You can take your dollar bills or you can leave 'em behind, All the books that i've read just cleaned out my mind

I am going for my Six Sigma Blackbelt, and I can't decide if the service I dropped a grand on is worth it, or is it one of those 'for $69.99, we'll send you a masters degree.' I have to figure out a project for the sigma certification30-40 pages of stuff I plan to put a lot of thought into, just trying to figure out what do it on, something that's beneficial to me, and something that's a calculated risk, because I haven't worked up to 100% risky yet.

I read a lot, I love the 'self help' books, and I feel like I'm close to outgrowing them, which I think is a good thing? MY AMAZON WISHLIST is growing like crazy. What am I reading other than the six sigma bible....we'll, it would be Effective C# and I'm listening to 5 Mental Toughness 'pointers' every night before I go to bed.

The two biggest things I've taken from the toughness lecture thus far.

1. Separate Truth From Fact -- Boggled my mind, opened up a whole new world of thought to me with this one line. What it tells me, pragmatism and money making don't go hand in hand. If you want to make money, you have to abstract yourself from doing actual work in many ways. I think this has been the general truth, but in a flat world, is the pragmatic approach going to pay off? I've always believed that work was a redeeming virtue in an individual, and through advanced beurocracy, lots of people were able to bullshit their way into mansions. The fact could be the woman or job you are with could be the best for you, but the fact is they probably aren't the best in the world, and it peeves me when people say, 'I have the best job in the world, or my old lady is the best in the world.' What are the facts, and what is the truth, that one has left my head spinning, and it will be spinning for a long time.
2. Non-linear thinking -- Hearing this was music to my ears, I've never been a linear thinker, I've always thought in terms of abstract ideas, and the exchanging of ideas. 177 mental toughness and Colbert's new book both say something to the effect that there are 3 classes in America; poor, middle, and upper. Poor think about food on the table and clothes on the body, middle think about what degree or certification to get next, while the upper practice idea exchange and are able to abstract and integrate. How does it explain why I'm living in a sh*thole apartment with still a pocket full of flint? I have thoughts on this, and I feel that I'm always on the cusp of great things, and these will come to fruition one of these days if I just keep chipping away at the stone.

The world at large has the illusion of freedom, but all of us are enslaved by something big, examples include politics, religion, girls (like the country song). The more subtle lack of freedom is the fact that we have to wake up every morning and go to work. I like what I do, I like being engaged in my job and duties, but I'd drop it in a heartbeat for a rita and sun in Bermuda and the chance to lead a jet setting lifestyle, and that's why I toil, that's my end.

Regardless, adversity is the catalyst for mental toughness and overcoming obstacles. I put a lot of regard to people in my life who have thick skin and forget the speech and move the stone.