Words of Wisdom 18: Service to Many

What will you do today to be a better servant?

“Service to many is the prerequisite of greatness.”

-Al “The Inspiration” Duncan

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Words of Wisdom 7: Identity Theft

Do you have a bank account? Where? Regardless of where you bank the real question is do you have identity theft protection?


Be sure to sign up for some form of identity theft protection with your bank, credit card provider, or some company that specializes in identity theft plans.



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Words of Wisdom 12: Money Smarts

When comes to credit cards and loans be sure to check the facts about the annual percentage rate (APR) before signing on the dotted line. Is fixed or variable? Under what circumstances can it be raised?







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Words of Wisdom 6: Identity Theft

When is the last time you checked your credit report? Have you ever checked it? Here's a tip:

• Be sure to check your credit report at least once a year. Get a free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com

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Words of Wisdom 23: Productivity

People always ask me a question: "Al, where do you find the time?"

They want to know how I am able to have over 100 speaking engagements per year, write dozens of articles, maintain two blogs and two websites, run two businesses (currently starting a third), serve on two boards, chair a steering committee, volunteer for over hundred hours per year, mentor students one on one, and make time for my family. The answer is simple: I don't try to find time; I make time. For example:

• By spending 1 less hour per day surfing the web or watching TV, you will have an extra 28-31hrs. every month to work on achieving your goals. That's 336-372 hours per year!
  

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Words of Wisdom 97: Conflict Resolution

When it comes to conflict and disagreement, what’s more important to you: Proving that you are right and justified or resolving the conflict?

“The relentless pursuit of self-justification makes conflict resolution extremely elusive.”
-Al “The Inspiration” Duncan

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Inside the Mind of Dr. Sherle Boone

"You can live a good life and still be committed to the well-being of other people.”

–Dr. Sherle Boone

It has been said that “You judge a man by the company he keeps.” It’s equally true that you judge a man by the impact he makes on the lives of others. The positive impact of Dr. Sherle Boone, activist scholar and founder of The W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Institute, will be felt for many generations to come.

Since 1988, Dr. Boone and the faculty at the institute have served 1200 African-American and Latino high school students from predominantly urban districts. The institute is held during the summer at Princeton University and over its twenty-year history, has a staggering 98% college graduation rate. In fact, for the past four years, 100% of the alumni have graduated from college. Compare that to a 51% national average for students completing college.

As the nation’s leading youth empowerment advocate, I’ve worked with hundreds of schools, universities, and youth organizations. Few demonstrate the level of achievement and excellence exhibited at the DuBois Scholars Institute. Dr. Boone is well aware of this and as such, when talking about the students and the faculty he spoke with admiration and respect.

During our 45 minute conversation—which was supposed to be a 10-15 minute interview—I found myself constantly smiling because it’s refreshing to talk to someone who truly cares about our community and our young people.

Mentored by the great Rev. Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, Dr. Boone has been a professor for 33 years. As director of the mayor’s Education Task Force, he served as a senior advisor to Mayor Kenneth Gibson, the first black mayor of Newark, NJ.

Dr. Boone has even worked as a community organizer. (In spite of Gov. Sarah Palin’s recent derogatory comments about community organizers, they are to be lauded and appreciated for the noble work they do.)

Dr. Boone’s new book, “Meanings Beneath the Skin: The Evolutions of African-Americans”, is expected to be published later this year. In the mean time, enjoy some of the highlights from our conversation as you take a peek inside the mind of Dr. Sherle Boone.

“Complex problems are not solved by a single brilliant mind;
complex problems are solved by brilliant minds
working together.”

A WINNING ATTITUDE AND HIGH STANDARDS

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary.

Thank you.

Describe the students in the Institute.

Well, the students in the institute are different. We have a very different population from the general population in that our students are selected because they have demonstrated what we consider to be a winning attitude characterized by very high levels of academic achievement. They have also demonstrated a sustained interest in involvement in leadership roles in their communities as well as within their schools.

In addition to that, the overall GPA is a 3.1 in top tier institutions. This year we have two African-American males going to Stanford. Currently we have six of our graduates at Princeton. We’ve had a Rhodes Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and more than 30 members of Phi Beta Kappa. We have at least one MD and there maybe more. We have several who are practicing law. And since 1996 more than one third of our students have come from Newark [New Jersey] and other urban communities.


