The Importance Of Being The Point Guard Of Your Life.

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Anyone that frequently reads any of the topics that I cover on here are probably aware that I am a huge sports fan. Though I rarely talk directly about sports on here, unless I do it when I'm on my soapbox, sports have always been something that I'm extremely passionate about. One of my favorite sports that I not only play occasionally, but also follow is basketball; more specifically the NBA. I don't have anything against college basketball, I just don't find it all that appealing until March Madness begins. Now for those of you that follow or have any general knowledge of basketball know that there are five positions that players can play while they're on the court. You have a center, which is typically a team's largest player. You have a power forward and a small forward, which are also considered members of the a team's front line. Finally, you have a shooting guard and a point guard to round out the five players on the court. The shooting guard position is typically what it sounds like; a player that is generally considered a great shooter. Then we get to the point, which is probably the most important position that a team has. Most point guards are the smallest players on the court, but they often have the most responsibility. The reason for this is due to the fact that the point guard typically has to be an extension of a team's head coach. If you watch basketball, you will typically see the point guard receiving coaching instructions from the coach on what plays to run. If you really think about it, a team's successes and failures will typically depend on what kind of point guard the team has. Being that I see sports as a catalyst for life, the same could be said about our own lives in respect to the importance of a point guard.

Yo, yo, yo! What's going on folks? This is Brad H. back once again for another topic, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a blog where I give my opinion on a topic that I think would be beneficial to those of us that are seeking added inspiration in our lives. Thank you to long time readers, and welcome to anyone that may be reading for the first time. So for my soapbox this week, I want to bring up something that I'm sure everyone has seen in the news. As you all may know, the "Coronavirus" is spreading throughout the world at a pretty fast pace. I saw on the news earlier today where the first death in the United States due to the virus happened today. I know this virus has created quite a stir, and understandably so. However, I just want to encourage everyone to try and not panic first of all. Always be alert, but never quick to panic. Secondly, do whatever you can to keep your immune system up. I personally take multivitamins, and I drink a lot of orange juice. Finally, please wash your hands as much as you can. It amazes me how people still think that the weather is the reason why so many people get the flu and colds. The weather contributes, but most of the sicknesses that exist are the result of bacteria. I'm not a doctor or anything, but the things I stated have worked pretty well for me when it comes to avoiding sickness. I just wanted to bring that up because I know that we haven't seen a virus that has caused such a ruckus since the "Swine Flu" back in 2009. Now that I've gotten on my soapbox, lets go ahead and talk about the importance of being the point guard of your life.

Now when it comes to the idea of being the point guard within our own lives, of course I'm not talking about a point guard in terms of basketball in a literal sense. We're not talking about great point guards such as John Stockton, Chris Paul, or Isaiah Thomas just to name a few. What I'm going to be focusing more on in this topic are the attributes and skills that make a great point guard on the basketball court. I'm aware that all of you likely know that already, but I just wanted to be make sure I stated that before I get into what we're bringing up in this topic. Now when we think of what skills that are required for a point guard to be an effect floor general, there are typically three things that I instantly think of. The three attributes I think of are awareness, control, and trust. There are even more attributes that make for a great point guard, and I could probably write a novel on all of those. I'm going to roll with the three that I thought of first, and I believe that these three attributes will be the most effective at helping me get across the idea that I'm seeking to convey. I'm going to start out first with the attribute of control. For a point guard to be effective on the court, he or she has to exhibit a great amount of control. For example, when the other team that he is squaring off against goes on a run, the point guard cannot allow himself to panic. If the point guard panics while on the court, then the rest of the team will likely do so as well.

Secondly, we have the attribute of awareness. A point guard has to be aware of what's going on at all times on the court. He or she has to know when certain teammates are open, as well as when to get the ball to them. They have to be able to be aware of the clock and various other scenarios that come along with being a floor general. Finally, we have the attribute of trust. A good point guard has to be able to rely on their teammates. This means that they have to be selfless and willing to put their trust in their teammates for the betterment of the team to be successful. Now when it comes to the awareness, control and trust qualities that are required for a point guard to be great, these are attributes that are not only important when it comes to sports, but also when it comes to navigating through the game of life. I've spoken this on here before in the past, but in terms of living life and being able to maintain while living it, many aspects of life in and of itself is similar to sports. We all deal with competition on on various levels, and we all have an ultimate goal to succeed in life. Basically, life is a game, and if you're going to find a way to conquer and win, you're going to need the aforementioned traits.

So this ultimately brings us to the importance of being the point guard of your life. From my own perspective, everything that I've pretty much stated so far within this topic sums up the importance of being the point guard of your life. However, the three attributes that I mentioned when it comes to be a great point are the catalysts as to why I believe it is important. First off, you have to be able to be in control of your life like a point guard has control over how he deals with his team. Too many of us lose control when things get rough in our lives. It may be difficult at times, but always try to be in control of yourself and the things you do. Secondly, be aware of any and everything that you allow into your life. Many of the problems we face stem from a lack of self-awareness. Finally, have people in your life that you can trust. Like I mentioned earlier, a point guard has to be able to trust his teammates. Think of the people in your life as if they are teammates of yours, and gauge your trust levels properly. If there are people that you can't trust that are a part of your life, it may be time for a substitution. Before I end this topic and let you all go; when it comes to trust, always trust yourself first and foremost. A good point guard has great instincts, and I believe that comes from self belief. We should apply the same logic to ourselves in order to put ourselves in a better position to win.

