Three and a half months ago I was in a seminar and it started with a challenge:
Take 10 minutes and write down 100 things you love about your business.
After 10 minutes I had about 18 things on my list. I was done.
Then it was suggested that we pair up into groups of 2, 3 or 4 and compare our lists, to help each other get to 100.
The power of group thinking kicked in as we read our lists to each other, and found other aspects of our business that were similar. Things that resonated got added to my list. My list started to grow.
I got stuck when someone said, "I love the unknown" and "I love unpredictability" and "I love change".
I said, "I don't think I can put those on my list."
The person answered, "If you don't love those three things, then you are in the wrong business."
I put them on my list.
Within less than a half hour, we all had a list of 100 things and a mental shift had occurred.
I had discovered positive aspects of my business that I had never considered.
Problems became challenges
and challenges became something to solve
and I love solving puzzles (#28 on my list).
The group mind had made it easy,
and I doubt I could have done it on my own.
The last thing on my list was:
100. I love giving hope
This was the week I started my Passion Party.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Passion Party #77 - Passages
Our lives are filled with passages
Borders that we cross into new lands
and like the cartographers of the 1400s
our view of the world and its design gets clearer
as we explore new lands.
It is an uncharted territory,
even though others have been there before
this point in time being different from
every point before
and yet the same.
A passing through from one side to the next
and you can't go back
It is so important to acknowledge these changes
and mark them
so that it is more than just one more day
sliding into another:
a young couple's wedding vows at a 250-year-old inn,
a barbeque with friends for a young son off to college,
a son turning 16 - sweet 16 - at a pool party in Santa Monica,
an 86-year-old mother's first art show in over 20 years.
Grabbing each day
as if it is as special
as it really is.
Borders that we cross into new lands
and like the cartographers of the 1400s
our view of the world and its design gets clearer
as we explore new lands.
It is an uncharted territory,
even though others have been there before
this point in time being different from
every point before
and yet the same.
A passing through from one side to the next
and you can't go back
It is so important to acknowledge these changes
and mark them
so that it is more than just one more day
sliding into another:
a young couple's wedding vows at a 250-year-old inn,
a barbeque with friends for a young son off to college,
a son turning 16 - sweet 16 - at a pool party in Santa Monica,
an 86-year-old mother's first art show in over 20 years.
Grabbing each day
as if it is as special
as it really is.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Passion Party #76 - The Pathless Path
I remember
until I was in my mid-30s
I could pick any moment and,
looking back would think,
"How did I get here?"
If I could time travel
and go back in time 5 years
and tell myself, "5 years in the future you will be doing 'X'",
I would never believe it.
A constant overachiever, it felt like I had started my midlife crisis way too early.
Now from a further distance
I can see that what I am today
is a summation of all that came before.
It does all add up in a nonlinear way
I was on a pathless path
And I may still not know where I am going
or where I will end up.
I can see the past informs my present
and from this I create choices for the future.
until I was in my mid-30s
I could pick any moment and,
looking back would think,
"How did I get here?"
If I could time travel
and go back in time 5 years
and tell myself, "5 years in the future you will be doing 'X'",
I would never believe it.
A constant overachiever, it felt like I had started my midlife crisis way too early.
Now from a further distance
I can see that what I am today
is a summation of all that came before.
It does all add up in a nonlinear way
I was on a pathless path
And I may still not know where I am going
or where I will end up.
I can see the past informs my present
and from this I create choices for the future.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Passion Party #75 - True Wealth
While in Washington DC
we took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
and we saw where they print money.
Reams and reams of special paper
being printed, turned into $100 bills.
It can't help but make you think:
what makes this paper so valuable
that people will work their lives away to accumulate it?
In the Money Factory they had people checking and double checking the process
pulling the less-than-perfect product
to keep quality control of the printing and cutting and wrapping.
The "defective money" gets shredded,
then they put it in bags and sell it to tourists in the gift shop.
People buy shredded money with their hard-earned cash...
It would be nice to print money
rather than just work in the factory, getting an hourly wage for quality control.
In the end it is only paper.
In our massive dream we give value to it
but the true wealth is not in the paper
it is in a life worth living
in singing your unique song.
