You Can't Go Right From Wrong

What do you do if you’re typing along and see that you’ve misspelled a word? You recognize it and fix it. You back up to where the wrong letter is and you delete it. You eliminate if from the word you’re looking to have convey an idea that seems worth your time to even express.

Why? Because you can’t spell a word right using a wrong letter. Is the expression of your life worth less relative energy, thought and commitment than you give to a written communication?

First: Recognize the wrong (or what isn’t working) in your life.

Second: Eradicate that wrong (or stupid/destructive behavior) by replacing it with what it’ll take to get you to express what you really want in your life.

Third: Enjoy the benefits of right living.

Repeat.

RR

PS Or you can make it more difficult, time consuming and life defining.

The Uncompromised Rest

"It's easy to be hard; it's hard to be smart." the saying goes.

It's easy to drive yourself physically and not rest if there is so much to do. And there always is.

It's easy to think and think about your business and your plans and...and be on it all of the time. There is so much that requires your attention.

It's easy to always be learning and growing. It's the only lifestyle option you can see. You're either growing or dying, right??

Sometimes it's hard for the person committed to The Uncompromised version of their lives to slow, do downshift for a time. They see it as relaxing their standards. Life is all about seasons and cycles; rest is one of those cycles.

Maybe Monday is a perfect day to learn this lesson. Maybe Monday is the perfect day to not get in the fray but to instead sharpen yourself by taking the day off-no planning, no lamenting, no searching, no strategizing, no! Just shutting it down...

The Uncompromised respect the seasons in life.

Be your inheritance-The Uncompromised.

RR

The Truth Shall Set You Free

The other day I swung my shed door to close it-but it didn't close all the way. It looked closed but I could tell it wasn't quite closed. As I strode away--aware that I hadn't actually closed it, I began to try to convince myself that I couldn't be sure if the door was really ajar or... When I understood what was happening I became sickened that I was actually conspiring with myself to deny reality and do what was easy in the moment. (not go back and close the door. I know! How much more lazy does it get than that?!)

Food for thought. (No pun intended.)

If you eat crap you'll probably get fat and certainly be unhealthy.

If you don't exercise you'll always find yourself tired and, more than likely, carry extra beef with you.

If you spend your time with the unambitious you'll fail-a lot.

If you don't do what you know, you'll miss the opportunity to become what you could.

If you don't learn to put others first you'll learn what it's like to be miserable.

If you go through life longing for more and different but do only shades of the same, you'll guarantee yourself deep regret.

If you spend more than you earn you'll end up broke.

If you don't read and consider different points of view, you'll not only avoid wisdom--you'll befriend ignorance.

If you don't make your kids feel good when they are around you now, they'll learn to get along without you later.

These are just a few basic realities of life. We can convince ourselves that they aren't so but that has not affect on reality. We can decide we're too busy to address them but as the above reality based Ronald depicts, the realities of life and the realities from compromise and its predictable results will find you.

You are The Uncompromised--act like it.

RR

Wining is a Habit-So is Losing.

Life is expectations.

If you expect to win, somehow, most times you will. You'll win because your eyes, mind, ears and your intuition will persistently collaborate together to find opportunities, options and courses of action that others, committed to less than winning (hitting their goals), don't recognize and when they do recognize them, aren't willing to engage.

These are opportunities, options and courses of action that many see but appear too hard, require too much time, emotional, physical and/or financial commitment. To put it bluntly: The one who expects to win-who is willing to stake her/his existence upon a particular outcome will do whatever it takes. They create their quality of life and their legacy from how they choose to live today.

If you expect to lose, somehow, most times you will. You'll lose because your eyes, mind, ears and your intuition will persistently conspire together to find opportunities, options, and courses of action that those who know success, achievement and winning recognize-but deny.

These are the opportunities, options and courses of action that require effort (sometimes hard effort) that appears earnest and sensible, yet ensures defeat. To put it bluntly: The one who expects to lose-who has stake is in losing, must ensure losing to keep his/her reputation as that of a noble struggler. Too much success is a threat since others' expectations are then raised.

There is a vast middle ground, of course, where people spot their expectations, take commensurate action and experience corresponding results.

After reading this you’ll choose anew where to place yourself in life. Will winning or losing be your habit? Perhaps you’ll renew your commitment to some “acceptable” combination.

Time and results will tell.

Be Good – Don’t Compromise,

RR

Don't Feel Guilty, Just Be There

There is a sad stereotype of the guy or gal who is at work physically but longing to be with his/her kids--then once with the kids s/he is bogged down with thoughts of work and all that goes with it. This is the short of it but can happen between any area of life/thought.

