10 Reasons Why You Should Be An Athlete

10 Reasons Why You Should Be an Athlete

Do you still harbor the myth of the dumb jock? No doubt, you have plenty of examples where someone is so focused on being great in a sport that they display all the characteristics of the typical dumb jock. However, there are many more examples of athletes that perform exceptionally well outside of their sport and achieve high levels of success.

Here are the Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Be an Athlete:

10. Athletes are goal-oriented. Athletes set goals – often goals that are apparently unattainable. Sometimes we call them “stretch goals.” Because of those goals, athletes also practice techniques that help them see themselves succeeding. Athletes know exactly what a win looks like. They know how success is measured in objective terms. They set up plans that move them step-by-step toward those goals and grade their performance along the way. 

9. Athletes are tenacious.  Athletes are not quitters. They play the game all the way to the end. There are two reasons for this tenacity. First, is that victory may still be within reach, even at the very last instant. The second is that character is revealed in competition and, in defeat, an athlete wants to show character. Tenacity keeps athletes in a competitive position regardless of the situation they are in.

8. Athletes are driven. Athletes have a well-developed sense of what perfection in their sport looks like and that perfection is something they want to achieve. An athlete’s work ethic is strong. They practice and drill on basic skills, enduring pain, boredom, and frustration. Athletes attempt to exceed their innate abilities. The late cycling instructor Jim Karanas used to say, “Training isn’t about getting fit. Training is about learning to overcome your self-imposed limitations.”

7. Athletes are continuous learners. Although athletes often repeat the same activities, they also find themselves having to learn continuously. Whether they are learning a new downhill course, settling into a new job assignment on the field, or studying what competitors are doing in preparation for a game, athletes find themselves absorbing new mental material all the time. This constant demand to learn new things may make athletes very opportunistic learners or “quick studies.”

6. Athletes are exceptional problem solvers. Athletes are often equipped to not only understand their individual contribution, but to see the big picture. They may have specialized skills, but they understand how they fit into the overall scheme of the team goals. This helps make them excellent entrepreneurs and problem solvers. Even athletes who are not on teams, the solo athletes, have this attribute because they are the team. They are playing all of the positions in their sport themselves.

5. Athletes understand the value of balance. Athletes understand that there’s a fine line between training and obsession. They understand what it means to burn out. Athletes train hard, play hard, stay focused and committed; they also know when to relax, take a break, and chill. Athletes know how to taper, back off on hard training, before going into a major competition. They know how to tune themselves to peak at the proper time. They know how to have fun – and when to have it.

4. Athletes work well with partners and in teams. Athletes know about respect for themselves and others. They know where and when to give credit to other members of the team. Athletes know that no matter how well they have done, there were others around that helped them achieve. Athletes know how to collaborate, compromise, adjust, and fit into a complex situation.

3. Athletes are loyal. Athletes identify with their team, school, community, country or fan base. They devote their energies not only to themselves and their sport, but to those who cheer them on also. Athletes identify with the “company flag” and wave it as ardently as anyone. They don’t “date around” or act as consultants. They’re not playing for a different team every week. Even many professional athletes continue to identify with a team that cut them, traded them, or retired them. Joe Montana is a San Francisco hero even though he finished his career in Kansas City, for example.

2. Athletes are resilient. No matter how hard they train, how hard they work, or how completely they plan, athletes experience loss, injury, pain, disappointment and failure. Athletes get knocked down literally and figuratively as a matter of course. In spite of it all, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again. They shuck the past and look to the future. Resilience has a counterweight that helps the athlete know that victory is fleeting and no sooner occurs than it is itself relegated to the past. Athletes have a sharp appreciation for the adage that, win or lose, “Tomorrow is another day.”

1. Athletes hate to lose. The therapeutic value of losing is vastly over-rated. Athletes may learn something about themselves or some aspect of their competition in losing, but beyond that, the value in losing is very low. Bill Campbell coached the Columbia University football team from 1974-1979 after having been on the only Columbia team to win an Ivy League title. His winning percentage was .231. He left coaching and went into technology, becoming a senior executive at Intuit and at Apple. He is on the Board of each company. Campbell says, “There’s not one good thing about losing. There are no lessons to be learned.” It’s hard to argue with him. Losing is painful and, even if the pain goes away, the scars are there. Athletes like to compete, true. They like to win even more. AND THEY HATE TO LOSE. Athletes will work harder, longer, with more determination and focus because they have two motivators. One motivator is the positive one. It’s the desire to win, to be the best. The other motivator is the dark one. It’s the fear of losing. It’s the fear of not being good enough. One motivator is good. Two are better.

Do yourself the biggest favor possible: become an athlete. You don’t have to be world-class, an Olympic champion, or professional. The lessons you’ll learn by being an athlete come at every level of competition across all sports activities and are of life-long value.

Is Your Congressman (or woman) a Big, Fat, Hairy Liar?

Well, they're not all big. Some are definitely not hairy. Who is really to say anything about fat one way or the other? Really, people come on. People may take offense at being called big, fat, or hairy. That sort of talk just isn't nice.

