Life is all about choices isn't it? Sometimes we must deal with our own creation of a double-edged sword. We make certain choices and then the consequences (intended or unintended) come back to attack us. I've had that type of a week already.
I try to be a super competent person, but to do that my own double-edged sword keeps poking me in my own backside. I want activity, movement forward, but to obtain that I need to stop and focus. I want to be available, but to obtain that I need to have that clear sense of direction, control my schedule, and say no to some activities. I want accountability - FROM OTHERS - but to obtain that I need to provide accountability to others and accept responsibility for my actions or lack there of.
In the aviation world we have a great saying: You can have a choice of FAST, ACCURATE, or CHEAP - pick which two of the 3 you want! Rarely if ever will you be able to get all 3 at the same time. The business world is much like that also, but unlike flying you generally won't actually die from your mistakes. Oh you may kill your business, but life goes on anyway, it just isn't nearly as pleasant.
I try to focus on ROI - no not the "return on investment" exactly, more like "RELATIONSHIPS, OUTCOMES, and IMPROVEMENTS". I realize that I really can't control what has happened in the past, I don't have a magic wand to wave and make bad history situations go away. But what I can do is promise to do is to be available and help prevent or stop bad situations from happening again in the future. Oh, but that double-edged sword again then makes ME responsible for working doubly hard to insure success.
I strive to create some kind of a positive outcome in everything I do every day, but the weight of that sword sometimes gets heavy and many times pokes me. Yet my goal is to strive for that positive outcome anyway. More often than not, it will happen, maybe not exactly as I envisioned it, but it will be better than it was before.
How can I help you this week? How can I make a difference for you?
Please let me know
Steve
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Stubborn or Passionate?
Since Biblical times people have been both stubborn and passionate. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell the difference. Stubbornness sometimes makes us deaf to the truth of a situation, and passion is never enough if you don't have the truth or facts to back your passion.
Many times our motives are good but our judgement is lacking. When this happens we seem to fall back on either our stubborn streak or our passion for a particular project or thing. Both can be positive traits but only when based in truth.
Last week as I sat in the IgCC Green Building Code hearings I saw very clearly both stubborn and passion exhibited and in many cases the emotions were without any factual basis at all - just raw emotions. One person got so emotional and worked up he passed out - now that just isn't good for anyone.
This week as I go thru yet another week of meetings I'm watching myself for signs of my stubborn German nature and my passion for certain things so that I control myself and fall back on truth and facts before calling in those other two emotions. Not saying neither or both aren't good when appropriate, just saying we need a complete package before proceeding.
These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve
Many times our motives are good but our judgement is lacking. When this happens we seem to fall back on either our stubborn streak or our passion for a particular project or thing. Both can be positive traits but only when based in truth.
Last week as I sat in the IgCC Green Building Code hearings I saw very clearly both stubborn and passion exhibited and in many cases the emotions were without any factual basis at all - just raw emotions. One person got so emotional and worked up he passed out - now that just isn't good for anyone.
This week as I go thru yet another week of meetings I'm watching myself for signs of my stubborn German nature and my passion for certain things so that I control myself and fall back on truth and facts before calling in those other two emotions. Not saying neither or both aren't good when appropriate, just saying we need a complete package before proceeding.
These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve
Thursday, May 19, 2011
International Green Construction Code
How do you button your shirt/blouse that you put on each morning? Most of us are creatures of habit and we do it only one way. Many start at the top and work downward, others go the opposite from the bottom. Years ago someone told me the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and depth, so somehow I used that to decide to button each day a different way so that I stopped and thought about how my day was going to be different today from all other days.
What the heck does that have to do with the IgCC? Well after sitting in Dallas, TX listening for several days now I can tell you it has a lot to do with it - the entire point of this new building code is that it will FORCE everyone to look at every single phase of a construction or remodeling project totally differently then ever before. Furthermore, it will be (as it now seems clear) a "LIVING" document, meaning it will change constantly, and so must those who need to comply with it. No ruts for the building industry, you will need to stay on top of the changes and look at each and every aspect of every project much differently.
Right now we are listening to debate about the differences between design life and service life as opposed to true life of certain products that go into the building of a structure (residential or commercial.) They are requiring each and every project to utilize a design professional and develop a full "Manual" of each and every product that goes into the construction process. Imagine the cost increase of this proposal!
I can foresee subcontractors (think flooring/tile installers) being forced to document all types of things that they have no access to - and the manufacturers who make the products having to test and document so many new and different aspects of each and every product they sell. Backer board, seam tape, screws, everything!! Now this is just a completely crazy idea that is being promoted by testing labs and code officials who want job security - forgetting the cost issues that will increase the cost of construction dramatically.
