August 2010

Yeah, check it out… another week has flown by!

As in, I cannot believe it’s been seven days since my last article. Oh, shoot… it’s actually been eight.

C’est la vie.

So last week, I was trying to sort out this whole “Time Flies” thing when I ran into a couple of, well… old guys.

And suddenly, I had my answer!

No, it wasn’t because they possessed wisdom from all the experience they had gained from their many years. In fact, on the contrary, it was because they had grown old and weary (without the wisdom) long before their time!

Yes, these old men were younger than me… and no, time was not flying for them.

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“Same old… same old.”
“Same stuff… different day.”

Same… same… same.

These were the responses I received when I asked what was going on… what was new… what was exciting!! Unfortunately, their answers were eerily similar to the responses that I got from some of the really old guys at my last class reunion… but I digress.

So, I’m thinking it was George Washington or Ben Franklin or Thomas Edison or one of those really smart guys that figured out that time flies… when you’re having fun!

Yes, when you’re engaged… creating great art or building a Country or doing good works… you know, something interesting or important or… yeah, just plain fun!

It’s why vacations or childhood summers or honeymoons fly by! It’s why life for some seems like a whirlwind and for others resembles trudging through quicksand. And it is why time is flying by tonight!

We’re in the process of building the foundations of several new ventures right now. And I do mean right now… as in, I had to stop doing that in order to sit down and write this!

At midnight.

So, until I can give the details… please know my hope for you is that you are getting younger… and that there’s just not enough time in your day!!

I look forward to hearing from you!

 
Photo Credit:

oddsock

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Eight weeks ago this minute, I was just walking up to my front door after driving home from the Minneapolis area.

The trip had taken just under 4 hours, but it really seemed like only half that long… strange.

Interestingly, Google Maps told me it would take 4 hours and 52 minutes so I was likely going just a little faster than I should have been!

Then again, I don’t necessarily put my faith in Google and I also think that if I go just the right speed, my car becomes invisible… sweet!

But here’s the really weird part – as I think about the conversations I had while I was there… the interactions with others… yes, even the dinner we ate just before I headed for home that evening… it hardly seems like a few weeks have passed, no less several months.

Hmm…

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You’ll recall my theory from Part 1 about time actually being perceived as speeding up as we get older. Now, I’m no physicist (and neither was my grandma), but it seemed to make sense to me at the time.

A friend of mine then suggested another cause could be at work. Maybe, just maybe, he said… we are surrounded by so much technology… so many stimuli… such a multitude of sensory activity competing for our attention… that we simply lose track of time.

Sounds reasonable, I thought.

After all, I was listening to music… and I was on and off the phone more than a few times… and I did pull out my mp3 and record my thoughts for an upcoming presentation that I was to deliver. Oh, and there was also traffic and there were deer and raccoons and… and… and I was excited to sleep in my own bed, and…

You get the picture.

Gee… was I really so distracted that time just flew by? And if so, have I really been THAT distracted for the LAST EIGHT WEEKS?

I hope not.

So to prove it, I pretty much went off the grid for about five days last week and weekend. That’s right. With the exception of a handful of texts, almost completely away from my cell. And no laptop… no Internet or e-mail… no social networks… no television, radio, sports, news… nothing.

Nothing… and guess what?

Those five days seemed like about thirty-six hours, but at least this time, I think I know why. The answer… next time.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

Photo Credit:

Skyseeker

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Sometimes time just flies, and other times… IT REALLY FLIES!!

Maybe you’ve experienced it, you know… where you just can’t believe weeks or months have passed because events LITERALLY feel like they happened yesterday.

A friend and I were talking about that phenomenon awhile back and we came to several conclusions about why we sense such things. The most simple explanation seemed to be one that just makes sense from a perceptual point of view.

The idea is that time, relative to our entire life, actually IS speeding up. I learned this from my grandmother when I was just a boy. At the time, she was seventy-two years old and I was seven, and we happened to be remembering an event that had taken place about a year earlier.

Suddenly, she exclaimed something to the effect of, “I can’t believe that was last year already… it seems like only yesterday!!”

