Surprise! You Didn’t Win the $645 Million Mega Millions Jackpot And Why That’s A Good Thing
Two lucky winners, one from California and one from Georgia, will end up splitting last night’s estimated $645 million jackpot. And neither one of them is you. As hard as that is to believe, it’s actually a good thing that you didn’t win. It turns out that being lucky is bad luck. The internet is […]
Zen and The Art of Beer League Hockey
Someone asked me once why I liked hockey so much. This was way back, before I had the slightest idea what Zen was or had any idea at all about meditation or being one with the universe. What I told him was this: When I’m playing hockey, there’s no room for anything else in my […]
The Most Inspiring Speech That Nelson Mandela Never Gave
After 27 years in prison for his actions in the fight against apartheid, after being released from prison and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for that same battle, in 1994 Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa and stepped behind the podium with the eyes of the world upon him […]
Old School Trick For Making Better Impressions, Building Better Relationships and Selling More Stuff
Email is faster. Social Media is trendier. Video is high-techier. But nothing makes an impression like a good, old fashioned, handwritten note. I started writing thank you notes when I was the sales manager for a small town radio station. I made it a habit to send a personal note to every new customer, big […]
Gratitude, The Happiness Handle and The Paradox of Pleasure
I’m fairly sure that in the history of the English language, no one has ever before written this sentence: Happiness is like a hagfish. The hagfish is some kind of prehistoric looking fishy, eely kind of thingy that has developed a unique defense mechanism: whenever anything grabs or bites down on a hagfish, it releases […]
Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Christmas has become a retail concoction. The reason for the season all too often seems to be hitting this quarter’s numbers. New Year’s is about forced frivolity. Hurry up and have a good time, NOW!! And almost every other holiday has become a marketing opportunity for the greeting […]
Perfection Is An Illusion And An Obstacle
I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but you’re never going to be perfect. There’s no such thing. Perfect doesn’t exist in nature. Perfect is an illusion created by marketers to sell us hair care products And perfect is an obstacle. Every day we let the siren song of perfection get in the way of […]
Underdogs, Misfits and The Art of Battling Giants
In 1971 Julius Erving wasn’t just a giant in college basketball, he was literally playing a different game, singlehandedly inventing the modern, above the rim style while earthbound mortals could only stand by and watch. During his 2 seasons at the University of Massachusetts, Erving, better known as Dr. J, AVERAGED over 30 points and […]
How To Be A Player or 11 Ways To Improve Your Klout Score
About a year ago a list of the most influential people in the automotive industry (according to KLOUT) was published. KLOUT influence isn’t the same thing as real world influence. There wasn’t anyone named Ford on the list or any CEO’s of the automakers or big dealer groups. This was a list of automotive people […]
You Are The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” I first heard that quote from motivational speaker Jim Rohn and took it as a warning to choose my friends wisely. There’s probably nothing that has more impact on our health, happiness and prosperity than the people we choose to surround […]