Contact me :

dominicmulvey@gmail.com

Saturday, August 28, 2010

158. Go the Extra Mile

Another suggestion for living better is to give more than you are paid for. Make this a principle by which you live your life. This will make you so valuable in your work that you become indispensible. Always go the extra mile.

Everything in life has a price and in modern society the way you pay for it is with the money you earn. Therefore, at every opportunity, improve your career. Take exttra courses. Improve all of your skills. Acquire new skills. Learn new languages. Do this even when the subjects bore you. You may only ever need to use the skill once in your lifetime but by having it you will be more confident and more useful. This will open the door to higher earnings.

Put out more on your job than you are being paid for. Miracles will begin to happen. If it makes you unpopular with your co-workers, that is their problem. Only you can live your life and there will be people depending on you.

Do this today and tomorrow and for ever.

This principle has an application with homework and examinations. When you are given an extra question which is optional, always do the extra question. You may have got one of the earlier questions wrong. In cases like that the examiner will always give you the benefit of the best questions you have done.

157. Count Your Blessings

Every day, spend time taking stock of your blessings. Appreciate the assets you already possess. When you try, you will find it impossible to put a monetary value on what it is worth for example to live in a wealthy peaceful and stable country.

What would your job be worth if you were unemployed ?
What is it worth to you not to be in jail or heavy debt ?
What are your loved ones worth ?
How much would you take for your sight, your arms, your legs ?

With so much going for you, can you see how absurd it is to be depressed or sad ?

Your better way of life begins now.

Count your blessings. Once you realise how valuable you are, and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return. Move forward towards the life that God (or the Supreme Being, if you prefer) intended for you with grace, strength and confidence.

If the news arrived that you were missing at sea, every lifeboat, ship and aircraft available would be sent to search for you. Millions would be paid out in overtime. Thousands of litres of diesel and aviation fuel would be burned and millions of watts of electricity expended just to bring about your rescue. Think of that the next time you feel low, useless or insignificant.

156. Open-mindedness and Learning

On all paths of learning remember that we must be prepared to accept that everything we have learned up to now could be completely wrong !

155. Building Castles in the Air

The expression, "Building castles in the air" means that you create in your mind some wonderful project but the chances of fulfilling it are remote. We all build castles in the air. It is the proper function of your imagination to do this. Some people dismiss such imagination as impractical and so the expression has come to have a slightly pejorative connotation. Here is the truth of the matter : When you build castles in the air, don't let your work be lost, for that is where they should be. Instead, get busy and work hard to put the foundations under them.

Friday, August 27, 2010

154. Choice

There is always choice. You can always choose. There are always better and better ways to live. The choice to live better is yours.

153. The Successful Execution of Your Plans

Advance confidently and steadily in the direction of your dreams. Endeavour to live the life that you have imagined. Then you will meet with success unsuspected in the common hours.

152. Voltaire on the Effects of External Events on a Man's Inner State

When a man has spent 3 days in the belly of a whale, he is not as well disposed as when he has been to the opera or the theatre and has dined well in excellent company. Voltaire, The World As it Is.

We can all be adversely affected by the circumstances in which we find ourselves. It is well to recognise this in other people and refrain from asking them for favours etc. whilst they are below par.

151. Voltaire on Perfectionism

If everything is not perfect, everything is tolerable. - Voltaire, The World As It Is.

What Voltaire is saying is that while we must endure some imperfections, we should tolerate them and strive for perfection. Let us not be upset because things are not quite as we would like them to be.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

150. Voltaire on Virtue

Nothing encourages virtuous deeds more than to have as witness and judge of one's conduct, a mistress whose esteem one wishes to deserve. - Voltaire, The World As It Is.

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/voltaire.html

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

149. Clarity of Mind

In order to allow your mind to function clearly, you should be careful to remain cool, calm and factual at all times. Do not argue simply for the sake of arguing and contradicting another's statements. Seek agreement rather than conflict, unity rather than division.

148. Being Alive

Only the living have problems. (We know them as mere situations that require our attention.) They exist to test us, challenge us and ultimately make us stronger. Relish the problems that life throws at you and see them for what they are - challenges to you to be the best you can be. The more points at which you engage with life, the more alive you will be.

