The Extra Mile

"At 211 degrees water is hot, but at 212 degrees, water boils, and that makes steam. With steam, a train can be powered!"
It is very easy to give up. Things aren't working out the way you think they should be, and you feel like everything is falling apart, so what do you do? Do say "that's it" and give up? Or do you go the extra mile, and strive to become a better person? When I was very little, my parents trained me to always go the extra mile. This concept seemed like a wast of time to me, but I did it anyway because if I didn't, I would get in trouble! Eventually I got passed the stage of only doing extra work because I was told to, and started doing just out of habit. I learned that many good things happened when I worked harder than I wanted to originally.
The concept of "running the extra mile" has always been in my head, but this fall, I realized that it had been pushed to the back burner, as some might say. I noticed myself slacking off more, and not even doing everything that was required, or expected of me. I was putting my time and energy into trying to fit in, and be a "cool kid in high school" rather than focusing on improving my athletic ability to play sports, and focusing on my school work. Running the extra mile isn't to stop working on something so you can work harder on something else. Going the extra mile is continually working on improving yourself and helping others, but never slowing down on something important to you. This is something that I resized when I got my report card at our first quarter meetings. At that point I knew that I hadn't been going the extra mile in every thing that I was doing. The whole point of going the extra mile, is not to be selective in what you work hard in. A wise man once said "How you do one thing, is how you do everything" Therefore you can't only work hard in one field. If you think you're working hard in one aspect, but are lacking work in another, you aren't really working to your full potential.

I challenge each of you to reflect on yourself, and see in what aspects of your life, are you lacking something. When you find that, act on it!

Transform

I recently got back from the 89th National FFA convention held in Indianapolis Indiana. This year's theme for the convention was Transform. When you hear the word "transform" what do you think of? I think of something changing dramatically! In fact, the definition of transform is to: make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of. This is huge. What do you think needs to be transformed not only in your life, but in the world today? The way we treat people, the way we talk to and about those around us, does that need to be transformed and made better? Absolutely. 
It may sound easy to say, I'm going to transform my actions, and do the right thing the first time all the time! But that is hard to do, it is even hard for some of you to say. Transforming is never easy, but it is necessary. For the world to come a better place, we, the younger generation will have to start, by transforming our actions. We will have to stop will the negative thoughts and words to and about other people, we will have to do the hard things, and do what is needed so that world can become a better place. It's time to face it, America is falling apart! Everyone will have to come together, to transform this nation, and make it a better place to live, to grow up, and to grow old. 
Without people who are willing to do the hard work to transform this nation, it will never happen. Are you going to watch as America falls apart in front of you, or are you going to see a need, and meet it, no matter how great, or how small? 
I am going to help transform this nation! Are you? 

Start somewhere

The biggest thing that keeps us from fulfilling our dreams, and doing what we want to do, is the fear of failure. When we're younger, we don't notice how other people are looking at us, and we don't really care if they like us or not. But when we get older, we start to worry about how other people view us. An example of being afraid of failure is my violin playing. When I was about 10 I started taking violin lessons. It was so much fun, and I enjoyed every part of it. But when I was about 12, my whole world fell apart, and I stopped doing almost everything that I loved. I shut music out of my life, and I didn't want to be a part of anything. When the pieces of my life started to come back together, and I was able to cop with life again, I didn't start back playing the violin, I was afraid that all the time I didn't play it, I was getting worse, and if I went to play a note, it'd sound like it did when I was first taking lessons. So my violin just sat in my closet for three years. My band teacher asked if I ever played it, and I told her that I haven't played it in three years, and I probably would sound like a brand new player if I picked it up right then and there. I didn't realize until then, that I was afraid of failing. I wanted to be the best at everything, and I was afraid that if I wasn't the best violin player, but I still played I would be viewed as a failure. I learned that if I ever wanted to play again, I'd need to get over my fear, and start somewhere. Because if you never start, how do expect to finish? This is a big thing for me, that I need reminded of daily. Whenever I don't want to do something, I ask myself if I don't want to do it because I'm scared of failing. If the answer is yes, I strive to get over that, and realize that everyone fails. We are all human. People won't judge us for failing, and if they do, that is their problem, we don't have to be effected by it.
My point is that if you never start, you will never get better. If you don't work at something, you will never be the best at that thing. If you don't want to do something because you don't want to fail, you're not alone, but you have the ability to get over that, and do it even if you might fail, because you are strong enough to get up even if you do fail!
Have a wonderful weekend!!

Smile-it makes things better

This last week has been a struggle for me, I've had a hard time in many different areas, and when I would look in the mirror I would see all the flaws in myself that could possibly be there. I was so upset with how the week had gone, and then I was upset with how I appeared to myself, and it took me all weekend to figure out why I was so frustrated with myself. Before I tell you why I was frustrated with myself, I'm going to tell you a short story. This was our homecoming week, and I am in charge of organizations who help put on most of homecoming, and very active in others. So I had tons to do to get ready, and when I would look in the mirror, I would be stressed out about getting everything done, and worried that not everyone would do their job to make the week run smoothly.  Homecoming wasn't the only stressful thing going on this week though, but we can get into that later. The point is that I was letting the activities that I'm involved in stress me out, which made it hard to see the good that could or was happening. Now, the reason I was so upset with my appearance was that I didn't smile at myself. I was stressed and upset looking into the mirror, and then when I saw myself stressed, and not seeing the good in others, I didn't see the good in myself. This made me think, if I have that big of an impact on myself, if I influence how I look at myself, and everything around me by smiling or not, what dose that do to everyone else? No doubt that how I express myself will have an influence on how they look at the event, or their day etc. When homecoming week got over, and I was no longer responsible for making sure stuff gets done, I started relaxing, and smiling, when I looked in the mirror and smiled at myself, it made me happy, I didn't focus on what was wrong with my appearance, I just smiled, and I didn't even know why. The main thing that I would like you to take away from this post is that if you take a few minutes, look in the mirror, and smile, it will make you happy, and your day will go by more smoothly. It can be hard sometimes. You'll have those days when it feels like nothing can go right, but if you take a few minutes to just smile at yourself, I can't guarantee that things will get better, but the way you handle them will!
Have a wonderful week!!

