THE DREAM IN ACTION

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Aren’t you getting tired of hearing people talk about the Work – Life balance? I am, and it’s mostly because I don’t understand the concept. It’s not that I work 80 hours a week, or than I don’t have a social life, because I do, I have a great one. The confusion is derived from my confusion around what we are balancing. Things need balancing when they are opposites right? Black and white have grey; good and evil have, well, humans. But why do work and life need balancing? If your work and you’re life are such polar opposites you are definitely in the wrong line of work. If you hate your job so much that you don’t consider it part of your life then we have issues.

People wonder why they’re not performing well at work, Peter Berner, author of Career Moments would tell you, “You’re in the wrong job!” Somebody can do a job without actually doing anything, but nobody can do work without doing anything. If you find a career or work that you enjoy it can become your life and that is OK! Believe it or not you don’t actually have to hate your job.

So, forget trying to balance your work and your life. Let your work become a part of your life and something you enjoy. Enjoy your life. I guarantee that when you find work that becomes your life and that is enjoyable the rewards will be exponential. The largest of those rewards may even be financial rewards which can also improve other aspects of your life. All of a sudden when you begin to enjoy your work the need to balance is gone.

post from Ryan’s Blog.

In the “olden” days people read the (news)paper for their daily source of news, whether that was local, sports, business, or political news. Then things changed. People then watched television to gather their news. During that time politicians would focus large amounts of their campaign spending on television adverts. Again, things have changed. Now the internet has become an invaluable and essential tool for politicians to reach their supporters. Really anyone who is trying to reach the masses would be hard pressed to do so without the use of the internet. Without disclosing any political affiliation or allegiance I’m posting this video to show you how the internet has come to the forefront of modern political campaigns and to the forefront as a tool to reach people…to reach you.

Over 3.6 million people have watched this video online. Over 27,000 have left comments about the video and 50+ have left video responses. I’d say the internet has come into its own as a resource for anyone trying to reach the masses.

Go internet, you win!

Routine

a: a regular course of procedure
b: habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure <the routine of factory work>

I wonder, is having a routine really the way to be most productive…?

Over the last month I’ve been in a training program that allowed for very little routine. The norm was 12-14 hrs of work during the day interrupted only with meals. That was followed by 4-6 hrs of “social activity” during the evenings and nights. Although this was the norm there was very little opportunity to develop a routine as the schedule was always changing. This experience was jam packed with class, study, and course work, followed by plenty of going out. It was a very full experience in that I accomplished a ton and I would consider it an incredibly productive month. Now, if I was able to accomplish so much in such an environment why would I immediately return home and attempt to implement routine in my life? Maybe I would accomplish more if I were to never repeat, never act “habitually or mechanical” and never engage in a “regular course of procedure”.

Would the complete removal of routine from my life promote “outside of the box” thinking? Maybe I would find new ways to solve old problems. I might resolve everyday issues that have been plaguing me for ages.

My conclusion is that there is both good and bad routine.

Bad routine doesn’t allow you to think differently. I call this type of routine “Ground Hog’s day” routine. It locks down creativity and innovation. Ground Hog’s day routine in short, restricts “change”. Avoid this type of routine, otherwise you’ll wake up one day and be in the same spot as you were the day before and the day before that. Very bad!

Good routine facilitates creativity and change by putting you in the clearest of mindsets. It allows you to see life in new perspectives. This is the routine that promotes thought and productivity. This type of routine removes waste by allowing you to process improve each aspect of your life. I call this “Clarity routine” because it promotes optimal clarity and thought.

Find out how to embrace Clarity routine and eliminate Ground Hog’s day routine and you will be well on your way to much higher levels or productivity.

Professional sports, MLB, NBA, and the NFL once followed what could be termed “the code”. It was nothing official or scribed, but it was closely followed. The code was this:

“That out of fairness to all teams involved in a championship competition, any team opposing one of them shall extend itself to the fullest.”

A game that was once quite noble, is now tainted with the importance of the playoffs and gaining the most favorable position within them. “Playoffs!” Now that the Dallas Cowboys have secured they’re spot they will no doubts rest Romo, T.O., and others who are slightly injured. Nobody would think twice about Beli”cheat” sitting Brady in the second half this week versus the “I hate Eli Manning” Giants. They definitely have the undefeated thing going for them (which is nice) and I believe they will play hard to reach this goal, but in any other circumstance, Moss, Brady and the crew would sit and rest.

