“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
It is in the moment of indecision that separates performers and non-performers. The only thing worse than not performing is knowingly doing the wrong thing. –DSH
Jimmy Carter had a Crisis of Confidence speech back in 1979. I remember being in line for gasoline 30 years ago…gas may be expensive and energy issues are still here but I’ve not seen lines. Someone commented,
“We’ve got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.”
What Carter said in that speech, and it remains true today is that while legislation is important, all the legislation in the world can’t fix America.
Some Western authorities parse Love into two what I will call “camps”, the altruistic and the narcissistic. Which camp are you in? Do you have greater concern for the spiritual growth of others or yourself? (also known as narcissism — vanity, conceit, egotism or selfishness)
Being in one camp or another is a feeling and it may evoke you to cry, talk or curse. But if you combine both camps, your Love will turn into an Activity, not simply a feeling. It is this activity which will help America make progress. Focus on quality pleasurable activities where awareness of your own feelings and others allows everyone to appreciate their way to Happiness. That’s a future worth fighting for.
Everyone is busy. The question is what are you busy doing? Out of 168 hours in a week, how many hours are you truly participating in pleasurable activities?
The way you can you increase pleasure and the quality of your life right now is to have a brand new day tomorrow. Your mind is like a computer. Are you new or used?
You can get stuck like an old computer and run in circles, or you can move forward like a slick new one. Either way you decide to go, you will be “busy”. Some of us are busy taking actions and others are busy using our minds. Lets not focus on those that are mindless.
You are balanced when you experience the pleasure of using your mind to improve the quality of your experience. This is the improved quality of life we all seek.
So next time you hear yourself explain to someone you are “too busy” to take pleasurable action you’ve been thinking about doing but never seem to get to, take an hour and perform the pleasurable action. Share your success with others. All of us need to spend more time in pleasurable activities and it starts with you. Performing a pleasurable activity should not be an “unusual experience”.
For those of you who like math:
1 hour out of 168 total hours in the week is .59%
1 hour out of a 40 hour work week is 2.5% of your week.
Add an hour to your routine and do something pleasurable right now!
The soul is a self awareness of extrasensory perceptions that allow one to “let go”. Letting go in life is our presense. Being present in mind body spirit every day is a reflection of your soul.
Athletes when performing their best have unique abilities to access their soul in order to relax and achieve peak performance. Roger Federer is considered to be the greatest tennis player in history. His all court playing style has been dominating and should be idolized. His talent, work-ethic, passion and style is unmatched. His stride, balance, consistent performance and relaxed playing style allows him to construct points strategically. Gaining greater awareness of soul whether its on the tennis court, in a yoga studio or in the gym can be rewarding and satisfying.
The meaning of Quality is when you truly understand the subtleties of your craft.
In reference to business, Peter Drucker said that
Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. In this article written in 1994, the 94 Year old management guru said “…my best book would have been one titled Managing Ignorance, and I’m very sorry I didn’t write it.”
Drucker further stated “a product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality.”
Back in December of 2007 I discussed the quality of Life and value of making decisions leading to increased satisfaction.
. In July 2008, I suggested the way to improve service quality is to maintain reasonable and civil processes and procedures that the general public can absorb. The Olympic Gold/Silver/Bronze tie-break process for Gymnastics is a rule the athletes and general public cannot easily absorb. If three contestants receive a 9.1 on their performance and they are all tied for Gold, is it a quality experience for the athletes and fans to let one judge’s subjective score determine the outcome?
If accuracy is the goal, wouldn’t a quality outcome require the use of instant replay reviewed by an objective party? A “photo finish” is reviewed to determine the winning runner in a close track and field race. In my mind, quality is judged by satisfaction and fairness. If a team of Olympic judges subjective determinations does not produce a winner, the way to determine the winner should be decided by an objective party (someone with recognized competence and credentials) reviewing video of the overall performances — the best performer wins. If the video does not show a winner by clear and convincing evidence, the more efficient ruling made on the floor stands.
The audience wants to watch a quality performance with a fair outcome. The meaning of quality in this situation is when everyone involved feels their performance has been appropriately judged. This makes the most sense and benefits all.
One wonderful and inspiring aspect of the Summer Olympics is the appreciation of watching the gold silver and bronze athletes listening to the Star-Spangled Banner or their respective national anthems after a heroic performance.
The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key was adopted as the national anthem of the United States by President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1931.
