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.

Planning It Right

If you are reading this right now, I’ve got a pretty good idea that you are a human. As humans, we have a tendency to plan for things we are going to do. We do this knowing that when we put the plan in motion, the probability of our plans staying intact is very rare. Why do we plan?

We plan because doing so keeps us on our toes. Making a plan is a decisive action. It allows us to understand the aspects of what we want to do, what the ultimate goal is, and at least an idea of how we can get from start to finish. The more we plan, the better our knowledge concerning the needed actions becomes. Because of our planning, when an initial plan falls apart, it is much easier to recognize that fact and adapt based on various bits of information we learned while developing different scenarios.

A person who has not planned at all will have a much harder time adapting and overcoming when their first ideas fail. They will not understand the lay of the land, the resources available nor the variations in actions which could help them. Planning allows you to snatch victory from the teeth of defeat.

Planning is very economical. Planning saves you time in actually completing a task. It saves you money by knowing upfront what you need and procuring it ahead of time. A plan will actually save you worry because you know what is required and you have made arrangements and accounted for those needs. One thing that no one who ever won, completed, or participated in a project did was regret planning.

Next time you have a project, define what the project is, what the end goal should have within it. And then develop a plan of how to get from the beginning to the end. This works for all projects, both big and small. Don’t take my word. Try planning and let me know how it went.

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

Is It really their fault?

Today I am writing my blog a half a day late.  I meant to be on time, only sometimes things happen that no one can control.  Earthquakes, tidal waves and even the generic band of thunderstorms, with hail and the occasional twister, are all things the average person cannot control. What happens is not what matters.  What we do about uncontrollable change is what matters.

We often, in a time of dealing with things beyond anyone’s control, focus our wrath upon the person that relays the information rather than taking a moment to think clearly. I wonder if this is how the phrase about not killing the messenger came to be?

If anyone hasn’t figured it out yet, the person relaying bad news has no control or power over the situation and no stature within their corporation to do anything. Why? Because if they had any of that, they probably would send someone below them out to relay the message. Again, why? Because it’s probably a guarantee that many receivers will take the information poorly and take their wrath out on the messenger.

If you want to stand out, thank the messenger and let them know you know the problem was not their fault. You know that they were only relaying information. In return, you may find employees who are more receptive to assisting you and solving the problem. Granted, it’s their job to do so anyway; however, feelings of mutual appreciation and understanding seem to rank higher and better solve problems when everyone works as a team.

I was told last night that my flight back to Colorado could not happen because the plane could not leave Chicago, the first thing I did was thank the ground personnel. I assured them that I knew this was not their fault and we work together to ensure that I would be back home before noon today. The bad news was not a failure, it was a chance for everyone to work together and make something good happen. Everyone I spoke to and worked with was sharp, on point, and never gave up.

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

Roaming and The Reality

Roaming is fun, you go where you want to, and hopefully, you find exciting things to learn, see or do. It is a great way to reflect on present thoughts and ideas and allows you to discover and explore new ones. The only problem is the fact that it is hard to make that lifestyle pay very well.

You can, not roam and just stay in one place. Unfortunately, no matter how beautiful and diverse that one location is, you will find that after a time you will have discovered its treasures and the ‘Luster and Lore’ of the area will start to wear off and tarnish. One thing that most humans crave is new ideas, new adventures, and the ability to stretch our thoughts and knowledge.

Therefore, we have developed a balance which allows us the best of both worlds. We work, and we vacation. Our vacations enable us to go out and explore new things. This still works even if we don’t leave our own area, we just have to go to new places and trying new adventures.

I would like to recommend, though, when we do our work, we are serious about it and don’t add in roaming with it. Work is important. In the same light, vacations are essential. And you should not mix work with those vacations. And there is a good reason for maintaining the separation.