There is a solution. It's called: Faithfulness

(Bear with me as I choose a gender to keep it simple.)

Over time, as our heroine's mind wanders at work to the point where she is no longer able to do the quality of work she knows in her heart and mind she is capable of, she'll make this wandering--this compromise into a habit and begin to medicate by watching the clock, daydreaming, surfing or... Now she's exacerbating the issue. Deep down she knows that she's not living in integrity and it's killing her!

Her demons go to work on her so she questions her worth, her trustworthiness and more.

So she goes home. As she kicks the soccer ball around the backyard with her kids, she's hit by the guilt that she's not getting the job done in her work. As she becomes more distracted by thoughts of her disappointment for not being more present and productive at work, others perceptions of her and her boss' perspective she inadvertently ceases her faithful execution of her role of mommy.

Now that scamming voice will give her hell for not living into her values or doing what she said she would with regards to being present with the kids or...

As she lays her head down at night, she doesn't rest easy as she contemplates her day of distraction. She has closed her day like she started it, compromising it through misallocation of her emotions and thoughts and efforts.

One more assault from the scammer has her questioning her capacity to do anything, to be effective at all that she has to do and...she peters off to sleep.

She might want to blame busyness or some other external force but the fact of the matter is, she needs to be at work when she's there, be with her kids when she is there and be in bed and rest in peace when she is there.

Simplistic? Dude, try again. It's everything. Try and be present at work over some time and then try and come home and consistently be fully present with your kids (or whatever you do post 9-5), try to let it all go and do what you're supposed to do when it's time to sleep.

It's true that it often takes practice to be where you are and be faithful to what you're called to do at any given moment. That doesn't excuse us from our need to do just that--be faithful.

Here Now,

RR

It's All Application

Who cares what you know if you won't do something with it?

• Applied knowledge is wisdom.

• Ignored knowledge is destructive.

• Denied knowledge is stupidity.

Since the problem in life is very rarely that we lack information, you can see the above three options for your choice in how to engage your life.

Doing Something,

RR

The Monday Mentality Gone Wild

Everybody is going to start working on something--Monday. Never today, never NOW! It's cliché and it's cliché for a reason.

The problem of course is that people are inspired to excuse themselves from far too many opportunities based on their skewed perceptions of when and what constitutes "good timing". Strung together, these bad decisions to wait, missed opportunities to act and little surrenders of initiative lead to a life of disappointment and forever hibernating dreams.

Let's look at this through the eyes of the sales person with the Monday Mentality.

Summers are like "the big Monday".

People too often think like school children and put off big efforts or new projects for September (think summer break). "I can wait and go after it in September" they say--without actually quite saying that or realizing they've gone into a mental and then practical holding pattern for 2+ months.

The Monday Mentality is more than an event though. It's a toxic way of living which affects everything and everyone around you.

So the year continues...

After the summer--if they can't quite go after it right away, in September, the keeper of the Monday-mentality limps through October, perhaps building a bit of momentum. That brings them to November--and certainly no one does business or gets into a big project around the holidays...better wait until after new years.

And the Monday-mentality is on the loose!

"Okay, let's admit it, everybody knows that sales are really slow in January and February. Let's retool or work on our plans or..."

"Let's be real, late March/early April is Passover and Easter; you don't want to bother people and their families now!"

...and then it's late June again.

There is opportunity--and success in all of its forms available to the woman or man who will stop with fairy tale seasonal excuses and get on with manually crafting their lives--NOW.

The kind of success we all want requires courage and a great dose of enthusiasm and sustained effort. Don't buy the compromise found in fairy tale excuses? You're designed for great stuff...

RR

Ode to Spain's Soccer Team--and us.

Saturday I went to Foxboro, Mass to see the American national soccer team play Spain's--who, by the way, just won The World Cup.

I'm still shocked at what I saw.

Spain won 4-0. That's not so hard to believe, I guess. What was shocking to me was the ease by which they won. It looked as if they barely broke a sweat while the Americans chased the ball all over the field never possessing it for long.

I was certain it would be a really great game. America's team isn't bad but...

Spain’s players were, almost to the man, masters. And playing like a team they created great results.

Being great as a team and masterful as an individual--and far ahead of the competition (if only your demons) requires:

• · A decision to be great
• · Caring more about your goal than you do your comfort
• · Spending time with people who are better than you at your chosen endeavors
• · A decision to never quit

We all have to choose where we’d like to place ourselves on the scale between mediocrity and mastery. Having witnessed the results of years of dedication and resulting dominance, I know I’m capable of more.

