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.

You Be The Change

I was once the manager of a shop that repaired and installed equipment for tracking and processing satellite data. I had five supervisors and 25 people working for me. Although the shop ran well, people would always come up with ideas for change. Although everyone approached, especially the supervisors, with a demand.

They wanted to see a change enacted, yet, did not want me to assign them the task to make the change happen. The suggesters felt that I might just assign them the work to make the change happen as a punishment for suggesting it in the first place. They were young and did not understand the importance of having control of the change.

If you are offered the ability and the authority to make a change happen which you want to have made, not only is it more likely to happen, you get to control it to see that it’s done right. If you do it well, everyone notices. Getting something positive done correctly brings you to the attention of those in charge. When the people in command see the good things you can do, more golden opportunities are offered to you, and you have an excellent chance to move up within the organization.

Consider the fact that if you take a new idea and give it to somebody who does not believe in the change, it will not go very far. If you have put in the research and consideration to at least suggest a good idea, why should you not have the excitement of making it happen? The thrill of creating something new and the glory for it happening correctly should be yours.

Imagine working somewhere where if you make a suggestion, it is immediately taken away from you. When you ask about your proposal, later on, you’re told that the hierarchy is going to do something, and you should just be quiet and support the staff and new ways when their version comes out. That would not be very fair at all. You saw what needed to be done and did the work to bring it forward. And someone else receives the triumph.

Think about it.

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

Your Choice

You probably want to do something positive with your life.  Something in which you have passion. Something that you really believe in and probably have fun doing. So you start with a little research to find out which jobs you really like.

You do your research and possibly take a few assessment tests. You talk to people in various jobs and careers. And you try to understand the who, what and why. You put everything together and then you have a decision to make about which job or career path would help best for you.

Everyone else will have a good idea for you. Others will talk to you about money, prestige, thrills, living on the edge, being looked up to, and several other things that a particular job or position may offer you. You will have a lot of people giving you information that they feel was very valid, yet the choice is yours.

The one thing you have to remember through all of this is that you are making decisions on your one and only life. Because of that, you are the one in control. You make these decisions because they are directly impacting you. At this point, no one else can really speak for you, they can only offer advice.

You get to live with the decisions you make. Does that mean your first decision must be right on or you’re ruined? No. Many of us have made many adjustments along the way. What I can tell you is, the closer you get to the path that will take you to what you want to be in due, the better off you are. You’re better off not having to retrace journeys and start all over again.

The neat thing is that you will most probably find your passion. To make sure it’s your real passion, you have to research, learn everything you can. You must talk to the pros in those positions, and make sure you understand what the job actually entails and that it is what you really want. Remember that this is your life, and it’s up to you to go out and live your passions.

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

Only You Can Make It Happen

Others can give you advice. Others can help you with ideas and support, and maybe there might be financing they can help you with. The one thing they cannot do is to make your dreams come true for you.

You are the one with the dream. You are the one who has to reach out and make it happen. You need to make it happen your way. Anyone who does this for you is making it happen their way. The one thing I can probably tell you is that if you have an idea that you want to see accomplished nobody else can do the subtle details as well as you can.

I know this puts the pressure on you. But that’s OK because I know you can do it if you really want to see it happen. What you need to do is get the advice, help, and maybe even financing, and mold all that into making your dream happen. It doesn’t matter what your vision is, as long as it’s right for you and helps others. You are the one with the dream.

Very little can actually happen in a vacuum. And as we have discussed before, anything at rest will tend to stay that way until acted on by and outside force. In this instance, you are the force required to put your dreams into motion.  Only you can breathe life into them and make them go to where they need to be.

I tell you this, Not to put undue pressure on you, instead, to let you know that your dreams are there, waiting, ready, and willing. Will they succeed or fail, I do not know. Neither does anyone else. Everyone who takes this step takes a risk.  Have some failed? Yes. Have some succeeded? Yes. Only you can cast the dice and take your chance. 

Remember, the more you plan and the more you qualify the advice of others, the better your chances may be.  Think about this.

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

You Are A Leader

Wherever you are in life, you are following some people, and you are leading many others. It doesn’t matter if you are the head of the company or a runner in the Shipping Department. You may not realize this, but you were doing this your whole life. And, you will probably always hold a leadership role Throughout your life.

The reason that you hold this leadership role is that we all look up to those above us.  Three-year-old’s look up to six-year old’s For informal guidance based on what the six-year-old is doing. The six-year-old is looking at the 12-year old, and the 12-year old is looking at other role models that are now in high school. Don’t look for an organizational chart on this, it is all informal behavior.

The same thing happens in any organization. The new hires look at those who they work with and have been with the organization longer. Supervisors look for managers and other supervisors who have more seniority. And so on and so on all way up and even into the board room.

