Ferrari 458 Italia and thoughts on life

I am always excited when a new Ferrari comes out, and with their latest creation, I am especially anxious to get into one.  The 458 Italia is a fantastic looking car, and supposedly, an improvement on the outstanding 430.  Having driven the 430 on the track, the thought of the Italia being even lighter and more powerful leaves me salivating to take one for some hot laps.  They won’t be out until next year (and unless something drastically changes for me financially in that time, I won’t be buying one), but we have new pictures of the 458 on the home page of www.dadsworld.com  I hope to see one at the track next year, and maybe get the chance to get behind the wheel.  You can bet I will be writing about that right here on the Dadsworld blog when it happens.

In the past month I have had some very positive attitude changes.  The past couple of years have been tough on many people financially, and our family is no exception.  What’s been positive though, besides the birth of our beautiful daughter last summer, is that I have been forced to really spend some time thinking about life, career, family, my skills, my expectations, my self-confidence and how to replicate the success I had in the prior years. 

I remember a friend of mine many years ago telling me why he was so successfull.  I was in my early twenties at the time, and he was in his mid sixties.  We spent a lot of time talking and skiing together over a few summers, back when I was competing at the National level in competitive waterskiing.  He started with nothing, literally living on scraps barely surviving for years.  He then went on to start a trucking company in Idaho, and over time, he became a big success.  I asked him how he did it, with his very humble beginnings and meager means.  He said the following to me:  “I spend time every day just thinking.  I sit in my easy chair and just think about life and what I want out of it.  I don’t think very many other people do that.”   I believe that is very true.  Most people (myself included at times) just take life one moment after another.  People tend to drift with the wind, and are not very disciplined at planning and creating a blue-print for their lives. 

Recently I have gone back to thinking again.  Honoring our gifts is very important in achieving any kind of success, whether it be outward success (like financial success) or inward (feeling good about yourself and having personal power.)  It’s all too easy for us to be beaten down by outside influences, economic conditions and self-doubt.  We (people) tend to get into a comfort zone and have certain expectations, and when times get tough, we practically kill ourselves to live up to those expectations.  When we cannot, we become very depressed, lose our self-confidence and personal power, then it all snowballs from there.  But, just like a negative trend takes us farther down, a positive trend starts the snowball the other way.  What starts a positive trend?  The possibilites are limitless.  A book that sparks an idea in your head, an inspirational story of someone else, the dialogue from a movie, some positive or encouraging feedback from a peer, an intense experience, etc. 

I really think there is something to the concept of the univeral mind.  When I am in a groove with my business, and mentally thinking about how to improve it, what steps to take, etc.  the business improves.  When I am distracted with other things in life (financial stress, obsessed with sports, too focused on leisure time, etc.) my business slows.  Even if I go through the same motions, if my head and my heart are not in it, neither are the results.  It truly is amazing how success begets success and mediocrity and indifference lead to failure. 

I had to really think about and remind myself of what’s really important in life.  My health and my family.  As long as those things are in order, everything else can be brought into line.  When things seem to get really bad and you start getting down, orchestrate in your mind (or have a real experience) the emotions you have had when you did something great, or had a very intense or scary experience.  If you’ve ever had a near death experience you will remember the feelings you had when you realized you were going to live.  Thankfulness, relief, etc.  You valued life itself, not just the image of success that we all create for ourselves.

The only way to be tuned-in and in-touch with the universal mind is to do what my friend told me he did, spend some time everyday to just think.  Not read a book or watch television or take a nap.  Think.  Use your mind.  Over time, that’s certainly one of the keys to our success.

As a parent, there is a constant struggle to balance our work life and family life.  It’s tough.  But it helps to know that others are going through it too, and coming out successful.  I remember something the Brian Tracy once told me when I used to work promoting his business trainings: “No matter what circumstances you have, someone else had it worse than that and became a success.  You can turn any situation around if you really want to.”

Dadsworld.com wishes you the best, and we thank you for supporting involved Dads (and Moms) and being an involved parent to your kids.  Each of us needs all of us, and all of us needs each of us to be the best we can be.