Slice of Ireland

Greene's Restaurant - Cork, Ireland

"There are those moments when you shake someone's hand, have a conversation with someone, and suddenly your all bound together because you share your humanity in one simple moment."
-Ralph Fiennes-

Today we wrapped up our business meetings and held a grand dinner to celebrate. A local restaurant that had very good food, very good service and very good conversation.

All week we have worked together as representatives of different companies, as different nationalities and as different people. But the end result is that we worked together as a single entity. We held conversations and did those things as a group when so much could have been stacked against us.

I am not one to quote the Bible, but Matthew 18:20 reads, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." What is great about this verse is that each of us had a sense of purpose for what was at hand. We were given the opportunity to achieve something and we did, it was good. The verse reminds me that if we do come together as two, three or many, then something good can come from it.

Gather those that you know whether it be family, friends, and neighbors. Sit down with co-workers or people you know from business, sports, or any other connection. When we do, the conversation will flow and good things will happen. A little slice of my Ireland experience will come upon all of you.

Raise the BAR

"The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope." -Frank Lloyd Wright

Today was one of those days where rocks and boulders kept getting in the way. The rain fell hard at times, the doors all seemed to remain locked. Nothing was going particularly right as circumstance was having a play day with everything you do.

It can become very frustrating and you may feel like throwing your hands up and loudly screaming. But when it does, it really is the time to raise the bar.

You need to keep believing in what you are doing.
You need to keep acting upon the belief by moving forward.
You need to keep realizing that it will get better.

But why do that? Why not just give up? Why not lay down and be run over? Because you are greater then the situation at hand. You have a huge ability to get beyond the things that stand in your way. You are going to have a great life.

Raise the B.A.R. when life wants you to lay it down. Push through and do what you can to keep moving forward. Circumstance will eventually become a mere bump on the road.

Depot or Depot

"Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success." -Paul J. Meyer

Communication has a strange way of getting in the way of a conversation. We can talk to each other all day long and never really understand each other.

The causes of our conversation malfunction are numerous. It could be a misinterpreted email. There are phone conversations with a bad connection. It could be a Tweet that uses an acronym in the wrong fashion. Or maybe its just a cultural difference.

Take for instance a conversation between myself and a British customer over dinner. The English language while very similar in different countries, it does have differences as well. And English is not generally accepted as the hardest to learn.

We talked of the route (British: root; American: rout) from the airport to the city centre (British: centre; American: center). And after a meal including fries (British: chips; American: fries), laughed about the after dinner drink, which was a Cockburns Port (British: coeburns; American: I didn't leave out the 'ck').

So a conversation that should have been simple required attentive listening. It required attentive inquiry between the two parties involved. It required being engaged in the personal connection of two people talking.

When all was done, there was a new appreciation for culture, each opinion and each other. We learned more and we grew more. For me, if we can walk away better for the experience; if we can each earn more from the interaction; our lives are raised to a new level.

So next time you go to Home Depot (British: deh poh; American: dee poh) and happen to have a conversation with someone, listen and improve your life. Make it a conversation that each of you can walk away from better for the experience.

Achieving Adventure

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself." -Amelia Earhart

There is so much in life to experience. From the time we are born, crawling across the floor to a toy all of the way to old age discoveries, we can experience new wonder. It is a great part of living, being an active participant in so much of everything.

A flight for business to Ireland placed me next to a man from Colorado. A man flying back into his past. a man flying back into adventure.

At this time I couldn't tell you what his name is. Nor could I tell you the name of his brother. And I certainly can't tell you the name of their father. But I can say they are on an adventure together, rediscovering their history.

I hope that I hear from them after the trip so that I can write about it. But if not, my imagination tells me that they are going to have a wondrous time together. They will have the time of their lives. They will be adventurous.

Each of us need to experience some level of adventure. It might be taking a canoe down the local river or fling half way around the world. It is pushing your limits slightly past your comfort level.

By stretching ourselves we realize that the impossible isn't quite so impossible. We find that our ability to achieve becomes more real when we push beyond our comfort.