Did I say liar? For some of you, that one is harder to ignore isn't it? All you have to do is watch your favorite entertainment news source (you get that concept, right?) and hear the blather coming from these folks to get a sense that many of them have a tenuous grasp of the facts. The truth may be something they flirt with, but are unwilling to commit to in any meaningful type of relationship. They do this despite the ability of a 3rd grader with Internet access to debunk almost everything they say.

So, why do they do it? Are they really liars? Voters value the truth. Voters shun liars all the time. Lie to us and we'll vote you out or never vote you in to begin with. Just tell us the truth and you'll be richly rewarded at the ballot box. As they say in New Jersey, "Yeah, right."

Hold on a minute. Maybe those aren't actual lies. Maybe they're just specialized versions of the truth. Maybe they just view issues through magical prisms that the rest of us don't have. You can rest assured of one thing: there is always more to the story than what you're hearing from the speaker.

First, a principle. Reasonable, intelligent people can examine the same set of facts and arrive at different conclusions. It happens everyday. Hardly anything within human understanding is so binary, discrete, or black and white as to escape this principle. I'll leave finding examples that prove the rule to you. Tech may be digital, but life is analog.

Another principle. People usually tell you what they think you want to hear. Congress-people are good at this one. It is mostly how they got the job to begin with, and key to helping keep it. Entertainment news perpetuates this because of time and format constraints and because the business model feeds on it. (Entertainment news is about making money, not about having an informed public. If that's lost on you, most of the stuff I talk about will be completely meaningless to you.) The structure of the electoral system perpetuates it. (See yesterday's post.)

Third principle. Complexity drives us to seek simplicity. It happens for all of us. We seek to deconstruct the complex in an effort to better understand and cope. Very few of us can be immersed in complexity for very long or very well. Humans have a way of creating complexity and then striving to make simplicity. We talk about living a simple life. We enjoy having simple solutions to big problems. We want to walk on a straight, clear path, not a twisty one. We undo knots. K.I.S.S.

Applying these three principles, we see that even when we think we're right, someone else disagrees; if we want the whole story, we need to seek additional sources or hear other perspectives; and, we expect and need to keep it simple.

Cutting to the chase. Is your Representative a liar? In all likelihood, yes. Can he/she help it? Probably not. Can you change them? Doubtful. Can you replace them and do better? Again, doubtful unless you think hearing different lies is an improvement.

What's a person to do? Unfortunately, these days, most people just tune it out. Turn it off. Hit the delete key or the ignore button. Too many lies. Too much BS. Too much complexity.

Here's something that might help. First, eliminate all opinion-based sources of electronic "newsattainment". You need hard news, not fantasy-based talk from people trying to sway you. Gather facts. Real facts. And, do this from a wide variety of sources.

Second, compare those facts. You'll begin to see that sometimes they conflict. You will discover that some are un-factual. You'll learn to be very efficient in fact-gathering and fact sorting. You'll develop trustworthy sources for gathering them. You'll find that they can be checked and measured reliably and consistently.

Third, develop an ear for "spin". When you hear someone spouting off facts, listen for what is really being said. Understand that they aren't telling you the whole story. They probably don't know the whole story themselves.

Simplify, but avoid "dumbing down". There is a difference between simple and simple-minded. You can respect intelligence and still demand clarity and simplicity. Things can be simplified, but that doesn't mean that they will become easy.

You will be better informed. You will learn to recognize BS almost instantly. You'll become a better citizen. You probably won't get taller, slimmer, or more physically fit...but you will feel better about coping with the noise around you.

Unhappy with Congress?

You could do something about it, but chances are, you won't. Why? Well, because you're probably not unhappy about your Congress-man or -woman. Why? Well, because for decades both parties have used and abused a little trick called gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is the process by which Congressional districts are drawn (and re-drawn) in an attempt to ensure the re-election of the incumbent. Once someone is in, their party wants to make sure they stay there. There are several reasons for desiring seniority - better committee assignments, more appropriations, more donations, and so on. Basically, more seniority equals more money for the incumbent and the incumbent's party. Seniority garners power, prestige, position, and pay (or for the cynics in the audience - payola).

When a district has been gerrymandered effectively, the majority of voters in the district can be counted on to vote in reliably predictable ways. That is, the district will almost assuredly remain a stronghold of a particular party's defined constituency. From a political strategy perspective, each district has a well-defined identity with a prototypical constituent. Find a candidate that closely matches the prototype's ideals and you can control that seat in Congress for a very long time.

The make up of Congress then becomes a self-perpetuating machine. Your representative is there because a majority of voters in the district voted for them. A majority voted for them because the voters in the district have been carefully aggregated into as near a bloc as is possible. Changes in who holds the Congressional seat happen in 3 ways: the representative gives up the seat for some other position (a run for governor, the Senate, private sector job, Cabinet appointment, retirement, etc); a shift in the district's demographics occurs causing a basic shift in the electoral mathematics (may cause the seat to go to the other party); the representative is defeated within his or her own party for not "representing the majority" (the representative became too liberal or too conservative or angered voters on some special issue).

