Frey Freyday – Momentum

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff..)

One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals. Michael Korda
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If you have the guts to keep making mistakes, your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum. Holly Near
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Enthusiasm is the energy and force that builds literal momentum of the human soul and mind. Bryant H. McGill
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Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life? Tony Robbins
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Belief in oneself is incredibly infectious. It generates momentum, the collective force of which far outweighs any kernel of self-doubt that may creep in. Aimee Mullins

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When you’re that successful, things have a momentum, and at a certain point you can’t really tell whether you have created the momentum or it’s creating you. Annie Lennox
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Sometimes thinking too much can destroy your momentum. Tom Watson
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WORD TO LIVE BY:

[moh-men-tuh m] – force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events: the force as movement or energy build

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Let’s keep it simple (that’s the best way to build momentum too, isn’t it?)

If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do. Also, one reason so few of us get/do/become what we truly want is that we never direct our focus in a concentrated way. Most people wander or drift their way through life, never deciding to focus on or master anything specific.

In almost all cases, past failures and frustrations were actually teaching me things and laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living and being I now enjoy.

Therefore, if we want to direct and focus our lives, career, relationships, achievements, then we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently. It has been said that a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided. The path to success is to take massive, determined action.

So, even in simpler terms, just decide what it is that you really want, look for a model to emulate, focus on that “thing”, and start taking steps now.

You can take small, simple steps, now, today. Take pride and celebration in the successes and steps. Be happy even if you face adversity, make a mistake or fail, because that is a step in the right direction and even though it doesn’t seem like it, it builds momentum.

++I recall when I was unhappy with a number of things in my life – I first became aware of those things and honestly looked at myself, and I took responsibility for those things  – not always easy. Then I started to tackle one thing at a time. For my health, I decided to cut out diet sodas one week. Small but important. The next week I focused on cutting out sugar. The next week I focused on limiting bad carbs.

All small steps but I felt good as I had more successes. When I had a failure, I didn’t beat myself up, and neither should you. Guilt, shame, embarrassment isn’t useful and is just because  you’re assigning a certain meaning to something.

You failed because you’re human, just like everyone else. Ok, so what? Keep going. Now you learned something else about yourself.

After I did these small things over a few weeks – really nothing earthshaking – I found that I was feeling better for lots of reasons and I had these references of success. I build on them and added newer and bigger goals. More exercise, leaner healthier foods, etc.

Had I jumped right into all of it at once, or jumped into a big goal, it would have been possible but much harder. Since I build momentum I felt more confident and used that to keep me going. Don’t overthink it.

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Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.
So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from..

You say one thing about Millennials…….

You say one thing about Millennials. The data says another.

Apr 27, 2016

“Children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect their elders, and love talking instead of exercise.” 

“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age.”

Taken out of context, these sound a lot like the things people say about the so-called “millennials” today. But really, the first quote is commonly attributed to Socrates in the 4th century AD, and the second to Peter the Hermit, in 1274.

Older generations have historically despised the younger ones as frivolous, good-for-nothing, and responsible for ruining the world. The perception of millennials today is no different. One telephone survey found that 71% of Americans believe millennials to be selfish, while another 65% find them entitled. People make sweeping generalizations about millennials, ranging from how all they do is spend their parents’ money to just calling them flat out losers.

Replace the word “millennial” with any individual race, religion or gender and you’d rightly spark mass outrage. Somehow, though, it is okay to make sweeping generalizations about the largest and most diverse generation in American history, at 81.1 million of the population, born between 1981 and 2000.

Why is it this generation is painted with such generalizations? Why is it okay to pull one person out of a pack, like the New York Times recently did, and assume they speak for the masses? Are millennials really that different from previous generations, or are we just describing young adults?

As Patrick Wright, business professor at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina said, “From my standpoint, it’s not a generational thing. It’s actually a stage of life issue.”

With an endless supply of articles trashing millennials, we decided to take a closer look at the data to better understand real trends versus tired stereotypes.

As someone born in 1978, I sit in an interesting position where I’m close in age, but (by definition) not a millennial. More importantly, as a startup investor, I’m constantly working with millennials who are designing new products largely created for other millennials. My impressions are much different from those that put down this generation. Not only are millennial founders some of the most focused, hard-working people I’ve ever met, but also their products resonate with millions of users for emotional and behavioral reasons that don’t align with the generation’s stereotypes.

Let’s separate underlying shifts in behavior (urbanization, connectivity, education, the workplace) from traits that are more specific to location, economic, relationship or employment status. Most of the stereotypes they face are almost a decade old now. It feels overdue for us to take a fresh look at the reality.

