Archive for the 'Lifestyle' Category

Jan 19 2011

Conquering Anxiety

Shakin’ in your boots?

 

In business, we often (sometimes even every hour –or minute– or two) find ourselves in a position of needing to deliver something under duress . . . a product, service, idea, proposal, message, estimate, document, presentation, bank balance, operational failure, employee or customer or supplier problem. And delivery is always in Eastern, Central, Rocky Mountain or La-La Land Crunch Time.

Anxiety, says Webster, is the painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind over an impending or anticipated ill, or concern or interest . . . abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by psychological signs (such as sweating, tension, and increased pulse) . . . and by self doubt. Not the stuff of entrepreneurs, you say?  Contraire mon fraire!

Sure entrepreneurs are self-confident and self-motivated and filled with burning desire, but they are also basket cases when it comes time for delivery of the goods — a business plan to investors, a loan app to the bank, a new operating system.

Why is that”?

Entrepreneurs are uniquely suited to have more at stake with every decision than any corporate or government manager.

Period.

Not very unlike the mindsets of our military heroes, entrepreneurs put their very (life, home, and family) existences on the line with virtually every decision every day.

Although no one in our present top level of American government has yet to acknowledge this truth or taken steps to capitalize on it: entrepreneurs are, when all is said and done, the movers and shakers of society.

Entrepreneurs are the catalysts of job market creation and employment opportunities — they are the only viable resource to tap for reversing and strengthening America’s economy. That’s a lot of angst to carry around.

Okay, so the conquering part:

  •  Take some deep breaths.

  • Recognize that anxiousness is a behavior and that behaviors are choices so why choose agita when you can just as easily make up your mind to instead choose calm self-control?

  • Focus on the here-and-now present moment as much as possible because everything else (since it’s not here, now) is pure fantasy!

  • Learn as much as you possibly can about your SELF and the things that make you come together as a person, as a leader, as an innovator.

  • Surround yourself with positive people, positive events, positive pursuits, and a positive environment as often as possible.

  • Don’t be afraid to seek out professional reality or Gestalt therapy or group guidance if you feel yourself drifting too far into the past or future too often. It doesn’t mean you’re losing it; it means you’re smart enough to recognize your shortcomings and to do something about them. It puts you in the top percent of enlightened human beings on this planet (which you clearly are if you’re reading this! Thanks for being here. Come again.).

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Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jan 18 2011

THE MUSIC OF BUSINESS

When what goes on day to day

                                             

brings to mind a certain

                                                                    

old song or two . . .

 

 

I know, I know, you’re not the first one to tell me I’m crazy. Just because I think of different business people and situations whenever I hear certain old tunes doesn’t mean I’m ready for that big nuthouse in the sky.

But it IS interesting to think about how parallel some favorite lyrics can run to the good and bad fortunes of your business. No, not “The Eve of Destruction.”

Consider, just as an example, the three plays in a row I heard recently on Sirius 33:

James Taylor:

“I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain…sunny days that I thought would never end…lonely times that I could not find a friend…” 

Bob Seger:

Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then…I’m older now, but still running against the wind…”

and Jackson Browne:

“Running on empty.”

                                                                                                            

All three of those sets of words have applied to my business and many clients’ businesses many times over the years. Some, in fact, hold varying amounts of truth today. (You think Jackson Browne had some premonition about gas prices?)

Then, how about that great old inspirational song from that great old group, AMERICA:

This is for all the lonely people, thinking that life has passed them by . . . don’t give up until you drink from the silver cup and ride that highway in the sky!” 

 

                                                        

Music, it seems to me –considering it in both a business context and the reality of life– has a funny way of opening up some of the wounds it heals and healing some of the wounds it opens. Does that make sense? You don’t have to be a shrink to see the truth of that. 

This observation is not limited to pop music, by the way. I think the dynamic of stirring up old emotions and creating new ones applies equally to classical music as it does to rap or jazz or any other style of creative musical expression.

Why else do we tap our feet and fingers, hum along, and sometimes just drift off into the mental or emotional space that music suggests?

