Message of the Day - Success through Failure

Good Morning,

 

If you are reading this email prior to receiving the one I tried to send yesterday…twice… then you will know that email got lost some point through the day in the internet. I sent my message “Big Ideas Do Not Have To Start out BIG” at 8:00 AM and again at 7:00 PM that evening. Throughout the day, yesterday, emails sent to me took hours to arrive as well, including others I sent to myself.

 

So, I called my ISP, AT&T and tried to troubleshoot both the latency of my arriving emails and the trouble with sending emails (some I could send & receive, and others, like the message of the day, I could not). We troubleshooted my email and my internet connection. Everything was fine, both on my pc with my own spam filter (I am a trusted sender on my own PC J ). We even checked to see if there were any spam filters in AT&T which may have caught my messages. According to their tech’s they do not. With millions of customers it would be a nightmare blocking such traffic. So, no solution there, but great service.

 

Next I called my email provider, Yahoo. Once again I was able to get through to a solid tech who walked me through every facet of my email. We tested sending and receiving and while he could send, and receive from me, I could not receive from myself. Again, no problems on Yahoo’s or AT&T’s and my PC’s ends. But, again, great service.

 

After all the calls, it was determined some unknown latency which is out there in the internet which is tied to somewhere out there….

 

During the night, the rest of my missing emails, except for the two messages of the day, arrived. I have been told it can take upwards of 72 hours for an email to get through when there are network issues somewhere along the way on the internet. (I apologize that you will receive the other message twice, when it finally arrives some day…)

 

Even though I did not get my problem resolved, I received great service from both techs, one at AT&T and one at Yahoo!.

 

I’ll take the great service!!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Disciplines for World Class Organizations

Good Morning,

 

My current read is Patrick Lencioni’s second book, “Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive” (www.tablegroup.com). It is the second book of Patrick’s I have read and again, it was simply amazing (I read it in one day; I just could not put it down for long). The allegory format lays out a great storyline to imbed the message. The book shares with us four disciplines to bring an organization to world class.

 

1. Build and Maintain a Cohesive Leadership Team.

 

The goal is to form a leadership team that is open and honest with each other. They are willing to communicate openly with each other, to the point of arguing key points. This does not mean that the team is belligerent, rather, they are willing to go all in to make sure the best decision is made for the group and organization. This team is all about the organization first, themselves second. The team must work to not only build this strong relationship, but maintain.

 

2. Create Organizational Clarity.

 

Here we are talking about knowing what the organization is about. The goal would be having everyone within the organization knowing what is the purpose of the organization, i.e., what does it do, why does it do it, who does it benefit. This can be in the form of a mission or vision statement, but it is more than just words, it is an internalized mantra known by heart by all members of the organization or employees.

 

3. Over-Communicate Organizational Clarity.

 

Communication is the universal solvent. All issues and problems can be more easily resolved through the proper use of communication. Unfortunately not everyone will get the communication on the first go around. Sometimes it takes two or three or more times for the message to sink in. Also, repeating the same message builds trust. Changing messages will subvert the leadership of any company as people become wary and untrusting of the executives.

 

4. Reinforce Organizational Clarity through Human Systems.

 

Having the team, having the clear and known purpose and message, there needs to be ways to make sure that these are being maintained. This is not just a spot check every so often. These are systems which instill and reinforce the message at the time of hiring, during performance reviews, giving promotions and rewards and even during terminations.

 

I look forward to my next Patrick Lencioni book, and I highly suggest if you want your organization to run smoothly, to read this one.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Dream Bigger

Good Morning,

 

My current read is “Do Less, Achieve More” by Chin-Ning Chu (http://chinningchu.com/2007/pages/home.php). Part of the book covers dreaming for our goals. Having dreams makes life more fruitful, especially as we achieve our dreams and then create new ones to aspire to.

 

One challenge we must face is the size of our dreams. This may sound frivolous, as dreams are dreams, but think about it. If your dream is to get to work today, great, but when you accomplish it, you have not really grown (unless getting to work entails some cross country or global trek on foot to get work, etc.). Otherwise, what have you learned?