Well that is all that I have for you all on the importance of being the point guard of your life. I hope that I was able to put this topic into words that have been understandable for you all. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective' brought to you by Brad H. Thank you once again to those of you that came through. If you have any comments or feedback that you'd like to leave, please feel free to do so in the comment box. You can also connect with me on Twitter @BradrickH if your heart so desires. Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Be safe out there, and have a good week ahead. I'll see you all on the next topic. Take care everyone, and peace out!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Why Viewing Things Outside Of Yourself Helps You Gain A Greater Understanding.

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I think saying that most people in the world today are extremely self-absorbed would be a massive understatement. I imagine that from the beginning of time that we as people have always been this way. However, in my time living on this planet, I've noticed over the years that we have taken selfishness to an entirely different level. When I was growing up as a kid, while people were indeed selfish, people also seemed like they were more willing to take others into account. I remember a time when people would fall on hard times and need help, family and friends would pull together to help the people that experienced setbacks. I'm in no way saying that people like this do not exist today. I'm simply saying that people aren't as quick to do so like they once did. Now there are various reasons for why we as people have become so self-absorbed with ourselves. That's something that I will go more into later on in this topic. Also, being a selfish person to an extent isn't that bad of a thing in certain circumstances. Yes, there are definitely times where you do have to look out for your own needs and desires before others. I've always viewed life as a sort of give and take type of thing. There are going to be times when you have to look out for yourself, but there will also be moments where taking a backseat to others the better option. When it comes to us as people being so self-absorbed within ourselves, it often leads to us missing out on the greater picture of life. This is truly detrimental for those of us that are seeking an greater a greater understanding of life. Though it may be beneficial for us to be selfish and self-absorbed at times, making an attempt to view things outside of ourselves can help lead to a greater understanding.

What's good once again people? This is Brad H. reporting once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am back once again to bring a topic that I've been thinking of lately. Through those thoughts, I'm hopefully able to express myself with this topic in hopes that it will help inspire us all. Those that are regular visits here know that this is the section of the post where I talk about something that isn't related to the topic for the week. So for this week's soapbox section, I want to talk about something that I don't like to bring up that often on here; politics. We are in an election year once again, and I thought I would give a few of my thoughts on the biases and manipulation that surrounds politics. Now if we're being honest, most people here in America don't really follow politics until it's an election year. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I think that those of us that are seeking to be informed about what's going on in the world of politics need to be aware of who and what we're listening to. A lot of the mainstream media outlets have corporate interests invested in particular candidates, and their coverage isn't always going to be fair and balance like they claim it will be. I encourage everyone to go beyond what you see and hear on the mainstream media outlets, and take a look at alternative sources. There are a lot of other resources that are available for us to make informed choices. I just wanted to say that because the mainstream media often attempts to manipulate us with their hidden agendas. Just aim to be an informed voter is all I'm saying. So now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets go ahead and get more into this week's topic of why viewing things outside of yourself helps towards gaining a greater understanding.

Now I began this topic speaking about how self-absorbed that we as people are these days, but when you're able to truly evaluate the world that we're living in with a clear mind, it really isn't all that hard to see why most people are this way. Now I'm not entirely sure when the biggest shift came in regards to people being overly consumed with themselves. What I do know is that there have been numerous developments and changes over the years that have aided in this happening. What I personally would consider to be one of the biggest reasons as to why we're so self-absorbed is technology constantly changing and evolving. Technology has evolved so much over the decades, and through that evolution that has occurred, with it has come an immense amount of convenience. Now having certain things being convenient in your life isn't always a bad thing. Just like I brought up in the last topic that I covered on here, there are times when taking the more easier way over the harder way will benefit you the most. However, it is also wise to remember that when it comes to having things that are so easily convenient in your life, it can put you in a position where you constantly expect things to happen quickly. It is pretty much similar to the idea of instant gratification, and we all know by know that social media has played a huge factor in the rise of instant gratification.

Now when it comes down to the concept of being able to gain a greater understanding, some may wonder what exactly is it that I'm referring to? The simple definition of the word "understanding" is "the ability to understand something; comprehension." From my own perspective, this can entail a limitless amount of things that could be understood. It also means that you're aware that some things in this life aren't always going to be able to be understood by you, and that is okay as well. When I personally think of what understanding means to me, I think of it as being able to view life in general in a much larger lens. I think of being able to see outside of that little bubble that we all tend to create for ourselves. Now there isn't anything with being in your bubble, nor is there nothing wrong with looking out for yourself the majority of the time. I personally feel that the problem settles in when you become so over consumed with yourself to the point where you can't comprehend things from the perspective of others. This is where the whole self-absorbed thing that I have brought up throughout this topic comes into play.

So why do I believe that viewing things outside of yourself can help towards having a greater understanding? Well from my perspective, being able to see things outside of yourself gives you a greater sense of empathy and compassion. See, from my perspective, when you're overly self-absorbed and selfish, you're blinding yourself to the larger picture of life. I believe that many people forget that while your life is only yours to live, there are billions of other people that are here as well. I know that sounds obvious, but for people that are too self-absorbed with themselves, being forgetful of that is likely a regular occurrence. Now you can be a person that is all of the things that I have described in regards to be overly consumed only with yourself, and you may be okay with that. However, what I've noticed is that the people that don't exhibit these traits constantly are the people that others gravitate to. I believe that when you're a person that has understanding and can see the more broader picture, you gain an added understanding of being able to relate to others. This is why I believe it is important to at least make the attempt to view things outside of yourself. Yes, we're all important and valuable as individuals, but there is always things that are much bigger than ourselves that are going on as well. There are many different paths towards having understanding, and I think seeing things outside of ourselves is one of the greatest paths that we can take.

