Oh, the Places I’ve Been

I was recently invited to a party that asked the guest to bring their “bucket list” of things they wish to do or places they wish to go before they say their adieu to this world.   I thought before I can do this wish or goal list, I should reflect on the things I’ve done and the places I’ve been and celebrate those before contemplating on what I wish to do going forward.  Here is a listing of places I have been.

Ancient Places

Cahokia Mounds (near East St. Louis) The Cahokia Mounds are the largest group of mounds north of Mexico. Monks' Mound, a rectangular, flat-topped earthwork, 100 ft high with a 17-acre base, is named for Trappist monks who settled there in the early 19th century. Hopewell (near Chillicothe, OH) From about 200 B.C.E.. to C.E.. 500, the Ohio River Valley was a focal point of the prehistoric Hopewell culture. The term "Hopewell" describes a broad network of beliefs and practices among different American Indian groups over eastern North America.

The Great Serpent Mound, Peebles, OH  is a 1,348-foot-long, three-foot-high prehistoric effigy located on a plateau of the Serpent  Mound crater along Ohio Busch Creek in  Adams County, Ohio.

Mesa Verde National Park (near Cortez and Mancos, CO) Mesa Verde ("Green Table"), the most notable and best-preserved cliff dwellings and relics in the United States, covers four archaeological periods. From approximately C.E.. 600 through C.E. 1300 people lived and flourished in communities throughout the area, eventually building elaborate stone villages in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.

Revolutionary War Battlefields & Sites-Boonesborough, Boston, Lexington, Concord, Valley Forge.

Civil War Battlefields-Chickamauga,  Franklin, Gettysburg, Kennesaw Mountain,  Perryville, Petersburg,  Shiloh, Spring Hill, Stones River, Thompsons Station, Tupelo.

Places-Jamestown, Williamsburg, Mt Vernon, Monticello, Washington DC, The Alamo, Independence Hall, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, World War Two Memorial, Korean War Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Arlington. The Smithsonian, Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Henry Ford Museum, Betsy Ross House, USS Arizona, Fort Laramie, Mt. Rushmore. Lincoln Birthplace, Truman Library & Home, Nixon Library & Home, Gerald R Ford Library, Reagan Library, Warner Brothers Studio, Universal Studio, Walt Disney Studios, NBC Studio, Hwy 1, French Quarter, National Mall, Las Vegas Strip, Times Square, Nashville, Hollywood, Disneyland, Disneyworld, Epcot, Taos, South Beach,  Civil Rights District in Atlanta, Time Trials at the Indy 500. 

Toured: Markers Mark, Woodford Reserve & Jack Daniels Distillery.  Budweiser, Coors and New Belgium Breweries.

Race Tracks: Santa Anita, The Red Mile & Kneeneland

Rafted: Middle Fork of the Clark River, Salmon River, Arkansas River.

Natural Wonders-Death Valley, Devils Tower,  Haleakala, Volcanoes National Park, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, Great Smokey Mountains, Everglades, Redwood National Park, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mt Evans.

Professional Baseball Parks-All stadiums except Miami, DC, Pittsburg & Toronto. Surfed California and Hawaii.

I have visited all 50 states, four Canadian Provinces, three Mexican States and visited Chichen Itza & Castillo San Felipe del Morro –“El Morro’ in Puerto Rico

I’ve traveled from the Golden Gate to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. From Key West to Honolulu and Anchorage.  Attended great concerts, seen and meet famous people and celebrities.  I am sure I have left some out, yet these places and people were all seared on my mine as special. 

Places I want to visit; Israel, Masada, Jerusalem, Rome and Pompeii, Athens & the Oracle at Delphi, Troy, Easter Island, Machu Picchu, The Serengeti, The Pyramids of Giza and Thebes. The Louvre, Agkor Wat, The Great Wall of Chin, The Louve.

Of all the things done and seen perhaps the greatest is looking into the eyes of parents who loved and nurtured, a beautiful wife who make me laugh, loving children that continue to amaze me and grandchildren who I see boundless possibilities in.  All possible by living in the greatest and most moral county ever established by men.

Next, working on this year’s to do list…

 

Acts of Kindness



 

My Tire Sensor light illuminated on my car this morning.  I pulled over to check the left rear tire.  I could not see anything wrong so I drove slowly to the closest tire dealer.  The good folks at Discount Tire in Lafayette, CO at 740 US Highway 287 checked it out.  It just needed air.  They checked my other tires.  I was in and out in a few minutes.  They would not take anything for filling my tire.  The sensor light went off and I was back to my day.   The sensor light was a good reminder to check my personal gauge.  What have I done to make someone’s day today? Open a door. Say Thank You, Smile.  Kindness, Pass It On!

Hush

In art it’s called, “negative space.” 