You may think Congress is a mess, but you are probably not able to see what part of the mess your representative contributes. That's because you'd have to admit which part of the mess you're contributing. Self-reflection as voters is not something at which we excel. We continue to believe that we voted correctly, but that other people in other districts didn't. It's someone else's fault. Not ours. So, we get mad at Congress and lash out. Our representative feels just like we do and would fix everything if only "those other people" would help a little.

We could fix the problem if we had the will to do so. How? We could set "rational" district boundaries, make them static, and only allow them to change once every 50 years or something. Very blunt instrument sort of idea. Of course, neither party would like that idea. Special interest groups wouldn't like that idea.

The Constitution calls for "the number not to exceed one for every thirty thousand", but each state got at least one. When the U.S. population was smaller, there were more representatives per capita than there are today. Today, there are 435 voting members in Congress. There are roughly 350,000,000 residents of the U.S. That means, there is a representative for about every 800,000 folks. Imagine what would happen (OMG!) if there was a representative for every 400,000 or 100,000 or 50,000. As a point of reference, in 1960 the 86th Congress, had 437 members in a total U.S. population of 180,000,000. Proportionately, if Congress were twice the size it is currently, we'd be in the ballpark of 1960 representation.

I have no idea if that would be better or worse. Many people think Congress was great in 1960 and not great now. Are representatives over worked nowadays?

The bottom line is that Congress is what it is because we are who we are. Nothing more, nothing less. Fixing Congress is within our power because we can vote differently.  Problem is - we won't do that, probably. Fixing Congress is not within our power because membership has its privileges, including writing the rules to remain a member.

The question is: how would you solve the problem?

5 Leadership Lessons from Playing Angry Birds

Many of your friends may have moved on from playing Angry Birds. Silicon Valley millennials may being playing Dots, Minecraft, or Fruit Ninja. Maybe you don't play games on your smartphone. Maybe the idea of exploiting emotionally-charged birds to destroy green, so-called bad piggies, who are hiding in their homes and, presumably, minding their own business is repugnant to you. That Angry Birds is a game phenomenon having grown into a vastly popular brand is undeniable.

Angry Birds allows the player to use birds with specific skills to destroy a defensive structure inhabited by bad piggies. When all of the bad piggies are destroyed, the puzzle is solved and the player can go to the next level.

BUT, Angry Birds also gives you an opportunity to experience five important leadership lessons. At the beginning of each level, the player is given a team of birds with skills that are adequate for solving that particular puzzle. The birds are used in a pre-arranged order, much like a batting order in baseball.

What can Angry Birds teach you about leadership? First, a leader needs to understand the skills and key strengths of each team member. Not everyone can do the same things equally well. Learn what key strengths and talents your team members have to maximize the results.

Second, match the team to the problem at hand. In Angry Birds, you have to use the team you're given, but that team is designed to solve the problem. In real life, make sure you design your team with the skills necessary to address the problem.

Third, have a plan of attack. Take some time to study the problem and review the resources that are available to you. Make a plan - at least a high-level plan - about how to get started and how to best use the team.

Fourth, when necessary, adjust your tactics to match the skills that are available. A poor performance might create a need to adjust the expectations on other team members. An outstanding performance may present an opportunity to capitalize on a special situation. Using baseball as an example, say a batter strikes out, so the next batter up is instructed to to do something different than would have been the case if the previous batter had gotten on base. Or, maybe a batter hits a triple and now the manager sees a special opportunity to take advantage of the situation and uses the next batter's skills in a different manner.

Finally, be flexible enough to modify the plan when events don't proceed as you hoped they would. Strategy is planning, but tactics are dictated by circumstances. An especially strong, or weak, performance; or, an especially good or bad bit of luck can signal the effective leader to modify the original plan. Things may become easier than anticipated. Things may become more difficult than anticipated. Risk factors may be either heightened or lessened. The effective leader is flexible enough to see, understand, and act accordingly.

Apple Really is Smarter Than You

Face it. You really aren't as smart as Apple. You quite possibly are as smart as any given individual at Apple, even Tim Cook or Jony Ive. But, you're not as smart as the whole Apple team is.

They have many times more collective experience than you can possibly have. They have a deep history of successful execution. They have a deep history of failure. They have more data inputs and more data analysis capabilities. They come from a culture specifically designed to be smart and to sustain intelligence.

They live in a learning culture, where the expectation is to always be moving forward. They add new talent. They acquire companies to add intellectual property and power. They file patents and experiment on product developments that never get built. They kill products, even successful ones.

They also know who they are and what Apple is. As a result, they do what they do, not what someone else does or expects them to do. Although they are rarely ever on the bleeding edge of technology leadership, they're not really followers either.

They make geeky tech stuff sexy, appealing, and fashionable. They make engineering innovations look incremental and mundane, almost as if anybody could do it. A new product announcement comes along for something that no one has ever seen or is the best anyone has ever seen and it's received as just another day at the office. Almost any company in the world would be happy with just one Apple-style hit product.

You think they should offer more options, add more features, make a bigger phone, make a smaller tablet, tack on a keyboard, support Flash, increase the megapixels, include expansion ports, blah blah blah. You think the price is too high. You think the system is too closed. You think gold is silly or the colors are yucky.

