Bill Parker

We are at harmony when our ideal and real selves are consistent. When we have a job we love and are proud of, when our family life is running the way we want it to, and when our actions are in line with our goals then we are congruent. Take a quick moment to think of the people you admire most in this world. I wager their lives are very congruent, they do what they say, they say what they do, and they are at peace with who they are. Congruence is indicative of personal and intellectual strength.

Incongruence on the other hand causes discomfort and stress. This energy can be manufactured and harnessed for good.

Today’s economic environment is stressing not-for-profit organizations due to increased needs from people in trouble and less money flowing in. I find myself setting charity envelopes aside more frequently as I prioritize where the money will go each month. If you don’t have the money to spare but still have a well intentioned heart then it is time to get creative and find other ways to help those in need

Pointing out when you are wrong or better yet when they are right is a powerful relationship tool. It shows you are human just like them, it shows you trust and value their thoughts, and most importantly it builds trust in you because others will see you as a person of character that only cares about getting IT RIGHT and not BEING RIGHT.

Do you take pride and ownership in the service you deliver to others? I understand that today’s workplaces can become bureaucratic with lines of demarcation drawn finely around every job description but there is no excuse to simply be a cog in a wheel and allow bad things to happen while you “just do your job.”

As a little boy I used to love to play guns with my cousins. These were the days before political correctness took conflict and toy weapons away from children so we had an impressive arsenal of plastic pistols, rifles, and even hand grenades. We yielded these toys with devastating Rambo like results; at least that’s how we imagined it. Using your imagination is as simple as taking some components of reality and exaggerating others to visualize something new. We would create noises as we shot, pretend we were hit when shot at and hit the deck to avoid those pesky grenades.

Predicting the future isn’t that different. Our components of reality are historical record and our exaggerations are predictions that extend out trends that we have identified which can be tied together and allow us to visualize the future.

We have all heard, “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” Change is not about what you are doing but how you are doing it. You may move from project to project and think that you are dynamic but if you are always taking the same approach and working in the same fashion you are really not changing at all, you simply applying the same tools you already have to a different item. True change is about how you approach a problem, changing the tools in your belt. To truly change you must learn, grow, and expand beyond what do today. You must set free the prejudice and ideology you currently posses and open up to new ideas.

There was no single person who put a man on the moon, no one individual built a canal that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific, it takes a community to accomplish anything great. In order to build a skyscraper years of land acquisition and planning are done ahead of time, architects, bankers, masons, iron workers, electricians, plumbers and hundreds of other professions get involved. It takes a community to coordinate the efforts of individuals and align them toward a common goal. No single individual can come close to matching the productivity and sheer power that can be mustered thru community.

Be a salesman at work and if you lead a team teach those that you serve how to sell their own services. It doesn’t matter if you stand over a mill in a machine shop or if you are a software developer it is important to sell your own services inside your organization. This will lead to new work which keeps you engaged and growing, it makes you more productive which is good for the company, and ultimately leads to higher wages and job security.

We make choices all the time. We make choices about what to wear, we make choices about what funds to put our 401k money in, but do you make the choice of action?

Do you think that someday you will retire with enough money to travel and visit some far off country? If so then I have bad news for you, the remote people who live in the far off country of someday will never meet you. You will never have the chance to learn the language of somedaytion because somedaysia does not exist.

Today you will receive 86400 seconds to spend however you like. You can do anything from watching American Idol to building a business with your seconds. How will you spend them?

Take 30 minutes today, 30 short disposable minutes, to sit down with a piece of paper and GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. Figure out what’s most important to you in life. Draw it up, memorize it, say it out loud everyday and spend YOUR TIME as you choose.

I’m sick and tiered if hearing “go deep” and “think outside the box”. Anyone who uses this in a speech without specifics, ideas, or examples is not listening to their own advice. These feeble attempts at inspiration may sound good but are simply white noise to the brain.

Going Deep = Details = Blueprints / Data

Think Outside the Box = Different Perspective = New Ideas

Are you the kind of person to grit your teeth, clench your fists and sprint to the finish or would you prefer to lie down and let New Years Day 2010 roll right over you?