Kahlil Gibran said, “Love one another, but make not a bond of love… Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together; For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
"The soil needs the seed, and the seed needs the soil. One only has meaning with the other. The same thing happens with human beings. When male knowledge comes together with female transformation, then the great magical union takes place, which is called Wisdom. "Brida - Paulo Coelho"
There will be one story in your life that you feel a little ashamed of and there will be others who will criticize you for it. Take a closer look. To the same degree, the same amount of people will admire and laud you for having the courage to create that same story in the first place. Sit at the top of the pendulum danging your feet over all perceptions and appreciate your masterpiece. Nichola Burton
"From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it." Katherine Whitehorn
Tomorrow – 1 December 2010 has been nominated as Global Demanding Beaytch day.
How many times have we girls complained about ourselves in passing “OMG I was a total demanding bitch to him today”. Well you know what? I reckon we LOVE that Demanding Beaytch and give her a break and appreciate how she brings balance into our lives and to the lives of those who regularly experience her. :-)
Observe how she brings people together!
Be in awe at how she takes action!
Marvel at how she knows how to ask for what she wants!
Appreciate her intrinsic value and self worth!
To honour her, let her out tomorrow – give her free reign and stand back from her rough raw canvas and value the beauty of her crazy. To honour my own Demanding Beaytch instead of wishing to hide her and keep her quiet and well behaved, here are a few of my favourite quotes from and about powerful demanding beaytches across time and space:
"Love and respect woman. Look to her not only for comfort but for strength and inspiration and the doubling of your intellectual and moral powers. Blot out from your mind any idea of superiority: you have non." Guiseppe Mazzini (Wise Little Italian Man - love him hehehe)
"Men play the game: Women know the score." Roger Woddis
"It's not what you call me, but what I answer to." African proverb
"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship." Louisa May Alcott
"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it's all the same .... day." Janis Joplin
"Remove those 'I want you to like me' stickers from your forehead and, instead, place them where they truly will do the most good -- on your mirror!" Susan Jeffers
"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." Dolly Parton
“If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.” Marilyn Monroe
"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton
"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size." Virginia Woolf
"I never loved another person the way I loved myself." Mae West
“Ladies, you have to be strong and independent, and remember, don’t get mad, get everything.”Ivana Trump
"I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking." Joan Rivers
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." Eleanor Roosevelt
"Eventually you just have to realize that you’re living for an audience of one. I’m not here for anyone else’s approval." Author Unknown
"Man has will, but woman has her way." Oliver Wendell Holmes
"Thou art to me a delicious torment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The most precious possession that ever comes to a man in this world is a woman's heart." Josiah G. Holland
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt
"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." Maya Angelou
Labels: Matters of the Heart
The answer to your question sits happily in the middle of the intricate structure and system you carved out of your stories. It dangles its legs as it sings and plays in the playground of your childhood. It floats in the blue of your summer sky and lurks in the stinky slimy mud of the earth on a long hot humid Aussie rainy afternoon. Dive in and go digging for it. Its waiting for you. :-)
“If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” Scott Boras Bring it on!
If your income is solely derived from your service per hour then it is limited to your time and space. This takes your time between 9am and 5pm.
If your income is party derived from a savings plan that puts away 10% no matter what, then you begin to be a little more timeless in your finances. It is no longer as dependant on you physically being there to create the income.
This takes a little bit of time to set up – not much just a little. It takes more of a commitment and a choice. But then it simply builds.
If your income is party derived from a financial cushion that puts away another 10% no matter what, then you begin to be a little more timeless in your finances. It is no longer as dependant on you physically being there to create the income.
This takes a little bit of time to set up – not much just a little. It takes more of a commitment and a choice. But then it simply builds.
If your income is party derived from an investment plan that brings a return to your investment 10% no matter what, then your time begins to expand and your income isn’t as dependant on your physically being there to create the income.
This takes a little more time initially to research and set up and then to manage PLUS a long term commitment to your time and space – and it starts with one choice. But then it builds and flows under your vigilance and management.
If your income is party derived from passive sales of a product that you have financially taken a risk of yet another 10% that doesn’t required your time and space but has an automated system and structure in place to support it, your time expands a little more and your income isn’t as dependant on your physically being there to create the income.