And you…? What is it time to stop messing around with and start hitting hard?

Toward Mastery,

RR

Mondays That Never Come

I just was on the phone with a client who impressed me so much. Her choice was a simple one but it's an example of the kind of choice that shapes the lives of The Uncompromised.

Many of you who know me, know that I've done the Insanity 60-day workout and that I rave about how great it is, the results I got and how it made me feel. I've told so many people about Insanity, I joke that I ought to be earning a commission on the number of people I've gotten to buy it.

Enter client X. Upon hearing one of my Insanity rants (no pun intended) she quietly decided to purchase it. On the Insanity calendar and in most people's minds, day one is Monday. That is...unless you really want what you open your mouth and profess.

What if you get the DVD's on Wednesday? Should you continue to eat as you have, put your first workout day in your calendar for Monday and then tread water for five days? That's one plan. But of course there is no magic in Monday--and for too many the Monday mentality is a poison, as too often Monday never comes.

How about this? Client gets DVD's and starts.

When? Saturday?

Why? Because she has integrity concerning her vision.

There, not only is no power in Monday, but is amazing power bound up in acting on the opportunity today. It's Tuesday; you are The Uncompromised. What will you do?

Be Good - Don't Compromise,

RR

The Dabbler's Lament

A paragon of endurance, Mother Teresa labored in the gut of Calcutta for decades giving everything she had to help the "poorest of the poor". She held the hands of lepers, applied medication to open maggot-infested wounds of the dying and held the skeleton-bodies of broken infants as they left this life.

She didn't seek attention, she avoided it as it took her from her what she knew to be most important: expressing love to all those who society was mindful to forget. The world sought her.

The dabbler's lament is elusive fulfillment. He knows that he ought to do things, whether for others or even himself, but he doesn't think in terms of self-sacrifice except as it serves his more immediate purpose. That purpose might be recognition to feel a sense of value, pity so as to dismiss his responsibility, guilt to better control another or the perpetuation of an image that needs occasional maintenance.

Having lost a sense of "mission", the dabbler needs to be seen. She survives on consciously created PR campaigns designed to have people see her a certain way. So self-absorbed is the dabbler that she's lost part of her humanity--becoming blind to the needs of those around her.

Chances are, you're neither a Mother Teresa nor a total dabbler. Reflecting on the dabbler's lament and the joyful life of a saint:

Where do you see you need to engage people differently?

Where is your "mission field"?

Though these examples are somewhat black and white...we still are forced to choose and live that shade of gray. I wonder what you'll choose.

Your Servant,

RR

Finding a Hero Amongst the Living

I like Booker T. Washington, Ben Franklin, Mother Teresa and a slew of other brilliant but long since departed people.

• I work to have Washington's dignity.
• I study and evaluate myself to gain Franklin's sagacity.
• I consistently look to give earnestly and generously so to imitate Mother Teresa's compassion in action.

Someone said to me recently, "You really should have some heroes that are still alive." I was first surprised by the truth of this observation and after I stopped laughing, I asked myself why I don't have any living 'idols'? Well after a couple months of reflection, I have an answer.

Though it doesn't seem really evolved, it was true. I found I was protecting myself from learning that someone I'd admired was really a scoundrel. I didn't want to find that I'd invested any part of myself emotionally in someone who had plenty of time and opportunities left to mess up. I liked the neat and finished product that a dead and revered icon provided.

By unconsciously and exclusively following the dead, I was denying the inspiration that comes in the practice of virtue in the living.

I'm happy to report that I'm appreciating the endurance of Dan Jansen, the perspective of the Dali Lama and the consistency of Ron Paul. I don't have to agree with each person's lifestyle, politics, or anything else. I can admire their application of virtue.

In whom do you see virtue? How will you imitate it today?

Following and Leading,

RR

Feeling Uninspired

You know, one of the things that I really like about the personal growth industry is that there is so much good stuff for helping humanity of varying perspectives. Another thing I like is that it's all geared to making whatever is going on better by:

• helping people recognize and enjoy what they already have.
• helping people to learn to appreciate and find the richness in "now".
• helping people find motivation.

Ironically, one of the things that can be so irritating about the personal growth world is its tendency to...always make things better, happy, inspiring...

You know, sometimes I don't want to be inspired. Sometimes, I'm confused and need to regroup. Sometimes I'm uninspired--and trying to manufacture inspiration over a tumult of other feelings can be a rip-off to experiencing other human emotions. There is nothing wrong with feeling sad. Maybe I'm a bit disappointed or lost...uninspired.