Millennials are “the worst workers in the history of the world”

Rather than typecasting millennials as unmotivated, lazy, or disloyal, it’s crucial to look at the larger macro trends in play. Companies used to invest significant amounts of time training new employees. It made sense, because the expectation was that these employees would stick around for decades. Investing in new blood was a long-term bet that paid off over time.

According to Adam Cobb, a professor of management at Wharton, this began to change in the 1980s, when “you started to see healthy firms laying off workers, mainly for shareholder value,” as well as “cuts in employee benefits—401(k)s instead of defined benefit pensions, and health care costs being pushed on to employees.”

A Closer Look at Some Data:

• Jobs switching is a broader trend. In a recent study, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that Baby Boomers changed jobs just as frequently, holding on average of 11.7 different jobs between the ages of 18-48. Most of the bouncing around happened when they were young—from the ages 18 to 24.
• Millennials are more competitive than we give them credit. 59% said competition is “what gets them up in the morning,” compared with 50% of baby-boomers. Hardly the generation of slackers they’re cut out to be, 69% of millennials see themselves in managerial roles in 10 years.
• Millennials are more likely to comply with authority than their parents’ generation. 41% of millennials agree with the statement, “Employees should do what their manager tells them, even when they can’t see the reason for it,” while only 30% of Boomers and Gen Xers agree.
• Millennials are well prepared. Almost 70 percent of managers say that their young employees are equipped with skills that prior generations are not, around 82 percent are impressed with their tech savvy. Around 60 percent of managers say that the generation is full of quick learners.
• Millennials are the best-educated generation. The White House Council of Economic Advisors states that in 2013, 47% of 25 to 34 year-olds had attained some kind of degree after high school, while graduate school enrollment saw a 35% jump between 1995 and 2010.

Beyond compensation and opportunity, millennials are looking for a sense of purpose in the workplace. When they can’t find it, the new generation is taking matters into its own hands. A further study by Elance-oDesk—now Upwork—claims that 79% of millennials would consider the opportunity to work for themselves. Meanwhile, Babson College’s 2014 Global Entrepreneurship report claims that in 2014, 18% of Americans between 25 and 34 were either running or starting new businesses.

Millennials “Enjoy Living at Home”

While more millennials are living at home, they’re not doing it for the reasons you might think. Millennials are the first generation in American history that are projected to make less than their parents did, and they’re burdened with massive student loans. The financial crisis of 2008 had a disproportionately high impact on their economic prospects, just as many entered the job market for the first time.

A Closer Look at Some Data:

• Millennials want to own houses—when they’re able to. A Goldman Sachs report shows that for 40% of millennials, home ownership is extremely important, while for another 30%, it’s important, but not an immediate priority.
• Millennials get married later. The same report shows that in the 2010s, the median age of marriage is 30 years old, compared to 23 years old in the 1970s. Because millennials settle down and start families later, they’re also buying houses later as a result.
• Home ownership drop comes from migration to cities. It’s not just millennials—it’s boomers, too. As more Americans overall migrate back to the cities, the higher cost of urban living means that they’re renting too. The Harvard Center for Housing Studies reported in 2015, that “while households in their 20s make up the single largest share [of renters], households aged 40 and over now account for a majority of all renters.”
• Home ownership is tied to affordability. In cities where housing is more affordable, millennials are buying houses. In Des Moines, for example, “60% of borrowers who use a mortgage to buy a home” for the first half of 2015 were between the age of 25-34.

With greater economic instability, and high home ownership prices, it makes complete sense that millennials are renting instead of buying. The same goes for boomers moving back to cities. However, some indeed are, in fact, adhering to older trends. This is especially true of married millennials who either have or are expecting to have kids. The housing trend doesn’t have to do with age at all; it has to do with family status.

Millennials are “Financially Irresponsible”

Millennials are often portrayed as financially illiterate and naive, constantly living beyond their means. They allocate the majority of the money they have to cash, rather than stocks or retirement funds. How irrational is this though? Many millennials entered the workforce during the most pronounced downturn since the Great Recession. There’s been lots of volatility in the global financial markets, while interest rates are near zero. With this uncertainty, it is difficult to trust the traditional savings channels even if you ignore the $1.2 trillion of student debtthat needs to be paid back first.

A Closer Look at Some Data:

• Millennials are conservative when it comes to investing money.According to a UBS Study, millennials have “similar conservative risk tolerance tendencies as the WWII generation”—52% of their assets are cash. Even the older segment of the generation with at least $100,000 in assets holds onto 42% in cash.
• Millennials are ready to leave conventional banks. A Deloitte study on “Millennials and Wealth Management” says that 57% of millennials would swap their bank for a “better technology platform solution.”
• Millennials believe that technology is recreating the financial landscape. According to The Millennial Disruption Index, 68% of millennials believe that within 5 years, they’ll be able to access money completely differently, while 33% believe they won’t even need a bank.
• Millennial investors are socially conscious. Millennial investors are 2x more likely than other generations to invest in companies with a stated social or environmental impact.