My argument is not that the Patriots should sit there stars, it is that the integrity of giving your all, giving 100% until the last week of the season is almost non-existent. Especially for teams that have secured a play-off spot. The San Diego Chargers have a 3rd seed to play for so they will undoubtedly come out firing against their rival Raiders but, for teams that don’t need a victory like Indianapolis, will you give it your all? Will you treat these last weeks as if they were your first? I would doubt it. It is sad because any gambling man would put his money on the Colts when playing the Tennessee Titans but now the same Vegas gambler has to take into consideration how much Dungy and the Colts want to “preserve” themselves for the playoffs. Isn’t this a mans game? Another miserable position is if you are a Browns fan, who need the Colts to win against the Titans in order to gain a playoff birth. You can only hope a half-ass Colts team can claim a victory over a 110%, season on the line, Titans squad. Good luck.

Peyton, when you take the field Sunday, try for one second not the think about your first round bye or the Patriots secondary, think for a second about your competitive integrity, think for one second about your “love of the game”.

Debt is a interesting thing. Ownership is a great thing.
Today I purchased my first car, a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder, and put myself in some serious debt. However, it doesn’t upset me at all. Even though I locked myself to “the man“ for roughly 60 months, ownership is awesome. Ownership gives you a sense of pride, accomplishment and appreciation for the ability to provide for yourself. I definitely look forward to the experience of buying a home, compared to the ownership of an automobile, those feelings must be enormous.

Check out the ride.

Using the feedback that I got on the last logo post I’ve created this very simple version of the logo.  All comments are welcome, so please give feedback. I encourage you to tell me I’m an uncreative, unimaginative, piece of ____.  Just tell me something!

I’m working on developing a logo for ActionsTalk.com.

This is a early version of the logo…what do you guys think.  You are my market research.  Color scheme? Style? Slogan? All of these things are up for debate and criticism, hold nothing back!

If you are familiar with Lifehack.com’s “Mind Hack” posts this is the first Mind Hack post for ActionsTalk.com.  I hope that this changes the way that you approach decision making and benefits you in you career and your life.

Decision making is one of the most important skills an individual can learn.  People say that life is just a series of decisions and they’re right!  Every situation you encounter in life is going to present a different set of opportunities and your ability to decipher what the right decision is can literally make or break you.  This applies to ones personal life as well as ones career.  My method of decision making is very helpful but a little different than most peoples.  It is very common to just list the pros and cons and whichever list is longer go with that choice.  We’ll I go a step further and I apply a weight or a degree of importance to each pro and each con. Then I add the numbers up and that is my choice.  It is a very simple and logical way to help you make up your mind with big decisions.  For this example I will use the decision to move away from San Diego (awesome) and come to Chicago (pretty sweet). 

First the PROS… (Always start positive):

·         Friends  weight: (9)

·         Girlfriend (9)

·         Job opportunities (6)

·         Great social life (4)

·         New experiences (8)

·         Challenge & Out of comfort zone (4) – yes this is a positive

Total: 40

Then the CONS…

·         No more surfing (4)

·         Away from Family (7)

·         The slight (very slight) possibility that I would ever life in SD again (10)

·         Leaving SD friends (8)

·         Leaving a solid network of job opps (2)

·         Chi-towns beach vs. beaches in SD (3)

Total: 34

40 points to move to Chicago, 34 to stay in San Diego…thus, my decision to move to

Jott.com“gott” me very excited. It is a start up that allows you to voice record messages and send them as text messages to the people in your contact list.  It took me about 10 minutes to set up the account and it took me about 5 more minutes to set up the ability to Jott directly in my Google Calendar.  The Google Calendar is not a standard Jott functionality but developed by the use of Jott’s API by Grinn.  Once you have your Jott account set-up and you have the GCal functionality set up it is very easy to use. You just call the Jott number 1-866-JOTT123 and it asks you who you would like to Jott, you reply and the Jott recording says “Got it” or “Repeat”.  Then you hear a tone and you say something like “Pick-up dry cleaning, Wednesday at 5:30pm” and it automatically posts to your GCal.  Think about how often you want to add an event or to-do to your calendar and you are not in front of your computer…Often enough? Thought so.  This is one of the more practical start-ups that I’ve seen recently. Give it a shot and let me know here at ActionsTalk what you think.  With all of that said, it does scare me that I’ll become reliant upon these types of new services and all of the sudden there will be a monthly fee.  But for now, they are free and their making my life a “Lott” more convenient. 

