It’s popular to eat fat free foods. But when I thought to read the label on my Fat Free Fig Newtons, I was surprised to learn that saving 3 grams of fat costs me double the calories of the tastier, regular newtons. “The problem with popular thinking is that it doesn’t require you to think at all.” (1) Popular...

Surrender is a step to success. “Do I have to do this assignment?” asked a strong-willed student with a reputation for being a troublemaker. Her eyes flashed an unmistakable challenge: Just try and make me. The teacher responded, “No, you don’t have to do it.” Surprised, the student asked, “You mean I get an ‘A’...

in·dif·fer·ent: adj. (1) having or showing no interest, concern or feeling; (2) uninterested, apathetic, or unmoved; (3) detached; (4) lacking emotional involvement. Indifference. We are all indifferent about one thing or another. I enjoy going to Barnes & Noble every chance I get to check out the latest books and CD’s. My wife Sue is indifferent to...

Mom told me, “Sit up straight“. If I came home late, Dad would say, “Tell me where you’ve been with a straight face.” Coach told me, “Straight arm your tacklers.” My pastor encourages me to “Walk the straight and narrow.” And when confronted with major decisions, my wife reminds me to take time to “think...

I recently asked eighty electronics’ distributors at a Las Vegas convention to answer three questions before we began an Activity Based Management (ABM) workshop… Have you ever had a brush with fame? Who are your heroes? What would you do in your business if success were guaranteed? Their responses provided me a quick insight into...

“If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge.” (1) Political scientist James Wilson and criminologist George Kelling co-authored a March 1982 cover story in The Atlantic Monthly titled “Broken Windows”. They argued the best way to fight crime is to fight the disorder...

Blessed is the man who can take bricks thrown at him and build a strong foundation. Sometimes I feel critics are like needles in a balloon factory, simply looking for an opportunity to “pop” my project, “blow away” new ideas or “deflate” recent accomplishments. On the other hand, Norman Vincent Peale says, “The trouble with most...

I just finished watching the World Series. Baseball is a game loaded with conventional wisdom, axioms and strategies so time-honored that they are accepted without question. But what if everything players have been taught since youth really are not true? What if the tactics some baseball managers rely on to shift percentages in their favor...

Question: What caused 101 men, women and children to risk their lives aboard a small ship in 1620 to set sail for a wilderness called America? Answer: Passion Passion is an extreme, compelling emotion or love for something or someone. The Pilgrims that sailed from Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620, did so with a shared passion for...

Americans are captivated with makeovers. Millions watch weekly episodes of ABC television’s Extreme Makeover andExtreme Makeover: Home Edition where people receive remodeled bodies and families with remodeled houses. While liposuction, plastic surgery, teeth whitening and new clothes can make an ugly duckling look like a swan, the person remains the same on the inside. Lack of discipline, ignorance...