December 2009

My friend, Warren, lives on a small piece of limestone and coral about six hundred miles southeast of Puerto Rico and just beyond the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea.

Recently, I suggested that maybe we could meet halfway and hang out in Miami for the weekend… but then I remembered that he doesn’t like the cold that much!

Yes, depending on where you live, Miami could be toasty warm or just a wee bit chilly… it all depends on your point of view.

For example, the current weather outside my window right now is listed as “Fair”… yes, fair… temperature is 7 degrees, with a wind chill of -1.

And just in case you’re not familiar with the concept of wind chill, here’s the rule of thumb… when headed outside, cover anything that you don’t want to fall off.

Yes, different points of view… indeed!

**************************************************************************************************************

My dad has a saying for these situations, which sounds something like, “Well, my boy… it all depends on how you look at it.”

Oh, the number of times I heard those words while growing up… and how many times I’ve probably said them since!

It kinda goes hand in hand with other remnants of ancient wisdom like, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” or, “With this much manure… there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”

But alas… I digress.

Obviously, the gist is that our attitude positively or negatively colors our perception of our circumstances. At the same time, it’s our job to make sure that our circumstances don’t unreasonably affect our attitudes!

It’s a circular reference and, of course, that’s the real challenge.

Yes, it is all in how we look at it.

**************************************************************************************************************

I remember reading once that virtually every life-altering invention is simply a remedy to an otherwise difficult, troubling, or annoying process or circumstance.

To be sure, great advances in technology, business, and medicine are often preceded by a set of events that simply cry out for innovation.

But here’s the thing.

While everyone can see it… and everybody feels it… there are always just a handful who view the situation as an opportunity to act… to make a difference… to leave a legacy.

And as they proclaim, “There’s got to be a better way,” one thing is certain… there’s a relatively good chance that they’re going to find it.

And the difference? Just the point of view… and a willingness to act. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Photo Credit:

Robert Paul Young

{ 0 comments }

I don’t know about you, but Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of the year.

Well, actually Fall is my favorite time of the year… Christmas is just my favorite holiday… so I suppose what would make a perfect situation would be to move Christmas to October.

Then again, I like the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so I guess we would kinda have to move New Year’s Day back a few months also.

Hmm… so here’s what I’m thinking. This is going to mess up a lot of vacation plans and fiscal years and such, so… at least for the time being… let’s just plan to leave it like it is.

But I do have another idea you can implement almost at once.

With just seven days until the new year, most everyone who plans to make resolutions probably already has a good idea of what they’re going to be… and we’ll speak some more about that in a few days.

But here is a thought.

Most resolutions tend to be pretty “me-focused”… you know, lose weight, make more money, quit this or that, improve whatever… but, why not turn that around?

Why not focus on someone else?

Yes, this is one thing I love about Christmas. On this day, when one third of the Earth’s population celebrates a 2000 year old gift that was given to the world… and another third celebrates the gift’s that they give to each other… why not carry the spirit of giving forward, and make a year of it?

Yes, why not spend some time in the next week identifying the needs of another individual… someone who has no means whatsoever to return the favor… and then resolve to make one of their dreams come true in 2010?

And then please write and tell me about it… I’d love to connect with you.

Merry Christmas.

Photo Credit:

Jurvetson

{ 0 comments }

In 1906, ecomomist Vilfredo Pareto obeserved that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by just 20% of the people.

A star was born!

In no time, the Pareto Principle… the 80/20 Rule… would become an almost universally accepted measure in teachings on economics, business, technology, and success.

Suddenly, we learned that the top 20% of achievers earn and control 80% of the worlds wealth, while 80% of the population fights over the remaining 20%.

We heard that 20% of salespeople make 80% of all sales… 20% of the members in your church give 80% of what winds up in the collection plate… and the top 20% of taxpayers pay 80% of all taxes.

It also turns out that 20% of what we eat gives us 80% of the real nutrition our body requires… 20% of our clothes are what we wear 80% of the time… and 20% of our customers give us 80% of our revenue.

Yes, it has application to seemingly everything… health, finances, mathematics, even software. As reported a few years ago by Paula Rooney at ChannelWeb, Microsoft calculates that 20% of the bugs are responsible for 80% of all crashes and errors.

Which, of course, my Mac friends seem only too happy talk about… but alas, I digress.

Though as you’ll see… the uses for Pareto’s Principle are only limited by our creativity and our priorities.

**************************************************************************************************************

I think my favorite part of this principle is the one which states that we should spend 80% of our time on the 20% of activities that really move the dial on our goals.

You see, if we do that effectively, it generates plenty of income so that we can invest the remaining 20% of our time on other worthy projects… projects that are critically important, but which may not add to the bottom line.

For example, I have some incredibly talented friends who run a nationally recognized Ad Agency in which they have turned this rule into a company policy. Yes, they’ve made the rule, well… a rule!

As defined on their website, part of the company philosophy is to invest back 20% of their time and creative assets to help non-profit and community projects through pro bono engagements…

And make everyone’s life a little better in the process.

I don’t know about you, but methinks Vilfredo would be proud…

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Photo Credit:

Wikipedia

{ 0 comments }