As the above UBS and Deloitte studies point out, the financial crisis has had a profound effect on millennial faith in investing as a long-term rainmaker. At the same time the Deloitte study claims that “84 percent of millennials seek financial advice.” While the data might show that millennials are comfortable sitting on their cash for now, it also reveals that they’re on the lookout for technology-oriented solutions to investing and financial management. As the generation comes into its 30-trillion dollar inheritance, banks have a good reason to get nervous. As unemployment drops and millennials start looking to make larger purchases, opportunity opens up for new trusted institutions.

Millennials are “Deluded Narcissists”

One especially pervasive trope about millennials is that they’re inherently narcissistic, as documented by their attachment to their phones, their penchant for selfies, and their desire to share every aspect of their lives online. Toss this together with the hotly-debated “Coddling of the American Mind” debate, and it quickly sounds like a formula for a self-absorbed generation that cares more about their own image and well-being than interacting with their family or society as a whole.

A Closer Look at Some Data:

• Across the world, millennials are supporting older family members: In a number of countries, the net flow of resources is reversing direction for the first time in decades, from younger to older. Beyond the burden of student debt, millennials are taking on responsibility of multiple generations—and actively taking care of family.
• Millennials aren’t the exhibitionists you think they are: 50% of millennials say they keep their majority “real” selves private, and almost 20% say that none of their real selves are online. That time spent on their phone is less about projecting their own image and more about absorbing other content.
• Millennials engage with politics: 85% say keeping up with the news is at least somewhat important to them, while 69% read or watch news daily.
• Millennials care about causes, and influence each other to care even more. The Millennial Impact Report shows that 84% of employed millennials donated to charity in 2014—and 46% are more likely to donate when asked by a co-worker.

Millennials’ hyper-connectivity isn’t necessarily a symptom of self-absorption. Instead, it indicates a desire to be connected. The desire to be connected isn’t new, but the tools today make it far easier. For millennials, there’s evidence that connectedness breeds empathy. A Boston Consulting Group report shows that48% try to support brands that are actively socially responsible—and that recommendations from friends and family are far more likely to influence their purchasing decisions than with other generations.

Do you really know your customer?

These days, I see many businesses aiming to be the millennial solution. “Uber for X” has been replaced with “X for millennials.” While the opportunity to create new products and services hasn’t had this ripe of an audience for almost a century, over-generalization here can mean death to a new startup.

Part of what makes people go bug-eyed when it comes to millennials is that they’re so incredibly hard to pin down. Instead of focusing on millennials-at-large, it is critical for entrepreneurs to look more specifically at audiences and their particular need. Instead of trying to get x% of millennial adoption, focus on specific groups with specific pain. The best products are loved by a small audience before they’re liked by a larger one.

So, before assuming millennials are lazy, ill-informed narcissists, get to know your customers as deeply as possible. Understand the challenges and opportunities related to coming-of-age in today’s society. Understand the differences between being fresh out of college, looking for a more challenging job and settling down to start a family.

These realities are so different, yet they all get bucketed into the same stereotype. By looking a bit closer, you may be pleasantly surprised by the diversity and passion coming from today’s young adults. As the data shows, they are some of the most competitive, altruistic and educated people this planet has ever seen.

This article first posted in Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/valleyvoices/2016/04/25/millennials-and-their-destruction-of-civilization/#7fad2f363b19

Vacation Days

a good video about vacation days, also some cool effects

It is an advertisement, yet still a good message, and he has other good videos….

Frey Freyday- Visualize

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff..)

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Visualizing for Beginners… For those who want convenient parking spaces, unexpected gifts, or chance encounters with cool people:
First, think. Second, let go.
Visualizing for the Illuminated… For those who want a healing touch, world peace, or a new steady flow of cash, abundance, and happiness.
First, think. Second, let go.    The Universe/Mike Dooley

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I believe that visualization is one of the most powerful means of achieving personal goals. Harvey Mackay
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What I think a lot of great marathon runners do is envision crossing that finish line. Visualization is critical. But for me, I set a lot of little goals along the way to get my mind off that overwhelming goal of 26.2 miles. I know I’ve got to get to 5, and 12, and 16, and then I celebrate those little victories along the way. Bill Rancic
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Visualization – it’s been huge for me. Your mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. You can’t always practice perfectly – my fingers will play a little bit out of tune, or my dance moves might not be as sharp – but in my mind, I can practice perfectly. Lindsey Stirling
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Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose. Bo Bennett
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Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build. Robert Collier
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Make sure you visualize what you really want, not what someone else wants for you. Jerry Gillies
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WORD TO LIVE BY:

vis·u·al·ize [ˈviZH(o͞o)əˌlīz] – form a mental image of; imagine:

 

While visualization isn’t a value like some of the Words to Live By, such as “honesty”, I still know that it is a key Word to use in daily life.

