Play Big

A word of encouragement – Play BIG. 

By playing small you do not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that others won’t feel insecure around you. 

You are meant to shine.    S H I N E !

Be a big bright light in your corner of the world and on your street.  It’s the old adage of “don’t hide your light under a bushel.  Plant it on a candlestick” so others can see and benefit from your light.

  

P Michael Biggs

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Where Is Your Pride

Name one thing that makes you proud to show to your corner of the world.

Some of us are amazing and impressive individuals and could boast of a dozen areas of success.  But that often muddies the waters, doesn't it?

What is your go-to gift that you bring to the world?  What do you do better, with more success, with more intent than any other skill or offering you have to offer?

Show us your best. 

I am often reminded by Seth Godin that I can never reach every person on this earth with my gifts, but I can reach a few and make a difference for those few.  That is what I’m focusing on more and more – delivering my best to the few who tune in. 

Something to hold onto as we zoom into 2014.

P Michael Biggs

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Your Best

In the Christmas song The Little Drummer Boy, we find this lyric:

I played my best for him

Pa rum pum pum pum

Rum pa pum pum

Gotta love that.  He gave his best.

His best!

What else is there to give? 

Size doesn’t matter.

     Cost doesn’t matter.

          Perfection doesn’t matter.

It’s the giving from the heart that matters.

Hold this thought close this Christmas season. 

Your best is good enough. 

Merry Christmas

P Michael Biggs

Offering Encouragement

One Word at a Time

What Child Indeed

It is interesting to ponder the baby who became a King.  He was brought into the world in such humble settings.  His place of birth was less than perfect.  His first swaddling left much to be desired.  His first visitors were farm animals, and then came shepherds fresh from the fields.

It was not a very exciting way to welcome THE KING, was it?  His birth surprised the establishment of the day as well. 

They were looking for a deliverer. 

          Instead they got a baby.

They were looking for a warrior to overcome their oppressors. 

          Instead they got a baby.

They were looking for a hero.

          Instead they got a baby.

But most of all … they got love.

Ponder the child in the manger. 

Love expressed in the most wholesome, beautiful way.

Love expressed in innocence.

Love expressed in cries in the night, just like the sounds any normal baby would make.

Love expressed through a lifestyle of peace, compassion, caring, loving, and passion. 

Never before had the world seen such a life, nor will we ever see it again in such a pure state.

This baby, this little one named Jesus grew to become …

Well, what do you need this Christ Child to be in your world?

Do you need …

A friend?

                         He is.

A healer?

                         He is.

A savior?

                         He is.

A comforter?

                         He is.

A model of integrity?

                         He is.

A pathfinder?

                         He is.

A protector?

                         He is.

What child is this?

Indeed, what child is this!

Merry Christmas

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Need a Gift Idea

Are you stuck on what to give this Christmas season? 

Here are some really excellent suggestions.

To your enemy –            Forgiveness

To your opponent          Tolerance

To a friend                     Your Heart

To a customer                Service

To all men –                   Charity

To every child –             A good example

To yourself –                  Respect

~Author Unknown

Got Peace

Got Peace?

PEACE at CHRISTMAS!  What a worthy thought.  What a worthwhile aim for all of mankind.

Here are some thoughts on PEACE for this Christmas season.

Peace Is …

~Gazing at the stars knowing you know their creator

~Closing your eyes in sleep without fear of tomorrow

~The stillness in your heart when trouble swirls around you

~A quiet mind in a raging world

~Author Unknown

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Enough Light

We talk about lights at Christmastime.   Carolyn and I love to drive around Seattle and see the great displays that are put together for everyone’s benefit.  We see some marvelous patterns of light in varying colors and shapes and sizes.

As we reflect on Christmas we are reminded of this. 

God sent a star to show the way to His Son.  And his son IS the way, the truth and the light.

It is good to note that perhaps, just perhaps, God has given us all of the light that we’ll ever need to find peace on earth. 

