From Hate To Love

Just a self-reflection today…

Important to me. 

It’s about who I thought I was and…

Who I became. 

Truly, I went full circle from a child’s hate to an adult’s love relationship with:

– Reading

– Writing

– Swimming

– Hebrew

As a kid, I tried to avoid these like the plague, and as an adult I like to practice these every single day of my life. 

I wonder to myself is it that I strove to become good (or decent) at what I have previously been bad at or was somehow afraid of. 

Yet now, they are integral to my life, learning, and growth. 

Like the hands of a clock that circle and tick the hours and minutes. 

My life takes me full circle and brings me home to who I am and what I really love spending time at. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

You Can Overcome It!

I like this runner’s shirt a lot. 

It says:

Courage is endurance for one moment more.

Just when you feel that you cannot go on for another moment.

Just when you are at your very limit.

Just when you’ve reached your total breaking point. 

Then…

You take that deep breath and focus your mind intently. 

You disassociate yourself from the pain and struggle. 

You see the challenge in front of you for what it really is and you raise yourself above and beyond it.

Your inner spirit is so much greater than its power over you. 

You have the inner faith and can endure whatever it is. 

You can overcome it! 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Goals Vs. Tactics

I liked this saying from someone in the IDF. 

Be “flexible in tactics, but stay fixed on the goals!”

There are many ways to accomplish the same thing. 

And different people have their own approaches. 

As in the lyrics: “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road.”

That’s absolutely okay. 

In fact, that’s one of the strengths and benefits of diversity.

We bring different ways of looking at the world to the table.

Hence, we can bounce fresh ideas off each other and come to a great way forward. 

The main thing is that we focus on our goals and progress to achieve them. 

Be rigid on goals and flexible in tactics. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Jerusalem Center of The World

I love this map by Heinrich Bunting, a German Protestant pastor and cartographer. 

This beautiful artist and thoughtful map was published in 1581.

It shows the 3 continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa as 3 leaves of a clovers with Jerusalem at the center. 

Jerusalem, Israel is the focus, nexus and crossroad between these 3 worlds of Western, Asian, and African civilizations. 

Israel is so multi-cultural and holy to the 3 major monotheistic religions of the world (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism).  

Light, healing, peace, and prosperity should emanate from Jerusalem to the whole world and G-d should bless us from his heavenly abode.  😉

(Source Photo: Wikipedia)

No One Cares How You Feel

So parenting is not always an easy job. 

But it is one full of love and helping your kids. 

Sometimes, I remember listening to my kids say that they feel this or that and seeing that it was holding them back from accomplishing their goals.  

Often, I would tell them that the only people that really care about how they feel is your mother and father–but generally-speaking, it a tough world out there, and: 

“No one [else] cares about how you feel.”

I tried to focus them–not on being cold and unfeeling–but rather on being strong inside and focusing on the tasks that need to get done. 

Sure, feelings are important, but if you are getting held back from doing what you need to do–then there are times when you need to put the feelings in abeyance and go forward. 

Overall, there is plenty of time to feel what you feel, but don’t let anger, fear, or anxiety get in the way of you accomplishing your dreams. 

In a book that I am reading by Amos Oz, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” he writes: 

‘I want’ and ‘I don’t want’ aren’t reasons, they can only be defined as self-indulgence.

Yes, it’s a little tough love, but also it is out of true love to help the kids to be willing and determined to try their best and not get held back by anything in the pursuit of the destiny they choose to follow. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Say YES!

Really liked this sign on my colleague’s desk.

It says:

Start With Yes

I remember an old boss who used to say:

Don’t make me get through no to get to yes. 

The idea as another colleague put it is to:

Keep a smile on your face and your focus on the customer; everything else takes care of itself. 

Basically, it’s all our jobs to make sure that the customer’s needs are being met. 

That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to differentiate between requirements and desirements or that we need to deliver the yacht in the first go around.

As a 4th colleague put it:

The customer is in the water. They want the yacht. But I can give them a boat. It gets them to where they want to go, and they no longer need to swim. We can work our way up to a yacht.

