Quick, sketch the logos for Toyota, Audi and Tesla. Finished? Did you struggle? Sure, you recognize them when you see them, but can you draw them? There is a difference between recognition/familiarity and knowledge.Recognizing the ingredients in a cake and familiarity with making a cake does not necessarily make you a baker. This week consider…
There is a Zombie Apocalypse. You can become a zombie, you can fight the zombies or you can flee. What do you do? Pause for a moment and consider. What’s your response? Now, think about your actions over the last two weeks. When do you acquiesce, when do you fight and when do you flee?…
The math, it should balance out. Really it should work. Yet, history and experience show it doesn’t. You know this, you can have a day with 3 good things and you are so happy and yet something annoying that happened 2 weeks ago can null and void the euphoria. Why? Good news, good things trigger…
“ I haven’t skied in years. I used to go to Aspen, Vail, Cooper, Steamboat,” I said wistfully. “I skied before people wore helmets.” Sensing confusion and disbelief, I went on to add, “Yes, there was a time when people didn’t wear helmets to ski.” My friend, still not sure just kind of mumbled, “no…
A blown fuse, caused by a temporary overload or power surge simply needs to be replaced or reset. A short circuit is frayed wires that need to repaired. They both result in no power, but the fixes are very different. After eight hours of trying to troubleshoot and fix a no power situation in my…
I had role models for my neurosis. When my Dad died, my mom routinely said, “I’ll be dead in a year, you know when one spouse dies the other dies within a year.” A few years later, my mom was deeply concerned and sad; she was still alive. “Does this mean I didn’t love your…
No one knows where I am including me. I’m in a barely motorized vehicle that looks like an adult sized baby stroller attached to a motorcycle with Mr Lindht. The man at Wat Pho convinced me to take “easy way to marble temple” and then instructed my driver in Thai. As soon as we pull…
You are not stuck. Sure, people like to think they are, but they aren’t. You are not in the same place now that you were three years ago. Seriously, unless you have been in a coma for 36 months, you faced obstacles, changes, emotional turmoil along with moments of sheer joy and laughter. Honest reflection…
A proper handstand is an inversion you can enter, hold and exit with control. I cannot do a handstand. Do not be fooled by this picture which depicts a point in time of one try out of eight. Trust and believe, I wouldn’t try this on the balcony of a confined space because I can’t…
Leaving to spend time with family and hospitalized for exhaustion. Recognize these as code speak? In the business world, an executive is “fired” but the reason is given as spend time with family. A celebrity parties to hard or has a drug overdose the reason is the half truth of hospitalized for exhaustion. This is…
I am sick and it’s from stress. There I said it and I meant it. When there are things I am slow to admit, I have to ask why. This discussion reminds me I am not imbued with super powers and an admission while maybe a little embarrassing is usually more helpful than harmful. Admitting, I am…
As 2017 begins, I question the word “worst.” Politically speaking, some say President Obama was the worst thing to have happened to the US, while others say president-elect Trump is the worst event in the history of the nation. The US is still a young country at 240 years old, still, to say something is the worst is to …
Arghh. I have a huge project at work to finish in two weeks, I am selling a house and I’m trying to buy a house. Every time I open my mouth, there is this competition of all the things in my head trying to escape. My eyes are darting about and my conversation is punctuated with…
Friend: “Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Me: “Wrong, my job is to make that horse thirsty.” I was frustrated because I’d unsuccessfully pitched a strategy and plan to implement a solution. Despite everything presented to ensure success, articulated business value, detailed implementation schedule, risk contingency and risk mitigation plans,…
Why are people confused at a 4 way stop? You yield to any vehicle that reaches the intersection before you do. How are people learning to drive? YouTube? If there is a pedestrian crossing, forget it. The stop becomes a game of four car roulette. Some drivers seem to think, the first car to move is the first…
It’s that time of year where New Year’s resolutions are starting to fade and become a distant memory. Why? The intentions were great. There is more to a resolution than those verb noun statements like “get fit,”, “save money”, “stop procrastination” or “be happy.” Between the before and after is the doing. The doing is…
“Do what you love and the money will follow?”
I don’t even know where to start. This phrase morphed as if it were a part of the game where one person gives a specific message to another and by the time it is repeated to a few people, the message has completely changed. The phrase is: Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Philosophically, the money will follow and you’ll never work a day in your life are two different concepts.
