SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: the cost of tooting

Can I ask you a personal question?  Do you …toot? 

Got your attention, huh?!  But when I say toot I mean do you toot your own horn?  Before you jump on me and deny that you could ever be slammed as a boaster, a braggert, a gloater or grandstander… here’s a second question to ponder.  Do you know the difference between peacocking your latest laundry list of achievements in search of applause… and simply stating your status for the sake of keeping your personal and professional peeps up to speed?   Mind you, it’s truly a subjective analysis and a fine line, perhaps at that.  Of course an immensely guilty party is the web if social media sites relentlessly fueling the fire by seducing the masses to tweet, toot, and tell-all ’til they’re blue in the face (while raking in the billions, of course!).  Alas, you can’t live with ’em, you can’t live without ’em, right?  So, my soapbox point is, as usual, a mere confession of amusement and careful observation, followed by a prompting to hold up one’s own mirror and tell yourself the truth:  Do you toot??  Take a few extra moments to listen for and consider the responses to your raving and reveling, and you’ll see if indeed you’ve blurred the line in your favor…but against the ears of others.     ~ KD

http://youtu.be/DYWGtcPWBN4

Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book, KINDLE and audiobook are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: huh?

“The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”    ~ Mark Twain
 
 
Net-net, folks:  SAY what you MEAN.  MEAN what you SAY.    We have over one million words in our English language from which to choose.  So, don’t be careless or lazy or lame.  Be care-FUL and selective…perhaps even picky… when picking the declarations (and mutterings) that will run off your tongue.  If language is what truly separates us from animals, well then the right words just might separate you from the misspoken masses. 
 
 
Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book,  audiobook and Kindle are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: strange birds

“You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.”      ~ Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Seuss Geisel), author & illustrator

     Strange birds.  Indeed a quirky little tag.  But, perhaps, that’s the most accurate all-encompassing phrase to employ in describing the characters we “get mixed up with” at times in our lives.  You know what I’m talking about.  The “not sure where that second  personality came from” people  who throw you for a loop…leaving YOU wondering how your gut was just soooooo wrong.  Sometimes their oddities or blatant evilness jumps out at you in one fell swoop.  Aaaaannnnd sometimes it takes years.   But eventually their true colors are revealed…and the result ain’t a flock pleasant-looking peacocks, folks.  Nope.  When these wild and wicked  beings fly in your path, they stir up wretchedly pungent airs of stench, speculation and charade. 

     Those “strange birds” are in a category all by themselves, and come to be stewed up with the lot of others you’ve met along your life’s journeys.  (And the more to come, ‘cause you know they’ll be more!)  Though you may not control the flight pattern of these dive-bombing, devilish creatures, you can counterbalance their effects.  It simply means investing more time in focusing on what truly does compliment your life and parallel your values.  Sure it’ll take a little more hard work to ensure you stay on your RIGHT footing, but it’s worth the “good eggs” in the end.

 

Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book and audiobook are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: inspiration defined

Today’s little treat is a continuation of last week… a project called MotivationStation USA, being started by my pal Kevin McCrudden… the man who pushed to have January 2 established as National Motivation & Inspiration Day! So here is another little ditty I created for him…FOR YOU!

INSPIRATION.   Ok, now this digs a bit deeper into the soul than simple motivation.  The elation of one’s heart often comes through witnessing incredible hardship, hearing stories of lifesaving, and learning of human beings achieving absolutely awesome feats.  If you’re looking for inspiration…it’s a bit like LOVE.  It finds you…and threads its way into your very being.  Feeling a bit uninspired?  The solution is all about perspective, friends.  Be open to the possibility of it every day  -in any person, event, thing, experience.  Believe that around any corner is tiny nugget that’s just waiting to be discovered by you.  Ironically, in the end, when INSPIRATION lights up your own life, the sparkling glow is confettiied into the world, allowing you to then be the fuel for others.     ~ KD

http://youtu.be/SHTMdWnuA1M Support Kevin’s efforts at TheMotivationStation

Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book and audiobook are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: motivation defined

Today’s treat is part of a project being started by my pal Kevin McCrudden… the man who pushed to have January 2 established as National Motivation & Inspiration Day!  So I created a few little ditties for him…

Motivation.  Some folks like to toss them into the same basket with a lackluster, clichéd definition of  “that get-up-n-go-attitude”.   Yawn.  Worse still is the scenario, for far too many people, wherein they forgot what a sensation of uplifting drive and unstoppable vision  really feels like.  If you don’t know what a duck looks like, walks like or sounds like…you ain’t gonna find a duck anywhere.  Got it?  Perhaps it’s time you add a colorful and undeniably memorable definition to YOUR picture of MOTIVATION and see just how it takes shape in your daily life.  ~ KD

http://youtu.be/SHTMdWnuA1M  Support Kevin’s efforts at TheMotivationStation

Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book and audiobook are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: grow a spine!

Feeling like a spoke in the proverbial wheel of corporate America?  Wondering why you always seem to find yourself in the line that just ain’t moving fast enough?  Are you perhaps at the point of boiling over with festering frustration at not getting what you want, when you want it…EVER?!  Well, folks, did you ever stop to think that people and things will treat you the WAY YOU LET THEM treat you.  Act like a doormat and…you get the picture.  Pipe up, pals, and be the revolution you want to see!                                        ~ KD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoHLw0-d1Bw

Copyright 2011 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

Shop SOAPBOX® products & SUBSCRIBE to FREE feed HERE! “Pure Soapbox” book and audiobook are available nationwide . A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to LIVESTRONG.

Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com