Brian Said...

A Blog by Inspirational Writer and Speaker, Brian Hicks, who resides online at www.brian-hicks.com.

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Snap Out of It!

Brian Hicks - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Today's Daily DifferenceMaker...
The Tinderbox Tapes club members receive a Daily DifferenceMaker (DDM) every morning. The DDMs are a little different than today's post here, but I hope it will nonetheless make a difference in your day.

As a reminder... When I talk to myself, it looks like this and when I talk BACK to myself, it looks like this.




"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
Jack London (1876-1916)
American Author with whom you likely associate wolves and 9th grade
 

Dude, your street cred is totally shot right now. Cher? In a chick flick? Seriously...
Yeah, well... Some people think she's hot, so maybe that's where I was goin'. How ya like me now, big boy?
Drag Queens in Vegas think she's hot. Is that your message?
Bite me.

In all honesty, this is one of those movie moments that has stuck with me forever. I can honestly say I think about it almost every day. Whenever I need a wake up call, I simply allow Cher to smack me around in my head, and it honest to goodness works!

If you've just recently joined us, you may not know that the "Astound Yourself Today" & "Tend the Flame" thing is about creating a new world for yourself & your family. My whole purpose for the club and the book and the speaking and the site is to encourage you to create that new world by doing what you're capable of doing; nothing less, but thankfully, nothing more.

As I've traveled my own journey & talked to others on their journeys, I've noticed we all have a common fault: We all have moments when we sit and wait for inspiration to strike.

For some, it's at the beginning of the journey itself. They sit and wait. They pray and wait. They moan and wait. They complain and wait. They watch American Idol and wait...

The point is that they wait. They wait for inspiration. They wait for someone else to motivate them. They wait for Adam Lambert's new album...

And as a result, they never get off the proverbial couch. I'm gonna give you a minute to put on your big boy pants.

You got 'em on? They pulled up high & tight?

Okay.

Here's the deal, pickle:
Get up.

Just get up.
Don't worry about where you're going or how you'll get there.
Just get up.
You don't need 7 habits or 21 laws or any "secret."
Just get up.
Grab a club.
And get up.

Make one call. Write one page. Paint one wall. Buy one rose.

Seriously. Why are you still reading this? G.O. GO!!!

Alright, so that was pretty cool and I get what you're saying, but haven't you read those books?
Course I have, and they're great books. But the bottom line is that too many people are saying, 'I gotta read the book before I start.' That's BEYOND wrong. When you justify not creating your new world by saying you're reading a book so you can 'get it figured out better' first... Well, you'll still be reading books & trying to figure it all out next year & the next year & the next year, won't you?
Well as long as you cleared that up...

For some, getting started is easy; it's after the new wears off that they get into trouble. Certainly, "tending the flame" comes into play here, but today we're taking a slightly different look. See, it's the day-to-day disciplines that trip us up.

I think London's quote resonates with me because I've lived it in the last year. When you write a book, you have to commit to 1,000 words a day or 5 pages a day or a scene a day or whatever your goal is. Inspiration doesn't descend upon you each morning & say, "This is the word from the Lord God Almighty. Write this down." No one comes along to get you off the couch, especially when your book is a motivational book wrapped in a novel. I promise, it's ALL YOU. And maybe your wife a little...

I spent 20 years in the health insurance business & can tell you that waiting for inspiration to strike is a condition common to everyone in every profession. And it's not just professional. It's relational and spiritual and all the other "-als." You think you're cute, don't you?

We wait to be properly inspired before we make a call or buy flowers or help with chores or put in for the promotion or write a word. But what do you do when the inspiration doesn't come? What do you do when the outer distractions are louder than the voice in your head?
You never have that problem, do you?
You think you're cute, don't you?
Duh?! Have you seen me?
Shut it.
The answer is simple... You already know what you need to do. So SNAP OUT OF IT and grab a club! My experience has been that once you "get all up in there" even though you don't "feel" like it, it'll be a little tedious at first, but somewhere along the way, you'll hit upon some little thing that will inspire you to do more.

But notice the inspiration comes after the doing. In fact, the inspiration comes from the doing. It is rarely the other way around!