If you have people that work for you, before you go on vacation, make sure they’re trained on what needs to be done. Training is not only for those who work for you, but you also need to teach those who work over you to ensure they know what needs to be done and how it will happen while you are gone. The best thing is for everything to run smoothly and everybody realizes that the smooth working in your absence is because you have trained everyone as a team to work so well. If there is a problem or two while you’re gone, it points out how important you are to their process.

If there are problems while you’re on vacation and you’re always on the phone trying to fix them, you lose sight of the fact you’re supposed to be out exploring new things. If your company is on the phone talking to you all the time, they assume that that’s just part of healthy work-life. The company then loses sight of exactly how important you are. And you do not want to spend the rest of your time at that company being underappreciated and pestered continually.

Of course, this is just one person’s thought pattern. You have to try what you feel you need to do, starting in small doses to see how well it works, or not.

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

Afterward

The last few years I’ve written about many things. Some things that are easy and will take a few minutes, such as drinking water to stay hydrated. Some suggestions, such as mapping your future, could take years or more to see the fruit of your labors. And sometimes I know that we all ask a similar question along the way, “why am I doing this?”

It reminds me of an old saying about alligators and swamp water. And the real understanding of what you did and why is rarely appreciated until you are at a point where you can turn around and look at what you have done. Until that point, you had an idea, a vision of what your actions would accomplish, and how it would help you in the long run.

I am not good at cleaning. I can hide things and mask odors, and I am noted for the idea of sweeping things under the rug. Being tired of this, and wanting the place to look better, I hired a team to come in for a day and help us out. They spent four hours with us cleaning everything from the walls to the most minute details such as the crumbs at the bottom of the toaster oven. And in those four hours, they worked a miracle to put the house back to where it belonged.

Before they came, I question myself on why I was bringing them in. I ran over the positives and negatives in my head and was genuinely unsure about what the results might look like. When all was completed, it looked as though my old house was taken away and a brand new look-alike was brought in to replace it. Everything was better than clean and had a pleasant smell that reminded me of my mom’s house.

All I can tell you is to put your critical thinking skills to work. Instead of fearing the unknown or the yet to be seen, add up the pros and cons. Never use fear or blind trust because neither is totally correct. Figure out what you really need and look for a solution you can accept. Then move forward.

One more critical tip. When you bring in the pros, make sure they have what they need, including the information that you need to get them. Be kind to them and thank them for helping you, then get out of their way and let them do their best.

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

Help

We are humans. And as such, we are vulnerable. We have great things that we strive towards and do. And in that same breath, we have other tasks that we just cannot complete with any certainty of proper completion.

I, for one, believe that everybody has something that they can do exceptionally well.  This gift is usually a diamond in the rough. You must work at it, polishing each skill until it glistens. Learning your trade and becoming the expert takes hard work. Yet the core of your gift is always there, waiting for you to dig it out and start to use it.

So, how do you accomplish those tasks that you’re not really good at? One way is to trade what you do well to others who need what you do. And, the other person can exchange their best services which you need in exchange for your services, helping them. Does this sound like the start of commerce? Well, I imagined it works really well until someone in Mesopotamia finally figured out the touchstone. Ever since then, our trade seems to be centered around everything from precious metals to plastic.

If I need some cabinets built, everyone cringes. They have seen me with power tools. I can work hard for days at a time, jump on an airplane, and sleep during the trip to a South Pacific island. I wake up right before the plane lands, and work for the next 3 to 4 days diagnosing and repairing sensitive electronics with little more than an hour or two of rest per night. When I get back home from the trip, it is obvious I need to hire a housekeeper to help me out on occasion. I’m just not good at housework.

It is okay to admit that you’re not good at something. Because recognizing the fact gives you a choice. You can either live in poor conditions, or you can trade what you do well for what others do well. This is the essence of how we work.

I will grant you that these days I work for one person who pays me what I am worth in monetary currency. I take that currency and give it to someone else for something that they do well, and I need. It’s hard sometimes to look through all the money, bank transfers, credit cards, and other financial documentation, but when you boil all that down, we are trading what we can do for those things we need to have done by someone else.

