If You Were a Breakfast Food What Would You Be?

There’s an old joke about the message in a country breakfast of eggs and bacon. The saying is, “The eggs were involved, but the pig was committed.”

I thought about the old saying when I read an ESPN magazine article about the toughest men in the NFL. The piece noted a sign in the NBA Detroit Piston’s weight room that said, “Don’t confuse routine with commitment.”

At work every day you’re going through the routine or you’re committed.

And yes, I’m sure some of us work in places that make us think we should BE committed, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

A smart woman recently told me about an employee who seems to simply be showing up every day…kinda going through the motions. It would appear that the employee is involved, going through the routine, but is not committed.

I’ll be the first one to admit that you can’t be totally committed, giving 100%, to everything. But, you’ve got to take a moment to look at the areas of life that you say are important to you. Whether it’s your job, relationship, fitness routine or spiritual path…are you simply involved, or are you committed?

Are you the egg or the pig?

Playgrounds, Pop Flies and Sanity

Had a chance yesterday to present two programs for the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Directors Conference. In short, the folks sitting in the audience make sure that you, your kids, your friends and your community have great, safe places to play.

It was a wonderful experience. They were the type of group you pray for when you do what I do: professional, smart and fun.

Before I was introduced I thought of Bill Sapp, the legendary recreation director in Lumberton and Robeson County for three generations. The seeds for my attitudes about sports, sportsmanship and recreation were either directly planted by Bill Sapp or created by his efforts.

What these folks do matters and they certainly aren’t the highest paid folks in their agencies. But, their efforts echo through the lives of thousands of people.

No matter what YOU do it matters to someone; it has an effect on someone. Believe me, there is someone who, some day, will look back and think of you. Did you help them along or hold them back? Are you giving them your best?

Have a great weekend. See you Monday.

Love Through Lucite

A friend was recently in the checkout aisle at a grocery store.

She overhead one cashier say to another, "It's hard to date someone who's locked up."

Well....yeah.

Talking through a lucite barrier cuts down on the intimacy and trust you need to build a relationship.

Lust, laziness, habits, fundamentalism, fatigue, ignorance or bad pepperoni can make us do stupid things.

Sometimes you just have to know when to walk away.

In Which Camp Are You Pitching Your Tent?

Heard two things within about 12 hours of each other and my title question came to mind.

Heard the State of the Union Address last night (now, now…don’t get off on a rant in either direction) and then listened to Seth Godin (marketing genius and most-read blogger on earth) this morning on a book on CD.

Seth was saying that the world has been divided into two camps: The “Let’s Keep Things the Way They Were” folks like politicians, big business, old thinkers. And, the “Be a Little Weird and Color Outside the Lines” folks like Apple Computers, creative small businesses, and new thinkers.

The great thing for those of us in the second group is that weird is winning. The best businesses and groups are focusing less on how things were (mass manufacturing, the Big Boys deciding what we should want and pushing it at us) and more on customization, individualization and helping people maximize their potential and lives.

The Golden Rule ain’t working anymore. It’s all about The Platinum Rule (Google it): Do Unto Others the Way They Would Have It Be Done to Them.

So, which camp are you in?

There will be fewer tents in the first group as time goes on. However, there is an illusory sense of security, all the tents look alike.

But, pitching your tent in the second camp is scary because you’ve got to take responsibility for your life.

I hope I see you pitching your tent alongside mine in Campground #2.

How Long Is Your Worry Tail?

One month ago today was Christmas Eve. Seems like either forever ago or yesterday, doesn’t it?

One year from today is Christmas Eve. Have you done your shopping?

Lots of folks are already worrying about something that is months or years away.

I’m all for planning ahead but, hey, if you’re spending valuable time today worrying about something that will happen waaaaay out in the future…or worrying about something that happened in the past you have too long a worry tail.

Might be time to snip it off?

Code Blue! Code Blue!

Am in a hospital waiting area biding my time before I do some training.

I can hear the intercom communications and I often think about how these announcements note events happening in the lives of patients, staff and visitors.

Code Blue! or something like it is often used as a way to alert the staff that a patient is having a life-threatening event.

When I hear something like that I wonder what it would be like if we had an alert to let us know when things were happening in our lives that might threaten our happiness and/or future success.

I had a Code Blue! alert recently (not in a hospital) and was able to steer away from the danger.

Most of the time we know what the Code Blues! in our lives might be.

Are you paying attention to yours?

The Promise of Romance and a Bullet

My brother has a raccoon problem. His not-so-cute-and-little visitor has been rummaging around in the attic for a few days.

So, Joe called a critter-gitter. In fact, if you've never heard of Critter Gitter it's actually the name of one of the animal removal franchises.

They gitter guy comes to your house, puts some traps around (usually cages the critter gets trapped in), checks on them and takes the critter away when they're caught.

I asked Joe what they use for bait. He said, "Coon goo and cat food."

Don'tcha love that phrase, "Coon goo." It sounds like some sort of Asian desert. The waiter asks what you'd like with your moo goo gai pan and you say, "I'll have a bowl of coon goo."

Anyway, I'm figuring that coon goo is kinda like the stuff hunters use to attract deer. It's a mixture of pheromones (the fragrances that attract creatures--including humans--to romantic encounters)and body fluids and, well, ok...let's just say that it's stuff that infers that good things are going to happen.

That's when Joe told me the bad news. If they catch a raccoon the critter gitter takes it away and kills it. The raccoons are so destructive to a house and have such great homing sense that no matter how far away you take them they'll come back and keep tearing your place up. So the insurance industry had the legislature pass a law that says the critter has to be destroyed.

Which led me to this, "isn't that sad" thought: Here you are, a raccoon just trying to get along, and you smell some coon goo and cat food and you think, "Sweet! Food AND romance!!! How great is this!!" So you walk into the cage and the next thing you know you're in the back of a truck on your way to a date with a .22 bullet and raccoon heaven.

My next thought was that coon goo for me would probably be a mixture of Ivory soap, Obsession and a Burger King Double.

It'd take a big cage for me, though.

Have a great weekend. See you Monday.