thought about what I needed to do for the day then week and then I decided to try a mental experiment and changed my self talk to “It’s already Wednesday?” from “It’s only Wednesday.”
I got to tell you this experiment has helped inject energy into my day and seems to be doing the trick. The feeling of perennial minutia has been replaced with the can do attitude and now I almost am hoping for a little more work time so that I can get some things done before vacation.
I had an English professor who spoke about the power of words. Words matter, and they can and do make a difference, even the words we speak within ourselves.
So the other day, because I obviously hate myself, I was “doom scrolling” through my Facebook feed and ran across a post that really made me upset and I didn’t know why. The post was a phrase with a yellow background. The phrase was; “Common sense is not a gift. It’s a punishment… because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.”
This phrase just sat so bad with me for days reading it still makes me cringe. I just am not a fan of it. I am not a fan for a few reasons.
It is simply not true: Common sense is not at all a punishment. Common sense can and is used to help us and others survive and often thrive. Even if we find ourselves in situations where others are not exercising common sense.
It is a negative judgment: I grew up and was almost always one of the smallest. I did not hit my growth spurt until I was in my early twenties. I grew up with a lot of judgement, I was literally sized up everywhere I went and I think that triggers me when I hear or see people pass negative judgement
It happened again! I arrived at my workplace on time only to stare at the door and turn around. I had left my keys to everything but my car at the house now I was late!!
The right morning routine will give you control over your day and set the tone, the wrong one or missed one… well that could leave you staring at a locked door upset and running late.
A few posts back I mentioned that I bought a Legend Planner. I get 0 dollars for this blog, no monetization at all but I am going to endorse this planner. The Legend Planner is a great tool for those of us who have amazing ideas and wonderful intentions. Big plans to get our lives together and set the world on fire. Dreams of grandeur will always be dreams until… you act on them and a very positive and good first act is to write them down.
After you have written down the ideas and crafted a plan give yourself deadlines for the lead and lag goals. Planning is no ones favorite thing to do but without it life can become pretty wild. What goals have you accomplished without planning and before you come up with some please realize that others have planned for you. If you were going to say that you graduated high school or college without planning that is false. Academia is nothing but planning for students by admin and support staff. If you are going to mention promotions at work I would point again to the abundance of planning by the various departments at your work place. Nothing happens without some and often copious amounts of planning. Imagine how much more you will get done when you craft a plan. Planning also helps focus our minds and get a clearer picture of our capabilities
Finally give your goals and plans timelines.
A Goal Without A Timeline Is Just A Dream
Robert Herjavec
Chances are high that you will miss the deadlines however you will learn why when you take an assessment and adjust the plan and new deadlines. Life is an infinite game however we can exercise some control through planning and setting goals for ourselves good luck and God bless.
Yesterday I got a card in the mail from my sister Ashley wishing me and the family a happy Easter this small gesture made me and the wife happy. It is amazing how far a small gesture can go sometimes!
In episode of 4 I interview a school psychologist and the conversation takes some turns, if you have time give it a listen. We talk about the task of teaching our children and I ask how can we help as parents and she mentions simply letting teachers know that they are appreciated goes a long way.
I love this idea because it is something I can do. I will be front and center at my next local school board meeting and letting everyone know how much I appreciate the teachers.
I can also do this for you, if you comment on this post with your name county and state I will make sure that the public school teachers know that they are appreciated and I of course encourage you to do this independently.
It is Tuesday and I am already off of my routines. There was construction going on at my regular route to the gym and work, my niece had her first softball game that I had to attend, the wife and I are in the middle of making a semi major purchase. I have more excuses about why I was off my routine on Monday and started to feel myself get off my routine for Today (Tuesday) but really excuses are….
Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness
Barack Obama
I cannot think of a better way to define excuses! However I can think of one time when excuses could be used to do more than nothing and cue the next quote….
The real man is one who always finds excuses for others, but never excuses himself.
Henry Ward Beecher
Instead of doing harm and tearing apart others when they fail to accomplish something lets work together to see what was part of the reason they didn’t get done what they wanted or needed to to.