There isn't one of us who occasionally lacks inspiration. It's okay. If the there is truth in my words, let them offer permission to you to not be inspired today.

This too is uncompromised.

RR

Doing Something...

I've come to detest within myself the tendency to talk about, with impotent intention, what I want. I've been saying I want to be fluent in Spanish for 15 years and have heretofore done very little to substantiate my noble sounding professions. I've gotten my "feel good" by telling people and having them say nice things about my capacity and commitment to learn. Talk about compromise...

Enter the Japanese disaster.

After initial sickness over the seemingly never-ending disaster, I felt that same unsettled feeling I got whenever I hyped my desire to speak Spanish. We all get urges. Those who make a difference in their world (personally and globally) do something with what they know and what they know they must do.

There is so much I can't do but what I am doing is a 5k run/walk to benefit the Red Cross' efforts in Japan. What do you know you must you do in your life that you can no longer just talk about?

Doing Something,

RR

Here are the Run for Japan details followed by expectations:

• April 2, 2011
• 10:30 warm up
• 11am start time
• 11:30/12 Lunch -we'll figure something out...maybe pizza on the tall-handsome guy.
• Boxwood Park (Rotterdam) -right off of I-890 and less than 2 minutes from exit 25 of the NYS Thruway
• Goal $50,000. Yes it's an obnoxiously high goal.
• Make checks payable to "American Red Cross" and place the words "Japanese Aid" in the memo section. All funds will be directed to the earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts in Japan and the Pacific. Red Cross will send you a receipt for your tax deductible gift.
• No cash PLEASE!
• If you want to give toward this specific effort for Japan and can't make it--or you have any questions email me at: Ron@RonRenaud.com
• Email if you are coming or can reasonably say that you can vouch for x number of others coming. We need to know how many cinnamon rolls will be needed to soothe the famished runner!

Expectations:

This isn't a fancy organized run. It is a run with kindred spirits for the sake of recognizing our own blessings and good fortune while we give of our relative abundance to those who've lost much.

Be bold-dig deep and give as much as you feel compelled to give, no pressure. Well not too much anyway.

There will be no bibs -you're responsible to know who you are at the start and end of the race! That's a joke...

Sorry, no aid stations along the way but my wife and a few friends will be baking so it'll be worth your while to run back to where you started!

Winners? When you contribute to the betterment of another you win. You are cordially invited to come and win!

This isn't an event sanctioned by any running governing body. It's a 5k route that I've measured out with my car and regularly run with a pal--Scott, if you must know.

Please tell anyone and everyone you know! Let's do something special.

Peace,

RR

What To Do With A Crappy Blog Post

I think there are some greater life lessons in here. I bet you are a big enough boy or girl to extrapolate them.

If you write in a circle and can't unknot it... delete it.

If you don't know what you are writing and end up confusing yourself... stop and figure out what in the world you're trying to say.

If you're ready to press "publish" on a mediocre post... don't.

If you are trying to impress someone as you write... pause and let that go.

If you are busy trying to get your needs met as you write... call your mommy -then finish your post.

Just a Thought or Two,

RR

PS Where did the idea for this post come? The convoluted and wanna-be-profound post I wrote and deleted just prior to breathing this one out.

Sometimes You Have To Get It To Get It

42 floors, 809 steps, 100% effort until you collapse... Who wouldn't want to climb the Corning Tower? Once each year the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) puts the Corning Tower race on to benefit the people who are suffering with Cystic Fibrosis.

I'd done it two times prior to this year because, as the cliché goes: it was there. As I signed up, wrote a check to the CFF and scheduled it in my calendar I got thinking that I didn't even know what in the world CF was.

I read about it and became upset as I thought about how people suffer so. Well days, weeks and my upset quickly passed and last night was the race. I don't know my time but let me just say, I never stopped and climbed as fast as I could go. Good job, Ron! Thanks.

When I reached the top I staggered to an open space, collapsed onto my hands and knees and struggled for my breath for about 5 minutes. The dust (and ???) in the stairwells gets deep into people's lungs as they exert and creates havoc for for the competitors trying to breathe for a few hours to a few days after.

On my hands and knees, literally gasping for air, for those few minutes-I got it. CF creates severe symptoms including lung infections that make breathing difficult...oftentimes unto death. I knew I'd recover in minutes. Many will never recover.