If you still want to stick your head in the sand, and believe this won't effect you, I suggest you think deeper about this new code. Go look it up yourself: WWW.ICCSAFE.org I believe you will be amazed at the "Change" we are about to see!
These are my thoughts on this issue, what are yours?
Steve
What the heck does that have to do with the IgCC? Well after sitting in Dallas, TX listening for several days now I can tell you it has a lot to do with it - the entire point of this new building code is that it will FORCE everyone to look at every single phase of a construction or remodeling project totally differently then ever before. Furthermore, it will be (as it now seems clear) a "LIVING" document, meaning it will change constantly, and so must those who need to comply with it. No ruts for the building industry, you will need to stay on top of the changes and look at each and every aspect of every project much differently.
Right now we are listening to debate about the differences between design life and service life as opposed to true life of certain products that go into the building of a structure (residential or commercial.) They are requiring each and every project to utilize a design professional and develop a full "Manual" of each and every product that goes into the construction process. Imagine the cost increase of this proposal!
I can foresee subcontractors (think flooring/tile installers) being forced to document all types of things that they have no access to - and the manufacturers who make the products having to test and document so many new and different aspects of each and every product they sell. Backer board, seam tape, screws, everything!! Now this is just a completely crazy idea that is being promoted by testing labs and code officials who want job security - forgetting the cost issues that will increase the cost of construction dramatically.
If you still want to stick your head in the sand, and believe this won't effect you, I suggest you think deeper about this new code. Go look it up yourself: WWW.ICCSAFE.org I believe you will be amazed at the "Change" we are about to see!
These are my thoughts on this issue, what are yours?
Steve
Monday, May 16, 2011
Rainy day's and Monday's
The words to that song mislead more people than you could ever imagine. Just as last week Friday 13th drove some folks crazy.
Whatever the mind can conceive it can also believe - that works both way's - if you start to believe in some crazy superstition then when anything happens that is even remotely like what you are anticipating then you begin to believe your crazy thoughts.
This is why you absolutely MUST guard the words that slip so easily from your tongue. When you verbalize a crazy thought you set the stage to receive that signal from the world around you. Great news is that the exact opposite is also true - when you only verbalize great ideas, thoughts, actions, then you will notice that is also what you begin to receive.
Please allow me to replace those lyrics of "Rainy day's and Monday's always get me down" with something I believe is much better and a much more popular concept:
"I'm thinking of Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boy's.
Make today a GREAT and very special day for yourself! Use the positive power of your tongue and give yourself a wonderful pep talk continually today as you move thru this wonderful opportunity filled day to make this one of the most special and best day's you ever had.
These are my thoughts today, what are yours?
Steve
Whatever the mind can conceive it can also believe - that works both way's - if you start to believe in some crazy superstition then when anything happens that is even remotely like what you are anticipating then you begin to believe your crazy thoughts.
This is why you absolutely MUST guard the words that slip so easily from your tongue. When you verbalize a crazy thought you set the stage to receive that signal from the world around you. Great news is that the exact opposite is also true - when you only verbalize great ideas, thoughts, actions, then you will notice that is also what you begin to receive.
Please allow me to replace those lyrics of "Rainy day's and Monday's always get me down" with something I believe is much better and a much more popular concept:
"I'm thinking of Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boy's.
Make today a GREAT and very special day for yourself! Use the positive power of your tongue and give yourself a wonderful pep talk continually today as you move thru this wonderful opportunity filled day to make this one of the most special and best day's you ever had.
These are my thoughts today, what are yours?
Steve
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Progress???
142 years ago today, in 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad was finally completed so that people in this country could move from east to west easily. Now I don't know about you, but in what seems to me to be a very short period of time we have moved so far away from that system that it is scary to me. We can now fly across our great nation, in any direction, in a matter of hours now, not days or weeks as before.
That is, of course, unless you live in a major city like Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angles, etc - then it still takes huge amounts of time just to move across the city during certain peek times of the day. Why is that?
Another tidbit of useless information that is rattling around in my head today is why does the new Apple iPad II do much more, at much greater speeds, than the "old" iPad and yet it costs exactly the same? At the same time, many other electronic gadgets have risen in price and we seem immune to complaining about that?
Why is it that when the crude oil prices go up every single gas station across America instantly raises their pump pricing on gas, yet when there is a drop in the price of crude oil those same stations take weeks to slightly lower the price - think up 12 cents per gallon and down 1 or 2 cents per gallon.
As I grow older it seems to me that "progress" absolutely changes meaning. We tend to reminisce about those "Good Old Days" when things were cheaper and slower, etc. Remember how the first computers (mine was a Radio Shack TRS-80) seemed to boot up so quickly? Now my iPad opens up literally millions of times more info in just a second or two, now is that progress? Do I really NEED that info that quickly?
