Charlois

I’m back!  I have successfully moved to Florida but not yet settled in.  This has been very difficult for me.  From being notified that we had to vacate the Manor, to actually getting moved in.  Most of my stuff is in storage but we are getting things placed where they belong in the house.  It will help my frame of mind to get organized.

I still believe this move is going to be the best thing for my long-term plans.  Once I get settled in, I can refile for my VA disability and get started with coaching school.  That is still one of my long-term goals, to become a life coach.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving so I will be making this short.

Until next time, God bless.

Yancy Adamson

The following post was written several weeks ago but it still gets the point across.

When your goal is to have a satisfying life, there are things you can do to increase the chances of that happening.  By starting with your ideal future, and working backwards, to that glorious stage, you start to develop a plan with action steps.

The following is an example from my life.  I want to be where I would like to spend the remainder of my life from age 78 on until my death.  It is not a perfect plan, but it is a starting point.

These are my life goals and the plans for the 10 year, 5year, and immediate steps on the journey.

June 11^th, 2035 at the age of 78

Start the purchase and development of the Charlois Estate

This project will last the rest of my life and hopefully further.

The Charlois Estate consists of my dream home with accompanying service buildings for a typical self-sufficient farm.  The farm will be 160 acres with 2.5 dedicated to the living/ working part of the farmstead.  The other 17.5 acres will be orchards and grazing for dairy cows.  Along with the central 20 acres will be 140 acres divided into 7–20-acre fields, for crops and grazing of livestock.

Aside from the homestead there will be other areas on the Estate: there will be a small village, and a private school, with the largest portion of land being dedicated as a wilderness area.  This area will be at least 320 acres, with 10 retreat cabins spread amongst the trees.  There will be trails, bike paths, and possibly a small lake, as well.

I mentioned there being a small village.  It will consist of 80 acres, divided into 25-1.5-acre single family building lots. With that taking approximately 40 acres the remaining 40 acres will be set aside for community buildings: stores, hotel, town hall, and an apartment building to name a few.

Finally, there will be a private school.  The campus will consist of 80 acres and will be set up for a maximum of 500 students, 9^th-12^th grades and a 2-year jr. college.  At the heart of the campus will be a meeting hall.  This will be designed as an A-frame with a side structure.  There will be classroom buildings, dormitories, gymnasium, and cafeteria.  Starting small with the central meeting hall and growing as needed for 500 students.

As can be seen this is a rather ambitious vision, however, by following the path I am about to lay out it should be within reach.  This path will consist of three phases: in prep for the development will be years 6-10, or 2030-2035, then with a little more detail, comes phase two, years 1-5 or years covering 2029-2034, finally is the prep stage, year 1 or 2027 – 2028. This is where the dream starts.

Phase 3 will consist of all the things we put into place in the previous two phases, just more intense.  In addition, we’ll be working on growing the coaching business.  We’ll work with the small business administration and veterans’ administration to get a physical home for the business.  “Leonardo’s Book Store and Personal Growth Center,” will be an expansion of the coaching side of the business and more able to raise funds for the development of the Estate.

Phase 2 will be more of beginning prep for the project.  This is where I’ll get trained as a coach and start seeing clients.  There will be a concerted effort to improve my credit worthiness and start building a financial base.  The purchase of a car and a move to Maysville Kentucky will round out the closing stages of this phase.

Phase 1 is going to be the shortest of the phases, lasting one year.  This is where the dreaming comes in with work starting on developing definite plans for the process.  I have a list of 10 goals that will kickstart the process.  Things like quitting smoking, losing weight, and doing research on coaching schools to name a few.  It will end on June 11^th, 2025.

This is just a preliminary plan that will be perfected as we go.  Here is to the dream.

So, by using this plan as an example, anyone can plan for their future.  Choose an ending date, then fill in the rest of the plan in stages.  Each stage, from first to last will be more detailed.  Just keep in mind the plan can be adjusted as you progress and things change.

Yancy Adamson

What is the greatest commandment?

It seems to be that we as humans need to have detailed instructions on how to live our lives, when in reality it is really quite simple.  At the time of Jesus, the question seemed to be a major part of intelligent conversation.  On one occasion Jesus was asked a version of the common question, and He answered in no uncertain terms.