“I always say you have to be willing to get your heart broken. That’s just what f—ing happens when you try,” Ronda Rousey in her recent ESPN interview I’ve heard strong reactions to that quote and you probably have your own. As I think about 2016, I know there will be times when I’m in the depths…
Movies and TV have led us astray with respect to drowning. People who are actually drowning are not thrashing and crying for help. In reality, drowning is unnoticed by observers. The person cannot stay at the surface of the water long enough to cry for help. The head bobs on the surface of the water,…
New Years Resolutions? Really? Stop. Consider, if it’s a really good resolution, why wait until January 1st to start doing it? Any reason for waiting is probably the reason it needs to be a resolution in the first place. For example, weight loss. Waiting until the first of January because it’s hard to control eating? Is…
Look, I am not using self check out unless there is a discount; in that case, I might consider it. I work at home on a laptop all day. When I do go out, I’m not about to make that a solitary exercise of shop, scan and bag; unless it’s financially beneficial. I remember when…
Movies and TV have led us astray with respect to drowning. People who are actually drowning are not thrashing and crying for help. In reality, drowning is unnoticed by observers. The person cannot stay at the surface of the water long enough to cry for help. The head bobs on the surface of the water,…
Gee, I don’t have time for this. A coworker invited me to do a Hack A Hair Dryer Challenge. One of those challenges to redesign a hair dryer to do something other than dry hair as a part of an effort to get women interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – STEM. Please, I…
This week poses a dilemma, my post needs work. More work than I can finish in an afternoon. It’s a subject I’m passionate about and I want to get it as right as possible. So what do I do? Publish or skip a week? For more than year, my practice has been to publish weekly…
Labor day is all about a celebration of work. It seems like a logical time to reflect about what has happened in the year so far and how to end it. Henry Ford said Vision without execution is just hallucination. Dare I stop hallucinating? As I reflect, in front of my Mac, I am reminded…
I have “the list.” I’ve had it for over three years. It’s things I want in a partner that I created under the advice and guidance of a male friend. It’s the must haves and nice to haves. I’m an engineer and it seemed perfectly logical to me to approach a relationship in this manner.…
“Weren’t you afraid to do this photo?” “No. I safety pinned my shirt to my pants to avoid accidental exposure.” “That’s not what I meant – you are in the middle of a sidewalk doing a wide arm headstand. I don’t even know where to start, you could have fallen, your bare hands are on…
Elevator pitches are all the rage. An elevator pitch is the 30 second speech summary used to quickly and simply define a profession, product, service, organization or event and its value proposition. A few years ago, I discovered the best way to do this, so it sounds natural and yields results, is to put this…
OK, who are you most likely to believe. The person who is arguing a fact and yet you know they were wrong two weeks ago, but would not admit it. OR The person who is arguing a fact and in the last year, that person has admitted twice, they were wrong. I’m thinking, you’re going…
When you set goals, consider what you will need to give up, realize the expert has failed more than the novice has tried and finally, find your people. Surround yourself with the “right” people. Your people are those that support your goals and share your vision. Your people are those that want to see you succeed.…
“Life is too short,” is an over used, misguided cliché of fill in the blank babble. At least from an analytical view. The average lifespan for American men is about 76 years and for American women it’s around 81 years. Not that short. You don’t know when you will die, you don’t know the day,…
The expert has failed more times than the novice has tried. That was the caption for an Instagram post showing woman repeatedly trying a headstand and toppling over into a backbend. A lot of adults say, I tried <fill in the blank> once, couldn’t do it and it’s just not for me. Tried once and…
Last week my post explored why wait until January first to start resolutions. A resolution worth doing is worth doing immediately and not waiting. This week is part two. There is more to a resolution than a before and after. There is more to a resolution than those verb noun statements like “get fit”, “save…
There are those who balance their bank accounts and those who don’t. As someone who does, I had a recent encounter with someone who doesn’t. I could provide no rational as to why this was a necessary activity since in my decades of doing this, the bank has never been wrong. It was a rather…
Quick quiz: Are you typically a direct or sideways communicator? OK, I suppose this requires a little bit of a definition. I am trying to break the habit of communicating by suggestion. It’s the style where I tell people something and expect them to take what I think is the next logical step. I want…
“No, that will not work. This is a requirements session, we need to come to some kind of consensus on what we are going to do and how we are going to do it.” The words came out of my mouth before the part of my brain that filters what would be considered the right…
Maybe I am just a grump. Today, I presented a great idea, an elegant solution for a client problem. Everyone agreed the solution worked EXCEPT there was a problem with the name of the module. Forty-five minutes later people were still complaining they did not like the name. They were not discussing a new name,…
My sister-in-law asked me if I knew the Big Bang Theory. Well of course, it’s the theory that the universe is continually expanding. It started as a single point and then BANG. Over time, we have become hotter and denser. Isn’t it? I presumed the subsequent laughter was either due to my pantomime of bang…
