Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 265 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
7 Insights for Developing Your Personal Philosophy
Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 265 of our trek, and yesterday we discovered the 18 signposts for strong personal leadership. Today we will extend our trail and look for 7 more signposts to develop our personal philosophy of life. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the day this episode is released we will be back in Ohio at The Big House. There is an extensive amount of renovation work that needs to be accomplished in the weeks that we spend in Marietta as we prepare for our Chamberlain reunion scheduled for July 4th weekend. We won’t be nearly finished in the entire house by then, but we have made significant progress in the past 5 years. We are anticipating between 75-100 people in attendance during that weekend.
As you can tell our personal philosophy about family is that it is very important to us. We desire to preserve the heritage that has been entrusted to us. We realize that few individuals in today’s fragmented and fast-paced society have this privilege. Just as we are aware of this, on the trails that we will hike today, we will look for additional signposts to discover…
7 Insights for Developing Your Personal Philosophy
Your philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out. This is how to build a meaningful one.
While there are many puzzle pieces for success, without developing a sound philosophy, the other pieces are of little value. So as you go forward on this journey toward success, remember to:
1. Set your sail.
The winds of circumstance blow upon all of us. We all have experienced the winds of disappointment, despair, and heartbreak, but why do people arrive at such different places at the end of the journey? Have we not all sailed upon the same sea?
The major difference isn’t circumstance. It’s the set of your sail (or the way you think). It’s what you do after you have set your sails and the wind decides to change direction. When the winds change, you must change. You have to struggle to your feet and reset the sail in a manner that will steer you in the direction of your own deliberate choice. The set of your sail, or how you think and how you respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy your life than any challenges you face. How quickly you respond to adversity is far more important than adversity itself.
The great challenge of life is to control the process of your own thinking.
2. Learn from success and failure.
The best way to establish a new and powerful personal philosophy is to objectively review the conclusions you’ve drawn about life. Any conclusion you’ve drawn that isn’t working for you could be working against you. The best way to counteract misinformation and wrong data is to input new and accurate information. Gather information from personal experience. If you’re doing something wrong, evaluate what you did wrong and change things.
Seek an objective, outside voice about how you are and what you’re doing. An objective opinion from someone you respect can lead you to early and accurate information about your decision-making process. Listen to the freshness of an outside voice—someone who can see the forest and isn’t lost in the trees.
Observe the successes and failures of other people. If people who failed were to give seminars, it would be helpful. You could see how people mess up and you wouldn’t do what they did. Past failures and errors prompt you to amend current conduct so you don’t replicate the past.
Study from people who do well. You should be in a constant search for people you admire and respect and whose behavior you can model. It’s far better to deliberately choose the people you will permit to influence you than to allow bad influences to affect you without your conscious choice.
3. Read all you can.
People from all walks of life who’ve had some of the most incredible experiences have taken the time to write of these experiences so you can be instructed and amend your philosophies.
The contributions of other people enable you to reset your sails based upon their experiences. Books offer treasures of information that can change your life, fortune, relationships, health, and career for the better.
For myself, one book that has shaped my philosophy is the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. King Solomon, the wisest person to ever live, wrote most of the Proverbs. The book contains words that are rich, practical, and applicable to your everyday life and philosophy.
4. Keep a journal.
A journal is a gathering place for all of your observations and discoveries about life. It’s your own transcript that captures your experiences, ideas, desires, and conclusions about the people and the events that have touched your life. The past, when properly documented, is one of the best guides for making good decisions for the future.
The very act of writing about your life helps you to think more objectively about your actions. Writing tends to slow down the flow of information and gives you time to analyze and ponder the experience. The intense scrutiny of journal writing can enable you to make refinements in your philosophy that are truly life-changing.
5. Observe and listen.
Pay attention during your day and watch what’s going on. Surround yourself with people you respect and admire. Find people whose personalities and achievements stimulate, fascinate, and inspire you, and then strive to assimilate their best qualities into your life. This is called the skill of selecting. Don’t waste your time on the silly and the shallow.
One of the major reasons people don’t do well is because they keep trying to get through the day while a more worthy cause is to get from the day. We must become sensitive enough to observe and ponder what is happening around us. Be alert. Be awake. Often the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among seemingly insignificant events.
Be a good listener. Find a voice of value and stay for a while. With so many voices vying for your attention, you need to develop the skill of selective listening and only focus on the information that appeals to you. If a voice is not leading to the achievement of your goals, exercise caution in how long you listen.
6. Be disciplined.
Every day is filled with dozens of personal crossroads, moments when you are called upon to make a decision regarding minor as well as major questions. These decisions chart a path to a future destination. With careful mental preparation, you can make wise choices.
The development of a sound philosophy prepares you for making sound decisions. When you eat healthy foods, you experience positive results in a short time. When you start exercising, you feel a new vitality almost immediately. When you begin reading, you experience a growing awareness and a new level of self-confidence.
New disciplines practiced daily will produce exciting results. The magic of new disciplines causes you to amend your thinking.
7. Don’t neglect.
Neglect is the major reason people don’t have what they want. If you don’t take care of things in your life, neglect becomes a disease. If you neglect to do good things with your money, you probably neglect to do good things with your time. If you don’t know what’s going on with your health or your bank account, you could be at risk.
Set up new disciplines to change your life. Don’t neglect. Everything is within your reach if you will read books, use journals, practice the disciplines and wage a new and vigorous battle against neglect.
Be wise as you build your philosophy. Study Proverbs and others that have shown to be wise. Commit yourself to a new journey and say, I’m going to change my life. Once you do, you’ll never look back.
As it is written in Colossians 2:8, “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”
Tomorrow on our trek, we will explore 7 activities that we should all incorporate into our lives. So, encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our podcast for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, I encourage you to help us promote Wisdom-Trek in the following four ways:
- Leave us feedback about the podcast on Wisdom-Trek.com, so we can continually improve.
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Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.
As we take this trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!