The Sanford Berenberg Experience

502-533-9336

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Message of the Day - Persistence, key to success

Good Morning,

As in anything, being persistent in what you do is a key driver in success. Research has shown that sticking with something, more than most other factors, is what leads one to success in any endeavor. This does mean that those who succeed are not always the smartest or the most talented, but rather, the most patient and those who simply persist.

How many times have we waited for something, and saw a sea of others doing the same and over time folks give up and leave, leaving less and less people waiting for the prize.

I remember back in 2001 there was a huge Powerball Lottery Jackpot and I was sent out for my office to get tickets. I found the first place with lottery and then got on line. The line was over 100 feet long of people, but every few moments it moved up. After half an hour of slow progression, having moved half the distance to the store front, I found out that the Lottery Machines were down. They had been down for over an hour. Not one person in front of me was able to get their tickets, yet half of them gave up and left. As the line got shorter, CNN showed up to report on the surge for lottery tickets. I mentioned to the lady in front of me that my boss just called on my cell and told me “NOT to come back without tickets.”

That line landed me on CNN (the reporter turned around with a big smile and asked if he could record me saying that).

In the end I did get lottery tickets, although not the winning tickets. It was interesting, my bosses boss saw me on CNN and asked her if we got any tickets for him, and we said ‘Sure!’ and all was well.

The point though was I did not give up. Sure I wasted two hours in line for the tickets, but it was fun, and I met many nice people and also got my ugly mug on CNN.

This same principle applies in all other aspects of our life. If we give up before the goal is reached, then we give up on the goal. Sure we periodically need to reassess whether we want to achieve the goal or not, but the important point is if that we want to achieve the goal, we should do what it takes to stay in there.

Seth Godin persisted and has just sent out his 3,000^th Blog Message, oh and yeah, he is a huge Marketing guru, in part for his many Blogs and sticking with sending them out. (Google ‘Seth’ and he is the first hit.).

Persistence will help to get you where you want to go, if you can, well, persist.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, February 23, 2009

Message of the Day - Toughing It Out

Good Morning,

Welcome new recipients!

Over this rough winter we have been forced to thicken our skin and put up with some less than perfect living conditions, some even had to endure down right medieval conditions. It is these rough times when we have to roll up our sleeves and get tough. It is these times when we find out what we are made of.

Sometimes the tough times come from difficult situations, the bad economy, lost jobs and lost money. It is exactly these times where we need to make the decision if we are going to stand up and be the person we were meant to be or are we going to cower into a fetal position, sucking our thumbs and waiting for the danger to pass (I know, a bit extreme, but what an image!).

What do we do when tough times come upon us? The first things I do are pray and ask for prayers; never under-estimate the power of prayers. The next thing I do is find a solution. It can be either a direct or creative solution. Direction solutions are tackling issues head on, going from A to B, and keep it up until you get the job done. Creative solutions are, well, creative. Benjamin Franklin had a creative solution for when his printing business in Philadelphia was in danger from other companies who were trying to edge him out of business.

Benjamin Franklin invited them all over to his house with a formal printed invitation. Curious, these folks came to see what Mr. Franklin had in store. At the dinner table, he served everyone a bowl of some powdery substance. He then poured water into his bowl, mixed it up and started eating voraciously. When the person next did the same he nearly gagged on the stuff. When asked what it was, Franklin stated that it was sawdust and that no matter how hard they tried to push him out of business, he was going to survive, because he could survive on sawdust alone. The people backed off and he was back in business.

Being tough is not always easy, but we all have it within ourselves to do it. Some folks face adversity and crumble. Some, having been through tough times several times start growing thicker skin and can weather the storm. Some folks need others to stand with them. Whatever it is that helps you stand up to face rough times, get familiar with them, and don’t be afraid to use them. Get out of your comfort zone, on your terms, and build up your experience and mettle. Try something new, do something you are a bit fearful on in a safe environment.

