I got out of the habit of good habits. My Mom visited me a few weeks ago. The following week I celebrated a birthday over the course of a few days. Then we welcomed a new nephew to our family. We spent time in the hospital and visiting. I loved seeing my Mom. I had a great time for my birthday. It was wonderful spending time with family to celebrate the nephew. I changed my routine that week. I adapted it to the circumstances. I had been working out 6 days/week. I lost 10 lbs. … [Read more...]
Are you on the right path?
August 31, 2011 by
I got in my car. My intuition told me to go to the Pearl Cup. The one downtown. I've never been there. Downtown has no parking. I begrudged to my intuition, "There won't be parking. I don't want to." I drove to the Downtown Pearl Cup. I figured I was supposed to meet someone. A mysterious crossing of paths. I arrived. I circled the block. Then peered in. There was nobody inside. I came to a stop when my wife called. My intuition chimed in when I was on the phone. "Drive … [Read more...]
What if you don’t want to?
August 30, 2011 by
There will times that you don't want to work. There will be times that you don't want to smile. There are times you don't want to be friendly. There will be times when you don't want to deliver. Do it anyway. It doesn't have to be perfect. I just has to be done. … [Read more...]
Is your hole deep enough?
August 26, 2011 by
Rich told me he had no room for error. He has no money in the bank. If the business he bought doesn't turn around - quickly - his family doesn't eat. Rich is motivated. He's in a pretty deep hole. Joe just had to sell one of his businesses. He wasn't investing in it. The business got pretty run down ... Like an old house that hasn't been maintained. Joe is on the tail end of his business life. He's got the money he needs to finish this ride called life. Joe doesn't have a very deep hole. … [Read more...]
Old school – What is limiting job growth?
August 16, 2011 by
Jobs. The latest 4 letter word being thrown across the aisle in Washington ... before Congress took a 1 month vacation. There is a battle for your hearts, minds, and votes. There is a problem with the jobs debate. The debate is based on the pre-1992 economy. We are arguing about an economy that died when new technologies took on life. We are arguing about a service economy that required people to deliver service. The post 1992 economy is different. Frederick Winslow Taylor created … [Read more...]
Bye-bye, Borders!
July 20, 2011 by
This morning I was reading about Borders Bookstore on Inc.com. They are closing the book on Borders. Their remaining 399 stores are closing their doors. What happened? They couldn't escape their own gravity. Borders evolved to be the Wal-mart of bookstores. They delivered an expansive inventory that small shops couldn't compete with. They had the same impact on mom and pop book shops that Wal-mart has had on small retailers. The small shops died. The small shops couldn't compete on … [Read more...]
Perfect is a myth… A simple way to overcome it
July 15, 2011 by
I said, "Quality is overrated." Richard's jaw dropped. This was heresy to a man of German heritage like Richard. I took time to explain. If we wait for perfection to get something out the door, we can wait a long time. A working prototype comes before the good enough product. Focus on getting to "It works ... enough" before striving for perfection. Ernest Hemingway said "The first draft of anything is sh!t." The first draft of anything is a draft completed. It is a completed piece of … [Read more...]
Is Something is better than nothing?
July 3, 2011 by
We knocked on the door. Dogs barked. We stood waiting. The dogs stopped. Jen texted Henry to let him know we were at his door. A minute later his girlfriend opened the door. It was our first time to meet. We walked in. Henry was in an explosion last week. He experienced burns that will take a while to heal. He was in the hospital for a couple of days. He got home today. A friend of ours called to let us know what happened. We picked some things up for Henry. We forgot to pick … [Read more...]
The problem with the perfect plan
July 2, 2011 by
I was listening to Car Talk on NPR. Click and Clack were following up with a caller from an earlier show. The caller wanted to transport a chicken coop via the highway on a snowmobile trailer. Click and Clack told him it wouldn't work. They were right. Chicken Coop guy's perfect plan was changed in real time as they tried to implement it. They managed to move the coop with the snowmobile trailer. But not where they needed to move it. The snowmobile trailer died in town after a valiant … [Read more...]
Finish or fail … how to cross the finish line
July 1, 2011 by
I started looking for photos and links for my content more lately. The goal was a more polished product. It was also better Google ranking and more readers. The work doubled the time to write and publish. It became hard to to finish. My main goal here is to write and finish. It's to cultivate a habit of consistent execution. And to live by example. I let something that was outside of my main goal get in the way. I started falling behind. I started finishing less. Know what your … [Read more...]