Focus

Good morning everyone!
I know that I'm behind on my blogging. For any Junior Highers reading this post, please understand that you have it pretty easy (as far as school goes), when you get to high school, everything is very different, so enjoy middle school while you're in it!

My topic today is Focus: everyone has heard that if you don't focus on your goal, you will never achieve it.Or something like that. But how many of us really focus on our goal? Do you really have one thing that you can focus on? I know I don't focus near as much as I should, but that is going to change! In school, if you don't focus on learning the information that your teachers are trying to teach you, you won't get the full value out of the information that you should be getting. In your job, if you don't focus on getting your work done correctly, you will not get the job done correctly, which will potentially cause trouble. And in sports, if you don't focus on what you're doing, and why you are in that sport, you will not play to your full potential. If you're evolved in a sport because you have to be, you can still make the best of it, and work your hardest to be the best that you can be, even if you aren't enjoying what you're doing. But if you focus on your school work, or your other work, and especially in sports, you will become better, and you will rise towards the top of your peers.
One of the biggest parts of being focused though, is work ethic. If you are focused, and don't work hard, you aren't really focused, so you will need to work like crazy, and stay focused on your goal for that situation, and then you will become better.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend!

No matter how you feel....

All of you have been in that place, where you just lost. Fill in the blank, I don't know what you lost, but it could have been something big, like your job, your home, your family, a relationship, or even your pet. Whatever it was, you felt like you were defeated, and you couldn't do anything. You feel horrible, and you just don't know what to do with yourself.

If you are like me, you don't want to look like you are hurting inside. If the pain you are feeling you think is to hard for you to hid, then you try and stay out of sight. That's not always the best thing to do. It is alright to show that you are in pain, and that you are struggling. However, there is a balance between showing that you are struggling, and letting it get you down to the point where you can't do other things. For example; you had a really good friend who got in a really bad car wreck, and is paralyzed, the doctors said that she/he would never be able to walk again. You are having a heard time processing this, and you feel really bad for your friend. When you are in this situation, you need to go out and talk to other people. You can't sit at home, or by yourself and be completely isolated because you don't want others to know that you are hurting. If your favorite pet got ran over on the highway, and he/she died, you may be really sad about that, but you need to be able to get up, and keep going with life.
There are a few situations that I listed earlier, you just lost your job, you lost your home, a family member or friend..etc. While these situations are hard, you have to rise up, and beat the struggle. It's really similar to what I said in my last post, you have got to beat the struggle. YOU ARE NOT A LOSER! Maybe you have lost stuff in your life, but that doesn't make you a loser.
My point today, was to encourage you to keep going, even when it's hard. "No matter how you feel...keep going"

Get up!!!

When we get knocked down, the enemy (who/whatever that is) want's you to stay down and get defeated. Are you going to let the enemy win? I know I'm not. If you are not going to let the enemy win, than you need to do the opposite of what they were trying to do. If the odds are all stacked against you, and it seems as if everyone and everything wants you to fail, what do you do? YOU SUCCEEDED. It is hard to not let everything get to you, but when you get knocked down, you have two options: 1) stay down, and be defeated, or 2) get up, and not give up. 

The choice is yours, but I'm going with option number two. I hate to be down, and stay there. I know how hard it is to get back up, but that just proves not only to your enemy that you are stronger than they thought you were, but it also shows you how strong you are. 

Picture this with me: You are towards the end of practice, at the start of the season, so you are kind of out of shape. You've had a long practice, and coach says to get on the line. You know that means practice isn't over, and you'll do suicides until you feel as if you're going to die, and then one more. In this situation, it's the same thing. You can either choose to collapse, and be done, or you can choose to push yourself until coach says that practice is over. And if you are pushing yourself to the very end and trip, what do you do? GET UP!!! And finish strong. 

That was an example in sports, but if you compare it to life, it's not that different. When you can either finish strong until you get told that you can be done, or give up, and get beat.I know what I'm going to do, do you?

 

Your goals

If you are anything like I am, you are very competitive, and hate being wrong. To feed my competitive spirit, I am involved in both volleyball and basketball, and I am in a few 4-H projects also. For myself, I set goals for almost everything that I am involved in.
For volleyball this fall, my goal is to play on the varsity team. That will be difficult for me, because the other players who would be on the varsity team, have played the sport for a long time, and most of them have played together, sense they were little elementary kids. Where I'm just coming in, because the high school I'm at doesn't have enough people to have any sports teams, so I go and practice with the neighboring high school athletics, so I'm the "new kid" and trying to fit in with the rest of the team, and I haven't had as much experience as they have, because our seasons in junior high are very short compared to all the schools around.
That is my volleyball goal for this fall, and it won't be easy, but I'm sure that if I try hard, and really do everything the coaches ask me to do, and follow instruction from my teammates, and work some on the side, I can play some varsity by the end of the season.

