Did you take the test? How hard did you make it? Did you pass it?  Life isn’t about taking it easy, especially on yourself. There are not superior rewards for mediocre performance. If you failed any of your tests this week, I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. It very well could be Read more

A leopard doesn’t change its spots, or so says my friend Louis all the time. I think that tells us that if we want to change you need to go from being a leopard to being a crow, or being a trout, or a chetah… anything other than a leopard. That is in fact what Read more

Scary thought? Can you imagine, running into people from your past that you really don’t want to have to face because they don’t think well of you?  What crossed your mind when you saw last week’s exercise?  Most of us, yes including me, have skeletons in our closet. There have to be people in your Read more

Reality check. Time to start taking inventory of how you have leveraged the lessons and exercises to make a better version of yourself.  Your challenge last week was to figure out what having all three spirits alive within you means to you, to list out what you have learned, and identify what new skills you Read more

“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends.” then we read “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.”  One of the questions you were asked to answer last week was to take something relatively significant that has happened in your life while you have been following along this blog and evaluate how you Read more

Your assignment, force yourself to be objective and observe your interactions with others. I hope you found some error in your ways. I really was after having you discover that you are too fast to assume you are right and the others are wrong. Did you find that you are quickly judgmental and assume the Read more

I am not a very social person. I have a fairly small social network. I know the handful of friends I have fairly well. What I don’t do well is keeping track of birthdays. I just don’t track that except for my brothers. I usually send out a text to them on holidays. Given that Read more

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin “If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom. ” Dwight D. Eisenhower “If money is your hope for independence, Read more

Ignorance is bliss. Is it really? If you think that, like an ostrich, that you can stick your head in the sand and pretend that issues are not there, then maybe ignorance is bliss. If you close your eyes, do the issues go away? Maybe you just don’t want to see what is in front Read more

“I feel like I lost a piece of myself.” Ever say that or hear someone say that? For you to get to your best you, you will need to go through a bit of addition adding new, and old, pieces as well as getting rid of pieces that don’t align with the best you. Last Read more

You are defined by what you do and what you don’t do.  Not doing some things are good: not breaking the law keeps you out of jail. Not eating poorly keeps you healthy.  Last week I asked you to challenge yourself and think about what you are not doing because not doing things also has Read more

Why don’t people like you?  It was harsh for Scrooge to have to hear what people really say and think about him.  Last week’s exercise was for you to put yourself in Scrooge’s place.  You were asked to think about what others may say about you; why people would not like you, not respect you, Read more

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” This quote is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emmerson but it is slightly off of what he actually wrote.  Spot-on regardless.  How glaring was the contrast between what you say you value and what you actually do?  As usual, if you tell me that you didn’t really see Read more

Turn down these voices, inside my head… recognize the lyrics? Know the song?  Do you find your own words echoing in your head? Maybe you dwell on what others said? Did you ingrain the life lesson from last week into your psyche?  The best way to guarantee the future is to create it… and that Read more

Never complain, never explain.  I absolutely loved the scene in Saving Private Ryan where the soldiers talk about griping. The scene includes:  “I don’t gripe to you, Reiben,” Miller explains. “I’m a captain. There’s a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me. I gripe to my superior officer, Read more

Sometimes, you need to say something more touching than a simple thank you.  Last week we were talking about the comment “There never was such a goose” as a way to express appreciation.   When the event is special, the comment needs to be pretty focused and well crafted. Think of how special a Christmas dinner Read more

What if you are the problem? Last week’s assignment was to look at how your actions, your behavior, your disposition is impacting others?  Have you ever had anyone tell you that you are the problem? Have you ever come to the conclusion that they were right? If not, then you ARE the problem. If you Read more

Did you head forth with your torch and spread some joy or hope in your travels?  What were your encounters like? Who did you interact with? If you chose people close to you like family, friends or relatives, did you feel like you were able to express kindness, hope or support that you have been Read more

When I started this blog, I wanted to be able to share with you some of the tools and resources I have found that helped me on my journey. I will update this list periodically. If you have any items you would like to share with your fellow Scroogers, please send me a message with Read more

“Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.” As best as I can find this is a rephrasing of an aphorism from professor George Santayana. I was stuck trying to figure out how to open up this week’s discussion around last week’s assignment and then this quote popped into my head. Read more