Friday, October 8, 2010

Mental Auto-Complete

In order to listen to someone, you need to turn off the "auto-complete" function in your brain and thoughts. When someone is speaking we tend to complete their sentences in our own minds. In the process we fill in the sentence with our own thoughts and opinions.

And most of the time we draw the wrong conclusion and blurt out a response that is wrong, way off the mark and usually has nothing to do with the conversation or the point the other person is trying to make.

So let them finish, process what was said and then respond.

Your confused response may also trigger an auto-complete in the other persons mind as well. And it can be detrimental to you. If you auto-complete and your wrong, their opinion of you is that your are the one that does not understand or does not get it.

Try it. Hopefully by turning off your auto-complete you will not have to use your spell check to make corrections.

Vision without Action is just a Dream

Most stories or biographies of business titans and tycoons usually include references to the "vision" of the person. You know, they had the vision to put a coffee cup in everyones hand or build cars using mass production. And my local Louisiana favorite, "a chicken in every pot" was the vision or claim made by Huey P. Long. (only in Louisiana could we have famous food references).

But what they don't tell you is the "action(s)" taken to turn that vision into reality. That is the intangible that never seems to get revealed or uncovered. How did they do it?

I can understand the vision at the beginning of the careers of these business giants. They had an idea and they acted on it. But something is missing. Some action is not being revealed. Or is it and we just don't see it?

Action is not just a single event. It is a constant series of events, each capitalizing on the previous.

A running back diving over the goal line at the end of the 4th quarter scoring the winning touch down is a single action. But the dedication, years of training, and the endurance and mental toughness is the result of thousands and thousands of actions.

And its the same regardless of your profession, career, or stage and role in life. You don't walk across the stage without years of sacrifice and hard work. You don't raise a successful family without a lot of hard work. And you don't make millions selling chicken by simply waking up one day and saying, Hey, i have a great idea for a recipe.

But dreams are nice too, they just don't do anything for you without action.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Things to do while in Evacuation Traffic

Part of being prepared for a storm, is to have something for your mental well-being. One thing that can add to the stress of a storm is evacuation traffic.

So here is a list of things to do while driving(or riding) at 5 miles per hour:

-Walk along side of your car and give it a nice waxing.

-Get "wave" started with car next to you

-Play "Guess What's on the Floor Mat"

-Set seat position to "lazy boy"

-Play hide and seek with petrified french fry

-turn a small profit by digging for loose change

-Play "What's That Smell?"

-Followed by "What's That Noise"

-At rest stop, try to get someone to help you change air in spare tire.

-Hold horn down and pretend that it is stuck

-Get a "horn wave" going

-Look at every car to see if you know them.....Hey its Bob...what are you doing here?

-Lament over decision to take interstate instead of back roads

-Eat all rations before the first stop

-Listen to Eat Pray Love on audio.....no, wait, sorry, that will cause more stress and depression.

-Call radio station and ask Spud how to spell "ergo"

-Prank call Godell and tell him he won a vacation on Grand Isle, but he has to go on Wednesday. Or just tell him to go &(#@*^&^@*.

-When in Baton Rouge, complain to locals that their traffic is terrible.

-and the number one thing to do while in evacuation traffic.......sing like no one is listening.