147. Your Modus Operandi (M.O.)

First clear your workspace, then gather all your tools and materials and work solidly, steadily and methodically. Do not overlook details. Finish on time allowing enough time to clean up and put everything away properly.

146. Persistence

When tackling a problem, persist in your attack until it is solved. Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution. Just keep looking and you will find them.

145. Know Thyself

Written over the Oracle at Delphi are the words "Know Thyself". Look inward. Meditate, reflect and constantly seek the insight to perceive the causes of your successes and your failures. Learn and grow.

Friday, August 6, 2010

144. Work on in the face of despair

"Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair." - Edmund Burke

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Edmund_Burke/

143. Austerity

"Austere perseverence, harsh and continuous may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose for its silent power grows irresistibly greater with time." - Goethe
http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc20.html
http://www.literary-quotations.com/g/goethe.html

142. Deal with your situations as they arise

Meet each situation as it arises. That way, problems do not build up. The wise do not have problems, merely situations that require their attention.

141. Psychopathy and Psychopaths.

Regretably, there exist in the world people who are totally ruthless. They do not care what happens so long as they gain an advantage. In all things, a certain level of ruthlessness is necessary - otherwise nothing would be achieved. We are not talking about that here. What we are considering here is a medically recognised condition - psychopathy.

The psycopath is often highly intelligent.(And this makes him even more dangerous). He believes that self-gratification is the highest good. He indulges his whims and impulses regardless of the rights of others. He is indifferent (in the uncaring sense) to the suffering of others. In the same way, a psychopath will have no regard for the truth (save where it suits his book) and is capable of the most bare-faced of lies. It is very unwise to take anything said by one at face value. A psychopath may be possessed of a superficial charm which he uses to his advantage. He is ingratiating and manipulative. He is an expert at using others to gain his ends. The psychopath will often only plan for the short-term, losing sight of the bigger picture. He is glib, superficial, impulsive and lacks any sense of responsibility.

A psychopath usually has a grossly inflated sense of his own importance and covets grand titles and trappings of office. They often have an exaggerated faith in their own abilities and fail to see their own shortcomings which are obvious to others.

A psycopath is often impulsive and easily bored.

The psychopath often has his own complex moral code taking elements from religions and philosophies that suit his own beliefs.

They are devoid of conscience and never show remorse.

They are chillingly in control of their emotions.

Differential Diagnosis :-

A PSYCHOTIC is not rational and is unaware of what they are doing or that it is wrong. A PSYCHOPATH underststands the difference between right and wrong and acts violently or criminally because he knows but DOES NOT CARE that his actions have terrible consequences for others.

The psychopath is incapable of feeling guilt. They like to exercise power over others. They lie continuously and are unmoved when found out. They are narcissistic, egocentric and see themselves as above the law and justified in living according to their own rules. Their plans are often on a grand scale. They will justify their actions to the end.

True psychopaths are far more common than one might expect. The estimated occurance in the USA is 1 in every 125. - approximately 2,000,000. New York City has 100,000. Psychopathy does not have a cure. The psychopath sees no reason to change.

These people are extremely dangerous and you should avoid them. For this reason it is importand to recognise the symptoms and identify them. If you work for one, quit. If one works for you, fire him. If you are married to one, annul the marriange.

Cleckley's original list of symptoms of a psychopath:

1. Considerable superficial charm and average or above average intelligence.

2. Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking

3. Absence of anxiety or other "neurotic" symptoms considerable poise, calmness, and verbal facility.

4. Unreliability, disregard for obligations no sense of responsibility, in matters of little and great import.

5.Untruthfulness and insincerity

6. Antisocial behavior which is inadequately motivated and poorly planned, seeming to stem from an inexplicable impulsiveness.

7.Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior

8.Poor judgment and failure to learn from experience

9. Pathological egocentricity. Total self-centeredness incapacity for real love and attachment.

10. General poverty of deep and lasting emotions.

11. Lack of any true insight, inability to see oneself as others do.

12. Ingratitude for any special considerations, kindness, and trust.

13. Fantastic and objectionable behavior, after drinking and sometimes even when not drinking - vulgarity, rudeness, quick mood shifts, pranks.