                                                                 

Certainly, advertising jingle and commercial background music producers plus cinematic music specialists  know the heartstrings-tugging value of an oboe, a violin, or a wailing tenor sax, and how to make it play to trigger emotions.

These people are also acutely aware of the importance of maintaining some denomination of 80 beats per minute to best coincide with the average human heartbeat, and use that tool to help reach the unconscious mind through the ears and absorbed vibrations. 

Is there music in your workspace? Does it help or hinder productivity? Inspire creativity? Innovation? Is it the same music you listen to when you’re not on the job? (HA! Are you ever not on the job? Hey, YOU chose to be an entrepreneur.)

Anyway, dredge up some happy stuff (there actually is a little of it out there!) and sing away. That action alone is a terrific stress reducer, and we can’t have enough of that as we plunge onward into 2011.  

 

 

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www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

One response so far

Jan 17 2011

As The World Learns

Are you making money

                                     

or providing healthcare?

                                                            

The mission of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and all affiliated healthcare-related and therapeutic professions is to provide healthcare services. Emotional-based businesses and professions trying to sell rational doses of reassurance

The mission of all for-profit and (surprise) not-for-profit entities is to provide products, services, and ideas in exchange for money or other dollar-value products and services. Rationally-reassuring-based businesses and organizations trying to sell emotional triggers.  

And rarely if ever do “the twains” seem to meet.

Yet, each side of that two-edged coin has much to learn from the other.

They can protest ’til they’re blue in the face and spitting wooden nickles, but truth is there is barely a doctor, nurse, hospital or affiliated healthcare-related or therapeutic profession that knows the first thing about the realities of marketing.

                                                   

It’s as rare as finding an 1861 three-cent piece in your pocket change that businesses have as much customer care savvy as an ICU nurse or front line physical therapist.

Oh, you say, but that’s not a fair comparison because business is business is business, and who can be worried about a customer problem after she or he has left the store, office, showroom, or work site. After all, we’re not in business to hold hands and pat heads.

Ah, but business is in business to cater to customers before, during and after (and long after) purchase because it’s the only way to grow the future. Boast all you want about your databases and efforts to serve the customer after the sale is made, but reality is that if you’re not doing something dramatically positive with past customers –and especially long after the sale– you’re missing the message!

What can you learn now from your past customers?

How? What’s holding you back?

(You had better be “holding hands”!) 

                                                 

Hospitals have the whole lifelong loop covered. They are tenacious about providing fall-over services at every level, to present and past patients and families. They haven’t a clue about how to attract attention, create interest, stimulate desire, and bring about action, but they sure do know how to ensure satisfaction (maybe not with the bills and insurance tangles, but definitely one-on-one!)

Businesses need to take a page from that and appreciate that today’s customer should NEVER have  a reason for not also being tomorrow’s customer.

                                                                   

As the world gets smaller by time and communication transmission, we face enormously bigger and better opportunities to learn from one another.

And -yes– even hospitals and healthcare professionals with no business skills have an instinctive sense of customer momentum. Almost all of us could stand a booster shot of customer momentum as we troop through the daily grand rounds of our work sites and work stations, our staffr and employee meetings, and our customer encounters at every level. Think it. Try it. Do it. STOP studying things so much! Surprise yourself! 

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302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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Jan 06 2011

Self-Motivation (Part 2 of 2)

Self-Motivation?

                            

I heard you

                                                    

stayed up all night

                        

talking to yourself?

                                                       

Couldn’t wait to see

                                     

Part 2? Here it is:

 

(Oh, and be sure to check out the P.S. at the end!)

                                                                                               

What are some other ways to motivate yourself besides talking to yourself?

When you’re feeling negative and you surround yourself with yourself, you set yourself up to lose. When you surround yourself with positive people, who are productive, achievement-oriented, and generally cheerful, you are setting yourself up to cultivate positive thoughts and positive attitudes.