You can use all kinds of mental tricks & read all the books (Dude! You're killin' me! Sounds like you're trashing the books. Did you forget that YOU wrote one, too! Yeah, but mine's waaay different, right? Oh yeah, DEFinitely different...), but the bottom line is that you don't need to see the finished product today. You just need to see today. You just need to see what you're capable of doing & go do it.

You don't need to see how she'll react; you just need to buy the flower. You don't need to see the signed contract; you just need to make the call. You don't need to see the NY Times Bestseller List; you just need to write the scene. You don't need to see them winning a Nobel Peace Prize; you just need to teach them how to love their little brother. You don't need to see the sold-out arena; you just need to write the chorus.

In short, you just need to do what you're capable of doing today.
When you do, you'll Astound Yourself Today, and that will inspire you to do it again tomorrow!
And a month, a year, a decade from today you'll be living in your new world - the one you created by simply doing what you were capable of doing today.

AYT,
Brian
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Haystacks & Starry Nights: A Life Lesson from Van Gogh

Brian Hicks - Monday, August 23, 2010
Today's Daily DifferenceMaker...
The Tinderbox Tapes club members receive a Daily DifferenceMaker (DDM) every morning. This one originally went out a couple of months ago. While on the road recently, I was in a pinch for a DDM to send one morning and decided to recycle one. As I searched my archive, I came across this one and it spoke to me in a new way. Yes, people, I astounded myself today! Hope this one speaks to you, too.


"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Dutch Painter & hell with a razor blade
 

You'll recall he didn't like his ear; You've probably heard Don McLean sing about him; You've certainly seen the "swirly" stars. You also may have noticed he died at 37.

Van Gogh was an interesting character.

He only painted for 10 years.

He grew up a preacher's kid, living in mining communities as his father preached to the poor, and never pursued any significant artistic endeavors as a child.

While he did work for an art dealer for a time, he eventually became a preacher like his father.

It was his brother, Theo, who encouraged him to paint. Both van Gogh AND his parents thought Theo was nuts, but he pushed Vincent anyway.

So in 1880, Vincent gave up preaching and began to paint.

And then...

It appeared Vincent & his parents were right!
No one was buying his paintings.

Regardless, Vincent kept at it.

Despite suffering mental illness, epilepsy, a myriad of other illnesses - and absolutely zero success in the marketplace - van Gogh became a prolific painter over 10 years.

Right up until he took his own life.

Wow, Brian. Thanks for the Buzzkill. On Monday.

Stay with me, please.

Van Gogh created a new world for himself.

He didn't begin to paint as a first career; He wasn't a prodigy; He didn't even have confidence in himself! If not for his brother, Vincent would likely have never picked up a brush.

Despite his late start, mental & physical illness, Vincent van Gogh ended up painting 3 of the top 10 most expensive paintings of all time.
That's more than any other individual artist, and the 3 paintings total over $200 million! JUST THOSE THREE! I'm sure someone knows the value of his entire collection, but I couldn't find it. Suffice it to say, it must be worth a LOT of dollars!

Yet he died a "failure."

Sometimes the new world you create won't pay economically until long after you're gone.
But it won't pay today, tomorrow or EVER if you don't do the small things that can be brought together to form something great.

Remember, you don't have to invent the light bulb to astound yourself; You simply have to do what you're capable of doing.

Van Gogh was capable of painting potato eaters, sunflowers, haystacks, starry nights, even himself;
So whether they sold or not, he continued to paint them.

It must have seemed small at the time, sitting in a field alone, staring at hay, filled with doubt, knowing no one was buying.
And yet, he did it - every day - because it was the one thing he was capable of doing.

Are you capable of doing a small thing?
How about a series of small things?
When you put those small things together, what kind of new world will you create?

Do something small, something you're capable of doing, as you start this week - a call, an email, a household chore, a single flower - and you'll Astound Yourself Today!

Brian
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The Motivational Wisdom of Rob Thomas

Brian Hicks - Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Today's Daily DifferenceMaker...