~Based on a thought from

Pamela F. Down

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Growing Old Is Mandatory

Some things in life cannot be avoided – like growing old.  It creeps up on us second by second. 

Milk spoils.

Cheese turns to mold.

Bread goes bad.

And we grow old.

However …

HOWEVER!

We never have to grow up.

Growing up is not mandated.  We can be forever young in mind and spirit if we choose to.

It’s all in a state of mind.

I once met a 76 year-old man named Charlie.  He had just started back to college, was learning to play the flute and was more alive than many 50-year-old individuals I’ve met in my lifetime. 

Grow old if you will, but never grow up!

P Michael Biggs

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Inspiration Is Perishable

Inspiration has a short shelf life.  It doesn’t last.  That is a great reason to re-read and review significant material on a continual basis.

If you are like most people, you can read something today that you read three months ago and it can seem like fresh material to you. 

If it was good the first time around, can you imagine how good it will be in rerun mode?

To keep the motivation and inspiration flowing, read, re-read, review and re-visit as often as you need.

P Michael Biggs

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So Afraid to Jump

(Nov 18-28 I'll be on vacation in Tennessee. Enjoy this post - new one back on schedule on Friday, Nov. 29.  Thanks so much for your loyal readership. Drop me a note occasionally.  I love hearing from my readers.)

When we want to change and improve, sometimes the only recourse is to make the jump.  And that is a terrifying prospect at times.

Until a writer actually shows his/her words to another person, they are nothing but a want to-be writer.  I know this firsthand.

This quote is often in my mind.  Allow it to encourage you as well.

“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be…because of all I may become, I will close my eyes and leap!”

P Michael Biggs

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The Monitor

It is a good idea to be open to input. 

Ah, but the secret is to monitor the input.  I don’t buy everything I read, nor do I accept every idea presented through reading material, news reports and media commentators.

You and I have a brain, and it is a good idea to engage this amazing organ and its reasoning faculties. 

Just because someone says so doesn’t makes it so.  What is the back story?  How and why are they presenting that particular slant on thing? 

Do you operate a revolving door or a draw bridge?

We get to choose. 

Choose wisely!

P Michael Biggs

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Push the Edge

What is your limit?  At what point have you operated at your absolute maximum capacity? 

You can do that again. 

If we skate on the edge of our ability, then sooner or later we expand the edge.  We master at that level.

Wayne Gretzky, hockey great, was famous for his skating antics in practice.  He would try every conceivable body position and awkward skating move he could imagine just to see if he could improve upon it.  His teammates thought at times that he was losing his keen edge, yet Gretzky was actually sharpening it. 

He would find a new edge, exploit it, and push it out further.

That is why Wayne Gretzky is The Great Wayne Gretzky.

P Michael Biggs

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The Quota

I will be brief so please remain as you were.

The quota for good ideas hasn’t been used up yet, so go ahead and produce some.  The idea bank is open for business and you can deposit as many good to great ideas as you can possibly generate.

Just because someone has created something similar to your idea doesn’t mean your slant on things is wrong or will fail.

Amazon shows over 7,000 books about starting a startup company.  Eric Ries didn’t let that stop him.  He had a New York Times bestseller on his hands with The Lean Startup.

Tell your story as only you can tell it.

  

P Michael Biggs

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Some Thoughts on Failure

Believe it or not, this is a very positive blog. 

Failure can be positive?  You bet!  Listen up.

Failure is an event, not a person.

Sometimes our best teachers are pain, heartbreak, bankruptcy, divorce, agony and “NO”.

The most common cause of failure is quitting.

“Courage sometimes hides in “I will try again tomorrow.”

Every successful person is someone who failed, yet never regarded themselves as a failure.”

~John C. Maxwell

“If you’re going to doubt something, doubt your limits.”

~Don Ward

“Every artist was first an amateur.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

P Michael Biggs

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A Shattered Dream

What do you do with a shattered dream?  Why, you pick up those pieces and you start all over. 

