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January
2001
Happy
2001 !
READ
THIS.
LET
IT REALLY SINK IN.
THEN
CHOOSE HOW YOU START YOUR DAY TOMORROW.
Michael
is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and
always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how
he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael
was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the
situation. Seeing this style really made me curious. So one day I went
up to Michael and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive
person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning
I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You
can choose to be in a good or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I
choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can
choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to
learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose
to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of
life. I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah,
right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes,
it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away
all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react
to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to
be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how
you live life."
I
reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the company
to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him
when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several
years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident,
falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of
surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital
with rods placed in his back.
I
saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how
he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my
scars?"
I
declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through
his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through
my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter," Michael
replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two
choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to
live."
"Weren't
you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
Michael
continued, ".The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going
to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the
expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.
In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."
"What
did you do?" I asked.
"Well
there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Michael.
"She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors
and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep
breath and yelled, 'Gravity.' Over all their laughter, I told them,
'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"
Michael
lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing
attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live
fully.
Attitude,
after all, is everything.
Therefore,
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each
day has enough trouble of its own. After all, today is the tomorrow
you worried about yesterday.
Top
of Newsletter Archive
February
2001
"Come
to the edge."
"We
can't. We are afraid."
"Come
to the edge."
"We
can't. We will fall!"
"Come
to the edge."
And
they came.
And
he pushed them.
And
they flew.
Come.
Let us fly together.
By
Guillaume Apollinaire
(French
poet-philosopher)
Top
of Newsletter Archive
March
2001
WINNERS
VS LOSERS
The
winner is always a part of the answer; the loser is always a part of
the problem.
The
winner always has a program; the loser always has an excuse.
The
winner says, "let me do it for you;" the loser says "that's not my job."
The
winner sees an answer for every problem; the loser sees a problem in
every answer.
The
winner sees a green near every sand trap; the loser sees two or three
sand traps near
every green.
The
winner says, "it may be difficult, but it's possible;" the loser says
"it may be possible, but it's too difficult."
"We
can't understand the use of praise in America. It seems childish and
superficial, but everyone seems to need it. A nurse recently told me,
"Super Job!" during a company physical when I gave her my urine sample.
She seemed to think I needed 'positive feedback' for peeing into a bottle.
It's very hard, especially when communication is difficult, to react
to all the psychological requirements of Americans."
A Japanese manager quoted in Shogun Management
By
William Byham
Top
of Newsletter Archive
April
2001
"Before
the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant
person begins something great, he must look foolish to the crowd."
----- I. Ching
"Sometimes
it takes more creativity or courage to get rid of excuses than it
does to come up with new ideas."
"It's
not so important to be serious, as it is to be serious about the
important things."
"Self-interest
is still at the core of economic motivation."
Joseph
P. Kennedy, Sr. in discussing Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange,
his words -- so the story goes -- were something like this: "There are
only two emotions that motivate people on Wall
Street: fear and greed. All the rest is bull."
"Attack
rather than defend the status quo."
"Strategic
thinking is an ongoing process, not something you do once and then abandon.
Therefore, the process allows you to adapt to change."
"Change
is a given, not a choice. The choice you have is whether or not you
want to influence the change."
Top
of Newsletter Archive
May
2001
THE
ROAD TO SOMEWHERE
"Cheshire-Puss,"said
Alice, "would you tell me, please which way I ought to go from here?"
"That
depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I
don't care where.," said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go." said the Cat.
".so
long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh,
you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
--------Lewis
Carroll, ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Top
of Newsletter Archive
June
2001
QUOTES
To teach another is the best way to learn for yourself.
When a student is ready a teacher appears, and when a teacher
is ready a student appears.
Learning is not compulsory, but neither is survival.
In the end, we retain from our studies only that which we
practically apply.
The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.
It takes a lot of things to prove you are smart,
but only one thing to prove you are ignorant.
Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.
No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.
(Turkish Proverb)
Nothing exceeds like excess.
If we don't take care of the customer, someone else will.
Try to fix the mistake - not the blame.
Listen is an anagram of "silent."
Do it now! You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.
The customer may not always be right, but the customer
is always the customer.
A failure is an opportunity to start over again, but more intelligently.
