Category: Back To The Future

The value of one ordinary day

Apple Store team meeting
Yesterday morning

 

“How was your day?”, we often get asked.

Yesterday waiting for the Apple Store to open, my reflection in the lower right quadrant, and a team meeting in the upper right quadrant. There for a one-to-one personal tutorial.

Later in the day:

Family movie outing to see Tomorrowland at Disney’s Pleasure Island AMC 24 theaters. It was over-the-top inspiring.

Driving home, a dinner stop at Contempo Cafe.

Arriving home, another client check arrived in the mailbox from a speaking engagement two days ago.

Perfect timing of the Belmont Stakes to see American Pharoah win the Triple Crown.

Then finally, watched audition number two of America’s Got Talent, a show about people chasing their dream.

All that inspiration made it challenging to want to go to sleep.

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How fast should we drive during midlife? (a Disney flashback)

Disney Customer Experience Keynote Speaker jeff noel
Circa 2005. Illustrating the “extra inch” concept even back then.

 

A Disney flashback. How fast should we drive during midlife?

Had a Disney leader (Guy Smith) in 2000 request that at every one-on-one meeting he wanted his direct reports to share one example of how they ‘drove 65’ the previous week.

In this metaphor, we assume the speed limit is 55 mph, and his theory was we could exceed the posted speed limit if we weren’t reckless, and avoid getting pulled over.

In the spirit of continuous improvement (the DNA of Walt Disney) he wanted at least one example of how we pushed the envelope with a colleague, the audience (as a professional speaker), or our (Disney Institute) business practices.

That was 16 years ago and i still use it as a daily (weekly seems way too infrequent) personal challenge.

You are the CEO of You, Inc.

Your growth, development, and attitude is your responsibility.

Wow, the things that are so easy to take for granted.

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The changes are imperceptible, except for a few

April 2015 calendar
Today is just a single day.

 

A tree does not grow overnight, but it does grow.

Same with us.

It happens so slowly :

  • Learning to walk
  • Losing our virginity
  • Moving into our own place
  • The death of a parent

The days cannot teach nor prepare us like decades can.

As we age we can cast more shade, because our roots are wide and deep.

Makes sense when we think about it, but we never do.

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DisneyRetiree.com

Disney Retiree website
This post card arrived the other day.

 

DisneyRetiree.com

Relax and enjoy the Magic?

Yes, and…

Life is good as a Disney retiree.

Many think i’m astonishingly lucky and have no idea…

  • It was six years in the making.
  • It was remarkably intentional.
  • It was a ton of work.

Still working as hard as ever, but only at one full-time job – Mid Life Celebration.

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The genius and risk of human shortcuts

Disney Speaker with Mary Poppins
Much of life is based on fairy tale imprinting.

 

Heuristics, defined here, may be getting in our way.

Or, they may be what leads to our breakthrough.

Alas, life is tough.

Much of our life is based on fairy tale imprinting.

Our brain compensates by accepting prevailing thoughts or concepts that may no longer be true – and may have never been true.

Heuristics are human shortcuts that allow busy, distracted humans to quickly process things and reach conclusions.

Or maybe we just make it tough because we aren’t willing to buck the heuristics.

Buck the heuristics. Double entendre intended.

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