Tag: Future Growth

I Wish I Knew This When…

Growing up, I was part of a very conservative Catholic family. As a matter of fact, my grandparents lived right across the street from a Greek Orthodox family. A family not unlike the Greek Orthodox family we see in the movies.

I grew up believing that whatever happened, I was wrong. Even if I was right, I was wrong for being right. And guess what, I was wrong. I thought that’s the way life worked and as I ventured out on my own I started working with these thoughts in mind.

I learned that to get the best work out of people, you really wanted them to be correct and have the feeling that those above them had their back because they knew they were right. They needed to be praised in public and corrected in private. They need to know that their supervisor is there to guide them and have their back, and encourage them on.

Learning this knowledge actually helped me in the long run. When the factory I worked at had four open supervisor positions, they interviewed 81 different people. I was one of the last.

When asked about supervision techniques, I explained it as a supervisor. I was the cheerleader. It was my job to get everything the people needed to get their jobs done correctly. Parts, guidance, and correct work processes must be present and ready for the job. That’s what I was really supervising, The success of my team.

Isn’t that something a team member would like to know upfront?

ENOUGH

What we are doing in our schools today is giving voice to those who for one reason or another wish to disrupt our system of life in our country. As we broadcast and focus on each terrorist act within school systems, we give other want-to-be terrorists a platform on which to terrorize us.

One and the only thing that I see the latest school got right is that the students themselves have had enough of this. The students stood up and said this must stop.  And yes, indeed it must.  The students are doing this the right way by working with their legislatures.

 I trained with the M 22, which is the equivalent of the AR 15. I was lucky enough as a Cold War warrior, never to have to fire it in anger. And yet I cannot believe today that someone needs to have this warrior style weapon to hunt, they are embarrassing themselves.

If you can’t shoot a duck or a deer with a shotgun because it doesn’t hold enough shells, you should be denied a weapon on that fact alone. If you need 30 round clips to keep varmints from digging up your garden, you should really be shopping in the fresh vegetable aisle at your local grocery store. While you’re there, if you’re actually using that big clip to get the duck or the deer, we suggest a quick detour over to the meat counter. Think of what you’ll save in ammunition.

I agree with those on The Hill who said these weapons of war are not needed for our day-to-day lives. We know this because we’ve seen other countries where heavy weaponry is part of their day-to-day life. We see these countries almost nightly on the news. What countries do you see on the news with which have their citizens walking around with AK-47’s, RPG’s, and heavy caliber machine guns? Their cities and Villages sure look worse for the wear and tear on them.  Is that what we want for our country? To live in the rubble?

Allow me to ask a question for you to think on today.

What came first the weapon, or the war?

 

Please write a comment and tell me what you think.

 

Your Time

Thank you for being with me today I don’t know where you are. Here it is beautiful, sunny, with clear skies.

My question today is a simple one, “are you taking care of yourself?”

When we are younger, our parents take care of us. As we grow a little, we find ourselves taking care of our kids. And, as we get a little bit older, we find our kids taking care of us. This must be one of those universal cycles. And, as is true in life, we always look out to help and take care of our family, our neighbor, and those we see who are in need of help. So my question stands, “are we taking time to take care of ourselves?”

I ask this because if we don’t take the time, and we don’t listen to our bodies, the bodies have a way of speaking louder, to a point where we cannot ignore them. It is much easier to take care of a whisper than it is to fix a body when it is screaming at you.

I have been there, and I have done this myself to an extent, so I understand. With everything we have these days and very busy lives, we seem to be continuously running the race for others and saving time by ignoring our needs.

This is just one man’s opinion; however, with all the communication software we have on the market today, we can stay in contact with everyone for very little or no cost. Tie that into calendar systems which will keep track of each of your events, appointments, and meetings. The next thing you know, you have a system of organization.

The next thing you need to do to set up your calendar from the inside out. Start with you, and start with seven hours of sleep minimum, eight hours is even better. Lunchtime is the time to get out from behind The desk or off the construction line. Eat something and look around a little. Taking this respite from work is needed. Your work for the rest of the day will far eclipse anything you could’ve gotten done over lunch.

