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#success

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"Cheer for the wins even when they're not yours" - Futurist Jim Carroll

I'm Canadian.

And there's a phrase—or maybe more of a vibe—that's familiar to just about anyone in this country who's achieved some level of success:

"Don’t get too big for your britches."

The reason I bring this up, of course, is because I was reading a book called "A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee." It's a wonderful story of a fellow who decided to walk through all of Ireland, to golf. Walking, from one course to another. Without a car or any other form of transport.

While reading the book, I came across this passage:

"There would always be Irish grumblers at the end of the bar who turned sour at the faint whiff of success -my mother described the Irish she grew up with as champions at commiserating over failure, but real failures at celebrating someone else's good fortune."

Whoah. You can tell it caught my attention and got me thinking.
Back to Canada. It’s the unspoken rule in so many corners of Canadian life that you can stand out, but not too much. Succeed, but don’t talk about it. Be proud, but stay humble. It’s part humility, part politeness, and part something else: a cultural reflex to keep things “even.”
Ask any Canadian who’s built something big, chased a bold dream, or landed in the spotlight. There’s often a quiet pushback. A little side-eye. A subtle signal that maybe they should tone it down.

So is this mindset a unique form of Canadian bitterness.? Hard to say. It’s more like an inherited caution. But it might be one reason why Canada is known globally as an innovation laggard.

#Success #Celebration #TallPoppy #Mindset #Achievement #Support #Growth #Culture #Resentment #inspiration

Original post: jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decodin

"It's all fairway when you put in the work!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

If you golf, you know instantly when you hit a great tee shot. And as a speaker, you know instantly when one moment has suddenly changed some lives and an industry. As a golfer and speaker, I've had both moments.

Let's start with golf. In my last few rounds - including yesterday - I've been hitting 100% of fairways consistently. This is a good thing, but it's only happening because I've put in the work. My irons are also, as the vernacular goes, 'dialled in,' pretty consistently hitting within 10 or 20 percent of my target. Golfers obsess over stuff like this.

As a futurist and innovation speaker, I also obsess over the quality of my work.

If you golf, you will know that today is the opening round of the PGA of America golf tournament.

One of my career highlights was back in 2010 when I keynoted the annual general meeting of the PGA of America, the organization that hosts this tournament. Most folks don't understand who the real 'PGA' golfer is who would be a member of this association, and who were at my talk. The folks in the room were not the Rorys and Brysons and Xanders- it was the hard-working local club pro at your golf club. The one who teaches lessons and runs the pro shop, who joins you on Mens Day or Ladies Day, manages the golf course, and hires all the other professional golf staff. Some of them might have competed on tour as a PGA Tour player (a different association!), but many simply love the game of golf and have built a career out of successfully running your local golf club.

And back in 2010, unlike today, the industry they were working in was facing a reckoning.

And somehow or other, I was selected to be the opening keynote speaker for their AGM. My job was to come in and provide insight into the trends that might provide them with opportunities for growth in the future. And that was the entire focus of this AGM - the meeting tagline was 'Grow the Game.' Not only that, my marching orders were to help shake them out of their complacency and encourage them to make innovative thinking the core of what they do.

I piped it.

Read more.

#Preparation #Success #Work #Growth #Dedication #Resilience #Innovation #Adaptation #Excellence #Opportunity #Fairway #Golf #PGA #Practice #GrowTheGame #Handicap #GolfPro #TeeShot #GolfIndustry #ClubPro

Original post: jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decodin

“You've seen what mediocrity looks like. Now escape it!" - Futurist Jim Carroll

It's a special thrill every time you see one of your books in print for the very first time.

This happened again yesterday for the 41st - or is it the 42nd? - a time when my proof copy of Escaping Mediocrity arrived from the printer! And holding both books in my hands for the first time - all flowing from a blog post I wrote on December 15 - was even more special.

I would be super happy if you were to buy a copy of one or the other right now! You can do so on the Mediocrity Web site. 

The books play off each other perfectly:

"One will make you laugh. The other will make you move!"

