Friday, January 7, 2011

Life: What's The Point?


That's a huge question to ask. But I have an answer.

Life is about participation. It's about being involved. It's about going out on a limb and forging new paths, trying new things, going to new places. It doesn't take money to really live - it simply takes initiative.

My favorite quote is this: "I warmed both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and I am ready to depart." - Walter Savage Landor

I warmed my hands over the fires of life = I participated.

Think about how you are (or are not) taking advantage of your life - are you warming your hands over its fires? or just feeling the heat as a passerby?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Quote Of The Week

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good." - Dr. Samuel Johnson.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Do You See What I See?


"Vision is the art of seeing the invisible." - Jonathan Swift

Business people are obsessed with talking about "vision" and we all admire leaders with "vision" and that oh so magical element called "vision." But few understand what vision really is - and what it is not.

Ironically, vision is more about about "speaking" than it is about "seeing." This is because without excellent communication skills no-one can articulate a clear vision. People talk about their leaders having the rare ability to "see around corners" but rarely do they talk about leaders having the ability to spell-out clearly what lies around those corners and why what's there is important.

Having vision is useless without execution. Therefore, there are many people that have great vision but poor execution - and therefore their vision is never realized.

In summary then, vision is useless without the ability to communicate it and then have people execute it. Anyone can have great vision - only a rare few can do something about it.

So please have vision, but then roll up your own sleeves and do something about it.

End of rant.