No problem can be solved until an individual assumes the
responsibility for solving it.
Top
of Newsletter Archive
July
2001
QUOTES
"You
cannot predict the future, but you can influence it by creating a vision
statement."
"The future is not what it used to be. At one time, the immediate future
looked very much like the present. Today change is so rapid that even
the immediate future can be very different from the present."
"There
are no permanent solutions, only temporary ones."
"Any opportunity you fail to take may never come your way again."
"Decision making includes action."
"The most difficult decision you make today will not affect you until
tomorrow. A strategic decision will not have a major impact on today's
activities, but it will place you in a position of leverage whereby
you can influence tomorrow's activities."
"Without
a vision of the future, a person can become directionless."
Can anyone remember when times were not hard and money was not scarce.
------Ralph
Waldo Emerson
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but
most of them never happened. ------- Mark Twain
Top
of Newsletter Archive
August
2001
WHAT IS CLASS?
Class
never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident in the knowledge
that you can meet life head on and handle whatever comes along.
Jacob
had it. Esau didn't. Symbolically, we can look to Jacob's wrestling
match with the angel. Those who have class have wrestled with their
own personal "angel" and won a victory that marks them thereafter.
Class never
makes excuses. It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.
Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners is nothing
more than a series of petty sacrifices.
Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors
or money. The most affluent blue-blood can be totally without class
while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.
Class never tries to build up by tearing others down. Class is ALREADY
up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.
Class can "walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds
and keep the common touch." Everyone is comfortable with the person
who has class -- because he is comfortable with himself.
If you have class you don't need much of anything else. If you don't
have it, no matter what else you do -- it doesn't make much difference.
Top
of Newsletter Archive
September 2001
"The
illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read.
It will be the person who does not know how to learn." - Alvin Tofler
"All
truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second,
it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
- Schnopenaur
I've
learned that silent company is often more healing than words of
advice.
I've
learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live
so that no one will believe it.
I've
learned that the road to success and the road to happiness are two
lanes of the same highway. And the toll you must pay is simply being
true to yourself.
I've
learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don't
know how to show it.
I've
learned that you can make someone's day by simply sending them a
little card.
I've
learned that the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater
his need to cast blame on others.
I've
learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle
these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas
tree lights.
I've
learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.
I've
learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've
learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if
you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting
new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find
you.
I've
learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually
make the right decision.
I've
learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've
learned that I still have a lot to learn.
Top
of Newsletter Archive
October 2001
WHY
DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
KINDERGARTEN
TEACHER: To get to the other side.
PLATO: For the greater good.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross roads.
KARL
MARX: It was an historical inevitability.
SADDAM
HUSSEIN: This was an unprovoked act of rebellion; and we were quite
justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on the chicken.
RONALD
REAGAN: I forgot.
CAPTAIN
JAMES T. KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
HIPPOCRATES: Because of an excess of phlegm in its pancreas.
ANDERSON
CONSULTING: Deregulation of the chicken's side of the road was
threatening its dominant market position. The chicken was faced with
significant challenges to create and develop the competencies required
for the newly competitive market. Anderson Consulting, in a partnering
relationship with the client, helped the chicken by rethinking its
physical distribution strategy and implementation processes, using
the Poultry Integration Mode.
Top
of Newsletter Archive
November
2001
QUIET CONFIDENCE
One
man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down
to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do this,
but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and
he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know
what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes,
and he seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper
fruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the game,
a bee when it has made the honey, so a man, when he has done a good
act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on
to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.
-------Teachings
of Marcus Aurelius
Top
of Newsletter Archive
THE
WINDOW
Two
men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was
allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain
the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked
for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes,
their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had
been on vacation.
Every
afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would
pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could
see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those
one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by
all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked
a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while
children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst
flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be
seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in
exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close
his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man
by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man
couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman
by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Days
and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water
for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window,
who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the
hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate,
the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse
was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable,
she left him alone.
Slowly,
painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look
at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the
window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse
what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such
wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man
was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just
wanted to encourage you."
Epilogue:
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own
situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared,
is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you
have that money can't buy.
"Today
is a gift, that's why it is called the present."
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