14. No history of genuine suicide attempts.

15. An impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated seX life.

16. Failure to have a life plan and to live in any ordered way, unless it be one promoting self-defeat.

These people are like M.Scott Peck's "People of the Lie" in that while they exist in every walk of life, they are very often found within religious orders and schools of esoteric teachings (philosophies). These are often the last place one might expect to find them, but they hide there nonetheless.


http://www.hare.org/
http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath_2.htm

140. Just Say No !

Here follows a list of things to which you should just say "NO!"
1. Recruiting Sergeants (or Navy Pressgangs).
2. "Recreational" Drugs both the street kind and the "legal high" kind as well as the prescription kind if they haven't been prescribed by a doctor and even then only with great caution.
3. Alcohol
4. Sport sex
5. Scientology or any weird cult
6. Gurus who take lots of money
7. Suicide
8. Suicide pacts
9. Stealing
10. Vandalism
11. Murder
12. Violence
13. Any form of criminality
14. Lifts from friends who don't own cars
15. Requests to carry things through customs / immigration / airports
16. Requests to mind mysterious packages "just for a few days"
17. Requests to beat people up
18. Any kind of dare.
19. Any kind of bet.
20. Suggestions that you should lie to save anyone's skin (even your own).
21. Any suggestions/requessts/orders etc from someone you know to be either psychotic or a psychopath.
22. The expression "Psst ! Come into the ally !" (also applies to cars.)
23. While you are a child any offers of money, toys, sweets etc. from an unknown adult in return for work or doing a message.
24. Charities that spend more on administration than on their projects. Don't take their word for it - demand audited accounts.
25. Religions that promise your reward "in the next life."
26. Flat demands from others that you spend your money on them.
27. "Business Coaches"nd "marketing gurus" a who promise to increase your turnover and who charge more than they produce.


http://www.geftakysassembly.com/Articles/Perspectives/MalignantNarcissism.htm
This list is not complete and you can add things to it yourself

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

139. Defeatism

Never TALK defeat because it is perfectly possible to talk yourself into defeat, snatching it from the jaws of victory as it were, when you do. Always say the good word.

138. Lord Chesterfield's Advice to His Son

This piece of writing was the original inspiration for me to write this work. It is a little dated now but the advice is still sound. Here is what he has to say :

Talk often but never long.
Adapt your conversation to the people with whom you are conversing.
Tell stories seldom, and absolutely never but where they are very apt and vert short. Never hold anybody by the button or by the hand in order to be heard out.
Avoid in mixed companies argumentative conversation.
Avoid speaking of yourself.
Always look people in the face when you speak to them.
Mimicry, neither practice it yourself nor applaud it in others.
Swearing is as silly and as illiberal as it is wicked.
Have a frank open and ingenious exterior with a prudent and reserved interior.


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lord_chesterfield.html
http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=88

137. Stickability

Whatever you take up, stick with it long enough to allow it to work. Stay in the game; dont quit too soon. Do know, however when it is time to quit.

136. Crises

You cannot avoid crises but you can prevent them from completely diverting your attention from your work by accepting each one as a stepping-stone to both personal and business excellence. The Chinese ideogram for "crisis" also means "opportunity".

135. The True Tradegy of Life

"The true tragedy of life is not the death of the body, but that which dies within us while we are still living." - Norman Cousins. Fight for the important things; do not let anything good inside you ever die.

134. Distinguish between Limits and Limitations

There is nothing to hold you back but the limitations set by your own mind-set. The good news is that you are in charge of that. There are such things as physical limits. Recognising them is what realists do. Devising ways to transcend them is what geniuses do. The human body is not designed for flight, yet we fly every day. The invention of the aircraft allows us to transcend the physical limits of the body. The thought that we cannot fly was the limitation that prevented flight before the age of the aircraft. Distinguish between your limits and your limitations and you are on the road to useful work.

133. Winning the Right Way

Win, truly win through integrity (even if it means losing the race) not through exaggeration or bluff. Exaggeration is sham.

132. Life and the 90:10 Rule

In truth, Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond. It often seems the other way around but that's just because the 10% shouts louder. You and you alone are in charge of your attitudes.

131. Discipline and Freedon

Only the disciplined are truly free. The undisciplined are slaves to their moods, desires, aversions, appetites and passions. The disciplined ones rise above and control them.

