Have you ever heard the expression “Out of sight, out of mind”? It means if something leaves your visual range, you’re probably not going to think about it anymore. It’s human nature. We are instinctually and habitually visual creatures. When you think or hear the words “red wagon,” you don’t visualize the letters r-e-d-w-a-g-o-n in […]
Some Kidding Aside – Blinded by the Immediate
Trying to live a successful life in this world can be like trying to compose a symphony in a battlefield. Imagine that all your life you’ve been crawling through a minefield of missed opportunities, bad decisions, and failed attempts. You are now lying wounded in the muddy foxhole of your present circumstances with the bombs […]
Some Kidding Aside – Why should I choose?
Toward the beginning of my speaking career, my main marketing method was telemarketing. Back in those days, I sat at my desk for hours each day making call after call in an attempt to drum up business. If you wanted to get someone’s attention in the days before the Internet, you had to pick up […]
Some Kidding Aside – Breaking News, Your Personal Power of Vision
I was riding the bike trails with my neighbor, Mike, at Fort Yargo State Park on a beautiful November afternoon in 2008. I hate to admit it, but Mike must have been in a lot better shape than I was, because after only five minutes of riding with him in the lead, I noticed that […]
Some Kidding Aside – Fulfilling Your Potential
My first job after I graduated high school was working in the snack bar at Forrest General Hospital. My responsibilities primarily consisted of pouring fountain drinks and selling candy. For eight hours each day I stood in a hot little room, barely larger than a closest, and fetched candy, cigarettes (back when they still sold […]
Some Kidding Aside – What is Vision?
The United States fundamentally changed on June 29, 1956, the day the Interstate Highway System was established by the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. It’s hard for anyone born in the last 50 years to imagine travel in the U.S. before the interstate system. You just couldn’t get there from here, or […]
Some Kidding Aside – What success is
I believe success can best be defined as the process of fulfilling one’s potential. It’s really the only definition for success that makes any sense. Since all of us come into the world with different external and internal gifts, the only fair way to evaluate one’s success is to measure one’s growth. By “external” gifts, […]
Some Kidding Aside – Man up, own up, climb up
One of the most important things I can communicate to you about character is this: Your character is not determined by whether or not you ever make a mistake, but by what you do about it. Let me say it again. Your character—or the character of your company or organization or family—is not determined by […]
Crazy Publishing Story
Back in 2006, my wife and I were discussing the idea of my attending a writers conference. We both agreed it would be a great way for me to meet some folks in the publishing industry and learn a bit about how it worked. So, when we noticed that I was booked to speak at […]
Some Kidding Aside – Are You Trying to Go Out of Business? (Take 2)
I know I picked on the Post Office a bit last month, and am about to again, but let me say before I get started that most postal carriers I know are hard-working folks with great attitudes. That said, it seems to me that a good portion of the Post Office leadership might be cut […]