Farmers Market Negotiations
Originally uploaded by jcgr.
Common ground must be found in price, quality, quantity and service at a farmers’ market, as in any business exchange.
Fresh negotiations
May 17, 2007 By Leave a Comment
“ALL the learning with NONE of the consequences!”
May 17, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Mistakes.
We all make them. But do we take – and really use – the learning they lay as gifts at our feet?
It depends. On a lot of things.
A member of a client company’s management team had dodged a bullet on the timing of an investment. He, or someone in his group, had missed an important piece of information, missed making the investment, and ultimately, it had made little difference. But market volatility at the time had made that miss feel like slow motion cliff diving. Instead of crashing on the rocks below as he’d imagined, his team pulled off a safe landing, somehow, someway.
But the lesson was not missed on this astute fellow.
“THAT was a FREEBIE! ALL the learning with NONE of the consequences!!!” he said with a huge, relieved grin and a deep sigh of release and relief. And he meant to make the most of that “freebie,” the experience he’d gained while scarcely breathing all day.
Far from hiding the mistake (for starters, his manager, a former trader, could see it a mile away, himself), he laid it out on the table for his team to dissect, step by step.
They “mistake-proofed” their seemingly bullet-proof process even more for the future. And that key measure they’d missed? Never again, you can bet.
“I have the potential to go beyond my potential”
May 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I can thank our daughter, Anne, for that line. She was eleven at the time. Bantering playfully one day about the pressures of the middle school years (and there are plenty, as you’ll recall), she threw out that line, impulsively. She was exaggerating the things she heard from so many teachers, coaches, and her parents, and then turning the burners up on it a bit.
I loved that line then. I love it still. And I’ve shared it with plenty of clients. They know the feeling – and the lure and the hook of it, as well.
Don Nelson, Byron Davis and the rest of the Golden State Warriors are demonstrating it joyously in a “We Believe” filled arena. It is a magical, no holds barred world in which they are playing with joyous abandon some nights (and not on others, like last night, but that’s another story).
The 2004 Boston Red Sox
Think back on the times in your life when you’ve had that joyous, “I have the potential to go beyond my potential!” feeling and turn the feelings up a notch. Take on the week’s challenges with that in mind and see what happens.
You might be surprised at the results.
Fresh batch
May 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Fresh batch
Originally uploaded by jcgr.
It’s Monday. We need fresh flowers around, and a quick story about focus to get the week started.
This was a short discussion between our son, Matt and me when he was in second or third grade.
I had helped in the computer lab at his school one day. The project the kids were working on was to write, illustrate, and create a short book telling about one of their grandparents.
Even though they’d all had the same amount of time to work, on this day they were in widely varying stages of completion. I was amazed (as well as amused, in some cases) at how the kids approached their tasks. Though unintended, it was quite a little laboratory situation to observe, and learn, myself.
Matt and I had seen each other in the lab that day, but I was moving around, working with many different kids over the hour there. I was asking him how his work had gone, and sharing with him some things I had learned about the way the kids worked.
"There was a boy in your computer lab today who kept saying, ‘I’m behind everyone else! I’m behind!’ but he just kept spinning his wheels. I finally told him to just focus, to get his copy typed, and he could tinker with typefaces and type sizes later," I said to Matt.
He paused.
"Was it me?" he asked.
I laughed.
NO, it was not Matt. But the fact that he thought it might be said something interesting, too.
Here’s to a week filled with strong focus, good work and great results.
“What did you do for the world today?”
May 13, 2007 By Leave a Comment
It’s the first Mother’s Day without Mom. She lived a good, long life, then passed away last July 24, the day after her birthday. It was a big birthday, and a day capped by a wonderful family party.
Today, on Mother’s Day, a phrase she used to say is popping up for me, constantly.
“What did you do for the world today?”
She would ask us at the end of each day, often at the dinner table. It was her way to keep us focused, as much as she could, on what we could do for others, and away from the “me, me, me” mode of thinking and attention that some people fall into – perhaps even permanently – in the teenage years.
I don’t remember how I felt about that phrase then.
Today, though, I think it is a wonderful question to have left behind as a legacy in her children and grandchildren, keeping us focused on doing what each of us can to improve the world where we are, day by day. It certainly was her way.
In her later years, what she wished we knew how to do, as well, was “porch sitting.” It’s an art unto itself.
She loved it when we could pause well, for at least a spell, with family and friends to enjoy the moment. We would regenerate before returning, refreshed, to the journey, ready for the next stretch of good tasks and toil…all leading to an outcome about which we could rightfully say, “HERE’S what I did for the world today.”
Milestones
May 11, 2007 By Leave a Comment
2007 Graduation Convocation
Originally uploaded by jcgr.
Major milestones – in life, in a project – are time for a bit of reflection.
Has it all turned out as we hoped?
Is it better than we expected? How?
If not, how is it different?
And what do we know that can make tomorrow better?
And then, after pausing to celebrate well, we begin again.
Morning glory
May 7, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Morning glory
Originally uploaded by jcgr.
Bees working diligently on a glorious, full-blown sunflower.
The pause that refocuses
May 7, 2007 By Leave a Comment
A fresh Monday. A fresh week. A plan, focus, direction. Energy. Clear intentions. Action.
And then. A tweak. Or two. A shift in momentum far from what’s intended and necessary to complete the work ahead.
So how do you keep on track with all the forces trying to pull you off?
Pause. Then Name It.
1. Take a deep breath. Clear your mind. For just this moment…set everything else aside.
2. Ask yourself, “What am I doing?” (Really). Name it. (Really).
3. And, “Who am I doing this for? Who needs it?”
4. Then, “Why? What are they going to do with it, or because of it?”
5. And, “How do they want and need it?”
6. Then, “Do my answers change my plan, actions or approach?”
7. Finally, if you’re still on track, return to action as you planned. But if your answers show your focus really was lost, adjust. Make a better or simpler way through the actions of the day.
OHHH so slowly it goes some days…
May 5, 2007 By Leave a Comment
A snail’s pace is just the way it is some days, like it or not.
You choose the game but you don’t get to set all the rules.
Small change adds up
May 4, 2007 By Leave a Comment
“Wherever you go, there you are.” Jon Kabat-Zinn has written a book on mindfulness
And while it’s not clear who said it first, the message is a good one. Whereever you go, BE THERE. Be present, at that time, in that place.
“There” is a specific place, a particular moment in time. But it is also on a path that’s leading somewhere. At a certain pace, with a certain rhythm. Is that path one that’s true for you? (Hopefully, you answered an enthusiastic, “YES!”). Is that “somewhere” you’re likely to end up a place you want to be?
If it is less than what you want – the path, the experience or the destination – is there one small change you could make to change the course of your personal history?
Almost undoubtedly, yes. Even one small change might radically shift direction, the opportunities you open, and the ultimate destination you achieve. Think of small movements in the rudder of a ship or an airplane. Move it a little to the left or a bit to the right and, well…you get the idea. You could end up in Iceland. You could end up in France. You could end up in Zimbabwe, or Idaho.
A slight movement, a small change can work in simple but very powerful ways.
What one small change might be powerful for you, now?
Do you want to make it? Are you ready and can you take it, that first step to change direction, ultimately? If not, is there something you can do to be ready to change soon? Is there someone you can ask to help you prepare, in some way?
It’s your life. It’s what you make it.