It really is time to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself who has the track record here. For roughly the last 16 years, Apple has been unrivaled in designing and building great products, delivering excellent profits, and creating shareholder value. You may hate Apple or its products. You may prefer other consumer electronics or investments in other companies. Fine.

If you really think you're smarter and know better about what to do or how to do it, then get out there and get to work. We'd all love to see it. We're waiting...

5 Reasons Why You Should Play Angry Birds

Back in the old days, around 2009 or so, it seemed like everyone was playing Angry Birds. Everyone, that is, but me. My sons and their friends. Adults, teenagers, pre-teens, millennials - had their noses buried in their iPhones as they focused intently on controlling a menagerie of flying weapons. In my mind, playing was something to be avoided. I refused to get sucked in to the vortex.

A couple of years passed and, somehow, it happened. I downloaded the game and entered the world of Angry Birds. The addiction was instant. I erased all the other games on my phone. I gave up my beloved NY Times crossword. Angry Birds became my recreational activity of choice. Never mind that many of the people I knew had moved on to other diversions. For me, AB was a fun way to decompress, relax, and chill.

I got mad at myself - remembering all those times I made fun of the kids for being suckers. Thinking of all that time that I was wasting playing this maddening game. Frustrated by repeated failures at a given level. Obsessed by a need to achieve success and move on.

Reflecting on the dozens or hundreds (maybe thousands?) of times I've now played AB, a realization developed for me. Angry Birds can teach us a lot about performance, success and failure, and perseverance.

If you've never played, Angry Birds is essentially a set of puzzles. A player deploys a specialized assortment of angry birds individually (a team) to collapse an elaborate defense system thereby defeating the bad piggies and solving the puzzle. Each bird on the "team" gets a turn...sort of like in kickball or baseball.

What can you learn by playing? Angry Birds teaches five important lessons.

A great performance by one team member does not guarantee a win.
A poor performance by one team member does not guarantee a defeat.
There are several paths to a victory.
It ain't over, 'til it's over.
A plan is a good thing, but being flexible is critical.

Great performances are exciting and dramatic. They're fun to watch. They can be inspiring. They do not guarantee that you'll win though. Many is the team that went to defeat while a star excelled.

By the same token, a below average or poor performance can be overcome and victory gained in spite of it. Whether by luck, a great performance by someone else, or a glaring weakness in the competition, some teams find a way to overcome an individual  poor performance and win.

Victory often comes in unexpected ways. No two victories are ever exactly alike. For whatever reasons, each victory can seem like its very own special and unique experience.

For every team, in every situation that won at the last possible moment; on the last play; on the last shot; with no time remaining on the clock; in a great comeback; there was another team that lost; collapsed; choked; was defeated; that somehow stopped or fell short.

Good planning is essential, but things rarely ever go the way they're "supposed" to. You have to adjust to circumstances. Flexibility is crucial to success.

Finally, a response...

This post is a further explanation to the excellent comment by Beechcreek and since only 4,096 characters are allowed in the comment section, I felt that a more thorough answer was in order.

The short answer is that the blog title comes from something the late Paul Blair, my kids' swim coach, always said. He was a renowned and highly-respected coach with national champions and Olympic Gold Medalists to his credit. He always said, "It just isn't that hard. You swim to one end of the pool, turn around and come back." Of course, he was right. What could be easier than swimming to one end and then swimming back? Swimmers the world over do it thousands of times a day. The trick is that there really is a lot of complexity to it as well.

If you're happy with that answer, then this is a good time to stop reading. Next though, I want to focus on what I think is the heart of Beechcreek's comment: "how to spend one's limited physical and mental time are quite complex decisions; ie, not every interest or desire is satisfied. What in your life is really not that hard?"

I usually think of things along two axes, x and y. Along the x axis, you could put "Simple" on the left or, zero point, and put "Complex" to the right. On the y axis, you could put "Easy" at the bottom or, zero point, and put "Hard" up at the top. You then have a clear set of quadrants that help in putting things sort of where you think they go. A trip to the moon is both hard and complex so it goes in the upper right. That simple illustration helps me think about things in relative terms. Do I find the task complex, but easy? Is it simple, yet hard? We all have some way to categorize and sort things out so that we can cope with them. Not everyone will categorize a given situation/problem in the same way. Your simple may be my complex. My easy may be your hard. This is just a model for helping sort and sift stuff out.

The Simple/Complex axis is more about the steps involved, the calculations required, the science inherent in the situation than anything else. The key is always to break complexity down. Simplify as much as possible. Start with the end in mind and work back to a reasonable beginning.

The Easy/Hard axis is more about character, will, values, and ethics. On that axis, we're looking for the right thing to do, the best outcome, the Good. Sometimes finding that point is harder than at other times, but maybe only because we make it harder. At our core, we usually know what should be done. We hear people talk about making the "hard choices", but I suspect that's more public relations and political correctness than real moral dilemma.