 

Even worse, if you dream small, little, easy to get goals, etc. and still do not get them. This can put us in a bad place. Dang, I could not even get to work today….

 

If we dream big, and try to achieve of our goals, even if we don’t make them, he have moved from where we started and grown along the process. If when we are growing toward our dreams and it continually eludes us, instead of giving up, dream even bigger. For example, dream of that palatial home in the suburbs, you know, the 5,000 square foot homestead. You keep it mind as you go through your day, and as you make decisions in life and grow, that house can become a possibility. If you get into a rut, instead of dreaming about the 5,000 job, change your dream to a 10,000 square foot house. Cut out pictures, look at them or think about them daily.

 

Little goals give us little opportunity for growth. Big goals give us larger opportunity for growth.

 

If you feel you are not growing enough, get bigger dreams.

 

Dream bigger, you deserve it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Powered by Passion

Good Morning,

 

Welcome new recipients!

 

Passion is a power all of its own. It makes average into good, it makes good into great. Without passion we often shift back into neutral and float along with whatever life happens to hand us that day.

 

Passion turns on that engine and powers us through to our goals. It is the fuel that lights up our interests, our desires and it is the energy that gets us to take those final steps when we are exhausted.

 

Passion is a part of all of us which simply needs to be ignited to be used. It does not cost any money, and it can be renewed whenever we decide to use it.

 

As you are the captain of your own ship, are your engines in neutral, or have you found passion in your life and actively driving for it?

 

If you are in neutral, do you like the sights you see? Do you miss out on what you want to do or see?  Do you feel left out when others charge right by you, fueled by their own passion?

 

Remember, your passion is yours alone. And you own the right to use it or not.

 

Are you powered by passion?

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

Message of the Day - Accuracy with Proximity

Good Morning,

 

Welcome new recipients.

 

I have been chugging along with a book, ‘Point Man’ by Steve Ferrar as a secondary book. This book covers family life and a father’s role in the family. My message today has nothing to do with this.

 

In one of the sections, Steve talks about his bowling. He says that he maintains a 285 average. Okay…. Then he said, this is when he bowls from 15 feet away from the pins (one quarter of the normal lane distance).  He then goes on to say that when he starts at the normal spot, his average drops dramatically.

 

His point is the closer you are to something, the more accurate you can be with it. Additionally, the further away you get from something, the less accurate you will be.

 

Have you ever been confronted by a problem that looked like a horrid mess? I know I have. When I was assigned to lead the Dispute Resolutions Team at Heartland, I saw a blur instead of a department. I was overwhelmed and distant. Over the next few months, I got closer, I dove in. As I became closer to the processes and policies of the department, I was seeing it for what it was. It was still huge and intimidating, but it was manageable through being closer to the core. My initial thoughts of running the unit were eventually thrown out as I gained a more accurate and realistic understanding of the team with fantastic results.

 

Like pretty much anything else in life, the closer you get to an issue or problem, the more you can understand it and the more accurate you can be in dealing with it.

 

If you are having problems in an area, try to get closer to it to see it more clearly (of course without putting yourself in harms way).

 

Accuracy increases with Proximity!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

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Message of the Day - The Ultimate Life and Driven People

Good Morning,

 

Yesterday I started reading the sequel to The Ultimate Gift. This book by Jim Stovall called The Ultimate Life (http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Life-2/dp/0781445477) takes the next step in sharing the twelve lessons in the first book and how to share them with others. In one sitting I read half the book, it is that intense and enjoyable.

 

One section really caught my attention. Before each chapter is a note or quotation. Before chapter two is this one:

 

“In this life, there is nothing more powerful than a person who has seen the path to destiny within their soul and is willing to pursue it.”

 

WOW!

 

Talk about being driven and focused on success and achieving your goals and unleashing yourself on them.

 

This is one that I will print up and keep with me.

 

For those of you already charging hard toward your destiny, you know this, for others, it is all just a matter of seeing what is really out there for you and deciding to pursue it and not looking back.

 

Let me know if I can help!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - The messages your body gives to you

Good Morning,

 

My current read is “Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage: Five Keys to becoming a more effective leader” by Susan J. Bethanis, EdD. (http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Chronicles-Corporate-Sage-Effective/dp/079318603X )

 

The book is laid out in an allegory format with the main characters being a leader being coached by a professional to help improve their ability to lead. That is, going from a super-worker to a super-visor.