(you can listen to a podcast here)

For a long time I wanted to visualize more often and struggled with it. I was always concerned I wasn’t doing it right and probably even held off because I thought I would ‘do it wrong’. Then I read one simple passage about it in a book and realized that any visualization is helpful. So I now try to do it often in different ways.

First of all, let’s all realize and agree about an example of ‘bad’ visualization: Worry. When you worry, you typically picture – or visualize – something going wrong, right? Well, guess what, you’re reinforcing that image in your mind. You are physically creating the chemical and biological connections that could make that negative thing more likely. I read once that “worrying in like praying for bad things to happen”. I think that society has taught us – especially my mother’s generation and many mothers in our country – that if you don’t worry, you don’t care. I know so many women that feel that worrying is a necessity if you have a family. Some feel that if you don’t worry, you aren’t as good of a mother. I say all that is wrong.

Visualizing is a form of praying, I believe. When we pray for someone that is sick or in need of help in some way, we want them to get better or find themselves in a better situation. We often pray for help and guidance in our own lives.

Visualization is very important. Regardless if you believe in the Law of Attraction, the Secret, or anything spiritual, there is so much scientific support for it. I think that schools should teach it. If you talk with any coach or athlete at a good college program, in the Olympics, or a professional athlete, they all use visualization. Arnold Palmer, Michael Jordan, entire teams of players. Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps was taught by his coach to “play the tape” each night and morning. That meant to play the mental tape, like a video, of him swimming and winning.

• Michael Jordan: used visualization to become arguably the greatest basketball player in history.

• Jack Nicklaus has won a record 18 professional majors and is considered the best golfer in history. He has described how he used visualization extensively to help him prepare and win at golf.

• Tiger Woods was taught how to use visualization and imagery when he was a boy by his father, Earl. Tiger visualizes exactly where he wants the golf ball to go. Tiger Woods uses visualization to become one of the best, if not the best, golfer in the world today.

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, five time Mr. Universe, four-time Mr. Olympia has not only used visualization for athletic success but also credits it for his success as a movie star: ”When I was very young I visualized myself being and having what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it.”

• Jim Carrey When Carrey was just starting out in Hollywood, he was completely broke and out of work. He decided to write himself a check for ten million dollars and dated it for Thanksgiving 1995. On the bottom he wrote “for services rendered”.  He would then carry the check around in his wallet and look at it everyday. Six months before Thanksgiving of 1995, he was paid ten million dollars for his work on a film. It wasn’t long before he became of the highest paid actors in Hollywood -earning twenty million per movie

So many great business people use imagery and visualization. They use it for business meetings, presentations, specific events and also for the big picture strategies.

Many people believe that we can attract things with our thoughts. You may believe that we are connected to God, the Universe, to the Source. Many people believe that thought is energy, especially a concentrated thought laden with emotional energy. Perhaps thoughts change the balance of energy around us, and bring changes to the environment in accordance with them.Visualization initiates or triggers the Law of Attraction, many say.

Others provide a different explanation why visualization brings results. It may come as a surprise to most, but the theory of “Maya” – Illusion, which comes from the eastern philosophies, provides the explanation. According to the Indian philosophy “Advaita- Vedanta”, which is called “Nonduality” in the West, the world is not real, but only an illusion, created by our thoughts.

Since most people think and repeat the same or similar thoughts often, focusing their mind and thoughts on their current environment, they create and recreate the same sort of events or circumstances. This process preserves the same “world” and status quo. It is like watching the same film over and over again, but we can change the film by changing our thoughts and visualize different circumstances and life, and in this way create a different “reality”. For us, it is a reality, though in fact it is just a dream we call “reality”.

According to vanderbuilt.edu, visualization, also called mental imagery is defined as
experience that resembles perceptual experience, but which occurs in the absence of the appropriate stimuli for the relevant perception  (plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/).  Whenever we imagine ourselves performing an action in the absence of physical practice, we are said to be using imagery.  While most discussions of imagery focus on the visual mode, there exists other modes of experience such as auditory and kinesthetic that are just as important.
One important thing I found in this study and others is that “There is no correct way to practice mental imagery.”

Scientifically, there is ample evidence that visualization can significantly enhance physical skill development and increase performance in many sports. There is even evidence that visualization of weight training can lead to significant gains in muscle mass and strength!

