Monday, May 28, 2007
"I'm Right, You're Wrong"
I’m in beautiful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my hometown, for a visit with my family. Pittsburgh is a nice place, extremely livable.
Anyway, I’m here to tell you that I’m right, and you’re wrong. Right about what? Doesn’t matter—I’m right and you’re wrong. Well, at least that’s how most of us operate. Whether disagreements or conflicts are big or small, human beings have a need to make the other person wrong. Think about how much mental and emotional energy you spend making other people wrong. We hate to be wrong—to some, it’s embarrassing to be wrong, a real blow to the ego. So instead, anger, justifications and rationalizations fill our minds and our mouths. Have you had a disagreement recently with someone in your family or at work or school? How did you respond? Did you consider that the other person may be right—or did you classify them as completely wrong? I’ve got news for you—the truth usually lies somewhere in between you and the other person.
Making wrong ranges from individuals to groups to large organizations all the way up to nations. We’re right and they’re wrong. Next time you have a disagreement with someone, say to that person “You may be right”. It’s a much better way to start the dialogue than saying “You’re wrong”.
Key Words
Justification-n-a reason or explanation given to explain why something was said or done.
Rationalization-n-similar to justification, an explanation that’s often given in an either/or form.
I’ve got news for you-idiom-a way of pointing out a truth to another person.
Dialogue-n-conversation or discussion between two people.
Anyway, I’m here to tell you that I’m right, and you’re wrong. Right about what? Doesn’t matter—I’m right and you’re wrong. Well, at least that’s how most of us operate. Whether disagreements or conflicts are big or small, human beings have a need to make the other person wrong. Think about how much mental and emotional energy you spend making other people wrong. We hate to be wrong—to some, it’s embarrassing to be wrong, a real blow to the ego. So instead, anger, justifications and rationalizations fill our minds and our mouths. Have you had a disagreement recently with someone in your family or at work or school? How did you respond? Did you consider that the other person may be right—or did you classify them as completely wrong? I’ve got news for you—the truth usually lies somewhere in between you and the other person.
Making wrong ranges from individuals to groups to large organizations all the way up to nations. We’re right and they’re wrong. Next time you have a disagreement with someone, say to that person “You may be right”. It’s a much better way to start the dialogue than saying “You’re wrong”.
Key Words
Justification-n-a reason or explanation given to explain why something was said or done.
Rationalization-n-similar to justification, an explanation that’s often given in an either/or form.
I’ve got news for you-idiom-a way of pointing out a truth to another person.
Dialogue-n-conversation or discussion between two people.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
"You're Late!" (text)
You’re late! What’s your excuse?! Are you late for everything? The majority of people tend to be late; late for dinner, late for lunch, late for meetings, late for appointments, late their own funeral. Punctuality is a lost art.
Why? Part of it is poor planning. We like to blame our lateness on traffic, the weather, the cat or the dog, or best of all, some other person. We’ve all done that, right? “I’m late because so and so made me late”. That’s it, take the easy way out, and blame someone else. Poor planning, and our subsequent lateness, is a result of not allowing a proper amount of time for events and transition. We think we can magically transport ourselves through space instantaneously. So, examine your planning and time management.
The second, and more important, deep underlying reason we’re late is we don’t respect other people. That’s right—we don’t respect people, and that is terrible. By showing up late, to any function, what we are communicating to the other person or people is that “You’re not important”. Yep—that’s the message we’re sending. And if you don’t respect the other people, and the most valuable thing they possess—their time, then how can you expect them to respect you?
Next time you tell someone to meet at a certain time, make sure you’re there, on time!
Key Words
Punctuality-n-arriving on time, efficient with time.
Subsequent-adj-something that follows, the next thing.
Instantaneously-adv-very quickly, the very next moment.
Underlying-adj-the root cause of something, the real reason (which may be hidden).
Respect-v-honor shown to another person or thing.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Keeping Your Word (text)
Do people believe you? When you tell people that you’ll do something, do you do it? The sad truth is that most people don’t keep their word. “Sorry” has become the catch-phrase for all situations. Just say you’re sorry, right? That’ll take care of everything, won’t it? Not really. If you have integrity and keep your word, you won’t have to say, “I’m sorry”.
There’s a difference between saying, “I’m sorry” when an accident happens, or you make a mistake—it’s necessary to say, “I’m sorry”. The problem is that “I’m sorry” is used by many people to apologize for laziness and lack of integrity. After a while, “I’m sorry” means nothing.
