“Most of what seems to happen to you, happens because of you – something you created, directed, influenced, or allowed to happen.”

Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D.

For years and years, I just couldn’t figure out why bad stuff happened to good people.  And since I considered myself, “good people”, I didn’t understand why bad stuff would happen to me.  Worded a different way, I couldn’t grasp why very little good stuff was happening to me.  Even if truly bad things weren’t happening to me, truly good things weren’t showing up in droves either.

Surely, the problem of living life between the 40-yard lines (that’s a gridiron reference for all my international friends, inferring never reaching a goal line), was not ME.  It had to be anything but me, after all, I was “good people”.  I had character, integrity, and did everything above board.  I didn’t cuss, lie, cheat, or steal…..and yet, mediocrity abounded.

What had happened was……was, that I was the problem.  More precisely, my behavior and actions were the problem, which produced mediocre results.  What I did, how I did it, and when I did it, set things in motion to shape my circumstances and my outcomes.  Change your actions, change your results.

Looking back to my Marine Corps boot camp experience, I had that Homer Simpson moment, “D’OH!” I was 50 pounds overweight when I went to boot camp.  Why was I fat? My actions (or lack thereof), of eating bags of chips, and laying on the couch, produced fatness.  My Drill Instructors, changed my behaviors and actions:  no chips, no couch, and running.  Lots, and lots of running.  The results were predictable, I lost 50 pounds in 13 weeks.

What if I could apply concept to every area of my life? (D’OH!)

Change your behavior and your actions, change your results!

Boo Yah!