4 Ways to Going Above and Beyond

A Basketball. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What I find which makes people so unique are their individual passions for some thing. Everybody has fun doing that one thing in their lives that they find they're the best at. However, what concerns me about this matter is some people don't like to go beyond the normal functions of their cliche.

For example, if a kid who loves basketball only goes out and shoots all day, I feel like that kid isn't going above and beyond. What a kid who has a true passion for basketball might do is study technical forms of shooting from professional players, do workouts which enhance shooting abilities, or study basketball guide books to see what professionals have done to step their games up.

Now some of us don't like to be the over achiever because it is too much work, pressure, etc. But do you think that by only settling with the bare minimum will keep you content for long? Do you think you might get bored at not achieving anything monumental with your passion? Or even frustrated? 

Here are a few tips on getting the motivation to go above and beyond:

1. Always look forward towards your goals, never look back.
2. Picture yourself achieving your goal mentally, over and over again until it is as clear as day.
3. Take baby steps up the ladder towards what you wish to achieve.
4. Understand your passion and let it drive you.

If you're interested in other ways to conquer mediocrity and go for the best that you can be, check out this post by Kristin Barton Cuthriell! She talks about the 3 W's of success which anyone can benefit from!

Our Ears May Be More Powerful Than Our Eyes

If you have ever taken Psych 101, you'll understand the power of the human being and what makes us completely unique among the other lifeforms on this planet. Here is one story which anybody can take a lesson from.

Do you know who this man is? His name is Daniel Kish. You see his eyes? Well they're not real. Those are his prosthetic eyeballs due his retinas being cut out due to a rare form of cancer called retinoblastoma which he was diagnosed with at birth.

However, the remarkable feat performed by this man on a day to day basis is his ability to live like a regular person, even though completely blind. He's able to navigate through the woods without any aid, bike through very busy streets, and can visualize every little thing around him. How may you ask? The same method bats are able to see at night!

Daniel has completely mastered the art of echolocation using tongue clicks. What he does is click his tongue at certain pitches to create frequencies sensitive enough for him to interpret where they bounce off from. In the article written by Michael Finkel, Michael describes the first meeting he and Daniel had:

“The first thing Daniel Kish does, when I pull up to his tidy gray bungalow in Long Beach, California, is make fun of my driving. “You’re going to leave it that far from the curb?” he asks. He’s standing on his stoop, a good 10 paces from my car. I glance behind me as I walk up to him. I am, indeed, parked about a foot and a half from the curb.”

Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-blind-man-who-taught-himself-to-see-20120504#ixzz2M2EngMaj 
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What is Daniel doing now? He is head of the World Access for the Blind traveling across the world helping those who are sight impaired and guiding them to living a perfectly normal life. To Daniel, he believes that the blind should not be conformed to the norms of a blind person. He firmly sticks to the belief that a blind person can live a regularly normal life along with everyone else. Is this possible? I say it is.

Michael states in his article regarding Daniel's wildlife excursions: 

“He climbs trees. He camps out, by himself, deep in the wilderness. He’s lived for weeks at a time in a tiny cabin a two-mile hike from the nearest road. He travels around the globe. He’s a skilled cook, an avid summer, a fluid dance partner. Essentially, though in a way that is unfamiliar to nearly any other human being, Kish can see.”

Read more: http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-blind-man-who-taught-himself-to-see-20120504#ixzz2M2EngMaj 

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Getting Stuck and 5 Ways of Finding the Way Out

What I'd like to present today is that anybody of any cliche experience some kind of block one time or the other. However, we don't know how to overcome them.

So what do you do in any situation where you feel as if you cannot press forward with your work? Well there isn't a precise method of getting unstuck but many people have found ways which work for them!

Here is a list of some of the various methods I have come up with that can help you find the way out:

1. Work outside of your comfort zone
   We all like to be able to work comfortably in our own setting. Whether or not it's by the lakeside or in your bed. However, working where you are most comfortable has its limitations which can cause blocks. Try working outside of where you feel comfortable to conjure fresh ideas or take new outside influences to give you back that spark.
   
2. Talk to people who engage in what you do
   Being able to talk to somebody by putting all your problems out can help resolve issues by getting a second opinion. If you are the only one looking for answers, you'll also be very limited because you can get stuck there too.
   
3. Take baby steps
   When you feel stuck with trying to accomplish the big steps in achieving your goals, you'll most likely run into a block due to an overload of high expectation towards yourself. So instead, try taking little steps geared to push your along gradually. This way, you have less expectations and you'll feel great for accomplishing each step which will hopefully get you out of the block.
   