That pretty much covers what I wanted to convey in this topic, so it is time for me to depart once again. Thank you all that stopped through for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! Like I always bring up in my closings, I hope that there was some meaning and understanding that could be taken away from this topic. Any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to leave those in the comment section. You can also hit me up on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like to connect on there. Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I thank you all for the support once again. Have a great week ahead, and I hope to see you all in the next topic. Till that times comes, peace and blessings to you all!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

Why Developing And Maintaining Discipline Is Hard, But Worth It.

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I believe that the good majority of us that are willing to be honest with ourselves will admit that most of us would rather do something that is easy compared to something that is hard. I mean who doesn't want to take the easier route if you can prevent yourself from doing something harder right? For whatever reason or another that I personally can't grasp, the majority of people are just hardwired to take the most convenient choice if given. Now I personally feel that we should aim to take the easier path when it is presented to us. I mean there is no point in making something harder if it doesn't have to be right? However, just like with all things that can be viewed subjectively, it is always important to view things within their proper context. When it comes to the idea of taking the easier path vs. the harder path, the idea of putting things into context is pretty crucial. What I mean when I say this is that while most of us prefer the easier path, there are going to be times when taking the easier path will not be beneficial to us. There are certain situations and scenarios where you do better to take the more harder way in order to get to where you want to be. I bring all of this up because when it comes to the easy way vs. the hard way, the act of maintaining discipline is something that can test us to our core. The truth is that maintaining discipline is something that not everyone can do for an extended period of time. Much of this stems from the fact that maintaining discipline is something that is very hard to do. However, most of the things in our lives that are hard to do end up being the things that are the most worthwhile in the end.

Hey, what is going on people? This is Brad H. reporting once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I give my perspective on a topic that I think would help towards keeping us all motivated. So for my soapbox this week, I'm going to address the unfortunate passing of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. I think that the sports world, and maybe even the world in general was brought to a halt last Sunday when we find out about Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and the other seven passengers that all died on helicopter crash in California. This was truly an shock to many of us that grew up watching Kobe. Now I personally wasn't a fan of Kobe the basketball player at the beginning of his career. One of the biggest reasons for that is that I have never liked the Lakers much. But I will say that I always respected how talented of a player he was. Also, my feelings towards Kobe began to change in the latter part of his career. I saw what I always assumed as a cocky young man in the earlier part of his career turn into a mentor for the Lakers in the championship runs they had during the post Shaquille O'neal years. It seemed to me that he really matured and understood that in order for him to be successful, he would have to learn how to not only be a mentor, but also learn to trust his teammates. I think that the reason so many people are taking his passing so hard is because we literally felt like we grew up with Kobe. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, as well as the families of the other people that were lost. May all their souls rest in peace, and I encourage you all that are reading this to reach out to anyone you love and care for this weekend. Life can change in an instance, and this unfortunate event is a prime example of that. It is not time for me to go ahead and transition into this week's topic of why maintaining discipline is worth it in the end.

Now if you have been a regular reader here on this blog for the past several years, you are likely already aware of the fact that I've brought up the idea of discipline before. Much of my reasoning for talking frequently about discipline is due to the idea that it entails so many aspects of life. It's not something that can be viewed in a vacuum, which ultimately means that it can be interpreted and defined in many different ways. A good portion of what discipline means comes down to the individual and what it means to them personally. With there being so many ways to define what discipline is, it is up to us as individuals to determine what it means to our lives. With that being said, I believe that anyone that has made an attempt to become more disciplined in their lives can speak on how much of a challenge it can be to maintain. When I personally think of what it means to be disciplined, I think of a person that is aiming to stick to a specific lifestyle or way of living. This means not only making a concerted effort to cut out certain things in our lives, but also making a commitment to actively keeping those things out of our lives. Again, the "things" that I'm referring to can be anything depending on what discipline means to you. For example, lets say that a person that has been drinking soda all their lives and are seeking to stop drinking it. For most of us, giving up something that has been a part of your life for such a long period of time isn't an easy thing to do.

I talked earlier about how most of us would rather take the easy way vs. the hard way in most situations right? Well when it comes to the act of discipline as a whole, the word "easy" likely will not be associated with it. The majority of anything that is related to discipline is going to be tough to start and maintain. I believe from my own perspective that the reason that maintaining discipline is so hard comes from the fact that it makes us very uncomfortable. Just like it is in our human nature to want to take the easy way out most of the time, it is also in most of our nature to stay within our comfort zone. The thing is that growth doesn't come from us staying in our comfort zone, and nor does it come if we're not willing to do the things that could be classified as being "hard". If you are someone that is truly serious about wanting to change your life, or if you're trying to give up certain things that no longer serve you, you're going to have to go down the road of developing discipline. Now though it may be tough making the choice to take this path if you so desire to do so, there are benefits that can come from making the hard choice. This is where the idea of maintaining discipline is worth it in the end.

