Dmitriy Kozlov

Accelerating The Evolution of Love Through Inspiring & Empowering Influencers

Slow Dance (from the Four Hour Work Week)

by Leave a Comment

I was rereading the Four Hour Work Week for probably the tenth time today, and this poem really hit me. Just sharing. Enjoy! Take every word in.

This reminds me that life is short, and that I should live in the moment every day, every moment, and value each of my experiences and all the people in my life today, not just sacrifice for some elusive future.

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say “Hi”?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

My Triple Bottom Line (What’s Yours?)

by Leave a Comment

(Reposted from FreedomPassionPurpose.com)
The concept of a Triple Bottom Line is relatively new to the business world. It means measuring business (and societal) success in more than just economic profits (the bottom line), but rather with the 3 E’s: Equity, Environment, and Economics… also known as the 3 P’s: People, Planet, and  Profits.

Many people (especially entrepreneurs), like many businesses, seem to live their lives with a single bottom line: a concept of success measured by the accumulation of finances… of material wealth and socioeconomic status. When I first started in business for myself, I had a similar paradigm. I wanted to achieve financial success so badly. I believed that financial success would bring me all the other treasures of life. As a result, I focused my efforts on learning how to earn, but not learning how to live.

While I have been slowly shifting this paradigm over the last couple of years, it made a dramatic turn for the better after I met with Robert Staub and read his book 7 Acts of Courage. He and I spoke about the concept of a Triple Bottom Line in business… and the Vision Development Exercises in his book allowed me to develop my own personal Triple Bottom Line.

The Triple Bottom Line that I have developed and discovered for myself is the name of this blog: Freedom, Passion, and Purpose. I know look at every activity and pursuit in my life through this new lens.

If I join this business, work on this project, study this subject, will it…

Bring me closer to personal Freedom?

Fuel my fire? (Can I be passionate about it?)

And will it help fulfill my Purpose? (To empower others to improve their own lives and the world).

If an activity, business, or project doesn’t match these three criteria, I try to keep it out of my life. That simple. I can’t begin to explain how much more rich and fulfilling my life has been since I started applying this principle.

I encourage you do the same. Figure out your Triple Bottom Line (it doesn’t have to be “triple” … you can have more or less central values). If you’re struggling, check out my post on creating your personal vision and complete the entire exercise. It takes some discipline at first to break the old habits, but once you start experiencing a more enriched and meaningful life, you’ll never want to go back. Decisions become lighter, and life becomes fuller.

For inspiration, check out my friend Ben Dixon’s post on why success almost cost him his life. Ben has accomplished so much at such a young age and is a huge inspiration to me – and there is a lot to learn from his perspective on life.

I hope this post inspires you to find your own Triple Bottom Line in life… to find your central values and aspirations. I look forward to hearing your results in the comments below.

As always, if you have any questions or need any help, contact me directly!

P.S. – If you liked this post, you may enjoy my future ones… Subscribe to my Blog and Newsletter below:

Thank you for reading!

Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea

by 5 Comments


This post just summarizes the 25 Lessons that are discussed in detail in Mark Kurlansky’s book Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea … these are not my own ideas, but the reading certainly stimulated me to think deeply about the concept of dealing with conflicts nonviolently, and gave me a enlightening new perspective on human history, especially within the scope of war, peace, religion, and politics.

Below are the 25 Lessons … I encourage you to pick up the book if you are at all stimulated by these concepts. Also, I welcome all comments, especially debate and controversy!

The lessons:

  1. There is no proactive word for nonviolence.
  2. Nations that build military forces as deterrents, will eventually use them.
  3. Practitioners of nonviolence are seen as enemies of the state.
  4. Once a state takes over a religion, the religion loses its nonviolent teachings.
  5. A rebel can be defamed and co-opted, by making him a saint after he is dead (e.g. Gandhi)
  6. Somewhere behind every war, there are always a few founding lies.
  7. A propaganda machine promoting hatred always has a war awaiting in the wings.
  8. People who go to war start to resemble their enemy.
  9. A conflict between a violent and a nonviolent force is a moral argument. If the violent side can provoke the nonviolent side into violence, the violent side has won.
  10. The problem lies not in the nature of man, but in the nature of power.
  11. The longer a war lasts, the less popular it becomes.
  12. The state imagines it is impotent without a military because it cannot conceive of power without force.
  13. It is often not the largest, but the best organized and most articulate group that wins.
  14. All debate momentarily ends with an enforced silence once the first shots are fired.
  15. A shooting war is not necessary to overthrow an established power, but is used to consolidate the revolution itself.
  16. Violence does not resolve, it always leads to more violence.
  17. Warfare produces peace activists. A group of veterans is a likely place to find peace activists.
  18. People motivated by fear do not act well.
  19. While it is perfectly feasible to convince a people faced with brutal repression to raise up in a suicidal attack on their oppressor, it is almost impossible to convince them to meet deadly violence with nonviolent resistance.
  20. Wars do not have to be sold to the general public if they can be carried out by an all-voluteer professional military.
  21. Once you start the business of killing, you just get deeper and deeper without limits.
  22. Violence always comes with a supposedly rational explanation, which is only dismissed as irrational if the violence fails.
  23. Violence is a virus that infects and takes over.
  24. The miracle is, that despite all of society’s promotion of warfare, most soldiers find warfare to be a wrenching departure from their own moral values.
  25. The hard work of beginning a movement to end war has already been done.

