The Best Sales Pitch ...

Today's blog is short and sweet. (but it's potentially a lot of work.)

The Best Sales Pitch in the World gets you no sales...

... Unless a buyer hears or reads it.

Get the word out.

Yes, You CAN!

corrections

I have to make a correction to an earlier post (see: "Balance" below)

"There was a man, though some counted him mad;
The more he cast away, the more he had."
And the author was John Bunyan, who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress while in jail. A classic example of making the best of a bad situation. (J. S. Bach did that, too, by the way.)

Correction is a good thing. It makes good writers better. It makes good singers better. It makes good athletes better. It ...

Well, you get the idea.

Work to improve!

Yes, You Can!

Law of the Garbage Truck

I get a lot of stuff in my email inbox. I expect that you do, too.

Some gets roundfiled, some gets forwarded, some gets saved for a day we need a laugh and need to pass it along.

Some gets added to the Blog, as being better that I can come up with on my own. Here is one of those things:

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... 'Love the people who treat you right - Pray for the ones who don't.'

There you have it. I can't say it any better than that.

When we return good responses for frustrated people's bad acts, it can help make the world better.

I haven't arrived there yet. But I'll get there.

Yes I Can.

So Can You.

Carpe Diem and Miss Bimbo

Okay, I admit I bit at the media bait and checked out the Miss Bimbo site.

Not much of anything socially redeeming there, and no, I wouldn't let my little girl have a bimbet there.

On the other hand, I feel the same way about Worlds of Warcraft. And I'm personally more likely to participate there.

For myself, nowadays, I feel it's a waste of my time, in spite of the fact I used to have some fun with Dungeons and Dragons.

Which leads me to the true topic of the day: seizing it.

Warning: Hackneyed Phrase coming up. "We receive a gift of 1440 minutes every day."

But, it's true. Each minute should be filled with living your life in as full a manner as possible. That none of us truly do is beside the point. Many of us (dare I say most of us?) don't even come close to filling sixty (60) of those minutes in any given day. Myself, unfortunately, included.

I'm not meaning to get on the case of someone who is taking a well-earned rest in his or her hammock. I mean the rest of us who, in spite of our selves, are spinning our wheels. We routinely waste time better spent trying to do our work, raise our kids, do our shopping, and, yes, relaxing without worries. I'm told that lack of effective rest undermines all of our daily activities.

If you've ever been up all night because of some malady or worry. Were you anywhere near one hundred percent the next day?

I thought not.

How about if you were playing some online game all night? Or doing some heavy partying? Surely you were one hundred percent the next day?

Alright, you can stop laughing now. You get my point, don't you?

Seizing the day means different things to different people. That's as it should be. It should also mean 'make the most of your opportunity.'

A word about making the most of your opportunity. In the play Cyrano De Bergerac, the man with the long nose and longer sword, someone, wanting to pick a fight with him, told him his nose was "Rather large". Instead of immediately drawing his sword, Cyrano replied, "Is that all?", then proceeds to give example after example of truly witty insults about his nose. Then returns the insult with "These are things you might have said, had you had any letters (reading) or wit." Then Cyrano proceeds to sword fight with the ignoble fellow while composing a poem about the fight in progress, running the man through at the last line "... Then as I end the refrain, thrust home!" (for the complete list I commend to you the Brian Hooker translation of Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano De Bergerac, you'll find it in Act I)

The moral of that story is, if you're going to get yourself into trouble anyway, make the most of it (or don't cross swords or cross wits unless you are suitably skilled yourself).

Donald Trump has similar advice: "If you're going to think anyway, you might as well think BIG!"

Chelsea Clinton, in my humble opinion, missed an opportunity last week to properly answer back her questioner with style and grace, but instead responded in anger. Personally speaking, my angry moments have seldom been my best moments. I get tongue-tied, illogical, and prone to hit things. When I keep my temper I keep my wits. I can even remember license plate numbers (see: "What's in a Note, you say?" below).

In short, thinking makes you better able to seize the moment, and make the most of your opportunity.

Make each moment count. The folks at Miss Bimbo have tapped into something potentially big, if perhaps only short-lived (think: Pocket Pets & Tamagotchis) They're making the most of it. If they're smart they're scouting for the more possible Next Big Thing our there.

Make each moment count. Enjoy your relaxation. Our family trip yesterday to a snowed-in Rocky Mountain National Park was priceless to my spirit, and a wonderful experience for our snow-suited little girl, and a vital recharge for my wife.

Make each moment count. Including the ones where you just get your night time rest.

Seize the Day!

Make each moment count!

Yes, You Can!

If At First You Don't Succeed ...

You might end up decorating cakes at WalMart.

One hopes that the cake decorator was given some remedial instruction regarding cake inscriptions. At least the script is legible, and the cake is quite pretty.

I think this is more amusing than aggravating. But, more to the point: if you make a mistake, learn from it.

To quote Marie Antoinette: "Let them eat cake!"

Have a great day!

Yes, you can!

Balance

This is something of a follow up on my "Good Enough" essay (see below), and is to remind all of us that, whatever our work, whatever our passion, whatever our mission, we must find a balance.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Trite, but true.

In my younger days, I liked to listen to the late Harry Chapin's music. All of us who heard Taxi for the first time knew that here was a story teller. When I got a cd collection of his greatest hits, one of my daughter's favorites was Cat's in the Cradle.

It took me some time to realize what she was trying to tell me.

She didn't realize that she was trying to tell me anything, of course. And by the time I got the message it was pretty much too late. But by picking that as one of her favorite songs she was saying "Pay attention to me!" Much of our heartache then, and problems now, might have been avoided had I done so. But like the Dad in the song, I was wrapped up in business, and had pretty much checked out of the family life.

As much as we would like them, we don't get "Do-Overs" in the game of life. We may get another chance to do better. That's one thing I'm working on now.

There's a poem that I'm learning the truth of, slowly:

"There was a man,
They called him mad:
The more he gave,
The more he had."

Balance is what makes us whole. Even more, it's what makes the people around us whole. We need to share ourselves with each other. When we give of ourselves, we get back more in return. But don't give expecting to get back. What you get will not come in the fashion you expect in any case.

But it will come.

Find the balance.

Yes, you can!