Beechcreek asserts that "how to spend one's limited physical and mental time are quite complex decisions; ie, not every interest or desire is satisfied." There are two ideas in that statement and I want to address each one. The notion that "how to spend one's...time [is] complex..." is certainly truer for some of us than for others. I know people for whom those decisions are simple; not at all complex. For others, though, those decisions are of such complexity that they are paralyzed by indecision. There's a good bit of current research that discusses "decision fatigue" and "ego depletion" and the effects of things, like poverty, on buying decisions in grocery stores. By way of example, making the decision to go grocery shopping might be easy ("food is needed and the market is across the street"). But, getting out of the store properly provisioned and on budget might be complex ("I must feed four people something nourishing for 3 days and only have $25"). Decisions may be made more complex because of external conditions, including the number of decisions required in a given time and the amount of money available.

The second idea in the comment is that "not every interest or desire is satisfied." That is generally true for most of us although all of us can probably name someone who at least thinks their every interest and desire have been satisfied. Maybe, we can think of times when we experienced that feeling ourselves, even if only briefly. I've never been of the opinion that my every interest or desire would be, could be, or should be satisfied.  That concept might very well be the basis for most of the volumes of religious and philosophical writing.

Perhaps, like Beechcreek, I have felt many times that life is hard; that the choices facing me were difficult; that there was too much of the world and not enough of me. It dawned on me one day that Coach Blair was right. We swim to the end of the pool, turn around and swim back. The famous basketball coach, Bobby Knight, was giving a speech to a gathering I was attending one time. In a nutshell, he said that he believed there are four steps to great performance: 1) do what needs to be done; 2) do it, when it needs to be done; 3) do it when it needs to be done, as well as you can do it; and, 4) do it when it needs to be done, as well as you can do it, over and over again. Simple; but, at least for me, sometimes hard. Chalk that up in my personal Upper Left Quadrant.

As a corollary to Coach Blair, what Coach Knight said is spot on. You can start every day with a keen desire to be where you think you're supposed to be; to do everything you can to create a positive value in the lives of everyone you see; to learn something new that you didn't know; and, to be as open to the possibilities in the world as you can.

Each of us is surrounded by tremendous opportunities, many of which we never recognize for what they are. We are more capable than we give ourselves credit for being. We are also often our own worst enemies. I think that, excepting mental illness, when given a chance to make a so-called difficult choice, most people make the right decision, most of the time. The bad decisions that people make (and that we see reported on the news and Internet) are often the result of external influences that have a negative, debilitating, coercive, or threatening effect on the person. When we take the time to think through the possible outcomes, reflect on the damage to be inflicted, seek other paths, or subdue our personal demons, the odds of making a better decision improve.

When approached with good intentions and good will, truly seeking the best outcome, there are very few decisions that are either right or wrong. We never get to make decisions with all of the facts or knowledge we need or want. We don't get to peer into the future to see the outcome. We can only do our best. Then, we can adjust and do our best again. Most of us proceed along a fairly bumpy road, sometimes stumbling and sometimes strolling. Neither condition is permanent. Neither condition may be entirely of our own making. We just continue...and endeavor to enjoy the journey in each and every moment.

Peace.

Training and Boundaries

In cycling class the other day, my legs were aching, my lungs were on fire, and the sweat was pouring off of me like I was living in a rainforest. And, that was the good news. The bad news was that we were only about half-way through the hour. It was my first time riding in this leader's class and I was learning a lot about him, indoor cycling, and myself.

I took an important lesson away from Jim's TeamICG class. Training isn't just about fitness. Training is about learning that the limitations you're seeing aren't real. Training is pushing yourself beyond those imaginary boundaries that you set up.

Whether you're exercising your body or your mind, training helps push you to the next level. It's how you break the bonds that you wrap around yourself.

America is Diversity

Do you have friends/acquaintances that are unhappy with how things are going in the US? You may know someone who mentions secession as an option for correcting the country's ills. Here is a short list of questions.

How would you make the U.S. be just the way you want it? Who could/couldn't live here? Who could/couldn't work here? Who could/couldn't vote? What laws would there be? Who would enforce them? Would there a job for everyone who wants one? Would there be a federal government? How would it be formed? What religion(s) would be prescribed or proscribed? Would there be taxes? Who would pay them? What relationships would we have with other countries? Who would decide? How would you prevent crime? How would you create justice? What would you do about the poor, homeless, and sick? The list of questions could go on and on.

What I want to understand is: if you could create the ideal USA, what specific things would you do? Not just "throw the bums out"; "follow the constitution"; "quit being socialists"; or, "close the borders". Anyone can complain about stuff they don't like. What solutions do you have and how do they all fit together? Paint the picture; don't just throw paint on the wall.

There are about 365,000,000 people living in the US. I imagine that nearly every ethnic group, nationality, language, religion, political philosophy, economic theory, and belief system that exists on earth, exists in the US. Sure, there may be exceptions - the language spoken by 10 inhabitants on some atoll in a remote ocean, for example. Generally, though, I bet that if humans are involved in it somewhere, it is also represented by someone here in the US. Hate diversity? This may be a tough place for you.

No other country in the world is like the US. There are places with less of a mix, but nowhere has more of a mix.