This takes a time investment to research and develop, set up and manage PLUS a long term commitment to your time and space – and it starts with one choice. But then it builds slowly under your vigilance and management and requires watering weeding pruning harvesting and seeding in various cycles.
So this is the question – can you commit 40% of the time and income of your Current Reality to invest in your time and space of your Vision? At first your time and space investment will be greater than it is now. However as you move around the wheel of the year through the various seasons, time and space and financial return will transform.
Can you envision what your time and space look like when 10% is derived from your savings and 10% is derived from your cushion and 10% is derived from your investment and 10% is derived from your risk and 60% is derived from your time?
Can you imagine upping the ante and shifting it into higher and higher percentages of return until your set up time and space investment is lower?
Until you enter the new phase of the cycle and the process begins all over again.
Nothing is ever missing. If you can see where your income is not limited to your time and space, then where you are already saving and building a cushion and investing and risking and reaping rewards from your investments and your risks, then your worth, your value - it begins to appreciate.
Appreciation - thanksgiving - for what you have right now - is the key to wealth in every form.
Labels: Currency
I’m stoked that my vegie garden did not die while I was in NYC. Plants I thought for sure would have been gobbled by those determined little green grasshoppers have thrived while the tall weeds that have hungrily taken up every bit of available space free to grow without my hand pulling them out of the soil, have been shredded instead. While I was weeding this morning, I thanked each weed that provided a diversion for the grasshoppers and I wondered about the weeds in my life and how I never thank them for taking one for the team. Have you thanked the weeds in your life today? :-)
Voltaire said "Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause." So find yours. Why are you doing what you are doing or wanting to do? If you cannot find the determination within you, you will attract it in another around you. Join forces and go for it!
"We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world." — Terence McKenna
“First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” Aristotle
When you realise that every single person and organisation is asking the same question, seeking the answer doesnt feel quite as confronting does it?
There will always be a dragon to fight, an evil witch to twart and a threshold to cross. In each moment, we play this part for someone as they will in turn play for us. We are each one tiny part of something so much bigger.
"When we label something, we empower it. When we judge someone, we empower them. When we operate from a place of grace where we appreciate what we label and judge as parts of us - we own it - then we become a part of something bigger - and it is from THIS place where we can start to take action." Nichola Burton
HAPPINESS comes from individual choices about how to live your life rather than genetic or childhood influences. Read more: http://htxt.it/8AHr
Fully experiencing the present: a practice for everyone, religious or not - check out this great story - http://htxt.it/FkdW
"Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." John Maxwell
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.” Henry David Thoreau
“Wonder is not a Pollyanna stance, not a denial of reality; wonder is an acknowledgment of the power of the mind to transform.” Christina Baldwin
"If we do indeed live in a holographic universe, and we see signs of an American economy breaking down, where is our own internal value system also breaking down? Is this a break down or a break through? How can we leverage both? Where do both serve us?" Nichola Burton
For today, find 10 minutes where you are timeless. Where the beating of your heart is not counting seconds but singing sweetly in your ear. Sit quietly and go to a place in your head and your heart where there IS no time and remind yourself of the beauty of time are your muse. Enjoy. :-)
"When people get married because they think it's a long-time love affair, they'll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity." Joseph Campbell
"Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. We are a part of the earth and it is part of us" ~ Chief Seattle
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." Old Cherokee saying
"God is a metaphor for that which trancends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that. " Joseph Campbell
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. " Plato
"The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes." - Tony Blair
"What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." -Chief Seattle (1786-1866)
If you needed any more proof that branding is the number one consideration in life, look no further than the Australian election result.