 

One section which caught my attention was using breathing techniques to help keep you focused and on task during stressful times in your day. That is, when things get tense, take deep breaths to help calm your body and clear your mind. If you are in a meeting or a public place, you can do this through your nose slowly and quietly. Several deep breaths, you know, diaphragm moving breaths can really make a difference.

 

As you do this, notice the different feelings in your mind and body which become apparent. For example, when you get into a tense discussion and you not liking how it is going and you realize that a pain or pressure is growing in your forehead. Take a few moments and breath, and think about that breath going to your forehead.

 

Different situations in your day may cause different feelings around your body. As you become aware of these, you can better maintain control of your senses and remained focused during difficult times. For example, when a confrontational conversation occurs, I feel a warm tingling sensation over my face and shoulders. If ignored, I tend to get heated and angry. Now, when I realize this sensation, I stop and take a deep breath and acknowledge the feeling and stop myself from getting further heated. Using this technique I have stopped myself from getting into several arguments over the last week.

 

Just like you know how far you can push your body when working out or taking a walk or playing a sport, you can learn how your body reacts to different stressful situations and understand what is happening.

 

Take the time and get to know the messages your body is sending you in different situations and breath deeply to them. You will find yourself in more control and focused and all that stress that normally built up during these times may just vanish.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Seize the Day, Heck, Seize the Moment

Good Morning,

 

I recently finished Randy Pausch’s new book “The Last Lecture” and enjoyed Randy’s zest for life. Randy, if you are unaware is dying of Pancreatic Cancer. He was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.  I, no doubt like millions others, starting tearing up at the end of the book when he related at the end of the lecture, his wife Jai came up and hugged him and whispered in his ear, ‘Please don’t die’.

 

It is hard to imagine someone so alive, so full of life with so little time left to live.

 

Robin Williams brought the concept home in the ‘Dead Poets Society’ when he had his students looking at photos of college students long since passed on and whispered ‘Carpe Diem’.  Sieze the Day!

 

Life is too short to be wasted. Our time is precious.

 

I am a flawed man in a flawed world. One of my challenges is keeping all of my to do’s in mind as I go about life. I have increased my organizational skills and on some levels reduced my activities, but life comes at me full force, and hundreds of little and not so little to do’s come daily. And I mess up from time to time and do not meet deadlines. Some will say that I hit all the big deadlines, but if I agree on doing something, then it is a big deadline to someone.

 

As I look to seize the day, I am trying to balance what is important with what is not so important and both achieve what I promise both to myself and others, and at the same time, not let slip the wonderful moments of life.

 

Remember, every minute comes to us only once. Make the best use of it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

Message of the Day - The Noise in Our Days and Doing Nothing

Good Morning,

 

Welcome new recipients!

 

As I type this message, I am sitting in front of two laptops, eating breakfast with my daughter, feeding the whiney cat, and keeping the aggressive cat in the basement, and participating on a conference call with my team and company. Karen just called for her daily status call, and it is not even 8:00 AM and I have my daily chores and a full day of work ahead of me.

 

My days are not always as busy in the first part of the day, but it often feels that way. All of this activity eventually results in noise. Your attention can only go so far, you can only listen to so many different conversations at the same time and truly take in what is being said by any of them.

 

After enough of this noise in our day, our minds get tired out, and soon, downright exhausted. Have you ever noticed that a you are more tired when you have many mental tasks and challenges thrown at you simultaneously even if there was little to no physically strenuous activity?

 

And worse yet, when you have many days of the same, your mind and body become like the living dead and the only light at the end of the tunnel is your weekend. Then, if you have a full weekend planned out, that light or relief has just turned into a train chugging right at you.

 

When we live our lives at this fast paced, there is only one destination….burn out.

 

To avoid this fate, find times to distress. I call them do nothing times. I play a game on the computer, watch an episode of a favorite show, read a book, or take a nap. This may happen more than others may like, but it is necessary to avoid burn out.

 

Fill your days with do nothing time to help de-stress your life.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Tackle problems Head-On but don't forget the roots!