To install the GCal functionality click here.

This city (NYC) truly is a great example of what we as humans are capable of accomplishing. There are dreams walking these streets. There are dreamers walking these streets.  New York City is truly an incubator for hopes and dreams.  The “American Dream” as cliche as it may sound thrives in New York City.  The United States is undoubtedly the nation of opportunity and equality.  Not everyone has the same experiences but everyone has the same equal opportunity. There are countless stories that display the success of this nation in helping anyone and providing literally any American citizen the hope and opportunity to live out there dreams. 

 I’m in New York this week on business and will bring you many pictures of the city in a post forthcoming.

Addition to this post 10/30/07:

I would like to take back a portion of this post and clarify.  A reader made critic of this post (offline) that my claim that everyone has “the same equal opportunity” is a false claim.  After some thought and review of the wording of this post I agree with the readers critic.  Not everyone in the United States has the same equal opportunity.  Things like location of birth, parents financial and social status, and ethnicity are just a few things that can make ones opportunites not equal to anothers.  However, I would like to say that I honestly believe that everyone in the US has the opportunity to succeed.  The American dream does live and especially in a place like New York City. Everyone will face different challenges, different speed bumps but this country gives everyone the tools and freedom to chase that dream and make it come true. 

Every American has the opportunity to ‘Live the Dream’.

So, looking back at the Homecoming weekend, it was pretty much perfect.  Had the opportunity to see some bro’s that I’d not seen a quite some time, didn’t think about work for a second, and for a minute or two there I really thought I was back in college. Everything that I went there to do, I accomplished.  Miami of Ohio has never failed to show me a fantastic time and this visit was just more of the same…the dream in action.

Yesterday was Blog Action Day.  An organized effort by over 15,000 bloggers to discuss different ways to give back to Mother Earth.  It was a day to post  something related to giving back to the environment and being “green”.  Obviously, I missed it.  I was a day late but I’m still going to try and make up for it.  First, my excuse for missing the day: I lost my wallet on the train yesterday morning and spend almost half of my work day trying to cancel and re-order credit cards and identification cards and posting quite honestly completely slipped my mind.  Then at about 7:15p last evening I received a phone call from a good Samaritan, the man who found my wallet and decided to do the right and noble thing of returning it.  I love that man.

So the topic of my Blog Action Day post is this: Giving back to the environment doesn’t just mean screaming “save the whales” at a gas station.  You don’t have to protest, drive a hybrid, or only ride your bike to work in order to give back to your environment.  The man who did the right thing yesterday and gave back to man kind (in this case myself) was most definitely giving back to his environment.  Humans are the most influential beings on this planet as far as the environment goes.  We are the beings that can protect our mother earth and we are the beings that could potentially ruin her.  I honestly believe that by spreading the kind of love, care, and respect that the good Samaritan showed me yesterday we can and will have a lasting effect, and in turn greatly benefit the planet on which we live.  By having and acting upon a mutual respect for one another you will undoubtedly have a great affect on your environment.

So, in conclusion, I would just like to thank the good Samaritan who returned my wallet. You’ve saved me much stress and worry.  I gave the man all the money I had on me at the time ($27) as a display of my gratitude and it was very well worth it.  As a word of encouragement to all of you readers, follow this mans lead, give back to human kind, show mutual respect, add value to your environment.  He saved me a great bit of trouble and all he had to do was think about someone else before himself (luckily in this case I benefited greatly). 

Do the right thing, give back to your environment, give back to man kind, change the world.  Happy (belated) Blog Action day.

Apples new version of the MAC OS version 10.5 called “Leopard” is due for release this month.  It looks like the release will occur sometime around the 26^th of October.  This is definitely a huge factor in waiting to buy a new machine.  If you’ve followed ActionsTalk you probably know that I’ll be buying a MAC in the next couple of months and this release of Leopard throws a bit of a kink in the decision.  Do you wait until Apple works out the kinks with Leopard before purchasing a machine with Leopard installed.  Apple’s already proven to the consumer that they don’t hesitate to release a product before all the “worms” are worked out right? (iPhone)  They’ve made it difficult to justify the immediate post release purchase, poor move Steve (Jobs).  Maybe however, if I rush to the store the day of release I can pay more and two weeks later receive an Apple store credit!  Let me know if you have an opinion on the decision to buy a MAC with the old OS, rush to get the new one, or give if a few month to iron out the kinks. Thanks!