When you set this up, be sure not to sink the whole program by scheduling your ‘me time,’ at the same time somebody else needs your help whether it is kid’s soccer, your spouse’s ‘me time’ or other events you also need to pay attention to.

This is something each of us has to do for ourselves. And like everything else, it will take time and practice to get it right. The neat thing is it is something everyone can succeed at when we work at it. You succeed for your children, you succeed for your parents, you succeed for your spouse, and now, you can also succeed for you.

Have a great day

I Owe You an Apology

First and foremost, I owe you an apology. I slipped away in the last week, only through my own fault. No one else forced me to do this, and nothing else should have been big enough to stand between me and the time I spend with you each week. And yet, I became mesmerized. For this, I am truly sorry and will try not to let this happen in the future.

I am now working on a new course that helps people to research what they want to do in life, find friends and mentors to help them by giving advice along the way, and make a map those goals and the milestones to get to them. We hope to start the first pilot class later this month, and it will be for veterans. I hope to have another pilot class after that for college graduates who are having a hard time finding the work they want to do in life.

Needless to say, this is an interesting and new aspect of a problem that is as old as life itself.  As I worked to build this course and deliver it, and with your permission, I will keep you advised and up to date.

The problem I am working to alleviate is not only held by veterans or college grads. Everyone who leaves one comfort zone for another can find themselves in the same quandary. Especially, if their departure was not planned or completely thought through.

As work goes on, I will keep you up-to-date on how it goes and as we get closer, talk to you about others that you know who may benefit from this.

Please forgive me my absence and please add comments as to articles I could post to help you in the future.

If You Change Your Angle

Hello and welcome back.

We’ve been talking about comfort zones. Up until now, we’ve been talking about having a comfort zone and going to a new one as something fearful. There are always worries about what might happen. The truth is you don’t know until you try.

Would it be fearful for something to offer you a large sum of money? To give you prestige? To give you a better lifestyle? You’re probably expecting me now to tell you all this happens with the comfort zone to the next. Sorry. As stated in the last blog, I have been around the block a few times. But I am here to tell you that with a little research and a little work moving from one comfort zone to another can be a very good thing.

Look at changing a comfort zone like this. I had a friend in Alaska who won a free trip to Hawaii from a radio station. It was for him and his wife, and the catch was they had to leave in two days. They both had jobs, and kids, and other responsibilities.

Most people would have just said no I can’t go, I have too many responsibilities. The contest involved packing suitcases, so the suitcases were packed. They each made a quick call and explanation to their jobs and their employers who understood and encouraged the trip. The next-door neighbor, who they traded babysitting with offered to take care of the kids while they were gone. And in about 18 hours, they were ready to board the plane and enjoy a vacation paid for by local radio station.

Many things look impossible when you’re down looking up. If you can change your angle of view a little bit, you can start to see ways in which obstacles diminish and opportunities become possible.

Take another look at the worries and concerns that you may have in trying to achieve something new. If you can adjust the view, maybe with reading a few articles or watching a few YouTube videos, maybe you can see a way.

Thank you for being with me today and listening to one person’s ideas. We hope you find the way to seek and find what you’re looking for.

We look forward to being with you again tomorrow. Thank you.

 

 

Eye Test Time?

How are your eyes working for you today? I hope they are doing well. We talk about eyes.  We use them so that we can see the things of this world. It is a beautiful gift that should never be taken for granted.

I have come to know some of those with sight problems.  I have learned, those who see best have sometimes lost the mechanics within their own eyes to perform the function of sight. Having eyes to see things makes it easy and at the same time intolerably difficult.

Those without site often see better because they listen and hear and smell nuances and understand smells and laughter. Those with sight impairments have the advantage and ability to use the other senses. These people I talk of are able in their mind to see the good and the bad. We have to admit there is both good and bad in most things around us.

Televisions and radios give us instant access to information. That’s a good. When someone spends all their time sitting in a chair either listening to the radio or watching TV, they miss out on wonderful things around them. They miss these things because the brain has fooled them into thinking they’re actively doing whatever is on the screen.  The truth of the matter is they’re just watching other people pretend to do it.