Good Morning,

 

I recently finished a book “Get Your Ship Together” by D. Michael Abrashoff (http://books.google.com/books?id=27QAAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:D+inauthor:Michael+inauthor:Abrashoff ) This is a sequel to his landmark book “It’s Your Ship”. Michael, formerly Captain Abrashoff was the skipper of the USS Benfell in the US Navy and practiced different leadership skills than espoused in the Navy and built a high performance team and one of the best ships in all of the Navy due to it.

 

In this book, (I noticed he has a third coming out next month), he continues to share with us practical leadership lessons and does so with the help of other great leaders. Some are military, some are corporate and one which really sang out to me is in law enforcement. The last part of Get Your Ship Together covers the leadership experiences and wisdom of Ward Clapham who is part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Ward not only had tough assignment after tough assignment, but he chose the hardest ones and excelled in each. No matter what rank or position Ward held, he is always willing to dive in and do whatever is necessary, even getting his hands dirty at times.

 

Ward worked his way up from the bottom and focused on tackling tough problems by reaching out and embracing people instead of using traditional fear tactics like command and control. Ward overcame budget and staffing shortfalls by making the people he was charged with protecting his partners instead of his advisories or just faceless clients. He met often with the locals where they lived, worked and played and showed them that he was one of them. I loved the part of his singing karaoke “I fought the law and the law won” with all his new friends in the community.

 

When seeing problems, Ward looked at the root cause and addressed that rather than confronting symptoms alone. When kids were vandalizing businesses, rather than busting the kids or their parents he looked to the source of the problem. They were bored. So he came up with activities for them, and crime dropped. Ward found creative ways to help the community and then fought to institutionalize these programs, like bringing at risk kids to hockey games with their favorite officer.

 

Ward Clapham (http://www.wardclapham.com/) is another great leader we can all learn something from.

 

Tackle problems head on, and focus on fixing the root of the problem, and you will see positive change!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - What Will They Say About You

Good Morning,

 

Yesterday I attended the funeral for a cousin. He had fallen off a roof of a second story building in December and remained in a coma until last Wednesday when he passed. At his funeral, there were many many people there to pay their respects and share their love for Perry Alberhasky and his family.

 

The eulogies were given by his three daughters and his pastor. Each one told of how loving and caring this man was and all that he had done for everyone. He helped others when asked and was a quiet gentleman with a good sense of humor. I met Perry shortly after moving to Louisville in early 2004. He was a nice, calm and happy man. He came to Karen and my wedding in 2005, and was a delight. We asked Perry to help us with our roof in 2007, and he came out and did a great job. He was a professional in his work, and warm caring man in the man he was. His pastor told of when he first sought to enter the seminary, and had one major concern. He was afraid to do funerals. He told his minister who told him he would be fine, that he would not know most of the people he did the service for. The pastor then said tearfully, he wished that minister could be here now. Such was the impact Perry had on others.

 

Seeing how this man, this simple, calm, humble man touched so many and was there to help out, makes me think about all that we do in our every day lives. That is, when all of our lives work is finished and we make that final transition what will be said about us. Will people say we were kind, helpful, or not so many words.

 

Most of us do not know when our time will come, but what we do with this time, how we treat others, how we make a difference in this world is entirely up to us. Dr. Randy Pausch knows his time is coming shortly. He has beaten the Dr’s estimates, and still works hard to help others and share hope for Cancer patients. You can learn more at his website: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

 

I will never forget Perry, and the wonderful person he was. Knowing that there are people like Perry and Dr. Pausch out in the world makes it easier for all of us who work hard to help others whenever we can and know that it does make a difference, and that people do care.

 

Let me know if I can help you. So we can all keep helping others.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Your Best Friends, your Critics

Good Morning,

 

This last evening, Karen told me about a professor’s last lecture. Dr. Randy Pausch, 47, is dying of Pancreatic Cancer. At the time of the lecture, he had only a few months of good health left. In this lecture, Dr. Pausch is full of energy and drive and loving every minute of it. He gives his zest for life for all of you to see. You can find a recording of this lecture at:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

 

About 18 minutes into the speech, Dr. Pausch talks about his second childhood dream, to play in the NFL, which he did not succeed at. He told us about his school coach and how his coach rode his team hard. One day his coach keeps pushing him, correcting him and giving him a lot of criticism, and many extra pushups after practice also.

