You

Your next four years.

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Whether you're waking up happy or sad, satisfied or dissatisfied, it's a good morning to keep things in perspective. No matter if you supported Obama, Romney, or someone else, I can 100% guarantee you that the person who will have the most influence on your next four years is YOURSELF.

Give yourself a vote of support today by setting aside your usual worries, insecurities, and doubts. Instead, spend a bit of time thinking about what you hope to contribute to the world around you. What's your four-year platform?

Let's talk about you. There are two possibilities.

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It could be that you have nothing to offer — no skills, no talent, no prospects, and all of the doubts you harbor about yourself are pretty much true.

Or it could be that the world has deep needs that you are uniquely qualified to address. It could be that you were put on this earth to be the exact right key for a specific lock of change that will remain tightly shut without your part. It could be that you are the precise bit of effort needed to push the needle of change on the human condition a bit more towards justice, equality, and happiness.

Which is it?

An Easter thought for you.

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Whether or not Easter is part of your spiritual tradition, it is part of mine — and so it is without expectation and with a full heart that I say, Happy Easter to you all. I’m wishing you a personal rebirth today in whatever form is most meaningful for you.

In particular, I’m wishing you a few moments of reflection and realization that your role is critical and unique; that it is never too late to influence our shared future, because that future always lies in front of us; and that despite our indulgence for cynicism and self-defeat, a better world is solidly within our grasp.

May today be the bud of at least one of those blossoms for you.

Update: No one needs to hear you say you were right.

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You probably were, and you probably saw it coming a mile away. Whatever it is — the big failure, the big success, the huge win, the huge obstacle — yep, you probably called it weeks ago. Whoa! You were way out in front of that one!

But the moments when you are most tempted to say “HA! I knew it!” are probably the moments when you most need to close your mouth, inhale your hubris, and slowly chew your words. You’ll have a bigger impact by saying, “Hey, how could anyone have known? We all did it. Let’s move forward together.”