Every guy has to chuckle at this Geico ad featuring Abraham Lincoln in a real dilemma with his wife.
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Authorship: Making Yourself Write
Image by brainpop_uk via Flickr
About once a week a would-be writer approaches me to ask for my pearls of wisdom for how to write a book. The answer is simple: start, finish, edit, rewrite, edit, share, rewrite, and stop short of being totally satisfied. (Tip: You will never be completely satisfied.)
The first step, "Start!" is the most difficult. After that the Finish step is the most difficult, followed by the edit step… you get the picture. Writing is work folks.
I stumbled upon 50 Strategies For Making Yourself Work, an article by Jerry Oltion. It offers great advice for getting the writing process started. These 50 strategies are accurate and spiced with humor.
So read (oh, yes, and apply) Jerry Oltion's advice. Surely, there is at least one of these strategies to get your book started sooner rather than later. So now you know how to write a book – easy wasn't it?
How to sell a book? First, the writing is the easy part. Need I say more?
Are You Working Smarter to be On-Purpose?
Time management is one of the great challenges. This video at FastCompany.com by Gina Trapani, the author of Upgrade
Your Life and founding editor of Lifehacker.com was worthwhile viewing. In short, do you know what is important to your life and work?
Here are some related past On-Purpose Minutes you may want to review:
What's the Deal with Time Management?
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
The AT Adventure Begins!
June 26, 2010
Charles, 19, and Anne McCarthy, 17, our son and daughter head from Amicalola Falls State Park, just north of Atlanta, GA., to go on a 30-day hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT). Judith has been sick so I took them up and walked the first three miles with them to Frosty Mountain. This video picks up the start of their adventure on the Approach to the AT. The back story is below the video.
Please
enjoy this 5-minute video and then I invite you to use the comments section below to share what adventure you would do if you were brave.
Back Story: Charles has been hiking the AT since he was ten when he went to Camp Deep
Woods for Boys, a truly life-changing experience for him thanks to
Kells Hogan, the Camp Director. At the Christ
School Outdoor Program, Charles continued his love of outdoor
adventure and training. Anne, on the other hand, is a novice hiker but a
game competitor.
This all started this winter when Charles posted a request on Facebook inviting people to join him on the AT. His itinerary was planned to attract others to join him for the entire hike or to join him part way. The only person who responded was Anne! Kudos to her for stepping up. Kudos to both for thinking it was a cool idea to hike the AT with their sibling.
Some think Judith and I are crazy to allow our older teens to hike the AT alone. We think we're crazy not to support them in this adventure. There is tremendous support and services along the way. This is wilderness, but not raw and unmapped wilderness. Both kids' abilities to reason and make good decisions are strong. Here's an amazing opportunity for them to work together as a brother and sister
while testing personal character and endurance against what nature can
throw their way. Leadership is about facing fears and challenges both
physical and mental. Frankly, we couldn't be more proud of them both.
We also figure that this hike will either bond them for life or one of them will the kill the other. Clearly, we're betting on the former outcome and feel the odds are heavily in our favor. I guess the theory is this: What our failures as parents didn't produce in them they are likely to beat each other into a better relationship on this trip! Tell me now who is crazy!
Thank
you fellow National Speakers Association member Jana Stanfield
whose song, If I Were Brave provides the music score. She's
gracious about granting permission for use.
For the record, I did
jog from Frosty Mtn. back to the car in just under an hour. I had a few
stops to chat with other hikers, drink water, and walk some of the
uphill sections. Then I hit the road and drove home to Winter Park. What a great day!
Wander Woman, by Marcia Reynolds
This interview with Marcia Reynolds about her new book Wander Woman, hit me with a mix of appreciation and sadness. Please watch the interview, read the rest of my comments, and then add your thoughts to the conversation. What's your take on the interview?
Marcia's observation of high performing women and her discussion of their challenges, frustrations, and ambitions parallel some my experiences with female executives. My deep appreciation for her comments is the manner in which she has truly drilled deep to get to the subtle nuances of the Wandering Woman condition. She paints an accurate picture as best I can tell for this stage of personal leadership development.
In particular, Marcia's concept of Wander Women wanting a knight instead of a king for a marriage partner intrigued me. I have to wonder, women who are reading this, do you agree?
My sadness with the interview (the book may provide further insights) was that Marcia is scratching the surface on vital women's issues such as identity, life balance, relationships, purpose, meaning, work, community, leadership, etc… yet there's an absence of inherent hope and joy in Marcia's underlying demeanor. Again, just one man's intuition here that something is missing. Is it the absence of a strong spiritual component that I sense? Is it a woman wandering in an unsettled way and striving to make rational peace with it rather than getting the matter resolved in her heart?
