Dailey’s At Night

By E. Brown

Dailey’s holds a soft place in my heart for several reasons. 1) It is the place I celebrated my true loves birthday before we were engaged. 2) The management goes out of their way to make sure your experience is special, and 3) The food is excellent!

Opening in 1981, Dailey’s was converted from an old warehouse and it has been a dining hot spot ever since. Located in downtown Atlanta, the restaurant is within walking distance of several hotels.

The atmosphere is typical of a converted warehouse — open and spacious, yet the decor and furnishings are comfortable and close. You’ll have no problem focusing on your companion for the meal, and going with someone is a must. When eating with two or more you can try many dishes and tastes. You’ll be hard pressed to find a bad item on the menu.

For appetizers I recommend Dailey’s Escargot and the California Strudel. The strudel is unique–a blend of cheeses, spinach, and ham baked in a phyllo dough.

For dinner I like the Seared Ahi Tuna and the Grilled Pork Chop. Although, the Pepper Crusted Swordfish is also hard to beat. All of these will keep your mouth watering for more. But, don’t fill up too much because you have to leave room for dessert!

One of the more famous aspects of Dailey’s is their Dessert Bar. The sweets I have enjoyed are listed:
Gran Marnier Cheesecake- New York style cheesecake flavored with Gran Marnier, topped with homemade whipped cream and served with fresh fruit.
Black & White Cake- Three layer chocolate cake layered with whipped cream and chocolate mousse filling, wrapped with a semi-sweet chocolate shell.
Hummingbird Cake- Three-layer southern spice cake with bananas and pineapples frosted with a cream cheese frosting and chunks of pecans.

So, next time you’re in town for a meeting or conference or just looking for a special place to celebrate a birthday or anniversary you have to go to Dailey’s. Their service is “second mile” even into the night.

*For more on restaurants, food, and recipes, visit the Grub category of WeirdGuy Blog.

iPhone iGnorance

I have written several articles on Apple’s iPhone. Recently, I saw an article by John Dvorak, and I agree. John states that Apple is getting into a no-win arena. The mobile phone market has high turn-over and is very trendy — with a trend life of “15 minutes,” says Dvorak.

Indeed, as mentioned in the article, Your Virtual iPhone, no one has touched the new Apple product and already competitors have released their v.1 handhelds. What do you think Apple’s chances of success are? Do you agree with Mr. Dvorak, that Apple should pull the plug on iPhone and sell the idea to another company?

Comment below.

A Leadership Lesson From Little League

By E. Brown

If you’re familiar with Marcus Buckingham ‘s book, First Break All The Rules, you may recall the section about great managers not spending a lot of time with their poor performers. The idea being extolled here is that if you work with your star performers you and the company will benefit more than wasting time and energy with their poorer counterparts. There is certainly some truth to this concept and it has been played out in businesses all around the world. While I would not totally disagree, I have learned that some people just need a little push of encouragement.

I am coaching my son’s little league team. There are some poor performers on the team. Should I not spend much time with them? I have several players that are very good for their age. Should I focus more time with them?

Defining Moments
Think back to when you were on a sports team, or in school, or starting your first job. You were a little clumsy, maybe shy or awkward — definitely nervous. Then along came this coach/teacher/boss that you will never forget. He or she saw something in you that others did not. They encouraged you by spending time with you and telling you that there were big things ahead for you. You latched onto those words and never forgot. To this day, you count that as a defining moment. A time that someone, whose power and authority you were under, gave you the nudge you needed to get rolling. You will never forget that. Some of you have even had the chance to tell that person, now later in life, how much that meant to you then and that you wouldn’t be where you are now if it were not for that moment in time. Some of you wish you could tell that special person how much they meant to you but, time and distance have gotten in the way and you’ve lost touch with them.

A Little Push Can Start The Engine
Don’t chalk this article up to a “feel good story”. I have seen how an encouraging word fires up a person and gets their self-confidence engine running. I have seen it in the work place. I have personally experienced it when I was in school. And, I see it each week on the baseball field as these little guys come out to practice.

Back to my question: Should I not spend time with the poor performers and focus more on the star performers on the team? Yes and no. My objective as coach is to provide leadership. This involves feedback, direction, and encouragement. I have no idea how my words affect these guys on a weekly basis…No…the fact is, I do have an idea.

