ABOUT YOUR HOST | DAN CASETTA
Dan Casetta is the Western Region Manager for Cutco/Vector Marketing, and also hosts the Changing Lives Selling Knives podcast. Dan has been one of the most in-demand speakers at company events throughout the U.S. for many years. He’s a regular guest speaker at universities throughout the Bay Area, and has been welcomed into multiple organizations to share insights in areas of sales training, leadership development, and culture creation. He also hosts a mastermind group containing some of the most successful CEOs and executives in the Silicon Valley, and he participates in other such gatherings of leaders all across the country. Here he offers a powerful message about the choices we can all make to live a better, more fulfilled life.
TODAY’S SHOW NOTES
We are all, right now, living the life we choose.
This choice, of course, is not a single, monumental choice. No, the choices I’m talking about here are made daily, hourly, moment by moment. Do we try something new, or stick to the tried-and-true Do we take a risk, or stay in our own comfortable box? Do we ponder a thrilling adventure, or do we contemplate what’s on TV? Do we walk over and meet that interesting stranger, or do we play it safe, free from rejection, but also limited in opportunity? Do we indulge our heart, or cater to our fear?
For the most part, most people, most often, choose comfort — the familiar, the time-honored, the well-worn, but well-known. After a lifetime of choosing between comfort and risk, we are left with the life we currently have. And it was all of our own choosing.
— From DO IT, by Peter McWilliams
What are the choices we can all make moving forward in our lives?
1. CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT
There are 2 ways to live, making a living or designing your life.
EXERCISE: “A Day In The Life” … of you, 5 years from now.
Envision what you want your life to be like.
Write down all the things you want in your life.
Write down the goals you want to achieve in the short-term.
Identify the CURRENT activities and results that will put you on target.
Time is your most precious resource.
2. CHOOSE TO WORK HARD
This doesn’t have to mean a lot of hours.
Decide how much you want to be working (choose what you want).
Then when you work, bring your A game!
In Vector, your paycheck reflects your effort. We learn that we are truly paid what we are worth.
GREATNESS IN THE MOMENT
“Do a little more.” — Scott Dennis
By expanding your capacity here with Vector, all your future endeavors will be easier on you.
3. CHOOSE TO GROW
Growth is about LEARNING, it’s about CONSISTENT IMPROVEMENT.
Not perfection, but PROGRESS.
Become a knowledge seeker. More than just a knowledge-getter.
Look for opportunities to learn.
Growing your skills is as powerful for your future as compounding interest is for someone’s wealth. Money invested correctly can double every 7-10 years.
With skill development, you can double your income, then do it again and again.
WEEKLY ANALYSIS
What’s the one key skill that if you improved would dramatically affect your results in your job?
How about in life? What’s the ONE THING you most want to learn to be better at?
Utilize the support of others around you.
Share your goals with positive people in your life.
Ask for help when you need it.
Take advantage of major events that can leave a lasting impact on you.
4. CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY
Happiness is not “out there”. It is in your mind and your perceptions. It is truly a choice.
If you depend on things outside yourself to be happy, you will always be disappointed, because no matter what you get, it’s never enough.
As your capacity expands, your desires expand as well.
You have to learn to be happy with the road, not just the destination.
The most important key to happiness is gratitude.
Gratitude opens the doors so that more may be brought in to your life.
Be grateful for everything that comes along.
Historian Will Durant described how he looked for happiness in knowledge, but found only disillusionment. He then sought happiness in travel, but found weariness. He looked for happiness in wealth, but found discord and worry. He sought happiness in his writing, but was only fatigued.
One day he saw a woman waiting in a tiny car with a sleeping child in her arms. A man descended from a train and came over and gently kissed the woman and then the baby, very softly, so as not to wake him. The family drove off and left Durant with a stunning realization of the real nature of happiness. He had discovered that
EVERY NORMAL FUNCTION OF LIFE HOLDS SOME DELIGHT.
There is no way to happiness. Happiness IS the way.
5. CHOOSE TO WIN
How do you choose to win? You can’t control what anyone else does. Winning, therefore, is not about beating someone else.
It’s about setting and achieving meaningful goals. It’s about succeeding, feeling good about yourself, impacting others along the way, becoming fulfilled!
Know what winning will look like for you, what WILL be fulfilling to you when you get it.
Then move toward what you want with determination and persistence.
“We are free up to the point of choice. Then the choice controls the chooser.” — Author Mary Crowley
So remember, It’s not luck or circumstance or your parents or the government or the company that will determine how your life turns out.
It’s YOUR choices that will make the difference.
CHOOSING WHAT YOU WANT
CHOOSING TO WORK HARD
CHOOSING TO GROW
CHOOSING TO BE HAPPY
CHOOSING TO WIN
Please feel free to offer feedback on what you thought of this episode! Thanks for listening! ~ Dan Casetta
To learn more and get access to all episodes, visit our podcast page!