You are a leader, whether you want to be or not. The question becomes, what are you teaching those who are watching you? An excellent issue because no matter what you do, you’re teaching them something. Are you going to teach them things, ideas, and techniques that will help them grow and do well? Or are you going to show him what may be wrong actions that will get them in trouble?  

Consider this. Every time you sneak off during afternoon shop cleaning, you are teaching them that they can do the same. When you or half an hour late getting back from lunch, you’re telling them that that’s OK. When you are sloppy at work habits, they figured that’s OK for them. No matter who you or where you are, or what you are doing, someone is learning.

If you were to stay during the Friday afternoon cleaning and talk about team and togetherness and we’re all in it together what do you think you’d be teaching those who are looking up to you? When you do the right thing even if it affects you a little in the wrong way, you’re teaching them to stay true to the tenets of the teams’ core beliefs. When you go out of your way to do something good for someone, it is noticed, and because you did it, the good deed may be repeated time and time again and passed down from team to team.

You need to consider these things as you think and act. After all, you’re not just acting for yourself you’re working for all those who look up to and follow you whether you’re in a position of authority or not. What are you going to be teaching those who follow you?

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

Pursue Something You Want

Whatever we desire, we can have. But, there is a catch. To do or have whatever we set our mind to, we must be willing to work it. We just need to figure out what we want to do. Plan our goals within the project, and set a timeline of when we would like to have that work accomplished. And then it’s just like walking a mile or climbing a ladder, one foot in front of the other, one hand over the other. And yes, you can do more than you could ever think you might.

If you like coming home to a lovely clean home, you need to start by trying to keep it clean. That doesn’t mean that you have to sit there on plastic cushions on your couch and never eat while watching TV. What it means is that when you have some snacks in the TV room, you clean up after yourself. You have a plan that sometime during the week you’re going to run the vacuum cleaner, dust and do laundry. And you’re going to do these things regularly.

Does it sound like I’m getting to be a little bit of the old Sarge? You’re saying you hear this much from your spouse? Well, if you’re going to do the things you like, you have to put a little elbow grease into getting them. That’s just one of her facts of life. Our constitution does not say that we get to be happy all the time.  It states we have the right of the pursuit of happiness.  We can work towards happiness, and if we get it, that is great.

The truth of most people in most places is that they will get what they work towards.  The idea is to stop every so often and look around to see if what you are actually working towards is what you want.  If not, you may want to make some adjustments in what you are doing. 

Remember one of my tenets, which is to try new things in small doses.  If it helps you to get towards your goals, try a little more.  If it has side effects which are bad for you, stop and try something else.  The idea is that there are 76+ ways to build a light bulb.  If you want to read at night, you keep trying until you have a winner.

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

Be Out There

It is easy to get trapped into four walls and not go anywhere. The body gets to just chill out and relax.  On occasion, it is good to take some time to unwind and replenish the body. It is good to take time and read a book or watch a little television. 

We can run into trouble when we make the occasional time of relaxation a full-time project.  The body tends to lose tone when walking is replaced by the couch or comfortable chair.  Food temptation grows higher as the kitchen is much closer and always open.  The real problem though is the area behind the eyes.  The mind.

Our minds like to be ever active.  They learn new things, gather thoughts, and control the little voice in our head that is always active whether we want to hear about something or not.  When the mind does not get the stimulation it needs, it starts to make stimulation of its own. 

Sometimes the brain may think in conspiratorial terms of who is plotting against you, or doing you wrong.  The mind could be replaying old memories, making them match what you are led to believe, rather than what really did happen.  Sometimes, due to reduced input or total lack of data, we can imagine something that is totally outside the realm of reality. Yet, there is an excellent cure for this.

We need to get out and be around people.  Gathering with friends and others to exchange thoughts and ideas is healthy and a superb opportunity to learn and grow.  It can give both physical and mental stimulation the mind and body needs.  We learn new things and flourish because of our new knowledge.  We were never designed to live our lives only within four walls to start with.  We were always meant to go places.

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

Not in Here, Out There

We often know what we want to do, and sometimes we get out and do it. Other times it seems to sit in our mind, and we just keep mulling it over. The longer it sits in our thoughts, the larger the chance it gets stuck there doing nothing, and nothing ever really gets done about it. You can do a lot of fantastic things, yet if they’re only in your mind, you really haven’t accomplished much at all.

If you have an idea you want to pursue and it never leaves the mind, it puts you into the land of ‘Would have, could have, should have.’ Any plan you have that is worth something, desires to see the light of day. You should bring it from inside your mind to at least an action stage of ‘testing the waters.’

The plan you have in your mind is always a great and wonderful idea. You’re the one who thought it up, and you are the one who is storing it in your memory, of course, you like it.  Your plan deserves to be brought out and tested. If you don’t take steps to determine if it’s really viable or not, you’ll never know if there’s something you have to modify to make it work or if you have the first of many hits and home runs.