There is a very real, practical, and powerful principle at work here. The power of words. Words spoken in ways that can build up and not tear down. Words that can inspire and not demoralize.

Those of us in positions of influence and authority can wield words like a healing balm or a wounding sword. Bosses, parents, teachers, coaches, and trusted advisers take heed. Spend a little extra time with your poor performers. Encourage them and speak words of life into them. Like the character Richard Dreyfuss played in the movie, Mr. Holland’s Opus [one of my favorites], you may find yourself the center of admiration for the next generation.

Additional Reading
- New information about Gallup’s Strength Finder

XM Radio Pays For Community

XM Satellite Radio has been attempting to reach out to its community for help. Why? They are attempting to build their business by paying you and me to refer new clients. I Rep is the name of this new business development program and XM is attempting to entice existing members to generate new subscribers — and get paid for it!

How effective will I Rep be for XM? It is hard to say at this time. This is a first foray into “community” involvement for them. In addition, the merger with Sirius will definitely impact the company and community going forward.

I am curious to see how well the XM community responds. Certainly money is an attractive motivator. Yet, XM has not been known for promoting online community involvement.

Watch over the next month or so to see if it truly does pay to inlist the aid of your online constituents to grow your business.

For more, visit The Motley Fool.

Joost™ Alive on Apple TV

See the article on JoostTeam.com and find out more about how the Tutorial Ninjas were able to successfully run Joost on Apple TV. The implications for learning and training are anyones guess.

Also, see previous article: Joost You and Me

Star Wars® Goes Postal

My friend, Melvin at All Forces, posted this picture last week. I have not seen any of these mailboxes in the Atlanta area. Who says the USPS isn’t creative? Well…maybe they had a little help. Let me know if you have any sightings in your area. In the mean time become a Postal Jedi Master.

Photo Credit: Melvin at www.allforces.com

Perspective on Balance

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the wife of famous pilot Charles Lindbergh, wrote these words while on an island retreat off the coast of New England.

For the natural selectivity of the island I will have to substitute a conscious selectivity based on another sense of values–a sense of values I have become more aware of here. Island-precepts I might call them if I could define them, signposts toward another way of living. Simplicity of living, as much as possible, to retain a true awareness of life. Balance of physical, intellectual, and spiritual life. Work without pressure. Space for significance and beauty. Time for solitude and sharing. Closeness to nature to strengthen understanding and faith in the intermittency of life: life of the spirit, the creative life, and the life of human relationships.

– Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Mrs. Lindbergh got away from all the hustle and bustle and refocused on the truly meaningful things of life. As leaders, trainers, and teachers we can learn from her example. Look at recreation time as truly re-creation time.

The Power Principle

By E. Brown

Ever heard the term, We’re living on borrowed time? For those of us in positions of power and authority a variation holds true: We’re living with temporary power. This is what I call the Power Principle.

I was reminded of this the other day by my friend, Andy. He commented that we’re all given a certain degree of power. We all have influence in certain arenas of our lives — for a time. The power will not always last and it can be taken away. How we use the power we have is tantamount. Are we leveraging our power for the good of others or for our own selfish ambitions?

He went on to say, “Have you ever noticed how there are some that when their power is threatened, they get all puffed up and try to use their power in order to add on or keep the power and influence they have?” This is immediately evident in dictatorships.

What do you do when you recognize that you are the powerful person in an arena of life? Do you use your power constructively or do you abuse your power, just because you can?

Andy made some good observations about the subtle areas that, to one degree or another, we all may fall into and have opportunity to exert control and power:

• Bosses over employees
• Husbands over wives and children
• Wives over husbands and children
• Presidents over countries
• Firstborn over second born children
• Coaches over players
• Teachers over students
• Pastors & priests over clergy
• Police over civilians
• And the list can go on…

The far-sighted person will understand that the power they have is only temporary. Eventually, those of us in power will lose it. As a matter of record, power can be taken away in the blink of an eye. Look at past and recent news about business scandals, church scandals, and national scandals.

Convinced?

So, the overarching question is: What are you doing with the power you have for the time you have it? Only a very secure person is willing to give power away (See article on Leadership Insecurity).

Share This With Others

In All Things – Balance

This is one of those primary yet tough life principles for me. I have learned that I need others in my life to hold me accountable to this principle. Accountable to my dreams, goals, and aspirations as a businessman, father, and husband. What is this primary life principle? It is balance.