What are you involved in? Do you have goals on how you want to end a season, or chapter in your life?
The thing is, you can set goals anywhere, but you will never be able to achieve your goals unless you set them. You also always want to set your goals high!!! If you set your goals to a point that you think you can reach easily, it won't give you the effect that you will want, and it may end up giving you the opposite. You all have heard the quote "reach for the sky" or "the sky's the limit". There is a teacher at my school, and she is such an amazing person, she tells her students not that the sky is the limit, but it is the beginning, and there is no limit!! I think that is what every single person in the world should hear, "there is NO limit!!!"

To achieve your goals, you have to set them so high that you think it is almost impossible, but you also have to have a plan on how to achieve your goal. For example, last year I didn't even want to play volleyball in high school, now look at me, I'm trying to play for the varsity, but I have a plan on how I'm going to achieve this goal.

I hope this was helpful to you, or at least you were able to get something out of it.
Have a wonderful day, and you'll hear from me in at least a week!!!

Judging others and holding grudges

Far to often, we are all to quick to judge other people. We judge them, for stupid things, such as; what they wear, what they eat, who they talk to, and many other things. Have you judged anyone in the last week for a reason similar to this?
Almost any reason that you might have to judge someone is a bad reason, in fact, we are told to not judge anyone for anything. If you are a christian like I am, you would know that the bible tells us that it is not our job to judge, but our job to love others. The next reason why you might judge people, or have been judged is because of the past. The past is in the past, and there is nothing you can do about what has already happened, however, you can change how the future will look (to a certain point). I heard this song a while ago, and I really liked the message it sent. The person you were, doesn't have to be the person you are for the rest of your life, so if you are judging someone because of the way they acted in the past, just remember that they may not be the same person they were in the past.

If you have been holding a grudge towards someone, you should look back, to see why you were mad at them to start with, some of the time, you won't even know. That is a sure sign to forgive them and move on.
One thing that I've had to learn, is how to forgive someone, even if they're not sorry. It's hard, but even if you do know why you are holding a grudge, and it is a "good reason" it's not. I mean, no reason is a good enough reason to hold a grudge, and it is hurting you more than it is hurting whoever you are mad at.

What about the flip side? What if you are the person being judged, for a stupid reason?
Well, It's difficult, but you have to be the bigger person, and not let them get to you. If someone is acting judgmental to you, and you walk away, then you are out of all danger of acting hateful or judgmental back to them.

Freedom

Happy 4th of July!!! Now I'm sure every single one of you have heard that freedom isn't free. Soldiers are risking, and give up their lives everyday so that America can truly be the land of the free. It costs something to live like we do.
A few years ago, I was in sixth grade, and for social studies we were learning about the Vietnam war. Hearing the stories of soldiers coming home, expecting to be heroes, and the treatment that they revived was horrific! Now, I really didn't care that many people thought that involving America in the Vietnam war was a bad idea! My thought was: these soldiers were drafted into the war, and the only thing they could do to get out of serving, was to move out of the U.S. They left their homes, their families, and their lives to go and serve the country, the least we could do is show them respect when they come home.
The 4th of July isn't about BBQ-ing and playing with fireworks, parades, and rodeos (although it is fun), we should never forget how it all started. When you see that American Flag, and when you hear the National Anthem, remember all of the men and women who gave their lives for you and I to enjoy our freedom, and enjoy this country!
If you have served, or are currently serving, THANK YOU!!!
If you know anyone who has served, or is currently serving thank them, because they serve for us.

I watched this and it is amazing! Take only 4 minuets and listen and watch this, it's truly AMAZING!!!

Be better

Far to often we see that we aren't doing as good as we could be at something. For example, maybe I don't have the public speeking skills that I would like to have. So what should I do with that? Well I have two options: one, acknowledge that I have something I need to improve on, and then go to do something else, or two, acknowledge I have an area that I could improve on and then...you guessed it, IMPROVE. Work hard to achieve the public speeking skills I want. Practice, ask other people who will give you the truth, and just overall work hard.

A while back I listened to a speech titled "Dirty Laundry" the reason this man was speeding about it was because he wanted to improve in an area where he wasn't being sucsesf and that wasn't good for him. He was determined to it correctly. I'll attach the video so all of you can follow what I'm talking about. 

My hole point is that you should always be striving to be better all of the time. There shouldn't be a time when you notice that guy aren't as good at something and let it go!

Have a wonderful week everyone!!!

Dirty Laundry

Role models

Look at that, it's Friday again and time for me to share something new with all of you!!
We often here people talking about sucsses, and that is very common. However when we are talking about sucsses, most of us often forget a very import point. That is who helped us become successful. To many time once we are successful, we are proud of our selves and don't stop to thank everyone who helped you along the way.
I have gone a long ways in my life in the last three years. I couldn't have gotten through it if I wouldn't have had the people help me that were around. If you are going through a hard time, or even if you ste just going through life with no major peeks or valleys, you still need someone around. However, you need the right people around. Undortunatly, we can't just go and ask someone to help us get through a struggle, because there are people around that will see that you are in a tough spot and take advantage of that. Find someone that will be good to you and be helpful and not take advantage of your situation. A good role model will not only be there to help you bit are also living what they are telling you. If they say to be nice and kind, they will show you that they are being nice and kind to other people.
While I was at the FFA convention, I meant several people who were role models, if you are a state or national officer you are automically a role moddel but when you are in that position you get to chose if you're going to be a good or not-so-good model for the younger members. I have met some really awesome people that have made a huge impact on the way that I see life, but I'm. It sure if they know they have done so much for me. Rachel Spencer, Amy Vice, Taylor McNeel and so many others. I would like to thank all of you for everything you did and continue to do for me.
I hope you all look up to someone and have food role models like I do, and if you don't have anyone in mind, focus on you being the role model because chances are people are looking up to you and watching you to see how you handle each situation, show them that you are a person who can be trusted and that you there.