When you find yourself feeling like you’re drowning in a sea of negativity, or overwhelmed by negative people or circumstances, remember you control your own brain and your own behavior . . . it is a choice, your choice. Choose to “change the station in your brain to best fit the circumstances. Dial in HAPPY-FM because “happy” works. 

Ask yourself what’s the worst thing could happen if you get up to the plate and swing instead of cower in the dugout corner?

You might strike out? Babe Ruth’s record number of hume runs ran in tandem with his record number of strikeouts.

Thomas Edison made 10,000 attempts before succeeding at inventing the lightbulb.

                                                                                                    

All logical rational stuff, you might be thinking, but negative feelings are not always logical or rational. True, but your ability to rise above them can be.

Learn what triggers your “throw in the towel” attitude and the feelings you typically experience just before that happens, then use that trigger instead to remind yourself to take some deep breaths. Use the couple of seconds worth of deep breathing as a focal point that allows you to shut down the upsets, crank up the positive side of what’s happening, and turn the situation around by simply choosing to turn it around.

Here’s what’s worth remembering (besides talking to yourself with conviction, three times a day, for 21 days): Use these tools (deep breathing and self-talk and awareness of choosing behavior) to force yourself to concentrate on the present, here-and-now moments in your life, as each moment passes, as much and as often as you possibly can.

Just in case of some disconnect as to why one would want to do this in the first place: The past is over and cannot be changed. The future has not yet come (and may never). Now is the only time. Or, as the now famous quote goes from B. Olatunji:

“Yesterday is history.

 Tomorrow is mystery.

Today is a gift.

That’s why it’s called the present.”

                                                                 

It may not be possible for us to live in the present moment 100% of the time, but odds are pretty good that most of us aren’t even doing that 20%-30% of the time, so there’s lots of room to grow and improve. And improving just this one single thing about yourself will improve your daily existence measurably. Again, give it 21 days. You will astound yourself with all you can accomplish and enjoy.

You doubt it? Then you’re proving the point that you become what you think about. The choices –happy and healthy or upset and ill– are 100% your choices. Make yourself a happy camper, and watch your business perform as never before. Surely your business is worth a 21-day trial?

Need a boost? Give me a call and we’ll talk. No fee to talk. No sales pitch. Anyone who wants more will ask for it and maybe then, we can discuss some terms, but this post isn’t about money. It’s about helping you to strengthen your SELF, in order to strengthen your business.

By the way, the very short video at the “P.S.” link below should give you a jump start, maybe even launch your rocket!

P.S. Click HERE: Could you possibly have

a bad day after starting off like this?

 

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jan 05 2011

Self-Motivation (Part 1 of 2)

Giddy-up Gone?

                                                

Talking to yourself

                        

too little too late?

 

 

Have you been secretly worried about talking to (and even with) yourself? Has it crossed your mind that you were becoming one of those “men-with-the-white-jacket-are-coming” basket cases? Take heart! Yes-sir-reebob!

You are, instead, probably (notice I leave a little squeeze room for those of you on the cusp) about as normal as blueberry pie. Actually, the worrying part is what hangs your mind in the balance. In other words, if you have to worry, worry about your worrying!

Bottom line is that all of us talk to and with ourselves (no,I am not referring to those who spend hours a day at it). We do this because verbal expression (like a pilot reciting her or his checklist out loud before taxiing onto the runway) serves to clarify and enhance, and prompt focus. I never knew a good writer who didn’t speak out loud what she or he had written before calling it “a wrap.”

“So, self, here we go. It’s time to share one of life’s great secrets.”

“Okay, I’m game. Let’s hear what your J.K.Rawling/Dan Brown tangled web of mysticism can reveal for all us normal folk who chatter away at ourselves in cars, closets, beds, and walking down the street.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Hey, I don’t know much about

Harry Potter’s chambers or DiVinci’s codes,

but I discovered 35 years ago that “self-talk

motivates, heals, humors, and strengthens.

Not sure? I’ll give you a quickie to try –improvise as you see fit to adapt it for yourself. I’ll also offer you a pack-on promise that if you say and repeat what’s below (or your own version) out loud, to yourself, like you truly mean it (even when you don’t feel up to it) three times a day, every day, for 21 days, you will be happier, healthier and more productive.