So now that we've talked about and set a general basis for how hard it is maintaining discipline, it is time to go ahead and sum all of this up and get down to why discipline is worth it in the end. Now I'm not one that does the whole comparison thing when it comes to people, but I can also acknowledge that there are some instances in life where those comparisons are relevant. I believe that this here topic of discipline is a prime example of where it applies. From my own perspective, I believe the reason why developing, having, and maintaining discipline is worth is because of what I mentioned earlier; most people would rather take the path that is easier. See, I believe that if you're someone that regularly maintains discipline in many facets of your life, you are likely leaps and bounds ahead of the people that aren't doing such. I believe that this is important because there are times in life where you're going to have to compete against another person in order to have success. I believe that doing the hard things that I've constantly made reference to helps towards having discipline. It is similar to an athlete that is training for an upcoming event. The athlete that trains will always have an advantage over their competitors that do not. Beyond just athletics and competition, having discipline for facing this world is important as well. It is just like the mentality of survival of the fittest. The people that are the most discipline are best equipped to take on life, and that is ultimately why though despite being hard, developing, maintaining and having discipline is worth it in the end.

Well that pretty much sums up this week's topic everyone. I hope that it is one that you all can relate to, and I hope that you're able to take some valuable away from it. Thank you all once again for coming by for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that I was able to express myself in a way that has meaning and understanding. If you have any comments to contribute, please feel free to do so in the comment section. If you are on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can hit me up the handle @BradrickH. Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend, and be sure to hug, call, or spend time with someone you care for this weekend. It's unfortunate that it takes tragic things happening for us to realize what is important in life, but that is how it goes unfortunately. You all have a great week ahead. Rest in peace Kobe and Gianna Bryant. Peace!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Not Kicking The Can (Your Life) Down The Road.

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I'm absolutely, positively sure that anyone who has been alive long enough has at some point point in their life uttered the following or some iteration of the following phrases: "I'll do it tomorrow!" "I'll do it later on today!" We're all guilty of it at some time or another. When it comes to myself personally, and I'm sure that many of you can relate, but I have noticed that it is normally things that I'd rather not do that I tend to put off for another time. Another phrase of viewing this that many of you have probably heard of is "kicking the can down the road." Now I wasn't really aware of this saying till I heard various politicians and political pundits talking about it in regards to not addressing the trillions of dollars worth of debt that the United States is currently in. During the height of this issue of national debt, you had various politicians that would rather continue with the downward descent into debt rather than addressing the issue head on. Though the issue has seemingly taken a backseat to other matters, the downward spiral of spending more money that we're bringing in still exists. Now why do I bring all of this up some of you may wonder? Well from my perspective, we can almost compare our everyday lives to that of a politician in a sense. Most politicians will say just enough to get themselves elected. Then it seems that once they get elected into their position, they rarely make good on most the promises they make. However, they also do just enough to get you to vote for them again and again. I believe the same concept applies to us in various areas of our lives. Rather than addressing the important things in our lives that we'd do good to address as soon as possible, we often put these things off for another time. Just like I brought up the phrase of kicking the can down the road, our lives can be similar to the proverbial can, and we're just kicking it down the road without thinking of the consequences.

Back once again to hopefully bring you all some fresh game, it's your boy Brad H. coming through, and I'd like to welcome you all once again to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I bring out my perspective on various topics that I think could be helpful towards helping us stay motivated. Hope all is going good and well for everyone out there, and that the new year has been treating you all fine thus far. Hopefully for those of you that have set those resolutions are staying on track and haven't broken them as of yet. So I'm going to bring some more football talk for my soapbox this week. I can't speak for anyone else, but boy have the last two weeks of the NFL Playoffs been a wild circus. We saw New England get knocked out in the first round, and the number one seeded Ravens go down in their first game. Both teams were taken out by the Tennessee Titans, a team that was considered to be one of the biggest underdogs. So we're now down to four teams for the conference championships. We got Tennessee taking on the Chiefs, and the 49ers going up against the Packers. I believe the Titans magic will end tomorrow at the hands of the Chiefs, but it also wouldn't surprise me in the least if they pull another upset. I really don't know what to think between Green Bay and the 49ers. I don't care for either team, but I would rather see the 49ers win since I have a close relative that has loved them for a long time. It is so hard to believe that the Super Bowl is only a couple of weeks away. It has definitely been an interesting season, and hopefully the games tomorrow continue that trend. So now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a bit, lets talk about the topic at hand on the importance of not kicking the can down the road.

Before I get more into why I believe it is of importance for us not to kick the can of life down the road in our lives, I want to preface this topic by saying that the "can" that I'll be referring to in regards to this topic is one that's subjective. It is up to us as individuals to define exactly what are the things in our lives that we're putting off now in favor of doing them later down the road. This is one of those things that you will have to evaluate in your own life. The examples that I plan on using may not be applicable for you personally, but I hope that they can be examples that we all can relate to in some capacity. Now I mentioned earlier how all of us are guilty of putting off things. One of the things I've noticed personally in regards to delaying things is that many of the things that we tend to delay are often things we'd rather not do in the first place. How many of you have taken a good look at your room and knew that it was due for a cleaning, but you just brushed it off and said to yourself that you'll do it tomorrow? There is also another, more emotional aspect of putting off things that affects us and that is fear. Yes, fear can play a huge factor in whether you kick the can down the road. There are just certain things in this life that we're afraid to do, but we know they have to be done if we're going to have peace in our lives. Both fear and slow poking it when it comes to doing the things we should are giant obstacles that many of us face.