When did that begin? Roughly 500 years ago. An Italian, sailing under Spanish colors, with a crew of who knows what origins came to an island just a few hundred miles south of the north American coast. That coast may have been visited by Vikings and that island was inhabited by people whose forbears migrated from Asia - hundreds, or maybe thousands, of years before. You want homogeneity? Good luck. Try Outer Mongolia, maybe.

The US is, and arguably always has been, the definition of diversity.

Space May Be the Final Frontier

Music is the space between the notes. - Claude Debussy

It's the silence between the notes that makes the music. - Zen proverb

The space between us, is it a space that separates us or a space that unites us? - June Singer

Captain James T. Kirk spoke the opening words of the original Star Trek, "Space: the final frontier." 

I hear those words now much differently than I did as a teenager. What once I understood to be literally true, now is meaningful to me on another level.

The space between us is the final frontier. There is vast unexplored and unconquered space between us. There are enormous gaps in our understanding and comprehension.. Individually, corporately, nationally. We are so near, yet so far away from, each other.

Still, we are bound together across space by all sorts of things. The list is practically endless. And, we are more alike than we are different. It seems, though, that we spend almost as much time peering and shouting across the void that separates us as we do immersing ourselves in the unseen energies that attract us and allow us to connect.

Why is that? Is it because dust is blocking the light, causing huge dark clouds like the Horsehead Nebula? Is it because we only look into the space from one angle and see red? Or from another angle and only see blue? 

We get red sunsets and blue skies from the same source of light.

Science and Religion

I love science. I'm not a scientist though. Never found any discipline that I was very good at. I like physics. Really liked chemistry, especially the stuff that exploded or caught on fire. Was never that fond of biology in school, except for dissection. Maybe because where I went to school, science wasn't hands-on enough. Too much memorization and dry, boring reading. My avowed love of science has come later in life.

One thing that disturbs me though is how smug some people are when it comes to science. You know an armchair pseudo-scientist or two that expounds on how much is known (and secretly revels in telling you how much they know). They have the last word in all that is rational. And, to them, all is rational or will be soon. We have an arrogance that laughs at the superstitions of the past, sniffs at the beliefs of the present, and is wary of any future challenge to our facts.

There's no room in their world for the spiritual, the inexplicable, the ethereal. To some of these folks, if it can't be measured, then it doesn't exist. Yet, the history of science is about knowing that which was unknown; measuring that which was unmeasurable; and, seeing that which was unseen. Sometimes things are believed long before they are known. The new discovery is used to explain away the spiritual, irrational beliefs. Science is used to debunk belief.

On the other hand, some of the most profound scientists and great scientific minds leave room for phenomena that are outside their understanding. They grasp the physical, but appreciate the meta-physical as well.

A simple model that helps me is that science points us towards understanding the what, how, when, where, and (sometimes) who questions; religion helps us understand the why question. For me, neither one can do the other's job. When we try to make science tell us why or religion tell us how, then we get ourselves into all sorts of problems.

Everyone Looks Good Going Downhill

San Francisco is a great place. Weekend car traffic is usually not awful, the exceptions being certain neighborhoods and big events. Public transit is good and reliable. It's a good place to walk and is cycling friendly. On a quiet Sunday morning walkers, runners, and cyclists are out for exercise as well as for getting to a favorite cafe or meeting spot.

What struck me today on my walk to the Hyde Street Pier is just how good everyone looks running down hill. From my spot in Nob Hill, Hyde Street is downhill all the way. Being a walker has its advantages. You get to take in the sights, sounds, and smells. The slow pace allows for a certain immersion in being present. There's no rush.

There are baby strollers, dogs on leashes, elderly folks, panhandlers, and tourists. There are also lots of young, fit, fast runners. At least, they're fast going toward the Bay. They sort of just blow right by heading in that direction, their faces all smiles, the conversation with running partners lively and brisk. Once they get down to the Bay, they coast along the flats soaking up the sun and the cool breeze. Everyone looks great.

Seeing the runners headed back up the hills from the Bay is a different story. Grimaces often replace smiles. Heavy breathing replaces cheerful conversation. The running partner may be back a few paces, struggling to keep up.

It's easy to look good going downhill. How do you handle going uphill?

The Fix Is In!

A few years ago, two friends (Lloyd and Frank) were watching an NBA playoff game when Lloyd says, "You know, all of this is fixed, right?"
Frank: "Excuse me?"

Lloyd: "Yeah, all this NBA stuff. The outcome's already determined. The Bulls will win because without Michael Jordan and the championship narrative, no one cares about the NBA. He's the only reason anyone makes any money. So, the fix is there to keep the narrative in place. I mean nobody is really that good. Look at how people just let him do whatever he wants. This is professional wrestling just dressed up in a fancier package and with more money involved."

Frank: "So, everybody knows this and it's just a set up to separate people from their money?"
Lloyd: "Yeah."

Frank: "There must be a lot of people involved. Why do all of these thousands of people show up, and spend money on it, and even bet on the outcomes?"
Lloyd: "Oh, everyone is a part of the scam. It's no secret. People just do it because they're all stupid and have been duped."

Frank (looking at  the TV): "Wow! Did you see that move?"
Lloyd (barely noticing): "That's no big deal. They just let him do that."

