Happy New Year !! 2018

A New Year and a Fresh Start.  Most people will be or have already set their New Year Resolutions.  I was walking in Walmart earlier and noticed all the exercise equipment, diet food and supplements, and some organizational supplies out in the middle of the isles or where people had to practically walk into them.  The goofy thing is that most people will give up on these resolutions by the 15th of January.  I guess that's when I'll go back to the gym.

I was thinking about goal setting over the holidays.  There's some ties to Scouting with goal setting.  As each Scout moves through requirements and ranks, they set out to hit those goals.  Scouters and especially Eagle Scouts are Goal Setters and Goal Achievers.   Perhaps this is why there is a high number of Eagle Scouts in leadership roles.  When I first started volunteering as an adult leader it was back in the later 1990's.  I remember reading that there was more than 90% of the U.S. Astronauts were Eagle Scouts.  I think that number has come down since then... but it was an impressive number.  I remember reading recently that we have 37 members of Congress that had a Scouting background.  If you were to search for famous Eagle scouts, it wouldn't take long to find some and to be impressed by it.

Our troop will be having their first meeting soon... they can count on the 'Scout Master's Minute' to be about goal setting.

Hope you take time to think about your 2018 goals.  A key is to write them down and visit the goals regularly.  Okay... you should review them daily.

Happy 2018 Scouting to you!

The Smile

If you have been around me a little bit you will discover I have my nose into a self-development book or I am listening to an audible book.  I've been listening to Dale Carnegies book "How to Win Friends & Influence People".   Once you get to know the principles, you can practice your Jedi mind tricks.  Watch out my friends.   Anyway, one of the principles is to SMILE more.  In Scouting, if you look at the ranks from Second Class on up... there is a Scroll.  The scroll is to remind us Scouts to smile regardless of the task.

There's a lot of success principles being taught to our scouts. 

So get out there and do something with a smile!

On my honor...

I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor this past week.  He is a retired real estate professional.  I was out with my boys going door to door selling popcorn.  When we got to my neighbor’s house he was working in his garage.  For fun and for some money he trains horses and sells carriages.

 

We talked about his carriages. He told me he changed suppliers from a company in Poland to a group in Pennsylvania. The group in Pennsylvania is Amish.  He said he had a hand shake agreement with a gentleman to supply him his carriages.  He couldn't believe the arrangement.  What was interesting is that his last supplier from Poland...lied to him just about a 100% of the time.  My neighbor told me that he is a seasoned man and had been in the real estate business, but he had never been lied to before in his life.

I thought wow!  I'm considerably much younger than he is and I've been lied to by a lot of people.  I think we all have been.  I am certainly not impressed with the jokers we send to Washington and I'm certainly not impressed with a lot of CEO's and executives lately.  Just look at the news and you can find a story where some top executive is headed to jail or is under investigation.

 

So why has our society moved to this state?  Can't we work under some values?  This is why I started my blog and why I volunteer so much of my time to the Boy Scouts. We need to start somewhere and perhaps we can influence our youth to be REAL leaders.  The Boy Scouts teach our young leaders about honor and trustworthiness.

 

Help me by helping the Boy Scouts...buy some popcorn, encourage a boy to join Scouts, be a merit badge counselor, or purely make a donation.  It’s our Nation’s and our world’s future!

 

BTW, my nieghbor...an Eagle Scout.  How cool is that?

 

Lead by Example,

 

Scouter Steve

3 Points, 3 Priorities!

The other day I was helping a few newly crossed over scouts earn their first rank, the Scout Rank. One of the requirements was to describe the scout badge. The Scout badge has the flour de lei emblem, which represents the 3 points or part of the Scout Oath. The first point is “Duty to God and Country”, the second point is “to help others at all times”, and the last one is keep one self physically strong and mentally awake.
I found it interesting, when I was in Primerica Financial Service, my RVP, kept reminding the team his three priorities; God, Family, and then Business.

I started to see 3 things everywhere from there. Oh back to scouting…

So God and country come first, go to church and be patriotic. Respect our military and our flag.

Then help someone out. You should do this every day. The Scout slogan is “Do a good turn daily”. This can be as simple as holding a door open or saying “Hello!” to a stranger. You never know when they need a friendly face to make them feel better.

The last priority is taking care of yourself. There are two parts to this one. The first one is to keep yourself in good physical condition. Eat right and exercise regularly. For me, my wife helps me eat better. I also have started to run. I’ve registered for the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. So I am out and about in Longmont, running here and there. However, being active in Scouts keeps you moving. The second point is mentally awake. There is a lot here. You can be aware of the situation; is it dangerous or safe? You could be awake during a class or lecture versus day dreaming. You could be aware of how you are thinking; is it positive or negative. If you don’t think you are mentally awake, then you should go read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This book will elevate your awareness. Even if you are awake, go read the book and study it. You might find out that you weren’t awake.

What are your priorities?

Lead by example!

Scouter Steve

100 Days to Goal

On September 23rd, just a few days ago, the calendar hit the 100 days to the end of the year. Many of us set goals every year in January and by the time spring break comes; most of us have forgotten what those goals were.

First of all, if you did set some goals at the beginning of the year, congratulations! Less than 5% of the world sets goals and achieves them. If you have never set a goal or been serious about setting a goal, NOW is a great time to set a goal to complete it by the end of the year. As we approach October, we have 3 months or approximately 90 days to accomplish a goal. It can be anything you have been putting off all year. A fitness goal, financial, a special project, or maybe something fun like spending every Friday night with your family playing board games. You decide, but get into the habit of setting and achieve goals.

In Scouts, most of the kids have no idea that they have set a goal and are working on achieving it. As soon as they join scouting, either at the Cub Scout level or at the Boy Scout Level, they are working towards their ranks. In Boy Scouts, the big goal is the Eagle rank. Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle. It does not matter when a boy joins Scouts, he has a set deadline to make Eagle; his 18th birthday. Over 2 million boys in the United States have become members of an elite club. At an early age, these boys have become goal achievers. You can review the number of government leaders in office today and in the past to see goal achievers with the Eagle Scout rank on their resume.

If you are an Eagle Scout, congratulations, you are a goal achiever. If you have not set goals in a while, it is time to get back to your roots.

The time is NOW to set and achieve goals. You have about 100 days to goal. If you need help, you can contact a life coach, look online, or check out your library for books on goals setting. There is plenty of material to get you started. I recommend the Goal Achiever program from Bob Proctor. Jodee Bock, in the Fargo-Moorhead area facilitated the program I went through. It changed my thinking and helped me move towards my life purpose. You can contact Jodee at www.bocksoffice.com

Lead by Example,

Scouter Steve