What am I talking about here? If you tell a friend that you’ll meet him at 8 o’clock, you don’t show up twenty minutes late—there’s no integrity in that. If you tell your boss that you’ll complete a task by next Monday, make sure it’s completed by Monday. If you promise to go to someone’s birthday party on Thursday night, don’t blow it off because it’s become inconvenient for you.
The problem in all three of these, and many other situations like these, is that we lose integrity and credibility—we give people reason to not believe us. Our reputation suffers. Here’s something else that suffers—our self-esteem. How does it feel when you’re twenty minutes late? When that important project is not completed? When we don’t show up at our friend’s party, after promising that we would? You probably don’t feel too good about yourself and your confidence and outlook on life take a hit.
It’s simple, really—from now on, when you tell someone that you’ll do something, keep your word. It will do YOU a world of good.
Key Words
Catch-phrase-n-a convenient idiom or statement that is often over-used.
Integrity-n-consisting of quality, maintaining consistent behavior, truth, honor.
Keep your word-idiom-doing what you say you will do.
Blow it off-idiom-to skip something, to not do it, without much care or concern.
Self-esteem-n-how we feel about ourselves.
Take a hit-idiom-a negative impact, to lose value, become less.
There’s a difference between saying, “I’m sorry” when an accident happens, or you make a mistake—it’s necessary to say, “I’m sorry”. The problem is that “I’m sorry” is used by many people to apologize for laziness and lack of integrity. After a while, “I’m sorry” means nothing.
What am I talking about here? If you tell a friend that you’ll meet him at 8 o’clock, you don’t show up twenty minutes late—there’s no integrity in that. If you tell your boss that you’ll complete a task by next Monday, make sure it’s completed by Monday. If you promise to go to someone’s birthday party on Thursday night, don’t blow it off because it’s become inconvenient for you.
The problem in all three of these, and many other situations like these, is that we lose integrity and credibility—we give people reason to not believe us. Our reputation suffers. Here’s something else that suffers—our self-esteem. How does it feel when you’re twenty minutes late? When that important project is not completed? When we don’t show up at our friend’s party, after promising that we would? You probably don’t feel too good about yourself and your confidence and outlook on life take a hit.
It’s simple, really—from now on, when you tell someone that you’ll do something, keep your word. It will do YOU a world of good.
Key Words
Catch-phrase-n-a convenient idiom or statement that is often over-used.
Integrity-n-consisting of quality, maintaining consistent behavior, truth, honor.
Keep your word-idiom-doing what you say you will do.
Blow it off-idiom-to skip something, to not do it, without much care or concern.
Self-esteem-n-how we feel about ourselves.
Take a hit-idiom-a negative impact, to lose value, become less.
Friday, April 20, 2007
New Commentary and Text Below!
Click on the video for "Distractions, Distractions". Complete text below. Thanks for your comments--I read all of them!
Distractions, Distractions
Do you let yourself get distracted from life? I’m not talking about the unexpected interruptions that occur during the day, but the conscious
decisions we make that take us away from living life to it’s fullest.
Many people choose to distract themselves with TV. TV is not evil, but too often the time spent watching TV expands, so that it consumes
valuable time that could be used pursuing life’s goals. The Internet is a big distraction for me—I can spend countless hours dredging the depths of the web in search of useless information. Hours spent watching TV or surfing the web could be utilized learning a new skill or language,
maybe even getting some exercise. Better yet, how about spending this time in good conversation with family or friends? Imagine that—actually relating to other human beings. Maybe volunteering for a worthy charity would be a good idea.
Can’t shake that cell phone? I’m amazed at the number of commuters who are glued to this little hand machine—whether talking incessantly, or tapping away innumerable text messages. MP3 players now make it possible to tune out the rest of the world for hours on end. While busy with cell phones and MP3 players, the world passes us by—we miss things, we don’t observe our surroundings, and we don’t communicate with people standing six inches from us. Worst of all, we don’t take time to simply sit and think.
TV, the Internet, cell phones and MP3 players are useful things—unless they take over your world. So examine your day and make sure you’re not living a life of distraction.
Key Words
Conscious-n-our mental awareness of things.
Dredge-v-to dig up.
Shake-v-to let go of something.
Incessantly-adj-non-stop, without ceasing.
Innumerable-adj-many, a very high number.
decisions we make that take us away from living life to it’s fullest.
Many people choose to distract themselves with TV. TV is not evil, but too often the time spent watching TV expands, so that it consumes
valuable time that could be used pursuing life’s goals. The Internet is a big distraction for me—I can spend countless hours dredging the depths of the web in search of useless information. Hours spent watching TV or surfing the web could be utilized learning a new skill or language,
maybe even getting some exercise. Better yet, how about spending this time in good conversation with family or friends? Imagine that—actually relating to other human beings. Maybe volunteering for a worthy charity would be a good idea.