THREE GREAT MINDS, ONE GREAT CURRICULUM

Are the same techniques and principles that you used when you established the institute still effective with today’s students?

Absolutely. They are very similar, but we have refined what we do. We started off with very high academic standards. For example, since we began back in 1988, all of the students that have enrolled in DuBois have been given college level instruction.

Three of the major minds of the previous century provided the conceptual frame work that allowed for me to structure the curriculum and make judgments about the selection process. Those individuals are: W.E.B. DuBois and his ideas concerning the Talented Tenth.

Next, is Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist who offered us a theory on the development of thinking and thought. One of the things that he proposed is that by the time a child reaches what we consider to be adolescence he or she has all the cognitive equipment needed to think as an adult. With that being said, children as early 14 years old should have the ability to receive college level instruction and do college level work.

Finally, there is Erik Erikson’s theory of self-development. Our curriculum requires courses that lend themselves to the kids gaining a deeper understanding of self. For example, all kids are required to take African-American History and Cultural Practices. The thinking behind that was guided by the writings of Erik Erikson.

During the years of adolescence, kids have a lot of questions concerning “who am I?” and they struggle with identity issues so we try to help bring some closure to that. So, what’s unique about the institute is that it brings together these three major theories in ways that compliment each other. This is perhaps the only project of its kind. Our success record is astounding to say the least.

“We have been managing poverty, but not
eliminating poverty.”

THE END OF POVERTY

Is the mission of the institute to promote high achievement?

Actually, that’s not the mission it’s the by-product. Our mission is to produce a cadre of leaders in the African-American and Latino communities. This is based upon DuBois’ notion that the most effective leadership will come from your best and brightest minds. So, we’re developing a cadre of leaders that will engage in the process of trying to eliminate poverty and racism in our society.

Since the Great Society programs that Lyndon Johnson put in place, there has never been a major effort to really eliminate poverty. We have been managing poverty but not eliminating poverty. Poverty is obviously a serious issue among people of African-American descent. For the most part, the problem has been ignored to such a degree that is has become increasingly more complex to understand and unravel the complexities of poverty. So, you cannot make distinctions between the causes and the effect.

Just as we need brilliant minds to solve medical problems such as age and cancer, we need brilliant minds working together to help us unravel and eliminate poverty in our society. What we are trying to do is develop a cohort of brilliant minds and instill in them a sense of duty to give back to our people.

We want to help them recognize that complex problems are not solved by a single brilliant mind; complex problems are solved by brilliant minds working together in such a way that they are intrigued by the complexities of the task and will sustain their interest in the task as a result of these complexities.


COMMUNITY BEFORE SELF

The level of leadership you are talking about requires an extraordinary amount of self-discipline and it comes with a great deal of responsibility. How is the DuBois Scholars Institute able to motivate and inspire young people to accept that challenge?

Well, a part of what we try to do, starting at an early age, is instill in them that it is your duty. You don’t have a choice. Add that to the fact that they have to take a course called Ethics and Self-Development. One of the aims of this course is to help them to recognize that self-interest—and you could make the case that we are all guided by some sort of self-interest—does not have to be in competition with collective interest. Self-interest and collective interest can compliment each other.

If you can impact other people’s lives you can almost guarantee that you’re going to be okay. So, what we try to do is help kids define success in terms of the impact of their God given talents on the lives of other people. And of course, we employ on our team, faculty and staff who personify that philosophy. We want the kids to see that you can live a good life and still be committed to the well-being of other people.

So, by tying their desires for achievement, financial success, recognition, or whatever they maybe striving to accomplish, to the ideals of community uplift and enrichment the DuBois Scholars Institute is producing leaders that are not only concerned with personal gain, but are also looking out for our community.

Precisely! And actually, it’s the type of leader that puts the community first and puts himself second.

One of my personal philosophies is: “Service is the prerequisite of greatness.”

Absolutely! You hit the nail on the head.

“It’s just as important to know what you
know as it is to know what
you don’t know.”

BEING AN EFFECTIVE PROFESSOR

What separates effective professors from ineffective professors?

That’s a tough question because often you don’t know if you’ve been effective. It’s hard to determine because when students evaluate faculty members they really evaluate how well they liked the person. They aren’t necessarily evaluating the professor on the basis of the content and the challenge that the professor brings forward. Quite frankly, sometimes there’s an inverse correlation between the effectiveness of the professor and the ratings of the professor. That may be more often the case than not.