Neurologically, visualization invokes many of the same areas of the brain involved in the actual physical manifestation of the skill. Because of this, there are tremendous neural connections that are strengthened during visualization that are transferable to the physical domain.

Visualization helps with motivation and inspiration. Put simply, when you imagine something you then remind yourself of how good it will feel to achieve your dreams, and you become more so motivated to strive for them. This motivation allows you to take the steps needed to fulfill your dreams – and feel like fun along the way.

Visualization burns the mental picture, images, feelings and emotions into your subconscious mind – a very powerful tool. Once your subconscious mind latches onto an idea, it begins to work without you. It creates the belief. Your subconscious can effortlessly lead you to your goals, if it has a belief. Beliefs rule our lives. One day we couldn’t do something, the next day we could. One day we believed that we could not, the next day we believed that we could. Visualization helps us believe sooner, and helps us believe when we probably would never do so.

 

Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.
So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from..

 

 

Diet Sodas- beware!

I used to be a Diet Pepsi junkie – several a day.

Think about stopping it! I did and I feel better.

When taken at face value, diet soda seems like a health-conscious choice. It saves you the 140-plus calories you’d find in a sugary soft drink while still satisfying your urge for something sweet with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. But there’s more to this chemical cocktail than meets the eye.

It confuses your body

Artificial sweeteners have more intense flavor than real sugar, so over time products like diet soda dull our senses to naturally sweet foods like fruit, says Brooke Alpert, RD, author of The Sugar Detox. Even more troubling, these sugar stand-ins have been shown to have the same effect on your body as sugar. “Artificial sweeteners trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain,” Alpert says

It could lead to weight gain, not weight loss

Diet soda is calorie-free, but it won’t necessarily help you lose weight. Researchers from the University of Texas found that over the course of about a decade, diet soda drinkers had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference compared with non-drinkers. And get this: participants who slurped down two or more sodas a day experienced a 500%greater increase. The way artificial sweeteners confuse the body may play a part, but another reason might be psychological, says Minnesota-based dietitian Cassie Bjork. When you know you’re not consuming any liquid calories, it might be easier to justify that double cheeseburger or extra slice of pizza.

It’s associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes

Drinking one diet soda a day was associated with a 36% increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in a University of Minnesota study. Metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of conditions (including high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, raised cholesterol, and large waist circumference) that put people at high risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, Bjork explains.

It has no nutritional value

When you drink diet soda, you’re not taking in any calories—but you’re also not swallowing anything that does your body any good, either. The best no-calorie beverage? Plain old water, says Bjork. “Water is essential for many of our bodily processes, so replacing it with diet soda is a negative thing,” she says. If it’s the fizziness you crave, try sparkling water.

Its sweetener is linked to headaches

Early studies on aspartame and anecdotal evidence suggests that this artificial sweetener may trigger headaches in some people. “I have several clients who used to suffer from migraines and pinpointed their cause to diet soda,” Bjork says

It’ll ruin your smile over time

Excessive soda drinking could leave you looking like a Breaking Badextra, according to a case study published in the journal General Dentistry. The research compared the mouths of a cocaine-user, a methamphetamine-user, and a habitual diet-soda drinker, and found the same level of tooth erosion in each of them. The culprit here is citric acid, which weakens and destroys tooth enamel over time

It makes drinking more dangerous

Using diet soda as a low-calorie cocktail mixer has the dangerous effect of getting you drunk faster than sugar-sweetened beverages, according to research from Northern Kentucky University. The study revealed that participants who consumed cocktails mixed with diet drinks had a higher breath alcohol concentration than those who drank alcohol blended with sugared beverages. The researchers believe this is because our bloodstream is able to absorb artificial sweetener more quickly than sugar.

It’s associated with depression

A recent study presented at a the American Academy of Neurology meeting found that over the course of 10 years, people who drank more than four cups or cans of soda a day were 30% more likely to developdepression than those who steered clear of sugary drinks. The correlation held true for both regular and diet drinks, but researchers were sure to note that the risk appeared to be greater for those who primarily drank diet sodas and fruit punches. Although this type of study can’t prove cause and effect, its findings are worth considering.

It may be bad for your bones

Women over 60 are already at a greater risk for osteoporosis than men, and Tufts University researchers found that drinking soda, including diet soda, compounds the problem. They discovered that female cola drinkers had nearly 4% lower bone mineral density in their hips than women who didn’t drink soda. The research even controlled for the participants’ calcium and vitamin D intake. Additionally, a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that cola intake (all kinds, not just diet) was associated with low bone-mineral density in women.