Have a wonderful day, and a wonderful week.

My email is LMYmotivation@16gmail.com

Missed Opportunities

In my last post I told you a little about "Missed Opportunities",  I said that I would have never gone up to someone and just asked them what had happened, and that went with "missed opportunities" but I saved the rest for today.
I heard something a while ago that said "if you are always waiting for the right time, you'll be waiting forever."There can always be an excuse that "keeps" a time from being the right time. If you don't go out, and make it the right time, you are going to miss that opportunity! Use the moment and take control!
While I was at the FFA convention, the first day, there were some people that I thought would be cool to go and talk to them, find out who they were, and what they did in FFA and simple stuff like that, but I didn't go and talk to them. After I saw them the first day, I didn't see them again, and I realized that if I let it, that would happen again, and again, and I would leave convention full of regret for not going up, and talking to the other people there. So, I started going up to people I had no clue who they were, or where they were from, and I would talk to them. I met some really great people there, because I used the moment, and took control, and got to know some people. It might not sound to hard, or it might sound like it is unbelievable how hard simply using the moment is. In reality, it is one of the best things you can do. If you are the person who ceases a moment, others will realize it, and you will potentially get recognized and have dreams come true that you thought would never happen!
You are fully capable of not missing opportunities, but if you do, then you miss out on so much that you didn't even know was available. I'm going to say one thing that should stick out the most, "Just do it" If you feel like you should go and introduce yourself to someone, do it. If you think you should go and do that thing that you really want to do, and it will help you, and the people you are around, do it. As long as it is lawful and moral, DO IT!

Have a good weekend, and next
week

Self Confidence

The title of this post sounds similar to last weeks post, and I guess it is in some ways, but its different in many ways, so I'm not just saying the same thing over, and over again.

I just got back from the Colorado State FFA convention. If you don't know what FFA is, you can email me, but I'm not going to go into it right now. It was my first convention, and I had so much fun. While it was fun, it was also a great learning experience for me. There were 10 state officers that retired, and each of them gave a retiring address, I was able to listen to 8/10 of those speeches, and they were all really good. There were also key note speakers. I listened to five key note speakers and every thing they had to say was wonderful, and really made me think. Although all the speakers had different life lessons to share I found that they all had one thing in common; and that was confidence. The biggest fear is public speaking, so when someone goes up to talk to a big crowd, they have to have a lot of self confidence and security to say what they want to say. If they didn't have the mentality, "I'm okay with who I am, and I don't have to have everyone else's approval to be happy", they could never survive as a public speaker. When you were young, did you feel like you owned the world? Like you were the best you could be and that was all that mattered? Most of you probably said yes, but then when you got in junior high, or high school, you felt like all of the sudden you weren't significant anymore. (I didn't get this on my own. It was part of one of the retiring addresses) You have to find that you are good enough for you, and if you're not good enough for you, you can change to get better, but just sitting there, thinking that you're not as good as you could be, doesn't work.

Confidence is hard to get, but when you have it, everyone notices. I got back from this trip full of confidence. I'm not sure why, but it was such an inspiration to me, that it changed the way I look at a lot of things.
I was sitting in the food court at Sam's club this evening while we were in town, and I saw a girl maybe around the age of 10. I noticed that she had stitches on the underside of her chin. Now, I've busted open my chin more than a few times, and I wanted to know what happened. So, being the outgoing person I am, I went up to her, and introduced myself, and asked. I'm pretty sure that it surprised her, and her family, especially with me the age I am, that I noticed, and went and asked what happend to her. I would have never done that before, I would have just sat and wondered. That goes along with "Missed opportunities" but that is for another day.I told you this story, because I had self confidence, and because of it, I was able to talk to someone that I had no reason to know, and I was able to find the answer to a question that I had, and it was good.

I have someone my email address, but I think I didn't give them one that would work. Just to make sure, it's: LMYmotivation16@gmail.com
I would love to hear from you, if you read my blog and have feedback of something that you would like me to touch on, and give my opinion of, I'll be more than happy to do that.
Have a wonderful weekend, and next week!

Anxiety and Confidence

What happens
right before Christmas? There is excitement, there is trying to make sure you did every thing you were supposed to do for the Holiday. There is trying to get everyone the right present, and trying to make all the food, and whatever your family traditions are. But overall there is anxiety. Now, if you know me well, you know that I like definitions, so let's take a look at what the definition of anxiety is.
Anxiety:1.distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune:2.earnest but tense   desire; eagerness:
Okay, so you are eager for something to happen, but you are still a little scared. You aren't secure in your ability, so you are afraid that you might mess everything up. The trick to getting through anxiety, is not  worry. Now this is easier for some people than others. But it might not be that hard. If you quit being worried about messing something up, or being eager but tense about something, your life will become so much more fun. Contradictory to what some of society tells us, life is supposed to be fun. If you're constantly worried about how this might mess something up, or  being eager about something, you will get worn out so quickly that there will come a point when you have to take a break, and just let it go. 
How does confidence tie into this? Well, the more anxious you are about something, the less confidence you will have in yourself. There is a balance in self-confidence, you want to be confident enough if yourself to know that you are worth something, and there are things you are good at. However, you need to not be so caught up in how good you are at somethings that you don't focus on what you still need to work on. There are many things that can "give" you anxiety, but you have to learn to get around that. Each person has a different trick to get away from anxiety, and boost their confidence, so you'll just have to find what works for you.