 

At the end of this practice another coach came up to the young Dr. Pausch and commented how the head coach rode him that day. He then said, ‘that’s good’.

 

Dr. Pausch explained that when you are doing something wrong and people criticize you, it means they care. Imagine if you are messing up and no one says anything. That is, they see you making mistakes and just let you make them. It means that they have stopped caring. And Dr. Pausch says, ‘It’s a really bad place to be”.

 

That hit home with me. I realized that those who correct me, want me to be better. And for that I thank them.

 

It pushes me to be better.

 

Remember, when you get criticized, you are being told that you matter, and you can improve.

 

In this case, your critics are your best friends. If they didn’t care about you, then they would not say anything.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - When to do it and when not to

Good Morning,

 

Rules are a part of our lives. There are rules in school, rules in work, rules in games, rules in social gatherings, and rules for operating in different cultures. These rules, some are written and some are just accepted, have come from a long line of mistakes, errors, and blunders. Like the little warning signs you find on all sorts of products, often those signs came as a result of someone actually using the product incorrectly. Bill Engvall has a great bit on this on his first CD, ‘Here’s Your Sign’.

 

Sometimes though, the rules form a barrier to getting work accomplished and achieving goals. These barriers are often in the form of red tape, people not willing to step outside of their perceived job description and those folks who follow the letter of the law no matter how insane that may be at times. Note, someone did get arrested by one of these sticklers for walking backwards, eating peanuts in front of a church in some town, just to get the law repealed. In Normal, Illinois it was illegal to call animals bad names. Yes, sometimes rules are just plain stupid.

 

So how do you survive when you see this endless web of red tape, idiotic rules, and the sticklers who will defy the laws of physics to enforce them?

 

Change the playing field. Change the rules, or in a more basic sense, bend the rule if, by doing so you achieve your goal or complete your to do item. I am not suggesting you become Machiavellian, or that ‘The Ends Justify the Means’.  I am saying that there are times that the integrity of the red tape is not more important than the goal you are looking to achieve, that is, following the rule will do more harm than good. Examples of this are speeding a sick or pregnant person to the hospital. Saving a stellar employee from leaving the company by allowing them to post outside of their unit before the one year period expires. Brad Barton once told me of a TSA agent who told him he could not carry on a container of honey (Brad is a beekeeper on the side) as a carryon on a plane and that the plastic jar would have to be disposed of. Brad offered it to any TSA agent as a gift, but they just tossed it in the garbage, what a waste. Bending the rules there a little would have meant someone had great homemade honey.

 

Be sure that when you bend the rules, that you understand the consequences of doing so, and that the goals you will achieve warrant the risk. That is, when you are finished, you will have made a positive change which did not hurt anyone other than the egos of the rule mongers.

 

Choosing when to and when not to bend the rules is a lifelong challenge, but remember, it is often better and easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. In the end, you may get some idiotic rules changed and benefit everyone. Whatever you do, though, don’t break the rules just to do so, that too would be less than genius, as rules do serve a purpose, even though they may look like they don’t.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Butterfly Effect at Work

Good Morning,

 

Many of us have heard of the ‘Butterfly Effect’ (no, not the movie). It basically says that a butterfly flapping its wings can lead to hurricane force winds hitting Florida, or in other terms, a snowball effect starting with a small action and building and building until it is something huge.

 

I have seen small actions by individuals start that butterfly effect. People who decide to do something, maybe to help their community, and share their idea with a few friends. Nothing fancy. Then someone sees the flier, loves the idea and builds on it. Next the success of the latest action reaches more people and other communities become aware and start their own. Over the course of several years, this one act to help could reach hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. How many community programs or activities started from one or a few people just getting together and starting something? Ask the even organizers and you may be amazed.

 

So what does this mean to today’s message? Besides everything J

 

It means that when you want to accomplish something, you don’t always have to plan big or start big to get your big results. By pursuing your goals, by sharing your ideas and showing the benefits of your actions, you can cause a cascade effect which brings your actions and ideas to many, many others. It may not, and usually doesn’t, happen overnight, but big things can come from small acts.