Talking about your plans with others is priceless, and you do get feedback. Unfortunately, feedback alone does not make it work. You have to reach out and let your ideas learn and grow.

You would not stop your child from running in a potato sack race because you are afraid they might lose.  You should not keep your plans from running their races when the time is right.  Will there be wins and losses, cheers and tears, and bumps and bruises along the way? Yep, that is life.  And in our life, it is how we learn.  You would not stop your child from learning and growing, you should not stop your dreams.

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

There Is Always A Way

If you have something you genuinely want to do, something that is good for you and for others, then you should go out and do it. Will it always be easy? No. Yet, if that’s what you want to do, there is still a way around obstacles, including your own questioning of yourself.

I know that you have probably talked to others about your great ideas, and yet, having done so you probably have a mixed bag of ‘You go get them,’ and ‘You don’t want to do that.’ What you want to do is consider each comment you have received, who it’s coming from, and what their reason was in giving that advice to you and why they phrased their response the way they did.

What you want to understand is that people care about you and people also have concerns over the things which they fear. They are pulling from their experiences and what they would be willing to do or not do to accomplish something. They can’t speak for you because they don’t know what your determination can do to make things happen.

If you do your research, you know that there will be work involved. You also understand that you will have ups and downs as you work through your projects. The Wright brothers didn’t go to the beach one weekend and fly a plane. The first 12 seconds of flight, covering 120 feet, was actually the result of years studying, building, and having setbacks. And then, finally prevailing. As you plan your quest, you need to have a talk with the person in the mirror and determine if you are willing to do what it takes to meet your goals.

If the answer is really no, you need to find a new set of goals. If the answer is yes, then order an extra quart of elbow grease because you know you’ve got some work to do. The neat thing is if you want it, and you’re willing to work for it, I am not going to be the one to bet against you achieving your dreams.

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

Weighing Your Objectives

Because we can do those tasks, we set our mind to accomplish, we sometimes think we can do everything we want.  In reality, we cannot do everything all the time.  We are limited by our own lack of endurance, need for rest, lack of financing, and the overwhelming offerings that our universe puts in front of us to enjoy.

Once we realize we can only do so much, we need to make decisions.   The critical first step is to know what is most important to us. Those are the things that we work for first.  And those are also the things we will work on the most.

We do not abandon everything else we wish to do, we plan them out as a set of objectives.  There are many ways to do this.  Some people will set up a quarterly schedule where they Tackle a new project over a 13-week timeline.  Some will use monthly planning, and for other projects, an annual forecast will be used.  Sometimes a project is so big, a 5 or 10-year plan is needed.

There is a problem that can creep up on us.  We can forget what we wanted to do.  That is why having a journal is so important.  When you get good ideas, write them down in a journal and that way you can have a place to go and look at when you are thinking of what projects you want to plan next.

Is all this easier?  Well, it is easier than a lot of people think.  And, the time spent writing things down up-front is only a fraction of what it would take to retrace your steps and find out what you were thinking six or eight months ago.

I know that everybody has their own nuances to scheduling and completing tasks.  I am just offering a suggestion to help you in doing that little extra through a bit of organization. Try a little, and see if it might work for you.

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

Only One Reason Counts

Yesterday we thought about the fact that there could be a thousand reasons not to do something. And that was all right because you only needed one reason to do what you want.  Only one reason counts.  Yours.  So how do you know that it is your reason, and your idea is sound?

Great question.  And like most excellent questions, it can lead you on a long search for answers.  I believe the best way to look at a challenge like this is to first understand what you expect the end of your journey to be. 

In other words, you have an idea of what you want to do.  Think about what it will look like when you have accomplished the goal.  Be as specific as you can.  What are you doing, how are you feeling, what is going on?  Visualize the scene.  What are the emotions like?  Write it down. 

Now you know where you think you want to be.  At this moment, it is just a dream on a piece of paper, you have a lot of research and hard work to make it real.  Anything worth having is worth working to obtain. Right now, the job is reverse engineering. 

During this exercise, you cannot just assume or take someone else’s thoughts as reality.  You need to get as much factual information as possible. You need to research on-line, talk to the people who are now where you want to get to, and weigh all of the answers to see if it is really what you want to do.

Start with where you believe you want to be, and ask what do I do to get there.  Based on what you have found in your research, write down each thing you have to do on post-it notes.  One item per post-it and do not worry about the order at this point. 

When you get everything written down, then start to loosely arrange the post-its into an order on a wall or board.  There will probably be gaps, and there will be things you have not thought of yet.  Doing this will help you to identify areas you need to consider.

Some of the questions you need to be asking as your ideas start to take real shape in this are:

  • Is this what I am really looking to accomplish?
  • Am I willing to do what it takes to get the results I want?
  • Can I indeed be happy where this will take me?

There are probably many other questions you will have.  I do not know them because they are your questions. Tomorrow we will look at weighing the objectives we seek.

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