The Perspective of Respect

"If you were any good, you'd be pitching for the Yankees!"

This quote, as reported by Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, comes from Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd's son - at the age of 7. Mr. Byrd was the winning pitcher this week ushering the Yankees out of the playoffs in the first round yet again.

Funny how a combination of marketing by the Yankees and the old concept of "familiarity breeds contempt" can taint someone's image. Paul Byrd has pitched in the major leagues for a decade, has a 97-81 record, and had a terrific year this year at 15-8. Not STELLAR, but pretty darn good, and worthy of respect.

Of course, the average 7 year old would be thrilled to have a father in the Major Leagues, but they come from the perspective of NOT having their father playing baseball for a living. For the Mr. Byrd's progeny, his perspective is that it is the norm, and why isn't his father the BEST - as we all try to push on our heroes in life?

They say respect is earned and not given. But what contitutes earning it is different for everyone. What are YOU demanding from those looking for your respect?

I Love Reading Amazon Reviews

Everytime I run across a new book (or new to ME), I run to Amazon to see how cheap I can buy it. The reviews are always interesting - often mostly positive, with one or two 1 or 2 star reviews. Take a look at Joel Bauer's How to Persuade People Who Don't Want to be Persuaded, for example.

It shows 11 five-star reviews, and 1 each for one, two and three stars. The lesser reviews tend to say Joel's ideas are old hat, or too narrow for wide usage. The positive reviews are all glowing and complimentary, in some cases, overly so: "So, In a nutshell if you interact with people for a living, you can?t live without this book.(sic)" by Kerwin.

This can be seen in almost any book buying page, though some books carry a little more controversy, such as The Secret, which has generated over 1700 reviews - including 865 five-star and 378 one star reviews.

Without debating the merits of either book here, I do want to point out the value of perspective. Who do I believe? One-star reviews often tend to be accusatory, short, and occasionally aggressive or mean. Five-star reviews can be a simple white-wash of the contents.

In choosing what I read or listen to in the business and self-help genre's, I ask myself one thing - do I know all I need to know on this subject yet? Even if I only get one idea, its probably worth the price of the book. Even if Mr. Know-it-all has already seen these ideas, and says they are elementary in his review, if I haven't heard them, they can still help ME. We can't all be exposed to all the ideas in the world - and not learning them because someone says we should already have learned them is ridiculous.

And then, once you've read the book - post your own opinion!

Life Begins...

Brooklyn Grace joined our family yesterday. She has 3 older sisters, and 2 older brothers - all of whom are ecstatic with her existence.

A day old, she is no longer a blank slate. She has experienced hunger, discomfort, confusion, as well as caring, caressing, breastfeeding, warmth, and communication. Every day she will experience and learn more - and I and my wife are primarily responsible for whatever goes into her brain, and fills up her slate.

What are you filling your slate with? It's not empty until you die.

What Are Your Choices?

Do you ever wonder how you ended up where you are today?

Whether you are successful beyond measure, continuing to push toward your dreams, falling short of where you wish you were, or taking steps backwards into a reality you don't want to experience, it all comes down to a simple word.

CHOICE.

We live in a world which encourages us to escape our right to make choices, and trains us to become passive to the choices others make for us. We talk about what our parents did to us, or our teachers, or our spouses, or some other outside force. What we rarely discuss is our responsibility, in fact, our POWER, to choose our response.

If we have been victimized, it is our choice to remain a victim, or to move on with our life. If we have been mistreated, it is our choice to continue submitting to the treatment, or remove ourselves from the situation.

If we are rich and successful, this is also a result of our choices. Even were we an heir or heiress, we choose to stay liquid vs. blowing the money.

Invariably, it is not those at the extremes that truly battle with the concept of choice. It is the 95 percent of the world somewhere in the middle. Those not quite where they want to be. Those facing the normal struggles of life: a bad boss, a tough marriage, rough health issues. Risks of expansion, quitting a job, or taking a new job.