Now when I talk about slow poking it as I referred to earlier, what is an example of this? I used the example of cleaning your room, but how about something that could be seen as being more urgent. Imagine a person that finds out that they are at risk for developing diabetes and in order to ward of getting it, they have to make some changes to how they eat. If this person lolly gags without taking the changes they have to make serious, the chances of coming down with the full blown disease will increase. Anything that has to do with regards to benefiting you from a health perspective isn't something that should be taken lightly. A person in this situation that doesn't take it serious is the personification of kicking the can down the road. When it comes to fear and kicking the can down the road, there are a number of examples that we could use. Imagine a situation where you've done something to wrong someone else, and you know you have to face them in order to rectify whatever you've done. You keep telling yourself that today will be the day you face them, but you continuously put it off because of the potential reaction you'll get from that person. Now being nervous or fearful in a situation of this nature is quite normal, but as with the slow poking example with the diabetes that I've given, nothing positive can really come from delaying any situation that should be addressed in a more timely manner. I believe this is where the importance of not kicking the can down the road comes into play.

So with all of that being said, why do I feel it is important to not kick the can down the road? From my own personal perspective on this topic, prolonging things that can be done today can often make whatever situation you're in worse later on down the road. I believe the downside of problems, whatever they may be is that they have the chance to fester and grow when they're not addressed in a timely manner. I mentioned earlier how the debt in the United States is out of control, but imagine a scenario where tackling the can of debt wasn't being kicked down the road. The debt likely wouldn't be at the level where it's at now, with it being so out of control that it probably can't be fixed without it affecting everybody. The same applies with the diabetes example I gave earlier. When it comes to the fear aspect of kicking the can down the road, it is best to just go ahead and face whatever it is you fear head on if possible. If you've wronged someone, it is best to go ahead and try and make it right as fast as you can. The longer you wait to do so, the greater the chances become where that person isn't willing to forgive you. There is a popular quote that many people in the health and fitness industry use. It goes; "Day one or one day, you decide." I believe this is a saying that could be applied to any area of life. Kicking the can of your life down the road only leads to bigger problems in the future. Though it may be hard to face issues head on at times, we have to work on doing so.

Well that's what I got for you all this week. I hope that some of you found it helpful and inspiring. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am Brad H., and I'd like to thank you all once again for checking out my perspective. As always, if you have any comments to add, please feel free to do so in the comment section. You can also connect with me on Twitter if you'd like. I can be reach at the handle @BradrickH. I hope you all are having a great weekend so far, and continue to stick with those resolutions and goals that you've made this year. Have a great week ahead, and I'll see you all on the next post. Peace!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Maintaining A Steady Stride Towards Your Goals.

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Anyone that has set any type of goals for themselves knows that goal setting consists of both high and low points while we're aiming to achieve them. There are going to be times where you set a goal for yourself that works out exactly the way you planned it to. This type of achievement is what the majority of us look for when we set goals. We want whatever we're looking to do to work out on the first attempt. The other side of this is that there are going to be occasions where working towards a goal that you've set for yourself is going to come with stumbling blocks. These are the times when we find ourselves facing adversity towards reaching our goals. The tribulations that we face in these type of instances play a major role in whether we accomplish our goals or not. I dare say that depending on what kind of goals you set for yourself, the latter is likely the path that a good many of us will have to face. Another aspect of goal setting that I've pondered on recently is the aspect of speed. Some of you may wonder what exactly does speed have to do with setting goals for yourself? Not only does speed correlate with reaching our goals, it is often times one of the major driving forces in our lives. Various goals have different speeds at which they're reached. There will be some goals that can be reached very quickly, while there are some that are more time consuming. For clarity on the topic at hand for this week, I'm primarily coming from a perspective of the goals that require more time to reach. That being said, regardless of how long certain goals take to reach, from a mental aspect of viewing this, most of us are going to want to come out of the blocks fast. I personally see this as a potenially bad thing, which is why I believe that it is of importance for us to maintain a steady stride towards our goals.

HAPPY 2020 EVERYONE! This is your boy Brad H. coming at you all once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I address various topics that I think about in my everyday life, and through the thoughts I have, I aim to put them into words that will hopefully help in keeping us motivated. I'd like to say thanks once again to the long time readers, and a big welcome to anyone that is reading for the first time. I hope that the new year has been treating you all well so far. So for my soapbox in this week's topic, I'm going give my thoughts on the NFL playoffs that are starting today. It sort of feels like déjà vu for me because I remember writing last year during Wild Card weekend, and the Houston Texans were playing first just like they are today. So we got the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills taking on each other first. Not sure who is going to win that one. I'm rooting for Houston, but I'm skeptical about their quarterback Deshaun Watson as of late. He hasn't been playing all that well in my opinion. Maybe I'm just a little bitter because I had him in one of my fantasy leagues. Next game is the New England Patriots vs. the Tennessee Titans. Normally we would predict the Patriots would win, but I predict the Titans to take this game. The Patriots offense has been terrible this year, and the Titans have been playing well for the past several weeks. Tomorrow we got the Vikings taking on the Saints in New Orleans. I believe the Saints got a huge chip on their shoulder after last season, and I think they win tomorrow. Finally for Wild Card weekend, we got the Eagles and the Seahawks squaring off. I don't like the Eagles, so I'm pulling for Seattle. I would give Seattle the edge, but the Eagles are like cats; they have many lives it seems. For those of you that are watching the NFL playoffs, what are some of your predictions? Feel free to leave that in the comment section. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets talk more about the importance of maintaining a steady stride towards your goals.