This weeks challenge is harder than some of the past. Try to find what helps calm your anxiety, and stay cool. "If plan A doesn't work, just remember there are 26 letters in the alphabet for a reason."

Have a wonderful week!!!

Strength

I have a friend who has just recently had surgery on her knee. If you haven't had a broken something or ever had to have surgery, let me just tell you that it sucks. But after you recover, you are so much better off. Last year my social studies teacher tried to argue with me that there is something that directly effects you, doesn't kill you but it doesn't make you stronger either. He was never sucsefull though. You are always getting stronger. Even if it feels like you are about as low as you can get, just remember that you are getting stronger if you chose to. I saw something once that said something similar to "if you are going through the same things as you were a little while ago, it's Gods way of telling you that you haven't learned the lesson he was trying to teach you." I thought that was really true. Because if you don't learn from one thing you won't be ready for the next thing. Many things build off of each other, so you have to have one thing completed before you can start another. It's the same with seasons in your life. If you don't grow how much you were designed to grow through one season in your life than you are not ready for the next season. That's my thoughts. It seems to make sense to me. Now that's not saying that it's easy getting stronger. "Some of the strongest people have gone through the hardest  trials."
Now a knee surgery is my example for today. I know a lot of people who have lost a lot of the necessities they need to continue they're profession and that was hard on them. So if you're in a hard spot now, just remember that things do get better and you are growing and becoming stronger. You just have to keep your head up and have faith.
Have a wonderful weekend, keep your head up and know you have to learn before you move on!

I chose this song because it's the one that stated my teacher and I talking about being strong

Move forward

Everyone, no matter how old they are, has seen at least a few things that happened to them that they need to let go of and quit being mad about. Whether it is a person who hurt you emotionally talking about you spreading false information about you, or it is someone who hurt you physically, or even if you are mad at yourself for screwing something up. You have to let that go. Now I'm not by any means saying that it doesn't hurt when someone is spreading false information about you or if you get hurt physically, but you can't hold a grudge because that will end up controlling you until you let it go. Staying mad only makes you more miserable. You may think that it makes you feel better to try and get revenge on someone and be as mean to them as they were to you but in reality if their conscience is not bothering them, nothing you do can make them feel bad about what they did. Even if their conscience isn't clean you can't make them change. So what I'm trying to say here is if you have anything that you need to let go of just do yourself a big favor and move forward!!! Let it go!


I know this was kind of a short post, but there isn't much else to say. If you don't let the stuff that is bothering you go, it will control you. That's just the truth.

If you have something that you are mad about, and it is controlling you, there is a trick that really works. You need to write down what you are mad about, and get it all out onto a piece of paper, or you can type, but I like paper better, plus it's more dramatic! After you have everything written down, if you wrote it on paper, you can go and burn it. Throw it in the fire never to be seen again, and it helps. If you typed it, you can grab the file and move it to the trash can, after that, delete it from the trash and it will be gone forever.

Work Hard and NEVER give up

As all of the students and teachers are getting ready to get out of school for the summer, it is really easy to start slacking, and not finish strong but that doesn't work. You have to finish strong! My dad always told me to finish strong, and our family motto was "Yoder's finish strong" Even though we haven't really said anything like that lately, I still try and make that what I live by if you will. It's really tempting to not finish your work and then blame it on something or someone else saying that it is their fault. I know for me, that if I don't get my work do I want to make some excuse saying that I didn't get it done for a reason, good reason that is.

Work hard, and never give up an inch too short because that will come and haunt you for the rest of your life. If you are able to finish something strong, you will leave with a feeling of knowing that you did all that you could/needed, etc. When I was a 6th grader, we ran laps for gym class, well my brother, who is two years older than me, would always sprint the last lap as hard as he could. So, I thought why not, by the end of the year, four out of the six of us sprinted that last lap, and we were the ones who wanted to work hard and succeeded. That always gave me the feeling of finishing strong, because, sure the laps weren't hard, they were our warm up, but finishing them as strong as we could didn't necessarily make me feel better at the time, but not even halfway through, I knew that it was helping me get in the correct mindset for what we would be doing. Now, every time we run laps in the gym, I sprint the last one, and the other kids who are around started doing the same. I know that even if they're not sure why we always sprint the last lap, they'll figure it out, and we have my older brother to thank for that!
Next, NEVER give up! I know all of you have heard that so many times that you can't count, but please never ever stop trying. You may hit bumps in the road which force you to change the way you go about doing whatever it is that you are doing, but that doesn't mean you can stop, it just means you have to change a few things. As the picture above states  "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when the gave up." Thomas A. Edison What does that mean? Well, if you give up, you are stopping all of the chances of you finishing. If you give up, and then look back in 10 or 15 years, and see that if you would have only kept going you were so close to finishing, you're not going to be happy with yourself. so save yourself from that grief. Don't give up, and you won't see that you were so close, but never finished. That is its ties in with finishing strong!
So, what's the challenge for the week?
Finish everything you start and finish it better than you started.
Good luck, and have a wonderful week!

