Don’t just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference.
— Denzel Washington
I’ve been a personal development addict for as long as I can remember. It started with books, then cassette tapes and CD audio programs, and today it’s YouTube. In my saved videos, there’s a file called “Messages that Matter.”
Each morning as amid my journaling, writing of tomorrow’s post for this publication, and preparing for the day, I open the folder, scroll through, and pick one to watch. I chose this one today.
Starting my day with messages like this has been a game-changer. It helps me reset my mind and focus my thinking on why we’re all here — to make a difference. It triggers thoughts and ideas, and it lifts my spirits to keep me on purpose.
For me, the simple truth is messages like this, in whatever form they’ve come, have driven me to do far more than I would have done without them. And this morning, I’m grateful to live in a time when it is so easy to access their power in bite-sized bits.
So today, I’d like to challenge you to create your own “Messages that Matter” folder, perhaps more than one. Maybe you need one in Evernote (or whatever tool you use) where you capture webpages, copy and paste things, and curate stuff you want to read. Perhaps you need a physical folder where you put stuff you want to keep for later reading.
Wherever you keep it, visit your folder regularly and read, watch, or listen to just one thing. That’s all it takes to redirect your mind to a different place — at times like the one we’re all going through right now, that’s a critical thing to do. It’s also pretty valuable at any time.
What’s your go-to approach for resetting your mind?
Know someone how needs this today? Why not share it with them…