You will feel better!

( . . .and it’s free; in fact, you’ve nothing to lose but stress and upsets; how hard is that to argue with?)

Recite/Chant it exercising, or laying down, or standing on your head while spitting wooden nickles. Do it any time or place (except driving or operating heavy equipment, or with drugs or alcohol in your system). Concentrate on each word as you say it. It works. Period. Free. No charge. Me to you. Make it happen:

Healing energy into my body.

Healing energy into my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am relaxed, happy, alert, and weigh the weight I want to weigh.

I am healthy, wealthy, painfree, safe and sound, and physically fit.

Today (“Tomorrow” when reciting at night) is the first day of my new life and I’m going to make (“am making” when reciting midday) it count.

I will make today (tomorrow) special for someone!   

All the great motivational and self-development gurus who ever lived share and practice similar methods. . . from Brian Tracy to Napoleon Hill and Wayne Dyer.

Try Zig Ziglar’s prescribed daily morning ritual recitation which starts with two hand claps as soon as you open your eyes in the morning:

(Clap, Clap) “Oh, boy, what a GREAT day to wake up and get going! I believe something wonderful is going to happen to me today!” 

Saying it like you mean it, from your heart, and concentrating on each word is –again– the key to success. Doing it consistently even when you would rather sleep or eat or play games on your computer, is your insurance policy that it will indeed produce results.

I am assuming of course that you ARE interested in producing results?

TOMORROW: Self-Motivation (Part 2 of 2)

– Same time, same channel.

# # # 

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

4 responses so far

Jan 04 2011

YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS! Nine. Eight. S

TEN  SECONDS !

                                               

Front burner food for thought

                                  

for every sales and

                               

leadership encounter!

First, recognize that every form of leadership gets its salt and pepper from the world of professional sales, and particularly for spicing up the first ten seconds of every encounter, which is the amount of time used to “size up” a leader or a sales pro.

Second, since everybody seems to love acronyms (especially all those tax-dollar-paycheck-justification head-cases in government and big corporations), here’s another acronym to write on the palm of your hand . . . or on your knee, perhaps, if you wear skirts:

TEN SECONDS

(I hear your brain ticking away as we speak.)

T

TONE— Set the TONE by being on time with your neat, clean appearance (from clean shoes and clothes, to deodorized skin, clean nails and teeth, and neat hair — briefcases and pocketbooks count too!). YOUR VISUAL APPEARANCE consumes second #1 of being “sized up.” The same dynamics apply to email and text messages that appear crisp and friendly, that don’t assume too much with abbreviations and attitude.

E

EVERY — EVERY smile :<) is a free gift you can give to others. Make it genuine (people can tell, even by phone, when it’s not). It consumes second #2. And E is also for EYE CONTACT (neither probing or riveting stares, nor sideways glances). Keep in mind that people can also tell when a phone call connection is distracted. Ask if you’re interrupting. Offer to call back.

N

NUANCE — Your handshake (neither bone-crusher nor fish fillet) takes up second #3 and either confirms and reinforces the first two seconds, OR raises a mental-red-flag cause for doubt about you and the products/services/ideas you represent.

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-T. . .

S

START — START with a friendly clear greeting and question.

E

EACH — Remember that EACH of the first ten seconds that passes will make or break your sale or degree of leadership acceptance.

C

CONVERSATION— Begin with a brief (“elevator speech”) summary that “BILLBOARDS” what you have to sell: Use emotional triggers. Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and an end, and that’s persuasive . . . all in seven words or less, then ask for the sale (since it takes 5-6 attempts to close a sale, you can’t start asking too soon).

O

OPEN — OPEN your ears and listen with care. Ideally, you’ll listen 80% of the time after these first ten seconds, and speak 20%.

N

NOTE — NOTE what’s said (and what’s not said) right from the git-go. Actually write it down. Ask the speaker to slow down so you can jot a couple of reminder notes of what she/he says. Ask for examples. Nothing flatters like an attentive listener and note taker.

