Monthly Archives: September 2013

Who’s motivation is it anyway?

How could they?  What could possibly motivate them to act like that?  Happens to everyone.

Being asked to take on a new role at work?  What’s motivating them to ask for the switch?

Being treated poorly at the airport?  What’s motivating them to do this to me?

Being offered free services that normally aren’t free?  What’s their motivation?

Well, who cares about their motivation?  It shouldn’t motivate your decision, reaction, or appreciation.  Right?

[UPDATE] Who’s is embarrassingly spelled wrong.  It should be whose. Thanks, @ERGreenberg.  Sorry, Ms Ocar and Mrs Peterson.   I’m leaving it.

Cruising altitude

What do you do every morning on autopilot?  Drive to work?  Your morning shower routine?  A 30 minute run?

Having to figure these things out every morning would be exhausting.  New route to work every day?  Getting cleaned up in a different order every day?  Changing the duration and path for your run every day?

Exhausting.

Same thing with making breakfast.

Figure out 1 breakfast to make.  Turn on autopilot.  And basically, go back to sleep.

Just like the real pilots.

Knowledge, power, names

Looks can be deceiving.  And so can names.

Burger King’s new fries, Satisfries, are deceiving.  So they’re low fat, apparently.  But what if you knew they should be called “Chemicalfries?”

Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte is deceiving.  It should probably be called Pumpkin Syrup Latte. All these years, I thought it was just the pumpkin spice giving it flavor.  Now I make this #PSL instead.

Facebook is deceiving.  Once I really understood its power to be an anxiety-inducing false reality, I used it a lot less.

Yes, knowledge about a name can be restrictive.  And challenging.  Especially when it means avoiding fries, PSL’s, and Facebook.

But isn’t knowledge power?

Did you hear the news?

Yeah, it’s crazy.

So and so famous person suddenly died?  It’s crazy.

Your company was acquired by a bigger one.  It’s crazy.

Last night’s madness on Breaking Bad?  It’s crazy.

The goings on are crazy, yes.  But why?  Because of what happened to them or it or the thing?  Or is it crazy because of the difficult question it forces us to confront?

New outlook on life?  New career path?  New standard for entertainment we invest our time in?

Time to reevaluate things.  It’d be crazy not to.

ALT Tab all day

Leaving your traveling-consulting job.  Or your position as a small business CFO.  Or your role as GM of a restaurant.

Leaving a good job is not easy.  Nor is it right if you’re doing what you love.

In fact, if your work is what you love, stick with it.  You’ll probably live longer.  Like Frank Lloyd Wright, 91.  George Burns, 100.  Grandma Moses, 101.

Selective sample?  Science actually suggests that “time can actually expand to contain the work with which you choose to fill it”.

Ready to start doing what you love?  Your boss will never know.

Mine didn’t.

Just trying to be positive

Are you positive?  Like 100% confident in your opinions?  Positive you’re right?

I’m pretty sure you should look at it differently, then.  People really seem to like you when you aren’t so positive.

It’s true!

I’m just trying to be positive.

Keepin it 100

Ask any coach, executive, or leader of any kind.  It’s crucial to recognize and celebrate milestones.

Just wrapped up Spring Training?  Recognize and celebrate.

Just finished your first full year in business?  Recognize and celebrate.

Just published your 100th blog post?

Recognize!

Now let’s celebrate 100 blog posts by remembering some of the best:

Thanks to you for reading.  I write ’em for you.