An effective professor in my judgment is one that can help to students to recognize and appreciate what they don’t know and arouse students’ motivation to search in order to get to know the unknown. Thus, effective professors instill in students the desire to ask questions and to seek out the answers to those questions as opposed to just sucking up information and regurgitating it.

In the DuBois Scholars Institute we tell the students that what distinguishes a scholar is the desire to know what he doesn’t know and the understanding that the more he gets to know the more he realizes what he doesn’t know.

So as a professor your goal is to be sure that your students not only know the information but that they embody and apply the information.

Precisely! And recognize the limits of what they’re learning. It’s just as important to know what you know as it is to know what you don’t know. So, you have to be able to recognize the limits of any conclusion that you come to. Recognize that rarely do we bring truth to the table. We bring theory more than we bring truth so we have to understand that what we know is really our understanding of the truthfulness of the information we have.

“Rarely do we bring truth to the table.
We bring theory more than
we bring truth.”

LISTEN MORE, READ MORE

Let’s talk about cross-generational communication for a second because that can be very challenging. What are some things that people can do to communicate more effectively with people 25 and younger?

First and foremost, improve your listening skills. We spend far more time talking than listening. We have to train our minds to listen. When I say ‘listen’ I don’t just mean hearing. I mean understanding and thinking about what you are hearing and trying to ensure that you put what you hear and understand in the proper context.

Most of us, as we grow older, don’t listen enough. We also don’t read the right things enough. That narrows the communication between us and kids because we’re not reading and we’re not listening. We tend to become more closed minded because we become less confident in ourselves as we get older if we are not continuing to grow.

In my capacity as a professor I have no choice but to listen. But I think that in general, older adults don’t spend enough time listening to youth. They watch them but they don’t listen.

And let me add something else. Have a willingness to allow people to make mistakes. Giving a second chance, being able allow people to make errors and be comfortable making mistakes and having a willingness to help them work through it. To put it another way, “Keeping hope alive.”

Ha! That’s your Jesse Jackson moment, huh?

Yeah!

“Adults don’t spend enough time listening
to youth. They watch them,
but they don’t listen.”

A GENUINE INTEREST

If you had to choose just one skill as the most important skill for communicating with young people what would it be?

I think it’s honesty and feeling that they can trust you. That may be even more significant than effective listening—being able to trust what a person is saying and knowing he has a genuine interest in you. Most people believe that we are all motivated by self-interest and that carries with it an element of distrust. So, I think that piece is the central piece.

Actually, you couldn’t even have effective listening skills unless you have a genuine interest in someone.

That’s right.


EYE ON THE FUTURE

Where will the institute be in the next twenty years?

Well, it certainly won’t be under my leadership!

Actually, that’s a hard question because things change. A lot of things have changed since DuBois was founded. One of the things that has changed is the meaning and the significance of the concept of race. When we first started out back in 1988 it was clear that the greatest divide in our society was race. The divisiveness between African-Americans was secondary to the divide between us and other ethnic groups.

That has changed a lot over the past decade. In fact, quicker then I had even anticipated to be honest. In my judgment, the greatest crisis that faces us now as African-Americans is classism within our own race.

The divide between the professional class and the “unskilled” class is greater now than it has ever been before. Such that you can really live next door to an urban community and never visit it and never have any interfacing with the black people who are living in an urban setting.

That’s dangerous. That’s scary because their plights and our plights are still connected as a collective. We have to come up with ways in which we can potentially close this gap and insure that we do not become disintegrated as a consequence of becoming much more Americanized.

The institute has to be sensitive to these changes in society and continue to work toward maintaining a sense of community among African-American people as we are allowed to become more American. That is to say that as our Nationalism rises and we become more Americanized we can’t loose sight of our ethnicity. That’s the challenge that faces the institute as I see it twenty years from now.


FOCUS YOUR ENERGY ON YOUR STRENGTHS

Sum up your philosophy about motivating and communicating with young people in 1-3 sentences.

Here’s something that guides my thinking and it guided the building of the DuBois Scholars Institute. One of the things that seems so obvious and yet it escapes us is that we need to focus our energies on our strengths. That’s not to say that you ignore the things that are weak within your structure, but the foundation has to be strong.

