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.

Take A Step

It does not matter what your concerns are now.  I know there is a multitude of various scenarios that people find themselves in today.  The action you need is to take inventory of yourself and take a step.  Maybe not outside.  And possibly not even from one room to another.  You are making a move from one mental plane to another. 

To do this, you need to evaluate your situation and understand your options. Having a notebook to help you keep track of things is a good idea.  Memories and ideas sometimes get mixed up while you try to understand many new things all happening at once.  I usually use a 9 ½ by 5 3/8-inch notebook. 

First, we need to look at the fears you may have.  You need to know what real fear you are facing and what you might imagine. Go ahead and list them in the book. Try to figure out if they are present and genuine or if they are something that could happen if…

Look at each fear and understand how close that fear is to you.  Is it in your personal space (about 12 inches)?  Is the problem in a common area (maybe three feet)?  Do you know if the fear is outside your door or within a city block?  Within 4 square blocks of where you live?  If you cannot pinpoint the cause of concern, it starts to take a back seat to what is in front of you at the moment.

Try to look at each fear you wrote in the book.  Can you see it?  What are the ramifications of the fear coming true, and what can you do to stop or delay the fear from happening?  Is there anything preventing you from acting to hold the fear at bay until it is no longer a threat to you?

Please remember, no one has to sit in just one spot and let fear consume them.  You can think and work to come up with positive solutions.  You are stronger and more mentally capable than you can imagine.  You can think of solutions and find your way out of anything.  All you need do is keep your wit about you and refuse to take no for an answer.  You can do anything if you believe you can, and you never give up.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again soon.

    

Change

Change

Times change. People change. Situations change.  The hard part of change is that it can go on around us while we fail to notice.  What was once vital is no longer needed.  What is now a must, is often choked out and ineffective because we can not understand the need for the change.  When we shun change, we must talk with the person in the mirror.

Change is not a bad thing.  Change keeps us fresh and new.  We become challenged to learn new ideas and protocols when change arrives, and this helps our minds stay nimble and expanding.  We need this, in part, to keep our brains active.

As we change, we should not hoard the past.  Keep the ideas and memories. You might keep a souvenir or two.  You do not need to fill your house with the items you no longer use.  The things left from decades ago are only keeping new memories from forming.

It is not easy to change and evolve, especially if you do not do it regularly. I would like to suggest you make a plan.  Start learning new items that interest you.  Never let yourself believe that you can’t.  Whatever reason you give yourself will not stand up to reason.  There will always be someone older, younger, smarter, and less intelligent than you who was able to accomplish the new things that you are attempting.  If others can do what you are working on learning (and they can), then you should have no problem doing the same.

You have an easy choice, believe you can, or think you cannot.  If you believe you can, nothing and no one can stop you.  If you want to think you cannot, well, you are a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Either way, you will be right.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Perspective

In this time of peril, we find ourselves isolated for our safety.  And for a longer time than some would imagine.  There are few of us built for confinement this long.  Yet, we must remember that in staying put, we are saving ourselves and others.

It is easy to notice the things which bother us.  Those are the items that scream for our attention.  There are benefits, though, which you should not overlook less missed completely.  At times like these, we need to search for the small quiet luxuries this time of family isolation gives us.

We have something that pandemics until now have not afforded.  We have instant communications.  With a cell phone or computer, we can talk to others in the world face to face, no matter where they live.  We can know what is happening and what outcomes are without waiting for weeks or months.  Even though we are apart, we are closer than at any time in the history of the world.

Now is the moment to pull out the ‘if I had time’ lists.  And if you do not have a list, now is the time to make one and start fulfilling it. You have the time.  You probably have supplied the needed items around the house.  And if you do need something, Amazon and many other stores can get it to you pretty fast.

If the family is at its wit’s end, maybe a family project that keeps everyone working together is the ticket to happiness.  Or, everyone doing their project might be even better.  The idea is that we always wish for time to do something.  Toilet paper might need rationing, yet you, for the moment, have all the time you need.  Use it to your advantage.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Change Again

I have been professionally teaching about change since 2003.  I believe that change for a reason is much better than changing just for the sake of doing so.  Right now, we are changing out of a vital need for survival.  Although this type of change is hard and sometimes depressing, we still need to do it.  In this effort, we may again discover conveniences of a century ago. 

