Personal Development Archives - Christian Lautenschleger

Is anyone an expert? Do we use that term too liberally?

February 2nd, 2017christian0 Comments

“[An expert is] having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience.” -Expert definition, courtesy of Webster. Who is an expert? Is anyone an expert? The more we learn about something, the more we learn we don’t know. Everything is a lifelong lesson, we can take crash courses and become obsessed with voracious energy, but at what point do we become an expert? Or do we ever really reach that status. The media loves to label people as “experts”, probably because they need to call them something, the lazy way out. An expert generally is someone …

My principle: going for experiences

January 30th, 2017christian0 Comments

Think back five years. Now ten years. Now longer. What do you remember? My guess is we probably remember experiences. We remember events with family, with friends. We remember trips, holidays, get-a-ways. We probably don’t remember the mundane, “I can’t have have such-and-such” that we did in lieu . Chances are, if there’s a doubt, we should take the plunge and go for the experience. This will be a part of my “principles to live by” post. I’m elaborating on the principles I find important. Another way to think about experiences are to equate them with “memories”. A memory is …

My principles to live by

January 29th, 2017christian0 Comments

Principles to live by, because I don’t want to say “rule” on principle. I totally took this idea of Simon Fraser, and it’s a good one because by writing things down, we’re more likely to follow through, accomplish, and live by them. Writing down principles or rules helps us to live them. It holds ourselves accountable. It also draws accountability from people who read our principles — positive social pressure. If you want something to be done, you have to write it and let the world know. Principles Make everyday count Trust your gut Listen to your body Everyday is …

Practice: How we get to Carnegie Hall

January 21st, 2017christian0 Comments

How do we get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. (That’s a fun one to ask to see the reactions of people’s faces, ha.) Most humans have comparable talent levels. We may have different physical attributes, but we’re mostly together mentally to reach comparable achievements. The difference comes in how we’re raised, social community, and our mindset — we have to want it. To reach the upper echelons, we nearly have to dedicate our lives to it, such as playing at Carnegie Hall. Sure, there are prodigies that reach the pinnacle, but there are also people who practiced their way to the …

Failing: Why Stigmatized?

January 11th, 2017christian0 Comments

pink atlantic sunrise failing christian lautenschleger

Want to know who doesn’t fail? People who don’t want to try anything new. People who don’t leave their comfort zone. People who live with regret. Failing quintessentially divides people into two camps: Are we willing to try something, that may better ourselves and those around us; or do we want to play it safe, stay in our bubble, and never take a chance? I’m not sure when “failing” became a thing. It sounds like some sort of American paradox: the people who moved America failed over and over, yet we expect perfection that prevents people from even trying because …

Our Subconscious: everything becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

January 10th, 2017christian0 Comments

I’ve heard people bitch about “that’s just a self-fulling prophecy.” One such person was a college roommate. He’d complain about something becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy while he’d watch sci-fi movies all day at his desk. Instead of doing something for himself, he’d passive-aggressively project. His subconscious already decided that he couldn’t do it. Once we convince ourselves we can’t do something, it’s hard to reverse it. Everything we do becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People who have convinced themselves that they can break down walls, barriers, or ceilings are the same people who achieve whatever they want because they’ve already convinced …

Get stuff done hack, easier life?

January 6th, 2017christian0 Comments

Want to get stuff done? Even really mentally tedious tasks? There’s a simple way to get stuff done and that is to simply make them easy and accessible. Make it routine. Make it accessible. And make it as “fun” as possible. We don’t like doing tasks that suck. We especially don’t like doing task that suck that eat a lot of time. The easier the chore is to do, the more likely it will be to do. The total opposite is also true. Want to stop watching so much TV? Hide the remote. Want to curve on the amount of …

Visualize success before it happens, the key?

January 5th, 2017christian0 Comments

Visualize success before it happens to make it a reality. Our subconscious mind is a powerful being. Visualize the success that it brings before it happens and watch your ideas, plans, and vision become a reality. Many a people visualize their futures far before it ever happens. They have a grand vision that they seek to create. When their future becomes the present, they knew it all along. They only had to execute. If we don’t know what we want, how can we achieve it. How can we achieve if we don’t visualize? If can be a family, a career, …

Three words for 2017 — what are yours?

January 3rd, 2017christian2 Comments

Three words for 2017. (Apparently each word has its own meaning, so no phrases with taxing prepositions.) My mom sent me this link a few days ago discussing three words to guide us through 2017. After a little bit of careful deliberation, I arrived at my three. Accomplish Ideas are dime a dozen, especially for me. I can think of quite a few things I can and want to do, but actually finishing them is a whole, different story. One of my three words for 2017 is “accomplish” because I don’t want to leave things halfway done — I want …

Resolutions for next year? Let’s do this instead

December 31st, 2016christian0 Comments

It’s time for resolutions! New year, new me! Instead, why not try to do everything we can each day? The consistency of doing everything we can each and every day pays more dividends than making trendy resolutions we can’t and won’t keep. Don’t believe me? Ask a gym owner. We can only do what we can during the present moment. Which actually becomes a lot. It may not seem like it, but work on a blog a little bit each day, or work out once per day, or read a chapter in a book once per day then over time …