“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  Mark 12:29a – 31 NRSV

That just about sums it up; God is love, Jesus shows us God’s love, and the Holy spirit equips us to share God’s love.  Many people put their faith in the Bible, however the Bible, when examined is just a lot of examples of what love is, and how we can live out of that love.

The commandment says we are to love God with our whole being.  We have many sides to us just as God has many sides as well.  It is through all those manifestations that we are to give and receive His love.  And by doing so, we will love our neighbor by default.

Just my thoughts.  Now go and love for there is no other way.

God’s peace to us all.

Pastor Yancy

One of the things I’ve found that has been useful for getting my life in order, a written schedule.  By waking up every morning and having a written plan for the day has been extremely beneficial.  The day will come when most of it will be habit but for now this is what works.

Yancy’s

Morning Routine

6:00 AM-6:15AM

            Wake up, wash face and hands, brush teeth, go to bathroom, take morning meds, get dressed for day.

6:15AM-7:15AM

            Miracle Morning – Hal Elrod

S. A. V. E. R. S.

            15 min Silence – Prayer, Yoga Breathing, Meditation

            5 min Affirmations –

            5 min Visualizations –

            15 min Exercise – Physical Therapy Routine

            15 min Reading – Self Improvement

            5 min Scribe – Journalling

7:15 AM – 7:30 AM

            Review, 10 year goals, 5 year goals, 2024 -25 goals, Basic Starter Plan, Calendar, plan for day

7:30 AM –

            Morning Meds

7:30AM – 8:00AM –

            Shit, Shower, &  Shave

8:00AM – 8:45AM –

            Read until breakfast

8:45AM – 9:00AM –

            Breakfast

9:00AM – 12:00Noon –

            Work – 2 work periods of 1.5 hours with 2 – 6 min breaks each

Noon –

            Lunch

As you can see it is fairly specific.  What you can’t see are the buffer moments when an activity doesn’t take the entire allotted time.  Also not included is the after lunch, evening, routine, but they exist.

It has taken quite some time and thought to come up with this plan, but I believe it will work for the foreseeable future.

Until next time,

Peace and prosperity to you,

Yancy Adamson

Brian Tracy has written numerous books and is a leader in time management and productivity.  His book, “No Excuses,” is an excellent read.  Like many of his books, this one has 21 chapters on the benefits of self-disciplines.  I bought it thinking it would help me be more disciplined, and while it does have nuggets of wisdom, it isn’t a text on self-discipline.

This book is broken down into three sections: “Personal Success,” “Business, Sales, and Finances,”” And the Good Life.”  Each section focuses on the importance of self-discipline in the areas of focus.  Hidden in the writing, if you keep an open mind, you will find help in developing your own self-discipline.

It is because of the hidden gems that I am referring to it frequently.  It is a storehouse of information that will prove to be profitable in your quest to be the best you were created to be.

Happy reading,

Robert A. Charlois III

Like I said in my last “Charlois Life” post, I’m finally getting it together, although I’m not in the zone yet.  It seems that the Universe is conspiring against me.  I know that’s not true; the Universe only wants what I ask of it.  My self-sabotaging subconscious is the cause of my problems.  That and a cantankerous computer.

But here we are.  I have several teams working with me: my mental health team, my medical team, my support team, and now a life coach.  We have a basic operating structure set up with routines in place to make sure I’m on track.  I also have goals: a one year, a five year, and ten-year goals.  The next step is to have some self-discipline to make it all work.

I just finished reading a book by Brian Tracy, “No Excuses,” that I’ll be reviewing on Friday.  For now, let me just say it talks a lot about self-discipline.  In it he quotes a number of people who agree.  They say success is impossible without self-discipline.  I tend to agree as well.  From here I have to address a weakness; I have not been very disciplined up until now.

That is one of the reasons for such organization.  It gives me and my teams a template to work with.  Assuring that I stay focused on the road ahead.  I am 67 years old, but not done yet.  If I want to accomplish anything of significance, I need to stay focused.

If there is one take away to this post it is, develop goals, and plans, then have the discipline to carry them out.  We can do almost anything we set our minds to if we follow the plan.

