It's economy, stupid.

Remember this from the '92 election? It's too bad that we've forgotten it's meaning over the last 15 years. In good times, people tend to think it will last forever and subsequently they make financial choices on that premise.

With this global recession hitting hard...really hard, people are coming to grips with their own financial difficulties. However, I have spoken to many people that react, 'Well, this is bad, but we'll be fine.'

Now how is it that they can have that mentality and other are preparing for the end of days? (ok not the real end of days, but that is how they seem to be reacting). The answer, RATIONAL SPENDING.

I have a neighbor who thinks that all their neighbors are names Jones. (for those of you that don't get that - Keeping up with the Joneses). I can see the spiral they are in, but they cannot seem to see it.

It's OK to spend, but don't spend what you don't have or what you cannot possibly repay easily. And please save. You never know when you'll need it.

Ok, stepping off my soapbox now. Thank you, and good night.

You Watch That?

Everyone has some television show they watch that makes others say, "You watch that?" Ok, at least I think they do. I have two shows that makes my wife ask me that (she has shows that make me ask her that too).
I began to think about these shows and why I watch them. It finally hit me reading a great post from Danielle LaPorte over at White Hot Truth. She asks "are you willing to be toast?: authentic transformation".

The two shows in question are 'Clean House' and 'The Biggest Loser'. "You watch that?" you ask. Well yes, and now I know why. Each of these shows are about people transforming their lives, either breaking away from addiction to clutter or addiction to food. And in the process have transformed themselves to become the person they have aspired to be, but never could seem to get there. Sometimes, they did not aspire to be that way, but were unhappy with their lives and could not figure out why.

Each show has lots of tears as the walls that held these people back are broken down and new strengths emerges. That is why I watch. I see the transformations and it reaffirms to me that change is good, examples of what I do not want to be and the happiness that a transformation can bring to someone. The people on these shows need help; help to finally lose the weight or get out from under the weight of clutter.

I will continue to look at myself and see what is holding me back and work on my own transformations.

Ok, I get it

So I've spent the last week checking out Twitter. At first I pretty skeptical. Isn't this for teenagers? Does anyone care what I'm doing throughout the day? More importantly, do I care what others are doing?

Well, I gave it whirl and it's pretty cool! I have found several people on there that have some great links to interesting articles, just some damn funny things to say, and great info.

It can be a great tool to build your network. I'm not a twitter evangelical, but I'm digging it and see the potential.

Twitter me.

Revisiting the Tao

I picked up my copy of the Tao Te Ching again to revisit it. I will make my way through it and think about a passage a day, trying to place it in context with my thoughts. I find it amazing that I can always relate it to something happening in the world or in my life.

I read the first passage and this time I made me think about people that I know.

"Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught up in desire, you only see the manifestations."

How many people have you known that are so wrapped up in something: Getting the right job, spouse or car, beating the next person in a competition, making someone else look bad. They all are actually unhappy, they complain, the grass is always greener. Don't they bring you down?

Then look at people that are just plain happy. Do they care that someone else won? Do they need to get a better car? No they don't. They realize what is important. The others do not and only see the manifestations (their perceptions, not reality).

I know I'm rambling, but bear with me. I admire people that seem to have an inner drive to achieve, but do not let that drive dictate them. They are successful because they realize that what they are trying achieve is not the most important thing; their family, their relationships, their time is more important.

If you have a chance, pick up the Tao Te Ching and read it. It's short, but don't make it a short read, you'll loose the meaning. Or check out an on-line translation by Stephen Mitchell.

Second Wind

“If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you” - Bruce Lee
I have let my blogging lapse again. Sigh. But, I could have just said, forget it and not come back, but I made a promise to myself, so here I am. If anyone reads this, feel free to scold me :)

I saw this quote fro the great Bruce Lee and had to share it. I have known at lot of people who have the ability to always make an ass out themselves (I know I have). But what this simple quote states that most people don't realize, is that you put yourself in a bad, negative or subservient position when you do. Most people tend to do this by talking when they should be listening. Here is a great post on listening.

I'll be back in a day or two.

Easter - The Second Class Holiday

For those that know me, know I'm not a religious person. It's a long story, but in short, I cannot bring myself to alter my beliefs and behaviors based on other people's interpretations and mis-interpretations of a book or just crazy ideas that are found nowhere in said book. Religion is also the most common method to split people up into groups, get them pissed at each other enough that they can use their own religions as an excuse the kill people in the other religion. No religion is free from blame on this one.

I am however, very spiritual, since I consider spirituality a private matter created, defined and refined within the constraints of myself. Therefore, I control it.

Now, with that preface in place, I have a huge issue with Easter. Not that Easter is bad, I really feel sorry for it. It has been relegated to the backseat by Christmas.

Here's my issue, Easter is supposed to be the time to celebrate the fact that Jesus died for a our sins (what a great guy, huh?) and was miraculously risen again (thanks to his Dad). (Don't get me started). If you ask any Christian worthy of calling themselves a Christian what Christianity is based on, they should say 'Jesus died for our sins and rose again, etc.'.

