Is there someone/something you can give a little extra effort to today?

(cake courtesy of The Spaniard)

A great little kick off to the week — 15 minutes on the value of being encouraging, the value of a smile, resilience, and the influence we can have on others (even when we don’t realize it)…

A little longer than it needs to be, I think, but good time even so.

tgim

(“When bad things happen, good people have to take what they’ve learned and make the world a better place…” — Kurt Kuenne, Writer & Director of Validation and Dear Zachary — a completely different film)

A couple years ago I heard Jared Diamond talk about how societies can collapse on themselves by being self-centered. The Spaniard and I left talking about how perhaps our lives in our community were similar in a small way – inside a bubble – a bubble that takes care of itself without real care for the outside world – a kind-of gated community.

A couple weeks ago I heard a wonderful sermon at my church on relationships and yesterday, I listened to it again while running.

So many wonderful points but this thought from C.S. Lewis jumped out…

“To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal.

Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

For whatever reason, that talk and the Lewis thought had me flashing back to Diamond’s thoughts on societies.

Gated communities and gated hearts… both seem scary to me.

(For the sermon: Use this link or get it on iTunes using this link, then choose 3: Unresolved Conflict – Corey. Email me if you have questions and I’ll help you out. Two other favorites of mine by Corey – 55: The Subversive Power of Grace – Corey and 76: All in a Day’s Work – Corey. Great stuff.)

Today I started my effort to work two 60-hour work weeks back-to-back — a kind of Thoreau "went to the woods… live deliberately" thing. That, and I figure I owe it to those who got us through these tough times before.

Fortunately, I love my work (over there to the left).

I'm pretty sure I've done this before (especially in the early days of cofounding my company — 1998 through 2000). But here's the twist… I'm doing it with a clock — a sort of speed chess clock where I start and stop it only when I'm doing activities that contribute directly to my job.

The clock stops for "How was your weekend?" talk. It stops for bathroom visits, calls from The Spaniard (my wife), and personal web time.

60 hours of work. Two weeks straight.

Again… fortunately I love most of what I do.

Five things happened right out of the gate today…

1. One colleague excitedly asked me what they could expect from me with the additional man week of time added to the two (20 hours x 2 weeks = 40).

2. It took me about 10 hours at the office today to get the first 8 real hours (remember… no personal, web, bathroom, lunch, commuting time included).

3. I realize that I'm going to have to work 6 days to hit 60 hours (it can't be seven — even I understand the "all work and no play" thing — that link: daytime only – much too scary without the sun).

4. I'm giving much more deliberate attention to my time (small talkers watch out).

5. I realize how lucky I am (to be able to contribute and to have it be a choice to do this).

More to come (if I think it'll be helpful to you).

tgim

So here's what happened… I failed.

update after the jump

Continue reading →

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

Barack Obama
44th President of the United States

Smile & Move™

"If you want to be important… wonderful. If you want to be recognized… wonderful. If you want to be great… wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.

You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968)
American civil rights leader
Nobel Peace Prize recipient

Celebrating Martin Luther King Day.

tgim

From "The Drum Major Instinct." Hear it delivered by King.

Watch "I Have a Dream."

"Old work values give way to new ones. But the ultimate test of our American work ethic will come in how well we work to serve one another."

James Michener (1907 – 1997)
American writer
Pulitzer Prize winner

Dave Troy found an original IBM Think Pad at his parents house… a leather bound notepad with his grandfather's initials and the word "THINK" on the cover (read his enjoyable business history and thoughts on the topic here).

I loved it and went searching for one (no luck).

But now, I'm an IBM man (in spirit… like the 1950s-60s kind… well, probably not but I like the message). The sign above now sits in my living room as a reminder. It's from the 60s or 70s… laminated wood and all. I also picked up an old copy of an internal IBM publication called Think (1976 Bicentennial Issue – 200 Years of Work in America).

Some very inspiring words inside that remind me of my obligation to the people who came before me (especially now).

"Work is born in us. We take to it kindly or unkindly. The terms may be easy or harsh, but the contract is binding."

Studs Terkel (1912 – 2008)
American writer, journalist, broadcaster
Pulitzer Prize winner

tgim

(on service: Terkel, salesman Ray Beyer, and a waitress after the jump)

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Something I saw…

On the left bumper, a decal… Calvin (six year old cartoon character) peeing on the letters I.R.S.

On the right, it was on the word Liberals on which he did his business.

On the dashboard of the same car was a statue of who I believe was supposed to be Jesus.

I have my hypocrisies too. I'm just not as open with them.

When I write about work, I feel obligated to encourage more… more hours, more giving, more service, more contribution, more accountability, more truth.

I do it because it's the message that needs to be pushed (and it has too few media advocates).

The 40-hour work week standard… where did it come from? Really. Why is 40 the magic number of hours?

It's my understanding the 40-hour thing was established in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. From what I can tell, it was a factory work, women, and children thing — not a scientific-study-end-all-be-all marker for optimal productivity. And, it wasn't established for knowledge workers (people who think and process for a living).

40-hours is a minimum. I don't know what the maximum is.

But, I suggest, if you want to succeed in a big way, if you want job security, if you want to be a part of something special, if you want the recession to end, if you want to set a good example for our children… focus on how you can give more. That's where the cool kids play.

Don't ever let anyone sell you on giving less.

tgim

(and by the way, you don't really want job security… you want to make an impact… you want your life to mean something… that comes from creating value for others… and if you're lucky, people will pay you for some of that value… enough for you to live on… and if you're really lucky, they'll pay you much more than you need… and that's when the real fun begins… and you want fun… because its much more enjoyable than no fun… and i think you know that… i'm just saying)

I live
And love
I have something
To share
A pillow
A bug
or A
Pear

Sam K. (age 6)

From a colleague’s son. Another good thing.