Author: jeff noel

The most important thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother. — Henry Ward Beecher

He who is taught to live upon little owes more to his father’s wisdom than he who has a great deal left him does. — William Penn

Who said, “The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining”?  I’m currently preparing for life after my career with a Fortune 100 company, (retirement in 5-10 years).  I hope that when my 8-year old son goes looking for Jesus he only has to look across the dinner table to get a glimpse of what Jesus is really like.  And to that end, I’ve become an Internet Entrepreneur, visioning and creating a safe place for people to get better.  And a place to challenge Baby Boomers and X-ers to do something great before they die.

Context: I wrote this so I could summarize what I was thinking, before I had a (diplomatic) conversation with my wonderful in-laws. They live 1,100 miles away. They are in their mid-eighties. I just wanted them to be thinking about some simple, but very important questions. Here we go:

How important is it to carefully consider the pros and cons before making a major decision? Right! Extremely important. Why? What a great question, “Why?” Why allows you to decide with logic and reason, rather than emotion.

What’s the downside of an emotional decision?

What’s the upside of an emotional decision?

What’s the downside of a rational decision?

What’s the updside of a rational decision?

By now I hope we all agree that a rational decision has far more benefits than negatives. And, an emotional decision has far more negatives than benefits. Agreed? Good. This is what is called a blinding flash of the obvious. When the answer is obvious because of the overwhelming logic from life’s experiences.

If you move next door to us, into a mother-in-law apartment yet to be built, what are the pros and what are the cons?:

PROS:

1. See each other more often.

2. Help each other when we can.

3. Have meals together more often, probably on the weekends.

4. Consolidate financial resources, I think.

CONS:

1. You lose your social network.

2. Everything is unfamiliar.

3. You become a prisoner in your own home.

4. You lose your routine.

5. You go stir-crazy because you feel trapped.

6. You go stir-crazy because you are bored.

7. A huge reinvestment in medical appointments.

8. Maybe lose your ability to drive, becoming totaly dependant on two busy people.

Gonna make a New Year’s resolution this year?   No?   Why not?  If you’re like me, your wisdom has taught you that your resolutions have a poor chance of coming true.  It’s predictable.  Yet, it’s also reversable.  Here are 6.5 things you can do to jump start a new resolve this year:

1.  Start early.  June is good.

2.  Make a really easy resolution.

3.  Be realistic.  Seriously.  Too big = failure.

4.  What got you where you are will not move you forward.

5.  Have a deadline.  Deadlines provide you with focus.

6.  Have a purpose.  Purpose provides you with the reason why.

6.5.  Don’t be a chicken-shit*!  Learn to kick your own ass*.

(* Please forgive the language. I’ll type 10,000 words and not use profanity; however, it just seems to fit right here, right now. And both words/phrases will be covered in another story, later.)

Let’s talk about # 2 – “Make a really easy resolution”

Several years ago I decided to set all my clocks (15 devices in our house & cars) to the same time. To make it a bit more challenging, with my wife’s support, we made them all the real time. Pretty gutsy move if you ask me.

Why? Because all the clocks had different times and none of them were the real time.

The fundamental change here was to just admit that time is what it is. Playing and trying to manipulate it doesn’t change anything. It only led me to believe I had some control over the clock.

The only thing I have control over is my ability to accept the reality that my habits are the culprit, or victor, over being late or on time for meetings and commitments.

This making sense to you?

It was an “easy” resolution. Set all the clocks to the (same) real time. The hard part was not being late for work, church, school, etc.

Seriously, how hard is it to simply move the big and little hands to the real time?

It felt good to accomplish a New Year’s resolution.

Why?

The obvious of course. But also the momentum of “having one in the win column.”

It was the next year that I resolved to do a BIG resolution. More on that later.

Make it a great day, because if you don’t, who will?

Later! And, oh yeah, carpe diem!!