My grandfather managed a corner market in Reading, PA.  He would take orders by phone, box up the merchandise, and have a runner deliver it to the home of the shopper.  This method allowed for faster shopping (he knew the spot of everything in the store.)  And, the shopper could stay at home and manage it.  The runner would deliver the goods, collect the payment, and return to the store.

When the A & P came to town and put up supermarkets, they bought out the corner stores.  My grandfather gained a job stacking shelves for the supermarket.  It was a good job, and he worked nights.

Today, we can order online and have groceries delivered to our front door.  People did not like the change away from delivery in the 20th century, and they are slow to go back to it in the 21st.  I, though, am glad for the return.  With the virus we face now, I do not want to go anywhere a virus could be shared.  Right now, we all should stay home and safe as much as possible.

Good change happens, not because we are bored, instead because we hold a need that must occur in a different way than we have done it before.  Those who set out to meet new needs are brave adventurers.  They are willing to take chances to make life better.  The changers know they do their work while facing the slings and arrows of those who live within the comfort zone of normalcy.

As for me, I do like needed change.  If you do not like change, please let me know.  I will send you an address where you can send me all your quarters and dimes.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

We All Have a Job to Do

We are in a terrible pandemic, and it is as bad as some movies made of such things.  Although we are in trouble, we are better now than when the world found itself caught in the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.  Yet there is light at the end of the tunnel.

We have better communications to understand what is going on around the world. Some nations may put up false fronts, wanting to look better then they are, yet that does not last for long.  Some wish to hoard vital necessities and try to make a profit on the suffering of others.  Yet, we will know who and how to handle them in the long run.

Like the plagues that have decimated us for eons, this, too, will do its evil and be eradicated.  We have the technology, and we have the tools.  What we need to do is have the will to work in unison for the good of all.  Finger-pointing and laying blame are actions for armchairs and later consideration.  We do not want to be the generations that could have stopped an evil yet were too busy debating and complaining to do anything of substance.

I know that if we work together, there is nothing that can stand in our way, protecting ourselves as our work is vital.  When we sacrifice our health, we are not martyrs; we are the source of infection to unsuspecting others.  If we ignore what is advised by our medical community, we are not individualists; we are the problem.

We must take this seriously to survive.  There are no medals for having been there, only those who survive and those remembered.  Please, be a survivor.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Mix it Up

Now that most of us are at home, trying to work, learn, or survive, we need to protect ourselves from ruts.  It is easy to fall into a rut without even realizing what is happening.  Getting out of a rut is difficult.

The best way to avoid a rut is to mix things up.  If you are a Gamer or a TV addict, try turning off the electronics and read a book for a while.  If you are a bookworm, play a game or watch some television. 

Doing different things helps us to stay fresh and helps us to avoid ruts.  Even the things we love can get old after a while.  We need to ensure we are finding new challenges and new alternatives as we make this journey in our lives. 

We are all travelers to a new destination.  The trip is akin to astronauts traveling to a new planet.  And like space travelers who count on their spaceships, our safety is in our homes.  And like those travelers, we are both moving to a new world that may seem familiar yet will have unique needs and requirements.

We do not know what demands we can expect from the future.  I believe we will need our wits about us to navigate certain pitfalls and new ruts.  To be ready, we need to keep our minds sharp now.  To stay sharp, I recommend knowing what is going on, staying in touch, and, most of all, staying out of the ruts.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again soon.

Do You Believe?

A question is a novel way to start a blog.  The answer, of course, is yes.  Everyone has a belief, even if we do not believe in anything at all.  In that case, we believe there is nothing to believe.  For each person, their beliefs are their own.

Early in our lives, our beliefs develop on what we learn from mom and dad, what we experience in our day-to-day world, and various positive and negative stimulations that we receive.  As we grow, interactions with others in our widening world of school, teachers, social clubs, and friends all play a part in us becoming who we are. Some beliefs grow more substantial, and some diminish as we learn they were not real.

