Last post, I quoted Tom Ziglar who wrote: “What you feed your mind determines your appetite.”

I interpreted this as determining in advance what we desire our mind to crave and feeding it accordingly, comparing it to the famous saying:

“Action precedes feeling.”

Linda RyanLinda Ryan, a Success Coach who specializes in the power of the mind wrote:

“I think I may be about to disagree with you, Bob. I think feeling and action go hand-in-hand, yet I think feeling comes first. In terms of ‘priming the pump’ I want to get the good thoughts and feelings primed and then I take action. Whaddaya think?”

I responded: “Linda,  I think that ‘thought’ comes first because, as human beings, we cannot intentionally act on something we have not first thought. However, not only do we not have to wait to feel a certain way before acting on it, it is often counterproductive to do so.

For example, if I waited to write until I felt like it, I’d rarely write. And, if I waited to work out until I felt like it, I’d NEVER work out.

On the other hand, once I act on something and get into the rhythm of it, I often find myself getting into the flow and enjoying it. (Well, not so much with working out, but definitely with writing and most other things.)

Tom Ziglar than responded:

“I remember when I was a boy and I didn’t want to work out because I didn’t feel like it. Dad encouraged me to ‘just do it’ and wouldn’t you know after about 10 minutes of doing it I felt like doing it. It’s like the question about singing in the shower – ‘Do we sing because we are happy, or are we happy because we sing?’ The answer is…..Both!

“The key in all of this is to decide in advance the thought you want to have, and then follow through with the action that the thought requires you to take even when you don’t feel like it.”

I love it. Thank you, Linda and Tom for your very insightful thoughts and comments…and the action you took to share them with us!

Of course, I hope you feel glad that you did!

Recently, on Twitter, I saw the following quote from Tom Ziglar:

“What you feed your mind determines your appetite.”

Magnificent!

In the same way that action precedes feeling, we can determine what we desire our mind to be fed…by feeding it the right thing.

As I recall, his Dad, Zig called it, “priming the pump!”

Do you prime the pump of your mind with good, encouraging, wisdom-filled information?

How do you do it?

In discussing the topic of Gossip we often speak in terms of spiritual reasons why one would want to refrain from the activity of speaking it, listening to it, or in any way being around it. And, yet, as we all know, every spiritual principle has with it a physical equivalent and manifestation.

In the Bible, when one spoke gossip (a spiritual sin) they were afflicted with “tzaris” — white-colored lesions — all over their body (physical). While speaking gossip today is still a spiritual sin, its physical manifestations are different…albeit still quite profound. They include, but are not limited to, a guilty conscience, lack of trust from others, loss of friendship, loss of business, a weakening of family relationships and much more.

And, something else: A loss of personal productivity. How?

Renowned speaker and author, Zig Ziglar (have you read his newest book, written with proud son Tom Ziglar entitled Born to Win? It’s awesome!), writes the following, excerpted from an outstanding article of his. In this instance, he’s addressing only the “listening” of gossip…

“I am absolutely convinced, no doubt about it, that the listener has more to do with the gossiping than the speaker because if you don’t listen, you’re not going to have the guy or gal talking to you. They just aren’t. When you move with purpose, people will step aside and let you go.

“I will absolutely guarantee you, you will save a minimum of an hour a day in two-minute, three-minute, five-minute things. An hour a day is five hours per week is 250 hours per year. That is six weeks of your life that you’ve wasted and six weeks of combination time that you have wasted with the people who were giving the gossip to you. What could you do with six extra weeks every year? You focus on the issue at hand.”

I believe that what Zig is saying is that the physical manifestation of participating in gossip is a loss of productivity. And, when you don’t have productivity in your life, you don’t have accomplishment, in any of the ways that are important, be they physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, social or financial.

Six weeks a year of productive time is wasted by participating in gossip, and not even by speaking it!

Now, that is a sobering thought, isn’t it?

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There is both life and death in the tongue; the power to build as well as the power to destroy. One of the biggest destroyers is gossip: negative talk, put-downs, rumors, accusations, bullying (verbal harassment).  The harm it can cause — to individuals, families, groups, religious institutions, teams, businesses and society — is immense.

I’m doing a one-hour teleseminar on how to eliminate this from your life. And, while I know YOU don’t have this habit, you might know others who have, or be part of an organization that does. Or you might want to share this with the teachers at your children’s school who are searching for ways to to stop the problem of bullying.

Want more information? Click here to learn more.