2022 July 19 Decide to try for the dangerous decisions

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website by, for and about Baby Boomers. Thanks for joining me tonight. Basically, thinking about your way into success. So let's get started first, a little segue though. Tonight I'm running a little late, and it's actually for a funny reason, because the topic I was talking about tonight was actually so much fun that I lost track of the time.

What could be better than working on something that you think is really so interesting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. We've been on the theme for a few weeks now, envisioning your future and then living into your vision to find a life of fulfillment. I also tend to often look at it from the perspective of someone who is older, just by nature of my audience and what we're all about at 7EveryMinute, targeting Baby Boomers and people at that age, in their fifties and sixties. 

So today I was speaking with a good friend, and had a chat about that old truism that the only way to guarantee failure is to not even try. I find that a particularly powerful statement and reminder, in many different situations, of how we often self-sabotage ourselves.

In this case, it was related to someone obtaining some government documents, but on a tight schedule. If you listen to that keep-yourself-safe voice in your head - you probably started too late, in this case. So rather than risk failure, you just don't even try. Why bother to call the government?

Why bother to try and get the stuff because it's just too late. Everyone will agree with you that you probably wouldn't have succeeded. And your inner self won't have to deal with the potential failure. But in this case, it was someone in their twenties, and already by that early age, they'd be conditioned by society to not even try, to take the safe choice.

But the road of a full life is filled with these dangerous decisions. Remember, as we talked about before, the very inner part of your brain is wired to keep you safe. Not to have breakthroughs, not to be more today than you were yesterday, but to keep you safe. 

The easiest way to do that, to keep you safe, is to do the same thing today that you did yesterday. Because if you're here today, then yesterday obviously must have gone at least okay. The problem with that, is it assumes for one thing that today will be the same as yesterday, that yesterday's solutions will work for tomorrow's challenges. To quote one of my mentors, James Wedmore, what got you here won't get you there. 

We, and the world around us, are constantly changing and evolving. That means that we, whether we're young and just learning about the world, or we're older, and we think we've seen everything - we still have to also change. Which of course, comes right back around to goals and aspirations.

Of course it does. Setting good goals and envisioning the outcomes we desire, needs to be a lifelong activity. When we were younger, having good goals would help us prepare for our older years, the next job we were gonna get, whatever was the next thing that we're looking at. Now that we're older, setting good goals will still keep us motivated and engaged.

There's a lot of research going on in things, non-medical things, but behavioral things, that can affect the likelihood of Alzheimer's. Things that goal things like goals, physical activity, having meaning, all appear to be very beneficial in helping to stave off Alzheimer's symptoms and to some degree, the condition itself.

A lot happens when you actually set a goal for yourself. Suddenly your mind and your body have a reason for doing things. It's really very important. It's more than just I wanna get something done, so I should set a goal. When you have goals, you have meaning in your life. When you have meaning in your life, your whole body chemistry changes. We're going to have a whole different talk about that probably one of these days. 

When you get to these points where you want to just give up, and say, Oh, it's probably just too hard. Instead, try writing down some of the little dangerous decisions that you didn't try - maybe dancing at the wedding or singing at a talent show in some group that you're in. Then think about the best and worst outcomes that could have happened.

It might have been uncomfortable, maybe even a little embarrassing. But think about any of those little chances you had tried, and if they had actually worked out. How exciting would that have been? People would say, Ah, I remember when you sang at that party we had, and it would've been just a fun thing.

Your mind is trying to do the right thing by keeping you safe, but also by doing that, you miss out on some of the really fun and exciting things, fulfilling things, that can happen in your life. So there you have it, you have more reasons to always keep trying, especially new and challenging things.

The only way we can become irrelevant in life is if we give up trying to bring joy to those around us, and to make the most of our lives for ourselves and for everyone around us. That simply is a choice each of us is free to make. Quoting Laurie Buchanan (LaurieBuchanan.author) on debt.com, they had reposted this quote and the quote was Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing. It's an interesting quote, because you've probably heard the simpler version of it - that even not making a decision is still making a decision.

This is another form of that. If you're not trying to change whatever's going on around you, inside of you, then you're choosing to put up with it. Something to think about. Dare yourself to change into what you want to be. Don’t choose to be too afraid to try. The only thing you have to lose are the regrets for not trying. 

That's it for the evening. Thanks for stopping by. Stay healthy. Care for others, but remember to care for yourself, so you can always be at your very best. 

Of course, UKR7.com - that's the link to all the donation places for Ukraine and the people in Ukraine. There's lots of humanitarian links, links of all sorts there. Please remember that the war is still going on. It's just dreadful. There's no other way around it. It hasn't wound down. It may not be as much in the news as it was before. If anything, it’s far more dangerous than it was before.

Actually there was just a public service announcement earlier in the week, last week in New York City, reminding us what to do in case of a nuclear attack. Oh, yes. That's still in the wings. Not that it’s something we should be in a panic about, but again, there are a lot of things going on in the world, and a lot of them are happening in Ukraine right now.

So please keep them in mind if you have the option to donate, or are looking for some ways to be involved. Or if anyone asks you just point them to UKR7.com. It's a page of links to other places where you can make donations. Remember one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others.

So as always be true to yourself. Live your life aligned with your true goals and feelings. Thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting and useful, please pass it along. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you'd like to hear. Oh, and if you like things, please don't hesitate to make a comment.

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