Tag: Change

Together

Thank you for being with us again today.

In researching items for the course, I am preparing, I was reminded of a very important point. If we have spouses or others who we partner with in life, in planning our future we have to consider and work in tandem with them. This is because we are no longer an individual, we are now a team member.

One important fact that we should remember:

Teams work better when they work together.

Please remember, no matter how good the plans or intentions, if not developed and shared with the team, doubt, fear, and confusion often ensue.

This is just something for us to keep in mind whether it is planning the weekend or the trip to the rest of our lives.

Thank you very much and will meet again tomorrow.

Time to Get Up

Today’s an exciting day. The weather is cool, the sun is out, and for a new day in a new week, life is pretty good.

I am embarking on a new idea. One, I hope will help many people. The project is called Reveille. Reveille is the bugle call you hear early in the morning when it’s time to get up, get started, and go out to win a new day.

No one likes to sleep in more than I do. And yet, all those things that I want to do cannot be accomplished with the covers over my head. I need to get up, clean up, drink up the coffee, and get out there where I can accomplish those items I need to do.

With your permission, as this week unfolds I will tell you more about Reveille, and more about how will be structured to meet your needs. For now, thank you for joining me in this wonderful announcement, and please come back to this blog to learn more as Reveille unfolds.

I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. If it’s is beautiful where you are, go out and seize the day!

 

New Way

Protect What Is Valuable as We Move Forward

Sometimes when we live with jewels all of our life, we forget what is really precious. We sometimes take for granted the things that work so well. And, tend to ignore those people  that are always there.

When we make a change, the ripples of the change affect everything and everyone around us. The larger the change, the stronger the ripples around us are; and the more those who are near to us are affected. It is important that we are cognizant of, and pay attention, to those concerns.

Have you ever been in an earthquake? Having lived around the world, I have been in several earthquakes. Some that were over as soon as they started, and some that seemed to go on forever. The truth is, the time of earthquakes is usually shorter than you think. The reason it feels longer is that you don’t know when it’s going to stop. Just like the earthquake, ripples that are caused by the change of one person affect others more deeply when they do not know what is going on or where the changes are headed.

There is a really neat way to help dampen the ripples of change for both you and those around you. The nice thing is it doesn’t cost anything, it takes very little time, it provides everybody involved some great support. Just sit down with those concerned and talk to them about what is going on.

It’s amazing that when people know, they can work as a team and together they can do all sorts of wonderful things to meet challenges.  To grow, to move in  directions, and to set the basis to ultimately succeed, no matter what the odds are.  Whether you are moving to a new city, changing jobs, planning a retirement, or any number of other things, sit down with those around you and whatever you do you discuss it and do it together.

That is one mean old master sergeant’s thought for the day. Try talking to those around you, especially the ones you care about, and you’ll be surprised how much support and teamwork you actually will gain.

Talk to you again tomorrow, have a great one out there.

We change with the times

We have talked about the fact that nothing lasts forever. Even the glass bottle that we drink from and the glass vase that holds our flowers is actually in a liquid form very slowly, forever changing. And so we have a choice. As everything changes around us do we accept the fact and change with it? Or, do we put a stick in the sand and say, “Here I stand.”

We see this all the time. Because of this, some people are labeled as old fogies. Other people are just dismissed out of hand as not knowing because it was not of their generation. The truth is, it depends. It is actually up to you. Do you keep with the old times? Do you learn and grow and go with the new times? I vote for the latter. I am too young of the mind to start living in yesteryear and begin believing there are no worthwhile changes.

We see others, and sometimes ourselves, occasionally get stuck in the past. Does that mean we are forever doomed to live the life of what happened at the high school football game? Counting the rivets on a B-52 in North Dakota? The pain of a hangover a day after the frat party? The patrol that went sideways? Or whatever else is burdensome on our mind? I really don’t think we have to do that.

We have a choice. For me, I choose to remember the past, learn and live in the now, and celebrate the possibilities of the future.  We remember in order not fall into the same traps or repeat mistakes. Now is where I live. If I am not happy with now, I learned so that I can change it. I also learn to prepare my path into the future.

Right now I should not be living in the past nor in the future. Right now, I should live, except, and enjoy where and what I am now. I do this knowing that like glass, I am not a solid. Rather, I am something that is continually learning, growing, and reshaping my destiny.

Nothing is a forever

Nothing in our lives in this world lasts forever. Rarely is there an immediate change. Often the change is gradual. What is normal to us is what seems like slow progress, and is often viewed as a drastic change by those who leave and come back five or 10 years later.

To see changes in the galaxy, or in the universe, one would have to leave and come back in 1000 or 2000 years to notice a difference. Sometimes we change so slowly, we do not even recognize the changes within ourselves. One day we wake up, look at our reflection and wonder, “Where did that old Fart come from?”

Change is inevitable. I know that this is quoted until it’s  practically a cliché. However, it is still true. I am talking about the second law of thermodynamics. Everything will break down to its most common elements.

As change happens, we have a choice. We can look at change as a good thing, or we can look at change as a bad evil. If you read my blog for a while, you know why I believe change is good.

I look at all the ills in the world that have been cured. I look at better understanding and better thinking brought about by better communication which leads to better collaboration. I believe that the more we learn, the better we become as humans.

This week we will explore this topic in more detail. If you aren’t sure, we are working towards something here. Hopefully, it will be something good.