I can still hear Mr. Miyagi yelling at Daniel LaRusso in the movie, The Karate Kid, “Balance Daniel-san, balance!” There is some truth to this in the concept of “life-balance”. We’re all torn in two directions, as illustrated below:

Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . Serving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Giving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Applying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . External Life . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Leisure Meditation Following Listening Recreation Waiting Receiving Learning Humility Solitude Freedom Sorrow Internal Life

So, how do you find balance? Is it appropriate or even possible in this day and age to find balance in life? With all the competing areas above, most people settle for focusing on one area alone.

Sacrifice For The Sake of Excellence
Excelling in one area is good, right? Where would Michael Jordan be, or Donald Trump be unless they excelled in one focused area? By no means am I suggesting we stoop to the level of mediocrity. Yet, while unbridled attention in one area may bring success, it almost always brings failures in many other areas. For example, “it is not uncommon to discover a physician who fails as a parent, an entertainer who fails as a spouse, a pastor who neglects personal health, or an executive who fails at all the other areas,” says author and educator, Dr. Richard Swenson. Stanford Physicist, Dr. Richard Bube, recommends a more balanced approach so that we do not fall into, what he calls, “negative excellence.” A person who chooses to strive for high degrees of excellence in one or two areas often fails in others. While, the person who choses to live balanced has no outstanding levels of excellence but, they do not have any areas of failure either.

There Is An Answer
You’ll be glad to know that life balance is attainable. It starts with time. You thought I was going to say priorities. Business people practice prioritizing a lot. The mistake is, prioritizing dictates that one area is more important than another. What I am saying is that all these areas are important and that to attain balance we need to start with the time we give to each.

Learn to say “no.” In today’s Western society it is easy to overload and overbook ourselves. Saying “no” puts you in control of your time demands. This leads to the next item: Get better control of your life.

Getting control means overthrowing the tyrannical rule of the urgent. Reorient your life around the important, not the urgent things of life.

Next, watch out for the circular trappings of trying to find the imbalance in your life. In doing so you run the risk of becoming even more unbalanced. George Rust warns, “We respond to our sense of imbalance by committing more time and energy to an area in which we feel deficient.” The last thing you need is to commit more time than you have.

Finally, be considerate of others trying to live a balanced life. If someone tells you “no”, learn to accept it. Just because we choose to overburden ourselves doesn’t mean we have to do the same to others.

Balance is attainable. It takes work but it can be done. You might consider sharing your desire to live a balanced-life with a close friend and then ask them to hold you accountable. Give them permission to ask you how you’re doing on a regular basis — and, be honest in your reply.

Related Links
- Living More With Less
- The Overload Syndrome
- Margin
- A Minute of Margin

Final Technorati Challenge Stats and Summary

It has been two months since the set up of our Technorati account and this will be the last installment. As it stands, the overall significance of blog traffic from the Technorati account has been moderate. The decision has been made to close out the challenge. Review the stats below and you can determine whether you feel the need to create an account on Technorati.

Starting Average Viewers Per Day = 21
Week 1 Average Viewers Per Day = 16
Week 2 Average Viewers Per Day = 23
Week 3 Average Viewers Per Day = 23
Week 4 Average Viewers Per Day = 25
Week 5 Average Viewers Per Day = 37
Week 6 Average Viewers Per Day = 67
Week 7 Average Viewers Per Day = 82
Week 8 Average Viewers Per Day = 75

Challenge Lessons Learned

• Watch popular Tags and Searches on Technorati
• Post regularly
• Post often (at least 3-6 articles a day to get ranking)
• Ping Technorati every time you post
• Find your niche readership
• Keep your post topics within your niche

Challenge Results

• 44 Average Viewers per day after 2 months of regularly posting
• Moved in ranking from 1.4 million to 300,430 within 2 months
• Overall value deemed moderate pending current viewer growth trends

Summary
Setting up a Technorati account certainly did not hurt. Most links to articles from this blog occurred from within the Technorati user-cloud. We recommend using Technorati and learning your way around within the site, leveraging any information and tips you get along the way. You will find that if you watch the points listed above, you will have a regular stream of traffic to your content.

One last reminder: This challenge was unofficial and was from the perspective of a new user. The basic set up requirements were met and little management or marketing techniques were used. The desire was to observe the merits of setting up an account without any knowledge of how to draw traffic.