Frank: "They just let him sink a 24 ft fade away jumper with a guy in his face?"

"Yeah, that sort of thing goes on all the time. It's part of the fix. Anybody can do that the way they set it up," says Lloyd. Frank, head beginning to spin, blurts out,"I'm pretty sure you can't do it. I know damn well that I can't. In fact, you couldn't hit the rim from where he was even if no one was guarding you."

To one friend, pro basketball is just another example of a conspiratorial world where nothing is what it seems. No one is real (except him and the small handful of people that agree with him). The other friend seeks and finds authenticity in everyday activities.

Where do you find what's real? How do you know that it's real?

Star Light, Star Bright

Only .000000000000001% of the stars in the universe can be seen from earth. Numbers confuse me, but that looks like 1x10-15, which is called a femto and is three orders of magnitude smaller than pico (1x10-12, or 1 trillion). If my math is right, a femto is 1000 trillion. If this is correct, then we can see 1 one-thousand-trillionth of the stars in the universe! For the sake of comparison, you are approximately .0000000001% of the earth’s population (1/7,100,000,000+). (That’s a million times larger than the “% of visible stars” number.) So, you represent a larger portion of the Earth’s population than the visible stars do of the Universe’s total star population. If this isn’t mind-boggling enough, some scientists estimate that there are 300 sextillion stars. That’s 3 trillion x 100 billion.

All of this gets me to thinking about importance. Some cute kids in a TV commercial for a wireless communications company tell us that more is better. Advantage: stars. We also think that scarcity, or rarity, is more valuable. Advantage: humans.

Those really important people - celebrities, sports stars, titans of industry, and reality TV personalities? They are just like you - 0.0000000001% of the population.

The Desiderata has a line that goes “You are a child of the Universe, No less than the trees or the stars...” In Monty Python’s The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle sings “So remember, when you’re feeling really small and insecure, how amazingly unlikely is your birth...”

The point? Some things are bigger than we can possibly imagine. Some smaller. From where we sit, we can’t see the big picture or the small picture - only parts of each. Be amazed. Be humble. Be you.

What's Plan B?

Someone asked recently what what my Plan B was, thinking that if our newest project fails we must have some sort of a backup plan. My automatic answer was that Plan B is to make Plan A work. Go ahead and laugh. It's ok. Most people do laugh at that. He certainly did. That answer sometimes makes people uneasy. It seems like a pretty unhinged thing to say - a bit mad. But, it's a completely reasonable answer. Maybe the most serious answer one can give.

My view is that a new venture is like a marriage. It requires commitment especially in the face of adversity. There are a million ways and reasons for it to go off the rails and end up a failure. Having a heightened sense of commitment and focus that one gains by not having a love interest outside the marriage tracks with not having other ventures vying for your attention too. You may still fail; but it won't be because you started dating someone else, or spending time making sure Plan B is ready to go.

When people hear that you've started a new venture that they perceive to be risky, they almost invariably ask, "Do you have a Plan B?" Chances are that if you're starting out on something they understand and they see others being successful at, then they don't worry about what you'll do if things don't work out. Lots of other considerations may enter their minds that somehow mitigate the risks that you're taking. Your mom, dad, or spouse might be much more sensitive to what will happen if you aren't successful because they may have to provide all kinds of additional emotional and tangible support in the event your idea crashes.

They want to make sure that you have some back-up - Plan B. A safety net. An escape route. A parachute. Contingency plans. Prudence practically requires having an alternative in place. It's always smart to hedge your bets, right?

Starting a new venture (compared to opening a franchise business or buying an operating company) rarely happens in a flash. The brilliant idea that ignited the fuse may have come in an instant, but getting beyond the idea to the launch of the venture is another story. From idea to inception is usually a longish, sometimes steep, and always rocky path that ultimately very few would-be entrepreneurs survive. Surprisingly few people make it. The ones who do often work nights, weekends, and holidays while sacrificing family, leisure time, and "hobbies" so that they can pursue their dream.

Eventually though they find that a Go - No Go decision has to be made. That is, they find that they've done all they can do short of a full-time commitment. Talk about launching a product or a company? It brings to mind the image of launching a rocket ship - a discrete event. You either launch or you don't. There is simply no half-measure. At launch, a commitment is made for Plan A to work. Everyone on the team has to share the crucial qualities of commitment and focus.

Obviously, this level of commitment does not guarantee success. It does guarantee that failure will not come as a result of not paying attention, though.

None of this is to say that you should spend every last bit of your resources in the pursuit of your idea. As the old saying goes, "You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." Making Plan A should include how much you are willing to invest (time and money), what milestones have to be met in order to satisfy your definition of success at any given point, and what decision points will help determine whether you continue the pursuit or end it. As long as you are continuing, you don't really need Plan B anyway. If you reach a decision point that convinces or compels you to shut down the venture, then you can set about making another Plan A and deciding what's next.

