Posts Tagged ‘Interaction’
What Am I Lying To Myself About?
This passage is from Nathaniel Branden's The Art of Living Consciously. When we evade the truth about those we deal with, for fear of disturbing the relationship, we set ourselves up for inevitable suffering. If I am honest with myself about someone's shortcomings but choose to go on dealing with him or her because of other benefits, and therefore do not complain or express shock if the shortcomings express themselves, I amnot engaged in evasion or self-deception. I am in effect taking a calculated risk based on what amounts to a cost-benefit analysis. But if I choose not to be conscious of plainly apparent dangers 0r if I deny or rationalize my spouse's abusiveness, pretend not to see evidence of infidelity, or, in business, if I make myself oblivious to the shortcomings of a deal because I want so much for the project to work - then I am inviting the pain and disappointment I will experience. I have forfeited the right to cry "betrayal." I have disarmed myself, and by my cooperation I have signaled my partner that his or her behavior is acceptable and there is no need or reason to change. ++++ Branden's book has impacted my life; I recommend that you buy a copy. --Dave Charbonneau
Dearest Manymoon…
I love FUN people. Folks who believe in the value they create tend toward an easy-to-be-around attitude that often involves a bit of relaxed humor. I started writing a letter to Manymoon, an online project management service. They have a free service and a fee-based level of service, and I (currently) had the need to go back to free. As I started typing, it occurred to me that this sounded much like a "Dear John" letter, so I went with it. What's really great about this isn't my letter, nor the response I got back - tho those are funny - but that the company representative (owner?) responded to me in like-kind. Not with a form-letter, but with a letter that not only addressed my concerns, but addressed them in a "language" he knew I would understand. (BTW, form-letters are fine, but I try to add a bit of personality to any form letters I send out). On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 9:12 PM, Dave Charbonneau <appliedprosperity@gmail.com> wrote: Dearest Manymoon: Hi, it's me. After singing your praises to thousands, I'm afraid I need to downgrade my service to a level of FREE. No, no... it's not you, it's me. I just need some time for myself. Actually, yes. It IS because of my wife. We won't be taking on the number of clients we were at one time planning. Please don't make this harder than it already is. Wha... no, I.... Look, you KNEW I was married when we started this together; and I think you also knew I wasn't ever going to leave her. That said, I need us to end our service agreement. Oh, Manymoon. I will always have a special place in my heart for you. Of course we can still be friends. Maybe in the future... I know. I love you too. "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave Charbonneau, Funny Head www.FunnySaysWhat.com The Response: Dear Dave:We were hoping, planning, dreaming, of a long future together. We knew you were married, and.. well, we knew that it wouldn't be a problem. In fact, we designed Manymoon to be able to work around these relationship issues... but apparently, there are other forces that have, sadly, but some distance between us. Well, since we still love you, we will tell you that can downgrade your account in Paypal by using the following this procedure: Let us know if you have any other questions... and we will take you back anytime. Thanks - Michael Manoochehri Manymoon Customer Service Photo Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elward-photography/ / CC BY 2.0 http://manymoon.com
Simple Keys to Energy & Confidence
I realize what I'm about to say flies in the face of recent societal trends. We can witness daily, men and women across America and around the world who seem to advocate dodging truth, hiding from responsibility. In spite of this (and perhaps even to spite this), I've found the best way to progress AND gain confidence is to MAKE & KEEP PROMISES. It's a simple start, yet I've promised to keep going on both exercising (almost) daily and cleaning one room/day around the home. This keeps me healthy, keeps my wife smiling, AND (because I'm in the act of making and keeping promises) gives me a feeling of confidence that carries over into everything else. As far as confidence in business goes, the first step is to ensure value is being created; that's essential. With that value, the same principle applies: Make and keep promises. However, even when we're creating great value for others, we can have days when we doubt ourselves or our business. This is quite common. I mean, we're out there giving it all we've got and we can find ourselves exhausted; not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Sometimes, a rest is all I need. Some family play time, reading. I might practice the piano (just starting) or play a mindless game or watch a TV show. Rest is important. What I'm saying here is this: It takes energy to make and keep promises. It can take energy to bolster our own confidence in times of doubt. And, hey: Sometimes the confidence and energy simply do not show back up on Monday morning. When this happens, I find that simply TALKING about a current project - describing it to someone else or asking for the ideas of others - this engages me and renews my own excitement. This might be done with a friend or my wife, Renee (tho not typically on a Monday morning). If the timing isn't right to share with people I know, there are plenty of people on Twitter or Facebook to get into positive conversations with about prosperity. (Thanks, Tweeps. You know who you are). Now, with our energy boosted we can put it into making and keeping promises. With this combination of principles and habits being practiced, self-respect, the respect from others, and prosperity; it all increases. "Have A Nice Dave." :) --Dave C. Image Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fullmoon/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Take A Picture – It’ll Last Longer
I find most of the pictures I use at my blog from Flickr.com. I enjoy the feeling of community I get in searching for and finding the "just right" picture from individuals who intentionally share their own creativity or moments of their lives (I do a search from those who associate their images with a CreativeCommons license ). While there are other resources for CreativeCommons images, another reason I use Flickr is that I can leave a comment associated with the picture I select. By doing this, and including a link back to the article where I used the link, I can tell them I'm a fan of their work and who knows? Perhaps they'll become a fan of mine, too. --DC P.S. A really fun Flickr photo-set: CLICK: SIGNS +++++++++
2010 called; it asked for Relatability.
Found an article on adding your personal "voice" to one's website. I thought it a great lesson on communications in general. Here is part of what I read: ++++ (For the full article and other Stoney deGeyter articles, go HERE.) Developing your voice Before you start developing your web content you first need to determine what kind of voice you want your site to have and how you'll ultimately deploy it. A voice can really be anything: Humorous Serious Whimsical Snarky Flowery Thoughtful Brutally honest Down to earth Chances are good that your mind started speaking to you in each voice as you read the bullet point above. If not, read through it again and let your mind convert the words into examples in your mind. Just by reading the words you can really see how these voices can really come through with well-written content. You just need to decide what voice it is that will fit best with your company and your audience. You may think that your industry is limited to just one voice, but it all really depends on how well you sell it. Let's create some quick examples: Humorous: Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. Your escape from the in-law's is guaranteed every season of year. Serious: Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. You're guaranteed to get power to your vehicle when you need it most. Whimsical: You want a durable, long-lasting battery? Yeah, we got that. There is no natural force in the world that'll keep our batteries from doing their job. When you need power, we deliver. Snarky: When headed to the in-law's you want to be equipped with one of the most powerful car batteries money can buy. Come hell or high water, you're getting out of there alive! Flowery: Our car batteries are designed to withstand whatever forces of nature that heaven above (or you know who below) can throw at it. When you turn that key, you're vehicle will roar to life without so much as a cough or sputter. Thoughtful: Let's face it, batteries only fail at the worst possible time, in the worst possible location. We've built reliability into all of our car batteries so they deliver the power you need when you need it to get you to where you would rather be. Brutally honest: Your boss is a jerk, your wife can be a nag and your friends act like idiots. Everybody needs an escape. Where you escape to is up to you, but how is up to us. Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle any time any where. We're ready to go when you are. Down to earth: We know that you can find cheaper car batteries from those other guys. We're not competing on price, we're competing on quality. Our batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. Can you really put a [...]
