Life’s Hunger

September 13, 2010 • Life • by
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I was at an outdoor event a few weeks ago that went through a lengthy rain-delay and I found myself browsing Facebook with no purpose. It’s quite interesting what you can find …

I don’t remember whose profile this was on, but this quote got me thinking:

“Life is the art of mixing ingredients in tolerable proportions, so that all the varied needs of man are somehow satisfied, and no important hunger is neglected.”
-Sydney Harris

Think about your life. What are your needs? Are all of them being met, and in the right proportion?

It’s an interesting question that I will go into more next week … but I want to think about something first:

What ingredients are in your life right now? Are they good? Bad? Better yet, what do you need in life?

Cafe Namaste

August 30, 2010 • Education, Life, Love, News • by
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When I saw this picture months ago I knew I’d be saving it and using it for a blog post eventually. It was nearly three years ago when I met my friend (and one of the Anything is Possible editors, Stephen Barnes). He introduced me to the word and concept of “namaste.”

For your reference, Wikipedia defines it as: “Namaste (Sanskrit: नमस्ते, Hindustani pronunciation: [nʌmʌsˈteː], from external sandhi between namaḥ and te) is a common spoken greeting or salutation used in India and Nepal. It has multi-religious or else common usage where it may simply mean “I bow to you.” That said, I have found it to mean that “because you are human, I offer my utmost respect.”

That is my personal interpretation. It is true that we are all humans and we should be able to respect each other, no matter what. We don’t have to be best friends. We don’t have to date. We don’t even have to have weekly coffees together.

But certainly we don’t have to hate each other. Certainly there is enough of that in this world.

If you have ten minutes in the next few days, take some time to watch this video. It is from this year’s ESPY Awards where the Ed Thomas family is presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. If you don’t remember, Ed Thomas was the football coach from Parkersburg, Iowa, who was shot and killed in the weight room a year after a horrific tornado destroyed parts of the town. The Thomas family’s resiliency and compassion for the killer’s family can teach us all something. Namaste.

What I Learned From My First Tennis Match in 4 Years

August 18, 2010 • Life, Love, Sports • by
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Rafael NadalLast Friday night (August 13), I made my long awaited return to a competitive tennis court. In what was a 1,400+ day hiatus from the game, I returned. It was on August 18, 2006, that I played my last match. After the match my back problems began.

I wish I could say that I won the title, but that was the dream I had on Thursday night. Actually, my visualization on Thursday night was just playing solid points and giving myself a chance. Coming back from anything is always a tough proposition, let alone a four-year absence. So now a few days after a tough loss in my opening round match, I have a few thoughts.

Breathe. I knew coming into the match that I would be nervous. I am a competitive person by nature and so I always want to win and I went into this match believing that I could. It wasn’t until he third or fourth game that I finally got my breathing under control.

Be Prepared. Physically I was more than ready. Mentally I am close. But the game still isn’t there. I actually served really well and my backhand was pretty solid. But I was not even close to prepared for the way my opponent struck the ball; nor was I prepared to hit as much slice as I needed to on either wing. I need to get better at that and develop my all-around game to be ready for any opponent.

Attack. I did this well on a few occasions. I knew from talking with my fellow players that against my first-round opponent, it would be imperative to get to the net as often as I could. For those who know me, that is not my strong suit. I prefer to sit on the baseline, play the percentages and be aggressive only when necessary. It’s how I am best. But in the first couple of points, I was insanely aggressive coming to the net. And surprisingly, I enjoyed it. I will have to work on that part of my game if I want to add it as a weapon, but I think it could be.

All in all, it was good to be back on court. The court is a place I have loved most of my life and it was a gift to just be back for that one night. I can’t wait for my next tournament. After losing this match 6-0, 6-0, my goal it to win a game. But as they say, love means nothing (in tennis of course).

(Flickr photo via nicogenin)

What is Possible?

August 16, 2010 • Business, Life • by
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Last week I spent a few hours leading a workshop/ideation session at a university. It was a fun group (all information technology folks), and it was fun to see everyone with their Droid’s, iPads and laptops. But what was even more fun was how they looked at all the problems I posed.

For instance, we did a team activity where I gave each table a simple task. Then after five minutes, I changed the task. But each time, I never mentioned and was never asked what the objective was. I simply gave a task. When we got into the de-brief stage one of the team members raised the flaw in my team activity.

“You never told us what the objective was,” he said. I quickly countered, “But you never asked. If any of you wondered, you certainly didn’t ask me. You all made an assumption as to the end game.”

Then I went silent. I watched them as they started to nod their heads. They got it. It was a profound moment. For a group of people who fix problems and design solutions, it was a surprise they didn’t ask for the objective.

Knowing what the objective or what the “end-game” looks like is the most important piece of information when tackling an kind of a task.

If someone asks you the jump, obviously their verbal objective is to have you jump. But maybe they also want you to jump a foot off of the ground. But if you don’t ask and they don’t say, no one knows the true objective.

With any task, it is imperative to know what the desired outcome is. You need to know this about anything in your own life too. What do you want? Once you know that, you can start going after it. But if your current objective is “to be happy,” you have no idea what that looks like. Think about that today.

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“I really enjoyed your seminar in St. Joe. I especially liked the suggestion that we come up with our own personal mission statement. I did this, and now I am living it! Thanks so much!”

-Pat Sneed

Anything is Possible




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