Good analogy analogy and good things to keep in mind for customer service excellence! 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Parking Lot Full of Ideas

So conducting large meetings is not often easy. 

People have their own concepts as to where they’d like the discussion to go.

Yes, agendas help keep the meeting focused. 

And a good facilitator enforces meeting discipline. 

Some people think that any deviation from the agenda is like taken a sudden left turn or driving off the cliff. 

But you don’t want to throw away the baby with the bath water. 

It’s important to jot down good ideas or follow up questions that come out in the discussion even when they are not immediately relevant. 

That’s where the “Parking Lot” comes into play. 

A flip chart or whiteboard to capture the important thoughts for follow up afterwards. 

While parking lots are needed to take certain things off the table immediately in order to focus on accomplishing the meeting’s objectives, they are not junk yards for people’s input. 

Instead, they are a place to park the stray thoughts and then to actively follow up on these after. 

No question is a dumb one, and no idea isn’t worth considering. 

Parking lots can be full of these and they should be parked and then taken for a spin around the neighborhood.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Calling An ELMO

So this is an interesting meeting facilitation technique. 

Sometimes people get carried away in meetings either as broken records, spinning wheels, naysayers, or ever with verbal attacks.

In these case, either the facilitator or any of the other participants, can have permission to “call an ELMO.”

What that stands for is:

Enough,

Let’s

Move 

On

When someone at the meeting calls an ELMO the meeting is redirected and focused back to the agenda and meeting objectives.

There are also times, you need a “parking lot” for good ideas that are a little offtrack or for sidebars that you want to come back to later.

At other times, you just need to say, “Let’s take it offline.”

Focused meetings should generate ideas (brainstorm), exchange points of view, surface problems, discuss issues, and make decisions. 

A good meeting leaves people feeling energized, valued, informed, and productive. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

What’s Free And What’s Not

I like this saying and wanted to share it:

“The dream is free, but the hustle is sold separately.”

Yes, this is the home of the free. 

And we are all able to dream BIG dreams.

However, without the hard work and hustle, dream are not made, but rather they die on the vine. 

So dream big–imagine the very best.

Reach for the stars…

And then work your butt off to make it happen.

Choose carefully. 

No one can have it all.

You have to prioritize.

Also, you need to balance. 

In the end:

Dreams+Hard Work+Blessing From G-d

That’s success by whatever standards you measure. 

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

The Yom Kippur Diet Plan

So Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar is a 25-hour day of repentance, prayer, and fasting. 

This last Yom Kippur, someone mentioned to me that some people take the idea of fasting and apply it to dieting during the year by doing a 3-day fasting. 

Uh, that sounds pretty severe and maybe even a little dangerous. 

But it got me thinking that on Yom Kippur we fast for a day and then eat a meal, so why not do that daily for dieting. 

Just subsist on one main meal a day–basically limiting intake of food to a few hours in the evening. 

This made sense to me as a moderate way that I could stay focused and disciplined without any food for about 20 hours at a time, but still give myself something to look forward to with a proper, natural dinner–almost like a natural give and take that I believe I could live with (at least for a good while). 

I thought let me give this a try!

And I did. 

First without drinking or eating. 

Then I rethought this after a few days and getting parched, and said just drink zero-calorie drinks, but no food or caloric intake during the day until the meal at the end of the day. 

And I’ve been doing this now since Yom Kippur 2 weeks ago. 

I have actually lost almost 10 pounds in that time and feel great. 

It hasn’t been hard–except for one day when the synagogue had a mega Bar Mitzvah kiddish/luncheon and I sat there and didn’t have a thing!

But otherwise, I go to work and all my activities, including working out–sometimes twice a day–and without any food.

It seems to be working. 

While previously, I stayed completely off any carbs, and still gained weight–now, I allow myself to eat everything (kosher) at dinner and am losing!

I wonder if I am on to something with this new “Yom Kippur Diet.”

I pray to Hashem that I’ve discovered something good and healthy here and am committed to seeing it through. 

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)