Strategic Serendipity

There will never be a perfect time, sometimes you just have to make a move.  For what?  Honestly, it doesn't matter. We are constantly saying I will do that when I have more money, I will apply for that job when I have more experience, I will volunteer when I have more time, etc.  There will never be a perfect time.  If you spend your life waiting for "when" you will miss some amazing opportunities.  Does that mean you should take a fantasy vacation on your credit cards or apply for an executive chef position if you have never even been able to make toast?  Of course not.  It means you need to break your big goal down into small goals and make one move today that will get you closer.  Start  putting $25 a paycheck in a savings account for that vacation. Pick a new recipe to try for dinner. Read a book, a magazine, or a blog in an area that interests you. Research volunteer opportunities you can do with your child or in the time you have after...

I received this e-mail from Change.org in the mail today...talk about one simple act - way to go Henry! My name is Henry. As you may not know, after considerable expense of my time and money and at some cost to the peace in our home, I planted over a thousand flowers at Washington DC's Dupont Circle Metro North Station. Metro ordered me to stop. If I stop, the flowers could die before they bloom. I was stunned and saddened that I would face “arrest, fines and imprisonment” if I continued to tend to the thousand flowers I planted at the Dupont Circle Metro North Station. Out of the goodness of my heart, last Fall I planted over 100 bulbs in the very same neglected garden squares. Months later they bloomed, sharing their joy and beauty with fellow Metro Riders. This Spring I returned. I weeded and two trash bags were filled with more than 300 discarded cigarette butts, shards of glass, wads of gum, tree branches and assorted fast food restaurant garbage. But Metro do...

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day, someone might do the same for you."  Princess Diana A few months ago I wrote about how  One Simple Act  can create a ripple around you and effect people you may never know.  The responsibility that comes with this knowledge is to try to make those acts positive, proactive, and uplifting. Under the premise that acting as a group we can create more positive change than we could alone, I encourage you to take the One Simple Act Ten-Day Ripple Challenge. Each day, tweet and/or facebook post your simple act with the hastag #onesimpleactripple.  The tweets will scroll on this blog for everyone to see.  Share the challenge with your friends and family and see what collective change we can make in the next ten days. Join me in this moving endeavor.  Comment below on how you feel when you complete your daily challenge.  Not enough of a challenge ...

My cousin's 14-year old daughter, Lizzi, is spending time with me this summer and we are having a blast.  My son Jackson loves his "ZZ" and I am loving having her here.  We visited Nando's because that is where One Direction eats and I was feeling so "with it."  (Yes, I know, just typing with it in quotes makes me old.)  But then today I really started feeling my age.  She found a toy shop I had never been in and it was the cutest place ever.  Of course Jackson loved it because it had train tables (score five minutes of sitting down in peace and quiet!).  When she had looked all around the store she sat with Jackson and I looked around.  I felt 14 myself when I found Shrinky Dinks.  You know, those plastic things you color and then bake, they shrink down and get thicker?  I loved these when I was younger.  I got so excited I grabbed some and took them back and said "Do you like Shrinky Dinks?"  "What are Shrinky Dinks?"  O...

I mentioned yesterday that I taught Franklin Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Signature program this week. I love the concept of shifting your paradigm and behavior to get different results.  After all, Albert Einstein said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Covey's first habit is "Be Proactive" and the underlying assumption is that "I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices."  Obviously, this idea of choice has been on my mind a lot lately. When we get stuck in a constant reactive pattern, we feel like a victim of our circumstances.  And let's face it, no one wants to follow a victim. So how do we make the shift to proactive leader?  We choose to.  For those out there saying "you don't understand, in my job I have no authority to be proactive."  Actually, I do understand (as I sit here writing this on a furlough day).  And while I understand th...