Before going into the importance of maintaining a steady stride in our various quests towards reaching our goals, I want to start off by saying that the main reason that I chose to bring this up as a topic is primarily due to the fact that we are officially in a new year. A new year is often viewed as a clean slate for a lot of people. I'm sure that many of you will be setting new goals for yourself this year, and my hope is that this topic can be used as a reference for us all in aiding us towards reaching those goals. Now I spoke in the preview of how speed plays a large role when it comes to our goals. The biggest reason why I feel that speed matters comes from the fact that different type of goals have different expectations for how long they will take to reach. You are going to have some goals that you can reach fairly quickly, maybe even in a single day depending on what you're trying to achieve that day. Then there the goals that are going to be more lengthy. These are the goals that could take weeks, months, and even years to accomplish. Now your quicker goals usually aren't as easy to quit on due to the fact that they often don't take long to reach. On the other hand, the more longer goals are much different because of the extended time they often take to reach. These more lengthy types of goals are the ones that will require you to maintain a steady stride if you want reach them.

For this section of the topic on maintaining a steady stride towards your goals, I'm going to use an example of the sprinter vs. the steady stride mindset when it comes to setting goals from my perspective. When you think of Olympic runners for example, they are often categorized as being sprinters or long distance runners. We're all aware that your sprinters generally run the shorter distances, which means they have to get out of the blocks fast in order to win the race. The long distance runners have to be fast also, but they have to pace themselves more towards the finishing their particular race. If they do not properly pace themselves during the long distance they have to run, they will gas out and probably end up not finish the race. The way that these two examples coincide with the idea of accomplishing goals is that just as goals are defined differently for us all, the approach that we have towards them is a key component to how we complete them. Now you would think that if you have a goal that you'd like to accomplish that could be considered to be long term in categorization of goals, wouldn't it benefit you more if you had the steady stride mindset?

So all of this brings us to the entire point of this topic, which is the importance of maintaining a steady stride towards your goals. I mentioned earlier how a goal that could be classified as one that could be achieved quickly would likely mean that the chances of quitting on it would be slimmer right? From my perspective on this topic, the primary reason I feel we have to maintain a steady stride towards our goals is because the longer the mission takes, the more your will and desire to finish it will be tested. What I'm about to say likely goes without saying, but I believe that if you want to increase the chances of completing a goal that you've set for yourself, you have to be able to stay consistent towards reaching it. When something seems impossible, or becomes insurmountable, the likelihood of quitting increases in my opinion. I once heard the great boxer Mike Tyson say that; "It all comes down to dedication and consistency." You have to be able to have the mindset of viewing goal setting as more of the steady stride mindset that I referred to in the running example. It's all about the long game, and you have to be able to not allow yourself to get too high or too low when it comes to anything that you're trying to achieve. As with pretty much anything in life, a balanced approach is required in order to maintain a proper handle on things. So for all of you that are goal setting to kick off this new year, define what your goals are first and foremost. Secondly, gauge the amount of time you think it will take to reach them. Finally, pace yourself towards those goals, and maintain a steady stride along the path. I believe that if we do these things and not cut any corners along the way, we will have no problem reaching our goals.

Well that's how we're going to kick off the year 2020 here on 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that this was a topic that was helpful to some of you there. I also hope that there was some meaning and understanding that could be taken away from it. Like always, I thank you all that stopped by and read. If you have anything that you'd like to ask or contribute to this topic or any of the previous topics that I've covered, please feel free to leave a comment. If you're on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can reach me @BradrickH. Well Happy New Year to you all once again. Lets make 2020 one of the greatest and best years of our lives. Take care everyone, and have a great week ahead. See you all on the next one!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Mind Management.

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There has been a common theme that I've used via this platform over the years, and that theme would be our mind and how we as people use it. Though I've talked about the mind for years now, as I've looked back at some of the topics I've covered throughout this year, I've come to realize that I've discussed topics that correlate to our minds quite a bit. I can't say definitively that this was done intentionally. I suppose that since I had to think out the topics that I've written about this year, the idea of addressing the mind regularly was done intentionally. Whether it was done intentionally is neither here nor there, but what truly matters to me is that I do what I can to help us open up our minds. Now the word health is a term that can have many different associations that come with it. Often times when we hear people talk about the general aspect of the term "health", it is normally associated with the physical aspect of life. Most of us that think of health initially equate it to looking and feeling physically healthy. Physical health is most definitely an important area of our lives that much be given attention to. However, the mental aspect of health is one that I think many of us tend to forget about. Now most of you know by now that I'm a big sports fan, and there has been a term that has been used to describe the act of resting an athlete to minimize the risk of injury to that athlete. The term has been more frequently used in the NBA, but it appears that it's gaining relevance in other athletic arenas as well. The term that I'm referring to is "load management". Since I'm one that believes both life and sports are similar when it comes to competition, and I also speak on the mind quite a bit, I figure I'd come with my own term to minimizing damage to our minds. I'm talking about mind management.

Hello once again good people! This is Brad H. reporting once again, and I'd like to once again welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here once again to give my perspective on a topic that I feel would help keep us all motivated. Big ups once again to those of you that are joining me once again. Well the end of the year is closely approaching with Christmas just around the corner. This means that this will be the final topic that I address for the year 2019. I've mentioned this before, but I like to reflect a lot on the year when December rolls around. I tend to do a general evaluation on the year as a way to bring to light the highlights of the year, as well as things that I can improve on. Overall the year 2019 has been sort of meh. There were definitely some high points this year that make this year good. One of them was getting to see the Houston Astros play live for the first time. I also had a terrific birthday this year that built off the great birthday I had in 2018. There have also been some lows this year that made this year a difficult one. An example of one of those low was one of my good friend's father passing away unexpectedly. There were some other low moments that I could bring up, but there is no need for me to get all into that since this platform is one that I aim to keep positive. But before I get into this week's topic, I just want to again say thank you to everyone that has read or gave insight on anything that I've talked about on here. It truly means the world to me to know that my thoughts have been beneficial to other people in some capacity. I appreciate all of you, and I hope that the upcoming Christmas holiday brings you all the best. Now that I've reflected via my soapbox for a bit, lets go ahead and talk about the importance of mind management.