Thanks Technorati — It’s was fun!

The Art of Simplification

Simplifying our lives is not easy. I have a friend in real estate and he is constantly looking for ways to simplify his life.

What is simplicity or a simple life? Historian, David Shi says:

The precise meaning of the simple life has never been fixed. Rather, it has always represented a shifting cluster of ideas, sentiments, and activities.

Dr. Richard Swenson says:
The simple life is-

Voluntary Free Uncluttered Natural Creative Authentic

Focused Margined Disciplined Diligent Healthful

Simplicity can easily be misunderstood so we can explain it not only by what it is as well as what it is not. Simplicity is not easy, impoverished, ignorant, or escapist. As stated above it takes discipline to live simply. The following lists are suggested ideas, by Dr. Swenson, for learning to live simply in many areas of our lives:

Possessions

• Cultivate contentment
• Resist consumerism
• Give things away
• De-accumulate
• Exchange things
• Avoid impulse buying
• Avoid debt at all costs
• Reject fads
• Simplify your clothes
• Make due with the income you have

Pace

• Slow down
• Say “no”
• Enjoy slow peaceful music
• Control TV watching (i.e. try TiVO)
• Drive the speed limit

Relationships

• Have dates with your spouse
• Plan family trips
• Encourage others
• Help others
• Practice hospitality
• Do not judge
• Enjoy alone time/solitude
• Show appreciation

Spiritual Life

• Meditate
• Pray
• Simple worship

Activities

• Do not overwork
• Make commitments simple
• Elevate reading
• Simplify Christmas
• Nutrition & Exercise
• Bike or walk
• Make recreation active
• Healthy sleep habits
• Avoid overeating
• Take up gardening

Simplicity and a simple life do not come easy. Yet with discipline and inspiration it can be achieved and maintained. Yes, it’s easy to over-commit, it’s easy to eat junk-food, it’s easy to sit in front of the TV for long periods but life catches up to you and it is no longer easy. Begin applying some of the ideas listed above today — do not make them rules — and as they become habits, you’ll look back and be amazed at how simple your life has become.

Quotable Quote – Jeffrey J. Fox

“The great boss makes people make decisions.”

- Jeffrey J. Fox

Margin: Everyone Needs It

Have you seen the book, Crazy Busy? The author, Dr. Edward Hallowell, writes from what he has learned through treating ADD patients over the years. This may not be news to you but, according to Dr. Hallowell, we all can live busy and scattered lives. How do we cope with it? Is there an answer? Good news — there has been an answer. The only thing we need do is apply it.

Dr. Richard Swenson dealt with this very issue of busyness some time ago. It seems that only now people are taking note of this malady and trying to build into their lives, what Dr. Swenson calls: Margin.

In his same titled book, Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, Dr. Swenson offers these notes on our lack of margin, the problems caused by lack of margin, and the prescription for creating margin.

Overloaded

• Overload is fatigue. Margin is energy.
• Overload is red ink. Margin is black ink.
• Overload is hurry. Margin is calm.
• Overload is anxiety. Margin is security.
• Overload is the disease that started in the 90′s. Margin is the cure.

The Problem
Pain is the problem: the pain of progress; the pain of problems; the pain of stress; the pain of overload. Some of the specifics of overload are listed below.

Activity Overload Change Overload Choice Overload Commitment Overload Competition Overload Education Overload Expectation Overload Fatigue Overload Information Overload

Media Overload Ministry Overload Noise Overload People Overload Pollution Overload Possession Overload Traffic Overload Waste Overload Work Overload

We Need A Margin Prescription
Emotional Margin

• Cultivate Social Support
• Reconcile Relationships
• Serve Others
• Rest, Laugh, and Cry
• Create Appropriate Boundaries
• Offer Thanks
• Give Grace
• Hold to Hope

Physical Margin

• Take Personal Responsibility
• Change Habits
• Value Sleep (but don’t oversleep)
• Exercise
• Decrease Fat & Sugar Intake
• Balanced Diet
• Avoid Overeating
• Drink Lots of Water

Time Margin

• Learn to Say No
• Turn Off the TV
• Prune Activities
• Create Buffer Zones
• Plan For Free Time
• Get Less Done But Do the Right Things

Financial Margin

• Have a Goal
• Break the Power of Money
• Live Within Your Means
• Discipline Desires
• Redefine Needs
• Decrease Spending
• Increase Income & Saving
• Make a Budget
• Resist Impulses

Some of these may be new to you and some may not. As always the key to any endeavor is application. I hope you have been inspired to take several of these points under consideration and will start applying them today.