In music it’s called, “a place to rest.”

In public speaking it’s called, the “pause.”

No, not a dogs feet, nor a Southern Father. 

The “pause” is the silence between two sections of speech that allows the listener to catch up, reflect and to connect to the importance of what is being said.

Think of the last time when someone like your Mom, your Wife, or your Kids were baking cookies.           Now inhale, and take a deep whiff of that freshly baked dough, slowly,… release your breath.  Are you holding onto every morsel of memory?   Off course you are.  The “pause” in public speaking is the aroma of the cookies baking.  That “ah” that you experience after you take a deep breath.

Why do you fear the “pause”?  Is it anxiety?  Perhaps in the chaotic, cacophony of your everyday life, you grab every opportunity to be heard, then, like water you rush to fill the void.  Why not use and savor the silence?  Using a “pause” in public speaking is a skill that you can practice and become comfortable with.

I had the opportunity to do a speech from the Advanced Communication Series of Interpretive Reading.  The first project is “Read a Story”.  The speech objectives were to understand the elements of reading, analyze a narrative and plan an effective interpretation.  I choose to recite Leonard E. Read’s classic, “I, Pencil.”  The story is written in the first person from the point of view of a pencil and gives a superb case study for free markets. 

The original version of this story is 2,313 words long.  Reading at my average speed of 145 words per minute I would normally complete this story in about 16 minutes. Yet, the time allotted for the speech was 8-10 minutes.   With editing and keeping the author's intention intact, I revised this story to under 1,400 words.  The real challenge, even with editing was giving myself enough time to add well placed “pauses” to increase impact, tension and move the story along with vocal variety.  A tough task yet, a challenge accomplished.

Well placed “pauses” immerse your audience into the void of silence to influence and indicate the importance of what you are saying.  As Darren LaCroix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking and Keynote at the District 26 Fall Conference stated many times, “Stage Time, Stage Time, Stage Time”.  You can practice using the “pause” each time you take the stage.

Happy Hush!

Traveling Bee

A Bee is a wonderful creature to observe. They fly from flower to flower searching for nectar making the flower and the Bee stronger. Like a Bee, cross-pollination especially of ideas also makes Toastmasters clubs stronger.

Keeping my public speaking skills sharp is a challenge when I am away on business. I often will seek out a Toastmasters meeting on the Toastmasters International website for the city I am visiting and find a club meeting that fits my schedule.

Recently, my busy business travel season began. I had the good fortune to visit five clubs around the country, two in California, Coastmasters Toastmasters in Dana Point and Anaheim Breakfast Club. In Oregon, I visited Cascade Toastmasters in Eugene. In Texas, I visited Executive Toastmasters in Dallas. And finally, in Florida, I visited Highrisers Toastmasters in Tampa.

All these clubs had engaging websites that invited guests to visit. I was attracted by photographs of members posted on their websites and their meeting schedules were up to date. At all these meetings, I was warmly greeted and introduced to other club members. This gave me an instant connection which made me feel welcome. At each visit, I was invited to share my observations and impressions of the meetings.

The members were genuinely interested in finding out how their club was similar or different to mine. They wanted to be evaluated on what they did well and how they could improve. I also came away from each meeting with a host of ideas to share with my clubs to improve and enhance our gatherings. In some instances I even received a complimentary breakfast.

Visiting other clubs is enjoyable, enlightening and an added value of being a Toastmaster. Visiting other clubs out of state gives me a sense of having an extended group of friends where ever I go. My sales calls on the days I visited these meetings was superior. I have found this experience helps me to learn new ideas, keeps my skills up and makes me a better speaker. Bee adventurous. Bee courageous. Bee a Bee and cross-pollinate when you travel for business or pleasure. You'll Bee glad you did.

“On my way to being the best I had to fail to reach success.”

In our culture failure is often thought of as a negative. We strive for constant success. Winning is everything we are told. Second place is no place. Yet, without failure where would each of us be? Everyone has had failures in their life at some point. It could be a failure on a test. A failure to win a team sport. A failure to connect with that one opportunity because we feared the failure. We perhaps thought, why even try if failure is emanate?

Let me suggest that without the many failures I have encountered, I would not have reached today’s success. This begs the question, how can one overcome failure? Try once more, only this time differently. I am no expert on overcoming failure or reaching success. I can only share my experience of how I have failed and more importantly, how I have bounced back to triumph another day. Throughout my life I have played on failed teams, failed classes, had failed relationships, a failed marriage, worked on a failed political campaign, and failed to take out the trash. My response, who cares? So I failed. Big deal! After brushing off a bruised ego or body, I get up and begin again.

Failure is the natural progression of having tied to do something and not being immediately successful. This is where most of us stop and we become defeatist. The key to your future success is persistence. The 30th President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge once said, "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, press on, has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race." So, press on. Be persistent. Be determined.