Cars have good and bad attributes. They get us where we want to go, they can save lives with ambulances. And they bring families closer. On the other hand, think about how many people are killed in car accidents each year. Think of how many kids run away with the use of a car or a ride from someone else. Think of what the cost is for the car,  gas, insurance, and mechanical upkeep. And, think of how often jealousies arise because of somebody wanting a car that’s better than the next person’s car.

There is good to bad in many things. And some things cannot be seen by many, no matter how good their site is. Think of the caring and love of one another. Isn’t that a good thing? Think of people tonight who have food on the street because somebody cared enough to show up and help out complete strangers. Think of those who at their own expense, to fly somewhere and help reconstruct the church after a hurricane. Or help repair the school dormitory after the tornado. Or, jump into a boat and go out on a flooded town to see if their neighbors are all right and if they can help get them to dryer ground. I’m not sure if this type of sight really comes through eyes are not, I know where it comes from though. It comes from the heart. And everyone has one of those.

Maybe there are better organs than the eyes to look with.

Learning

I find it amazing what people can do when they put their heads together. Singularly we are but one voice in the wilderness. Yet, put us together, and amazing things can happen. I am working in a multinational class learning to run my business better.  I do this so I can better serve my customers (That’s You.)

We are working to make our businesses better, not for greed, or money, or fame. We are working to make our businesses better so we can reach out and do better for those who need to learn and grow. We each have our own idea of how we can help others.  Working to help others helps make the world a better place. We have people from many countries and continents all working together to better learn our craft.

Our goal is to learn how to develop and maintain a workable business which allows us to keep a flow of both good and goods to others who need the items and education.

The people who are teaching us are smart, energetic and willing to give of themselves and their time to help us to learn these wonderful nuggets of knowledge.

They say that as you rise into space and look down on the earth, you do not recognize borders. You recognize land and sea, clouds and ocean, some rivers and of course the great barrier reef and the great wall of china. You know that there are people down there. It seems to me the more we work with people and the less that we let invisible borders impede the flow of education and knowledge, the better we all will be.

More Than We Can Handle?

Have you ever watched jugglers? Jugglers start off with three of whatever they are juggling. So if they are juggling bowling pins, or balls, or even bowling balls, they always seem to have one in each hand and one in the air. Of course the better they become as jugglers, they still only have two hands, but rather than having a total of three items to juggle, they may have four, five, or six various items. This means many more items in the air and a higher chance of missing something.

And of course, the more items the juggler has in the air, the more likely it is that what will happen? Yep, something happens and all the items being juggled fall to the floor.

The juggler will tell you dropping things is part of growing and stretching their ability. To grow as jugglers, they have to understand that they will drop objects while they are learning. And, they will drop objects while they expand their reach. They know that is part of growing as a juggler.

I believe in growth. I believe in stretching one’s abilities. Although not a large proponent of multitasking, to a large degree, I do know that this is an important talent.  One sought after today in the marketplace.

I noticed that if I’m multitasking various issues at the same time, one of them gets the majority of my attention and the rest during that moment have cursory attention. Does this mean that I will miss things? Will I drop things? Could something end up going undone? Sure, I’m only human. Surprisingly enough the same can be said of all humans who juggle or multitask.

We do not drop items on purpose, although it will, at some time, happen.  At times, in business, we all need to juggle. We and the people we work for take that chance. The trick is…

Not to Take On More Than We Can Handle At A Given Time.

Be The Person You Want Helping You

Lately, I have read a lot from many entrepreneurs about which is more important, to make a lot of money or to help the client who needs that help?

This is a fair dilemma. If you don’t help people and do good for them or their companies you really can’t make very much money because you will not have many customers. If you spend all your time helping people giving away most of what you do and not making a sufficient income, you will not be able to continue due to a lack of funds.

This reminds me of a similar debate in manufacturing. To provide the customer what they are paying for, the winds need to build quality products. To earn sufficient funds to pay for the lines running, asserting quantity must be built and shipped to the customer.

Poor quantity means not enough product to satisfy the customer or keep the line running. On the other hand, poor quality means returns, reworks, and loss of reputation.

