Tag Archives: Ashton Gustafson

Dec 14 2011
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Business, Leadership

Inattentive and Overactive Population Up 21% in Roughly 1,000 Days

The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that some 49.1 million prescriptions for ADHD drugs were written last year in the U.S., up 21% from 2008. Some 46% of the prescriptions in 2010 were for people aged 20 and above.

This should not surprise us.

Since 2008 the world has  added numerous to-do’s to our daily routine that were not previously there:

-Facebook status updates. The world has to know what I’m up to, right?

-Twitter beckons us to tweet. If Gaga has something to say, I should too.

-Foursquare check in. I’m at Taco Bell and you should care. After all, they have a diet menu now.

-Polish my LinkedIn profile. E-Resume’s are cool.

-DVR . Now we can watch every show on television. We used to have to pick just one.

-Starbucks occupies near every corner with a stoplight. I need a soy latte` now! And again in an hour.

See how it has taken only 3 years, about 1,000 days, for the population that doctors classify inattentive and overactive to grow 21%?

Now, none of these things are bad. I’m just asking you to be aware to what’s unfolding around us and what can steal us from daily accomplishment if we’re not careful.

I’m haunted right now about the essence of today. Today matters. Today counts. Today things have to move and art has to be made.

I fear the iphone display that’s burning permanently in our retinas. I fear being more caught up in the man on Twitter than the man in the mirror.

There’s work to be done. Let’s do it.

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Dec 12 2011
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Business, Creativity, Leadership

Roses

Nature has a beautiful way of showing us how things really are.

For instance, let’s look at a rose.

Behind the beauty and aroma of every rose is a grueling and systematic process. Before the rose can be in a vase, there is a lot of work to be done.

First, the dirt had to be tilled, then a bush had to be planted, then the bush had to be watered, then the bush had to be sun-baked, then the stems had to be pruned, next the rose buds, and finally the rose blooms.

See the rules? See the process? This is botany meets sheet music. Remove any of these steps and you’re roseless.

Things of beauty are rarely happenstance and are quite difficult for a fast-food society to grasp.

So you want the world to stop and smell your roses?

Go till the soil today. Then plant something today. Then water that something today. Then…

Roses are results of work that happened yesterday and they beg us to do work today that matters.

Our families, churches, and businesses will never bloom until we get some dirt under our fingernails.

2 Lesson Points:

1) Yesterday was your best day to plant, but it is over. Today is now your best bet. Tomorrow is unacceptable.

2) You are going to want some roses in the spring, and yelling at the dirt won’t make that happen when April comes around.

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Dec 09 2011
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Business, Creativity, Imagination, Leadership, Let The Music Play

The Ways Of Love Are The Way To Music

Love never gives up.   

Love cares more for others than for self.   

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.   

Love doesn’t strut,   

Doesn’t have a swelled head,   

Doesn’t force itself on others,   

Isn’t always “me first,”   

Doesn’t fly off the handle,   

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,   

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,   

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,   

Puts up with anything,   

Trusts God always,   

Always looks for the best,   

Never looks back,   

But keeps going to the end.  The Message 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we can answers Tina Turner’s question.

What’s love got to do with it? Everything.

Love is in the business of challenging the status quo.

Without it our souls, our businesses, and our lives are bankrupt.

With it we can orchestrate wonderful music and the world around us will join in with song and dance.

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Dec 06 2011
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Business, Creativity, Imagination, Leadership, Marketing

Chapter: Today

Everyday we begin a chapter in our story entitled “Today.”
Don’t leave this chapter undone. Finish it.
When the sun sets, close out today so tomorrow can be opened and begin anew.
Your steps today are not meant for yesterday’s shadows, and don’t allow your steps tomorrow to fall victim from today’s laziness.
Chapter “Today” will make or break chapter “Tomorrow” in your story.
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Dec 05 2011
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Business, Creativity, Leadership

Move

Plan A) Move
In a world that is moving, move with it.
Things happened Saturday and Sunday while you were checked out. Check back in and move.
Advance, progress, change position, and move.
Make a MOViE with your own life, don’t watch one.

Whatever you do, don’t be idle.

Plan B) ________________?
There is no plan B, because it distracts from Plan A.
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