Dreams are fragile things.  We handle them with care, nurture them, feed them, and occasionally show them to others until one fine day we are ready to launch our dreams. 

And if, during the course of dreaming, your dreams get shattered, all is well.  You pick up those pieces and you continue creating your dream, only better.  Now you know what caused your dream to shatter.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

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Why We Stop Playing

I love playgrounds.  They are full of adventure, intrigue, thrills and laughter.

Have you played today?  Have you laughed, had fun, explored?

It does not matter your age – you can still play.  You MUST play.  If one stops playing, do you know what happens? 

A ninety-year-old woman named Rose went back to school after years of raising kids and grandkids.  Here is what she said about that.

“We do not stop playing

because we are old;

we grow old

because we stop playing.”

Keep alive. 

Stay young (at heart).

PLAY WELL!

P Michael Biggs

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What Matters Most

It is an adage that stands the test of time …

The substance of a person, not their knowledge, is the ingredient we most want to focus on.  If we can’t trust you, don’t believe you and don’t find you reliable, then what you know can’t be trusted either. 

We trade in trust, reliability, and faith in individuals. 

Your word becomes your bond after you establish your “trust” credit score.

This is just one more essential in life.

P Michael Biggs

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Motivate Thyself

And we think motivation is always from an outside source.  Not so.

We can often find something within ourselves to push us to the next level. 

A world-class athlete once made this observation:

“There is something about seeing

myself improve that motivates

and excites me.”

~Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Olympic medal winner

Sometimes we love to tell ourselves what we can’t do because we play those conversations often in our minds.  Maybe we need to go on an overdose of what we can do.  This is not bragging – not at all.  It is developing a healthy mindset for “can do” achievement.

Maybe it’s time to do a good turn for self.  Brag on YOU!

P Michael Biggs

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Learners and Non-learners

Today we are going to focus on learning.  No matter your age, we all are capable of continual learning. 

Note this;

“I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures, those who make it or those who don’t.  I divide the world into learners and non-learners.”

~Benjamin Barber

Michelangelo once said,

Have you turned your drive time into learning time?  CD's, smart phones and MP3 players abound and can contain all kinds of information that we could use. 

What do you need to learn today?

  

P Michael Biggs

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Sticks in a Bundle

We need a huge drink from the ‘unity’ cup today, I think.  At the moment our U.S. Senators and Representatives in Congress are at odds with each other.  

In the name of self-preservation we protect our domains and that very act is what divides us.  We splinter into smaller cell groups and become self-absorbed.  We lose sight of the bigger picture – the great whole.

What to do and how to remedy?

At the Gates Foundation here in Seattle they have a sign on a wall:

One lowly twig is easily snapped.

A bundle of twigs tied together – virtually unbreakable

It’s called “asking for help” and also “let’s work together.”

... Something to think about for all of life.

P Michael Biggs

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A Human Being

We want common courtesy.  We want to be respected.  We want to be acknowledged as a worthwhile human being. 

Everyone wants that. 

I love this observation by Dr. Bernie Siegel.

While talking with two patients who were terminally ill, he asked what they most wanted from their medical professionals.

Their responses:

~“Let me talk first.”

~“Knock on my door.”

~“Say ’Hello’.”

~“Say ‘Goodbye’.”

“And look me in the eye when you talk to me.”

Nobody said “Cure me.  Get me a transplant.”

They said “Treat me like a human being.”

~Dr. Bernie Siegel

That is enough. 

It’s called “Respect”.

For more on this topic, please follow the link below.

Value People

P Michael Biggs

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Tomorrow's Successes

The future is found in the seeds of today – today’s successes and especially today’s failures. 

Today’s failures, today’s mistakes make a strong foundation for tomorrow’s successes. 

We can learn a lot from our mistakes if we take the time to analyze and consider every aspect of what happened.