"Dream more than others think practical…Expect more than others think possible." Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee
“I'd rather be dead than singing Satisfaction when I’m forty-five.” — Mick Jagger. Yes there are some things you simply cannot predict - unless of course you contract Australian Festival Management to manage your event! :-)
"I think that all good, right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that all good, right thinking people in this country are fed up with being told that all good, right thinking people in this country are fed up with being sick and tired. I'm certainly not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am." Monty Python
“If a man does not know what port he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him” - Seneca
"I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." -Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
"Unless it be for metaphysics and moral philosophy, perhaps the least progressive of all human sciences is the science of government. Just as we are today no nearer to a solution of the great questions with which Eliphaz the Temanite vexed the soul of the afflicted patriarch, so are we far from solving the political problems with which pericles wrestled, and which Plato and Aristotle attempted in vain to demonstrate. Among the modern autocracies of Europe we find no such administrative faculty as was displayed by Philip of Macedon; nor in the annals of the Athenian Republic do we find such crudities of legislation as those which deface our own, such abominations, for instance as the poll-tax, the tax on works of art and libraries, and other relics of a by-gone age." Hubert Howe Bancroft 1893 - some things never change :-)
"The good lawyer is not the man who has an eye to every side and angle of contingency, and qualifies all his qualifications, but who throws himself on your part so heartily, that he can get you out of a scrape." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Floating on the water of a slow river moving on a stream not necessarily up or down yet ploughing its way through ancient rock formations carving a pathway to god knows where.
This Jewish Proverb speaks volumes - “He that does not bring up his son to some honest calling and employment, brings him up to be a thief.” The challenge is the definition of the words "honest", "employment" and "thief". I guess it depends on which party is in government at the time. :-)
"A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can nevër be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand." – Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British Philosopher/Mathematician/Essayist
"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." Marilyn Monroe
"People don't buy plastic and paper, they buy emotions." --Scott Young, Wherehouse Entertainment
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." ~Robert Louis Stevenson
"I am a writer of books in retrospect. I talk in order to understand; I teach in order to learn. " Robert Frost
"The oldest, shortest words - "yes' and "no" - are those which require the most thought.” Pythagoras
It was Twenty years Ago today! Two Decades run with the same owners and management team! Phew - we survived! During that time we have had 83 team members. They all form the face of Pushworth. Happy Birthday Pushworth!
"It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?" Henry David Thoreau
"Magic is hidden in the language we speak. The webs we can tie and untie are at your command if only you pay attention to what you already have, language and the structure for growth." Bandler and Grinder (1975)
"Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization." Sun Tzu The Art Of War
“A painting is never finished – it simply stops in interesting places” – Paul Gardner
"Hold the seashell of your life up to your ear and listen to the sounds of you. What can you hear?" Nichola Burton
"The boat is safer anchored at the port; but that's not the aim of boats." Paulo Coelho - The Pilgrimage.
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." Carl Jung
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” Thomas Berger
Dante Alighieri said “From a little spark may burst a mighty flame”. You never know where that seemingly innocent little spark – those out of the blue choices that you make - may lead you. The heat of a growing fire, that even rivers of tears fail to diminish, is unexpected and for a while our head questions our hearts for even contemplating the beauty of this fire. Yet nothing can drown these flames. Even as smouldering embers, this fire continues to flow in steaming molten lava. We try to control it as it terrifies us as much as it inspires us. The fire takes us out of our comfort zones and takes us out on a limb – naked and vulnerable. In vain we try to disguise the red hot flames; however the smoke has been giving us away all along. :-)
The source of my power and the deep well of my fears are the very same thing – my Kryptonite. What makes me great is also my greatest weakness. Appreciation of each side of this “experience” that has fired my imagination and is also burning my whole being like a white hot poker – that appreciation is the cup from which I drink and the armour that I now wear.
Bottom line in every question you ask yourself in every area of your life - what is my time worth? How do you measure it? How do you value it? What metrics do you use? Your time is the cornerstone of every business deal, submission, contract and negotiation process. How much does your time cost you? Time to save and to spend. Time to sow and to reap. Time to risk and to relax. Time to grow and time to enjoy. There are two sides to the time coin. Factor them both into your metrics. Make the Time.
Kahil Gibran said, “Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together; For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
"Every portrait that is painted is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter." – Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish Dramatist/Novelist/Poet.
"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” Epicurus
"It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him." – Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States
"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." – Confucius, 551-479 B.C., Chinese Ethical Teacher and Philosopher
“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries” – A.A. Milne
"When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.” Winnie The Pooh
"Like a beautiful bird who lost her voice while in captivity, these tears are not yours to hold on to - they belong to each of us. Open the cage door and love the beauty of each tear as it drops and falls. You are free to fly to where your heart can sing again."
So what is YOUR story? How does it serve YOUR purpose, mission, vision and goals in life? How does it earn income? How does it add value to your life? Write it down and start your own Values Metrics.