Have Flash Drives Finally Arrived?

I remember the first time I got an Apple Newton (before there was Palm). Yes, it was bulky, but it was so cool to turn it on and, as Emeril would say, “BAM!” there it was — on. No having to wait for the thing to boot up or load startup files and apps. It was instant “on”. “Why can’t my desktop or laptop be like that?”, I wondered. Well, some of the waiting is over.

Sony® recently announced an “ultramobile” laptop, the Vaio UX Premium. This little guy uses a flash drive instead of a traditional hard drive. Samsung® has already beat them out of the gate with the Q1 and Q30 Flash drive laptops.

The great thing is, a Flash drive, unlike a hard drive is thinner, lighter, can takes knocks and bumps, and runs a lot longer than it’s traditional counter part. This is good news for mobile computing.

According to USAToday, the prices and manufacturing are the current hold up.

Prices are not low enough for flash to totally replace hard drives. Sony’s flash version of its UX laptop costs $2,500 — $500 more than a similar model with a hard drive. But it does allow flash to move into more products.

This is exciting to me because this takes learning and creativity abroad and makes it more instantaneous. Whether it is wearable technology or availability in your car and home, the fact is, we’re moving closer to capturing information and inspiration at the speed of thought.

Quotable Quote – Albert Einstein

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

- Albert Einstein

Billable Time – A Creative Hard Target

I remember the first time I got burned. No, not on a stove, but by a client who wanted the world for peanuts. I had done quite a bit of freelance work out of school and started up a design company with the steady client base I had formed. I later moved to Atlanta to broaden the client base and took on a new project that a friend had handed off to me. Little did I know this client was a pain in the neck to work with. My first job with them was rebranding a youth summer camp. It went pretty well. The pay was about standard for what I had charged other clients–maybe a little less since I was trying to build up my database. After the summer was over the client said it had been the best received camp to date and he wanted to start on others ideas for the next year.

The Issues Began
We met and discussed the ideas and themes for the coming year and everyone was in agreement, or so I thought. I got back to work and designed numerous thumbnails and comps. We kept meeting and going around and around–he never seemed satisfied. After a time the client quit returning my calls. I had sunk a lot of time into the project when the client finally called back and dictated exactly what he wanted (which was a step back into the “dark ages”). I knew his audience would not like it but he was the boss, and as the saying goes: “the boss is always right”.

A Learning Process
In the past I had typically billed for time on, what I considered, “real work”. That is, work on tightening up the final/approved comp, the color samples, the final design, and the finished art. That was a mistake. I never had billed for creative thinking and conceptualizing, which in this case was a considerable amount of time. So, I included Concepting in this particular invoice.

The other mistake I had made was not having a contract up front, setting the expectations for the client. Letting them see all the items that would be billable and any penalty charges for late payments.

In the end, the client would not pay for the time spent concepting and then drug his feet on paying out the remaining invoice. Ugh, this was a tough learning experience.

Lessons Learned From A Starving Artist
There is nothing romantic about being a starving artist. On one hand I have heard some students and new professionals say, “But I just love my work and want to create my art”. On the other hand, I have also heard from students and new professionals that think they should be making a Creative Director’s salary shortly after graduation.

Several things I learned from these early mistakes were the following:

• Set up an initial meeting to understand the scope of the project.
• Ask lots of questions.
• Have a contract that lists out how payment for this project will be expected (i.e. one third to begin, one third at approval, one third at final delivery; 50% now, 50% at finish; all monies payable at the end).
• Explain your pay rates: hourly or per project.
• Be sure to competitively price yourself. Too little and you’ll be barely paying your bills. Too much and you’ll not be paying your bills.
• Document all phases of work and time spent.
• Communicate any issues early and often (especially if it looks like you’re going over budget).
• Include as much of this information as desirable on your Web site. Create pages that give your rates like Mangoville did.
• Don’t be afraid to have a “Kill Fee” for time spent on projects that are later dropped.
• Don’t be afraid to add any increases for out-of-scope or change-of-scope work.
• Let the client know up front about your Past Due policy. Most large company finance departments pay within 30 days. Feel free to add a late fee for any payments over 45 days old. This is usually not an issue for larger companies but can give incentive to smaller groups to cut you the check quickly.
• Don’t be afraid to say, “No,” to a project or client.
• Talk about usage of the final art. If you’re creating a logo, remind the client that this will be their brand and identity for years to come. Then bill accordingly.
• Don’t be afraid to raise you prices from time to time as the cost of living increases.

