Much To Be Grateful For And Generous About!

A quote on a Topic On My Mind these days - Generosity. We live in times of Transformation! These are the toughest economic times - many of us have ever seen, times that find families in large numbers living in their cars, in tents and under bridges. And yet we all sense things may get worse before they really improve. So much to be grateful for and so many causes to be generous with. Dig deep give to others with no reason. Do something generous today for someone. Make it incredible - doing it for someone who can never repay you and even better do it anonymously - it will spread good will. The recipient will not have a single individual they are grateful too but rather a larger unknown "universe".

Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and
trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice. You might
experiment with using the cultivation of generosity as a vehicle for deep
self-observation and inquiry as well as an exercise in giving. A good place to
start is with yourself. See if you can give yourself gifts that may be true
blessings, such as self-acceptance, or some time each day with no purpose.
Practice feeling deserving enough to accept these gifts without obligation-to
simply receive from yourself, and from the universe.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Self-confidence and Entrepreneurial Success

One of the things I believe is necessary for success as an entrepreneur and in life is absolute, supreme confidence in yourself - It’s kind of like a super power. When I look at the high and low times in my life - they were directly related to my self-confidence level.

Another foundation block to success is a significant event that pushes you to make crucial decision about your life and the direction you want to take, when you’re pushed out on your own with no support. It is similar to people who have failures under their belt seem more real and grounded to me.

I also take my fun very seriously, and mostly in situations where you wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable and at ease. It’s important to share that happy energy with other people.
The negative energy of people who say No and Can’t is at times almost overpowering to me, I have found it critical to work with positive people - not yes men, so to speak, but people with happy attitudes who are open-minded to what’s possible, who take what’s been done before and improve it, go beyond it, and don’t limit themselves.

For me that also means - If your friends aren’t supporting you, reboot your friends. That doesn't mean discard them - push the refresh button and see what re-opens.

Don’t let what you don’t know stop you. Being a successful entrepreneur is all about potential. If you think about the boulder at the top of the hill, it has more potential value than when it’s sitting on the bottom of the hill. My three three watch words are:

• Disruption - cause it - seek it - leverage it,
• Greed - squash it - give back - pay goodness forward and
• Fear - understand it - embrace it - breakthrough it

As one of the most famous business and management gurus - Peter Drucker said:

The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it
as an opportunity!

Glenn Stephens - Inside Out

A favorite quote of Glenn Stephens - Sharing quotes is a favorite past-time of mine on Glenn Stephens Blog. Glenn Stephens is focused on this today!

The ''Inside-Out'' approach to personal and interpersonal effectiveness
means to start first with self; even more fundamentally, to start with the most
inside part of self / with your paradigms, your character, and your motives.

The inside-out approach says that private victories precede public
victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves recedes making and
keeping promises to others. It says it is futile to put personality ahead of
character, to try to improve relationships with others before improving
ourselves
Stephen R. Covey

Glenn Stephens Favorite Success Quotes - 1

Was doing my daily web review and noted a few of my favorite quotes about success and happiness. So I am sharing them as Glenn Stephens Favorite Success Quotes - 1.

Hope you enjoy them I do!

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of
our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that
the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of
well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically
puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may
have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is
the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material
creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external
development alone. The key is to develop inner peace

Dalai Lama

Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with
optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout
for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the
lookout for ways to nurture your dream

Lao Tzu

. . it's worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight
success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you
happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where
we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is
obviously where I was going all along. It's a good idea to try to enjoy the
scenery on the detours, because you'll probably take a few!

Bill Watterson

Key Traits Of An Entrepreneur

The life of an entrepreneur is different. I have worn the hat of an entrepreneur for most of my adult life. Three stints of in a corporate role – one of 10 years, one of 5 years and my original stint of 4 years with a Fortune 50 company. My last two roles were fast rides to the C-Level in what I call a quasi-corporate role. They were quasi because both of the latter J-O-Bs were in companies organized and acting like corporations but really controlled by the founder/entrepreneur as an active CEO. I had the good fortune to work with very very successful (financially) CEOs. Both of them won Entrepreneur of the year awards and both of them received numerous national and international awards and recognitions for being “successful entrepreneurs”.

