Purpose

January 12 2015

Who Can I Blame?

All day I’ve been blaming Comcast for my grumpy and sour mood. I’ve been telling myself it’s their fault. Today was one of the rare times I had paid for a webinar. Scheduled for 9am, I was up bright and early at 8:55 leaving me plenty of time to wake up my computer, log on, and begin taking notes. To my dismay, when I clicked the webinar link, I saw the dreaded message we’re all too familiar with: “Cannot connect to the internet at this time.” What? No!I quickly dialed 1-800-Comcast and spent the next 25 minutes pushing every button combination possible, and calling back three more times before I was able to speak with a live person. I finally was connected to John after I told the automated system to “Cancel my service.” Miraculously, my call went right through! Hint to customer service: work to keep me happy all the time rather than trying to save my business at the last minute.

“We’re doing some maintenance in your area so the Internet is down,” was the explanation. “Is that something that had to happen at 9am on a business day?” I asked. As we went round and round in a conversation that was obviously going nowhere, I began to get frustrated and mad. I didn’t blame John, but explained that his company just screwed me out of my webinar. What were they going to do about it? Nothing.

I hung up in a grumpy mood and carried that weight around for a good part of the day. This afternoon, gazing at the beauty of San Francisco bay, I recognized how silly I was being and began to laugh at, and kick myself. Why would I let something as unimportant as this ruin my day? It wasn’t John’s or Comcast’s fault I was grumpy. It was mine.

We can’t always predict or control circumstances or events. The only thing we can control is how we react to them. My reaction was up to me and there was no one else to blame. I caused my grumpy day and, as I have many times before, re-learned that my attitude is all up to me. So go ahead Comcast, Best Buy, Verizon, and all the rest, bring it on. You can’t make me grumpy anymore!
What about you? Are you letting other people or circumstances dictate how your day goes? As William Henley said, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

Here’s to the captain in each of you,

Larry Jacobson
Your Retirement Life-Style Design Coach

Larry Jacobson is America’s #1 trusted authority on non-fiscal retirement life-style planning. He is the creator of the Award-Winning “Sail Into Retirement” life-style design program; developed based on his own Retirement Transformation Experience. He retired early and sailed around the world… in 6 years. Larry is a two-time TEDx speaker, and a regular speaker at Retirement and Life-Style Planning events. Larry believes only in teaching what he knows, and he loves helping his clients turn their passion into their dream retirement. If you’d like to explore inviting Larry to speak at your organization’s next event; or if you’d like to be coached by Larry, Click HERE to contact him!

If you haven’t downloaded Larry’s new Check-List, The Top 5 Retirement Life-Style Planning Secrets, you can do so Here!

If you have any questions about Retirement Life-Style Planning, you can send Larry Jacobson a message – Click HERE!

October 11 2014

Celebrate Your Weakness!

Larry Jacobson Passion, Purpose

This being my birthday weekend, and having reached an age well beyond that which I ever thought I would attain, and having fought many a battle with myself about some of my weaknesses, I’ve come to a conclusion: there are certain things in our lives we will always want. If those things aren’t too terrible for us, and don’t harm anyone else, instead of trying to paddle upstream for the rest of our lives, it may be more beneficial to give in. In fact, we can even use an indulgence or weakness to reward ourselves for a job well done.

I didn’t say I would give up completely at trying to overcome this weakness, but sometimes we just have to recognize the amount of effort put forth vs. the benefit gained. I used to feel guilty, but now I will celebrate my weakness by indulging on my birthday.

What’s your weakness? Can you change it? Improve your track record in overcoming it? Or is it better to just Celebrate Your Weakness?

Here’s to celebrating the little things in life that make us so happy!

Supporting you in your weakness,
Larry Jacobson

Larry Jacobson
Your Retirement Life-Style Design Coach

If you haven’t downloaded Larry’s new Check-List, The Top 5 Retirement Life-Style Planning Secrets, you can do so Here!

If you have any questions about Retirement Life-Style Planning, you can send Larry Jacobson a message – Click HERE!

August 15 2014

Admit You’re Happy!

Larry Jacobson Goal Setting, Passion, Purpose

August is “Admit You’re Happy Month.” I’m not sure who decides these things but I like this one. Sometimes admitting you’re happy is easier said than done. Of course we want to be happy all the time, but it’s just not always in the cards. I look for tools and methods to help me in my ever-constant quest for happiness. Here’s one of those tools you can apply to your life today.

Less stress in your life allows more room for happiness, and we all have our own methods of de-stressing such as exercise, sleep, meditation, and chocolate (well, it works for me!). Did you know that pending big decisions also cause stress? And no amount of chocolate can help you make a big important decision (although in the name of science I continue to experiment with this idea).

My coaching clients often ask how I make big decisions. How did I decide to leave everything behind and spend six years sailing around the world? One word: Priorities. Because sailing around the world was my top priority, I was willing to forego my career, income, security, home, and identity. That was a strong top priority!

When you know what your priorities are, make your decisions and choices based on them. This will make your decision-making process much easier. Here’s how to do it. This is the same method we used on the boat to decide what had to be done before we could leave to cross an ocean. As you can imagine, we had list after list of to-do items and only by prioritizing them were we able to manage them all. So we categorized them as follows:

For example, having a working engine was an “A” or we couldn’t even leave the marina. Varnishing the woodwork sadly ended up in the “D” category. Now take this easy system and incorporate it into your work and personal life. What are your “A” priorities? Family? Money? Business? Health? Travel? Helping others? Becoming an entrepreneur? When you have your priorities in place, every decision you make should be automatic. And when you make decisions based on your priorities, you’ll have much less stress because you know you’re making the right decision. So if losing weight were an “A” priority, I would guess that vodka and chocolate would be in your “D” category. I know, that’s a sad example isn’t it?

Easier decision-making based on your priorities will reduce stress in your life. Reduced stress will increase your happiness. Now, join in celebrating August as “Admit You’re Happy Month!” C’mon! Admit it!

To Your Success and Happiness!

Larry Jacobson
Your Retirement Life-Style Design Coach

If you haven’t downloaded Larry’s new Check-List, The Top 5 Retirement Life-Style Planning Secrets, you can do so Here!

If you have any questions about Retirement Life-Style Planning, you can send Larry Jacobson a message – Click HERE!