Wow, how time flies!
via someecards.com
The 1st Quarter of the year is almost in the books. How are things going?
Spring is an excellent reminder that I was supposed to get in shape before spring.
Healthy Lifestyle
March 26, 2012
March 17, 2012
At the End of Pain, You'll Often Find Success
Do you know why you find your keys in the last place you look? It is because it doesn't make sense to keep looking for them after you find them.
Ultimately, the key is to focus on the goal (not how you got to where you are), and to keep moving forward.
Here is a video from Eric Thomas, otherwise known as the HipHop Preacher ... It is called "Pain Is Temporary", and has a great message worth hearing.
For more of Eric Thomas, here is a link to his YouTube page & here is a link to his website.
Finally, here is a small reminder:
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” ~Zig Ziglar
March 05, 2012
Check-Out This Official Notice of Formal Apology
As a public service, I am sharing this Formal Apology from the Bureau of Communication.
Failure to use it has consequences.
For example, have you seen this video of what an angry father can do to his daughter's laptop?
Do you applaud the standard he is trying to teach her ... or are you tempted to call Child Protective Services?
If she had just used the apology form ...
February 11, 2012
Expect Extraordinary - Here's a Video of Something Not to Try at Home
Sometimes normal isn't enough.
Playing safe is often a good strategy ... But, sometimes you have to expect the extraordinary.
Did you see the strange guy doing a modified tight-rope circus routine during Madonna's Super Bowl half-time performance.
Well, it was more than that ... did you see the guy bounce up and down as though that little rope was a trampoline?
What in the world was going on?
Well, the short answer is: slacklining. Or, if you want to get technical and specific, tricklining. According to California's Adventure Sports Journal , slacklining was invented in the early 1980s by two rock climbers.
As you may have guessed, the Super Bowl halftime cameo was a big moment for the young sport of slacklining—and for the talented, curly-haired slackliner who got the spotlight: Andy Lewis, aka Sketchy Andy . You've got to watch what he can really do!
Imagine what went into developing this skill. Was it thought ... or something you forgot you could exercise?
What are you committed to expecting extraordinary about ... starting now?
December 31, 2011
December 25, 2011
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2012
During this holiday season, I hope you are grateful for the things that are great in your life,
that you choose what you can use from the things weren't great …
and that you invest those lessons in your future.
The hardest part of finding a better way is often just remembering that there might be one.
___________________
Best wishes to you for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.
- Howard
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December 04, 2011
The Perfect Holiday Gift - A Yacht Built Like a Tropical Island
I know what I want for the holidays ... an amazing island built right on a beautiful yacht.
HT KD
This was created by UK-based Yacht Island Designs.
As you can see, the design is inspired by tropical islands, with huts, a pool ... and to top that ... a volcano guaranteed not to erupt.
Since it's a yacht, it comes packed with VIP rooms, arcades, gym, lounges, spas and even a helipad. What a great place to do business?
The back of the yacht has a retractable beach deck and dock. Why go to the trouble of getting out to sea if you can't wake-board, jet-ski, or swim; right?
If you want to know how much it would cost to fuel-it-up or operate, it's probably not in your price range.
Hope you are having a happy holiday season.
November 27, 2011
Were You Actually Grateful or Thankful This Weekend?
This Thanksgiving weekend, a friend called to say he was reaching out to the people he was thankful for - and just wanted to let me know how he felt.
My mind immediately began thinking about what else the call could have been about? I remembered that I intended to send him a book. I thought about the last time we talked. And then it hit me, he was actually exercising his ability to be thankful.
Wow, what a concept.
Were you actually grateful and thankful this weekend?
It is a choice. It is a habit. For me, it is something I aspire to exercise more regularly ... What about you?
Looking back over the past few weeks, I recognize that I have been pushing hard - with a focus on finishing the year strong. Maybe it's time to recognize how much progress was made and intentionally focus on making people feel appreciated and capable instead?
Scar tissue, resentment, frustration, and fear are unnecessary and counterproductive. It's time to figure-out what feels good and do more of it.
With that in mind, here is a picture of me with my awesome wife and oldest son at the Cowboys game. We had a great Thanksgiving. Hopefully, you did too.
This public service message has been presented by the part of me that knows better. Hopefully, the part of you that knows better will notice it.
Have a great rest of the year.
November 24, 2011
Around the World in 3 Minutes - Watch the Move, Learn, and Eat Videos
Inspiring and Fun! Seems appropriate for the start of the Holiday Season.
Beware, these three short videos may encourage you to travel, learn something new, move your body, or create something.
3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food.
Click to Watch.
MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.
LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.
EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.
October 06, 2011
Reflecting on Steve Jobs' Words of Wisdom and Insightful Questions
Looking back over his career and body of work, it is clear that Steve Jobs deserves credit.
He was a world-class innovator and showman.
More importantly, Steve Jobs said "I want to put a ding in the universe." He did!
There is not an app to replace Steve Jobs. He was one of a kind.
One of the phrases people associate with Jobs is "Think Different!" He did. Bill Gates said he wanted to put a PC on every desktop. Steve Jobs put magic in your pocket.
As we mourn his death and celebrate his life, here are a few of Steve's quotes:
- "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
- "Be a yardstick of quality. Some people are not used to an environment where excellence is expected."
- "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."
Apparently he knew when it was time to quit.
When he stepped-down from his role at Apple, HBR pointed out that Jobs knew something needed to change. Perhaps it really is time for Jobs to go home, as he put it, to a "wonderful family" and an "amazing woman" and re-reflect on a few of the provocative questions (slightly altered) that he posed to the world in his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address.
Here is the video.
Here are some of the questions he posed. (click here for the complete text version of the speech)
- Have you found "what you love" to do in life?
- Are you wasting your life "living someone else's?"
- Do you "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition?"
- Are you nurturing a "great relationship," one that "just gets better and better as the years roll on?"
- Do you tell "your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months" or days?
- Do you make "sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family" when "the single best invention of Life" takes its toll?
- Do you say "your goodbyes" before it's too late to say them?
For almost four decades Steve Jobs has certainly tried his best to "put a ding in the universe."
If you are looking for more on Jobs' wisdom and insights, Umair Haque has a nice post on the Harvard Business Review site; it is called "Steve's Seven Insights for 21st Century Capitalists".
He highlights lessons that jumped out at him while looking through this compendium of Jobs quotes.
Here are two examples.
It Matters that it Matters. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugar water — or do you want to change the world?" That's what Steve famously asked John Sculley. Translation: do you really want to spend your days slaving over work that fails to inspire, on stuff that fail to count, for reasons that fail to touch the soul of anyone?
Do the insanely great. "When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it." We're awash in a sea of the tedious, the humdrum, the predictable. If your goal is rising head and shoulders above this twisting mass of mediocrity, then it's not enough, anymore, to tack on another 99 features every month and call it "innovation." Just do great work.
Those aren't the only lessons, nor probably the best lessons. There are lots to choose from.
Umair Haque challenges: Steve took on the challenge of proving that the art of enterprise didn't have to culminate in a stagnant pond of unenlightenment — and won. In doing so, he might just have built something approximating the modern world's most dangerously enlightened company. Can you?
What a great thing career he had. He ends his Stanford speech with a quote that sums it up well.
"Stay Hungry ... Stay Foolish."
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