"Remember that your real wealth can be measured not by what you have, but what you are." - Napoleon Hill
we took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
and we saw where they print money.
Reams and reams of special paper
being printed, turned into $100 bills.
It can't help but make you think:
what makes this paper so valuable
that people will work their lives away to accumulate it?
In the Money Factory they had people checking and double checking the process
pulling the less-than-perfect product
to keep quality control of the printing and cutting and wrapping.
The "defective money" gets shredded,
then they put it in bags and sell it to tourists in the gift shop.
People buy shredded money with their hard-earned cash...
It would be nice to print money
rather than just work in the factory, getting an hourly wage for quality control.
In the end it is only paper.
In our massive dream we give value to it
but the true wealth is not in the paper
it is in a life worth living
in singing your unique song.
"Remember that your real wealth can be measured not by what you have, but what you are." - Napoleon Hill
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Passion Party #74 - Family Reunion
Some people are born into loving families
Some are born into families that don't care.
Some people choose their own families,
surrounding themselves with people of like mind.
Some people have children to create
the family they always wanted.
some people never have kids
fearful that their family will become like their parents'.
Some people run to record the family history,
some run from the family, changing their name in the hopes of creating a new life.
These are all parts of my family.
When I was growing up, becoming my own person,
I hurt my family with my separateness,
but now we all come together.
We celebrate, watch our families grow
through marriage and other life events
we enjoy each others company
even though the family is spread 6000 miles apart.
There is a caring and a common thread of
kindness - joy - support - love
Some are born into families that don't care.
Some people choose their own families,
surrounding themselves with people of like mind.
Some people have children to create
the family they always wanted.
some people never have kids
fearful that their family will become like their parents'.
Some people run to record the family history,
some run from the family, changing their name in the hopes of creating a new life.
These are all parts of my family.
When I was growing up, becoming my own person,
I hurt my family with my separateness,
but now we all come together.
We celebrate, watch our families grow
through marriage and other life events
we enjoy each others company
even though the family is spread 6000 miles apart.
There is a caring and a common thread of
kindness - joy - support - love
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Passion Party #73 - Life Is Not Linear
I remember when, at the age of 35, I got my
first banking job.
My mother was so excited.
After spending years pursuing a career in music
I had finally gotten "A Real Job".
A Job with a Future.
A job with benefits, and one that would undoubtedly lead to promotions.
Now as I look back
I see a long string of various jobs for banks, savings and loans, and mortgage companies that are either merged, closed or worse.
The days of working for the mega-corporation until you get the gold watch are gone - look at GM. Look at Chrysler. Look at the LA Times.
Life is not linear
no matter how much we try to make it so.
And yet if I take a moment
in honesty
I am able to look back and understand
how all these non-linear moves in my life
have led me to this place.
first banking job.
My mother was so excited.
After spending years pursuing a career in music
I had finally gotten "A Real Job".
A Job with a Future.
A job with benefits, and one that would undoubtedly lead to promotions.
Now as I look back
I see a long string of various jobs for banks, savings and loans, and mortgage companies that are either merged, closed or worse.
The days of working for the mega-corporation until you get the gold watch are gone - look at GM. Look at Chrysler. Look at the LA Times.
Life is not linear
no matter how much we try to make it so.
And yet if I take a moment
in honesty
I am able to look back and understand
how all these non-linear moves in my life
have led me to this place.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Passion Party #72 - Don't Set Goals
OK, let me be clear.
I love goals
I love scoring points and winning
I set deadlines for myself,
and things get done -
I would not have released 6 albums of music
if I did not set goals.
Goals are great for sports
but they are not always great in life.
In The Game of Life
we don't get to cross the finish line, count our score, and then just sip a beer until the rest of our time is up.
We are often so busy racing to our goal that we forget that
Life may have other plans.
So, just for today,
I won't set a goal
I will just live and see what happens.
I love goals
I love scoring points and winning
I set deadlines for myself,
and things get done -
I would not have released 6 albums of music
if I did not set goals.
Goals are great for sports
but they are not always great in life.
In The Game of Life
we don't get to cross the finish line, count our score, and then just sip a beer until the rest of our time is up.
We are often so busy racing to our goal that we forget that
Life may have other plans.
So, just for today,
I won't set a goal
I will just live and see what happens.
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