Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society.

Get A Handle on It

I’m working hard to get a grip on everything I’m trying to do. Yet right now, it’s like looking at a tsunami of paperwork and actions that are just flooding towards me. Every time I am in front of the computer, I add something new to my work inventory and study it in depth.

My goal is to finish a course on building Evergreen classes in a month and prepare to put my first one on the market.

Background, I am five years into this dream, and now, with the help of a good instructor and others, getting some real traction.

Newer technology, an understanding wife, and better training are the main ingredients in making this possible.

What do you do when you are in the middle of an overwhelming life’s desire?

Subjectively Happy

Many ‘new’ ways aren’t really all that new. Most people have the same desires and results as their fore-mothers and forefathers. We get to use better methods based on better technology.

Do we need to stay up to date with newer technologies? Well, like everything else in life, that depends.

Are you looking to have a fast-paced life where you partake in new technology, information at your fingertips, and a fast track to what is happening globally? You might need technology.

Are you one who likes to read an actual book while sitting in the shade of the back porch, skip the store and pick a tomato off a vine that you grew, and look up at night with awe and wondering as the universe displays itself above you? Maybe not so much tech.

The goal is the same in either case. We want to be subjectively happy.

What do you need to be happy?

Timing

Timely action is everything.  The guy who shows up with ice cream cones in the park on a sunny day makes a mint.  Show up with the same on a snowy day in February, and you will probably lose money.

We are the only ones that can know when the time is right for us.  We get many suggestions from others, and an excellent question to ask yourself is whether they are helping you or themselves.

The trick with time matches what you have to offer with a world desperately desiring the same thing.  Timing is trial and error on your part. The more you do, the more you learn; and the more you learn, the more you know.

What are you doing to match what you offer to the best timing for the rest of the world?

Regaining Creativity

Sometimes my creative thinking dives.  Because most of my work comes from creative thought, I find it annoying. Unless I do something fast, I can lose a whole day’s work in a blink of an eye. 

Luckily, I have many ways to get creativity back.  Inspiration can be as close as a walk in the park or as exciting and far away as visiting somewhere that I’ve always wanted to go.

When I am on these adventures, I try to pick up on some theme and write a fictional short story to have fun with the various things that I see and do. No one else needs to read the short story. I am making it for my entertainment and practice a little creativity.

What do you do to gain creativity back when it fades?

The Time Challenge

Once again, we find ourselves with Friday. I find it amazing how fast a week goes. I get the feeling that when I’m not looking, somebody keeps on setting the clocks forward on me.

Honestly, time seems to be the same, and the question becomes, how much do I get done. There’s an equation in there somewhere. I just cannot bring it out at the moment.

We need to do the things we can do.  I cannot change time.  I can change what I do with the time, what I delegate to others, or what I am willing to let lay not attempted.

My challenge is to change what I can to make my use of time better.

What is your challenge with time?

Timing

You often hear the phrase ‘the time to strike is now.’ Others will tell you it’s not time until you’re ready for it to happen. A third party may say to you the time to strike is when it’s right. A good thing to ask yourself is whether they’re telling you this for your sake or theirs.

Many of us have a trait of taking forever to do something and often attempting it well after it should have happened. Others get ahead of themselves and run forward with a half-baked idea that is way too underdeveloped. The trick is to find that perfect timing when what you have developed is ready for a world desperately desiring what you have to offer.

There are no books to tell you when is right. The timing is trial and error on your part. The more you do, the more you learn; and the more you learn, the more you know.

What chances have you taken lately in trying to put something out there to help others?

Time To Work

There are two types of work that happens. For some folks, it is the work they get paid for, the work to show off their talents, or the work to win the prize. With each work style, there is a second type of work that makes everything so much easier to accomplish. I am talking about the prep work.

It is something I learned working with the Boy Scouts a long time ago. If you take time to prepare, the actual tasks go so much easier. Before we went to a scouting Jamboree or other significant events, we had a camp out a few weeks beforehand. The camp out was to train all the scouts on the various skills they would have to demonstrate during the Jamboree games.

Teaching the scouts beforehand helped them feel less pressure and show better results during the skills portion of the larger camp-out. I still use this type of work ethic today. I take time to study various protocols or practice different techniques before using them with clients.

I find that preparation cycles, properly used, make me and my clients feel more comfortable during training and sessions.

Do you do any review or practice before facing your public?

The Important Things

Sometimes the things we say are essential, and the things we take the time to do, are often different. I am not sure exactly why that is. What I know is that it is a significant phenomenon that affects most people.

I have a course I’m working on completing. I also have a book that I have been waiting a year to read, and I just got it. Somehow reading that book eats not only spare time, It also eats the time I could be spending in course development. It makes me wonder if I need stronger dividing lines between the things I do.

We all have these temptations in our life. What would life be without a few temptations thrown into the mix? The trick is to balance our life structure, knowing that we are human. We will divert from time to time with temptations. We will have overwhelming work we need to get done. I guess the trick is to plan time for both.

Just as solid fences make good neighbors, well-planned time and time barriers make for good work and accomplishing everything you want.

When did you last have desires and needs clash over time? How did you successfully solve it?

The Time Is Now

I believe this title is as old as time itself. I can see the caveman looking around his lair strewn with bones and animal skin, dirt and heaps of whatever attracting flies. I wonder who was the first to say, “this is it. I can’t take it anymore. We’re cleaning this pigsty up.”

I am taking my motto to task. ‘New Day – Better Way.’ The opening salvos of cleaning have already struck.

In a lightning blitz, all paperwork left out gathered in one large box with field orders to be sorted and put away before the end of the day.

Items that are too plentiful or do not fit current needs shall prepare for embarkation to the local Goodwill. 

Once known as the family lawn, the ‘Jungle Of No Return’ is set for massive cutting and pruning in the dawn’s early light (tomorrow.)

A White glove inspection is now set for Sunday, providing the white gloves can be found in time.

What do you do when your wonderful, tidy home gets away from you on an epic scale?

Appointments

When you make an appointment with someone, everyone has expectations. The person you made the appointment with expects that they are coming to receive a service or learn something or find some other value. Everyone agrees to be there to give or receive value.

What would you think if you showed up to the meeting to find out nothing of value was developed, offered, or given. I know I would feel bad for having wasted time. I find myself short on time most of my working day.

Imagine if you had spent weeks or months developing new concepts, ideas, and protocols to help others save time and money. You offer the training, and many sign up, then only a very few attend.  You might feel slighted or cheated out of your time and your ideas snubbed.

Have you ever offered something online only to have participants back out at the last moment or not show up? How can we fix the root cause?