Finally, I ask you why it is that birthdays come around so quickly now as opposed to say when we were 4 or 5 and just couldn't wait to be old enough to start real school. How about when you were 15 waiting to turn 16 so you could get your drivers license? That 12 month period seemed to take 5 years as I remember it.
There used to be a TV commercial that had a tag line of: "You've come a long way Baby" but at my advanced age I just can't remember what the product was that they were pushing or why they said that line. I do remember I questioned that thought back then and even more so today. Yes progress has changed my world and I'm not sure it has been for the better.
These are my thoughts what are yours?
Steve
That is, of course, unless you live in a major city like Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angles, etc - then it still takes huge amounts of time just to move across the city during certain peek times of the day. Why is that?
Another tidbit of useless information that is rattling around in my head today is why does the new Apple iPad II do much more, at much greater speeds, than the "old" iPad and yet it costs exactly the same? At the same time, many other electronic gadgets have risen in price and we seem immune to complaining about that?
Why is it that when the crude oil prices go up every single gas station across America instantly raises their pump pricing on gas, yet when there is a drop in the price of crude oil those same stations take weeks to slightly lower the price - think up 12 cents per gallon and down 1 or 2 cents per gallon.
As I grow older it seems to me that "progress" absolutely changes meaning. We tend to reminisce about those "Good Old Days" when things were cheaper and slower, etc. Remember how the first computers (mine was a Radio Shack TRS-80) seemed to boot up so quickly? Now my iPad opens up literally millions of times more info in just a second or two, now is that progress? Do I really NEED that info that quickly?
Finally, I ask you why it is that birthdays come around so quickly now as opposed to say when we were 4 or 5 and just couldn't wait to be old enough to start real school. How about when you were 15 waiting to turn 16 so you could get your drivers license? That 12 month period seemed to take 5 years as I remember it.
There used to be a TV commercial that had a tag line of: "You've come a long way Baby" but at my advanced age I just can't remember what the product was that they were pushing or why they said that line. I do remember I questioned that thought back then and even more so today. Yes progress has changed my world and I'm not sure it has been for the better.
These are my thoughts what are yours?
Steve
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
How do YOU see it?
I read/follow about 20 other blogs per day and I find it somewhat humorous at how differently other folks look at some situations from how I see them. Take the recent news from the middle east - apparently the women from the TV show "The View" - which I never watch and almost never agree with their points of view - are taking great delight in the killing of OBL. I submit to you that if Pres Bush had been in charge their attitudes would have been totally different (remember the waterboarding issue?). Others in the media also have shown our countries respective backside, in my opinion, by showing people dancing and shouting about this latest development.
Now before you start flooding me with comments, please understand that I am happy that OBL is gone, but having been in the military I have trouble getting that happy about killing another human being. As Grandpa used to say: "Some folks just need killing." but you don't have to be happy about it. It needed to be accomplished and our fine US Sailors did just that, but I'm sure they weren't really happy, smiling, and dancing around over the event - the just did their jobs. They did their jobs really well, but it was just another day at the office for them.
Other things are now being examined by the blog world and by tomorrow they will have fresh fodder for more bizarre posts I'm sure. One that I saw today showed how off center the media can project a message - I've seen both the questions and answers that were given on an Atlanta Journal article and read the article - neither of them resembled the other one. The AJC was so determined to present THEIR opinion of what they wanted the public to read that they forgot to present the actual facts that they were supposedly working from. The article was completely false based on the answers that were given to their pre-submitted questions.
I wonder how the world would operate if we didn't have such "spins" or "slants" presented on both sides, of the issues? Would people be comfortable actually having to think for themselves and make reasonable decisions about issues if someone else wasn't guiding their thoughts?
These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve
Now before you start flooding me with comments, please understand that I am happy that OBL is gone, but having been in the military I have trouble getting that happy about killing another human being. As Grandpa used to say: "Some folks just need killing." but you don't have to be happy about it. It needed to be accomplished and our fine US Sailors did just that, but I'm sure they weren't really happy, smiling, and dancing around over the event - the just did their jobs. They did their jobs really well, but it was just another day at the office for them.
Other things are now being examined by the blog world and by tomorrow they will have fresh fodder for more bizarre posts I'm sure. One that I saw today showed how off center the media can project a message - I've seen both the questions and answers that were given on an Atlanta Journal article and read the article - neither of them resembled the other one. The AJC was so determined to present THEIR opinion of what they wanted the public to read that they forgot to present the actual facts that they were supposedly working from. The article was completely false based on the answers that were given to their pre-submitted questions.
I wonder how the world would operate if we didn't have such "spins" or "slants" presented on both sides, of the issues? Would people be comfortable actually having to think for themselves and make reasonable decisions about issues if someone else wasn't guiding their thoughts?
These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve
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