Friends

Everyone has friends, even if you don't think you do, there is always one...and that is Jesus Christ, but my point is, everyone has at least one friend. But are your friends true friends? I read a book last year, I actually ended up doing my book report on it, and a lot of what it talked about was surrounding yourself with the right people. (Sadie Robertson Live Original)  Everyone deserves to have a friend who truly cares about them, and will be there for them at any point, but you also need to know when to find better friends. If the friends you are around, are not helping you become a better person, and you are constantly battling with yourself trying not to fall into doing things you shouldn’t do, you need to remove yourself from that. This is a very hard topic but stick with me here, I’m still trying to figure it out also.

Ok, so now I'll get to the point. If you hang out with people who are very involved in their relationships, making poor decisions, and so on, you will be more likely to do the same, and make poor decisions also. If you hang out with people who are respectful and are well-rounded people, you will be more likely to become a well-rounded person. There are different sources that say "you are most like the 5 people you spend the most time with" this is very true. If you are hanging around, and talking to people, you will be most likely to start acting like that so you can fit in, unless you are a very strong willed person, and still even then you change subconsciously. So be very careful who you spend the most time around.

I send out emails every weekend, usually on Friday with a motivational video attached, if you are not getting it now, and you would like to, you can put your email down in the comments, or, you can send me an email LMYmotivation16@gmail.com so I have yours, then I’ll put you on my list.
Have a wonderful weekend!!!

The Problem Solvers...are you with me?

I wrote this last night for my English teacher. She has us write at least 400 words in a journal entry form every week. So I chose to write about this:

"We were driving through town the other day, and I saw a guy standing in the Home Depot parking lot. Not too weird right? Well, maybe not, but I figured I could make something out of it. He was standing by his car, but something was sticking out of the truck. It was a big box that wasn’t going to fit in his car unless he moved something around. Instead of getting straight to work, he just stood there looking at this problem. I started thinking, and that is what most of us do more than half of the time. We see that there is a problem with our grades, the way our job is working out, the way our relationships are working out, etc. but what do we do? Nothing. We sit there and look at the issue, but we don’t get off of our butts and do what needs to be done. How would the world be different today, if when everyone saw a problem, they tried to fix it as best they could? Would America be in this great dilemma in the way of finances? Would we even have the presidential candidates running that are running now? Would everything be so much better if when there was a problem we fixed it instead of just looking at it, and knowing that there was a problem? The answer is blatantly obvious, but do we do that? No. Especially in teenagers in America. We see a pen fall on the ground and just look at it. That may not be a big deal now, but that trains our minds that it is okay to see a problem, and wait for someone else to fix it. Truth is, that’s not how it works. I’m as guilty of this as any of you are, but we can stop that now. If we start to see a simple problem, and fix it, and that will carry on to all of the bigger problems, which will inspire generations to do the same after us. They will read in their history books that this generation didn’t let problems just sit around, they fixed them, and it didn’t only make the city, state, country better, it made the world better. That is the kind of generation that I would like to be a part of. When I am gone, I want people to remember me, and this generation for what we can be, The Problem Solvers. Are you with me?"

A smile....

I had to go to the orthodontist on Friday. I had to get braces when I was a fifth grader, and so I'm very familiar with that office, and all of the decorations in it. I was brushing my teeth in the office, getting ready for the people to work on my mouth, and I saw a sign that said, "A smile is the prettiest thing someone can wear" I had been looking for something to write about, and I wasn't succeeding until I read that. I thought about what that really means. When you first look at it, it doesn't look like there could be so much wisdom in that quote, but there really is. I mean, so many people, especially girls, and women of all ages, get caught up in how they look, and if this shirt makes them look fat? or does this eye shadow make me look better? These questions get asked so frequently, and it is sad that some people don't see how beautiful they really are. That quote really means a lot, because it is saying, it doesn't matter what clothing you are wearing, how your make-up makes you look, it really matters if you are happy. You can be wearing the most attractive outfit in the world, and it may fit you real well, but if you aren't happy, and your attitude is showing that you don't want to be there, doing that, or whatever, you won't look as pretty as you would if you were happy.
It isn't so much what you are wearing as it is the attitude you have. If you have a happy disposition, it will automatically make you look better than if you were acting grumpy.
So my advice to you is to be happy, and rock whatever outfit or new makeup you are wearing!!!

Commitment

You hear all of these motivational people talk about not giving up, and you just think what drives them to keep going. Talking about sports, fitness, or relationships, whatever it is, you have to be committed. What does it mean to be committed? It means that you don't give up. It means that when all the odds are against you and what you are trying to do, and you still keep going and don't ever stop.
I'm going to talk a little bit about relationships; in any relationship you want to last, you have to be committed to it. It doesn't matter if it's your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend or just a friend, you have to devote your time to that person, in order to stay committed. Now, there are different ways that you can devote your time to a person, and they need to be different depending on how your relationship, is, and how you want it to be, but all in all, you need to be working on all of your relationships. Now, this isn't saying that you have to do all the work, and then if the relationship doesn't work out, it's your fault, because both of you need to be trying to make it work, but if you're not working, your not committed.
Now, I'll talk a little bit about sports; you have a sport that you really love, for me it's basketball. When you say, it's (enter your sport here) season, and it's time to focus only on that. I'm going to spend all of my time practicing, sleeping, eating the right food, all to make me a better player, team member, and person altogether. That is true commitment.
There are more examples for each thing that one could be committed to. It may be music, it may be school and education. It could be your job. Anything you do, you can be committed to it. My challenge to you is when you find something that you are committed to, stick to it, and don't let anything change your mind. Once you have a goal set or a commitment made, don't go back!
If you are going to spend all of your time working on that specific thing, you are committed to it, no matter what it is. Now, don't misquote me, and say that to be committed, you can't do anything but whatever you want to be committed to because that's not what I'm saying.