D

DECIDE — DECIDE if the prospect is worth your time and energy (especially on a trade or professional show or showroom floor) and politely dismiss yourself from window-shoppers and tire-kickers when you’re busy. When you’re not, get engaged and practice!

S

SELL — Too many salespeople (!) and leaders forget to sell!

# # #

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No responses yet

Jan 03 2011

Top 10, Bottom 10, This 10, That 10…ENOUGH!

Yikes! So What? Who Cares? 

                                        

Give It Up! Get Back To Work!

VISIT THIS POST  AT iSalesman.com

                                                        

If I read one more article, website comment, blog post or magazine cover offering to enlighten me on The Ten Best (fill in the blank) of 2010 or The Ten Worst (fill in the blank) of 201o or The Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Have (fill in the blank) in 2010, I’m going to jump out of my skin (and that will not be a pleasant sight)!

STOP with This 10 and That 10! Enough already!

Review it?

Okay, if you’ve nothing else to do.

Dwell on it?

Not okay, unless you’re a stalk of celery waiting for a dip.

                                                                

Give it up! Get back to work! Unless there was some outstanding, earth-shattering  play, nobody in their right mind sits around watching more after-game replays of the game that they’ve just watched (including the 14,786 replays that they already watched during the game!)

New Year’s always does this. It makes people nuts!

Business and professional practice owners rush to look back at who and what did better and worse than they did in the past year, which is (ahem!) past?

Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that the past is over and nothing can be done to change it . . . so, who cares who was best and worst and in-between?

What’s happening this minute? Ah!

                                                                                       

If we could pull together all the collective time we waste looking back at who did what to whom and why B happened when A was supposed to happen, and could apply that to productive forward movement, small business would be in the economy’s driver’s seat, where small business belongs, instead of our inept government “servants” (who do indeed serve themselves admirably).

Wallowing in the past has never –N~E~V~E~R– moved anyone forward. Now, I’m not talking about remembering stuff, nor even occasional reminiscing (which can serve to relax the stressed-out mind that’s overloaded with here-and-now focus).

No, I speak of the guy you went to high school with. You know him. He’s the one who’s still hanging out in the same local bar with his 30-year-old winning touchdown as conversation topic one. 

Okay, so we can put this disastrous 2010 year behind us, right?

Now that’s a good thing, but that doesn’t authorize us to jump ahead to the point of worrying about 2011.

And kill off those empty New Year’s Resolutions that waste even more time deciding on and pursuing.

It simply means it’s time to roll up your sleeves, get your glove and get back into the game . . . get back to work.

Forget those philosophical Tweets you read: It’s time to work harder, not smarter.

                                                                                   

You’re already smart enough to succeed or you wouldn’t be here reading this. Working harder doesn’t mean physical labor or adding hours or wearing 20 hats instead of the 18 you’ve had on.

It means working harder to keep your mind in the here-and-now present moment as much of the time as possible — because it’s the only way to make your business and your career succeed.

You thought this was just a modus operandi for surgeons? Wrong! You are, in what you do and the ways you do it, a surgeon in your own right.

You take a history, do an examination, test, interpret results, form a treatment plan, perform the necessary procedures, decide on a prognosis, start therapeutic action to accelerate recovery, re-examine, and set up a maintenance plan.

So the bottom line, Doctor Business Owner and Manager, is to stop wasting time analyzing 2010, and start attacking 2011. Now. One patient’s needs at a time! 

# # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

2 responses so far

Dec 29 2010

Worst 10 NO-NO Words for 2011

STOP holding your breath!

                                      

Just don’t use these words.

                               

Reported in today’s Marketing VOX/News, are the results of LinkedIn‘s survey of its 85 million member profiles. Among other things, the Top 10 most-overused buzz words (and word pairs) by professionals in the United States are itemized.

I have presented them here for your own personal and business branding edification, and for your editing and deletion pleasure, as you beef up your turn-over-a-new-leaf-for-2011 identity and add some transparency to your camouflaged bio sales spiel.