When I look back– I kind of laugh and say wow I got the best of both worlds and unfortunately the worst of both worlds! I guess I have the right to actually put myself in the position of an expert having become a student of both the world of an entrepreneur and the world of a corporate J-O-B holder. Of late, as things get busy again the shift happens from thinking to doing, I could not help reflecting on how the life of an entrepreneur is different. As I have mentioned in the past, much of what I write is driven by my own experiences (positive and negative). There may be some overlaps with what I have written in the past, but hopefully, there are enough new thoughts that can be useful to you.

Having a Vision and a reasonably clear perspective on where one is headed over the long-term is critical. At the same time, it is not that important to know the exact roadmap that will evolve over time. More often than not, people get it wrong they focus too much on the near-term and not enough on the long-term rationale of why they are in the business they are in. I call that the “why of the business”

Your vision must be driven by a set of core beliefs (Values) only then will it stand the test of time, criticism and competition. This vision must define a future that is different from the present. The entrepreneur must be able to convince others that the future can be created. The beliefs must be based on a series of logical arguments, and not just a fancy dream.
Your Vision and your Why must be congruent with your values! As an entrepreneur – this is the single most important thing you must get done and stay the course with! As the entrepreneur/owner it is easier to get right and keep right. The need to share it and keep others aligned and supportive is not sometimes necessary. This is so apparent when you have a foot in both the corporate world and the entrepreneur business. Corporations spend millions of dollars every year going through Mission/Vision/Values and strategic planning retreats. Their goal is to first get it, make sure it’s the right thing for the company and then ensure that it gets rolled out with complete buy-in by the employees!

The entrepreneur’s requirement is really simple, it is critical to get the basic vision right for themselves. The vision must be something that makes the entrepreneur wake up every morning, irrespective of how the previous day was. It must be the personal dream that supercharges the entrepreneur and keeps them going when employees might “call it quits for the night”.

I think I have opened Pandora’s box for the comparison of the two – Corporate and Entrepreneur in detail. And then we will have some fun identifying the good, the bad and the ugly of the quasi-corporate!

Check back later for more

Banking and Slavery?

I read this quote the other day and it stuck with me given who it was from and the current state of our financial system. Are you preparing yourself for the inevitable. Debts must be paid! Or dwindled to make easier to pay - What is that dwindling called? Hyperinflation - Brace and prepare yourselves - It Is coming.


"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight-of-hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin... But if you want to continue to be slaves of the bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the bankers continue to create money and control credit"

Quote From:

Josiah Charles Stamp (English Economist, President of the Bank of England in the 1920's and the 2nd richest man in Great Britain, 1880-1941)

Sound Familiar?? Way too familiar

Glenn Stephens Quotes

Favorite Quote of Glenn Stephens

I was reviewing some inspiring quotes recently and crossed this one. It has continued to cycle in my thoughts - So here it is for your contemplation and meditation:

"There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; Knowledge without character; Religion without sacrifice; Politics without principle; Science without humanity; Business without ethics."
— Mahatma Gandhi

I could not help but see the root of some of our economic problems in these - how about you? Might see the roots of all our current malaise in our society beginning and continuing here. We all can make a difference: Commit to live our lives with good work, conscience, character, sacrifice, principle, humanity and ethics. It starts with one person.

What Is Our Purpose In Life

Glenn Stephens Ideas On Purpose In Life

"A man/woman should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph."~ James Allen

Allen discusses two real truths:

1. Today we are where our thoughts have taken us; and
2. We are the architects—for better or worse—of our futures

What Is Our Purpose?

Allen says,

"A man/woman should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out
to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his
thoughts."

This is an undeniable truth.

Pastor Joel Osteen and Oprah Winfrey both promise...
You Can Live Your Best Life Now...

Doctor Robert H. Schuller, the world's greatest "Possibilitarian", advises...
Don't Throw Away Tommorow...

Stephen Covey, in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People tells you to...
Put First Things First...

Pastor Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life asks you to discover...
What On Earth Am I Here For?

The Bottom Line IS...
Living your purpose, on purpose, is not just a catch-phrase. It is a mandate.

You Can Get Incredible Help discovering your purpose with this program!

ThinkTQ

I Want To Know

Favorite Saying - Quote - Parable of Glenn Stephens

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love- for your dream - for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain - mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy - mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful to be realistic or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, YES!