It may hurt your heart

Just one diet soft drink a day could boost your risk of having a vascular event such as stroke, heart attack, or vascular death, according to researchers from the University of Miami and Columbia University. Their study found that diet soda devotees were 43% more likely to have experienced a vascular event than those who drank none. Regular soda drinkers did not appear to have an increased risk of vascular events. Researchers say more studies need to be conducted before definitive conclusions can be made about diet soda’s effects on health.

 

Criticize Yourself Much? — Be Inspired!

Often we can be our own worst critics. Sometimes we say things to ourselves that really hurt. We judge ourselves harshly sometimes. We do not thrive when we are critical – of ourselves or others. Criticism is a type of verbal poison – it poisons our spirits. It poisons other people’s spirits. Criticism and judgment are ways … Continue reading Criticize Yourself Much?

via Criticize Yourself Much? — Be Inspired!

Frey Freyday – Meaning

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff..)

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We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile. Earl Nightingale
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Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. Benjamin Franklin
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To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering. Friedrich Nietzsche
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I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value. Hermann Hesse
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Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner. Les Brown
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For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment. Viktor E. Frankl
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WORD TO LIVE BY:

Meaning – [mee-nin]- the end, purpose, or significance of something

 

Lots of things ‘happen to us’ in life. Illness, loss, death, pain sorrow. There are also lots of events each day that come our way, small and big; traffic, business, bills, and other responsibilities.

 

Events happen, things happen, how we react to these things is a big deal. The meaning we give to these things makes a difference.

 

Sometimes we label an event as bad or good. Sometimes that’s not really fair or accurate. Often we need time and perspective to look back on things in our lives. Sometimes that thing that happened seemed like a bad thing for us but after all, it turned out to be good for us.

 

Put simply, it isn’t the events, situations, or circumstances of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean….it is the meaning we assign to the event that makes the difference.

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Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.
So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from..

 

Suggested reading; Man’s Search for Meaning

By Viktor Frankl

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”)-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

 

 

Three Critical Steps to Become a Better Storyteller

By Bo Eason

The more personal your story is, the more personal my story is, the more universal it becomes, the more affect you have over here. So you’re saying, “Who’s going to care about what I’ve done?” Everybody. All your moneymaking ability lies right there in a little golden pot in your story. All your leadership qualities lie in one little spot—your own personal story.

I was in London recently giving a speech to the top 100 financial advisors in Europe. Another guy was with me who runs this company called Oxford Analytica, which has 200 think tanks throughout the world. Our president gets briefings on his desk every morning from them because they look at where potential threats are coming from. The advisors are interested in what he has to say because they want to know about threats to the financial markets. So this guy from Oxford Analytica is watching me talk and he’s like the opposite of me. He’s got glasses and he’s smart. He’s putting up cool numbers and charts. The information he was giving was striking. After he got finished, he approached me and said, “Bo, can I talk to you?” I said, “Yeah.” He goes, “Do you know all that stuff you were talking about, people’s personal story being the most important thing for everybody going forward?” I said, “Yeah.” He said, “Do you know that you are right?” I said, “Cool, because I was kind of hoping I was right.”

For me, it’s just an instinct. It’s instinctual to me to share myself so that other people can share themselves. He goes, “No, no, you’re absolutely right and I’m going to send you the analytics behind what you’re saying.” I said, “Cool. Send them on.” So the information he sends me is this study of leadership from Julius Caesar during the Roman Empire to the 2012 U.S. presidential election. People like Lady Gaga and Madonna were included too so it wasn’t just political leaders.

They came up with 3 things, or qualities, that these leaders had to have and they all had it. Guess what No. 1 was? The No. 1 quality from Julius Caesar to today is the ability to tell your own story. Otherwise, people don’t know how to latch onto you. It’s just connective tissue that you’re putting out for your audience.

Whether your audience is one or 10,000, you have to lay out yourself so they know what to follow. If there’s one thing we’re lacking in this world, it’s leadership, correct? I was doing a training in San Diego and somebody goes, “Bo, who do you look up to as a leader?” I was totally caught off guard. I didn’t know. I love leadership. I follow it. I want to be a leader and I want to be led. And I couldn’t think of one? Times are changing. That is our job. That’s all this is—this is leadership based on your personal story because you can’t lead from anywhere else. You can’t lead through what you learn in a book. You’ve got to lead from the miles you’ve already walked, what your eyes have already seen, that’s all you’ve got. It is the most powerful thing that you’ve got. It is the key to the kingdom—your story. Get used to it. Surrender to the fact that your story is the most powerful and the most valuable thing you’ve got, bar none.

