Pay very close attention. Ready? Three hikers finish a long hard day on the Appalachian Trail. They trudge into a small inexpensive hotel and ask for a room. The clerk at the counter tells them it’s $30. Great, they each pay $10 and walk down to their room. The manager wanders in later and asks […]
There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who do the work, and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group. There is less competition there. – Indira Ghandi Lisa Fischer might be the greatest female vocalist working today you have never heard of. When she tours with Sting, […]
On the playground at our daughter’s elementary school, there is something called the Buddy Bench. According to Annie, it’s where you can go and sit if you don’t have any friends to play with. Then, if you see someone sitting there, alone on the Buddy Bench, your job is to go over and invite them […]
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot Sometimes, failing is easy. Success is hard. Failing is status quo, back to the norm, maybe even farther back to slackville. Success can bring envy, jealousy, hurt, notoriety, limelight, pressure, confusion. Success takes courage. Yes, […]
On Monday, August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made it’s third and most devastating landfall with sustained winds of over 125mph. Inside the headquarters of Hancock Bank in Gulfport, Mississippi, Katrina’s 30 foot storm surge had driven 4 feet of water throughout the ground floor and destroyed the elevator system. A tornado had ripped out 1300 windows […]
The happiest parts of vacations are planning them. The most joyous time is before we even pack our bags. And only those who were able to really, truly check out and relax reported a performance and happiness boost after returning to work. We aren’t very good at remembering how we felt in the past. We […]
It was getting out of hand. It was time for an intervention. Only a year earlier we had a 30 minute “screen time” media option in our house for our three kids. After homework, after chores, after mealtime together, and after checking in and sharing with us their daily activities, they could zone out on NetFlix, […]
Your son doesn’t like 7th grade band? Let him quit. French IV is too hard? Drop the class. Training for that marathon is too hard? Just quit. Feeling frustrated or detached from your work. Quit. It’s easy. Tired of not making progress on your writing project? Drop it, lose it, let it go. Yah! That felt […]
Here’s an old brain trick: Look below. Which line is longer? You know this trick. They are the same, right? But I changed the trick. Here are the same lines as above but I took the fins off. Look again. Yes. You see they are different now. Ten percent different. Maybe you weren’t fooled because you anticipated a […]
In my dream we are in a small bedroom near the top of a very tall building. And the building itself is floating, and bobbing in a slow ponderous way. While outside the window, the winds are howling and a storm is raging. We are adrift in a gigantic building in a typhoon, and the […]