You need to structure Plan A in such a way that you know what defines success and failure; that you know when to expect to make critical decisions about continuing to work the plan; that you budget and allocate a quantity of resources to the project; that you are disciplined enough to follow the budget; and, that you are willing to make the hard decision to stick to the plan, which includes killing the project if the goals are being missed. If you do those things, then Plan B pretty much takes care of itself.

Get To Failure As Quickly As Possible

If something isn’t going to work, when do you want to know? That relationship. That job. That great idea. When do you want to know that the whole thing is just going to be a complete bust? Most of us sit around after the implosion and lament that “if only I’d known sooner...”  Our hindsight kicks in and we start thinking of the reasons why failure was obvious, or at least should have been.

Then we wish we hadn’t spent so much time, effort, or money pursuing what turned out to be a dud. If we only had a crystal ball that would show us before we got into it. We would have avoided the whole mess and done something better.

Knowing if and when failure will occur is pretty important. Maybe life-altering. 

And yet, we spend a lot of time avoiding failure or maybe ignoring the inevitable. We hate to fail. It feels bad. It’s embarrassing. We feel inadequate and stupid. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Right? So, if we do it wrong...

Edison’s light bulb and Bell’s telephone both came after thousands of failures. Most real innovation comes as a result of multiple failures. Figuring out quickly that something will fail is the essence of getting to the next step - the step that may be the success.

Failure is only embarrassing because we let it be. Failure is an important key to success. Recognize the milestone for what it is. Get to it as quickly as possible. Get over it as quickly as possible. Learn as much from it as possible.

Icon, guru, warrior, rock star

A friend had an important position coming open in his company and asked another friend and me to help him scout for talent, screen applicants, and vet candidates. In the course of spreading the word about the opening, a résumé hit my e-mail one day with the cover letter below attached. Obviously, it's been sanitized a bit, but it is very real and very much un-edited. If you're looking for this guy, let me know. :-)

ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE KNOWS MORE ABOUT PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT than me because I have designed & built process equipment for 30 years! I have been delivering high quality, customer satisfaction, high profit products & uncompromising services as a seasoned manager & leader throughout my career. I am an ICON in the Industrial Manufacturing Industry as crowned by my customers & peers. Considered a GURU in manufacturing processes, I am able to funnel all of my skills & talents to mentor & lead teams to excellence in their tasks. Manufacturing methodologies & continuous improvements to the production system is what I do every hour. Embedded with creativity & innovation, I make remarkable improvements that change the exciting destiny of a manufacturing business. As a Rock-Star Top Performer, I bring passion, motivation, innovation, inspiration, & dedication to your business synergy & team building perspicacity. Creative thinking as a risk taker, innovative as a thoroughbred multi-disciplined engineer, a driver of status-quo challenges & a commander in achieving the highest of quality excellence, I direct multiple teams through task ownership, stake-holder responsibility, proactive attitudes & the championship of greater market share dynamics yielding enhanced revenues & domination in a best-in-class empire. Expertly trained in Management & Leadership, I have built start-up businesses as well as to enhance existing identities by COMBINING THE EFFICIENCIES OF MACHINES WITH MAN. Schooled in Business Law just adds to my already long list of accolades where contracts & conditions of sale exist. Construction & retrofits have been part of my plant engineering career! With many transferable skills, I constantly seek excellence at its highest level, quest high achievement status, induce safety awareness, aspire to industry recognition & amass loyal followers. I offer mutually earned respect. I honor truth over pride as it forges high values & builds the strongest character. I work smart & encourage all those around me to do the same by eliminating duplicity, overcoming adversity, treating everyone as family & viewing all challenges as an opportunity to become a Warrior & a Gladiator in the business that we serve. I have solid experience in multiple plant oversight engaged in industrial light & heavy metals fabrications, precision manufacturing, complex assemblies, mobile equipment & production machinery, process equipment design & build, capital asset expansion, building codes & construction, & mass product production. My experience is simple; I drive down costs without impacting quality, drive excellence in safety & product production, build solid creative & innovative teams, continuously improve the processes & value streamed production efforts, & promote ownership of tasks from all team members collaboratively. Where money can be saved, I investigate the idea, review implementing the potential costs, compose a proposal & present it to Ownership management for review; then integrate the system upon approval without a severe impact on the existing production where possible. I am a Guru on CNC production equipment, welding processes & materials selection, machining processes, procurement, & a specialist in finding losses in production or product design deficiencies that starve profits. In the consideration of your leaders, understand the candidate's life trajectory rather than their domain expertise. Solid results, sustaining profits, and organic growth are the key objectives of your company. I will lead these initiatives with relentless enthusiasm & tenacious zest; with honor to those who came before me in their pursuit of prosperity. Call me. Thank you.

Recently, this list came across one of my news feeds. It's a pretty good list, but I think the one below it is better.

10 Things to Stop Doing Right Now.

1. Blaming  
2. Impressing  
3. Clinging  
4. Interrupting  
5. Whining  
6. Controlling  
7. Criticizing
8. Preaching  
9. Dwelling 
10. Fearing

10 Things to Start Doing Right Now.

1. Smiling  
2. Thanking  
3. Helping  
4. Listening  
5. Giving  
6. Tolerating  
7. Laughing  
8. Supporting 
9. Caring 
10. Being