JAMES McPARTLAND'S BLOG

“If we truly want our ultimate victories in life to add up, we must use subtraction not addition." James K. McPartland It is easy to be busy being busy, as we strive to finish everything on our “to do” list. And yet, we could all benefit from consistently reviewing (and often resetting) our life’s priority list. It is not that we have too little time to get done all we want to get done - it is that we feel the need to get too many things done in the time we have. Further, we

“Work is what you do, it is not who you are." - James K. McPartland Our identity is comprised of what we identify with. For many of us, what we most identify with is the work we do. The highs and lows of our profession greatly influence the highs and lows of our daily lives. A powerful question to ask ourselves is: "Who Am I"? Further, to come up with as many responses as we can (a father, athlete, friend, writer, speaker, student, force for good, leader in the human race, c

“The deciding factor in how we establish priorities - and the execution of those priorities - is the struggle between our present self and our future self." James K. McPartland Our life is driven by the purpose we give it, and is propelled by the priorities we connect to it. We become powerless when our purpose lacks an essential order of the non-negotiable action steps required to lead to its fulfillment. Practice in the "art of saying no" to the specific requests that diver

“Almost all of what we demonstrate in our life starts with a thought. And just because we have a thought; it doesn’t mean that it is true." - James K. McPartland We are what we are, where we are, and who we are because of what we believe about ourselves. Our beliefs are the thoughts that we keep consciously or unconsciously accepting as the law in our lives. Our thoughts have consequences so great that they create our reality. Discovery of how to take full responsibility for

“The illusion of a balanced life is that everything matters equally." - James K. McPartland It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, as time is the great equalizer in life. Everybody is granted the same amount and, therefore, we each have all the time that is available. It is the "need to do" feeling inside of us that finds us with too many things to do in the amount of time we have. It comes down to being clear on our priorities - what matte

“Saying 'no' as a reaction is the pushing away of another. Saying 'no' as a response is a movement toward embracing ourselves." - James K. McPartland Most of us tend to say "yes" far too often, and frequently without our conscious awareness of doing so. We agree to follow up, get together, advance an initiative, share a book, go to a party, call someone back, or to provide someone with honest feedback. Even when we are aware of saying "yes" - when we mean "no" - we justify it

“Everything we seek on our life’s journey is on the other side of resistance." - James K. McPartland From a strength-training perspective, resistance serves to make a muscle bigger and stronger. From a life perspective, what we resist tends to get bigger and stronger. When confronted by events, people, or information that challenges us, we are inclined to resist that which goes against our belief systems or rules of how the game of life is to be played. While this is not nece

“Behaviors are a reflection of our beliefs, and habits are the execution of those beliefs. Modifying a behavior - or breaking a habit - is virtually impossible unless we are willing to alter our beliefs." - James K. McPartland Growth comes from changing our model of reality, studying our values and examining our fundamental ideas about "how life is". Our habits are our own systems for living and they are expressed in how we lead our daily lives. It is valuable to assess our o

“We put our future up for sale when immediate satisfaction comes at the cost of our future happiness." - James K. McPartland There seems to always be two of us. One of us that is living in the now, the other is our future self. Often that future self is our idealized version that "one day" we will be more fit, a better friend, have more money in the bank, be traveling the world, and will have achieved a high degree of success and notoriety. We know that we can always start wo

“The drama of our emotional reactions bring us the attention from others that we don't yet have the capacity to give ourselves." - James K. McPartland There is a clear distinction between working from the outside-in and working from the inside-out. Our efforts to control events, people, and things is at best a mode of survival. It is where we most often find ourselves giving away our power. It is an illusion. The outside world will magically change to the degree we cultivate

“Passion is displayed in our willingness to suffer for what we love most, especially on the days that we don't really love it." - James K. McPartland When you meet a person who is executing their life assignment, living on purpose, or working in pursuit of their highest aspirations, you will find that they love it even when things are not going their way. And since things will not always go our way, resilience and springing back from setbacks are the litmus tests to evaluate

Access Point <The Way Out> “Our authentic self knows that the only way out is through -and- that the only way through is in." - James K. McPartland One defining quality of authentic people is the character trait of personal responsibility. As such, these folks work harder on themselves than they do on their job. For them, self knowledge is self empowerment. Authentic people are trustworthy because they trust themselves, believable because they believe in themselves, and are c

Access Point <Blind Spots> “The motivations that we understand are always easier to change than the influences we can't see." - James K. McPartland We all have blind spots. Blind spots will blindside us as we have no way to prepare for that which we can not see coming. The famed futurist, Alvin Toffler, is recognized for his view that the illiterate in the 21st century will not be those who can not read and write, but those refusing to unlearn so that they may learn. What we

Access Point <What Do You Think?> “Almost all of what we demonstrate in our life starts with a thought. And just because we have a thought; it doesn't mean that it is true." - James K. McPartland We are what we are, where we are, and who we are because of what we believe about ourselves. Our beliefs are the thoughts that we keep consciously or unconsciously accepting as the law in our lives. Our thoughts have consequences so great that they create our reality. Discovery of

Access Point <The Illusion> “The illusion of a balanced life is that everything matters equally." - James K. McPartland It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, as time is the great equalizer in life. Everybody is granted the same amount and, therefore, we each have all the time that is available. It is the "need to do" feeling inside of us that finds us with too many things to do in the amount of time we have. It comes down to being clear on

Access Point <The Gift of Gratitude> “Gratitude is one of the best barometers of presence." - James K. McPartland The research tells us that we have anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day. Up to 90% are the same as yesterday, and close to 80% are negative. We often think about what went wrong in the past, and experience levels of anxiety as we anticipate what is ahead of us. All of this goes on in the "now" moments of our lives. Like any skill we want to master, gratit

Access Point <Change The World> “Our world changes when we change our own experience of it." - James K. McPartland We often interact with people as if they see things the way we do, when the truth is we each see the world through our own distinct lens. We look at life through our personal "belief window", one that has us filter events by our learned set of rules, opinions, and feelings.There is value in occasionally examining our beliefs and behaviors, seeking to understand i

Access Point <Willingness To Want To> “We are only limited by the questions we ask, the knowledge we embrace, and our willingness to keep an open mind and heart." - James K. McPartland We have the freedom to place our awareness on anything we choose and this, in and of itself, is an enormous source of power and potential. Wherever we put our attention and focus our thoughts, becomes our reality. Our external environment is the material representation of how we have been think

Access Point <Feeling It?> “Authenticity is not about feeling good, it is about feeling everything." - James K. McPartland When we are authentic, we are being true to ourselves. When we are being inauthentic, we care more about being admired than being loved. Our inauthentic self strives to be right, forces outcomes, resists change, and attempts to control people and situations. When we take our attention off of our own needs, and put it on how we can benefit other people, ou

Access Point <Where are you heading?> “If you don't change your thoughts, you may wind up where you are heading." - James K. McPartland All things in life arise in language, and the most powerful words we speak are the words we speak to ourselves. Most of us think about our problems, what has to be fixed, what's not working, and the lack of time to get to the things we would prefer to spend time on. We worry, and worry is a form of mediation. What we think about we bring abou