I answered the phone just after midnight and heard the panicked voice of my business partner on the other end of the line. “If you want anything from the restaurant, you’d better come get it now,” Frank said. “They’re kicking us out of the building tomorrow morning.” “What?!” I practically yelled into the phone. “We’re […]
Archive | Personal Development
How to Win a Cargument
One summer day when I was 10 or 11, my dad pulled our family car up our driveway and parked in the carport. While he had been out running errands, some neighbors had stopped by and were visiting with Mom. I was playing in the front yard with some other kids and saw my dad […]
Your mind holds the key
Your mind holds the key to changing your life. © 2007 Charles Marshall

What if your customer has a point after all?
Sometime back in the early seventies when I was just a wee laddie, I was getting in our family car in a Kmart parking lot when I looked down and found a badly weathered eight-track tape (ask your mom) on the ground next to the car. The tape was in bad shape, but closer inspection […]

The dangers of sauntering
It is incumbent upon me to report an alarming, and I believe dangerous, trend growing in our society today. I am convinced that sauntering is once again on the rise. Historical note: As you’ll no doubt remember, sauntering enjoyed its heyday back in the mid-1920s, when gambling, moonshine, and gangstering were all in vogue. Coincidence? […]

Make a decision
“Make a decision. Time doesn’t stand still while you make up your mind. At some point, the ship sails and the decision is made.” Charles Marshall Seven Power of Success

You’re competing with Amazon
I started feeling the urge to shed a few pounds lately. I’m not trying to be more attractive, mind you. I’m already married so I don’t really need to look good anymore. So I decided to buy an elliptical machine and found a great deal on one at a local mega-chain sports store. While I […]
Handle the heat like George Clooney (Director’s Cut)
With a little prodding, you can get my friend John Hicks to talk about the time he got to act in the Coen brothers’ classic movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” After John saw their first movie he was hooked, so when he learned they were shooting a movie practically in his backyard, he rushed […]
Real Heroes Don’t Wear Spandex
There have been five major live-action iterations of Batman in my lifetime. 1] 1960’s Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson pretty much just sat around Wayne Manor all day until they got a call on the red Bat-Phone from Commissioner Gordon. Then they slid down the bat pole and […]
Life and death leadership
Is tearing up a bird’s nest an act of cruelty or kindness? Last year my wife and I noticed a couple of birds flying up to the dryer exhaust vent above the kitchen window. My wife correctly guessed that they were building a nest so I went outside to check it out. After I came […]