Starting today, or whatever day you first read this, make a commitment to yourself. The commitment is that for the next 7 days you will do something or a group of things to improve yourself. This can be very simple, and I think you'll find that after doing something every day for 7 days you'll be surprised by the outcome. If you aren't very physically active, a good goal is to walk for 15 minutes every night after dinner. It is amazing how much better you feel after making a small change like this. Studies have shown that most people begin to feel better after 2-3 days of some form of physical activity. Another great goal is to consciously try to be more positive over these next 7 days. If someone comes to you at work with a problem think first of a solution before getting upset by the circumstances that caused it...Make a list and try to follow it for the next 7 days. Here is my list of goals, use it as an example if you'd like.

• Walk every night after dinner for15-20 minutes
• Look for humor and smile more
• Talk to someone at work that I don't normally visit with about how they are doing and what is going on in their life
• Turn the TV off 15 minutes earlier at night and read instead

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily, I came to your bedside. There are things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor. At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, " Hold your shoulders back!"

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"Randy Pausch, the professor whose "last lecture" became a runaway phenomenon on the Internet and was turned into a best-selling book, died Friday of pancreatic cancer, Carnegie Mellon University announced on its Web site. Randy Pausch emphasized the joy of life in his "last lecture," originally given in September 2007. Pausch, 47, a computer science professor, delivered the lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007, a month after being told he had three to six months to live because his cancer had returned..." - CNN

See his famous last lecture here: "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

This is a wonderful way to understand what is going on with local politics. From this site, you can enter your zip code and email address.

Each week (that Congress is in session) you will receive:

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I can think of so many examples where something truly great was ruined when people let their egos get in the way. I think we all probably notice these similar situations and never think much of them. Let me give you some examples. There is a band that you really like and all of a sudden out of the blue you hear they are breaking up one of the members is starting a solo career. If you are not into music, think about sports for a second. All teams have a few players who stand out in the crowd. So often you’ll see that player bad mouthing his teammates and complaining he/she isn’t paid enough when the team begins to lose. What do these situations have in common, and why do we see this happen? The simple answer is ego. To be more specific, we’re talking about unhealthy egos. You’ll sometimes hear this referred to as Hubris.

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