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

Organization

Trust me, I am not one to talk on organization. I had some notes here somewhere on organization. I just can’t seem to find them. Organization is not what many people think it is. Some people point to a clean desk. Some people believe it is everything put neatly into its own cubbyhole. Some people think it is minimalism. And yet, ‘organization’ is really none of those things.

Organization is being able to know where you’re going, what you need along the way, and at any time being able to understand where the tools and items you need are. Some folks with the messiest of desks know which pile holds the next thing they need. Their lives are not planned directly from point A to Z. Instead, they choose a set of ellipses and S curves with a few spirals thrown in for good measure. Yet, they know where they want to go and what they want to do.

The person who is neat as a pin, everything put away, and sitting at an empty desk unsure of what’s next or what his or her next step will be is the one I worry for. The person in the last paragraph has a plan. The person in this paragraph has a set of habits. The question is, where will these habits lead? And, what kind of spark will it take to move from habits to future desires?

I am not trying to make you believe that everyone who is messy and scattered is actually working to a higher plan. Yet, as you get to know people, you will find some that do. Nor am I trying to tell you that people who are neat really don’t know where they’re going, although some don’t. And both groups have people who have not taken the time to consider what it is they really want to do in the future. And there are people in both groups who have worked out their plants and know exactly where they want to go.

What I want to tell you is that you can’t judge an e-book by its cover. Some people, like some books, will follow fantastic winding roads through beautiful scenery and epic adventures. And you cannot judge anybody from the appearance of their outer cover, because everyone is unique and often times full of surprises.

The real thought I want to bring you to is one about yourself and not others. This question is for you. Have you planned where you want your story to take you? What type of epic adventures will you have? And what kind of roads will you walk along the way?

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

Keep Your Balance

We need to talk about balance in our lives. As we go about our daily living, we need to make plans as to where we want to go and work hard at where we are now. We need to ensure we take time to take care of ourselves and of those around us. I am sure some will automatically say the easy answer of ‘Roger that Sergeant.’ Unfortunately, to do this is going to take work on your part, and each of us who go out daily and face our lives head-on.

The first thing we have to do is get our heads on straight. Combing our hair or shaving are just minor points. We need time each day to look inside of ourselves and understand what we really want to do, how others perceive us, and how we can do better for both ourselves and those who surround us. This takes time. It also requires a willingness to take an honest look at ourselves to understand what we do right, and what we should be doing better. After all, the number one person in charge of you is no one other than the person in the mirror.

You need to consider yourself first, or else you will have nothing to give to anyone else, for you will slowly and utterly deplete. Don’t just eat, eat to fuel your mind, body, and objectives. Don’t just consider what you want to do, find what you want to do for yourself and those others around you. Don’t just plan, plan the ways to make them happen. This way, when you step out in front of your family, friends, coworkers, and customers, you will find that things will start to run a bit smoother. This is because you took the “you” time.

In our days of being pushed from here to there with emergencies and needs everywhere we look, even the idea of balance seems to be an idea of somebody on a tight wire with a long pole and walking along. It does not have to be like that. Keep your core calm and well-maintained. Face each demand as it comes, and remember that you do not have to be absolutely everything to absolutely everyone. We need to stay humble and realize what is and is not within our realm of possibilities.

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

The Matched Set

Sometimes, we look at our life with certainties in mind. I am sure my trip to the ballpark this weekend is going to be a lot of fun. I am confident our friendship will last forever. I am really looking forward to getting that new computer next summer. We all have both tangibles and intangibles that we count on, and we believe they will always be there.

Yet sometimes, we are cruelly reminded how uncertain and occasionally cruel life can be. Unexpected events can make our most significant dreams become lost and scattered on the winds of fate. These catastrophes will shake us to our core and leave us with massive empty gaps where happiness used to live.