Thus, when it comes to dealing with our youth we need to spend less time talking about what’s wrong with them and more time talking about what’s right with them. Let’s work with the things that we know they are good at. If I can strengthen the things that you are already good at then that’s going to reduce the significance of the things that you’re not so good at. Do you follow me?

Wholeheartedly. In fact, there’s a book called “Now Discover Your Strengths" that I frequently recommend to people. “Hone your strengths and manage your weaknesses.”

You naturally motivate kids when you work on things that they are good at and when you make them feel good about themselves. They will automatically gravitate to you when you deal with things that they are good at.

I agree with that. I think that sometimes we press our young people so much about what they’re doing wrong that they loose sight of what they are doing right. Dr. Boone thank for a few minutes of your time. Your answers were very insightful and thought provoking.

Thank you!

“When it comes to dealing with our youth
we need to spend less time talking
about what’s wrong with them
and more time talking about
what’s right with them.”

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Words of Wisdom 31: Productivity

“Plan tomorrow’s actions today.”
- Al "The Inspiration" Duncan

Before you go to sleep every night plan (in writing) the ACTIONS you will take tomorrow. This increases your focus and productivity because it keeps you from thinking about what you’re supposed to be doing and actually doing what you’re supposed to be doing.


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Words of Wisdom 5: Identity Theft

What do you do with all of those unwanted credit card offers? Shred, burn, or destroy all unwanted documents with your personal info on them. Especially credit card offers that you do not accept. Cancel ALL unused credit cards. To stop receiving all offers (including the good ones) call 1-888-5-Opt-Out.




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How do you retire with an extra million dollars?

Q: "You did a money management session today at Georgia State University…do you have any books you would recommend to[young people] for money management and investing? Lastly, what was the calculation that you did to figure out the millionaire question, in case I wanted to retire earlier? Thank you.”

A: I had a great time at Georgia State. Here's a Millionaire Formula: Starting at age 22 (or earlier) invest $3000/yr. in a Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account) for 43 years (up to age 65) at 8% interest and you'll retire with an extra million dollars.

There are other accounts or investments you could use if the interest rate is good but a Roth IRA is supposed to be good for people in your age group because you’ll probably be in a higher tax bracket when you retire than you are in now. With a Roth IRA you don't get taxed at 65 when you take out the money. (WARNING: Talk to your bank or a financial adviser.)

Here are several good books on money management for young people:

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman

The Wall Street Journal Guide to Understanding Money and Investing by Kenneth Morris

Please Send Money. A Financial Survival Guide for Young Adults on Their Own by Dara Duguay

Financial Lovemaking 101: Merging Assets with Your Partner in Ways that Feel Good by Dr. Boyce Watkins (for mature audiences only!)


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Words of Wisdom 4: Identity Theft

Have you ever purchased something online? Here's tip to make sure that when you're buying a product online nobody's stealing your identity.

• When shopping on line check to make sure that the page is secure before giving out your personal info. Look for https (instead of http) at the beginning of the URL in the address bar.

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A State of Mind Called Time Pt. III

“In all our deeds, the proper value and respect for time determines success or failure.”–El Hajj El Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Have you ever met somebody that’s always late for class, work, and everything else, but has the nerve to be mad because he or she didn’t get to leave on time?

Please tell me that’s not you. Are you one of those people that likes to be “fashionably late”?

I know this violates proper nightclub etiquette but…

In the real world, consistently being late is deplorable. It’s irritating or infuriating for the person that’s waiting on you and it’s detrimental to your reputation.

When was the last time you went to a meeting, graduation, concert, or conference that actually started on time? If your answer is: “recently”, I’m jealous.

Of course things happen, but for most people and organizations the “things” that cause them to consistently start and show up late or waste time are the result of disrespect.

Just look at the incidents involving several of the major airlines recently. Literally millions of people—unfortunately I was one of them—were stuck on runways and thousands of flights were canceled because of egregious errors in judgment and flat out disrespect for passengers’ time.

WARNING: Respect Time…or else.

If Father Time could talk he would be outraged. He’s had his civil rights violated more than anybody. If he had legs, people would be getting their butts kicked on a regular basis.

What causes people to engage in the gross misappropriation of precious moments in one instance, while pleading for “just five more minutes” in another?