As the business owner, you will see all the challenges and all the things you wish to upgrade and improve. But for someone else, your business is a potential reality TV show opportunity like Master Chef. There are people who would kill to be working in your business right now. To swim between the flags of the nightmare and the fantasy just appreciate what you have each day. Every business is a potential treasure chest of gold.How very cool that you get to do this every day!!!
Napoleon said “History is a myth that men agree to believe.” History is quite the mercantile myth. Each one of us can easily tailor-make our history with a skewed story designed to achieve a specific outcome. Witness politicians debating in parliament. Observe corporate arguing in a board room. Watch children negotiating in the school yard. We are all natural historians. :-)
"There is gold in everything I touch. Sometimes it looks like gold. Sometimes it looks like mud. Sometimes it appears that it isn't even real. But I know when I look hard enough, I can not only see the gold, but I can create some more."
Late yesterday I took a "clear my head" drive out past a cute country pub. Now on a Sunday arvo, I would usually see, loitering out on the front long wooden verandah, packs of leather clad bikers sculling their beers and generally creating havoc to the loud blasting 80s rock jukebox that drifts out from the public bar. To contrast, yesterday, Tuesday 2pm and those same bikers were there - same leathers - but their hair was neatly tied back, many of them wearing spectacles and they each carefully balanced laptops while delicately sipping on cappucinos intently discussing business plans. How much do my inherent value perceptions make this sight so funny? I love it! he he :-)
Every Personal Development Guru will tell you that the secret to success is to do what you love. When running your own business, there are two activities happening: 1. You are doing what you love either in a service or in a product 2. You are running a business Many businesses fail because even though they are doing what they love, they don’t necessarily love running a business. What is it worth for you to discover where you are ALREADY successfully running a business in your life? How much value would it add to your bottom line if you appreciated how running a business helped you to do what you love?
Money frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy. Groucho Marx Who’s in Charge Here? Who’s in charge of how and what you charge for your business products and services? Like Groucho said, we all pay money to other people to do things that we don’t necessarily wish to do. We will always be someone else’s target market. So what’s it worth for someone else to provide a service for us? How much are WE willing to pay? How much do the things that we get all charged up about, influence what we buy? How much do OUR personal charges impact on our behaviour as a customer? Who chooses the charge – the customer or the business? :-)
Often SME service providers don't yet see the value in their particular service and how they could convert this into a product of value. Best place to start? Look at yourself as a customer and do an inventory of the products that YOU buy. Make a corresponding list of all the reasons why other people would not see the value in YOUR purchasing choices.
"Business is a promise you make to your customer. People, processes and technology interweave and connect to align your business with this promise. Ask yourself - what promise am I making to my customers with my seminars, consults and products? Then deliver and honour it." Nichola Burton, CEO, The Pushworth Group
Concourse of the Earth is currently mid way through its case study program – “What’s sex got to do with it?”. A niggling thought had followed me around for a while - that my work as a business consultant was a rather masculine profession for a girl to love as much as I do. Today however I appreciate that it is the ultimate feminine activity to pursue. I love to see the men in the my life succeed in business – (partners, children, staff, associates or clients) - and the best way I can do that is to create structure around their enterprise with my programs. Thanks to Kate Histonand Martin Urban for their insights into the correlation between sex and business.