You can also find symbols of strength to help guide you. It may be God or a movie hero, a comic book hero, or even an item. I remember when I broke both legs in a construction accident in 1995 when a small building collapsed on me. During the ride to the emergency room, without any pain medications, I asked one of the volunteers on the ambulance to write the word “OUCH!” on the whiteboard above my stretcher. Then every time we hit a bump or pothole, I grimaced in pain and pointed to the sign. The sign gave me strength to tough out the pain.

Prepare for rough times and find symbols of strength and when the tough times come, and you will be better able to face the hardships with dignity and courage. We can get better at facing tough times. Remember years ago when a flat tire was the end of the world. What would you do, who would help you, who can you call, what am I going to do now, etc... Now its a minor inconvenience. Also, there are many examples of everyday people who have toughed it out and gotten through. Learn from them, and apply those lessons to yourself and you will find that those tough times are not that tough anymore.

We can tough it out. Have faith in yourselves, I do.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, February 20, 2009

Message of the Day - Complexity vs. Simplicity The battle of our daily lives

Good Morning,

I keep getting emails and seeing or hearing commercials for products or services which will make our lives easier. Something to save us time, something to do more with less, or something to change the way we do things entirely, and some of those come with screaming announcers, right Billy! It all sounds so appealing, but we know it is a trap. The more time we free up, the more things we will find to fill up our lives to do (or our bosses and loved ones give to us the second they perceive we have a free nano-second or more).

Think about all of the ‘time saving’, ‘organizationally efficient’, ‘faster & more efficient’ stuff we use on a daily basis. These things, and there are many of them, tend to make our lives more complex. We add to our daily rituals and perform many new tasks which free up our time to do more rituals and tasks.

We can swiffer the floors, grab meals on the go, drive through most types of stores, email – text – call anyone almost anywhere, at any time, etc.

All of this sounds nice but what happened to simplicity? Taking a stroll in the park (wait, let me see on my calendar when I can fit that in, yes, three Thursdays from now between 1:00 – 1:30 when I am only double booked).

If we take a step back we may see ourselves not so much as empowered and equipped people taking control of every moment of our lives, maximizing our potential and capitalizing on our knowledge, rather we may start to appear as prisoners of an overly technological prison-world. Living in a world where we are in a forced race against the Jones’ and every second and penny spent counts. Oh yeah, we are two laps behind in the race because after we finish each lap, or hit each milestone, two or more goals appear, and before we can take a breather of accomplishment or reflection, we are off racing again.

We work toward retirement, but look at the retired; they are also in a similar race following Parkinson’s Law of filling up every loose second with something to do.

Maybe we need a little more simplicity, or as others call it: Margin, in our lives where we can have some more sane moments and slow the train down for a few days, hours or even several minutes if we can.

I will wait for you to stop laughing at my presumptuous folly…

We can slow down and simplify our lives, but the key is doing it NOW, in small doses. Give yourself five minutes a day where you just sit and close your eyes and think. At first, you may fall asleep, but over time you will learn to appreciate the silence and quiet. Try to expand this time, maybe start reading a bit each night or each morning, or sometime during the day.

We are entitled to US time. And yes, we will have to fight for it, because everyone wants our attention, the beeping dryer telling us to take out and fold the clothes, the cats that know we opened a book to read and come for some loving, friends who call to talk to us, jobs that need to be done, games that entice us to play, and the list goes on and on.

Taking this time will give us a breather and make the harder parts a bit more bearable. At least we know how to catch a breath. We just need to do it!

We can simplify our lives for short periods of time and this can help give us some breathing room during the crazier parts of our days, usually most of the time we spend awake these days.

Simplify, take some YOU time.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Message of the Day - What Churchill Said!

Good Morning,

Welcome new recipients!

My current read is ‘Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History’s Greatest Speakers’ by James C. Humes (http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Like-Churchill-Stand-Lincoln/dp/0761563512). I was caught by the title and I am really enjoying the lessons in this book.

Two of the lessons which have resonated with me are: knowing your audience and having a power quote on hand.

