What you’ll do…the only thing that matters

Mark Twain said: “The man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the man who can’t read.”  Gender pronoun neglect aside, he makes the point that knowledge is meaningless if you don’t apply it.

So when you acquire experience, knowledge, or some new perspective…what will you do with it?  How will you use it to better yourself, and what will you do to become an inspiring example for others?

Education and certifications are great to have.  But the plain truth is that no one cares what you have.  It’s what you do with what you have that matters.

Stop exaggerating

Outside of obvious jokes, I make it a habit to avoid exaggerations like “I’m starving” or “This is devastating” or “Everyone thinks I’m…”.  (Really?  Everyone?) Our tendency is to believe our own thoughts, and the over-reactive sensational ones aren’t helpful.  It’s unlikely that I have ever actually been starving.

Don’t trick your body into feeling exhausted, freezing, or any other distorted extreme.  It’s possible that you just need a nap or a warm coat, and those can be attained without invoking stress hormones and going into crisis mode.

Yet another reminder to be vigilant with your thoughts and words.  And to remember…you don’t have to believe everything you think anyways.

Boost your immune system

Our nervous system can’t distinguish between being chased by a tiger and the nerves we feel just before a speech.” For urgent, life-threatening matters (which, unless you’re President Lincoln do not include public speaking), our bodies are doing their jobs by turning on stress hormones so we can run or fight for our lives.

It’s a glitch in our DNA to produce the fight/flight reaction because we are embarrassed by something, or anxious about some imagined future.  Because our bodies are impressive in their ability to prioritize and dispatch resources, we weaken our immune system by starving it of resources and instead send them to non-urgent, non-emergencies.

Boost your immune system!  Heal faster!  Avoid getting sick to begin with!  More practical reasons to do our best to proactively reduce stress.  Not that we needed more reasons.