I was at a day spa last week. It was early in the morning and I was the only customer so far. The owner was working with me and became was very distracted by his staff who were chatting and giggling and playing in the absence of customers. I asked him if he had a plan for no customers and he angrily replied: “Of course not. I expect customers all the time. Why would I plan for none?” I explained to him that holding an image in his head of 100% capacity custom is a great big infatuation and fantasy. All of us in business subscribe to the same fantasy at times so he is definitely not alone. I mean, without a whopping big fantasy for inspiration, none of us would be in business in the first place right? However, with a clear plan and simple easy steps to take and follow, that dream can be converted to a viable set of business goals that can be achieved and managed. In business, as in life, there is an ebb and flow and seasons and cycles. There WILL be times when the phone will NOT ring and the shop WILL be empty. There will be times when equipment will break down or power or internet will be unavailable. There will be times when your team all get sick or worse still – YOU do. John F Kennedy said: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” Create a schedule of activities for your staff for down time. • This may be a time to clean out the store cupboard, desks, and staff kitchen or conference room. • Catch up on filing; conduct an inventory for office stores or office files. • Refresh Staff Training. • Get on the phone and start marketing. • Commence work on project development • Get some research done for the proposals that you want to make to new customers This list can be endless. Start with all the round tuits. You know – all those annoying little jobs that you never get around to. Start with them. Plan the time to sit down and make a long list of every possible activity that could be done when there are no customers. That is the first step. The next step is to ensure you have resources already set up for the staff to use in these activities. • Ensure your Training Manuals are up to date and that you have one team member fully trained and able to take the rest of the team through the information. • Have a marketing script ready to go with product and service lists, client activation database list and a campaign approach always on hand. • Create a filing, storage and inventory map so that your staff know where everything needs to go. • Establish a cleaning list and make sure you have all the equipment and cleaning detergents ready to go. Someone has to be prepared for this in advance and that someone may be the office or store manager or the owner of the small business. This can be easily delegated and checked as part of your regular routine. I know, when you are busy and stressed and exhausted, the last thing you want to do is MORE work. Think of this as like making a commitment to yourself for a health and fitness regime. You recognise the need to feel a little healthier so you decide to join the gym and cut carbs and increase protein. As part of your new regime, you KNOW that you will fall off the wagon so you identify the possible circumstances when you are taken outside of your regular routine (going out to dinner, working late, travelling, sickness etc) and you consider and include the management of these circumstances into your health and fitness plan. So that when you get invited to cousin Julie’s wedding, you have a plan to stay on track. Well, planning ahead in your business is exactly the same. By valuing your business enough to plan in advance, you can value your cost of staff by ensuring that they are productive regardless of the circumstance. Planning for no customers becomes a critical aspect of your business planning activity.
Which holiday is more profitable - Easter or Xmas? Gift Giving inspires marketing for a good 2 months prior yet with 4 days off in a row; an Easter vacation would certainly be a big seller. Everything in life is mercantile and these two holidays certainly can be quite the marketing wet dream for business depending on the appreciation of your creative entrepreneurship. Which holiday costs the most? For business, in Australia, April is a month of short weeks yet it is like an administrative graveyard from mid December until end January – although both constitute a substantial cost, we plan our operations around it and integrate it into expected business behaviour. Typically there is an ongoing public debate about staffing shopping times to balance the enterprise opportunity. Doh - notice my first observations are expressed in business terms? Ha – three guesses what I love doing the most!!!:-) What about family or the various belief structures that value the “story” behind the holidays? What is it worth to take those four days over Easter and be with family and friends – take a break from work and just chill out and relax for a while? Bunning’s experiences quite a spike in sales as DIY purchases go through the roof while we garden and paint and renovate. My Greek in laws end their fast with quite the Sunday feast while my boys aspire to be the champion egg smasher year after year. With an appreciation but not a belief in the stories behind both the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic systems, I must admit that truly love attending Easter services in both churches to participate in and observe the ancient traditions. So what is the value of a holiday or holy day to any of us? When I look back, our family have never celebrated Easter to the same degree as Xmas. As a family who doesn’t like chocolate or sweets, Easter was more of a time to capitalise on the four day long weekend. We either performed at as many gigs as possible, or donned the Easter costumes braving shopping centres all over South East Qld as Chickens, Bunnies or Eggs. We’ve managed Festivals or run Seminars – renovated the house, caught up on office work OR taken a little holiday. In Oz, it is simply divine weather for Easter and indeed this is our travel industry high season – try driving to the Gold Coast on Easter Thursday afternoon? Conspiracy Theorists postulate that business is conspiring to remove the religion from Easter and Xmas by turning them into major commercial activities and removing trading restrictions so that “poor” employees have no option but to work over the holiday. What if the story behind these holidays was originally written for commercial mercantile reasons in the first place and organised religion was the easiest and most effective way to spam and sell the holiday to as many people as possible? If we conducted a profit and loss analysis of the Easter and Xmas holidays throughout the ages, I greatly suspect that the profit and loss would balance equally as it does today in the 21st century. But isn’t it fun watching those old Charlton Heston Easter movies OR Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”, toasting hot cross buns, hiding chocolate eggs in the geraniums, cooking the Easter Roast Lamb, smashing red boiled eggs and vacating your life for four days? Christos Anesti! Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter Everyone!