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments....


-- Oriah Mountaindreamer

Meditation On Trust

Read A great Meditation Practice On Building Trust the other day - Thought I would share it

This meditation helps you create attraction and alignment by experiencing the power of trustand surrender.

1. The first element of trust is Openness–your ability to reach a state of expansion and beingopen to all possibilities.
2. The second is Willingness–the earnestness to take the steps neededand use techniques that shift your beliefs.
3. The third is Courage–the courage to move beyondwhat you previously thought possible.
4. The fourth element is Surety–the certainty thateverything is okay even when you do not have proof. When you extend trust in this way, you bring forth
5. The fifth element of Safety. Surrender means letting go of what holds back your good. It brings in greater flow, clarity,and understanding of your true being.

You can order the meditation series here at this website

www.LearningStrategies.com/Seeds

Inspiring Video

A friend shared this video with me today and I was encouraged and blessed by what I saw. Please take the time to watch it. If you’re not lifted up by the words or the beautiful photography, then you might want to re-watch it after reading my blog on judgment

This is truly a non-denominational video... Insert your preferred belief.

Either way, don’t miss out on being blessed by what you see in the very short video below.

Have a Wonderful Day! Glenn

Job Loss or Risk Of Job Loss

How To Respond to a Job Loss

I was recently (last week) trying to identify the number of job losses in the Washington DC metro area. I knew the numbers would be alarming and it was my hope to let people know they are not alone and discuss how to respond to a "miserable event" like a jobloss or if you are facing a potential job loss. It was interesting and frustrating that the reports have all turned to unemployment rates, initial jobless claims and over the last three months the references to the exact number of people unemployed locally have disappeared from media reports! My best guesstimate is that number is somewhere around 500,000!

I was able to find the national unemployment claims number and that number was a staggering 5,300,000 the largest number since 1967! And this of course does not cover people who are no longer eligible, never were eligible, on welfare, not collecting unemployment or underemployed.

These numbers seem really grim if one looks at it from that perspective. And so if you are faced with that challenge here today what i want to do is to help you shift your perspective. You have read this before, I know you have but do you really believe it? It is the principle that every single thing that happens in your life happens for a reason and the challenge is here to allow you to become more, be more to grow more. It is in our times of crisis that we have to be willing to ask the hard questions of our selves - not just respond with "knee-jerk" reactions. It takes a master - a person who rises above the typical action-reaction... stimulus-response.. fight-flight. One who rises above the situation and says OK this is a difficult time ... for me but I can look at this differently!

Every single breakthrough is almost always preceded by a breakdown. If you are in that position... maybe laid-off or lost your career or are struggling right now - I want you to ask yourself a couple of key questions. I know they work because they have served me tremendously in both great times and difficult times:

1. How does this job crisis serve me. I know ... the knee-jerk reaction is Glenn this doesn't "serve me" - this is terrible! Believe me I know that - seems almost impossible to fathom how it could serve you. It is the chance to take a deep breath and say - "OK - If I wanted it to serve me - how could it serve me" The answers are there if you ask yourself the question and look. Maybe you got laid-off from a job that had really outworn it's welcome. Maybe you did not love it and weren't passionate about it anyway. Maybe you can decide exactly what it is you love and go after that Maybe now you can open your perception finally to explore other avenues with unlimited potential. Maybe you have opportunity to become more disciplined, more focused. Maybe this now presents you the chance to start your own business and never again be faced with this situation. There are so many ways this can serve you if you focus on making it serve you...it being a gift... looking for the silver lining.


2. What can I learn from this? There are two kinds of people in this world - Winners and yes it begins with an L - Learners. Haven't you actually learned some of your greatest life lessons through your difficult times. Look back upon those difficult times earlier in your life - loss of a job, business closing, maybe a divorce. Look back on those times and maybe its a stretch but I guarantee you that in retrospect - you can say to yourself - "I learned so much, I grew so much, I became so much more - because of that difficult situation". Most people are good at being grateful and appreciative in retrospect - but the master is able to do that in the moment. Maybe I am learning to be more disciplined, maybe I am learning to be more focused, maybe I am learning to be more attentive to what's important, maybe I am learning to be more judicious in my decision-making..." There is a whole list - you can find them.
   