No. 2: Physicality. You have to be physical in a world that has lost itself. We’ve spent two generations in an Information Age. We are fabby. We are fat. And we can’t communicate, especially with our bodies. When I’m speaking, you believe about 50 percent of what comes out of my mouth. That’s just what we do as humans. We pick and choose what to believe when people talk. But you believe this body 100 percent of the time because the body can’t lie. This is the most crucial thing that you have to do. To tell your personal story, you have to physicalize the sucker—ultra present, that’s who we are but we’ve gotten so far from our own nature that we’ve turned into these little communication beans trying not to take up too much space and using garbled voices.

Jean-Louis Rodrigue, my longtime movement coach, was fascinated by this tribe that lives among lions and tigers, yet no one ever gets eaten. He couldn’t get the tribe out of his mind. He wanted to see what they looked like, how they moved, what their physicality was like to understand why they don’t get eaten but others do. So he goes and lives with them and brings back pictures and videos to performers in Hollywood—actors, cellists, pianists, gymnasts—and shows them how the Nuba tribe moves. They move like I move—alive, awake, nothing gets by them. Dangerous. Al Pacino told me one thing: “I wish the stage were a tightrope so that only the brave would enter.” He’s right. There’s a lot of danger on stage.

I played in the NFL against the biggest, baddest dudes on this planet. Not scary, kind of cool, right? I’d hit them. BAM. Not a problem. But up here, it takes everything I got. Do you want to watch somebody up here who this is easy for? It’s not courageous. There are nervous speakers and there are liars. But nervous is a bad word. Nervous is love, is alive. It’s TNT. It’s energy. It’s power, if you put it in the right place. You’ve got to inform your body of how to express itself in a world that won’t do it. The one and only promise I make to the people I work with is, if you do what I say and what the Nuba tribe does, nobody will be able to look away from you. Imagine that power.

No. 3: Generosity. Maybe the most important, and I’m not talking about whether you’re a good tipper or give a lot of money to charity. I’m talking about the art of giving all of one’s self all of the time. Imagine a world that looks like that. That world ain’t happen and that’s up to us. There’s very few of us in here if you think about it relative to what’s outside those doors. Somebody’s got to take the torch and lead it and that person has got to do what? What’s the No. 1 thing that a leader has to do? Have the ability to tell their own story and physically express it. Then give with generosity, and I’ll give you an example of generosity and what I mean through story.

I played for the Houston Oilers for four years. I played against a guy named Jerry Rice. He played for the San Francisco 49ers. Jerry Rice is the greatest football player ever to play the game. He’s got so many more touchdowns than the guy in second place that no one can even get close to him. I used to play directly against him. Then I get traded to the San Francisco 49ers so now me and the greatest football player in the history of the game are on the same team. So it’s the frst day of training camp—remember that we’re talking about generosity. I had a deal with myself all my life, a little contract that I made since I was a little boy and it was that every time I practiced on a court or on a field or in a gymnasium, I was going to be the frst one on that surface and I was going to be the last one to leave that surface. I kept it up 20 straight years until I got traded to the San Francisco 49ers. So it’s the frst day of training camp, I come walking out of the locker room early, first guy out. I’m walking out to the field, I look over and who’s out there? Jerry Rice. It doesn’t make sense, does it? The greatest football ever is out there before me? An hour later, everybody else is out there. There are 100 guys out there all trying to make this team. Jerry Rice and I are veterans. We don’t need to work hard. We’re going to make the team. We’re going to do training camp at half speed. Don’t get hurt. Don’t do anything wrong. Stay safe. All these other rookies have to hustle to make the team. So we’re in warm-ups.

There’s a line of 16 receivers. Jerry Rice is one of them and Joe Montana, the quarterback, is throwing them the ball to warm up. So the first guy gets up, Joe snaps the ball, the guy takes off at half speed, catches the ball, stops, walks back to Joe, hands him the ball and gets back in line. Next guy up does the same thing: runs at half speed, catches the ball, stops, walks the ball back to Joe and gets back in line.

Now it’s Jerry Rice’s turn. Whoosh. He takes off at full speed. Bam. Catches the ball. Boom. He runs 100 yards. GONE. We’re all like, “Where’s he going?” I’d never seen anything like that. He ran all the way to the end zone, turns around once he gets to the end zone and runs all the way back, full speed, hands the ball to Joe and gets back in line. Next guy gets up. He runs at half speed, catches the ball, stops, hands the ball to Joe and gets back in line.

When it’s Jerry’s turn, he does the same thing over and over and over and over. He must have run 10 miles worth of sprints. I’d never seen anything like it. At the end of this 3-hour practice, I had to go talk to this guy. So at the end of practice I go over and say, “Hey, Jerry. What’s the deal with that, man? What’s the deal with all that running? Why do you do that?”