So if this is the primary basis for Christianity, shouldn't this event be HUGE! Bigger than Christmas. I mean being born from a virgin mother (I said don't get me started) is one thing, but dying on a cross and coming back to life, is pretty big too.

OK, think about this and how Christianity has been commercialized. Christmas is more about a big fat guy in a red coat flying around the world handing out gifts (gimme gimme gimme) and Easter is about a bunny that leave eggs (who thought this one up) which is now about gimme more chocolate.

I could go on for a while, but will spare you. I needed to get this off my chest and will continue to look inside myself and reflect on my own personal enlightenment.

Perception is Reality

Have you noticed that when someone creates an image of someone or something, it becomes their reality? If someone says to themselves "I can not run a marathon", they never will. It is now a reality. If someone says "That person is a jerk", everything that person does is now filtered through that view. Our thoughts are extremely powerful and have very strong control over how we see the world.

What is reality? Dictionary.com states reality is (1) the state or quality of being real; (2) resemblance to what is real; (3) a real thing or fact; (4) real things, facts, or events taken as a whole; state of affairs: the reality of the business world; vacationing to escape reality; (5) Philosophy: a. something that exists independently of ideas concerning it. b. something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive; (6) something that is real; (7) something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent. —Idiom; (8) in reality, in fact or truth.

But reality is actually what you see or believe you see. Our perceptions are what mold our reality. How many times in your life have you been surprised, stunned, disappointed, etc. because what you thought was real, wasn't? Love, intelligence, the perfect season (OK, that wasn't fair). But you understand my point.

Where am I going with this? Well there are two sides to this. One side is how you view the world will shape your reality. You have absolute control to change your world. This is what goals are all about. Believe you can do it and you can. Buddha said “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”. Thoughts are powerful, use them wisely and with purpose. The other side is other people's perceptions. You can shape these too. Before you say, "That sounds a bit sinister,' think about this. How many times have you altered your behavior, attire, speech or demeanor to impress that other person so they would like you and go out on a date?

This is an excellent tool to change other people's perceptions of you. If your co-workers or boss think you are lazy, work to change that perception. This does not happen by walking up to them and saying "I'm not lazy." You must show them you are not lazy. Work hard and show them you are not. Gradually, you will force them to confront their perception of you and change it.

Now get out there and change the world.

Persistance

Seth Godin has a great quote about Persistance on his blog.

"Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. That's just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over."

This is perfect and can be applied to not only Marketing and Sales, but to life. This fits perfectly with my blog. Be diligent with your goals, not what you are doing to achieve it. You need to change your tactics along the way.

So, one of my goals is to spend more time with my family (not easy with my current job and responsibilities). But, when I do something to achieve that goal and fail, I'm not persistant and do the same thing again to achieve it, I change my tactic. I am persistant with my desire to achieve my goal.

So Strive on with Diligence and be persistant with your goals.

What a Day!

OK, I had a horrible day today. Horrible because I was dealing with the fallout of a situation that I could not initially control. This did not affect only me, but affected many of my colleagues. It was frustrating because a lot of extra work was done by many people at a time when they were extremely busy to begin with.

OK, now that it is off my chest, I want to share my thoughts after the dust is clearing. I did not stay in my zone. I let the situation get to me and allowed myself to get frustrated and even frazzled (is that a word?). Notice I did not say the situation got me frustrated because things do not cause you to behave a certain way or have certain feelings, you choose them.

Well, I chose them and now realized I should not have done that. I came home and got my wife and girls to bed and sat down to meditation on it. I needed only 2 minutes of quiet to realize that I allowed the situation to get to me (hindsight is great, huh?).

I think if I had taken these two minutes in the middle of the situation, I would have come to the same conclusion and adjusted my mental outlook. Well it's in the past and I have learned another lesson - that's growth, right?

I will think about the tools or processes I can use to prevent myself from doing that in the future. I'll keep you posted.

Losing Touch

The saying goes "The world is getting smaller". If that's so, why is it so easy to completely lose touch with friends and family?

I have tried to keep in touch and lost, found, lost again, found again old friends and family. It actually hurts when I realized I did not do enough to maintain these connections. I don't blame other for not keeping in touch with me since all relationships are bi-directional.

These relationships are a part of me, so I will also use this blog to try an maintain that contact, and have also made it a personal priority to keep in contact. Life happens and will get in the way of the best intentions, but I think my new system (using Todoist.com) to keep track of this will help.

Zen Habits is one of my favorite blogs and reading Leo's posts presents a great inspiration to me to pick myself back up, dust myself off and keep going.

So, to all those I have lost, I will find you again. You are my friends and family and that means quite a lot, so you are worth my effort to keep you in my life.

I hope you will see that too and look for these lost connections. We are humans and we need to be connected to something bigger than ourselves. What can bigger and more important that being a friend and family member. Before I turn this post into a flower strewn love-fest, I will sign off and keep you updated on how my re-connecting pan out.