3. How can I use what I learned in this situation to move forward and create a better life in the future for myself and my family. How will use what I learned, how will I use this gift of what I have learned to become a better person in different aspects of my life!
   

I promise you if you focus diligently on the good, the learning and how to apply those learnings in times of difficult events in very short order you will begin to change, you will be more grateful than resentful, more appreciative for all things - big or small - rather than critical. Your thoughts-feelings-actions will begin to shift and very quickly you will begin to attract new results, new people, new opportunities and your life will change!

You have two choices in times of crisis - It is either the time to focus on this times as "the most miserable" in your life or it's the times that is "the most magical". It is your choice - Choose the magic - it's there to serve you if you accept it and apply it.

On Work and Vocation

No that was not a typo - I am discussing vocation... not my next vacation spot!

Choose your work carefully. No matter how much you might believe that your work is nothing more than what you do to make money, your work makes you who you are - most simply because it is where you put your time.

We are what we do - don't let anybody with spiritual mumbo-jumbo say otherwise. The more we put into our job, time, energy, focus the more we become it. By giving your job your time, energy and focus -you are giving it your consciousness. Eventually it will fill your life with the reality that it presents.

So look beyond the superficial attractions of a particular job, profession or business. Consider what it will require you to do on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute basis. Is that how you want to spend your life. If it is not your job will become your prison rather than the vehicle of your dreams. And a person without dreams is only half alive.

Think of work as vocation, which comes from the Latin word for calling, which comes from the word for voice. In those meanings it touches on what work really should be - something that calls to you, that gives voice to who you are and what you want to say in the world.

If you find a vocation, embrace it. And it is never too late to look or change. You will find a way to contribute to the world with love. Finding a vocation is not always easy. You can't really know what it is you want to do by thinking about it. You have to do it and see how it fits. You have to let the work take you over until it becomes you and you become it. Then you must decide whether to embrace it or abandon it because it is not the right fit.

There is no reason - including your age why a person can't abandon a job that does not fit and strike out into the unknown for something that lies closer to the heart. There is no reason why a person cannot have many careers in the course of their life. No amount of security is worth the suffering of a life lived chained to a routine that has killed your dreams.

Find what it is that burns in your heart and do it! Choose a vocation - not a job - and your life will have meaning and feel like a vacation everyday.

Success Over Time

Having single minded ambition and focus is a great way to achieve goals - but is that really success? If we allow it - pursuing success can be like shooting at a series of moving targets. Every time you hit one (goal), seems like 5 more pop up from another direction. Just as we reach and achieve one goal, we feel that that pressure, drive, ambition - to work harder, make more money, buy something new. Standards and benchmarks of "making it" constantly shift in our ever changing world. New technology and new social change constantly present us with new obstacles and opportunities.


At times our path to success might lead us to feel like we are constantly turning the corner and another flight of stairs appears...

The path might even feel like it is leading us to nowhere... burn out, divorce, loss of family and friends. Some of us may choose along the path to single out one goal, putting all our energy into achieving that one goal, whether it is a single minded focus on your job or being the best stay-at-home parent. But no matter how noble - a single goal cannot satisfy all of a person's complex needs and desires.

I am talking about real enduring success over time - where getting what you want has rewards and satisfaction that is sustainable for you and those you care about! This type of success endures way beyond a raise, a bonus, a vacation or a new car or home. It involves an attainment of legitimacy and importance. Lasting success brings with it renewing emotions not anxieties.

It is important for each person to understand and develop his or her unique definition of success over time. I would propose that your definition contain the following four components:

• Happiness - feelings of pleasure or contentment about your life


• Achievement - accomplishments that compare favorably against similar goals others strive for


• Significance - the sense that you made a positive impact on people you care about


• Legacy - a way to establish your accomplishments so as to help others find future success

Unless you hit on all four categories with regularity, any one win will fail to satisfy. You win but have that uneasy feeling. You know what you did was right, but it still feels like a loss. You get preoccupied with all the other things you could be doing. Your achievement and pleasure fades almost as soon as it occurs. Even despite your "celebration" you are on to the next flight of stairs.

Lasting satisfaction draws energy from accomplishing something in each of the four categories over time. You must consciously pursue victories in all four categories while staying in touch with your values and special talents.