Again… I look forward to comments, either supporting or refuting these points, and I that some of are inspired to pick up the book, as it might be like nothing you’ve ever read before.

Also, if you liked this post, please subscribe to my blog and newsletter:

Take Care of your Inner Circle (One of the Greatest Investments you can Make in Life)

by 1 Comment

Some people live incredibly fulfilling and happy lives… wealthy lives, not just financially, but in all aspects. Others, despite often working hard and long hours, studying a lot, and networking like crazy, do not reach the same level of fulfillment, even if they do reach success in their career or financial statuses.

So what’s the secret to happy and fulfilling life – wealthy in all aspects?

I don’t know the whole formula… but I can give you an important piece:

Take Care Of Your Inner Circle.

Take care of your family. Your close friends. Your loved ones.

Take care of those who take care of you, and those who you take care of will take care of you.

Not only will you personally feel more happy and fulfilled, you will actually build an unbreakable web of support around you that will be there to help propel you to success and will be there to when you are facing failure or defeat (and if you try to achieve something significant, you will find yourself facing failure and defeat at some point).

If you don’t take care of your inner circle… you will inevitably struggle to find happiness, fulfillment, and success… even if you work hard, even if you network a lot and make many connections, even if you study hard and gain specialized knowledge.

I wish I could elaborate on this topic… but it’s pretty straightforward. Take care of your inner circle.

Care, and show them you care.

Why Are Honesty and Integrity So Important?

by 1 Comment

Reposted from FreedomPassionPurpose.com ….

Without relationships, the human experience of life as we know it cannot exist. (That in itself is a blog post for another day).

Relationships are of course complicated and have many elements – but there is one element that glues it all together. That fundamental element is trust.

How do you build trust in your relationships – including your relationship with yourself?

Live your life with these two values: Honesty and Integrity.

Honesty: Be true to others in all that you do.

Integrity: Be true to yourself in all that you do.

Of course you can have varied definitions to these terms, but let’s work with these basic definitions for now.

Why are these values so damn important?

Firstly, the greatest success in life is being happy with yourself. If integrity is absent from your life, you cannot be happy with yourself. Sure, you can still pursue pleasure … but you will be blocking yourself from any real significant fulfillment. If honesty is absent, you will have to lie to yourself to be able to come “comfortably” to terms with your own actions. And the minute you lie to yourself, you violate your integrity … and in the process block yourself from true happiness and fulfillment.

If you cannot be honest with people, you cannot developing long-term meaningful relationships with them, because there is no trust.

If you are not honest with yourself … if you violate your own values, you will have difficulty trusting yourself. You will eventually become overwhelmed with doubt, and with good reason.

In an earlier post, I spoke about authenticity. Authenticity in your business is impossible without honesty and integrity in your life. Especially if you are building a business or a brand online, your moral values and the way you live your life will tie directly into the outcomes in your business.

If you think that taking a shortcut, and sacrificing your integrity, will somehow get you more money and success or more fun and pleasure, think again. You’re probably thinking short term. In the long term, violating trust with others or with yourself is the surest way to failure. Also remember to never confuse pleasure with happiness … they are very different terms and values (again, another post for another day – but the basic idea is that pleasure is a shorter term feeling while happiness is a long-term element of the human experience).

Of course, your values and the meanings you attach to honesty and integrity can be different from mine – but regardless of how you define these values, I strongly urge you to take a serious look at how you apply these values in your life, your business, and your relationships. Short-term results may be deceiving – think about the life you want to create … the person you want to become.

Please comment with your own experiences, negative or positive, regarding honesty and integrity in your life and relationships.

Ipad

How To Cultivate A Culture Of Growth

6 Growth Amplifiers To Recruit and Train A Rockstar Team

Let’s Connect

The Best Way To Stay Updated Is By Following Me On Facebook