Related Links
- Punchy Time
- Squidoo
- Graphic Artisits Guild
- Web and New Media Pricing
- The Freelance Forum (Google your local area for such gatherings)

Creatives Top Ten Reasons for Underbilling

I got this from Oz: The Journal of Creative Disciplines. Sharon Wasserman, one of the founders of Atlanta’s Freelance Forum gives the top ten reasons members undercharge clients.

1. “I’m not doing any other work at the time…”
2. “My client doesn’t want to pay that much…”
3. “I haven’t been doing this that long…”
4. “I just do not know what the going rate is…”
5. “I quoted them a lower amount before…”
6. “Someone else will do it for this amount…”
7. “The economy is bad…”
8. “I cannot raise my fees to keep up with the cost of living because the client will use someone cheaper…”
9. “I do not feel confident asking for what I am really worth…”
10. “I really enjoy starving for my art…”

Generate Your Own Apple Rumor

Saw this first on Teach42 and then visited Apple Gazette and had to laugh. Try it yourself by choosing an item from each column or if you’re lazy, click on the link at the bottom of the page and it will generate a random rumor for you. Have fun!

Building and Battling – Team Building #1

I encourage leaders and managers to meet with their direct reports and staff at least once a week. There are opportunities to mentor, inform, and equip team members directly through this simple weekly practice. Some leaders feel they do not have the schedule, need, or patience to hold these kinds of meetings. I assure you, over the course of time the effort will prove to be fruitful. I’ll share some exercises in the weeks ahead that I have used for discussion and team building. I hope you benefit from these as much as I have. I have even thought of putting together a book of 52 exercises (one for each week of the year) for new managers — let me know what you think.

NOTE: I have used the points listed below for conducting a staff information and equipping meeting. Feel free to use this method if you’re getting started. I would encourage you to adapt and change it up to suit what works best for you and your team.

1. Set the tone with an inspirational quote, story, or reading.
2. Go through the exercise (try to make it as interactive as possible).
3. Tie exercise back to current work, projects, and/or mission.
4. Go over current list of work related items and status/issues.
5. Closing comments and wrap up (provide handouts or points of application from exercise).

Entire meeting should take no more than 1 hour.

Building and Battling

[Setting the stage]
At this time in world history, many of the people in Iraq are very aware that they are living in a battle. They go to bed and wake up with the sound of gun fire and explosions, at times far away and at other times very close to home. Each new day also requires building — in some cases rebuilding offices, businesses, or homes — and of course rebuilding their lives. This is their reality. Though many Iraqis wish for better times, the truth is, this is now the world they live in — one of building and battling.

Are you aware that everyday we are also building and battling? Certainly not in the same fashion as those in Iraq but we have our own set of battles to fight and projects to build.

[Exercise with handout]
As we look at how this concept applies to us, there are two words we need to be concerned with–What and Who. Looking at the handout, take a moment to fill in under each heading your answers to these questions:

• What are you building?
• Who are you building for?
• What are you battling?
• Who are you battling for?

[Share some answers and discuss -- there are no wrong answers]
How did you approach the “building” set of columns on your handout? Often these are viewed from a relational perspective. What did you put in some of these columns? What about the battling columns?

[Closing remarks]
Build your relationships–make them a priority. Make your family and/or spouse the next important area. Remember, you are in a daily struggle so be prepared for the “battles”. Finally, in all these areas of life and work, we need to have balance.

For the rest of your lives–in one fashion or another–you will always be building or battling.

[Back to work]

The Handout:
Use a word processing program (i.e. MS Word), create a single sheet with 4 headings: Work, Family, Friends, Personal. Under each heading make two columns, one labeled “Building” and one labeled “Battling”. Print out as many as you need.

Quotable Quote – Jeffrey Fox

“Success in projects is anticlimactic. Homework preordains it.”

- Jeffrey Fox (How To Become CEO)