Pine needles still provoke calm and creativity. I spent hours laying on the floor of piney woods, clearly away the pine cones to make a soft spot where I could just lay on my back and gaze up into the trees. The trees were usually too thick to see the sky. I had another spot or two where the pine trees were enormous, but not nearly as close together. I’d go to those spots if I wanted to look at the clouds drift by.
As kids we were either working to build a fort, a cart to roll down the hill or some other medieval-inspired project or we were playing hard. It didn’t seem we spent much time doing anything else, but there was a third thing we often did. It was a vital part of doing those first two things. Thinking. Dreaming. Conjuring up ideas. Being creative.
Every fort I ever built, every cart I ever dared drive (after helping build it), every tree house…they all began in my head and in the heads of my friends.
Nobody talked to us about that stuff. Parents didn’t talk about it. Teachers sure didn’t. We didn’t read books.
Adults read books about creativity, passion and doing cool things. Kids just think them up, then do them. And if our ideas didn’t work, the fun was in figuring out how to make it work!
It’s sorta sad to think of how many books on creativity I’ve read since I’ve been grown. And you know what? I needed to read them, and that makes it even sadder. As adults we analyze things. As kids, we just do them.
Maybe it’s time for us to be more like kids. I’m going to take a drive to the east Texas piney woods and go lay down for awhile.
Increased sales won’t cure everything. It’s fool’s gold to think you can sell your way out of every problem.
My work focuses only on 3 things:
• helping my clients get new customers
• helping my clients serve customers better
• helping my clients not go crazy in the process
But…
Not every business problem can addressed by these 3 things. Business can be stressful.
Sometimes we encounter product or inventory problems. Sometimes we may encounter a legal problem, or an HR problem. We can have a major computer problem. Or an accounting problem. Businesses have lots of moving parts so there’s always something that can break.
When your computer system is down, increased sales won’t help. Well, it may help you throw more money at the problem to get it fixed, but you still have to get the computer system back up.
Many business stresses can be solved by correctly addressing the 3 things I focus on, but not all of them.
Why do most people think of beach life when the term “lifestyle” comes up?
Today’s episode was a video, but the transcoding (or some gremlin) messed it up. Thankfully, given the redundancy here in The Yellow Studio, I did capture the audio…so today’s episode is audio only.
Not long ago a friendly debate broke out about the terms, “lifestyle business” and “lifestyle design.” I took the position that every business, every career is a lifestyle business. My logic was – and still is – fairly obvious, or so I thought. Our careers or businesses determine our income. They also determine our schedule. As a result, our time and our income are determined by them. They set in motion the kind of neighborhood where we live, the kind of cars we drive, the stuff we purchase and to a certain degree, the way we spend our free time. Our lifestyle.
My opponent didn’t buy any of that. He maintained that lifestyle businesses are those that afford people the freedom and flexibility to do what they most want. Clearly, he’s not known very many extremely success people who earn crazy money doing what they love. Celebrities and rock stars who are quite often kept on tight schedules. Industry leaders who are shuttled from one meeting to another with little tolerance for deviations from the schedule. Surgeons who can often enjoy scenes like the one depicted in that photograph, but most often are on call, waking up in the wee hours of the morning to perform emergency surgery.
What if a person loves winter sports? What if a person can’t imagine living without snow? They’d be miserable looking at that ocean view every day.
Just because my opponent had a certain view of “lifestyle” he had a hard time considering that others might have a different perspective. And he certainly couldn’t understand how a person with a JOB could possibly be considered to have a “lifestyle business.” I was irritated that anybody with a JOB was viewed as being less ambitious or less serious about designing their life. Thankfully, the conversation remained civil. I could have whipped him with my arm tied behind my back. 😀
Well, what if you do want to consider doing something different? How can you go about thinking about what you might like to do – something that thrills you? That’s what today’s show is all about.