130. Duty of the Manager

The first duty of the manager is to define reality.

129.What are the 3 Things that Rule the World ?

1. Vision
2. Discipline
3. Passion


In Hindu teachings, it is said that the 3 things that rule the world are the 3 Gunaa - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. These may be said to correspond to the first 3 listed here. Sattva = Vision. Rajas = Passion and Tamas = Discipline !

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

128. Control of the Mind

"You must gain control over the patterns that govern your mind, your world view, your beliefs about what you deserve and about what's possible. That is the zone of fundamental change, strength and energy; the true meaning of courage."- Peter Koestenbaum

http://www.pib.net/bio_peter.htm

“To be a leader is to be awake and alert, to be dissatisfied at all times.”

Peter Koestenbaum

127. On Teaching the Next Generation

Through their pupils, teachers touch the future.
"One hundred years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had in my bank account nor what my clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because I was important in the life of a child." - Anonymous.

126. Attitude Poem

One ship drives east and another drives west
With the self-same winds that blow

'Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As we voyage along through life

'Tis the set of the soul
That decides the goal
And not the calm or the strife.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox.


http://www.poemhunter.com/ella-wheeler-wilcox/

126. Effectiveness

Effectiveness is not optional. It is the price of entry to the playing field.

125. On the Value of Principles

We all must choose a set of principles by which we live. Otherwise we lose our self-awareness and live only for survival.

124. What is Service ?

Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on the earth.

To Serve is to find Joy

I slept and dreamt that life was joy
I woke and saw that life was service
I served and found that service was joy

- Rabindra Nath Tagore

Monday, August 2, 2010

123. On the Formation of Your Character

Some day, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with The Great Temptation or trembling under the Great Sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here and now. Now, here, in your heart, it is being decided whether in the day of your great sorrow or temptation you shall fail miserably or conquer gloriously. Character cannot be made except by a steady long continuous process. - Phillip Brooks

You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep a garden does not reserve a plot for weeds. Do not dabble, especially in those things that are unhealthy.

122. Miyamoto Musashi, the Wise Warrior.

Read and study Musashi's Book of the Five Rings and that of his rival, Takuan Soho, The Unfettered Mind. Musashi says : " The spirit of defeating one man is the same for defeating ten million. The strategist makes small things into big things." This is a very important point - Learn how to leverage your advantages and assets in order to turn the small things into big. Musashi also says : "Train day and night to make quick decisions. Treat training as part of your normal life." When you get the opportunity to train at your Martial Art, jump at it so you can learn to defend yourself and overcome your enemies. Train every day. If you cannot find a training partner, read your notes or Martial Arts Books or watch training videos. This is called keeping your mind in company with your Art. While philosophy tells you to know yourself so that you may know others, it is difficult to know yourself if you do not know others. Study well, therefore.

"Everything is difficult at first but becomes easy with practice."

Perfect practice makes perfect. Make sure what you practice is perfect, correct. Polish your way, your techniques. "

"It is better to use 2 swords when fighting a crowd, especially if you want to take a prisoner."

"From one thing know ten thousand."

"Do not have favourite weapons or tools. Do not have likes and dislikes (attractions and aversions). Learn to transcend the many pairs of opposites presented by the mind.

"Until trained in how to use them, do not use your weapons."

121. Do Sufficient Research

Know the smallest and the greatest things. You may choose later to ignore some detail or other, but there is never any excuse for not knowing them to begin with. The value in keeping detailed records of everything you research is that you do not need to clutter your mind with useless detail if you know where you can lay your hands on it at any time you choose.

120. Do they REALLY Know ?

If someone cannot reply immediately to the question "what is ... ?", it is because they do not know the answer in their hearts. If they have to stop and think, they are manufacturing an (untrue and unreal) answer. From this you can see that they are not the true followers of the path or way that they are pretending to be.

119. Four Things to Shun

Rid yourself of arrogance, lust, ingratiating manners and excessive ambition. All are detrimental to your character and person.

118. The Past Does Not Equal the Future

This is an important fact to remember especially when it comes to investments. Just because a share did well in the past, it does not go to say that it will continue to do well in the future.