Category: Jet’s Thoughts

How do you know it’s clear? How do you know it’s common sense?

I’ve spent most of my life in pursuit of the clear, simple concept of common sense.
When you hear it, it rings true.
When you see it, you recognize it.

But, how do you initiate it for yourself, knowing that it’s the simplest action to take, the right idea to follow, the most common sense path?

Those aren’t the simplest questions to answer, because for each of us, the answer looks different.

However, there is a common thread that runs through every clear, simple, honest action, and that’s awareness.

Awareness

Let me give you an immediate example, using myself as the star of this little drama.

This morning I sat down to my computer to write, and looked for my wrist guards. I looked on the desk in front of me and saw one, the medical ace bandage-y thing, kind of tan in color. I didn’t see the other one. Hmmm, I really thought I had left both of them on my desk, as I switch off between them. Hmmm, well, maybe I left it out by the couch where I was working on my crochet. Hmmmm.

Oops, there goes the computer screen, so I turn to the keyboard to log in. I turn back to the desk and there it is, right in front of me, within hand’s reach and clearly in view. My bright red plaid, larger than life sheepskin wrist wrap.

Why didn’t I see it the first time? Well, let me ask two questions.

Question number 1 – How many things am I doing at once?

In recent years there has been a huge surge in popularity for multi-tasking. I’m no holdout; I used to brag about how many things I could do at once. However, I realized something not too long ago about multi-tasking; the more things I try to do at once, the less well I do all of them. Go ahead, don’t take my word for it, give it a try. With the most mundane of tasks.

Question number 2 – What am I looking for?

I thought I knew what my wrist guard looked like, and I thought I knew where I had left it. I had a pretty strong picture in my mind of both those images. Apparently not, since I couldn’t see it right where it was. When I got distracted from what “I knew,” and turned to log on to the computer, I wiped out the faulty picture and when I looked back at the desktop, I looked with no preconceived illusions, and immediately saw the wrist guard. It kind of happens that way. I heard it called, “Detach from the outcome,” and that concept works really well for me. Again, don’t take my word for it, give it a try.

Same morning, next drama. My desktop crashed a while ago, and I haven’t found a model I really like, so I haven’t replaced it. I really love my laptop, but the numeric keypad is kind of a pain (I’m an accountant) and the keyboard sometimes aggravates me because it’s smaller than a standard keyboard. Among other things.

Well, I’ve been tripping over the absolutely stellar wireless mouse that I had gotten just before my pc crashed. I thought to move it, but then rationalized that I would be getting a desktop soon, so just kept tripping over it. It has most recently been a rest for some great quotes I wrote down to keep in front of me.

Are you ahead of me yet? I’m sure you are.

Took two minutes to connect up my wireless keyboard and mouse to the laptop, and now I’m a LOT more comfortable. And yes, I’m wearing my wrist guard! Which may prove unnecessary because the setup is so much more comfortable.

Trouble was, I kept thinking of the mouse and keyboard in relation to the desktop, and not as they are, independent and useful tools with any computer.

I also didn’t see that the solution to my annoyance with my computer setup was sitting on my desk all the while. So I was using the mouse for an unintended purpose (holding up paper) because I just wasn’t paying attention!

I hope you’ve found these examples helpful, or at least identified in some way with them.

Because the key to Clear, Simple, Common Sense is really Awareness of what you are doing, thinking, listening to, looking at. If you pay attention to where you are right now, you’ll know whether or not you are choosing Clear, Simple, Common Sense, and you can act accordingly!

Here’s to Awareness!

I believe that we are each born with unique gifts to contribute to the glory of our existence. Our existence as represented by what we experience as earth, our lives, that time we think we own between being born and dying.
These gifts, or talents if you will, are meant to be shared with all who come into our consciousness. And those who come into our consciousness are sharing their gifts with us.
It looks like a big jigsaw puzzle in my mind, with each piece having its own unique place in the whole. Have you ever done a jigsaw puzzle, and gotten it all put together and there’s a piece missing? How does that feel? Pretty discouraging, eh? And then, all of a sudden, you see the piece, which was camouflaged by the puzzle itself. You pick it up, pop it in its place and – Ahhh….. Relief! Success! Complete!
Sometimes I imagine that’s how God, or whatever you call the Force of Nature, feels as He watches us struggle in life. Here we are, each of us with the most incredible, unimaginably beautiful gifts to share, thinking we are not good enough? Broke? Sick? Bad? Criminal? Failures?
Well, I’ve got news for you, if you’d like to hear it.

