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

EMC World 2014 - Safe Water

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today marks the final day of EMC World 2014 here in Las Vegas, an annual get together of the most brilliant minds in the IT industry. And I am talking about you, the attendees that truly make the industry run and perform as well as it does.

In all of the hubbub of everyday work life, conferences such as ours, we spend an awful lot of time trying to solve business problems. That is a good thing because business drives the economic life of the world, your city and your household. Without it, we would be scrambling to find those basic needs in life such as food, clothing and shelter.

Without it, we would be searching for clean water.

Water, that is what I am here to talk about today. How much do we take it for granted that we can turn on a faucet and drink clean water. To step into the shower and have water to bathe in or to fill a pot for cooking.

An organization named Charity:Water thinks about that everyday. Everyday they know that 90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are in children under five years old. That diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. They also know that over 3.6% of the global disease burden could be prevented simply by improving water supply, sanitation, and hygiene.

So how can you REDEFINE your life?

You can take part of your time, your money and your talents to help organizations like Charity:Water help those in need. You can change your way of thinking by changing the way you think about others.

We get a limited lifetime and the greatest reward you will ever achieve is in helping others. Now that is life REDEFINED.

Stay inspired my friends!