"And maybe someday
We'll figure all this out;
We'll put an end to all our doubt;
Try to find a way to make things better now,
and
Maybe someday we'll live our lives out loud;
We'll be better off somehow,
Someday..."

Rob Thomas (b. 1972)
American Rock Singer/Songwriter


I'm a Rob Thomas fan. Have been since Matchbox Twenty. I'm not the rabid, screaming, ringtone, screensaver, wallpaper, t-shirt, bedroom poster, Facebook stalker kind of fan. (I mean, I USED to be until I turned 40, right?) I don't even follow him on twitter, but when I hear one of his songs on the radio - usually a year after its release, because that's when it comes on the adult easy listening station (Can I get a middle-aged shout out?) - I always find myself singing along.
"Someday" is my current favorite.
If you haven't seen it, you should
watch the video.

The message, co-authored by Thomas & Blake "Shy" Carter, is basically that you should hang in there because there's hope: Someday we'll figure all this out. Someday we'll create our new world. You see in the video that the new world is depicted personally and globally. It's true, you can't create a new world for yourself & your family without creating a new world period. Like Rob sings,"You could shine a little light on everything around you. Man, it's good to be someone."

You can get in trouble trying to speak for a songwriter, but art speaks to everyone in their own way, so I'll take a chance. Here's my take...

So many lines of this song start with the phrase,"You can..." You have a choice about what your new world will look like; You have a choice about whether to go; whether to start all over again; whether to hide; whether to carry on when all you want to do is cry. You can... or not. It's your new world, so it's your call. But here's where I have a little secret that Mr. Thomas & Mr. Carter don't explicitly share:
"Someday" is TODAY!
TODAY you'll choose to create that new world for yourself & your family.
TODAY you'll find a way to carry on when all you want to do is cry.
TODAY you'll put an end to all your doubt.
TODAY you'll notice just how good it can get.
TODAY you'll be better off somehow because you'll do ONE THING to move toward that new world.
You'll do all that today,
not because it's easy; not because it's safe; not because it's what someone else expects.
You'll do it today because you're capable of doing it today.
Just today. Just this one day.

I know you doubt yourself and your future and your VISA limit and your falling 401(k) balance and all the rest of it. But I also know that I know when you do what you're capable of doing TODAY, you'll "figure all this out" and "be better off somehow" tomorrow.
See, "Someday" is closer than you think.

You'll live out loud, shine your light on everything around you, and be better off somehow when you choose to Astound Yourself Today!

Brian
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Trust God & Trust Yourself

Brian Hicks - Thursday, August 12, 2010
Today's Daily DifferenceMaker
(This went out to club members today & I couldn't help myself. I was so fired up after reading it that I had to put it out to everybody else. Is is cheesy that I got myself all excited by reading my OWN Daily DifferenceMaker? YEP! But I think you'll get fired up, too, so here you go...)
 

"I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
American Author & Poet 


When my dad was the Senior Pastor of the largest Southern Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia (which is akin to being Valedictorian of Alternative School), I recall a time when we were embarking on a capital campaign for a building program.

The consultant hired by the church asked my dad to help think of a campaign slogan; something catchy & motivating that would inspire the people and encourage them to give.

Dad's response was vintage Brad Hicks. "We're going to trust God & trust the people," he said.

The consultant was elated. "Trust God, Trust the People. What a GREAT slogan!"

My dad was perplexed. "It's not a slogan," he said, "It's what we do here. It's what we've always done."

Trusting God & trusting ourselves was how we relocated a church with 113 committed givers and grew to 4,000 members. In short, it was how we created a new world for Wynnbrook Baptist Church and the Columbus area.

I'm convinced that you and I are no different than that church body. We have a dream - a vision - for a world we believe we were put here to create.

Some of us believe that God gave us our vision of that new world, and thus we must trust Him to help us see it to fruition.

But whether or not you believe your new world was God-breathed, we all have this in common: There will come a point when you will have to trust yourself.

Well, Heck.

That was a nice story until I had to bring up trusting yourself, huh?

I'll never forget a fellow minister inquiring of my dad about his philosophy.
He said, "I can trust God alright, but I ain't so sure about trustin' these folks here..."

