02/17/12 - Continuation of my Diligence update

Well, yesterdays update got a little away from me.  Again, three cheers for my friend Ray Conrad and what he is doing.

So I've determined that I am associating with good people but moving on towards the next item I didn't do quite as good.  "Don't speak with malice or envy towards another person".  With everything going on in politics today, it is nearly impossible not to make the occasional comment without a little malice.  Envy, I'm fine with.  No problems there.  Because I am a political junkie however, and I frequently discuss politics with other people,  there is no way I can talk about the Soros's and Obama's of the world and not be a little disgruntled.  I'm pretty sure I've even heard Glenn Beck say (at least once in the past month) "I HATE that guy" when referring to Woodrow Wilson.  But can you blame us for that?

Next on the list was making a goal every day.  This one was pretty hard at first but because of the move it was a pretty easy one to accomplish.  All I pretty much had to do was wake up and make the goal of spending ALL DAY unpacking and organizing my new home.  The goals of writing every day and going to the gym were a little more difficult as I said in my previous post but those I will continue to keep on my list for the future.

I also put on my list to "look every person in the eye when speaking to them and giving them a firm handshake".    The handshake has never been a problem, as my father could have told you (RIP), ever since as a child I shook his bosses hand with one of those squeeze as hard as you can handshakes when I was around 10 years old.  The look people in the eye when you speak to them is a little more difficult.  I'm happy to say that I believe I have accomplished this at every opportunity.  I must say though that I've always felt like I was staring at a person when I've done it in the past and usually looked away.  Now I realize that by looking someone in the eye when I speak to them I am paying them the respect of letting them know I am paying attention to what they are saying.

I also put on my list "Aspiring to Inspire".  I think I've done okay with this but it's not the easiest thing to do on a daily basis.  I believe that by doing my best in everything that I have done this month I have done my best to lead by example and hopefully I have inspired someone in some small way.

The last thing on my list I am VERY happy to say that I have accomplished.  "Say 'I Love You' to my wife" every day for the entire month.  Some things are more important than others but this one I think tops the list and I suggest it to everyone out there.  Don't forget to say "I Love You".

So all in all, besides the gym and the lack of writing, Diligence was a pretty good month.  It's not quite over yet but I anticipate good things.  I haven't started "Faith" yet but will begin on Monday after I have taken the weekend to analyze how I want to approach it.  I've never been a church goer.  In fact, the closest I have usually gotten to church has been listening to "The Jesus Christ Show" on KFI640 on Sunday mornings.  Well, we'll see what happens.