You know the “identity” and “spiel” I’m talking about . . . it’s that “profile” thing . . . the one you’ve plastered across the Internet with your ten-year-old, hold-your-breath-in photo? That’s the one. 

It’s that sweet, down-home, good-ol’-boy (or, you-go-girl) slick-and-nifty (you remember them?) packaged presentation of you.

How do I know? Because I’ve seen you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Salesblogcast, BizBrag, NAYMZ, Plaxo, ActiveRain, EConsultancy, Merchant Circle, Technorati, iSalesman, WordPress, and the 37 gazillion other sites you subscribe to, or have an account with.

It’s 2011. It’s time to clean up your act!

                                                                                                                    

According to LinkedIn findings (And I mean, really, how could 85 MILLION people be wrong?) :

You would be well-advised to cease and desist use of any of the following words in resumes, business blog posts, email and website content, media and direct mail advertising (and, yes, in your hot little profile) for fear of being over-buzzed:

  1. Extensive Experience

  2. Innovative

  3. Motivated

  4. Results-Oriented

  5. Dynamic

  6. Proven Track-Record

  7. Team Player

  8. Fast-Paced

  9. Problem Solver

  10. Entrepreneurial

                                                                        

In answer to your next question: No, I do not pretend to be immune from the stupidity of the masses in using these descriptive terms. I have used them all (maybe that’s how they got overused?), and –in fact– I am probably among the leaders of all active online Americans in continuing to use them (I know, I know, a visit from the devil is coming!). But I promise to start cleaning house.

And you can take that promise to the bank. You know why? Of course you do. You were waiting for this, right? Well here y’go:

Because my extensive experience in igniting innovative, motivated, results-oriented commitments to change is accompanied by a proven track-record of dynamic proportions. Furthermore, as a team player, I am dedicated to being an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, problem solver who delivers words that sell — online and beyond.

Then again, sometimes “overused” (like with my 20-year-old workboots that are more comfortable and better made than anything sold on this planet) can be a good thing — especially when “entrepreneurial” is in your blog heading!

Tune in tomorrow for a special New Year’s message.

 

# # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

One response so far

Dec 28 2010

Carpe Momento!

Seize the moment!

 

Trying to “Carpe Diem” (grab hold of an entire day) in these relentless times, can breed toxic troubles in your relationships and send chills up the spine of your bankbook. But “moment at a time” works.

                                                                                                  

The days are history when we all thought we could bite off more than we could chew and get away with it. Carpe Diem–from its humble creation by lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (known primarily as “Horace”) between 65BC and 8BC–has quietly and dormantly stood the test of time, even up to 22 years ago! 1989? What happened then?

Robin Williams’ inspiring performance as a 1959 boys prep school teacher in the classic movie, Dead Poets Society, reinvigorated and redefined the seize the day expression for an entire generation. Most of you who are reading this right this minute were at least around at the time of that screen debut. But guess what?

The breakneck speed of technology has so revolutionized our world so rapidly that even THAT is now ancient history.

Life is moving so fast.

Almost all business is a reflection of the needs and wants of the societies and communities that house each of them.

Business owners and managers are scrambling just to keep pace . . . even as they continue to struggle with the still plummeting economy and job market. 

                                                                                                            

There’s a steadily emerging new emphasis on immediacy and responsiveness. FOR INDIVIDUALS, this means getting out of and away from that unproductive, hope-based, dreamlike existence so many have chosen to pursue and, instead, start taking action!

Return messages. What are the most productive roles to play with needy friends? Without meddling or trying to commandeer the day, provide here-and-now support where you can.

As with 3-D Leadership, lead by example. Teach yourself to respond instead of react! Pace yourself to match your capabilities, but don’t underestimate what you’re capable of, especially when you don’t need to block out a full day to get ‘er done! Oh, and trust yourself more, will you?!

Don’t just live FOR the moment.

Live IN it!