Our beliefs change as we grow. A nice old-man delivering presents to others may fall by the wayside.  In its place, there may spring a belief in charity and doing good deeds for others.  We grow to realize that everything done for us when we are young is no longer the case.  And our belief may turn to the fact that the best things we do reward us in proportion to what we put into the work.  And if we are going to invest, do so in the quality which we can afford. 

No one except ourselves can control our beliefs, the rules we live by, and how we treat ourselves and others.  We must do so, taking into account everything we have learned to date.  Some bedrock beliefs are stable and will not change. Some ideas we base on the best of our knowledge, yet as we learn more, and our experience improves, we may find that some of what we believe will also change.  Hopefully, we are changing for the better.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Time to Think

We are in a battle for lives, ours, and the lives of those we know and love.  We need to stay hunkered down in our abodes, separated and safe.  The isolation gives us time to think.  And, time to think, if left on its own, can be a fearful experience. The mind, wondering without direction, will develop its own scenarios.  Some types of thoughts that might seem real are only a culmination of the tribulations we imagine.

I would like to propose we give our minds diversions which we monitor.  True, streaming our favorite entertainment can do this.  The problem is that outside stimulus only reaches so far.  The brain will grow bored with it.  I recommend we put the mind to work and see what it can do for us.

We might take a look at what interests us, and how we can make an item, process, or new invention better.  Is there a way of doing something that would change lives for the better?  What is the next gadget that will be in demand?
How can you save your neighbors’ time, money, or work?  How are you going to help make the people want to exert to be more fit?

If you only had the time?  I think we have it.  If you only could do some research? On the web. If you only had some people to help?  Friends on social apps.  If you only had an idea? Run a focus group on a group chat or video conference.

We find ourselves in a strange state.  For all that is going wrong in the world right now, we can reach out and help one another.  We do this, not with a physical presence. Instead, we meet with the virtual realm we have built to bring us closer together.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Stay Strong

They say that this week will be one of the hardest and saddest for America.  And that well may be.  We need to keep our faculties about us and understand that we need to be stable and supportive.  There are some things we must keep in mind.

We did not cause the pandemic that we face today.  And we could not have stopped it either.  If anyone could have seen this happening before its initial outbreak, then someone would also be winning the power ball each week.  The truth is no one can accurately see the future.

Many will want to blame, and yet there is no one here on which to pin the blame. There will be time to ponder what-ifs later.  That is for another talk.  This week we have better things we need to be doing. 

We may lose some good folks this week.  We need to remember them.  Think of the good those leaving us may have done, and how much better someone’s life was because they made it so.  I always pray their good deeds remain not forgotten and that they find themselves welcomed wherever they go from here.

I know the fight we face right now to save who we can, will be hard and painful.  I know the odds seem stacked against us.  Yet, I believe we will do the best we can and put our full mental and emotional weight behind the brave angels who fill our medical battlefields and tend to the sick and terminal.

We need to stay strong for those in the heat of battle. We need to believe that miracles, although rare, are never impossible.  We also must care for our needs and those around us, so we are ready if needed.

We have faced hardships before, that is how most of our countries came to be what they are today.  The pandemic is one more hardship that we face and will be better because we refused to let it beat us.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Happy Minds Are Busy Minds

It is crucial that, in any crisis, you acknowledge the problem.  You do all you can to solve the issues that are present, seen, and unseen.  And then the most challenging part comes. You need to stop dwelling on the micro-details of each thing that could go wrong and find something to do while the event plays out.  If you do not give your mind something else to do, it will entertain itself with what-ifs.

I think some of the actions we are seeing from the top leaders are diversions to help us have other things on which to maintain focus.  And, yes, we need distractions.  One thing you can use as a change is to clean and possibly rearrange your house or have the kids design a better way to layout their bedroom. 

Another thing you can do is look at your work and what you would like to do if your company does not open after the pandemic.  I worked at a workforce center in 2008 – 2015.  I saw good people make simple mistakes that kept them from being hired into good jobs.  

I will go into more detail on this later next week and the week after.  For now, do not worry about your work; there will be jobs.  And try not to worry about pandemics.  The best way to lower worry is to stay focused on what they tell us to do and keep our minds busy with something positive.

Does anyone have a good mask I could make or use?

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.