Upon your next failure, ask yourself, what did I learn? How can I incrementally improve to the next higher level? What am I going to do to ensure a better outcome the next time? How can I use the experience to move forward and fail again? Yes, failure is rewarded when you try one more time and break though the barrier of the past. You will not reach your success without taking a chance at something you previously thought impossible. Plan, practice, persist and prosperity will surely be your reward.

When you reach, you extend the possibility for success. Stretch your mind to believe that without failure there is no reward, no success. Fail more often. Move your failure forward in your learning cycle. Fail in the direction you wish to grow and achieve. Fail is a four letter word like work, that will get you to the pinnacle of your dreams and goals. Work on your failures, don’t let your failures work on you. “On your way to being the best, failure will help you to reach your success.

Write it down in a Word document, read it aloud and then post it.

I recently had a friend ask that I buy her some Toastmasters manuals at a regional event she could not attend. I was happy to oblige. Via e-mail I asked where I could meet her to drop them off. She replied back on her so called “smart” phone. “Drop them at my house, I “love” at…… address.” When I pointed out that this was too much information, we both had a good laugh. My story illustrates a point about writing either by e-mail, smart phone or on a social media site.

Whether it’s for professional or personal use I always want to appear somewhat intelligent in how I speak and write. An idea I like to share with folks on postings for E-mail, Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media is to write your message out on a separate Word document. Check it for misspellings. You may have “spell checked” a word that is spelled correctly yet it is the wrong word. I don’t know about you but my wife can’t spend all her time correcting my bad spelling. She has things to do.

Check to make sure any links you add work correctly and you are sending your reader to the right web site. I once posted a link and had omitted one letter. My readers were sent to an adult web site that most found a bit embarrassing about. I received a few unpleasant e-mails back, yet others thanked me. The point being this was not the web site I wanted them to find. Some asked what I really did in my free time.

Read your message out loud. Ask yourself, does this make sense as written or can I make it more powerful with fewer words? How is my sentence structure? Can it be easily followed? People often write in abbreviation these days. I have to reread their messages to find out what they are referring to. Unless you are texting, please do not abbreviate common words. I could have written TMI in the first paragraph, yet how would you know that it meant, Too Much Information?

When I am finished with what I have written, I read it out loud. I write just like I speak, yet sometimes it will not read well. I therefore have to recompose what I have written. When I am satisfied with the way the message is reading, I copy it and then paste it in the place I wish it to appear.

These suggestions have saved me from having to retrieve a message I was about to post. I followed this process with this article. Yes, it is one more step in a busy day, yet I like to prevent problems rather than fix them. Mistakes will happen, yet you can fix many of them by taking this extra step before you hit “send.” Happy postings.

Practice, Practice & then Practice some more.

Basketball Hall of Famer, Ed Macauley once said, “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win.” Whether you are playing a sport, a musical instrument or rehearsing a business presentation, practice makes you better at what you do. We often look at those who are successful and say, “gee it must be nice to be so talented or lucky." I doubt luck plays a part for most of those at the top of their fields. Top tier people make their own luck by practicing their craft. Most of those that are talented or lucky work darn hard practicing even more to achieve their success to make it look easy. I am sure there are the one or two percent that don’t have to do anything extra and they can get along with their “Midas touch” for a while. Yet, luck usually doesn’t last forever.

I know from my many years of being in business that it takes constant practice to keep and maintain a top tier performance. You might say, how does one practice in business? Several ways. For me, I am constantly reading books, blogs and interesting articles that keep me current on trends, ideas and personal stories that inspire me to constantly practice new ways of doing things. I try to do or implement at least one new thing a week into my routine, often times more. With 52 weeks in a year, that’s 52 new things I learn to do. With practice I can become an expert at many of them. By learning a new idea and implementing it in a way that works for me, often helps keep me engaged, active and eager to learn more.

While driving I listen to books on tape or a podcast that teaches me new ideas. I visit my local library and check out the latest offerings. This also helps me to practice and become a better listener. Listening has become a lost skill. I practice listening often and try to think before I speak. (I can hear my wife now, yea right.)

As a Toastmaster I try to rehearse speeches, quotes and bits of information I find interesting, so I am constantly at the top of my game when called upon to do a impromptu talk or a longer speech. Preparing and practicing for the opportunities that arise, makes it look like it is easy and natural. As any world athletic or musician will tell you. They are not getting paid for their performance today. They are getting paid for all that practicing they did to be at the level they are at today.

What do you do in your business that you practice day after, to be the best? I bet you can do one more thing today, then yesterday and then one more, the next day. Practice makes you the best you can be. Now practice some more so you can go out and win.