Knowing your audience, whether we are acting as a speaker, emcee or just interacting with others helps us get our message across most efficiently. Failure to know our audience can cause our message to go awry, be taken the wrong way, or worse yet, be misunderstood.

To illustrate knowing our audience, James Humes uses a story told to him by then president of Campbell Soup who spoke about his nephew during the Vietnam War. The nephew, after being injured and in a hospital, needed help to write a letter to his wife. In dictating the letter to a nurse, he mentions that, in part, the nurses there are very regular looking. The nurse who was taking the dictation took offense at the statement and the nephew. He then told the nurse, the letter was intended for his wife.

Last night at church we were talking about following advice or orders and the consequences of not doing so. In my mind popped an incident with my favorite general, Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire. He won every battle he fought, save one: where his troops wanted to chase down a beaten foe and Belisarius warned against it. The troops went, and were dealt a heavy blow. My point was met with vacant stares midway through, so I finished as soon as I could. Right concept, wrong audience.

The second lesson is having a power quote on hand. These quotes can be from anyone, how they are presented is the key. The important point is to have the quote ready to use when you need it. So powerful are these quotes that those who speak them are often remembered long after they have passed for saying these quotes. President Theodore Roosevelt used a quote from an unknown source. This quote now outlives him (“Walk softly and carry a big stick’). How many other quotes do you remember which have survived their speakers? This is the power of using quotes.

James Humes then lists some of his favorites, like Winston Churchill’s quote: “No one can make you inferior without your consent.’ That is a powerful quote and one that I have come across in half a dozen books over the last few years.

Later last evening at church, the topic of discussion was fear, so I tossed out FDR’s famous quote: ‘The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself’. That hit home, everyone nodded in agreement. Right concept, right audience, right quote.

Knowing who we are communicating with, what they like, what they expect, what they are familiar with helps open the door to smoother communications, and in the case of the nephew, a less jealous wife awaiting his return home.

Having one or more very powerful quotes on standby to help us convey our message helps to turbo-charge what we are saying by bringing in the big guns. A short succinct quote can often accentuate our point faster and more efficiently than we can on our own. With all those wonderful quotes out there, like ripe fruits on trees, let’s go and pick a few juicy ones to help out in our day to day lives.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, February 16, 2009

Message of the Day - Why do we follow the lead of those who agitate us?

Good Morning,

I have been taking my time reading through Marcus Aurelius and came across a passage which caught my attention.

“In everything which happens keep before thy eyes those to whom the same things happened, and how they were vexed, and treated them as strange things, and found fault with them: and now where are they? Nowhere. Why then dost thou chose to act in the same way? and why doest thou not leave these agitations which are foreign to nature, to those who cause them and those who are moved by them? and why art thou not altogether intent upon the right way of making use of the things which happen to thee? for then thou wilt use them well, and they will be a material for thee to work on. Only attend to thyself, and resolve to be a good man in every act which thou doest…”

I have been a part of and left organizations, companies and groups which have become, for me, painful to be a part of. I see many others who are like the moth, cannot stay away from the bright light. There are people in these groups and organizations who like to ‘get into your face’ in whatever we do. There are nitpickers who have to pick out every error and correct every misstep, almost as if they would be struck by lightning if they did not act to save your grammar or accuracy. There are those who only see the negative someone has done in the past and cannot no matter how wonderful the work is, see beyond the issues or perceived issues of the past. There are those who attack any new ideas and fight tooth and nail to protect the ‘glory days’ which have, according the rest of the world, been left over a decade ago.

These people can be very unpleasant and put several of them in the same room or email list and you might as well have a pool of hungry piranhas with food dropped in. These folks may be very kind and loving people, but once they sit behind the keyboard or go to a group function, their Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde transformation takes place, and the vile ugliness spews from their lips and off their keystrokes.