Today I have been reminding my staff that what we perceive as the most challenging painful client is actually an opportunity for us to fine tune our systems, services and skills. So today Pushworth is fine tuning and growing exponentially!
“Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses” Lionel Charles Robbins
Lewis Carroll said "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there." In life there are times when none of us have a clue where we are going or what is happening. Isn't it nice to know that no matter what you do or where you go, you WILL get there. :-)
I am chuckling to myself as I realise that I seem come to life whenever things f**k up around me! You see, they don't actually f**k up, I am simply being given new information. So that pain I think I am feeling is actually just someone I have never met before holding up a very large sign painted in red that says "Hey You - Look Over Here!".
"In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death." Sam Llewelyn
"Traveling through the world produces a marvelous clarity in the judgment of men. We are all of us confined and enclosed within ourselves, and see no farther than the end of our nose. This great world is a mirror where we must see ourselves in order to know ourselves. There are so many different tempers, so many different points of view, judgments, opinions, laws and customs to teach us to judge wisely on our own, and to teach our judgment to recognize its imperfection and natural weakness.” Michel de Montagne
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made and never leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the water bearer reached his master’s house it had leaked much of it’s water and was only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.” “Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?” “I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.” Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.” Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, God will use our flaws to grace his table. In God’s great economy, nothing goes to waste. Don’t be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength.
"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll
"If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. If I got any comfort as I set out on my first story, it was that in nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another. " — Donald Miller (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life)
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. - Albert Einstein
Is the Glass half empty or half full? The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The project manager/engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow. And the cynic... wonders who drank the other half. The school teacher says it's not about whether the glass is half empty or half full, it's whether there is something in the glass at all. Anyway... Attitude is not about whether the glass is half full or half empty, it's about who is paying for the next round. The professional trainer does not care if the glass is half full or half empty, he just knows that starting the discussion will give him ten minutes to figure out why his powerpoint presentation is not working. The ground-down mother of a persistently demanding five-year-old says sweetheart it's whatever you want it to be, just please let mummy have five minutes peace and quiet. The consultant says let's examine the question, prepare a strategy for an answer, and all for a daily rate of... The inquisitive troublemaker wants to know what's in the glass anyhow... and wants the rest of it. The homebuilder sees the dirty glass, washes and dries it, then puts it away in a custom oak and etched glass cabinet that he built himself using only hand tools. The worrier frets that the remaining half will evaporate by next morning. The fanatic thinks the glass is completely full, even though it isn't. The entrepreneur sees the glass as undervalued by half its potential. The computer specialist says that next year the glass capacity will double, be half the price, but cost you 50% more for me to give you the answer. The engineer says (when the half is tainted) he's glad he put the other half in a redundant glass. (Based on a Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams) The computer programmer says the glass is full-empty. The Buddhist says don't worry, remember the glass is already broken. The logician says that where the glass is in process of being filled then it is half full; where it is in the process of being emptied then it is half empty; and where its status in terms of being filled or emptied is unknown then the glass is one in which a boundary between liquid and gas lies exactly midway between the inside bottom and the upper rim, assuming that the glass has parallel sides and rests on a level surface, and where it does not then the liquid/gas boundary lies exactly midway between the upper and lower equal halves of the available total volume of said glass. The scientist says a guess based on a visual cue is inaccurate, so mark the glass at the bottom of the meniscus of the content, pour the content into a bigger glass; fill the empty glass with fresh content up to the mark; add the original content back in; if the combined content overflows the lip, the glass was more than half full; if it doesn't reach the top, the glass was more than half empty; if it neither overflows nor fails to reach the top then it was either half-full or half-empty. Now what was the question again? The Dutchman would suggest to both pay for the glass and share the content. Then tells you he will have the bottom half. The personal coach knows that the glass goes from full to empty depending on the circumstances, and reminds the drinker that he can always fill the glass when he wishes. The grammarian says that while the terms half-full and half-empty are colloquially acceptable the glass can technically be neither since both full and empty are absolute states and therefore are incapable of being halved or modified in any way. The auditor first checks whether the empty half is material and then designs the audit procedures to obtain sufficient evidence to conclude that the glass is indeed empty. The waiter will hurry to replace it with a full one. For him there are no doubts: the glass was empty when he took it away; it is full in the bill that he brings you. The magician will show you the glass with the full half at the top.
Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits. ~Samuel Butler
I think I make choices and that I have control over how I live my life! Really? Is this true or an assumption? Examine my daily actions. Every decision I make in every day is based on a lie that I tell myself. I buy a $1000 Louis Vuitton bag because I “feel” better when I carry it. I believe it gives me power of a kind and upgrades my presentation making me look more professional. It also makes me feel successful and wealth. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I can eat at a certain restaurant because I “feel” like I am eating good healthy food and this makes me a more responsible and healthier person. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I buy groceries at the Woolworths at closer smaller older suburb up the road as there is easy parking and I can just walk in without queuing – and this buys me more time and makes my life easier. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I bank with Westpac because they have looked after us for 20 years, both our families banked with them and they give us what we want. We feel safe and valued and know that our business is valued and our savings and investments are sound and guaranteed. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I buy meat from an organic butcher to ensure my family eat meat that isn’t filled with hormones so I feel like a responsible caring parent and a socially just member of society who will not tolerate the cruel conditions that animals are kept in. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? Every decision I make in every day is based on a lie that I tell myself. Where did these assumptions originate? Whose value system am I deferring to? Why do I consider this external source of power to be greater than my own? Look at what you do in a 24 hour period and review the game you play while making daily choices and answer these questions for yourself.
think I make choices and that I have control over how I live my life! Really? Is this true or an assumption? Examine my daily actions. Every decision I make in every day is based on a lie that I tell myself. I buy a $1000 Louis Vuitton bag because I “feel” better when I carry it. I believe it gives me power of a kind and upgrades my presentation making me look more professional. It also makes me feel successful and wealth. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I can eat at a certain restaurant because I “feel” like I am eating good healthy food and this makes me a more responsible and healthier person. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I buy groceries at the Woolworths at closer smaller older suburb up the road as there is easy parking and I can just walk in without queuing – and this buys me more time and makes my life easier. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I bank with Westpac because they have looked after us for 20 years, both our families banked with them and they give us what we want. We feel safe and valued and know that our business is valued and our savings and investments are sound and guaranteed. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? I buy meat from an organic butcher to ensure my family eat meat that isn’t filled with hormones so I feel like a responsible caring parent and a socially just member of society who will not tolerate the cruel conditions that animals are kept in. Really? Is this true or are these assumptions based on responses to various beliefs and stories based on someone ELSE's value system who I perceive as having more power than me? Every decision I make in every day is based on a lie that I tell myself. Where did these assumptions originate? Whose value system am I deferring to? Why do I consider this external source of power to be greater than my own? Look at what you do in a 24 hour period and review the game you play while making daily choices and answer these questions for yourself.
I love this. Helen Keller said "I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker."
Robert Louis Stevenson said "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant" I'm planting a bumper crop today! How about you?
George Jellinek said "The history of a people is found in its songs." Well today in Australia, a landmark decision forever linked two of our greatest aussie songs. A struggling label seeking to build it's business plays the "little aussie battler victim" card and the australian legal industry goes down in history as one big joke.
Support and Challenge are incredibly powerful opposite ends of the same pole. We can play the business game two ways. 1. Support equals profit. 2. Challenge equals opportunity. Both can lead to growth or decline – profit or loss - as per natural cycles. Appreciation of both without judgment and therefore emotional attachment to either side of the same pole (Where is the profit in this challenge? – Where is the loss in this opportunity? – How do both sides add value to my business?) - is a great way to play this game. :-) Now substitute “business” for any of the other life games!
In my digging through old files and archives, opening boxes and diaries that have been closed for years, I just discovered a box of letters - not emails or texts , twitters or Facebook status updates but actual handwritten on paper letters - sent to me by various people (mainly you Michelle my cuz) in 1990/1 when I was pregnant with Sam. Isn't it strange that I would forget so much about these dark days in my life? Like my hard drive memory was completely wiped clean! I've just taken a trip back to that time in all these wonderful words and feel richer for these rediscovered treasures - ah yeah - and I see their light instead of all that gloom and darkness. Not throwing these out! They now form part of my Eagle's nest!
