Living In The Light

To cast dispersion on your valiant effort, a favorite expression of the naysayers is, “Yeah, well every light casts a shadow.” As if YOU living in the light somehow takes away from their enjoyment of the darkness.

A shadow is caused by an obstruction to light. Remove the obstruction and no more shadow. Yet, rather than be a shiner, the naysayer prefers to be a whiner — from the comfortable and darkened recesses of their mind.

Refusing to light a candle, they curse the darkness. Even when others open the door to a better way, they turn away. When encouraged into the brightness of a new path, they angrily respond in wrath. Why?

Time & Money

Every decision we make involves the dimensions of Time and Money. Furthermore, for every decision, we have a choice to Spend or Invest.

Right about now, the contrarians among us are busily thinking of an example that doesn’t involve both Time and Money.

While I wait for them to exhaust the possibilities, I’ll continue with the thoughts about — and facets of — Time and Money. Because, after all — and between the two — Time is the most precious.

Chutes and Ladders

Once upon a time, the game was Chutes and Ladders. Now, as older kids, we cope with Funnels and Pipelines. When we were children, the original game was fun. The twisted version not so much.

In today’s marketplace, we are often the unwitting object of Sales Funnels and Leads Pipelines. To many companies, we’re nothing more than a target to tip into the Sales Funnel, to move through their Lead Pipeline, and to have our hard-earned money siphoned into coffers of the unscrupulous.

I speak passionately about the topic, because yes, I, too, have been tricked when I clicked — on the enticements lurking within the hucksters Landing Pages. So, what’s the answer to these modern-day snake-oil salesmen?

Stuttering Roadrunner

Why does a stuttering roadrunner say, “BBeep, BBeep!”?

Because — they are so dang excited about new business opportunities.

They know “BBeep” is the short version of, “Better Business evolving everyday Plan.” Or, we can shorten that to, simply, “Better Business Plan.”

For 19:32 minutes of entertainment from Wile E Coyote and Roadrunner, click: (HERE) or, watch below.

Point of Light

The gleam in a father’s eye is waiting for each of us as we emerge from darkness into the brightness of life. In fact, the eyes of new Dads get a little misty as they witness the miracle of birth.

As days go by, the initial excitement dovetails into the responsibilities of fatherhood. Oh, how grand are the visions of being the perfect dad. Then, we encounter the reality of how messy relationships really are.

Although, literally, tongue-tied upon entry into this world, once that little member was set free, my insatiable curiosity was the driving force behind the questions in my mind. It was the beginning of my twenty-question routine, which later morphed into the Cowboy Poet & Philadelphia Lawyer shtick.

Respect

What would you do if someone screamed, “You’re a Dumb F#cker!” And, then went on to yell, “I have no respect for you!”

Yes, I know, that paragraph is missing the “?” at the end. Yet, the experience for me was more about the “!” — or, in other words, the exclamation of ignorance and arrogance.

Thankfully for both of us the proclamation in the first paragraph, above, was made in a phone conversation. Otherwise, I might have been tempted to persuade him to respect his elders. Although, I do have to say, this guy is Number 1 in my book. In 35+ years of serving the public as a CPA, I had never heard those words. First time for everything, I guess.

If one is an incident, two is a coincidence, and three is a pattern, then I have a Story to share with YOU.

80/20 Crutch

Excuse to Hobble

When you hear someone quote the 80/20 Rule, brace yourself. Because — you’re about to hear an excuse for their inattention to detail.

Sometimes I’m a Slow Study when it comes to catching on to someone’s shenanigans. Maybe, it’s because I look for the best in a person and want to believe what they say.

Recently, it took two months to realize a Coach was a Hoax. Everything he said sounded, really, good. Eventually, though, his actions spoke louder than his words. So, I had a choice to make: continue to overlook the lies, deceit, and lack of attention to detail (including me and his other Scholars) — or, do the right thing.

Inspirators

We are well past the Point of No Return and headed into uncharted territory. Literally, all of the graphs and maps of the past are of little value as we navigate into this new frontier of uncertainty and opportunity.

Beyond the time for leaders — this is a time for Inspirators.

Inspirators provide a breath of fresh air while inspiring the next bold Step, forward, to Success.

Each Day We Have A Choice

1.) Give in and give up to Resignation and Despair — or,
2.) Set a course of discovery with Fascination and Curiosity.

Ego Expectations Emotions

Three Evil E’s

Recently, a friend teased saying, “Now, keep your Ego, Expectations, and Emotions out of the way.”

“That’s profound!” I thought. For many years, I’ve been on a Crusade to Enlighten, Empower, and Encourage. My friend just exposed me to the Yang of my Yin, the Flow of my Ebb, the Take of my Give, and the Down of my Up.

I commonly refer to my E’s as the Three-E Formula — Enlighten, Empower, and Encourage.

To help us remember there is a Dark side (or, shadow) to any Light, I’ll refer to these as the Three Evil E’s — Ego, Expectations, and Emotions.

Three-E Formula

Three Good E’s

Greater than a Magic Wand to wave at the hand of fate, this is E-ven better.

This is E times 3.

Enlighten
Empower
Encourage

The prefix forming verbs of “En” and “Em” are expressions of action and doing, defined as: