December 7, 2020
Good morning! Seventy-nine years ago by later this morning was the infamous Pearl Harbor attack… meaning anyone involved is now no younger than his/her late 90s. The event plunged us body, mind, and soul into a war to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. It also cast us in the role of helping to save the entire world from tyrants; that mission never ends. Recess is no fun when there is a bully on the playground.
- Punkin pie won in a landslide, not even close, making me think, “What kind of punkin pie are these people eating exactly?!”
- Pecan was a distant second with the other nominees embarrassingly far behind.
- Does the December sun deliver warmth? Sometimes.
- We’ve been blessed with an abundance of sun the last several days; hiking is easier and much more enjoyable sans ice.
- Yet, the ice is as perennial as flowers in springtime or colorful foliage in fall.
- Imagine my surprise as just a few days ago I was hiking in the warmth of December to discover the river frozen shore-to-shore without it ever having sent a notice to any of us.
- You can observe it happening all around you: Social Interaction Starvation vs. COVID Strangulation… which will win?
- Let’s start a new practice, you and I.
- This is conceptual, make it work for you literally. You’re no doubt familiar with the watchwords, Pay Yourself First.
- The idea is to put away 10% of your paycheck into savings each week, no excuses, no cheating, just do it! Pay yourself first.
- The average person works about 50 hours each week on average.
- Let’s begin to set aside at least five hours each week, selfishly (that can be a good word), for refueling and refreshing ourselves — on purpose.
- Schedule things into your calendar just for you — things that will refresh and refuel you… schedule them or they won’t happen.
- It doesn’t have to be five hours in a row, just an honest cumulative, nonnegotiable total of FIVE HOURS each week to refill your tank.
- Let’s start a new practice, you and I.
- “…the idea of the future being different from the present is so repugnant to our conventional modes of thought and behaviour that we, most of us, offer a great resistance to acting on it in practice.” (Keynes, 1937)
- Regression toward the mean is among the strongest forces we encounter.
- Don’t believe it?
- Try sustaining a goal based on daily hiking (steps), calories consumed, quality sales calls completed, revenue generated, or distance traveled.
- Miss a day or two and see what it does to your average. Can you recover? Maybe. Be honest.
- Do you use a wall calendar? I do because I enjoy the macro view as well as the more immediate micro view.
- This one I’ll send you for 2021 features gorgeous photographs of iconic scenic locales and it has space to write reminders to yourself.
- I have a limited number of these calendars and will mail one to you as long as the inventory persists.
- Send me the address to which you want it mailed… I’ll even autograph it.
- “People with purpose, goals, and vision have no time for drama. They invest their energy in creativity and focus on living a positive life.” (Leadership First)
- If you build your brand by telling stories you will make a much greater impact than if you use just logic or communicate facts.
- Don’t believe it? Please tell me about the last fact-based or statistically-centric slide show you snoozed to?
Prepare to Disagree if You Want Diversity at Work
- “If you want to have diversity and inclusion in your organization, you have to be prepared to disagree. While homogenous groups are more confident in their performance, diverse groups are often more successful in completing tasks.” (Enderlein)