But, chose your commitments carefully because you can't be committed to a lot of things, and expect everything to work out. If you're like me you are extremely busy and have many different activities going on, and that is fine, you can do good at all of them, but chose which one you would like to excel at, and make that your priority, be committed to that!

Excuses

Hey, I didn't publish a post on Thursday because:  I was at my aunt's house and didn't have a computer to right down, then publish what I though, or I got so busy with my family, and school, that I didn't have time to write something down. 
Tell me, what was I just saying? I was telling you why I didn't post anything on Friday right? But what is that called? I tell this to my little brothers all the time, "they are excuses!!!" Maybe that was true, I didn't have accses to a computer, maybe it isn't, you don't know, the only reason you would belive that is because you trust me to tell the truth, which in reality are two totally different topics that we won't get to today. But the point is, I was making up an excus. Which brings me to my next question, why do we make up excuses?
First, we don't like being wrong. No one does.And once you are wrong, or something is your fault, we don't want to be resposible for it, so we make excuses to make it seem like it's not our fault. The truth is, you have to power to make something different. So if it's not, and your excuse is because things just wern't working out at that point, you're really saying that you didn't want to make it different bad enough, so it's still the same.

I found this speech by Eric Thomas that fits with what I'm trying to say, it's a really good speech, and you should watch it if you get a chance!!!

Do you have a plan?

I ran into one of my friends the other day. He used to live near us, and then his family moved, so I hadn't talked to him for a while. We talked about envisioning what is going to happen to us in the future. Now, that is a delicate idea; yes it's good to know where you want your life to go from this point, but you don't want to be so caught up in it that you can't live in the moment and see where you are now.
What do you want to happen in your future? You may think this question is only for kids, who are in high school, or in college, but really this question applies to anyone, and everyone who wants to think about it. You can have a steady job, and be 40 years old, but you still need to think about how what you are doing at this point in your life is affecting what your life will look like in five to 10 years. That might be your relationships. (this might be geared more towards high school, but it can apply anywhere needed) If you are messing around, and not being faithful to one person, that might mess with you when you get older, it might keep you in regret. I really don't know much, but I do know that it will affect you in the future. Another thing might be chewing, or smoking. Almost everyone knows that these actions cause pain and suffering later in life, but some people still chose to do it. Now, I'm not here to tell you that all of these things are wrong because as far as I know, you guys aren't asking my opinion about smoking, chewing, cheating, so on. All I'm saying is that your actions have consequences, and it's easier to see how your actions are going to affect you when you have a plan for the rest of your life.

My plan is to continue to motivate and inspire everyone, even as I'm old. I want people to look at my picture after I'm dead, and say "because of her, I am the way I am today" or something to that effect. If that is my goal, I can't just throw my life away, and not care about much. I have to stay focused, in school, in relationships, and in sports. I encourage you to do the same.
First, you need to find what you want to do in your life, then you need to find how you're are going to pursue that. What will you have to push yourself to do to be able to reach your goal? Finally, you need to not give up. If you set a goal of what you want your life to look like, you need to keep that. Maybe it's that you want to loose weight. You're not going to be able to loose and weight if you give up halfway through your workout. If you choose to skip one day or take it easy, you are going to mentally think that it is ok to skip something every now and then, once you get away with it once, you'll do it more and more. So DON'T STOP EVEN ONCE!!

Follow your dreams

If you're anything like me, you've heard this term so many times before that you can't even count them. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. But do you? Not everything is for everybody. If you are raised in a community that is very agricultural like me, chances are you get pressured to grow up and have your profession in something to do with agriculture. But let's just say you don't want to, what then? Will you get picked on for wanting something different? The answer to those questions is yes. You will get picked on for wanting something different, but don't let that stop you. If you want to go and be a beautician, or if you want to pursue arts, go for it. The only thing that can stop you from doing something you love is you. If you want to fit in with the community, and don't want to be picked on, and you want to be just like everyone else, you will never be able to do what you want unless you want to be like everyone else in your community (which isn't bad) just if you do what you think others want you to do, chances are that you are going to be unhappy.
Like I wrote earlier, not everything is for everybody. If you want to do something different than the norm, I challenge you to do that. Go and look all of the people who told you what you should become when you grow up, or what you should go into as a profession, and tell them straight up what you want. Be. What. You. Want. To. Be. and don't let ANYONE stop you. You should follow your dreams, not anyone else's.

If you accept this challenge, let me know how it goes. Leave me comments on what you want to be, and what others think you should be. Email me at LMYmotivation16@gmail.com
Have a good weekend, I hope to hear from you, and you'll hear from me again on Monday the 25th.

Classy vs. Fitting in

Ever since you started being around people, they were telling you that you needed to fit in, and be like everyone else. This doesn't have to be true. In the world we live in today, especially for teenagers, fitting in isn't exactly a good thing. Teenagers have the reputation of being disrespectful, being ungrateful, doing drugs, drinking, chewing, and having too serious of relationships while they are still young. I don't know about you, but that isn't the kind of reputation that I want, I don't want to fit into that if people think that is normal. If fitting in requires me to lose my self-respect, I simply won't do it, and I would encourage you all to do the same.