Some runners will have just enjoyed their time, some will give more to CFF in hopes of a cure. Both are fine. I'm grateful that I was forced to pause-and in that moment connect a bit deeper, through my temporary suffering, with my own humanity and with those whose suffering will not subside so quickly.

Grateful for Health,

RR

How to Come Out of Hiding

My last post talked about people's proclivity to hideout and avoid working too hard, whether consciously or unconsciously, by doing things that look or even feel important but bear little fruit.

I got a couple of requests from readers asking, "How does somebody come out of hiding?"

Coming out of hiding...

Like most things it's more simple than we make it. So let's not get caught up (or hide) in working too hard to say what we already know.

1. Take a look around and notice what you are doing.
2. Get curious and rigorous; is what you are doing now what you want/need to be doing as you consider your goals?
3. Get help. Ask people for their help in discerning what you need to do to get where you're going.
4. Stop messing around. Whether from the help you received or upon your own review, when you know what you know, DO SOMETHING!
5. Be prepared for failure, learning and more and wiser action.
6. Be prepared for success and the need for more activity.
7. Be aware of nifty-sounding reasons to do something that is more about hiding than going after what you want.
8. Keep moving.

Of course this isn't exhaustive and misses the nuances of your situation but the main points shouldn't be missed. Be honest and willing to see truth, learn and do based on what you know.

Hiding is compromise of you at your best. That's not cool.

Be Good - Don't Compromise,

RR

What is it...?

I'm doing a run that will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in a month in Albany, NY. Nothing too exciting there. There are races that are run all of the time that benefit some worthy organization -as the CFF is.

This run is to the top of the Corning Tower, Albany's tallest building...42 floors and 809 steps. I woke up this morning wondering why I'm doing it. Sure, I generated some money for CFF but that isn't where I was looking this morning.

Why do I, and really many thousands around the world, do such events? The best answer I can come up with is to satisfy my competitive urge. Though I'm only racing me at this point, I guess I want to see what I've got in terms of my physical strength. But more...for me it's a test.

The test is mental. How hard am I willing to work for what I say I want? How much pain physically and more -mental discomfort am I willing to endure as I head toward what I want?

For me these events focus my mind and check my resolve. I know (as I'm sure many of the other competitors do) on the drive home if I did my best or if my sweat and tired walk provide a performance for me -and those who see me- to hide the fact that I didn't really perform when it mattered.

So maybe I race to check that I'm alive and engaged rather than "phoning it in" or posing.

What is your diagnostic tool to check on you?

Be Good - Don't Compromise,

RR

Patience and Polishing

I used to be a mason. I laid brick and stone; I plastered and poured concrete. It was messy, hard and sometimes downright painful work.

I remember though, that there would be occasions where I'd come 'out of the field' (off a job site) and into the workshop to do some more, fine work. One of the things I did occasionally was polish a stone countertop or the like.

Without giving a lesson on stone polishing, let me say this: It was fun, dignifying and very difficult in a different way. Working on yourself is like polishing a piece of stone.

The essence of polishing a piece of stone is that you have to use ever-decreasingly abrasive materials while increasing the speed of application so you can smooth and reveal the true color and shine in a stone -its identity of sorts.

Being the craftsman selected felt great but following through on the expectation of the finished product demanded dedication to a very high standard of quality and consistency not to mention the strength and persistence to carry out the task.

Isn't that like life?

Here you are the craftsman or craftswoman. Will you hold a high standard and patiently exert your strength and will to reveal your identity -the best of who you are?

Affectionately Bonded,

RR

Awesome Distinction

This isn't mine. A friend, Camilla Rogers, found it someplace and it deserves more airtime and credit to whoever made this incredible distinction.

If anyone knows who said it, let me know, I'll amend this post ASAP.

The short setup on this is that Camilla and I were talking about how people (to include she and I) can get caught up in pretending we're going for something rather than sincerely wanting and working toward it. Here it goes:

A DREAM - An adult synergy of desire, imagination, and expectancy. A dream has a subtext of maximizing who you are, and a supertext of becoming more than you are.

A FANTASY - An adolescent adventure in imagination without any real desire and no solidly determined expectation. The "guts" are missing. The potential manifestation is seen as a threat and a source of fear rather than something to celebrate as a source of joy.

Whoa,

RR

If Only...

If only I had more money...

If only I had more time...

If only I could get a new job...

If only the economy was better...

If only I was appreciated more...

If only I was understood...

If only I was in better shape...

If only things were more simple...

If only I wasn't tired...

If only...

Be Good-Don't Compromise,

RR