The Old Testament story of Moses and the Jews wandering in the desert for 40 years comes to mind as I begin to grasp this concept. Let's hope that Marcia Reynolds will one day be able to write a sequel, The Promised Land Lady.
Wander women, I must ask you, is being a wandering woman what you want? Is this concept simply an unresolved justification for stopping short of really knowing who you are, why you are here, where you are going, and what's important along the way? Can high performing women be settled souls instead of wandering women?
Be On-Purpose!
Kevin
Here is a related On-Purpose Minute that you might find helpful: How Do You Manage Disappointment?
Night Blooming Cereus
Do you want to see something amazing? Watch this video of the night blooming cereus that grows on a tree in our front yard.
You know the old adage, “Never judge a book by its cover”? Well, here is proof positive that there’s often more to appearances. Sometimes, it just takes being around someone long enough to really see their beauty emerge.
Drive By Daniel Pink
I've been a fan of Daniel Pink's since I first read A Whole New Mind. I've been reading through his latest book, Drive when this YouTube video came across my computer screen.
In the late 1980s when I pioneered the On-Purpose approach I felt the truth of what was wrong with the current thinking in personal and corporate leadership. At the time, I knew the concepts were ahead of their time. In The On-Purpose Business I predict the Age of Purpose and Meaning following the Knowledge Age.
Patiently, I've waited, watched, and worked. So here I am 20 plus years later. Along the way Jim Collins' books, Built to Last and Good to Great, validated the principles of On-Purpose with extensive research far beyond my resources and experience.
Now comes Daniel Pink to share the importance of purpose in organizations. I love it! Society is catching up but still not quite there. As important as purpose is, it isn't as important as being On-Purpose. On-Purpose is the moment-to-moment alignments of living out the defined purpose.
With this caveat, I just love this video featuring Daniel Pink. The more we get the word out about purpose and being on-purpose, the sooner the world gets to a healthier and more whole place.
Please share your comments on this video or any other thoughts.
The Red Ball Review Rule For Baseball Instant Replays
The Red Ball Review
In light of the "perfect game" pitched by Armando Galarraga (see the video of the bad call below), is it time for Major League baseball to invest in the instant replay to review close plays?
I say, "Yes, but on a limited basis." Balls and strikes should ever be subject to review. Just about everything else in the game can reasonably be reviewed to get the call right. Jeff Leadbetter's article, How Major League Baseball Could Implement Instant Replay… Right Now, reflects most of my point of view. I differ with him on a few matters: balks and catcher interference need to be reviewable. Five minutes for review is way too long. Baseball doesn't run with a clock, but let's give the umpires no more than 120 seconds to rule. Jeff Leadbetter's system of limiting the manager to the number of reviews per game makes sense. Let's allow for the addition of one additional, non-cumulative Red Ball Replay for extra innings.
Here's my idea that is uniquely baseball. Instead of a reg flag like football, I propose the use of an offical red baseball ball being tossed onto the diamond to call for a review of a play. The manager would toss the red ball in the general area between home plate and the pitcher's mound before the pitcher starts his motion for the next pitch.
The Red Ball Review would add a measure of excitement
and anticipation to the game. One of the side benefits of the Red Ball Review instant replay option is that it might just speed up the game because it discourages much of the managers' posturing with umpires on disputed calls. Now they have to think before they burst onto the field in protest because they actually have an option other than being two inches from the umps face yelling and spitting. This option remains, but it gives the Manager a true means to resolve the egregious errors by the umpire crew.
If the Red Ball Review rule were in effect, then Mr. Galarraga would be
in the record books as one who threw a perfect game. Finally, I don't advocate that Armando Galarraga be awarded a perfect game. I do advocate baseball learn from it and add the Red Ball Review.
On-Purpose Persons of the Week Award
Yes, the record books will never reflect his "perfect game," but what we all witnessed from this historic baseball event was the behavior of two perfect gentlemen. Character endures, accomplishments diminish over time. Mr. Galarraga and Mr. Joyce (the umpire) will, in fact, long and best be remembered more for being models of behavior in this instance outside the lines than perhaps more anything that takes places within the foul lines. That's why I'm making both of them my On-Purpose Persons of the Week!
Tell me what you think of the Red Ball Review rule:
Please use the comments section below. If you rea
lly like the idea, please share this post with friends and fans using the Share button above. Best of all, write to Major League Baseball and ask for the Red Ball Review rule.
Mr. Bud Selig, Commissioner,
Major League Baseball, 245 Park Ave., 31st Fl., New York, NY 10167
Phone: 212-931-7800, Fax: 212-949-8636, Toll Free: 866-800-1275
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