There is a complex concept behind this that I have begun to grasp and is my reason for sharing this. There is a true paradigm one of accepting limitations. It flies in the face of the popular opinion that success is all about breaking through limitations, that it is about having more, being more, doing more. Enduring success over time is about deliberately imposing limitations - about developing a skill of the pursuit of "just enough". It is developing re-focusing skills, focusing on one task, one goal until it gives you a particular sense of satisfaction - "just enough", then put it down and jump to the next category with a sense of accomplishment and renewed energy.

This will stop you from atrtributing your success to one event/goal/role or realm of life (see above). Your accomplishments can have measures of acheivement at wildly varying magnitudes. Some goals in one category may involve attainment at a small scale - just enough -while others are at a scale that demanded sustained effort over time. Objectives in the categories are not amount of activity or number of rewards in any one category, but securing a proportionate mix of all four and understanding the dynamics of the four categories.

For more information on this balanced appraoch to success over time as well as a personalized method to develop your own success plan visit Think TQ

Adversity and Misfortune - Catalysts for Change

In these tough economic times it is important to remember that throughout life you will come face to face with adversity and misfortune. You cannot completely protect yourself and your loved ones from things like suffering. They come in their own time, many times when you feel the least prepared to cope with misfortune.

When we are in our "zone" and all appears to be going well for us in life - life can at times appear to be "controlled" "... in a rhythm" and we feel like we are moving from one ritual or familiar experience to the next. Then adversity comes swooping in and almost like a tragedy shatters or routines and those things we "take for granted". We might at times feel like we are now living in side an echo chamber - reflecting back our screams of anguish. Things that seemed so important now seem to have disappeared from our "importance meter". Things we looked at as concerns before now become irrelevant and even petty.

It is not what happens to us that - it is how we respond to what happens to us that determines the quality of our lives.

When we finally come out of the fog of misfortune and shed off the cloak of adversity as we ultimately will, we will have experienced a transformation!

These are important things for us to remember as we begin to enter the early stages of the America's Second Great Depression. Although anybody reading this did not personally live through the the first US Depression that began in 1929, we must be prepared and resilient, this coming depression could last 2 years, 4 years, 8 years even longer. How we prepare and how we respond will determine the quality of our life and our ability to take advantage of the enormous opportunities certain to come our way in the recovery. More wealth was created and acquired at the end of the last depression than at any time in our history, including during the internet and housing growth markets.

How you respond to the adversity, misfortune and tragedy of America's Second Great Depression will in large part be determined by your responses to those events earlier in your life and your ability to learn and implement change. Your response to suffering is one true measure of your personal strength. I for one have embraced my tragedies as a source of learning and growth. Our daily behaviors involve "looking for and being grateful for the silver linings". A personal tragedy in my life had me take a route to liquidate a large portion of a stock portfolio in 2007. We acknowledge daily the gift we received there as we liquidated literally at the top of the market and have recently begun to replace the holdings for roughly 30% of our liquidation prices. The tragedy was horrible, the silver lining was there to be grateful for.

As human beings one of our innate abilities is we are a surprisingly resilient organism. We have a built-in drive towards health and growth not towards sickness. the question is not one if you will heal and grow, but rather how and when. Isn't it nice those are choices you have control over. Grief, pain, suffering have their own duration, they will pass and you have the wonderful power to shape the new being you will become.

We must not fear adversity and misfortune, but recognize they make you part of the human family. They allow you to immerse your spirit in the human experience.

Judgments - Live Life Large

You know judgments are as much a part of your life as eating and breathing. People have judgments about everything, they think their judgments matter. Their judgments might be about themselves, about their self perception, others and their perception of others and the world around them.

What a silly concept, how can you judge situations that are in a constant state of change? People have blatant judgments and obscure judgments... small and petty judgments and large and paralyzing judgments. Stop and observe it's almost as if your mind waits for you to think ... anything - just so it can judge it.

A Judgment is different than making a decision or expressing a preference. In life you do make many decisions. You could also be afraid to make decisions. You usually find this fear has it's basis in your judgments. Your have beliefs and feelings about your past decisions whether they are right or wrong! You may look at your past history and judge you never make good decisions. The decisions aren't the problem - your judgments are what cause the anxiety and fear.