For a time, it will feel that we have absolutely lost everything. And yet, as time goes on, we will find our way to pick up the pieces and once again move forward. No one can claim that this path is not hard, the fruits are bitter, and the roads jagged. Yet as we move forward, we find that our total gloom and darkness will start to ease. The mercy of distance in time will help us find a new norm where our loving past is remembered, and new opportunities exist.

We do not know what or when, how or why, only that life holds uncertainties that we do not expect, will not understand, and wish very much we could live without. Unfortunately, if we live without the pain, we live without joy. We cannot forsake one for the other, they seem to be a matched set.

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

Research Your Desires

Yesterday we talked about researching yourself. Taking time to learn more about you opens up many doors and helps you to start to narrow what you really want to do. And that is important. After all, for right now at least, this is the life you have. You want to find the things that make you happy and passionate, and you want to pursue them.

Imagine, as a child, watching a television show about an emergency medical technician (EMT) and his partner. They go out and save lives, do great and heroic things, and all works out for good within the half-hour program. On that show, the EMTs are adored heroes and loved by all. Imagine your shock and dismay if you spent years becoming an EMT with little more than that knowledge.

EMTs are valued people, and I honor them in the work they do. They are however in a sometimes thankless job. They are often out picking up hurt drunks at 3 AM in the morning after the bars close, having to help in the middle of domestic arguments, and even sometimes being scorned by their own families because of the shifts they have to work and the times that they are not home.

Don’t get me wrong, EMTs are heroes, and I very much respect them. It is just hard to feel that sometimes when you are working with a shooting victim in a bad part of town while being shot at yourself. In our city, we raise money for firefighters and EMTs to receive the same bulletproof equipment that our police use.

We need EMTs, and if you really desire to be one, please go for it. Just know what you’re getting into with eyes wide open, and your research completed. I’m not picking on EMTs. I could show concerns for almost any position in any career field. You don’t ‘not’ go into a career field because of the fears, you go into a career field because of your passions. This is very important to understand.

I have developed some tools and ideas and researched where other excellent and free tools and considerations are found. If you are seeking ideas and research on where you want to go and what you want to do in your future, please let me know.  I may be able to assist.

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

Researching You

 People research each other all the time. Join the military, get accepted for most jobs, get the car loan, or pick up a mortgage for a house, are just some of the standard reasons that people will run a background check on someone. We sometimes Google ourselves, and that’s only normal. We are always curious about what others are going to learn about us.

If we know that others are going to be looking us up online, maybe we should get there first and understand what’s being said about us. Now before you start a sentence with, “Sarge, a little paranoid today, aren’t we?” Let’s think about this.

If you know what’s going to be said, you can spin things to be more favorable for you. You can also correct something that may be wrong. Every once in a great while, you should even do a deep dive. Employers are going to use a background verification service if nothing else, just to make sure that your resume is correct. If it has been years since you’ve applied for a job, maybe you should also check yourself out with one of those services. You can find them online for about $39. Knowing is always better than not knowing.

Knowing what others are thinking of you or know about you is minor compared to you knowing and understanding yourself. How do you see yourself? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Where do you want to be in 20 years? To be there, where are you going to be in ten? Where in five?

You can start now by taking an inventory of where you are and what you like and do not like about it. Then think of what you would really like to do, and some practical ideas as to how you can get there. If you can think about it and you really want it, you can probably do it. Remember, for the majority of us, the only person who can really stop us is ourselves. And usually, that’s only because we’ve forgotten how much we can actually do if we put our minds to it.

Do not talk yourself out of where you should be over something as simple as the fear of the unknown. Find out about what you want to know. You have to have knowledge and faith in yourself. And if you believe, so will others. Never ever sell yourself short.

I have a five-day minicourse that can help you to take stock of where you are and where you want to go. Best of all, the courses free. It is taught by a chatbot and runs on Facebook messenger. If you would like to try this, please let me know. People who take it seemed to enjoy it.

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