Thomas Edison once said:  “I have not failed.  I've just discovered 10,000 ways that do not work.”

John Dewey said:  “We do not learn from experience.  We learn from reflecting on experience.”

P Michael Biggs

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Shipped Anything Lately?

Have you shipped anything lately?

Have you pressed “publish” lately?

Have you sung your song lately?

What have you done lately with your art? 

My favorite guru, Seth Godin, says this: 

“Art unshipped isn’t art.”

We can dream all day long and be a wanna-be for thirty years, yet until we publish, ship, show, tell, sing, write and make known our art form, we haven’t done anything but engage in wishful thinking.

Class dismissed.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

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Faith

Your friends and customers want to have faith in you.  They are full of information.  They can get all the product knowledge one could ever need from a dozen internet sites. 

What they want is faith in you.  They want to believe in you, and the successes you tell them in your story. 

Give people in your sphere a chance to have faith in you.  Shoot strait, tell your story and communicate good will.

P Michael Biggs

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The 9-Second Rule

I learned this recently – 

“You've got nine seconds to convince people that you are the one. Don't overload them with information; concentrate on what really matters to them.”

What we used to consider as the 30-second to two-minute rule may have just been slimmed down to 9-seconds.

Bottom line, people care about what they are concerned about.  If we focus on their needs and concerns, we’ll win. 

WE WILL WIN!

P Michael Biggs

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Road to Entrepreneurship

Do you want to be a successful entrepreneur tomorrow?  Then you need to be asking this question today.

“What might people need tomorrow?”

Another take on this question is:

~What might people read tomorrow?

~What might people sing tomorrow?

~What foods might people eat tomorrow?

See the big picture?

If you can answer some of these then you can not only earn

your place in history and earn a great income, you can also make an impact.

Look at this short list of some worthy individuals who have asked this question.

Ben Franklin

Nikola Tesla

Bill Gates

Steve Jobs

The Wright Brothers

Mark Zuckerberg – founder of Facebook

Jack Dorsey – founder of Twitter

Reid Hoffman – founder of LinkedIn

In some form or fashion each of these individuals asked about tomorrow’s world and they made their mark.

Your turn.

P Michael Biggs

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Make a Difference

People buy the difference you or your product can bring to them.  They don’t buy your product just to have another product. 

What is the end result of knowing you or using what you produce?

Bottom line – Do you make a difference?

We may like you, even love you, but the average “Joe” will ignore you until you prove you can make a difference. 

That is the mindset for marketers to hold onto for today.

P Michael Biggs

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Your Unique Voice

We each have an identity that is our own unique mark.

   Our voice print

     Our finger print

       Our DNA

You have a unique voice – and I’m not talking about the ‘sound’ of your voice.  You have thoughts and ideas that are unique to your life experiences. 

Your story is unique and only you can tell it. 

Let it out. 

Even though there are millions of wanna-be writers in this world, I continue to write.  No one can express my ideas with the same intensity and spirit as I can.  That is what keeps me writing. 

What drives you? 

It’s your voice, and your voice matter.

P Michael Biggs

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Use Crutches?

I've never been much of a rabbit’s foot believer, or carried lucky charms, or anything else that was meant to bring me good luck.  I have found that my good luck, my magic comes from within.  It comes from my ability to develop a talent and then showcase that talent when the circumstances require it.

This story tells my point perfectly. 

The great violinists, Nicolo Paganini, was about to perform

before a packed opera house when he suddenly realized that he had walked onto the stage with a strange violin in his hands - not his own treasured Guarneri violin.

Panic-stricken, but realizing that he had no other choice, he began to play with all the skill he possessed. Everyone agreed afterward that he gave the performance of his life. When he was finished, the audience gave him a standing ovation.

After the concert, when he was praised for his superlative performance, Paganini replied, "Today, I learned the most important lesson of my entire career. Before today I thought the music was in the violin. Today I learned that the music is in me."

P Michael Biggs

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