We will talk with you again tomorrow.

Tomorrow Is a New Dawn

Tomorrow is a new dawn. The start of a new day and the possibilities that day brings for all the great things in life. Just imagine what tomorrow might bring.

We get so used to the idea of the new Dawn because during our lives we have seen it happen so often. We get accustomed to the fact that there will be a new day in the morning. The new chance for a beautiful sunrise, dew on the grass, and beauty all around us in the air and on the ground.

Sometimes we just cannot see the beauty and wonder of it all, because we get a little jaded by its regularity. Yet it’s the most wonderful thing you can think of. Whoever put this whole plan into motion took great care. The cycles work well sunrise and sunsets, seasons and years.

In our day to day hustle of work, kids to school, bills to pay, and important things to do, we sometimes forget to stop and look. If you have the sun rising and purple on the mountain and crops in the fields, forests before you and the beauty of the shoreline again with its ebb and flow of the tides with the crashing of the waves to the shore, it is something to behold.

In the neatest thing, we each see something a little bit different within the new morning. It is as though each morning was crafted especially for each and every one of us.

Interesting things are coming up in the next week, and I will be very excited to tell you about it on Monday. Please remember without change, better things never happen.

Hope to be in touch with you again Monday.

Laying Out the Day

Several weeks ago, we had a blog about laying out our clothes, shoes, socks, belt, wallet,  and accessories the night before work, rather than running down the day of work in trying to find everything.

What would you think if I told you you can do the same thing with your day at work for the next day. The nice thing about going over the next day the night before is it saves you time and emotion.

Just grab your calendar and go over it. Just to remind yourself of the meetings you have, whatever is due the next day and how much work you still have to do on at it, and how much free time you have and at what times during the day, because something will always come up to take care that free time.

If you understand what’s going on at the time, it is easier to face. A thank you and the office of the boss is smiles and grins and grips. Working with an unhappy customer make a cause for some contrition and an earnest pledge to find and fix whatever is wrong. And, counseling a team member who did not perform his tasks on time may cause the need for empathy, encouragement, and chiding in proper amounts.

Knowing all this ahead of time means that none of it catches you blindsided, and you have some time to think and prepare. Knowing ahead of time is nice because you are less likely to go off your script or make some foolish error based on lack of time to think and consider.

Have Many Irons in the Fire?

Too many irons in the fire hark back to the days of blacksmiths when irons were heated in a fire stoked by a bellows.  The irons were heated red hot and then pounded into shape by the blacksmith using an anvil and hammer. Having too many irons in the fire meant that the blacksmith could not handle all the work he had to do. Today, we use the saying for too many projects that we’re doing.

It is in our training and in our desire to help. We take on some tasks which interest us we take on even more because the powers-that-be want us to do more. And sometimes there is not enough money for two people to do the tasks and therefore one is let go in the other one has to do the tasks for both. This happens more than you think.

Often, this takes place without a lot of complaint up the chain. For one thing, we still want the job, and the higher workload is one of the requirements to keep it. Another item that’s not so well understood is that many of us are wired to take on added work and/or are ashamed to admit that we need help. We see asking for help as a sign of weakness.

Here’s the question, and if you’re new to our blog so I always ask questions. Is it better work as hard as you can, knowing some things will fall through the cracks; or, is it better to ask for assistance or delegate work?

As much as we would like to be the hero, save the day, get all our work done and never need to ask for help, it does not always happen. Would you rather be standing in the boardroom explaining why a pet project was not completed? Would you rather be standing in the board room,  congratulated along with your team that helped to complete the project?

We all live with some fear in the back of our mind about what others may think of us. Most of that fear leads us in wrong directions. Leadership always prefers the person with that will ask for help when needed because the action shows they put the project first. And everything being equal, leadership respects and honors positive project actions.

Next time you have too many irons in the fire get a few more blacksmiths and just pound that project out.

Thanks for being with us. We have piled up a few irons in the fire ourselves. And I am hoping by the end of this week or the beginning of next we will have some exciting news to share.

We are once again at the end of a week with no idea where the first days went.  This seems to be a ritual with me.  I am not sure why.  I live near the Air Force Academy, and I guess the cadets up there must be rubbing off on me.

At the Academy, the cadets look at a week as a day.  Monday is the new morning, Wednesday is lunchtime and Friday is the end of the day.  For young people who have a lot to do and little free time to waste, I guess this makes sense.

I may have to run my projects by the week and, like the Academy, cadets look at each week as a day.  It might make the week more interesting.  It would help to organize and expedite a project. And it would make each section of the week more memorable.

 

Just a thought.  Thanks for listening.

Inspire Someone

Thanks, we are glad to have you here with us again!

Have you been thinking about what we’ve been talking about this week? Have you been writing things down? This is your life. I think we each only get one, and it is important that you have the chance to live the life that does you honor.

I have been taking a course on various companies. Learning what motivated them. Learning about their passions. Learning what it took to become viable and sustainable. For the founders of these companies, it truly is work. It is the work of fulfilling their passion.

Two kids from the same high school, one in ends up flipping burgers and salting fries. The other is driving Mercedes and taking vacations to Hawaii. Why?

Think of life as trade offs. 

Even better, think of where your passions live.  What do you need to do to fulfill them?  And, how that helps others because if done right, you could inspire generations that come after you. Don’t believe me?  Three words: Disney, Ford, Edison.