With Regard To Life

June 30

It seems like it was just last week that I told someone that they had spent five percent of the new year and asked what they had to show for it. That was the middle of January. Now, 2011 is half over. It does not seem like it could possibly be the 1st of July. I still have things on my To Do list. I am glad I still have six months left in this year. Time is valuable. Psychiatrist and author M. Scott Peck said if you do not value time, you will not do anything with it. Take care of the minutes because they turn into hours. And the hours turn into weeks. I do not have the patience to track every minute or quarter-hour of my day. I wish I did. Or I wish someone could follow me for a day. It would tell me a lot and I help me budget my time more efficiently. Today's Winning Thought: I am going to make a conscious effort to track my time. I am going to work more efficiently the next six months.

Mediocrity

Seth Godin has written many books. One of them is entitled The Dip. Have you read it? Get it, read it and keep it in close proximity. What is the book about? A can of smokeless tobacco? Something at an intersection that will damage your car if you do not slow down? Something you put on your fruit or vegetables? It might be all of that, but it is also something else. Godin describes The Dip as the seventh time you fall on your butt when you are trying to learn to snowboard. It is another job interview - the fifth one, in fact - when you never get a return call. The Dip is a temporary setback. You can get through The Dip if you keep working and stay positive. Don't be mediocre. You are so much better than that. Don't stay there (in mediocrity) just because you are busy or in the middle of some adversity. Today's Winning Thought: I love what Todd Duncan said about being mediocre. Duncan writes, "In your efforts to be successful, you will face challenges that do not arise when you are struggling to be mediocre."

Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve

I took my daughter to dinner tonight, and then to get yogurt.  We don't get to go on father-daughter dates often enough.

We ate at one of her favorite places - Red Robin.  The place has great burgers and bottomless baskets of fries.  But there is one thing that is even better than the food.  That is the message the servers wear on the sleeve. 

The message, embroidered and on display, is . . .

Honor

Integrity

Seeking Knowledge

Having Fun

The restaurant chain is successful because it invests time and resources in the training of its employees.  They make good customer service - something that is lacking in many companies - a priority.  You have to be intentional about customer service.  It just doesn't happen, and talking about it isn't enough. 

Today's Winning Thought:  It just amazes me that a business owner would invest effort, reputation and dollars into building his business, and then put it in the hands of someone who has little or no knowledge about how to care for their customers - the life of their business.   

Hope

A missionary who our church supports visited one Sunday. The Liberian pastor talked about his greatest need - hope. He would often invite our church members to "Come HOPE us." Hope is the belief that something good may happen. Hope gives you a reason to get up in the morning, the strength and the energy to keep going. It is fuel. It is said that Churchill's greatest weapon in the second World War was hope. Hope is a weapon you need to carry with you every day. Today's Winning Thought: There are many situations that seem hopeless. More often than not, people simply lose hope. Don't lose hope.

Think Lip Balm

I read something in a trade magazine this week that, ... well, someone is pretty creative. The article was about a company that makes lip balm. They have 30 regular flavors, plus several seasonal flavors. There is ice cream and a lot of unique flavors you might expect. But I bet you would never include this one: hamburger and fries with ketchup. That is what it said. Oh, it gets better - or worse. Someone, probably a deer hunter, requested a lip balm that contained deer urine. I am just reporting it, folks. A lot of great products have been invented because someone took the time to dream and think and experiment and get outside their comfort zone to attempt something. A man named Claude Bristol said, "Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, al great discoveries and inventions, and all achievement." Today's Winning Thought: Do you take time every day to just sit and think? If you don't, you should.

They Grow Up Fast

At dinner tonight I sat near a mom and her three young children. Next to them were two men - a middle-aged man and his elderly father. I watched both families. I wanted to tell the young lady that they grow up fast and not to take a single minute for granted. I wanted to see if I could learn anything from the son and his father. I could give the mom some advice because my baby is 21. I could not offer the son any advice because I am just starting down that road of caring for aging parents. I don't know where you are in life. I do know there are some things that will make life easier. These things have made life better for me. See if they might work for you. Spend less than you make. Avoid debt like it is a disease. Save some money and give some away. Deal with the negative, but don't be consumed by it. Look for the positive in every situation. Fight through adversity. This is a different world than it used to be. Things are changing. You have to be able to change with it. Be flexible. Don't ever stop learning. Focus heavily on your people skills. We are living in the age of technology, but you still have to deal with people. Use technology, love people. Communicate. Don't take anything for granted. Ever. Live your life to the fullest. Today's Winning Thought: All of the above.

Simple, Yet Profound

I heard home run king Hank Aaron say in a commercial that you cannot wait until a child is 17 or 18 years old to put a bat in his hands and then expect him to be a good player. They must be introduced to the sport much earlier in life. That pretty much goes without saying. Kids have to learn basic skills before they can excel and it is a lot easier when they are younger. Sports has taught me a lot about life and about business. Great coaches always take advantage of teaching moments both on and off the field or court. They don't just teach their sport. They also teach life. I read an article today about a womens college basketball team that will be traveling overseas later this summer to play a series of exhibition games. The team is getting in a few practices in preparation for the trip. They are also looking ahead to next season. The team was much improved last year and are expected to be even better this year. So, the coaches are preaching fundamentals. One area where the team needs to improve is offensively. The coach's comment about her team was simple, yet profound. "We have some great scorers, but we are not shot-ready, so there are some open shots we don't get. Footwork has to get better. We have got to be shot-ready. That is just part of getting our feet set." That is a fundamental taught at an early age and perfected with practice. Today's Winning Thought: It was said of Vince Lombardi that at the start of practice every summer he would gather his team around him and hold a football high in the air. "Gentlemen," he said, "this is a football." In sports and in life, the most successful people are the ones who do the basic things exceptionally well.

Today's Winning Thought

Let's do this backwards today. I end each of these posts with a quote or comment that I call Today's Winning Thought. I saw one in my planner this week that is probably too good to not use. "I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology." Kenneth Clark said that. Clark was a British author art historian and broadcaster. There is no question that society would be better off if everyone would come even close to living by the words of his quote. It is possible, but it requires some effort.

Words

Every morning, there is an e-mail waiting for me. It is entitled "A Minute With Maxwell." It is a differet word each day, sent to Maxwell by his readers. He expounds on the particular word of the day. Good stuff. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz frequently writes memos to Starbucks partners. He ends each one, as he has for many years with one word: Onward. It is the title of his latest book. Onward, Schultz writes, alludes to the power of their past, as well as the potential of Starbucks future. Today's Winning Thought: Do you have a word that moves you, that drives you? If one does not come to mind, think a little longer. Try to come up with one. Then, own it, share it and live by it.

Rory Is Roaring

Rory McIlroy is a 22-year-old young man who is the talk of the sport of golf right now. The young man won one of professional golf's four major tournaments Sunday - the U.S. Open. McIlroy had a big lead on the final day of The Masters earlier this year. His game collapsed in the final round. He carded a score of 80 and lost the tournament. Not this week. He ran away from everyone else in the tournament. The network airing the U.S. Open did a short piece on McIlroy during their coverage. The story focused on learning who this kid is. They chose a few words to describe him. Among the words they used were refreshing, dedicated, grounded, gracious, committed and resilient. He is all of that and more. This kid is for real. He will win again and again. But forget Rory McIlroy. What about you? What would people say about you if asked who you are? Today's Winning Thought: "A life isn't significant except for its impact on other lives." -- Jackie Robinson