BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE

I received an email late in tax season about a baseball player at my son's high school. During one of the games, he was accidently hit in the eye with a baseball.  There is a good chance that he will need eye surgery that will end his baseball season and possibly his baseball career. When I see things like that, I always take a minute and think about how fortunate I am for the life that has been given and how I need to stop thinking about the petty things in life.

We all live really spectacular lives. We are truly blessed living in the United States and enjoying the freedom and benefits of this country and what it offers to each of us. When you combine that with our health, wealth, and happiness, we all have a pretty good thing going for us. We should all appreciate the gifts we receive in life.

With that, one of the best things you can do is to show kindness to other people. When you see someone who is struggling, reach out to them and give them a helping hand. If they are lost, give them direction so they can find their way. Help a mother carry her baby stroller up the stairs. Thank a teacher for being a teacher. I think you get the picture.

There are many ways to payback your good fortune if you think about it. You just need to develop the habit of looking for someone you can help each day.

HOW I FEEL ABOUT APRIL 15TH.

April 15th has always been a big day for me. Its a big day in the hearts of CPA's as the tax filing season is coming to an end and we can get back to a normal life and spend time again with our families.

But April 15th is also the anniversary of when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and played his first game (4/15/1947) in major league baseball as a Brooklyn Dodger. Back in those days, we had two leagues. The major leagues and the negro leagues. The leagues were segregated both in players and in fans.  There were many talented ball players in the negro leagues that could compete in the major leagues. As major league baseball entered the 1947 year, the Brooklyn Dodgers with Branch Rickey decided it was time to integrate an African American into baseball. They chose Jackie Robinson to play for their team.

I always think about how he felt on that day.  The Brooklyn Dodgers played the Boston Braves in front of a crowd of a little over 26,000 people of which 14,000 were African American. He heard racial slurs not only from the stands and the opposing dugout but from some of his teammates as well. Some of them even went to Leo Durocher and said they would not play with a n*****.  The Dodger manager took a stand and told the players that you don't play you don't get paid and will be traded.

The Dodgers won 5-3 with Robinson playing first base. For the remainder of the year, he took all the abuse one person can handle (his contract said he could not retaliate for two years). His courage for that first year is remembered today in baseball. They now require all major league teams to retire his number (42) and many of the African American teams publicly give praise to Jack's courage and fortitude to stick with it and allow them and other African American players to play major league baseball.

After baseball, Jackie participated in many civil rights movements right up until his death in 1972 at age 53. I am glad that we remember Jackie Robinson for his heroic efforts and his work in opening the doors for other African Americans to prosper. Thats what April 15th means to me.

LIVING OUTSIDE THE BOX

A friend of mine quit her job last week. She quit her job without another one waiting for her. She quit because her job was getting in the way of her passion. She decided to live outside the box. I was intrigued by her decision. Leaving a perfectly good job takes guts. She wants to focus on the things that she wants to do on an everyday basis. She decided to change her life and live her passion now.

Living outside the box is tough to do. We all enjoy the creature comforts of a safe environment. A good job, a nice home, a good relationship, and other things all keep us content, for a time. We wait for a time when we are allowed to work on and feel our passion. Many people wait a long time for this to happen. If you decide to live outside the box, you need to do three things.

The first thing you need to do is to FOCUS and have a clear vision of what you want to do. You need to create a clear vision statement of the things you want to do with your life. The statement has to describe exactly of where you currently stand and where you want to go.

The second thing you need to do is to get the BEST. I mean the best tools, the best map, the best coach or mentor, and the best model of someone who is the most successful in what you want to do. Modeling an already successful person will help you develop the path you need to be successful. Try and meet with them. You will be surprised how helpful they might be with you. They want to pay it forward.

The third thing is to resolve your INNER CONFLICTS. Eighty percent of success is your psychology and the rest is mechanics. Your inner self always tells you the things to create doubt. You made a bad decision, you cannot make your goal, or the goal is too high (or too hard). To resolve your conflicts, you need to align your life to what is most important to you and what you value. Remove as many obstacles as you can. When everything is in alignment, you will take action. If you don't live outside the box, you might miss out on something that could change your life.