Arguably the biggest problem facing teens right now is peer pressure. It happens to everyone, and to not be affected by it, you have to already know mentally what is good for you and what's not. Many people (myself included) have a hard time with this, therefore, peer pressure is "unstoppable".

Now, let's define these two ideas; Classy and Fitting in:

Classy: of high class, rank, or grade; stylish; admirably smart; elegant.
Fitting in: be socially compatible with other members of a group.

 Is the crowd that you are in right now going to matter in 20 years? Will fitting in in high school affect your life for the better when you get ready to go on? So are you willing to give up high grade, elegant, etc. to fit into a crowd that isn't going to matter in 20 years anyway? Is it worth it? Let that sink in for a minute or two.

You are an Example

You may not realize it, but people are watching you. especially if you are a high scholar in a small school, and the "little kids" are around. People see what you act like, and pay attention. They are reacting to your actions, and reactions. You influence everyone in you cross paths whether you are trying to or not. If you are anything like me, little kids go up to you, and just want to talk. I think that while they are getting to know you, and talking with you, they are also watching you to see how they should act, towards others, and about hard situations. If they look up to you, they'll try and act like you do, and if they don't like you, or they think that you are mean, they won't necessarily try and act like you, but they might. I'm not saying that if you can get little kids to dislike you, they won't pick up on your actions and try them themselves, because they will.

Now, little kids aren't the only people who watch your actions and reactions. Adults, are watching you too. Older kids, or teens, also watch you, and have a little more comprehension than little kids. They can see if you are succeeding in multiple arias of life, and then decided if they want to be like you, where as little kids just do what everyone does. I would like to say that the older you get, the less you let the way other people act, affect you, but that isn't always true. Peer pressure is a big thing (that is a whole different post). The point that I'm trying to make, is that you are an example, and people are either using you as a good one or a bad one. My band teacher told us one day, that she wanted us to set the example not be the example. The reasoning behind that made a lot of scene. she said that when she though of someone setting the example, they were acting like everyone else should act like. Of course her motive was practicing, and we should practice hard, and show they younger kids that they should do the same, but it's basically the same thing. On the other hand, she thought that when someone called you an example, they were saying that you were an example of what not to do. I don't complacently agree with that, but it makes sense.

You can choose if you are a good example or not, but you have to make that choose.

Good luck to all of you, I hope you chose to be good examples, and have people look up to you and say "that's the kind of person I want to be!" rather than the saying "holly cow! I'm going to use that person to help remind me what not to do."
Have a wonderful weekend, and week!

Honesty

Don't try and fool everyone all of the time.
 It won't work!

Being honest is arguable the most important trait in a persons character. If they are not willing to tell you the whole truth, there is no reason to trust them. Being honest is the "maker or braker"  in a relationship (of any kind). If you can't be honest, you either don't trust yourself, or however you are liaing  to. Now I really hate that word; "liar" when being serous is one of the worst insults I think a person can get. That doesn't mean that as soon as you say something that isn't true, you should be labeled a liar. No, that's not what I'm saying, but if you tell a lie, and don't fess up to it, and keep doing it, over and over again, then you are a liar. When it is really a problem is when you tell the same lie over and over again until you believe it yourself. We all have to do with lies and people who tell them, but it is up to us if we want to stick around that person or not. I really don't like when people lie to me, or at all for that matter, but when they start telling bald face lies straight to my face, really makes me mad. Now, I know that I need to not just be mad at that person for the rest of my life, but remove my self. I would ask you to do the same, no only for your own personal health, but for the other person. When I say  "for your own personal health" I'm saying that it isn't good for you to be around people who don't tell the truth, and it is doing damage to you, because you are learning to get used to it, and it not be a problem anymore. The biggest thing that I'm trying to say is please, please, PLEASE, be honest with the people you are around, as well as with yourself. It's important, and you will be happier in the end...Trust me!!!

Today I told you guys what I think about what you should do in a situation with a person who doesn't tell the truth, it isn't the opinion it's an opinion, and if you think differently, right on!
This is a Ted Talk on lying, it's about 18 minutes long, but if you have time I would strongly suggest to listen to it.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hancock_3_types_of_digital_lies?language=en

Believe

One of the biggest questions is where did we come from? Some think we turned human from apes or evolution, and others believe that humans were created and did not evolve. The truth is, we'll never know. People have very heated debates over the theory of evolution/creation, but how can they do that when we don't have evidence to probe anything, and we know that we'll never know? The answer is because they believe. The people who are very biased one way or another simply believe that they are right, and the other opinion is wont. Now, believing is important more then just debating an opinion. If you don't believe in something you are living for nothing. Your belief might simply just be that there really is cheese on the moon. Of course I'm not saying it has to be simple. You may have a strong belief that there is a black hole that is going to destroy the entire human race. It doesn't mater what you believe, but as long as long as you are sure of a least one thing you will be a better person, and people will recognize that.

Being strong in a belief, and being mean about it, however are two very different things. While having a strong belief, you still need to listen to others opinions and reasons. You can still think that the moon is made out of cheese, and listen to why some people think it's made of moon dust (crazy, I know, but still) people ill respect someone who knows what they think/believe, and why, but that respect will decrease rapidly if you don't take time to listen to why they think differently. So my advise to you, is to find something that you believe in, but take time to listen to what others believe in also.