We are all born with a unique gift to contribute to the world.

Every. Single. One. Of. Us.

No matter what you think you are, there are no exceptions to the rule.

And if you don’t believe that, and you are not experiencing that, you are simply suffering from a Case of Mistaken Identity.

Look in the mirror. Face yourself. If you don’t see the gifts you bear, then simply state to yourself, “I was suffering from a case of mistaken identity, and I am suffering no more.”
Every time you feel of twinge of doubt, whether it be in finance, health, relationship, security, whatever, if it doesn’t feel like expressing your unique gift to the world, repeat the statement, and then know that you are an integral piece of the puzzle, with a gift to share. If you steadfastly hold to that, you will actually begin to see that gift more clearly. You will begin to see your place in the greater scheme of things. Not to fail, but to hugely succeed, to contribute to that beautiful whole.
We didn’t ‘come’ here to do damage, to suffer, to hurt ourselves or others. We ‘came’ here to complete the puzzle. So did everyone else. If we hurt, in any way, shape or form, we are simply suffering from a case of mistaken identity.

Three terms that stand for who I am, who I want to be, how I want to be remembered.

Clear – well defined, easy to understand, unconfused, straightforward.

Simple – this only comes second in the list because it flows better off the tongue.  It’s really my foundation.  My core Principle.  Simple.  Direct, easy to follow, unconfused, easy to implement, remember, and convey to others.

Common Sense – Well, I can only say that I would trade three college degrees for one big dose of common sense any day.  Because it’s available to EVERYONE (hence, ‘common’) and it keeps everything 1- Clear and 2- Simple!

If I am living Clear and Simple Common Sense, I am trustworthy because I have the least risk of confusing others with misunderstanding.

If I am living Clear and Simple Common Sense, I am calm, conscious and congruent because I’m not complicating my life with fuzzy directives, double meanings, and other tedious and “hard” tasks.

If I am living Clear and Simple Common Sense, my daily path is easy to follow, low maintenance, and highly productive, all of which are also important to me.

Easy to do?  No.  Simple? Yes.

Here’s how:

First, sit down and THINK about who you are.

Then, THINK about who you want to be.

Then, BE who you want to be.

Yah, and Jet, how do I do THAT?????

Simple – Find a mentor.  Someone you trust.  Someone you admire.  Someone who exemplifies who you think you want to be (you don’t really, but at this stage of the game you probably think that.  You really want to be YOURSELF.)

Four names for you, out of the dozens I’ve read and admired over my lifetime.  They stand out in the crowd because they write about and counsel Whole Life Enrichment, not just Spiritual Development, Business building, or Marketing.  They stand out in the crowd because they start with a solid foundation of Who You Are and What You Stand For, and THEN they give you tools to Enrich Your Life, Build A Business, Market Your Business.

Beca Lewis.  The Four Essential Questions

Michael Port.  Book Yourself Solid

Perry Marshall. Definitive Guide to Google

Michael Masterson.  Automatic Wealth

So, check these people out.  Maybe you already have mentors and guides of your own.  Choose one.  From your list or mine.  These four are REALLY working for me.  Beca’s been my guiding light for nearly seven years – a record for me!

Next, get an eReader and save a tree.  It’s so Simple for me – I can carry eight books around with me all the time, and don’t need a backpack to do it!  You can make notes, highlights, read anywhere.  It may be a little learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it’s so SIMPLE.  (And I was a die-hard book reader until I got my Kindle!)

Finally, Execute Your Plan.  Doesn’t matter if the plan is complete.  Doesn’t matter if you’ve finished the book.  The key is to START.  SOMEWHERE.

Once you start, you can alter, enhance, correct your path, change your mind, and take any number of actions based on Clear And Simple Common Sense.

But you gotta START.  SOMEWHERE.

Why not Now?  Why not Here?