Fiddle dee dee

Just got back from seeing nearly 40 high schoolers rock the fiddles last night (well actually, violins, violas, cellos, drums, guitars and mandolins - and a few tap shoes as well!). It is not music that I choose to listen to often, but they were full of energy and, especially as younger performers, very entertaining. They've played at the White House and with several famous artists so other people think that they've got a wee bti of talent too. :-)

We had the older two kids with us last night as well and they both commented on how good the concert was. It's encouraging, but sometimes embarrassing, that these performers are so talented at such a young age. It takes a lot of dedication, practice, and probably some ribbing, to keep at it long enough to be at the top of their game.

We try to expose our kids to a lot of different things and then let them decide "what sticks," so to speak. My eldest son has tried the violin in the school band already and really liked it. He has an eclectic mix of music likes. I think that's really cool.

The Saline Fiddlers have more shows coming up in the area. If you get a chance to see them, I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Two rules for success in life.

1) Never tell everyone everything you know.

2)

Procrastination is costly

We've all heard the adage about the early bird being well fed, while the rest of the flock goes hungry. The true meaning of that hit me again the other day. About a year before the housing market crashed, my wife said that we should start looking to move. She defined her search area,
documented the requirements, started looking for houses, etc... Me? I'd dutifully look at the MLS postings that she'd email me, but I wasn't really in the "in the mood" to move yet. Yes, I want a more up-to-date house with. No I don't want to go through the hassle of it all. Well, I guess you know who came out looking like the fool in that one.

My fear of change and simple procrastination has cost me in other ways as well. Waiting too long to refinance cost us several thousand dollars by the time we finally did. I have probably spent more money in car repairs for the my current van that I would've spent in car payments for a new one (not to mention the cost of gas savings available now). It took us way to long to move to DSL, which we ended up getting at the same price as the dial up we had. There are probably countless others, but those are the recent ones that come to mind.

It's human nature to avoid change and I envy those of you who are much more risky (and successful) at that. Maybe that's part of growing up -- added responsibilities, more caution, greater fear of change and the unknown... Hopefully, it's something that we can learn to outgrow.

You have to believe it to see it

A co-worker of mine has this as his tag line on his IM client. He's had it there for a couple of months now. I remember then I first saw it I thought he had mistyped the more popular quote "You have to see it to believe it." After seeing it a couple of times, it clicked and I thought it was a cool quote.

I didn't give it more thought until tonight. Last time Radio Disney held one of their D-Tours, my daughter, as is the norm of late, won a bunch of Disney stuff -- a DVD, CD, folder, long sleeved T-shirt -- and tickets to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. We took the kids to see it tonight in a preview showing before tomorrow's release. I thought it was pretty good. The kids liked it too. My youngest son said it was "really, really, really funny Dad."

The movie is about a magical toy store that is passed down from Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) to his Store Manager. Without giving too much away, the Store Manager (played by Natalie Portman of Star Wars fame and more) isn't sure that she's ready to handle the magical store all by herself. Somewhere in the middle of her soul searching, I saw that phrase flashed again..."You have to believe it to see it." When I saw it this time, in the context of the movie, it really hit home more quickly.

You have to believe it to see it. It reminds me of a lot of other success-building phrases like "Picture what you want and then grab it," and all of the "other visualize success" sayings. "If you think you're a winner you will be." "If you think that you can't, then you can't."

In this movie, the magic was right there all the time, but the Store Manager didn't believe that she had the magic too. She thought that the magic was all Mr. Magorium's. It wasn't until a block of wood (with a little help from a friend) showed her that she really did believe and suddenly she could see the magic herself -- from herself!

So often we forget that we're in charge of our destiny. We see someone else succeeding, in business, in life, in love, and just stare. I'll never be like that. I'm not capable of attaining that level of success. They're so lucky. But, by believing, by visualizing, by acting like we are in charge, we will be in charge. You have to believe it to see it.

What are you waiting to believe in?