Until next time,

Peace and prosperity to you,

Yancy Adamson

The wait has been worth it.  Since my birthday, June 11^th, 2024, I’ve been working on getting some structure in my life.  I have discovered, without structure to measure my activities against, I have been known to waste a lot of time.  That has caused me to experiment with different systems.  It has been a long road, but the wait has been worth it.

I have combined different approaches to come up with a customized approach that works for me.  It’s not perfect and I’m evolving, so I’ll be tweaking things every now and then.  These approaches came to me at different times so I’ll explain starting with a normal day.

My day starts with getting up at 6:00 am with necessary wake up exercises, washing face and hands, brushing teeth, hydrating, etc.  Once I’m fully awake I go into my Miracle Morning.  Silence for 15min. Which includes prayer, yoga breathing, and meditation.  Next comes affirmations for 5min and visualizations for another 5min.  From there I go into my morning physical fitness program for 15min.  Reading for 15min and journalling for 5min rounds out my 1 hour starting routine.

From that preparation I follow a set schedule until 3:00 pm.  I have a 6min break scheduled for every 30 mins.  3:00 pm till 5:00 pm is time I’ve set aside just for whatever.  From 5:00 pm until 11:00 pm is my second half push with sleep coming none too soon.

It isn’t perfect, and I’m not yet in the zone but I do look forward to the day.  I can only imagine what it will be like when everything comes together.  I’m not suggesting everyone needs to do this but it has sure improved my life, and I’m not even fully into it.

Until next time,

Peace and prosperity to you,

Yancy Adamson

Today’s focus is on “Self-Discipline.”  It is a foundational concept that Charlois attempts to encourage its practitioners to embrace.  It has been proven that one of the reasons people fail to meet their goals is because of a lack of self-discipline.  I know in my own life a lack of this trait has kept me from reaching my full potential.

I am working on correcting this shortcoming in a variety of ways.  One such effort is to practice doing little things so as to build proficiency for bigger challenges.  Another attempt is to read on how to improve in this area.  Keeping with this idea I’ve bought a book by Brian Tracey on self-discipline.  It is 21 chapters long so I plan on reading a chapter each day.  That will have me completing it in 3 weeks.  At which time I’ll do a Charlois Book Review and share what I’ve discovered.

It is my goal to be the best version of who I was created to be.  Becoming more disciplined will greatly improve my chances of reaching my full potential.  There is not a lot of hope to accomplish that goal if I don’t develop some self-discipline.

I am going to suggest that if you have dreams, and I believe we all do, then we need some discipline to do the things we need to do to make them a reality.  Doing the work necessary to realize success in our lives requires are doing things we don’t want to, to make it happen.

So start practicing and things will begin to happen.

God bless, and have a great day.

Robert A. Charlois III

When we last connected, we were talking about Kaizen, the Japanese process of continuous improvement.  Since it is such an important concept I wish to continue in that vein.  As a species, we are hard wired to constantly be improving, evolving so we can continue to survive.

There are those that don’t want to grow, they like things just the way they are, thank you very much.  But it has been said, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.  All you have to do is to look at the economic climate, where those that become destitute because they would not improve their skill set thus losing their employment when they are no longer needed.

It is a matter of life long learning.  If we keep a curious outlook, we can see the writing on the wall and adjust for the changes.  Possibly even improving their position in the establishment.  Places of employment are looking for go getters who are constantly trying to improve.

The Charlois Philosophy puts a lot of interest in this process, because, it is through growth that we become are best selves.

God bless, and have a great day.

Robert A. Charlois III

Kaizen, a Japanese term which means, Continuous Quality Improvement.  It is used primarily in the manufacturing sector; however, its use is beginning to spread where it even touches on personal development. For that reason, we at Charlois have appropriated it as a foundational concept.

We believe that everything evolves, trying to improve on itself.  For many that is a driving force that causes people to explore ways to become an even higher life form.  In Christianity, and some other faiths, the goal is to attain salvation so that the adherent enters the presence of God; usually reserved for those that become perfect.

In Charlois we just desire to be the best we were created to be, therefore entering our rightful place in the universe.  With this goal met we are empowered to help others on their journey to perfection.

God bless, and have a great day.

Robert A. Charlois III