We say "I can't do" whatever it is that would change our situation, and blame it on circumstances - our family, our bills, our government, sometimes even our religion. So we don't do. And ultimately, that is a CHOICE. Inaction is as much a choice as action.

Don't waste your POWER. Your right to live as you choose. To think what you want to think. To be who you want to be.

You are your CHOICE.

The Perspective of Success

Is success having it all, having the ability to have it all, giving it all away, or not needing it at all?

The world would answer "having it all". The ability to have it all is more the Sam Walton still drives a beat-up pick-up truck mentality. Giving it all away may mean living within your means and donating the rest.

Not needing to have it all - is that modesty, discipline, or settling?

What is having it all to you? Is it wrapped up in cars, homes, and other 'toys'? Is it family and fun? Is it good health? Clothes? Entertainment? For some, having it all is simply have the some outflow of money as inflow, without any real sacrifices.

Success can be found at many levels, and my success may not be your success. Even the more politically correct forms of success - the mushy gushy "my child looked at me and said I was the best Daddy ever" doesn't necessarily translate into success.

What is your definition of success? When you look in the mirror in the morning. When you sit alone in your car. When you lay awake at night. Are you content? Are you reaching YOUR goals? When its not about THEM - your boss, your friends, your family - are YOU satisfied with your day, your effort, your actions?

Are you a success?

For Today, Just be Positive

Cynicism, negativity, sarcasm are rampant in the world today. Is it any wonder depression and hopelessness seem such easy places for us to go when the chips are down?

Even when faced with the option to be positive, our brain often tells us to "face reality", take off the "rose-colored glasses", and to quit being a "Pollyanna".

These statements have been ingrained in our psyche by those who have fallen prey to meloncholy themselves. They may be trying to drag us back to "reality", but it is THEIR reality, not MINE, and not YOURS.

Anthony Robbins and others talk about the 7 day mental diet - a week of positive thinking. I suggest the One-Day-at-a-Time Mental Diet. Just try it TODAY. Write a one hundred percent positive journal page. Disallow any negative TV or news or people from your life. If a negativity appears, deal with it head on without dwelling on it, or look at it from a completely new perspective. Give yourself a choice, as I often do with my children: "I said no for now - you can either cry about it in your bed, or you can find something more fun to do".

Life is life, and negativity happens. What's YOUR choice?

Apprentices Learn Value of Presentation Skills

By not having any!

Kristine and Nicole discovered the downfalls of Powerpoint when their presentation wouldn't come up, leading the Donald to comment on how bad and choppy their presentation was - ultimately they had to bring in James, from an opposing team, to help. Once it was up, it still did nothing to help what were clearly two overmatched Apprentices.

Always be prepared for Powerpoint to fail - know your presentation backward and forwards. If your slides are that important, just send them the disk - who needs YOU!

They were nervous, repetitive, and downright boring. Amazingly, only Kristine was fired from the group, for using an incorrect phone number on the brochure. Details, details...

Frank and Heidi were also victims of stagefright, with Heidi offering about 15 seconds of what should have been a two-minute intro to their video. Instead, the video (which was truly awful) was immediately shown, followed by the brochure, a literary disaster. People and pictures sell, folks, not endless verbage, particularly light type on a dull, black background. Frank out argued Heidi for the blame, and Heidi was out the door.

James and Stefani however, were on top of their game. After being overly flattering to Trump, they got into the meat of their presentation, offering both a well designed video and solid picture boards with their marketing plan. They both seemed comfortable talking, and didn't take away from their concept.

Ultimately, they were the winners - but not because Trump liked their concept the most. He leaned more towards Kristine and Nicole's idea of "Gold", which was ruined only by their lousy communication skills, inability to tame Powerpoint, and inexcusable use of a wrong phone number.

Do you let your presentation skills get in the way of your product? You may have the greatest bread slicer in history, but if the knife salesman speaks better, he will win in the end.