Can’t shake that cell phone? I’m amazed at the number of commuters who are glued to this little hand machine—whether talking incessantly, or tapping away innumerable text messages. MP3 players now make it possible to tune out the rest of the world for hours on end. While busy with cell phones and MP3 players, the world passes us by—we miss things, we don’t observe our surroundings, and we don’t communicate with people standing six inches from us. Worst of all, we don’t take time to simply sit and think.
TV, the Internet, cell phones and MP3 players are useful things—unless they take over your world. So examine your day and make sure you’re not living a life of distraction.
Key Words
Conscious-n-our mental awareness of things.
Dredge-v-to dig up.
Shake-v-to let go of something.
Incessantly-adj-non-stop, without ceasing.
Innumerable-adj-many, a very high number.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Commentary and text below!
Click on for the new video commentary, Keep It Simple Sweety. Below it is the text. MP3 download is not available now, but I'll figure it out later. So, enjoy the video---and you may want to copy/print the text, or read along. Sound and video quality will improve, as this is a learning process. Next new video will be April 20th.
Text for Keep It Simple Sweety Commentary
Keep It Simple Sweety
One of my pet peeves is the long-winded speaker. It drives me crazy to sit and listen to someone who is giving a speech or presentation that drones on and on. Too few orators have been trained in the art of being concise. Arguably the two most famous speeches in American history are Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Lincoln’s offering was less than five minutes, King’s under eight minutes. Keep this in mind the next time you have to give a speech or presentation. What do I have to say that is more important, or more moving than these two speeches? Their brevity is actually what packs the power in both speeches—there isn’t a wasted word. Granted, there are times when we must spend a longer time on a presentation with significant detail. In such cases, remember that studies have shown that human beings have an attention span of twenty minutes. After twenty minutes the audience tends to fade out, in which case you need to shift gears to provide a new fulcrum of attention.
It’s also important to keep conciseness in mind in casual conversation and the written word. I’ve received emails that are so long I don’t even read them! How many times has someone started a conversation with you and gone on and on till you couldn’t wait to free yourself from this person? Don’t bore your audience with repetition or useless information—you’ll lose their interest and they may end up resenting you. The shorter, the better in all communication—you’ll be amazed at how effective you can be.
(Note: The KISS method is an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. I don’t like the use of Stupid here, so I replaced it with Sweety. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s much nicer.)
Key Words;
Pet peeve-idiom-a favorite thing to complain about; something that really bothers you.
Drones-v-to make a continuous, low, dull or monotonous tone or sound.
Concise-adj-expressing much in few words, clear, succinct.
Brevity-adj-briefness of duration, concise expression, short.
Fulcrum-n-the point or support on which a lever pivots, supports a change in direction.
Resent-v-to feel angry or bitter about something or someone.
One of my pet peeves is the long-winded speaker. It drives me crazy to sit and listen to someone who is giving a speech or presentation that drones on and on. Too few orators have been trained in the art of being concise. Arguably the two most famous speeches in American history are Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Lincoln’s offering was less than five minutes, King’s under eight minutes. Keep this in mind the next time you have to give a speech or presentation. What do I have to say that is more important, or more moving than these two speeches? Their brevity is actually what packs the power in both speeches—there isn’t a wasted word. Granted, there are times when we must spend a longer time on a presentation with significant detail. In such cases, remember that studies have shown that human beings have an attention span of twenty minutes. After twenty minutes the audience tends to fade out, in which case you need to shift gears to provide a new fulcrum of attention.
It’s also important to keep conciseness in mind in casual conversation and the written word. I’ve received emails that are so long I don’t even read them! How many times has someone started a conversation with you and gone on and on till you couldn’t wait to free yourself from this person? Don’t bore your audience with repetition or useless information—you’ll lose their interest and they may end up resenting you. The shorter, the better in all communication—you’ll be amazed at how effective you can be.
(Note: The KISS method is an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. I don’t like the use of Stupid here, so I replaced it with Sweety. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s much nicer.)
Key Words;
Pet peeve-idiom-a favorite thing to complain about; something that really bothers you.
Drones-v-to make a continuous, low, dull or monotonous tone or sound.
Concise-adj-expressing much in few words, clear, succinct.
Brevity-adj-briefness of duration, concise expression, short.
Fulcrum-n-the point or support on which a lever pivots, supports a change in direction.
Resent-v-to feel angry or bitter about something or someone.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
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