It’s ALL mental. It has nothing to do with your planner, Trio, or Blackberry. I know people with all types of time management gizmos and they still waste time or show up late.

The way you treat Time is a state of mind that manifests in the form of a habit. Habits are the physical manifestation of your thinking—conscious or non-conscious.

Instead of changing their thought patterns people play ridiculous head games trying to trick themselves into being on time.

Here are some popular ways that people, including myself, have tried to cover up their disrespect for Time.

1. Set your clock or watch 5-10 minutes early.

I used to do this religiously. A lot of people do. So, I know somebody is going to swear up and down that this works. Here’s a clue:

It doesn’t.

If you don’t respect Time this little game won’t change a thing because it’s actually an excuse to be late in disguise.

You know what happens.

One day you’re running late and you realize that you really have an “extra” ten minutes because your clock or watch is fast. Or maybe you wake up and sucker punch the snooze button; after all, the alarm really went off ten minutes early, didn’t it?

So instead of being twenty minutes late you’re only going to be ten minutes late and ten minutes isn’t that bad, is it?

Garbage.

Note: The thing that really messed me up was the creation of cell phones. Does anybody know how to set a cell phone 10 minutes early?

2. Underestimation and the Idiot Driver Excuse

This is when you know it’s going to take an hour to do something or travel somewhere, but you end up convincing yourself that you can do it in thirty minutes.

Just because it took you thirty minutes during non-rush hour traffic does not mean that’s how long it takes. Of course, this has nothing to do with your disrespect for time. It’s all because of the stupid, idiot driver that was in front of you, right?

Garbage.

3. They don’t start (or leave) on time anyway.

People constantly show up late, meetings rarely start or end on time, and on-time flight departures and arrivals are endangered species.

But none of that is a viable excuse for you to disrespect Time.

You should respect Time even when they don’t respect Time because Time and Opportunity are blood brothers. Mistreat one and the other will make you pay…dearly.

Some of my most profitable business deals and quite a few a good relationships are the result of me being early when everyone else was late.

4. I work better under pressure.

Garbage.

That statement is the master procrastinator’s most powerful—or should I say weakest—excuse. I hear it from people all the time and I love it because then I get to respond with:

“Oh yeah? Well, why don’t you put some pressure on yourself to do what you need to do and get where you need to go in more timely fashion?”

The look on their faces: priceless.

Pressure can be the result of procrastination or the moment. Successfully dealing with the pressure of an important moment will help you grow. It will elevate you to a new plateau and strengthen your self-confidence.

Pressure that results from procrastination, however, perpetuates your disrespect for time and keeps you in a rut.

This type of pressure is an excuse for your inability to focus on the task at hand. People try to use “the last minute” as a tool for focusing because they have yet to develop the willpower to focus on their own.

Think about that.

5. It’s Up to God.

I grew up in the church. I love me some Jesus. But I hate these kinds of excuses:

“If God wanted me to be on time, I would have been.”

“It’s out of my hands now.”

And what about this one? “Sorry I’m late y’all…but the Devil is a liar.” (A woman really did say that at a meeting I recently attended!)

That’s just more garbage.

Have you ever heard of a little thing called free will? You should use it to make sure you do whatever you have to do to be on time and to stop wasting time.

The Million Dollar Question: What should you do if you or someone you know is consistently disrespecting Time?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any self-development voodoo that you can sprinkle on someone to make him treat time in a respectful manner. It requires something that people seem to be short on these days—self-discipline.

The only way to develop self-discipline is with resolve and consistency. If you are consistently resolved to respect Time eventually your self-discipline in the area of time mastery will improve.

One of my mentors gave me some guidelines that are very useful:

To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable. Disrespecting Time is guaranteed to cost you opportunities and relationships.

My philosophy about time is simple:

If you disrespect me, I MIGHT forgive you. If you disrespect my family or my time, we’re done. End of story.

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A State of Mind Called Time Pt. I

A State of Mind Called Time Pt. II
Seize the Opportunity

(Procrastination)

Time for action

What comes first, action or motivation?

Words of Wisdom 11: Self-Sabotage

Most of the obstacles people face in life are self-imposed. So remember...