He goes, “Oh, Bo. It’s very simple. I do that because every time these hands touch a ball, this body ends up in an end zone.” There are no accidents. This guy has put his body in an end zone more than anyone in the history of the game. That’s what I call generosity. That is pure spirit, pure physical expression of his life. Now he could do that anywhere. If he were on a stage, he would do the same thing.

A couple of years ago, my wife came running into our bedroom saying, “Bo, guess what? Your ex-teammate Jerry Rice is going to be on Dancing with the Stars.” What do you think I said? He’ll win. And he did. He’s not even a good dancer. But he gives of himself what I’m going to ask of you. Your personal story holds the keys to your life. Everything lies right there. Your health, your money, your influence lies right there in the palm of your hands. All we’ve got to do is get that sucker out of you and into the world.

Three Critical Steps to Become a Better Storyteller By Bo Eason © 2015 The Bo Eason Experience. All rights reserved. • BoEason.com • 310.562.4808

http://boeason.com/

Frey Freyday – Humor and Laughter

(Frey Freyday is simply a bunch of inspirational, motivational and other quotes meant to make you think, reflect, smile, even laugh a bit. Hopefully helpful, useful stuff..)

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I live in a neighborhood so bad that you can get shot while getting shot. Chris Rock

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My name is Adam Sandler. I’m not particularly talented. I’m not particularly good-looking. And yet I’m a multi-millionaire. Adam Sandler
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My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you’re ugly too. Rodney Dangerfield
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I don’t accept the status quo. I do accept Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. Stephen Colbert
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People say New Yorkers can’t get along. Not true. I saw two New Yorkers, complete strangers, sharing a cab. One guy took the tires and the radio; the other guy took the engine. David Letterman
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There is no such thing as an impartial jury because there are no impartial people. There are people that argue on the web for hours about who their favorite character on ‘Friends’ is. Jon Stewart
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Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you’ve got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn’t your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash. Jerry Seinfeld
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My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the hell she is. Ellen DeGeneres
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Trying on pants is one of the most humiliating things a man can suffer that doesn’t involve a woman. Larry David
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Oh, you hate your job? Why didn’t you say so? There’s a support group for that. It’s called everybody, and they meet at the bar. Drew Carey
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A day without sunshine is like, you know, night. Steve Martin
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If my father had hugged me even once, I’d be an accountant right now. Ray Romano
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Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. Jim Carrey
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Yeah, I think that’s sort of the American way. And it’s also the Polish way, it turns out. Bill Murray
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If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. –

If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs. Tina Fey
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Thank you… fantasy football draft, for letting me know that even in my fantasies, I am bad at sports. Jimmy Fallon

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THE BIG YELLOW ONE IS THE SUN!!!  Brian Regan
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Laughter heals all wounds, and that’s one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you’re going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing. Kevin Hart

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My mother and father were very strange people. They tried to be funny which is always very sad to me. Jonathan Winters

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He who hesitates is poor. Mel Brooks
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Carpe per diem – seize the check. You know the difference between a tornado and divorce in the south? Nothing! Someone is losing a trailer. Robin Williams

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You know what it’s like having five kids? Imagine you’re drowning. And someone hands you a baby. Jim Gaffigan
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I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down’. Bob Newhart
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Some people say funny things, but I say things funny. Don Rickles
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When I was a boy, I laid in my twin size bed, wondering where my brother was. Mitch Hedberg
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I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where’s the self-help section?’ She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. George Carlin
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My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don’t really know me. Garry Shandling
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WORDS TO LIVE BY:

Humor – [hyoo-mer or, often, yoo-] – a comic, absurd, or incongruous quality causing amusement:

Laughter – [laf-ter, lahf-]  an inner quality, mood, disposition, etc., suggestive of laughter; mirthfulness:

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You must have a sense of humor in life, God sure does.

Life is better, easier, funnier with a sense of humor.

A sense of humor always made me laugh.

I smile more when I laugh.

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Dedicated to my parents, Jim and Joan, who put humor and laughter in my life.

(and Happy April Fools Day!)

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Frey Freyday was actually born out of something I created called “Words To Live By” (WTLB). Going forward, I will now not only share the quotes, as you may be used to receiving, but also a related (WTLB). In 1999, when we had our first daughter, I was contemplating how I would raise my new beautiful child, and I was thinking about how I can best educate her and my other children about values, morals, and other key thoughts about life. School offers education. Religion offers some values and morals. Parents offer most of it, sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally.
So I created a (WTLB) book, like a dictionary, which lists things like honesty, love, persistence, etc. with a definition that I created, with my wife’s input. I then turned it into a workbook with one word per page and space below for notes. For years we would discuss with my two daughters and they would draw pictures and make notes in the blank space. I may share some of those images with you. As they got older, they were less inclined to draw and more open to quotes and references from adults, hence where Frey Freyday came from..

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