Spring is finally here, or almost.  It may even begin to warm up in the Midwest and Northeast sometime soon.  It is a time for all of us, in concert with nature to look for areas of rebirth or new growth.  Take a look at Kevin Martin’s blog and spend just a minute on the Edison quote that starts off the piece.

Edison said, “If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Just take a few minutes to let the magnitude of this statement sink in.  When was the last time you were astounded by the things you did?  How about the work you do?  Are the results or things you produce worth the effort and personal sacrifice?  Spend some time with the ten suggestions in the blog to help you astound yourself.

1. Do you work with genuine concern or do you go about your everyday work as if it was just routine?
2. Have you discovered your life’s passion and if so how much much of your life do you dedicate to it?
3. Do you have faith in your skills and trust you can accomplish your goals or do you live in a world of self-doubt?
4. How much time and effort do you exert every day helping people?  Mentoring and coaching rather than just giving money or other resources?  Do you encourage somebody new each day?
5. How much time do you spend on personal learning every day, especially on those areas that interest you the most?
6. How often do you try new things to improve your personal development?
7. How often do you attempt to make new friends and break down the isolation in our world?  Do you try to connect every day with an old friend or somebody that just needs a hello?
8. When was the last time you learned something new about yourself?
9. How often do you try new things?  How much of what you do is just repeating the same thing day after day versus really looking for something different?

These are some of the questions I will be thinking about as the snow finally melts and the green shoots begin popping up.  Maybe it would be good to spend at least as much time on these questions as the NCAA March Madness basketball pool (Go Michigan!). Let’s all look for ways we can astound ourselves.