That all being said it is difficult to live a life without any judgments. It won't work to tell yourself not to judge anything again. As an alternative - observe what your judgment is when you are feeling bad and then see if you can let it go. If you are able to do that in the moment of your experience - you will have accomplished a major step on the way to reducing the judgments in your life that will allow you to live more in the moment and be more aware. People are not aware of the immediate or long term impacts of judgments. The more judgments you have the more restricted your experience of life will be.

It may seem like giving up your judgments is abit like giving up your identity. And actually you are! You are choosing to live a life larger than your judgments and greater than your current personality. To truly expand your life you must come from a space that is different than your present way of judging things. It is a risky path given no road map exists to find your way.. but it will assist you in moving toward the life you know you are meant to live.

When you appreciate what is, you are preparing yourself for the miracles that are just around the corner. When you judge what is you are blind to the joys of the moment.

The fewer your judgments the larger your life

Glenn Stephens at 50

Although we are a few months into 2009 I thought I would share some of my thoughts with other 50 somethings out there in this economy. I look at my life as Glenn Stephens here I am a 50 something and ask questions - some of which I do not yet have the answers to this will be a recurring topic of this blog. Asking myself questions and sharing my thoughts and sometimes answers. Today we will start with one question...

Where do I stand in life?

Living in the moment - Most of my attention is usually focused on my family, my friends, me Glenn Stephens, in this moment. From this moment you look back to learn and you look forward to anticiapte change you implement - but you can only LIVE IN THE MOMENT. I look back at Glenn Stephens life. Who am I - what brought me here to this moment? What must I change? What does Glenn Stephens stand for? Let's apply a principle just for fun and see?

You are your network. You are most like your closest five friends. You are what you focus on. Relevant at 50? For many Yes... what about for those with life changing disruptions... relevant - may be not.

Well what happens if... after a 30 year corporate career ( for 50 somethings remember) - focused on the companies you worked for trying to be the model, hard-working, loyal employee - you get outsourced, laid off, replaced or just plain fired? What if - given you spent the majority of that career and your life (10-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week, throw in a couple hours a day commuting) you spend 80-90% of your waking life with work associates, clients, customers and "work friends"

How many of you have seen people depart a company - reason not relevant, having a going away party, lots of "let's keep in touch..." How many of those ....lasted? One month later, one year later, 5 years later?

What if those you thought were close to you - those you called friends - abandon you as if you had the plague. It happens to some ... You know I once heard the definition of a friend as a friend is someone whom if you got in trouble and killed someone they would talk with you, hear you out and assist you but convince you to turn yourself in versus a true friend you could call at 3AM at night and they would come over and help you bury the body! I think thats MORE than a little extreme!

I continue to believe the true friend would be one who would not have abandoned you in horror. They would be shocked, stunned, uncertain how to act, maybe a little scared even, but then wouldn't they actually be experiencing some of your emotions? Wouldn't this allow them to truly empathize with you? What if they would maintain contact and offer assistance.

I tend to liken that to another description/definition of a friend I read "Those who have walked with each other through some of life's darkest valleys and emerged on the other side forever bonded. They share with each other on a level no one else is able to share..." I offer up a short description too for consideration - A true friend might be that rare soul who sees right through you but will still see you through.

For those of you who have been abandoned - reason irrelevant - apply the 5 stages of loss/grief. Denial>Anger>Bargaining>Depression>Acceptance.

Elizabeth Kubler Ross' book is the best work on the subject! On Death & Dying

Wow seems pretty dark and forboding... but let's have some hope here. If you are fortunate and have friends like my definition - be thankful, show gratitude and nurture that friendship. For those who have lost those they called friends... grieve and move on.

One thing is for sure, the pace of change is incredible. What was secure in this day- many times - is no longer... not just no longer secure... it may no longer exist. This is the world we now live in. We must learn to manage and live our way in this change! Evidence the vanishing and transferring of trillions of dollars over the last 4-5 months. Institutions we considered rock solid... gone or in their death march... people who are institutions themselves (Warren Buffet)... experiencing enormous change!

What do we do about it? We leverage change, we leverage our tools. We extend our depth, we broaden our reach. We create new friends and new definitions, we use new models to extend our reach, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger. We investigate new income opportunities to replace the security we had in a job. We look at alternative investments and where possible we simplify.