Oh no, another top something list. Ya, I am not a real big fan of them either, mainly because of the overuse and abuse of them with everyone trying to get you into their website. The title is designed to entice you. You are supposed to think, hmmm what's on the list. I better look. Unfortunately, the list often involves something the writer has decided on themselves as being the top whatever. The good thing about our foray into lists is that these five items can be life changing. We will leave highly useful topics like the top 100 private residential water users in Las Vegas (real) to the newspapers. You certainly need to use one of the items on our list when analyzing top anything lists. Can you pick out which one?
1. Develop a do it now mentality:
It does not matter what it is, just develop a do it now mindset. If you are walking to the bathroom and you see a sock on the ground, pick it up, do it now. Say to yourself, I do it now. I do it now. Develop this mindset because you will eventually start to not have to think about it, because you will just do it. You need to pay a bill, do it now. You need to empty the dishwasher, do it now. You need to get your work done, do it now. Think about it this way. The more you do leads to you doing more, and doing thing leads to progress.
2. Always do your best:
It does not matter what you are doing, just do your best. Do not worry about if your best is the best, just do you best. Give everything you do your best effort. It seams like a reasonable way to do things, don't you think? It does not take much looking around to see that many people are not doing their best. If you are looking for a job, writing a report, redoing your bathroom, making dinner, mowing the lawn, raising kids, just do you best. The funny thing about doing your best is that you can never feel bad about yourself, judge yourself, have guilt, or be critical of your actions, if you know that you did your best.
3. Be objective:
Objective is defined as being undistorted by emotion or personal bias. Subjective is defined as taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias. Objective could be thought of as being initially neutral or balanced when faced with a decision, assessing something you are reading or watching, or possibly analyzing an argument someone is making. Don't rush in and make an immediate decision on something without first removing your personal bias or the emotional aspect. An example of not being objective is subscribing to all of a groups beliefs because you are an ardent supporter of maybe one of its ideas. Nothing kills a person's credibility more than showing a lack of objectivity or balance on a particular topic.
4. Stop needing to belong and identity seeking:
You have everything you need right upstairs. Whether you know it or not, you are a wonderful and unique person, just as you are. You do not need a face full of metal, tats up to your ears, or the blackest or holiest clothes you can find to have an identity or be noticed. You do not need to belong to some loud and obnoxious group seeking some special privilege or supporting some overblown cause. You do not need the flashiest social home page or 500 friends. You do not need to be the king of the hill on some blog or website that spews one-sided nonsense on topics they really don't know that much about. You should just have the confidence and self-esteem to think on your own, be your own person, not be influenced by others, and to just like yourself. Say it out loud, and often. I like myself. You will find that the more you truly like and respect yourself, the more you will naturally avoid and not be interested in the items mentioned above. You might find when you like yourself more that you still like to belong to things, but this time, you probably won't have an overriding need to be right, listened to, or to try and slam your way of thinking down other's throats. You may actually be open to other people's perspectives, a true sign of a discerning individual. Your present level of awareness on a multitude of topics will change when you really like and respect yourself.
5. Avoid negativity:
I think, and I think some more, and I just cannot find a reasonable explanation to fill an otherwise bright day with the doom, gloom, and negativity of the news, from any and all sources aimed at us each day. I sincerely cannot think of one upside. What about being informed? Informed of what? For every tiny little piece of truly informative useful news that is produced, like knowing about an imported food recall, it just does not seem worth having to endure the other negative stories that proliferate the news. I can think of hundreds, possibly thousands, of other things that should be entering my head instead. There is a reason it is the way it is, just like there is a reason TV shows and movies are often the way they are.
News is a business. They need readers and watchers to sell ads. How do they get these people? Sadly, they need to seek out stories of hardship, negative events, cruel events, or anything else that might give someone a jolt, sort of like an addict would seek out a fix. I could not possibly be more supportive of any business's right to exist, including news outlets, but think about this way. Like the millions of other businesses selling a product or service, I don't have to buy what they are selling. I have analyzed the features and benefits of the news, and I do not find it worth a penny of investment. Back to belonging for a moment, you do not need to be a current negative events news junky to impress anyone. The people you should want to impress, are not impressed. I kind of take pride in being uniformed of the days news. You may not know it, but the damage to your mind by being programmed with the news 24/7 is tremendous. You just do not need it. Go without for one week and see if you don't feel more energetic, refreshed, and positive.
You need weather? Sport's scores? Go to places that provide only this information and not the rest of the stories you can do without, but don't stay long, because even they are focused on selling negativity to get or keep more readers and viewers. What gets the most headlines? The weather event that killed the most people, the athlete who fingered the crowd or was busted for DUI, or the celeb who was arrested or is getting a divorce. Thanks, but I'll pass.
You need politics? Does that brighten your day? The way I look at it, I am quite aware of who is promoting policies that are increasing the size of government, creating more dependency, ruining incentive, punishing success, and digging more deeply into people's pockets. I do not need to get an extra fill of it online or with the nightly and 24 hour news stations. I also already know who the news supports and promotes. If you were not aware, objective news is now an oxymoron. Well that does not sound very balanced of me to not hear the other side of issues. Unfortunately, with the nature of government we do not vote on every issue. So maybe the group I generally do not agree with has an issue I do agree with, I can't vote for a person or group because I agree with one issue out of 100. If I had a vote or say on each individual topic up for discussion, I would be very involved. Since I do not have an interest to get really involved, because there are things I enjoy more than trying to sway closed minded, biased, and non-objective people, that won't change regardless of what you teach them, I am just going to vote every two or four years. I guess that's all of the politics I can tolerate.
Every time you feel like sitting down to a newspaper, online headlines, a news program, think of something more useful to do with your time. There has to be something you can think of. Read a motivating and uplifting book, watch a biography of a successful person, or learn how to do something new. Start looking into that career or hobby that has always been in the back of your mind. Do something, but don't just sit down to some news. You are not being forced to buy what that business is selling. Nutritionally, you wouldn't start your day with a big bowl of ice cream and end your day with a large pepperoni pizza as you are dozing off. Your mind needs good nutrition too for proper functioning. Do you think feeding your mental hard drive with news first thing in the morning, while driving to work, on your Internet homepage, during lunch, on your way home, throughout dinner, and before you got to bed, is good for you? Like eating fast food every day, even though it may taste good for the moment, it is not good for you. GIGO. Garbage in, Garbage out.
I know it is highly tempting, but with regard to engaging in blog discussions on some of the more popular political blogs or news sites, do not waste your time. You are not going to change anyone's thinking on these sites, and if you think you are sharing or influencing the world with your views, it is in infinitesimally small number of people who will even see what you wrote.
I have found that many people on these sites are one of the following.
a. Bitter negative people with an axe to grind and who want to share their miseries.
b. People commenting from from other countries who don't really get what made America great.
c. Paid or volunteer commenters for action orgs, ultimately trying to get into your pocket.
I am sure you picked it out, but if you missed which of these you should be using when looking at anyone's top this and that list, you should utilize number three, objectivity.
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