The other three

Most mornings I run, ok, I walk on a trail near my house. It is next to a stream, has beautiful landscape and is paved. It makes you feel like you are in the mountains. The scenery just fills you with awe. It is a refreshing way to start my day.

There are many people who have the same idea in the mornings as I do. It is a cross section of our society. Woman and men, old and young, running and walking. Some faster than others. I watch as each one passes me trying to guess what their life is like. The really old ones pass me going the other direction. Are they happy? Have they found peace? What is their story?

Most interesting is their reaction to me. I try to make eye contact with everyone and smile. “Good morning,” is my usual greeting. 1 out of 5 will smile and offer the same greeting. 1 out of five will not even make eye contact. It is the reaction of the other 3 I think we all have control over. They will not make eye contact first, smile first or acknowledge first. Yet when they do we both smile and the day is a little brighter. If we are happy, it is contagious. We need to take the lead for most of society. If we smile, most of the world smiles with us. Reach out to the other three every day. It makes a difference. 

Remember, it’s always the right time and place if you have the right attitude

When I get on my scale

When I get on my scale every morning I can lean back slightly and take five pounds off my weight, If I need to justify having a second bagel.

It is interesting that I can talk myself into it this way.  We all are like this is many situations in our life.

Is self-deception though self-defeating? It is a process we use to combat our own fears and anxiety. Do not consciously criticize yourself because of this. We all, yes, we all do it to some extent.

There are days I wonder when the world is going to catch on to me. Sometimes reality and our perception do not match. We tend to see the world thru our eyes and it is not always the truth.

Self-deception can be an ego defense.

My thoughts.

Always strive to become more. Never ever give up. Do not fool yourself. You know the truth. We all have our fears. How we face them determines our success,

As Billy Joel so eloquently put it. “We all have a face that we hide way from strangers.” 

William James said,

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

Training

I have been to hundreds of training seminars in my career. Been involved with many consultants. Many were amazing, some were so bad I often wondered how they even got the job.

I would love to have some of the consultants sit with me in a real-world situation and watch the reaction of customers or employees when they say some of the things we are told to use.

Most of the training is based on perfect case scenario reactions from customers and sales people. Some trainers make it sound so easy. I have seen many consultants perplexed because no one is taking their advice.

Almost everything they teach sounds the same.

There are many fantastic Consultants and Trainers in the world.

What we all need are some real-world applications.

I have never been trained on how to react when your boss treats you like a dumb ass.

I could go on. I personally love training. Reminders and help are always welcome. What I find difficult is nobody seems to be offering training for the average Joe. Ideas that apply in everyday life.

What are your thoughts?

VOB International

VOB International. What is VOB?

Many have asked. Okay two have asked. Where did VOB come from. Allow me to enlighten.

Michael Connelly* explained it much better than I can.

An excerpt from The Brass Verdict.

“The woman liked to target hotel rooms where men with large amounts of money slept. She knew how to pick them, follow them, then finesse the door locks and the room safes while they slept. In one candid moment she told me of the white hot adrenaline high she got every time the last digit fell into place and she heard the electronic gears of the hotel safe start to move and unlock. Opening the safe and finding what was inside was never as good as that magic moment when the gears began to grind and she felt the velocity of her blood moving in her veins. Nothing before or after was as good as that moment. The jobs were not about the money. They were about the velocity of blood.”

This is the feeling we all get when we make the sale, hit a goal, feel the cheers after a speech and many more.

Now you know, whether you wanted to or not.

Always remember

You are always in the Right Place and Right Time

If you have the Right Attitude

Make it happen