The song of our nation was written by attorney Francis Scott Key at a dramatic moment during the War of 1812. The British had captured Washington and set the Capitol on fire, causing President James Madison and his wife Dolly to leave. Baltimore was attacked next and Francis Scott Key had gone there to save a friend whom the British had captured. On the night of September 13, 1814, Key watched as the British attacked Fort McHenry.
After watching the rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air throughout the night, dawn broke. Key was expecting to find Baltimore firmly under British control, but was stunned to see a battered but still flying American flag waving in the sunrise. So inspired was Key that he wrote the poem. The American flag Key wrote about is now at the Smithsonian in the Museum of American History which is under renovation and set to reopen in November, 2008. One architectural feature of the gallery will be the Star-Spangled Banner gallery and skylight.
O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
If you want to read the words as it goes:
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Courage, also known as bravery, will, intrepidity, and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, or threat of death, while moral courage is the courage to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement. Courage is trusting your own strength!
Appreciation has two (or more) meanings.
If you google the word appreciation, according to “Pagerank“, the Wikipedia page defining Appreciation has the most relevance. On that page, appreciation is referred to the term used in accounting relating to the increase in value of an asset.
The second apparently lower ranked meaning of appreciation (according to Google) is gratitude — an appreciation, or thankfulness; a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.
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So when you obtain something that has “appreciation”, the ideal situation is when you have extrinsic (reward/money) and intrinsic (hobby/common good) appreciation. One of our customers sent us an email today:
“I received the jukebox stamps…I am a rubber stamp collector, not a music afficionado. But to see these names - “Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland”- and to know these stamps were used to stamp the jukeboxes back when they were singing! How amazing. thanks a million”! Dave
So not only did Dave receive a rare item that will likely appreciate in value in the future, Dave appreciates the intrinsic value of how the jukebox stamps were used historically. Appreciation with multiple meanings is the recipe for happiness.
**The self is a concept that is derived from our interaction with the external world and not the other way around.**
Let me say that differently:
Does “The world define you”
or
do “You define the world.”
If you believe the world is defining you, and you are unhappy with the result of that definition, why not try defining the world!
Your parents do not define you. Your school does not define you. Your community does not define you. Your church does not define you. Your government does not define you. These external experiences are called nurture. If the nurture is not giving you the experience and confidence you desire, then may I suggest you go out and define the world the way you want to see it. Ask lots of questions and make thoughtful decisions.
You define the world.
Doing what you want, and having the experiences you want to have will build confidence and self esteem. Our educational infrastructure must not only provide “individual” knowledge skill and character…it must engage people to define the world taking into consideration global “connectedness”.
Individual actions can easily ripple and affect thousands of people globally.
It all comes back to Winston Churchill…the empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
The Price of Greatness is Responsibility
The Dark Knight Trailer done in Lego’s is an example of a successful promotional campaign video. A “free” Youtube video approaching 1 million views!
Warner Brothers has created a brilliant viral marketing campaign for the movie. At almost 400 million dollars gross sales, it has broken box office records. Heath Ledger who passed away shortly after the film described the Joker as a “psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy”.
Morgan Freeman who played Lucius Fox in the movie was in a car accident. The Gotham district attorney Aaron Eckhart is hailed as Gotham’s “White Knight”.
Do you presently communicate directly with your staff and customers? Do you portray a positive spirit, are you reasonable, are you listening to their needs, are you sharing with them company goals and perceived obstacles?
If you are a chef and you’ve made a chocolate chip cookie, perfection is in the mind of the customer. Feedback can help you develop better customer service practices. If you cannot make the cookie in a particular way, say so. If you are not listening or communicating with your staff or customers, you may as well be replaced by a computer.
Computers need to be told what to do. Computers cannot provide personalized service and most importantly, computers are heartless. Do people read canned responses? Regardless of differences, the American way has historically been to treat others with love respect and dignity. Automated websites may be capitalistic but they will never replace the type of personalized service that Americans crave and deserve. God gave us a voice and more of us need to use it.
Next time someone makes a request, and you don’t have the answer or your hands are tied, say so and provide the best advice you can under the circumstances. Invite them to come back and share with you the end result. Maybe you can improve that cookie afterall. A mom recently told me she refrigerates the batter for enhanced taste. Does refrigeration work for Apple pie too?
If every one of us steps up to the plate and shares more successful results with each other (via actions, blogs, etc) we will most certainly have a better future together. If you have something to share, make a comment or go get a blog right now at Google.