"You'll see yourself in one. You'll want to become the other."

"You're either embracing mediocrity... or escaping it."

Here's what you need to think about - the idea of embracing and escaping your mediocrity is a powerful innovation theme.

Mediocrity can be the killer of all great initiative and is often hidden - as I like to say, it doesn’t show up wearing a name tag. It hides in routines. It masks itself as caution. It pretends to be "best practice" while quietly draining momentum, ambition, and creativity. It's happening all around you. Maybe it's embedded in your DNA.

That's why you need to escape it!

When I first had the idea of putting together Embracing Mediocrity, it was never meant to be just a humorous read - but people have told me that its satirical take on self-sabotaging behavior certainly sparked laughter. It was designed as a mirror. A brutally honest reflection of how individuals, teams, and organizations justify underperformance. The office drama, the passive meetings, the strategic inaction, the excuses - we’ve all seen it. Some of us have even lived it.

But recognizing mediocrity is only the first step. Now comes the real work: escaping it. And that's the mindset established by the second book. It's why I pulled together Escaping Mediocrity. It's the perfect direct companion to the first book and the essential roadmap for what comes next.

Where one exposes the excuses, the other ignites action.

Where Embracing offers the diagnosis, Escaping is your treatment plan.

One’s a mirror. The other’s a map.

One will sting. The other will spark!

If you're leading a team through uncertainty or trying to reignite stalled
innovation, these books deliver clarity. Embracing Mediocrity reveals the cultural cracks. Escaping Mediocrity gives you the strategy to rebuild stronger.

Read them together. Lead what’s next!

-----

Futurist Jim Carroll was inspired to write Escaping Mediocrity after feedback from someone who read Embracing Mediocrity.

**#Mediocrity** **#Mindset** **#Growth** **#Innovation** **#Leadership** **#Action** **#Potential** **#Success** **#Transformation** **#Momentum**

Original post: jimcarroll.com/2025/05/decodin

Replied in thread

@JohnBarentine

Such tidbits 4 the world always bittersweet & received with a head-drop as the benefit of #noctcaelador, & general connection to #Nature, is known for long by respected entities.

The topic of my research/work worldwide, as well as a many experts across countries, industries & languages. 1 of my contributions revealed in a free app.

App:
5 Minutes For Me Mindset App, Google Play & Apple App Store

Lesson:
Use Nature To Reprogram Your #Mindset for #Wellness, #Peace & #Success

Oh, gardening fail. The Duke avocado cutting died on us. A couple of days of strong wind dehydrated its two tiny leaves and then we likely over watered. Bummer, but that's life, and we'll try again. After all, the main issue was to find a Duke tree in the first place.

As for good news, the macadamia grew by a foot, getting us closer to having one of the northernmost macadamia trees living unprotected in an outside location (zone 9b/10-ish).

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

What people mean, therefore, by the struggle for life is really the struggle for success. What people fear when they engage in the struggle is not that they will fail to get their breakfast next morning, but that they will fail to outshine their neighbours.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 3 “Competition” (1930)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/russell-bertrand/765…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #comparison #competition #ego #failure #fear #life #living #pride #rivalry #struggle #success #winning
The Conquest Of Happiness : Bertrand Russell : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

alojapan.com/1267074/japans-tr Japan’s train station bentos find stunning success in Switzerland #bentos #find #Japan #JapanNews #JapanTopics #Japans #news #Station #stunning #success #Switzerland #train AKITA, Japan — A consortium of Japanese companies that make bento boxed meals offered at train stations has seen a surprising rush of demand halfway around the world in Switzerland. Hanazen, Maneki Foods and Matsuura Shoten banded together to launch the Ekiben Japan…

More about #money management then you learned all the way through College:

If you can't afford to buy something - don't buy it.

We have a habit as Americans to endlessly lease and subscribe to stuff that is out of our reach instead of saving money, and buying stuff that is within our reach.

It traps you in a situation where you're only about two checks away from losing everything.

True #success is stability, and being happy with who you are regardless of wealth.

scoopzapp.com/n/10tkKUes?ctype