                                                                   

This translates to having a more pointed sense of urgency. FOR BUSINESS, having a present-moment mindset can’t help but impact the bottom line positively. Let all dealings with employees, customers, investors, referrers, vendors and suppliers, professional services ring with a Do It Now! attitude . . . from finance to operations to marketing.

Responsiveness

is the new transparency

because responsiveness is

    married to responsibility!  

                                                                         

Yes, we all need to be more on top of our lives and our businesses in 2011 than we were in 2010. With a full third of our existences (2,920 hours a year) consumed by needed sleep –or wishing we could– we’re left with 5,840 hours of awake time. This of course hasn’t changed much since the beginning of time, but the rate at which we consume those 5,840 hours has slammed our sensibilities.

Well, the way I see it is that seizing any single day out of 365 is not really within the realm of possibility anymore (unless it means rocking on the nursing home porch), but I sure as hell can seize one minute at a time! And my reward is that it keeps me in touch with the fun and reality of the personal and business lives I lead without leaving much room for upsets, stress, and disappointment. 

How do YOU see it?

 

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302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

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Dec 23 2010

CHRISTMAS IN KILLARNEY

A toy truck, a stroller, 

                                         

and pub coasters

                                        

strung with dental floss…

__________

                                             

A Christmas-in-Ireland Memory

(Featured Christmas Post for December 23- December 26, with no commercial interruptions. Fresh new daily blog posts on business and personal development will begin again on Monday, December 27th. Please return then, and please enjoy the archive insights anytime.)

Thank you for your visit!

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  A few years ago, Kathy and I made a return trip to the West Coast of Ireland.  This particular visit was  inspired and romanticized by the classic Bing Crosby Christmas song, “Christmas In Killarney.”  We spent our first Christmas away from home in the Southwest (County Kerry) corner of Ireland, at Killarney Country Club. 

___________

     Up a rocky, grass-between-the-tires dirt road from downtown Killarney, jockeying “the wrong side” car controls to bounce cheerfully along between the seemingly endless stone walls that separated cows from sheep, we drove under an archway and pulled into the courtyard of a two-story brick complex that reminded me of “Gone With The Wind.” 

     There was one other car at the far end.  We parked, followed the sign to the office, and at front desk found a smiling, green-eyed, freckled face young lady with what else but a bubbling thick Irish accent . 

     We registered and unpacked into a spacious two-bedroom upstairs arrangement, with living room and kitchen downstairs.  Our windows overlooked the courtyard and pathway to the Country Club Pub.  Farmland hills peppered the distant views.

     It seems when I think back –after the first day of being sneered at by a non-English speaking tourist family of six who seemed to resent us poking our heads in to take the front desk clerk’s invitation to check out the odd, three-foot-deep, indoor pool they had commandeered– that we were actually the only guests there for the rest of the (Christmas) week. 

___________

     We made the bumpy drive into town every day, a beautiful, historic, bustling hub filled with happy holiday shopping locals who appeared to be warming up for the coming Saint Steven’s Day celebration that started the day after Christmas, and pretty much shut down the country for twelve days.

     Most of the shoppers we observed seemed to visit a shop or two, then stop in a pub, then visit a shop or two, then stop in a pub . . . you get the idea. So, “When in Rome…” or Killarney, as the case may be, we simply followed the crowd.

     I’ll always remember clusters of rowdy-looking teenagers huddled together on sidewalks, laughing and smoking and being teenagers, suddenly backing up out of the way as we approached (smiling, gesturing us past, saying “Good Marnin’ ta’ya!” and the boys actually tipping their caps) to let us walk through. Who knew?

     Of course we didn’t spend all of our time in town. We drove hundreds of miles of picturesque unspoiled (and un-littered) countryside during the week, meeting only pleasant, accommodating-to-a-fault natives all along the way. 

     Night driving seemed a bit perilous, so we opted for evening visits to the Country Club Pub.  The alternative was staying in our unit with three tv stations (two of which were broadcast in German from Germany! Go figure). 