I'm sure that a good portion of you are thinking to yourselves; what in the heck is mind management, and why would Brad H. come up with a term like this? As I stated earlier, mind management is just a play on the sports term load management that I'm using to make the my I'm aiming to make. So we've established already what load management means when it comes to professional sports. From my perspective, the same logic applies when it comes the management of our minds. By now most of us know that anything that you care for in this life needs nurture and attention to have proper maintenance. When you think of a professional athlete that engages in a sport for a particular team, that player is an investment for whichever organization he plays for. Keeping that player active and healthy as possible is one of the sole missions the organization is tasked with. Now load management in general is something that has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. A lot of fans dislike it because it keeps what are deemed healthy players from playing in games that the fans pay money for. All of that is besides the point, but the fact of the matter is that we as people have to treat our minds as if it's one of our valued assets. You have to be willing to view yourself as an organization, and your mind is your star player or head coach that you can't afford to lose. This ultimately means that you have to find ways to manage your mind in ways that are healthy for you.

Now that I've setup what my own perspective of what I believe mind management is, I want to get into why I believe that our minds need to be managed. I'm certain by now that I probably sound like a broken record talking about the excess amount of information that we take in on a daily basis these days. I've gone way more in depth on this in previous topics, so obviously there is no point in covering that aspect once again. For this particular topic, I want to come from more of a perspective of how it is inevitable that we're going to have moments when our minds are going to be overloaded at times. Beyond just taking in unhealthy amounts of information via our minds daily, we often overwork and overuse our minds by thinking too much. Worrying excessively is another unhealthy trait that consumes our minds on a regular basis if we're not careful. When we think of such habits like worrying and overthinking, many of us come from a perspective of just not doing them. While I do feel that these are bad habits, they are also habits that are near impossible to cut out completely. There isn't a single one of us that can say we never worry or stress out at times. We're human beings, not robots. This means that there is always going to be some degree of things that we put into our minds that we probably shouldn't. It all boils down to managing both the good and bad things in which we put into our minds, which ultimately brings me to the theme of this topic.

So why do I feel that it is of importance for us to practice mind management? We've already talked about the load management comparison and how load management helps prevent athletes from being injured due to being overused. Well from my personal perspective, the idea of overuse applies to our mind also. I believe that the mind can always be burnt out if it is overused, moreover, not managing our minds properly causes us to put too much emphasis on one particular thing. I believe that from my own personal perspective that it is never good to be thinking too much about one thing. My main reasoning for this is because I believe that focusing too much on one thing causes us to neglect other things that are important in our lives. I'm sure that many of you can relate to what I'm about to say, but there have been a countless amount of times when I've forgotten something because I was thinking too much about something in particular. We're all guilty of doing this, and it is quite a normal thing for us to do. Though I may be understanding of the normality of this habit, it doesn't excuse the fact that it's something that we can work towards bettering. Also, I want to mention that it is perfectly okay for us to rest our minds at time. We don't have to always be doing or thinking about something. I know that the society we live in kinda forces us to always be actively thinking about something, but that doesn't mean that we always have to engage in it. Ease your mind sometimes if you're able to. The key thing that I want to end this on is that it's all about balance and moderation. Manage your minds people, and you'll gain a level of peace that you probably never imagined you could have.

That pretty much sums up the topic of the week on the importance of mind management. I hope that it was both inspirational and enjoyable for you all to read. It is time for me to depart for now, so I'd like to once again thank you all for tuning into another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! As always, if any of you have anything you'd like to contribute to this topic, please feel free to do so in the comment section. You can also connect with me on Twitter if you'd like. I can be reached @BradrickH on there. I'd like to once again thank you all for another year, especially the people that regularly tune in. Enjoy Christmas, and I hope you all have a great rest of 2019. I'll see you all in 2020! God bless you all, and peace out!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Playing To Your Strengths.

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It's been proven throughout time that we as people are constantly seeking to improve upon the things we already have. It's almost mind boggling when you think of how there was once a time where house phones were the only way for people to talk on the phone. Now house phones are pretty much a rarity, and mobile communication is the norm. I bring the point of seeking improvement up because like the upgrades to technology example that I used, we as people in general are often looking to upgrade ourselves. What do I mean by this? Many of us are seeking to make our lives better in various aspects in order for us to live better lives. I'm pretty certain that most of you would agree with this, and I am right there with you in agreeing on this. Now in order for us to expand upon and improve our lives, we have to first acknowledge what areas that we need to improve. These things could be classified as weaknesses right? Strength and weaknesses are characteristics that we all posses. Regardless of how strong or weak you may in certain areas, or how they level out when it comes to the number of each that we posses, the fact remains that there is nobody that is all one or the other. When it comes to our weaknesses, I believe that they are attributes that we should definitely work on improving. However, there are many of us that don't fully use and capitalize on our strengths to the best of our capacity. This is a huge problem from my perspective, and I think it is of great importance for us to play to our strengths in today's society.

