Repairing a Leak

"You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of." ~ Jim Rohn

Most every morning is a quiet pre-dawn drive to work. Very little traffic, the windows down and the springtime air flowing through the car. My short drive takes me down a freeway to a familiar exit. A few more blocks and the empty parking lot awaits my arrival.

These early mornings give me a peaceful couple of hours before others arrive. I can get many things accomplished with very little distraction. A soft start to the day before the crush of everything takes hold.

This day was seemingly no different in its beginning as I pulled out of my driveway. The cool morning breeze filtering through the car, out the neighborhood and to the freeway. My freeway exit arrived and as I pulled up to the stop light a very odd noise from the rear of the car. As suddenly as it sounded, it went away. A few blocks to work and I would have my cup of coffee.

As I pulled into the empty parking lot, a new sound pierced the quiet morning. A small part of me for an instant thought, "no, the noise is coming from somewhere else." Wishful thinking, a rear tire was losing air. The awful hiss of a tire venting itself of all it contains. You can insert a small amount of grumbling at this point.

The cool morning breeze mixing with the warm compressed air flowing out of my tire did nothing to brighten the moment. I stood there thinking the person that lost the package of wood screws would be scratching their head about now. They would be saying to themselves, "I know I packed those in the truck this morning before leaving."

So here I have a tire going flat, a perfect illustration of one losing their momentum. All energy and attitude escaping from within oneself. I could have reacted similarly to that tire. I could have gotten upset, yelled a few cuss words and kicked the tire. Okay, I grumbled a few cuss words. But then it was a matter of just getting on with it.

Life will toss moments at you. Some times it will be nails in the road to flatten a tire. Other times it will be worse. All of these moments will cause you to 'leak' your attitude. You have two choices at those moments in time.

One choice is to go flat and do nothing but give up. A flat tire and a flat attitude will not go very far. Eventually the tire will shred and your life will be left in pieces.

Your other choice is to get on with overcoming the circumstance. You repair the tire, plug the hole and refill your life with new air, new attitude. When you have a well-rounded tire, filled to the right PSI then life rolls on much easier, much more efficiently.

Before long, you will be back out on the highway to your destination. You will be back on the road to your dreams and not stuck on the side of the road with a flat life.

Stay inspired my friends!

What Am I Missing

This is a reprint of a popular post from June of 2009.


“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” - Dale Carnegie

There is so much going on in our lives, one son home visiting from Denver; one son back home from Iraq and being transferred back to the states; one son home from college at the University of Georgia; one son recently graduated from high school; one daughter getting ready for a missions trip to Ecuador; one daughter getting ready to visit us from Los Angeles; one daughter with three kids starting school in July; one daughter getting ready to get married in one week from now.

Is there something I'm missing?

No.

A benefit event that we are helping with is tomorrow; our wedding anniversary is coming up in just over a week; graduation celebration for a good friend this weekend; a family reunion coming up in July.

Wait, there has to be something I'm missing.

No.

With this many kids, birthdays are always happening; many little side events that are sure to pop up along the way; I'm sure that is everything. Writing everyday, promoting a book (CHANGED LIVES) ... still trying to get Oprah to invite me on.

Actually, I'm sure that I have missed something I'm supposed to do along the way. But all of this 'planning' information isn't to impress you with how busy we are. It is to show you that all of us are busy. You, me, the grocery clerk, mailman, Pastor, the person next to you on the bus and most anyone you want to pick out of a crowd.

So when you feel like being a little bit 'short' in attitude with others because you are busy, just remember they are likely experiencing the same thing. We are not alone in 'life happening', all of us are effected by living. It can be overwhelming at times and if it is, stop and take a day or two to step back.

Then jump right back into the 'game' of life.

Keep moving, keep connecting, keep living. The good thing is that while you are busy, there is movement in your life. Things are happening and you are connecting to others. You get to see what others are going through. Learn from those interactions, grow with those interactions and live life with an increased awareness.

It isn't necessarily easy and yes, it won't necessarily clean up that day planner.

But maybe you will be able to cope just a little more. But then a busy calendar is better then having nothing at all in your life. I like to go back to a great quote from the movie Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living, or get busy dying."

I choose to live life living and figure the dying part will happen on its own. Live life even with the busy things that go with it.

Stay inspired my friends.

Lasting Impact

For all are friends in heaven, all faithful friends;
And many friendships in the days of time
Begun, are lasting here, and growing still.
- Robert Pollok, Course of Time

There are days I reminisce about old friends and one particular friend from Nebraska came to mind. He is a good friend even though we rarely see or even get to speak to one another. Doc Watson is his name and we go way back having first met on the job when I worked several years ago in the Dakota Territory, also known as North Dakota and South Dakota. Like myself, he has gone through some difficult situations but has emerged on the other side of an open door that I have spoken about before.

What had me thinking of him recently is the upcoming wedding day of my daughter. With all of the pending preparation, there is a little bit of stress involved making sure all is ready.

A few years back, I had gone through the same thing with another daughter's wedding. As I am inclined to do, I simply asked my mother for patience. Even though she has already passed away, I talk to her from time to time. It was a moment that I needed some comfort and Doc's name came to my mind.

The reason he came to mind is that he attended my mother's funeral. He had very comforting and encouraging words during that difficult time. It was exactly what I needed during the time. So thinking about him, that feeling came back over me and all was well and calmed my concerns for the pending wedding later this month.

Even though he doesn't realize it, he helped me out that day and today.

Sometimes we find those that have gone from us, the memories remain and continue to impact our lives. We also find that people we know here and today, while far away, can have an impact on our lives. That is what your life is all about, being able to make someone elses life better.

You may not be there to see it happen, but it does.

Do something good for someone and it can have a lasting impact.

Stay inspired my friends!

EMC World 2014 - Now Back To

"You can focus on things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem." - Tim Cook

It is the end of the week, EMC World 2014 is over and we can all return to our normal lives. Or can we?

During this IT conference, customers, analysts and others heard information on how the storage industry is being redefined. The traditional second IT platform is going the way of the buggy whip and horse-drawn carts. There will still be quaint horse-drawn carriages around the park on a Saturday evening.

But the Lotus F1 of third IT platform is here.

To borrow a quote from a Stephen King novel, "Get busy redefining or get busy dying." EMC is changing and redefining how storage is done and how companies are going to meet the challenges of the third platform. This week in Las Vegas at EMC World, we clearly marked that beginning.

But will you go back to your regularly scheduled programming? Or will you be changed? Will you redefine the way you think about storage and your way of doing business in this new third platform?

Better yet, will you redefine your life?

Changing the way you do business means dropping what has gone wrong, what has been slow and what has been holding you back. Changing the way you do life means doing the same things. Drop what has gone wrong, slow or held you back. In other words, REDEFINE how you approach life going forward. Do not let the past define you.

Do not return to the regular scheduled programming. Redefine yourself, do something for others, help others redefine themselves and see how life gets redefined, gets lifted, to a new and higher platform.

Redefine your business for life in the third platform and redefine your life for something better. Stay inspired my friends.

How can you redefine things in your life?

Check out Charity: water