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     The only Christmas tree we could find to buy (for $45 American) made Charlie Brown’s famously forlorn little scrub pine look like Rockefeller Plaza.  I think the one we got was about thirty (“turtee”) inches tall and had about 16 (or maybe it was 14?) scrawny branches. 

     Back with the tree, but (Oh, yikes!) no ornaments!  We had managed to confiscate a wide range of cardboard pub coasters in our travels, and strung them up with pieces of dental floss. 

     We fashioned a homemade treetop star from a piece of aluminum foil the bartender scrounged up, and stuffed two ”Season’s Greetings”scrawl-imprinted plastic shopping bags with small sofa pillows, and hung them in our windows. 

     We grocery-shopped for the all-time elaborate Christmas morning brunch of Irish rasher (bacon), eggs, cheese, jam, butter, toast, fruit, crackers, caviar (no, I was not leaving caviar for Santa; this was, after all, vacation!), coffee, tea . . . and –being deeply entrenched in beer and ale country– a bottle of asti that at the price of about 67 trillion dollars American, tasted a lot better than it was. 

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     We ended up exchanging gifts that we bought “secretly” as we walked down opposite sides of the downtown, waving across the road at one another between store visits while hiding shopping bags behind our backs — a book for me, a piece of Irish crystal and a little stuffed Irish Christmas Bear for her, plus some other goodies.  It was great! 

     Every minute there was great, even when fifteen native Killarney guys –the town butcher, a gooseneck twister (yucht!), dairy farmer, mailman, horseshoe maker, “tyre” changer, carpenter, and on and on– had us singing with them until 3am at the Country Club Pub (where most had hiked by flashlight from their nearby stone and clapboard farmhouses).  

     With the rows of “y’got tafinish ’em” topped-off pints of beer and ale lined up from one end of the bar to the other (planted there when 11:15pm closing time came and the lights were flickered, the doors locked, the lights turned back on and the singing began), we joined in the raising of glasses and voices. 

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     It was this experience –as we worked our way through “I’ll take you home again, Kathleen” and “Danny Boy” to an endless string of Christmas songs– that led us to the astonishing discovery that no one in Killarney had ever even heard of the traditional classic Crosby song, “Christmas In Killarney” that brought us there in the first place!

     But it didn’t matter that no one knew Bing had celebrated their town, as long as we sang with them, and with some measure of gusto.  Well, sing we did!  Kathy (besides being only one of very few females who ever stepped up mto the bar there, even led a chorus of “Zippity Do-dah!” 

     Laughter rocked the pub all night. 

     Walking uphill between farms the next morning, a man about a hundred yards behind a crumbling rock wall, dropped his handheld plow, patted his horse and jogged across the field just to tip his hat, reach over the rocks to shake hands, and wish us Merry Christmas!

     So much for all that pleasant surprise stuff; we really did have a wonderful experience there. 

___________

     Just one thing was missing.  Family.  We spent half of Christmas afternoon trying to phone home, with circuit connections going from where we were, to Northern Ireland, to Boston, to Florida, to New York, to the clan in New Jersey who sounded like they were in a tunnel. 

     It made us realize that all the happiness of the week we spent there was momentarily lost to being lonesome for family. 

     We managed to bounce back when the resort manager and his wife (who we suspect might have been listening in to our phone connection efforts) invited us to their home to see the doll baby stroller Santa brought for their daughter.  (Last Christmas, Santa brought the doll!). 

      Their son got a toy truck. 

     One single present each.  The two children were so thrilled, they thought they were in heaven! 

     T h a t   certainly gave us cause for pause. 

 _______________________

    

 We in America are so blessed with so much . . . and family is, well, what Christmas is all about now, isn’t it? 

     Kathy and I truly hope that you and yours

     enjoy what you have today, and every day,

and not take any of it for granted. 

     Oh, one last thing: Please remember to God Bless Our Troops for their eternal vigilance that grants us the freedom we have to celebrate this joyous Christmas day and holiday season! 

                                          

Enjoy, and Peace Be With You!

[The original of this Christmas story appeared on 12/25/08 on this blog site.]

 

 # # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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