When dealing with others listen to their excuses kindly and compassionately and help them, let’s not criticize. I have done my share of criticism, even criticism of those that I love and if I am honest criticism has never come from a place of love. I am not saying I did not love those that I was critical off I am saying that when I was being critical I was not demonstrating love for them.
Lets work hard to be the best we can be and help others become the best they can as well and you will find no help in making excuses for yourself or tearing apart other peoples excuses.
Happy Friday everyone or whatever day it is that you are reading this post. I am typing these words on a Friday and I feel like the song by the O’Jays titled “Living for the Weekend”. I plan on having a really good time downtown after work today I really do.
Let me just sit down And relax a minute Let me tell you about it
Aha, it’s Friday Oh ho, thank God, it’s Friday And I just got paid
Going across town Gonna pick up my lady Have a little bit of fun Just ain’t no telling Where I might end up
You might see me on the east side Ha, the west side I’m even going cross the bridge ‘Cause I, ’cause I, ’cause I hear They really get down over there
Owe it to myself (Well, well, I) Gonna party (Well, well, I) Gonna party
I owe it to myself (Well, well, I) Oh, party, party
I’m just living, yeah (Living for the weekend) Woo hoo, said I’ma (Living for the weekend)
I said right now, I’m (Living for the weekend) I said this evening (Living for the weekend)
For the next two days (Living for the weekend) Gonna have a real good time (Living for the weekend)
Gonna have a real, real Real good time (Living for the weekend) Gonna party hard, hard
Come on, y’all Let’s go downtown Come on, y’all Let’s groove, hey, hey
Monday to Thursday I’m dead on my feet Most of the time too tired to eat When I try to read the paper I fall fast asleep
But as soon as Friday rolls around I lay all my weekly burdens down I put on my glad rags And paint the town
Friday night alive (Living for the weekend) Said, I’m living for the weekend (Living for the weekend) Don’t stop when I party down
Party hard, party down Party hard, party down
Soon as on Monday Rolls around again I got to put all that Partying to an end
Got to solve that same old grind With those five day week Sometimes, I get frustrated Through the day, take off early And a cut in pay
At the time, I don’t really care Because I done took All that I can bear
Those are some amazing lyrics and I really do enjoy the weekends. I am beholden to no one (sort of) on the weekends and can spend my time with family and friends.
I worked at a factory a few times and experienced rigid scheduling, that was when I truly found joy in a weekend or days off. Later in life I took jobs that were less rigid in schedule and I still love weekends but I am finding some joy in my actual work.
I think that there is nothing wrong with loving weekends but if we are “living for the weekends” what is happening on the week days?
I have tried and continue to try to enjoy everyday and every minute week or weekend be dammed if I am breathing I am going to try to enjoy myself. I will always love that song and my weekends but I am going to also make it a point to love; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well and so should you.
Vision boards… I do not have one, however I am going to build one. Before you scoff and smirk let me tell you why. By the way I was told that a smirk is a smile directed at someone you dislike and I get it I am very unlikeable and Vision boards get and have gotten bad raps.
The biggest reason for the bad wrap of vision boards might be the motivation behind building them. A vision board is a collage of images that represent goals and dreams. Some people believe in the law of attraction and (go ahead and smirk now, I am totally fine with that) that believe is the motivation for their vision boards. I am skeptical as is most of the scientific community concerning the effectiveness or legality at all with the law of attraction. There is very little proof concerning the “Law of Attraction” it is a philosophy and belief not a proved science.
I am building the vision board so that I can visualize my goals and dreams . Visualization is essentially a proved science. There is neuroscience demonstrating the effectiveness and process of visualization. Visualization takes words and transforms them into a visible form, for example one of my life goals is to start a podcast, I drew a picture on my vision board of a microphone. Visualization works because seeing the image triggers brain activity. Seeing a goal in an image makes it more real and helps focus our minds. With a mind focused on a goal we can create and execute steps. Measure our progress with lead goals, and finally achieve our dreams.
You may have already set out goals for your life and are having trouble meeting them, don’t be discouraged create a vision board visualize the goals. You may have already achieved some of your life goals and have moved onto others, please comment and share your success I want to celebrate and hope you will inspire others
The Corrigan Encore 