• “You are guaranteed to win once you defeat the enemy within because…It’s ALL mental!” -Al “The Inspiration” Duncan

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Top Ten Quotes: Maya Angelou

(In honor of Women’s History Month)

A legendary poet, one of the great voices of contemporary literature, civil rights activist, author of twelve best-selling books including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, actress, playwright, producer, director, historian, educator, outstanding orator, and Grammy Award winner, Dr. Maya Angelou is the quintessential Renaissance woman.

The recipient of more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, Dr. Angelou has captivated and inspired millions of people across the globe. There is no doubt that world could never get enough of Dr. Maya Angelou.

Here are my favorite quotes by this extraordinary woman.

10. A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

9. I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

8. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

7. You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.

6. If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.

5. There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.

4. Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

3. Nothing will work unless you do.

2. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

1. You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Honorable mention:

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Achievement brings its own anticlimax.

Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope.

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Women's History Month Profile 2008

Women's History Month: March 2007

Top Ten Quotes: Mother Teresa

(In honor of Women’s History Month)

Nobel Peace Prize winner and world renowned humanitarian, Mother Teresa was one of the most outstanding examples of altruism and servant leadership in the history of the human race. She provided the world with a treasure trove of wisdom. Here are my ten favorite gems from Mother Teresa.

10. Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents, parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.

9. The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.

8. Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

7. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

6. I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

5. Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

4. One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

3. If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.

2. I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

1. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

Honorable mention:

It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us.

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

Good works are links that form a chain of love.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.



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Words of Wisdom 3: Identity Theft

What's in your wallet right now?

If you're like most college students the answer is: no money!

But there might be something in your wallet, purse, or pockets worth more than money--your identity. Here's a tip for protecting it from identity thieves.

• NEVER keep your social security card number, passwords, or account numbers in your purse or wallet.

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A Poverty of Ambition

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself.”

–Barack Obama, Knox College Commencement Address 2005

Even after hearing the phrase “dream big” 3,297,391 times (or more) over the course of their life, most people still don’t get it.

“Don’t rock the boat.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“A bird in the hand beats two in the bush.”

These timeless maxims are sage advice. When taken to the extreme, however, they create a certain poverty of ambition.

Of course, something tangible that is actually working or in your “hand”, is better than a wish or pipe dream. But here’s the real question: Are those birds in the bush actually attainable? If you had a rock-solid plan and the wherewithal to execute it, is it possible for you to get those two birds? Is it probable?

“I’m going to get a degree in engineering or accounting.” If you love either of those two great professions then by all means…go for it. But choosing a profession because it’s the proverbial bird in the hand is the epitome of a poverty of ambition.

A choice like that is why too many people wake up sick to their stomachs about going to work. They wake up with a bad case of would’ve-could’ve-should’ve syndrome.

I would’ve been a great writer…

I could’ve started my own company or non-profit organization…

I should’ve never married this guy. He’s not a bird in the hand; he’s a bird brain in the hand!

Could you have the business, the family, and the philanthropy? Yes. People do it all the time, but not enough people. According to the 2007 Just Start™ survey conducted by Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) 72% of Americans aspire to start their own business. That’s almost three out of four people, but how many actually do it?

There are over 300 million people living in the U.S. An estimated 23 million of them are entrepreneurs. That’s around 7%. So, less than one in ten people actually have enough ambition to make it happen. And that’s after years of record breaking entrepreneurial growth.

Whether it’s starting a business (for profit or non-profit), looking for a promotion, or making a living doing something that you REALLY love to do, there seems to be a paucity of calculated risk-takers.

So, what’s fueling this poverty of ambition? This lack of go-getters boils down to complacency and fear of the unknown.

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”

–W. Clement Stone

COMPLACENCY

Complacency is the ugly side of success. It’s a momentum killer and a dream slayer.

“Why can’t you just be satisfied with what you already have?”

“That’s good enough.”

Garbage.

I’ve got two words for you to live by:

Get better.

Everyday you want to work on getting better—better health, better relationships, better finances, better marketing, being a better servant to a worthwhile cause, and the list goes on. (I guess the 1.6 billion dollars people spend on cosmetic surgery per year is proof that there’s no poverty of ambition when it comes to being better looking!)

Greatness and complacency cannot exist in the same mind.

Think about that. What if Mother Teresa or Gandhi had a poverty of ambition?

What if Cesar Estrada Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Harriet Tubman, or Frederick Douglass had a poverty of ambition?

