A New Decade | Enjoy The Buffet

I sensed a new tone wafting through the community over the last few weeks.

It was like freshly baked bread and homemade stew – the kind that you have a second helping when you have no more room.

Familiar. Inviting. Comforting.
Nourishing. Delicious. Reassuring.

We were overdue for a feast.

This required us to remove the junk food in our minds and focus. The issues we face are very real and very steep to climb but we can approach them from a much more strategic angle if we have our heads on straighter.

We were tired of hearing the bad news. The gloom was more doom than we could endure. Greed and selfishness are not welcome here.

Then the shift began to happen and perhaps it was due to a date on a calendar but the corner was near. Conversations turned from negative to hopeful to positive. There were more reminders we can decide to work and spend time with people we like while working on projects we want.

It’s A New Year. It's A New Decade. Now What?

It's just a number if we fail use this annual marker as the starting point. Baggage is a choice, so are rear view mirrors.

Nothing we do can change the past.

2010: The year to get stuff done, to stop making excuses, to ask for help, to collaborate for real and to focus on what we want.

Ready?

@knealemann
business. marketing. social media. communications.

Resolution 2010 | 10 Things (part two)

Yesterday we covered five of the ten suggestions for next year.

10. Care A Little Less
9. Give More
8. Do Not Heed
7. Smile and Wave
6. Learn to Say No

Here are five more...

5. Of Course You Can

You have heard it, read it and seen it your entire life. You can do whatever you want if you believe and try hard enough. Are you doing it?

4. Eradicate the Naysayers

Never share your dreams with negative people. What is the point? If you have always wanted to play guitar and finally grabbed the nerve to buy one and take lessons, why would you then ask all your friends if they approve? Naysayers are as common as lint so what's the upside of listening to them?

3. Listen to the Right Voices

"If only I could get another thousand bucks,
I’d start my own business."

"If I have to work in that cubicle one more day,
I think I’m going to drive my car off a bridge."

"Why do we have to listen to her,
she has no idea what she’s doing and she’s the boss."

As soon as you stop listening to the negative voices and start paying closer attention to the ambitious ones, things will change immediately.

2. Trust Yourself More Than You Trust Others

I love to play golf, I don't play it near enough and I am terrible because I think too much. I can crank my driver 250+ yards, straight as an arrow, it is a thing of beauty. And it happens three times a round.

Perhaps it’s time we trusted ourselves more often. This is not about blind arrogance, it's about truly knowing our strengths and going for it.

There is a chance we would crank a lot more 250 yarders off the tee if we didn't over think so much.

1. Quit Your Whining

We love to complain, we find strange comfort in it, we join our colleagues after work to commiserate about our terrible lots in life. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to shut it.

Scientists have yet been able to link complaining to progress.

Happy New Year :-)

@knealemann
business. marketing. social media. communications.

Resolution 2010 | 10 Things (part one)

Will We Do Them This Time?

As a new decade approaches, the lists continue.

The best of the decade, the worst of the 21st century, the famous and infamous and it all means one thing – we love our lists.

Do we just stare at them and nod our collective heads then file them away with previous years, decades and centuries?

How do the lists affect our lives?

Here is a list of ten timeless things to think about. The first five today, second five tomorrow. They can be accomplished no matter your financial stature or geographical limitations.

10. Care A Little Less

We seem to put far too much credence in the opinion of others. Perhaps because we have a need to belong and in order to quantify an idea or success, we need a pat on the head from others.

For just one day, without malice or harm, try not caring about what we think and see what happens. Ideas may flow and we all win.

9. Give More

This is not another suggestion that everything is free and we all hold hands while we tweet and blog into the sunset. The concept of give more, is to suggest that we allow our talents and gifts to shine and replace all the empty boasting that all too often gets the spotlight.

8. Do Not Heed

If you allow the faceless group named ‘them’ to rule your decisions and behavior, you will lead a challenging life. The musician doesn't ask the crowd before she writes the song.

7. Smile and Wave

Imagine you are going about your day and suddenly it becomes clear that someone is having a bad time and is looking to have a fight with anyone they can lure. Nod your head and remove yourself from the situation immediately.

6. Learn to Say No

No is a perfectly acceptable answer and a complete sentence. In our fear of belonging or losing potential customers or slipping our market share we tend to travel for long periods of time outside the pocket. That is when the 300 pound lineman on the other side of scrimmage will crush us.

This is not to suggest we don't stretch but while we try to do everything, we do nothing well. Say no so you can say yes to what matters.

Please to add yours. Part two tomorrow.

Happy New Year :-)

@knealemann
business. marketing. social media. communications.