4. Make a change in your environment
   Going back to working outside of your comfort zone, your environment effects the way you work. If you feel as if working outside of your comfort zone doesn't make a big difference, change it. Innovate the way it looks and feels so it can help make a positive impact. Like if you like to work in a messy environment, clean it up and see how having an organized work place can change your thoughts into positive, uplifting ones.
   
5. Try new things
   Change is inevitable. So why shouldn't you try new things to change your perspective? Try out new methods, thought processes, whatever you need to do, make the change!

I may not have listed a whole lot but these are methods that work for me when I get stuck. If you come up with different ones along the way, add them to the list! Anything which helps you overcome your block is a positive method and worth jotting down! Good luck!

Do You Know Where Your World Comes From?

This has been bugging me for quite some time now. I notice it all the time and it has been increasing gradually everyday. I hear it on the radio, see it on television, and watch it in everyday life between the interactions with the various people I encounter. What I am noticing is the ever growing comparison of people's lives and knowledge to negative influences of popular culture and mass media sources.

Our paradigms, or worldview, are shaped from the time we exit from the womb. Every experience, every interaction, every bit of everything influences our sense of self and our sense of the world. However, there is a critical point in our life where outside influences don't hit you "as much" as they would. This point, to some people, is when you reach a level of adulthood. So outside influences must get you when you're most vulnerable, as children.

I work at a high school where many ideologies are formed and burned into the consciousness of your everyday citizen. High school, mainly, structures you for what you will be as you grow into a law-abiding citizen. However, as I stroll the hallways performing my duties, I notice the conversations between today's youth and it completely astounds me what they do in their lives, how they portray themselves to the world, and how they treat people.


Like I said before, most of our morals, ethics, and identity come from our day to day influences. So where are your kids getting their influences from? Many things influence them; yet some, in my opinion, should not taken lightly such as the radio and television.

Radio and television are sources where pop culture is displayed. What pop culture teaches us that in order to fit in with the "crowd", you must look like this, act like this, behave like this, but mainly THINK like this. Pop culture wants you to think they way they want you to think. Why? Nobody will ever know the real answer to that, unless you're the driver of the pop culture train.

So take this into account with your life. Do you watch a lot of television? Do you listen to a lot of radio stations? But most importantly, do you get most of what you believe to be real from these sources? Really think about what you find to be "real" and see whether or not they compare to what you listen and hear. You might surprise yourself.

This I Believe

I wrote this as part of my English class senior year of high school. It was part of the This I Believe campaign, stated on their website, which was started by "an international organization to engage people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives." So the goal was to write down what we morals we believed ran our lives on a day to day basis. This was mine.

            Living as a teenager in this hardcore and uptight world can amount to some serious issues. Every day I must make a decision which will influence my life for years to come; from deciding whether or not to have proper hygiene to setting up goals for my future lifestyle. It wasn't until a special day when I realized how much choices truly impacted my sense of self.

             The special day came into fruition when I learned my parents were no longer married and I had a major choice to make. I had to put all the facts on a plate and tally out what would be best for me and my interests. When the day came, my decision was thoroughly thoughtful and true. I laid out all the pros and cons until the pros outweighed the cons. In turn, the decision I made led to the fantastic life in which I am currently living. Still, even to this very moment I never stop wondering what my life would be if I made the other choice. However, it helped me realize that everything I run into will be the same. Every decision I make will either grant me many rewards and benefits; or grant me suffering, regret and doubt.

            In other words I believe that every decision, either if it's me or another person making it, should be executed with absolute confidence after careful planning. Witnessing the turmoil of my parent's separation opened my eyes to this brand new perspective. It granted me the understanding that whenever I make a choice, I must lay out the pros and cons and come up with a strong conclusion which will benefit me for years to come.

            Sure, sometimes the choices I make will influence other people's lives and I won't notice until after; but I still understand the choice I made and I know that they will move on as should I. I am human and the decisions I make will not always be perfect. Nevertheless, I believe that the choices I have made benefited me incredibly over the years and I appreciate everything aspect of my individual being and what I gained from that special day because I believed in the confidence of my decision.

On the Path of Finishing up the Stitch Collection

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been away from the blog for so long! I've been working on a new book which will comprise of every post I've written so far! It will be put up for sale on Amazon for all those who wish to carry My Stitch Book around with you all the time! I will keep you all posted on the progress of the book! Happy writing!