..but a fresh start may not always involve something new
I’m a sports fan. Maybe you’re not. But stay with me ’cause I guarantee you can relate.
Last week when the NFL regular season ended a number of coaches and general managers got a chance for a fresh start. They were fired on the Monday following the Sunday games. Seven head coaches. Five general managers.
The NFL is a small, somewhat closed community. A fraternity. Most, if not all of those fired, will be candidates for new jobs with different teams.
One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.
The Kansas City Chiefs have made fired Andy Reid (Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach for the past 14 seasons) among the highest-paid head coaches in the league. It’s good to be wanted. And for Andy, it’s got to be a nice feeling to know you’re going to get a fresh start. A chance to do things differently…hopefully, better.
Andy lost a son this past year. He’s a man who has known his share of trouble. Some troubles – like the death of a child – are unalterable, but even so, I strongly suspect Andy is thankful for an opportunity to put the past behind him so he can focus on the prospect of a brighter Midwestern future. He will certainly find the fans in KC more…shall we say, polite. I’ve not heard of KC fans throwing batteries at opposing players.
That’s how it is with fresh starts. They are enormous opportunities, chances to do things drastically different.
The fresh start represents major change. Not just some slight shift in direction or in how we do things, but that dramatic change we may (or may not) be looking for. For people who get fired, it’s a forced quest for a fresh start. But, how many times have we read or heard stories of people who were fired only to report how thankful they were for it to have happened?
The person stuck in cubicle nation, afraid to step out and step away — is called into the corner office and told their position is being eliminated. The job they’ve hated for years is suddenly among the most prized possessions they can think of. Slammed with the reality that they’re now “out of work” they’re quickly paralyzed with fear. Like the opossum who faints with fear, once revived, they quickly scamper into action. Eventually they find their way. Some soar to success they never dreamed possible. All because they were forced to make a quantum leap and create a fresh start.
It’s among the many reasons why most of us don’t make the improvements we know we should make. It’s just easier to stick with what we’ve always done. Continuing to get what we’ve always got. One foot in front of the other, hoping that tomorrow things may be better. Just because we’d like them to be. Hardly ever happens.
Will Andy Reid be successful in Kansas City? I don’t know. Will he hire a different staff than the one he had in Philly? I’d venture to guess you’ll see some familiar faces, but I’m also betting there’ll be quite a few news ones. Even a seasoned pro like Andy is going to want to do some things very differently than the way he did them back in Philly.
They why didn’t he make the changes in Philly? Because he’s just like you and me. He got comfortable. He didn’t plan on becoming lethargic or complacent. But he’s human. It happens. Today’s show is all about…
“Come on down!” Game show announcer Johnny Olson made that line famous on The Price Is Right. Audience members sat in anticipation that their name might be called to “come on down.”
Here we sit, anticipating a hopeful beginning of a new year. Like all the potential contestants in the studio of The Price Is Right. Hoping, wishing, fingers crossed — that some announcement will sound out our name. Give us permission, as Seth Godin would say.
In 2012 too many people didn’t hear their name called. They sat and waited. And waited. Now that 2012 is over, for them it’s another “glad to see ya go” experience. And just like a year ago today, they sit hoping this new year will be different. Better.
Hope Is Not A Strategy
Even so, many people do it. Yes, we all need hope. No, hope is not a bad thing. It’s vital to our lives. Hopeless is not a good way to live.
We should all hold onto the notion that success will come our way.
We just can’t rely only on hope! That’s where we get it wrong.
Hope should only be an ingredient – fuel – for the action you need to take. Success has a cost, a price. It’s up to you to make sure the price is right.
Get busy this year making your life what you want it to be. Embrace the adage, “If it is to be, it’s up to me!”
“Come on down! It’s time to play!”
Happy New Year! Be safe. Have fun. Be lovable. Make a difference.
“Come on down!” Game show announcer Johnny Olson made that line famous on The Price Is Right. Audience members sat in anticipation that their name might be called to “come on down.”