Let’s  look at this in action. You have a young line with new builders who have only the most minimum of training. The manufacturing manager steps on the line and tells everyone they will build and package 350 units by the end of the shift, or else she will find new people to build her computers.

The new people, needing the jobs to support their families and themselves are terrified and start doing whatever they can as fast as they can. Quality inspectors, who work for the manufacturing manager (poor choice in organizational structure) are letting all but the most serious of errors through inspection believing if the units are bad they will fail at the testing stations.

Although it’s a squeaker, the 350 units are built and shipped by the end of the shift. Everybody feels elated. Even the manufacturing manager has something on her face, although it’s not sure if what people saw was a smile, or sneer. Alas, this is just the start of the story and not the happy ending. The units shipped have a myriad of flaws, and the customer believes some units have major flaws which require repair before the units can be sold on the open market.

The 350 questionable units are shipped back to the United States from Europe and with 400 units that were built but not shipped underwent re-inspection and repair. When planning the economics of the line, a re-inspection and repair of units at this magnitude were never contemplated. The factory now has to pay for transportation of units, storage of units, a work crew to inspect and repair units, certification of the work by the customer’s inspectors, and re-shipment back to Europe. This is what we call a hidden factory. It’s not something you plan for your factory to do. Not something you’re going to get paid extra for. It is just a drain on the resources of the factory.

Let’s move this back to our question of the day and are we out to help people, or are we after the big bucks.

If you help someone, hopefully, they tell a friend. And if you help their friend, they’ll tell someone else, maybe two. If you build a quality product and put it in a quality program and charge a fair price, you may go far. Doing good things for people grows a following.   

If your product is filled with errors, grammatical problems, ideas that are irrelevant to the reader you may find items being returned and fees requested to be refunded. That is never a good start and is certainly a bad end.

So, what do you do? Do the best that you can make sure your work is relevant to your customer and you go from there.  And…

Be The Person You Want Helping You.

Real Riches Are Never Measured In Money

Have you ever contemplated what work really is? We learned fairly early in life, usually around 11 or 12, that if we go out and do something for somebody, we can get a reward. Five dollars to shovel snow from the walk or to weed a garden. Fifteen to 20 dollars to cut the yard depending on size. And as we grow little, babysitting money.

Even at a young age, these small jobs can be big bucks. Young, smart entrepreneurs can easily maintain a list of five or 6 yards to cut in a weekend earning them $75 to $100.

As we grow older, we can then hire the neighborhood kid or our own children for those jobs we do not wish to do ourselves. And then later on when everyone’s grown, once again we find is ourselves doing those jobs with one small catch. No one is paying us. Wait a minute?

Is what we view as a job promotion for a life we spent becoming something else? I don’t think so. Cutting the grass is cutting the grass. A labor of love?  Again, I don’t think so. I would often be happy just to let it grow. Pay the neighborhood kid to do it? Last time I did that, he demanded the money up front for scout camp and then, he never cut the yard.

Side benefits for cutting the lawn? It keeps my significant other from more complaints. And, a good completion, if lucky, may even result in a kiss. Yet, it’s something that still has to be done. You can’t stop grass and shrubs from growing.

We do a lot of things, for rewards that have nothing to do with money. Raising kids is work, and at the same time, it’s a labor of love. The reward is when the children grow into adulthood and find their positive directions in the world.

Taking care of the house is a job. The better you keep it up, the easier the job becomes. When you keep the house like I do you end up with a true work of art. My house is post-modern clutter.

We all have chores we must complete. Chores that are often considered paid jobs to other people. Any chore or job that is done is a direct reflection on the person doing it. If a chore goes undone, is that not also a reflection upon the person in charge and the person who is supposed to complete the chore? This is something to contemplate.

Almost every action you do is an action someone else gets paid for. Chefs cook dinners.  Barbers shave people. Home health care workers wash people. Critics watch movies and TV shows and talk about them. If you’re doing these different occupations, for yourself, you’re working for yourself. And you are giving to yourself what others would be paid. This may not be in the coin of the realm, however, think of the riches you have and those you gain in doing these chores. After all…

Real Riches Are Never Measured In Money.

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