(#5) 9 Things You Simpy Must Do, by Henry Cloud

Started:  2/4/2015
Finished:  2/22/2015

Thanks to a good friend who gave me a book the last time I saw him.  It was a good read.  I'd like to consider myself a deja-vu person, what this book describes as someone that doesn't let life get them down over and over - that rolls with all the punches - someone that reaches their goals - and doesn't let the set-backs in life cause them to get derailed.

The nine things you must do are as follows:

1.  Dig it up.  Pay attention to what bugs you.  Don't ignore the little signals that things aren't quite right inside.  Don't let negative feelings just sit there.  Grasp your dreams and reach for them.

2.  Pull the tooth.  Don't hang out on the bad stuff.  Deal with the negative. "Clutter, dead weight, things we keep around that don't help us but take up space or drain resources."  "The overriding principle is that unresolved negative things are a drain and take away from that which has life.  They have no place in your heart."

3.  Play the movie.  "Any one thing you do is only a scene in a larger movie.  To understand that action, you have to play it out all the way to the end of the movie."

4.  Do something.  "What can I do to make this situation better?"  "I have never seen successful people stall out because of some feared, anticipated, or hypothetical outcome.

5.  Act like an ant.  "They achieved their goals by taking tiny steps over time."  "Wanting it all keeps you from having any."

6.  Hate well.  "Character is in part formed by what we hate, because we move to be different from whatever that is."  "Successful people move against the problem, and show love and respect to the person at the same time."  Subjective vs. objective hate.  Direct your anger towards the issue, not towards people and things.  "Transform [hate] to the kind of hate that solves problems, protects things that you value, and stands against the things that you do not want in your life."

7.  Don't play fair.  "Give back better than you are given."  "Successful people do not blast others with anger."

8.  Be humble.  "Successful people show kindness, understanding, and help to others who fail."

9.  Upset the right people.  "Deja vu people do not make decisions based on the fear of other people's reactions."  "Do not rescue an angry man."