YO! What's up once again everybody? This is Brad H. once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! For all the first time readers, this is platform where I give my perspective on a topic that will hopefully serve as inspiration in our lives. Glad to have you all here once again. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, and that you are enjoying the month of December thus far. Man this year has gone by so fast right? So hard to believe that in less than a month that 2020 will be here. So for my soapbox this week, I'm going to address my Dallas Cowboys. So we saw them lose the Thanksgiving Day game to the Buffalo Bills, and this past Thursday we say them drop another to the Chicago Bears. Despite all of that, they are still in first place in the NFC East. Crazy right? Shows how weak that division is, but the biggest topic the last few weeks has been whether their owner Jerry Jones should fire head coach Jason Garrett. Now I personally think back to the year when Jerry fired then head coach Wade Phillips. That was in 2009 or 2010 I believe. Before Phillips was fired, the Cowboys were playing like absolute trash. They looked like a team that had given up on their coach, and it showed because when Phillips was fired and Garrett was promoted, the team started playing better. I bring this up because I see some semblance of that happening now. It looks to me like this team doesn't believe in Garrett anymore. Now I could be wrong, but when I see a team not executing like the Cowboys haven't been doing, I believe that it's a coaching issue. We will see how this all plays out, but I do believe that this will be Garrett's last year at the helm. Wit the lack of success the Cowboys have had in the last couple decades, I would say it's long overdue at this point. Alright, now that I've rambled about my team for a bit, lets talk more about the importance of playing to your strengths.

When it comes to us as individuals having both strength and weaknesses, I believe that it is important to put thing into the right context. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to bring this topic to fruition, but the other goal with this is to hopefully inspire others to recognize their gifts. Now I mentioned earlier that our weaknesses should never totally be neglected. This especially applies when we're weak at something that has bearing on our lives. For example, if you're weak a speaking publicly and you have to take a public speaking course in college, working on improving that is crucial to how the end result will be for you in that class. Then there are other weaknesses that may not be as relevant to our lives. An example of this could be a person that is weak when it comes to a particular sport. Unless you're someone that plans on making a career out of whatever sport you're bad at, the idea of not being as strong in this area of your life probably won't matter much. Again, I'm of the belief it is better to put more emphasis towards improving in the areas of your life where it affects your livelihood. Our weaknesses definitely should matter in our lives, but as I pointed out earlier in this topic, there are many of us that do not fully maximize our strengths in this life. I believe that many of us don't even fully recognize most of our strengths, but for those of us that may do, we often allow them to take the backseat to the aspects of our lives where were we're weaker.

Now before I go into why I think it is important for us to play to our strengths, I want to try and setup where I am going with this topic. So what do I mean when I say that many of us do not fully maximize our strengths? This is a question that is subjective to whatever context that it is put into. My personal belief of this is that many of us do not fully apply the things that we're good at for the sake of bettering ourselves. Many of us have gifts and talents that we do not fully capitalize on, and because we don't, we find that it is more difficult for us to progress. Now as I alluded to earlier, much of this isn't our fault due to the fact that a lot of us don't fully know or understand our strengths. In order to know what your strengths are in this life, you have to be a self aware individual. That is beside the point, but the fact remains that suppression of our minds, along with focusing on irrelevant things often keep us stagnated. Since we're in the heart of the NFL season, I'm going to use a football example. When you think of a team like the Baltimore Ravens who have a scrambling quarterback in Lamar Jackson, along with a very good running back in Mark Ingram, wouldn't it make the most sense for them to use their running attack to progress their offense? If you watch football, you know that is what their team does, and they have been successful at it so far. When it comes to us as people, we have to identify our strengths and use them to our benefit.

All of this brings us to the main theme of this topic, which is the importance of playing to your strengths. Why do I personally believe it's important for us to play to our strengths? Besides the obvious idea of playing to your strengths gives you a better chance to succeed at whatever you're strong at, focusing too much on your weaknesses can lead to frustration and depression. From my own personal perspective, I believe that when we don't put precedence in our strengths in life, it leaves us too much energy to focus on the things we're not as good at. I'm sure that most of you at some point in your life tried doing something that you had a hard time figuring out, and to be quite honest, you probably become frustrated if you weren't able to do so. Maybe you later figured it out and become good at it, but there are times when that isn't always the case. There are just some things in our lives that you're never going to be good at, and that's okay. You don't have to drive yourself nuts trying to figure out something that isn't meant for you to learn. You have to focus more on the areas of your life that you do excel at. Those are the areas that will lead you towards having a better and more productive life. If something works for you and you're good at doing it, keep on pushing that instead of worrying about the things you're weaker at. We all have strengths in our lives, and those individual strengths are tailored just for us. Exploit those, and don't necessarily neglect your weaknesses, but put less focus into them if they're not benefiting you.

Well we've reached the conclusion of this week's topic, so I'm going to go ahead and sign off for now. Thank you all once again for stopping in for another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I'm am truly grateful for everyone that has read, commented, and tweeted anything that I've ever written. If you feel the desire to do any of those things with this topic, please feel free to do so. You can also follow me on Twitter @BradrickH if you'd like. Christmas is right around the corner, and I hope that everyone is in the Christmas spirit. If you happen not to be in the spirit, put on some good Christmas music and see if that helps. Matter of fact, listen to one of my favorites called "This Christmas" by Donnie Hathaway. That is a beautiful Christmas song, but I'm sure most of you have heard it before. Alright, I'm out of here, so I'll see you all in the next topic. Have a good week ahead, and peace!

©2019 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.