I don’t remember encyclopedia volumes of information about that time of my life, but I do recall being puzzled by her comments. After all, that year certainly seemed like a VERY LONG TIME to me.

Only later did I figure out why.

You see, at that point in time, seven years was an ENTIRE LIFETIME for me… and that year literally represented 1/7 of an entire life… mine. For my grandma, however, that year was perceived as a far smaller number, representing a mere 1/72 of her life.

In the end, she would be Blessed to have a year take up just 1/92 of her time here. What a lovely, kind and beautiful lady, but ahem…

Back to the point of this article… you have your own grandma stories to tell :)

I have just experienced a couple of weeks that really seems like just a few days… and it’s not because I’m 72 or 92 years old!! No, I believe there are other factors at play here… factors I’ll explore further tomorrow!

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

Photo Credit:

Nathan Eal Photography

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Early next week, I’m meeting with a client to tell them that they don’t have to pay me.

That’s right, I’m going to tell them that they don’t have to pay me for thousands and thousands of dollars of work that I’ve already done for them.

I am, shall we say… canceling the debt.

Did I mention it’s thousands of dollars?
Enough to live on for a month or so?
And that I am releasing them of all obligation?
Okay, just checking.

Now, one other thing I have to tell you… my client doesn’t know about all this yet. Right now it’s just between you and me and readers from all fifty states and about seventy-three countries around the world.

Shhh… it’s our little secret :)

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Back to the client.

When we sat down and put the project together a few months ago, I was told that the State of Wisconsin had a grant that would cover a significant part of the expenses (and my profit), and that the funds were to be dispersed about 11 1/2 weeks ago.

So, we went to work.

Since 1987, I have signed exactly two contracts or work proposals… every other dime was done on a handshake. I took care of my part… I simply expected the other party to take care of theirs. And yes, there were times where we got the short end of the stick, but that happens WITH contracts as well.

Interestingly, each of the jobs where firm contracts were in place involved public funds, and each ran into headaches that could have easily been avoided if commonsense, and not the contract terms, prevailed.

And in retrospect, each would likely have cost less as well.

Gee, now that I’m walking down Memory Lane, I’m thinking that over the years I was told more than once that I needed contracts and purchase orders and documents written in Legal-ese to make sure I wouldn’t get raked in certain business deals, and my response was always the same…

“If I need to bind them legally, I really don’t think I want their business.”

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So now back to today.

The State Application Process went well and was right on schedule. However, along the way, within that state office there were some very difficult (and ultimately tragic) circumstances which delayed the process. Regardless, the contract has now been awarded – months behind schedule, and states that it will not pay for work done before it’s official approval date… which is last week.

Time for the commonsense part.

There are some times and some industries where you need to make your hay when the sun is shining. This is pretty simple. The Farmers’ Markets begin in June… contract or not, you don’t wait ’til August to begin your work! The Department of Agriculture certainly understands this… it is the reason that the initial approval and award dates were scheduled for May.

So herein lies the issue. The small farm owners involved have suggested that they don’t have the funds to pay for the previously completed services without the grant money, and I have no reason to doubt them or question their integrity. As I said before, I work on a trust basis and a handshake every day and have for years.

The part that stings a bit is that the work we did was really, really good… almost like art. This is frustrating because being “Whole-Brained”, sometimes my Right Brain tells me that we occasionally just need to give our art away. Almost always, my Left Brain disagrees.

So now, as I see it, I am left with three choices:

1) Submit generic, vague, or post-dated invoices for the previously rendered services and get them paid by the state (not an option)

2) Forgive the payment for the work already completed, then do thousands of additional dollars of work and submit THOSE invoices for payment by the state, or

3) Forgive the payment for the work already completed, part friends, walk away and perform my art somewhere else.

Well, I guess there is also number 4)… we could get into a peeing contest over it (not going to happen).

So here’s where we are. I’ve already told you that #1 and #4 are out… if the owners tell me they cannot pay, I will trust their word and write off the remaining balance for the previously completed work. Still, I’m interested to know what you’d do :)

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Photo Credit:

Marco Raaphorst

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