And that's our problem, isn't it?

We don't trust ourselves because we know ourselves... intimately.
We know our history;
We know our weaknesses;
We know our fears & our foibles;
And perhaps most debilitating of all,
we know our self-doubt.

When you know all that, it's hard to trust, isn't it?

I mean, who would get out of the security of the boat - and risk drowning - on the off chance that this idiot will actually walk on water?

It's just too risky.

Or is it?

See, here's what else you know about you: You know what you're capable of doing.

You know that you're capable of making one decision each day that will make your new world an astounding reality.

You know you're capable of making one more call, asking one more time, playing one more game, helping with one more chore, answering one more question, listening to one more story.

You know that what you're capable of doing is endless!

And that you're capable of doing it again tomorrow, and the next day and the next day, because you also know
it's not the decision & day, it's the cumulative effect of all those decisions & all those days.

And when you know those things about yourself, you can trust yourself like you never knew you could!

So as you endeavor to create your new world this Thursday, Trust God & Trust Yourself.
And trust me...
you'll Astound Yourself Today!

Brian

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One Day at a Time...

Brian Hicks - Wednesday, August 11, 2010

One of our club members asked that we post yesterday's Daily DifferenceMaker (DDM) here today so she could share it with others. Thanks for that!

"The best thing about the future is that
it only comes one day at a time."

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) 

 
Mr. Lincoln continues our theme today with some more insight into how the future unfolds.

 Many people probably look at this and think, "Thank goodness it only comes screaming at me one day at a time! I can barely hang on as it is."

 But not you.

 You see things a little differently. You see that the reason it comes one day at a time is because you're creating it each day.

 You create it by how you choose. You create it by what you do. You create it by what you don't do.

 Remember, the idea here is to create a new world for yourself and your family by doing what you're capable
of doing each day, one day at a time.

 The decision and the day are important because when you put them together after 1, 5, 10, 20 years, the cumulative effect is either a new world or the same old one you're not satisfied with.

 On August 10, 2011, your world will be no different than it is today, unless you do something different today.

 Thanks to Mr. Lincoln for reminding us it's one decision and one day at a time.

 Today's decision: Astound Yourself Today!

Brian
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Do You See What I See?

Brian Hicks - Monday, August 09, 2010 
"In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work.
It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years."

Jacques Barzun (b. 1907)
French-born American Scholar, Cultural Historian,
Teacher
While our kids in Tennessee still have a few days of freedom left, many others are kicking off their school year today. So in their honor, an education quote.

Barzun sums up why teaching is such a thankless endeavor; whether you're a paid professional or simply molding the little minds with whom you live.

But, in my view, Barzun makes a bigger point:

EVERYthing of significance is "invisible... for maybe twenty years."

How many times have we said creating a new world - relationally, personally, professionally, spiritually - is tough because you can't see the results right away.

Remember, you make a decision today - you do what you're capable of doing - and...drum roll please...

Nothing happens.

It's the ultimate buzzkill isn't it?

Here's the thing:
We live in a world that is all about instant gratification. We get ill when Google takes more than 3 seconds to load,
forgetting that 20 years ago we'd have had to drive to the library and trudge through volumes of encyclopedias to find that answer.

Our kids don't wait for the Sears catalog to arrive in the mail, pick out the ONE thing they want for Christmas
and wait patiently for months, looking at that picture every day until the big day finally arrives.

Nope.

They buy it at Target and trade it at GameStop two weeks later.
Or they rent it at Blockbuster and are done with it in a week.

Do you see the danger?

We're conditioning ourselves to settle for the quick & easy in life.
When something takes longer than 15 minutes, we lose interest or give up in frustration.

One more time, people...

It ain't work dat way!

When you're creating a new world for yourself & your family you won't see the results today, or even tomorrow.
In fact, you may not see the results for 20 years!

But take heart, because in 20 years you WILL see a result.
Because of your action - or inaction - today, you will see a result in 20 years.
It will be good or it will be bad, but it WILL come.

And if you want to celebrate in 20 years, the formula is simple;
just Astound Yourself Today!

Brian

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