 

Small things do lead to big things. Believe in yourself and have patience.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Convicted by Conviction

Good Morning,

 

Staying true to your convictions is a very difficult task. Life has many obstacles to hurl at you to through you off your path. Peer pressure to name but one challenge forces many people to do things that they would not normally do. Why do we succumb to peer pressure…because we want to belong and be accepted by others? If you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the third and fourth needs are met when we belong.

 

Someone staying true to their convictions will face up to peer pressure and not succumb. They will become less popular, they will be ridiculed. They will become labeled and they will be able to look at themselves in the mirror and know they did the right thing. Being yourself and staying true to your convictions means being passed over for promotions, not picked for ‘the team’ and having others question your values, actions, beliefs and facing a lot of disappointment.

 

Why, then, should we be dedicated to our convictions?

 

Desmond Doss refused to kill, carry a weapon or violate the precepts of his religion. Yet, when World War II came, he volunteered to fight for his nation, while remaining true to his convictions. He was a conscientious objector. As depicted in the movie Conscientious Object www.desmondoss.com Desmond became a medic and performed heroic acts, saving lives even while under fire and injured. He was hated by his peers, yet he did what he felt was right, many of those detractors later loved him for it, because they were saved by the very man who they despised.

 

At a recent military change of command ceremony where a friend of our family turned over the reigns of his brigade, we heard his commanding General tell of our friend and his dedication to his beliefs which have helped make him the best of the best. The General also spoke of a man he saw at Walter Reed Hospital, who was committed to serving our nation, no matter what. The man had lost three limbs and wanted to know if he could still serve. The General told him that there will always be place for people of such conviction.

 

Gary, one of my former team mates stayed true to his convictions, and for his dedication to his belief’s he was passed over for promotion, and relegated to tasks that were beneath his skill level. Yesterday Gary proudly informed me of the promotion he did receive. And what a sweet victory it is.

 

Staying true to your conviction is not easy, but in the end it pays you back many, many times over.

 

There are many more of us out there who are also staying true to our convictions, and I applaud all of you. Remember as the General said, there will always a place for those who stay convicted to their convictions.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

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Message of the Man - Unpack Your Baggage

Good Morning,

 

I am continuing, albeit slowly, through Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’. It is very informinative and is giving a better insight in why we all carry emotional baggage and what it does to us, and why.

 

From other books, we learn that our Ego is not our friend unless we ride herd on it. In addition to our Ego speaking to us and distorting our reality, we have another part of us that Eckhart Tolle calls the Pain Body.

This is mass collection of negative feels, emotions, bad experiences all balled up into one mass of living breathing painful experiences. Worse yet, it is not a static list of experiences, it too looks for ways to grow and remind us of all the bad that has happened to us. It may lay dormant for days, weeks or even months, but can be triggered at any time by current events.

 

Thinking about it I can see this. You meet someone new and you get bad feelings about you have been hurt in the past by other new people, that is, you start feeling hurt, and nothing (presently) has happened to you. That is your pain-body trying to make itself known. Using logic and reason, you can defuse this entity. When you think about that new person, remember how you felt when you first met them, and acknowledge any emotions you get, but realize you don’t have to be sad if you don’t want to. 

 

For me, when I hear raised voices from my loved ones, my pain body revs up my adrenaline and I am ready to fight. Over the last few months, when I hear the raised voices, I am learning to acknowledge my anger, and then step back, affirming to myself that I am not my anger, and in growing regularity, the heated angry feeling washes over me and nearly vanishes. Actually, I have become a calmer person over all. I like it! It is like I have unpacked a lot of negative baggage.

 

So, remember, you are not your emotions. Acknowledge them, and understand that while they are part of you, they are not what controls you, unless you let them.

 

What a deep read, but wow how it explains so much.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/  ß Check out the new Blog site

502-533-9336

 

PS: If you know others who may enjoy this message of the day, please pass this message on or invite them to receive them themselves by sending a request to me. If you wish to stop receiving these, please also let me know. Thank you!!!