Day 13: What Will Your Legacy Be?...

As we get older and become more settled in the lives we've chosen, we start to wonder what our mark on the world will be. Have we done anything important? Have we made an impact? What will our legacy be once we're gone and only the memory of us remains?

Can we be proud of what we're leaving behind?

In all honesty, most of us will never have the impact that a Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, or Bono have had on this world. Our resources simply aren't that vast and our reach not that substantial. That said, the biggest influence any one of us can have doesn't lie in our pockets or our popularity but, rather, in the example we set for others.

The way you live your life can be of great influence to those around you. Your decision to live with integrity might become the catalyst for another's decision to do so—and who knows how their decisions will, ultimately, impact and influence the world.

A legacy is wonderful to have—who doesn't want a little recognition at the end of the day—but you should strive to live your life as purposefully as possible.

By doing so, you impact the development of all who know you and, at the end of the day, the memory of you will be a gift and a motivator for those who never knew their own potential. No monuments or buildings may be dedicated in your name, but your legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of the many you touch along the way.

Be someone you can be proud of everyday, the rest will take care of itself.

Day 12: Staying Motivated...

It's a tough thing to do. No matter what your goal, exercising, eating right, finishing a project, reading a book, etc., it's tough to keep your mind settled and focused long enough to maintain the level of progress that you feel is necessary to say you are a success.

Some will say the trick is to set small goals each day and concentrate on meeting that one goal—that way you aren't overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.

The problem with that is, some of us are so intertwined in the day-to-day task of just being ourselves (as parents, as caretakers, as employees, etc.) that we fall short of even the small goals we endeavor to set. When that happens, we feel even more discouraged, making it easier to give up and abandon the idea of success altogether.

In my humble opinion, the trick isn't in setting a small goal that you can meet, but in remembering that if you don't meet your goal for that day, tomorrow presents a new opportunity for doing so.

Don't beat yourself up over what you haven't done, take pride in what you do manage to accomplish and give it another go tomorrow.

Does this work in all situations, of course not, but the idea is to keep your mind settled on remaining positive and recognizing your progress (no matter how big or small it turns out to be)—the rest will fall into place as your life makes room for it.

Day 11: Great Music Is Hard To Find...

I'm not a child of the 50's or 60's. The era of my musical conscience starts with the 80's. That said, I have always considered myself a person who can appreciate quality music—no matter the genre. So, as I listen across the landscape of what the world has to offer these days, I find that I am utterly disappointed by what I hear.

The music of now lacks the soul, spirit, and awareness that the music of the 60's and 70's  wrought with such ease. There are no modern day Marvin Gaye's, James Taylor's, Aretha Franklin's, or Carole King's for us to relate to, just a bunch of mildly talented singer/songwriters who no one is likely to recall a decade from now.

It's sad, really, because I hate to think that the best music my children will ever listen to will have to come courtesy of my iTunes collection.

Admittedly, there are under-appreciated artists out there who aren't getting their due, but they are harder to find than they used to be and the music industry appears more interested in promoting the bad than the good.

Either way, music like this...\"People Get Ready\" by Curtis Mayfield

this...\"Into The Mystic\" by Van Morrison

or this...\"Sittin\' On The Dock of The Bay\" by Otis Redding

aren't likely to come around again—anytime soon.

Day Ten: Sometimes Life Can Be Tough...

People love to wonder why "bad things happen to good people"...well, in truth, they happen to bad people too—we just don't care as much. Life isn't easy for any of us, but for those who have faith, it's a lot easier to take the good with the bad.

The amazing thing about life is how often so many of us take the little things for granted because we are too busy complaining about the big things. Of course that's only natural, no one likes to have his/her progress impeded by obstacles. So, we rail against those intrusions with our fists clenched tight and our voices screaming loudly to no one in particular: "WHY ME?!? WHY ME?"

Well, why not you? Who are you, specifically, to be immune to disaster? Last check there were only two mortals in the last 50-years who could profess to be even the slightest bit unnerved by life's injustice—one was named Ghandi and the other was named Mother Teresa—neither showed a penchant for complaining much.

The truth is, you aren't immune to anything. Life is going to take its best shot at you because that's what it's supposed to do. So, the real question you need to be asking instead of "why me?" is "what am I going to do about it?"