Scary thought, isn’t it. A poverty of ambition can change the world in ways I don’t even want to imagine. To be complacent is to stop striving and to stop striving is to waste to your most precious gift—life.

“I have learned over the years that once one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

–Rosa Parks

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

I was stunned.

I looked at the students in disbelief and thought to myself, “They must not know what a CEO is.”

“How many of you all know what the CEO of a company does?”, I asked them.

A lot of them raised their hands and someone yelled, “A CEO is the boss.”

“They are the leaders”, another student added.

My next question was: “Do you all know that sometimes the CEO is also the person who owns—maybe even started—the company?”

There was a wave of nodding heads as a chorus of yeses filled the air.

“Do you all understand that the CEO makes the most money?”

More head nodding and more yeses.

By then I was flabbergasted. These were some of the best students I know—students of the historic Butler Street YMCA’s Multicultural Achievers Program of which I’m am the Steering Committee Chair and the Life Skills Coach. The students were in the middle of a project that involved creating a company. As a part of the project, they were applying and interviewing for positions in the company. Out of a few dozen high school students not one of them had applied to be the CEO.

When I started to investigate why no one wanted to be CEO I got all kinds of answers.

They didn’t know what to expect. (Fear of the unknown.) They didn’t know if it would be too much work for them to handle or if it would be too much responsibility. (Fear of success.)

If anything went wrong they would be the first ones blamed and the first ones fired. (Fear of failure.) They were worried about what might happen. (Fear of success or failure: the unknown.)

They were afraid of the unknown and it was killing their ambition.

Why?

For many people fear of the unknown is a debilitating phenomenon that fuels a poverty of ambition. Here are five questions, however, to help you deal with fear of the unknown:

1. What could happen as a result of doing (whatever the action or decision maybe)?
2. What probably won’t happen as a result of doing ______?
3. What could happen as a result of not doing _______?
4. What probably won’t happen as a result of not doing _______?
5. How will I deal with each of the four answers from those questions?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions then do some more research, get some more guidance or advice, and make the best educated answer you can.(The students couldn’t answer those questions at first, so the Program Director and I asked the CEO of the Butler Street YMCA to come in and talk to them.)

It’s that simple and, at times, that hard. But the unknown and your fear will be minimized—not necessarily gone, but minimized by answering these questions.

Let’s get back to those birds in the bush…

Here’s the interesting thing. None of this means that you have to necessarily let go of the bird in your hand. While you are looking at the two birds in the bush and squeezing that bird in your hand to death, here’s a something to ask yourself.

The Million Dollar Question: Who ever said you couldn’t have all three?

And no…that’s not being greedy. That’s called abundance.

Stop asking too little of yourself.

Lose the poverty of ambition.

Get the know-how, a good plan, and put them to use because you deserve a life of abundance, don’t you? A life overflowing with achievement and fulfillment is waiting for you if you will simply…

Get better.

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Do you find that you struggle with the same things over and over again? If so, you haven't mastered the lesson in the struggle.

You probably already know that in life, lessons repeat themselves until you...

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Shakespeare wrote, "Pain pays the price of each precious thing." And there's an old spiritual that says, "If you cain't bear no crosses, you cain't wear no crown."

Of course you and I know that struggles produce varying amounts of discomfort and that the end result is growth, but that doesn't make it any easier, does it?

Struggle can be an extreme test of your emotional intelligence and your diligence. Struggle can make a person feel helpless and dis-empowered, so the key is to make sure that it's a beneficial struggle.

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When I was growing up, the elders didn't call it the Overload Principle. They simply said, "If it doesn't kill ya, it'll make ya stronger!" That phrase should end with- if you...

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Change, challenge, and adversity produce lessons. Learning each lesson is like mental weight lifting or aerobics for the mind. Mastering the lesson gives you self-confidence and the fortitude necessary for future struggles.

Going through the same old struggles time and time again is frustrating. It diminishes a person's sense of self-efficacy, autonomy, and competence. In other words it makes a person think, "There ain't nothin' I can do about this."

Find the lesson in the struggle and focus on it. The lesson won't necessarily make the struggle any easier, but it will keep the struggle from being pointless and repetitive.

When you master the lesson, you discover the purpose. With purpose comes a sense of direction and an increased sense of self-empowerment.

So, think about the lesson. Learn the lesson.

Master the lesson.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand." -Frederick Douglass

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