Big Idea Coach

Seeds of Doubt, Certitude & Randomness

Just a short collection of random thoughts today...

Certitude

George Will wrote an excellent column this week in NEWSWEEK on Oddness and Certitude.. Well worth reading.

You're Hired!

Watching the finale of this season's The Apprentice it struck me that millions of Americans will spend hours and hours and hours watching reality t.v. shows like this when, if they spent that same time working on their own goals, they could be just as successful as the winners of these various reality (cough, cough) contests.

So why not turn off the t.v. (April 25th is the start of T.V. Turnoff Week by the way...)

Hoe-ing the seeds of doubt

Handling a few issues in my own life this week, I discovered how important it is to eradicate any seeds of doubt early on in any venture. If you don't, they become weeds of doubt, with strong, deep roots that are hard to get rid of.

Much as I try to avoid gardening metaphors when it comes to self-help (gardening metaphors having been used to their best and ultimate purpose in Jerzy Kosinski 's great screenplay BEING THERE -- directed by Hal Ashby and starring Peter Sellers in perhaps his best role ever), this one I think is worth sharing.

The Day I Die...

Alright, normally I'm a pretty optimistic guy and I use my website, blog, and newsletter to share optimistic ideas. Sometimes, in thinking about how good things can be, one has to think about the inevitable, like death and dying.

Websurfing at the firehouse where I volunteer, I stumbled across an interesting website another volunteer had visited earlier. DEATHCLOCK is a rather pessimistic site where you can go, enter your age, your birthday, your Body Mass Index, and whether or not you're a smoker, then be shown a projected "death date" and count-down clock showing how many seconds you have left to live.

Of course, it's just a guess based on a few factors. And it obviously can't include things like chance, freak accidents, etc., but it gets you thinking.

Life is fragile, every second a gift.

You can take advantage of every moment you're given to make your life as bold and brilliant as you want it to be... or you can waste it.

What's your decision?

What are you going to do right now to live your life to the fullest?

Fun Things To Do Because It's Spring

Ah, spring! What a wonderful time of year:

April showers, May flowers, cool breezes, singing birds.

Everything about Spring encourages one to grow, to reach, to succeed. It's a great time to get things done... and to have some fun.

My suggestions?

Well...

1. Take a holiday.

Oh, maybe not a full vacation, but just a single holiday.

A "mental health" day.

A sick day (or rather, a "well" day).

A day you play hooky, sleep in, rest, relax, and recharge.

But not just any day -- make sure it's a bright, sunny, warm, breezy day so you can get outside and enjoy yourself.

2. Play with your kids.

If you're having a holiday, why not make it a family affair?  Take the kids out of school and make it a play-day for everyone.

Don't have kids? Then take your dogs to the park and play with them.

3. Take a hike.

Or at least a walk in the park or your local nature preserve.

Nothing recharges your batteries quite like getting in touch with nature.

(Hint: You can recharge even faster if you take your shoes and socks off and walk barefoot through the grass.)

4. Have a picnic.

Pack a lunch, toss it into a picnic basket or a paper bag and have a meal in the great outdoors. Share it with a loved one, friend, or friendly passer-by.

5. Go to a museum.

Enjoy the beauty of spring and the beauty of great art, visit your local museum and spend some time among the great artists of history.

No local art museum? Wander through a few art galleries or local arts and crafts centers. (Sometimes the most inspiration art is right in your own community.)

6. Plant a tree.

Or a bush.

Or shrub.

Or flowers.

Maybe even a whole garden.

Get some dirt beneath your fingernails.

7. Go flying.

Nothing is as uplifting as, well, flying. It is simply exhilarating and fun.

And you don't have to go in a huge jumbo jet. And you don't have to fly yourself. Almost every community has a local private airport where there are plenty of private pilots just looking for a reason to get up in the air.

So give 'em a reason.

8. Take a nap.

Most of us don't get near enough sleep. While it's impossible to "catch up" on missed sleep, a nap can help your body recharge and revitalize.

9. Do something you've never done before.

Each of us has a list of things we'd "love" to do but have never done.

Quit putting it off...

Pick an activity on your list the go do it!

10. Surprise someone else.

"Spring" a surprise on your spouse, best friend, neighbor, co-worker, dog walker, or whomever you choose.

Don't be the only one having fun in the spring, share the joy with someone else!

                                                        --Jim M. Allen, The Big Idea Coach

Get Your Own Damn Work/Life Balance

Jack Welch's new book, WINNING, a great book of insights into how one top business leader created the success he achieved, also sheds some light as to why the whole idea of work/life balance is such a problem for most workers today.

Or maybe I should say, he confirms what many of us thought about what companies think about work/life balance.

He says:

"There's lip service about work-life balance, and then there's reality.... You need to understand that reality: your boss's top priority is competitiveness. Of course he wants you to be happy, but only inasmuch as it helps the company win."

So now you know(just in case you doubted it): Business is concerned with their success, not yours. Although Welch does continue...

"In fact, if [your boss] is doing his job right, he is making your job so exciting that your personal life becomes less of a draw."

Again, the point is that the concern is not for your personal life per se, but the business. Businesses want you happy at work and are not concerned with your happiness outside of work, even when they say they are...

"Bosses know that the work-life policies in the company brochure are mainly for recruiting purposes...."

He does admit that work-life arrangements can be negotiated but one-on-one, not based on company policy:

"Most bosses are perfectly willing to accomodate work-life balance challenges if you have earned it with performance. The key word here is: if."

Uh-huh.

Not looking good for those trying to create some balance.

It gets worse...

"People who publicly struggle with work-life balance problems and continually turn to the company for  help get pigeonholed as ambivalent, entitled, uncommitted, incompetent -- or all of the above."

Jinkies!

Think you don't have work-life balance, then you better keep it to yourself because your company will hold it against you. After all, according to Welch, its your problem, not theirs.

The best solution, for all involved, is for you to handle it on your own....

"Even the most accomodating bosses believe that work-life balance is your problem to solve."

So what's the point?

The point is what most of us always knew and always believed:

Creating balance in your life is YOUR issue. You need to define for yourself what "balance" is and how you are going to create it day-to-day. 

Don't sit back and wait for your boss or your company to create a solution for you, 'cuz they ain't gonna do it.

(Note: quotes below are from the sidebar accompanying the WINNING excerpt that appeared in Nesweek the week of April 4th.)