There is a story about a man who spent his life chasing success. He ran as hard and as fast as he could and surpassed every milestone that he set for himself. Even though each goal required more effort, more energy, and more time, he was making more money and was able to acquire more homes, more cars, & more toys. He felt successful.
Effort is a good thing … unless you find yourself tying your sense of self-worth and value to it! I remember standing in the hallway of St. Francis De Sales School with my fingers crossed. I was in 2nd grade and I was hoping and praying that Sr. Miriam Therese would call my name so I could go up and claim my highly coveted prize … a small blue and white button with the word ‘EFFORT’ emblazoned across the front of it.
This is a story about a book, a book about what happens when authenticity and risk collide. I started writing my soon to be released book, I Could Love No One Until I Loved Me in early 2009. At the time, I was going through a pretty traumatic time in my life. It was the onset of what some called the ‘second depression’ and my business had been significantly impacted. In what felt like a matter of days, we went from having our best year ever to having one of our worst … overnight.
It takes courage to change the “things” in our lives that are not working. It takes even more courage to change ourselves. Why? Because in order to change ourselves we have to admit that “something” about us is not working … and that, in-and-of-itself requires courage. As human beings we have a propensity to look outside of ourselves and focus on trying to change those around us. We prefer believe that other people are the cause of our pain, aggravation, or undesirable results.
With what seems like a continual flow of untruthfulness from our politicians and the media, is it any wonder that we have become numb to truthfulness. “Reality” television shows retake scenes until they get it to a point that will captivate the audience … and in doing so they move further away from the truth and further away from reality. Whether it is by omission or the careful selection of one’s words … being untruthful is the same as lying!
When we say that someone is frugal … what do we mean? Are we implying they are cheap, a tight wad, a penny-pincher … or are we implying that they spend money wisely? You can interpret frugality in a number of ways. For example, a single Mom raising 3 kids on her own because her loser ex-husband has an entitlement attitude and refuses to get a job that supports his kids NEEDS to be frugal.
What is the true cost of losing a customer? Recently Jen, my significant other and I were attempting to reschedule dental appointments for our kids at Southwest Dental Group here in Ahwatukee, AZ. We were brand new clients and had just started going there the previous week (they don’t do a cleaning the first time you go there, they just tell you what they think you might possibly need and then you come back a second time for the actual work – can you say inconvenient?).
When it comes to fishing, most fishermen use a leader (an additional section of wire or line) to connect the hook or the lure to the fishing line. The type of leader used is determined by the situation or objective. For example, sometimes you need a stronger leader so a larger fish doesn’t snap or bite through the line and cause problems. In other situations a thinner, lighter, leader is needed so the fish doesn’t see the line and get distracted.
One of the hottest topics in the ever-changing world of human resources continues to be employee engagement. And while there are as many different opinions about engagement as there are suggestions on how to improve it … human resource professionals continue to search for solutions to this complex idea.
“You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset.” – Tom Hopkins. Sometimes it may be a mental leap to think of ourselves as our greatest asset. That said … here are a few questions to get us grooming our minds to think differently …