Yet, knowing all of this, we tend to keep going back to these groups, sending out new emails to this email lists and become frustrated at the same heated, unpleasant and ugly responses we often get. New blood joins the team and organization and their good intentions are met with sledgehammers and pile drivers of negativity. Some of the new blood then leaves, others go into hiding and others join the rebellion and add to the vitriol flying around.

And we stay a part of these groups, why? A paycheck is involved? (ok, in this economy, that is a good reason to stay). Some stay because they call it fun. (and that is fine if there is enjoyment in being the receiving end of an inside charge of 300 plus pound offensive linemen).

If the feelings we get by being a part of a group or organization is painful and sickening, it is a sign to step away, change your affiliation or just plain leave. No one should be forced to pay a high entrance fee of verbal or electronic brutality to be part of a group that interests them. There are many others out there. For example: Toastmasters, which is a very positive organization, which is focused on helping you improve yourself.

And while there are politics in all groups and organizations, remember that you do not have to put up with or keep being a part of those which as Marcus Aurelius says ‘and why doest thou not leave these agitations which are foreign to nature’. You can stand up to make a change, or barring that, find others who are more receptive to you and what you have to offer.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Message of the Day - Achievement and Risk

Good Morning,

My most recent read, book 300, is Ray Kroc’s story about the making of McDonalds “Grinding It Out” (http://www.amazon.com/Grinding-Out-McDonalds-Ray-Kroc/dp/0312929870). In it Ray Kroc talks about his life and how he got from his youth to being one of the richest and most successful people in the world.

The last paragraph of the book has a very powerful message. It is as Ray Kroc summed up his entire story in these words to us, on how to succeed in life:

“Achievement must be made against the possibility of failure, against the risk of defeat. It is no achievement to walk a tightrope laid flat on the floor. Where there is no risk, there can be no pride in achievement and, consequently, no happiness. The only way we can advance is by going forward, individually and collectively, in the spirit of the pioneer. We must take the risks involved in our free enterprise system. There is only one way in the world to economic freedom. There is no other way.”

In other words, we must move forward and take risks for us to achieve economic freedom.

Do you think it is a coincidence the world has so many people struggling to succeed and at the same time so many people who would rather ‘play it safe’ and NOT take risks? Possibly there is a correlation with ‘playing it safe’ and not succeeding?

Slow and steady may no longer win the race, especially when the race track of life keeps changing from minute to minute. This goes along with another great American proverb: ‘Nothing Ventured, nothing gained’. By ventured, is meant risk taken.

To achieve we need to risk. Of course we should take care not to take foolish risks, but we need to step outside our comfort zones from time to time to help achieve our goals. I spent over $1000 to get self-published. It is a risk, but without taking it, I am certain that getting my first book published would take a lot more time sending it out from publisher to publisher and hoping that someone may like it enough to publish it, it could take years. Will I succeed, that has yet to be seen, but I know that my chances have greatly increased because I took that first step out of my comfort zone, I took a risk in order to achieve.

We can achieve, by taking risks, and as Ray Kroc says, ‘Grinding it out’.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Message of the Day - Is Being Grateful a Dying Art?

Good Morning,

One of the organizations I work with performs an annual charitable service to our community. Each year a different charity is chosen as well as what to give. This year, money was raised for a local health facility. This facility often raises millions of dollars from donors around from the world. Our organization’s donation was just under $1000. We did not expect to get hoopla, news conferences or anything of the sort, rather we helped just for the sake of helping, because we care.

The donations were given back in early December 2008, and at this time, have yet to be deposited. The donations included personal checks from several members as well as a check from the organization. When investigated, we received a response that they would look into the matter since nearly two months had passed. The response we received floored us. The envelope with our donations was locked in a drawer of an employee who was now out on maternity leave. The new person we were working with said they would take care of the issue, and here it is two weeks later and still no deposited checks.

Our board was livid on how this health facility seemed to have little or no care for our donation. Worse yet, we wonder how many other donations are sitting there, not being used for their intended purpose.

We have since decided to no longer support this health organization, seeing how ungrateful they have been.

This ungratefulness made me think about other times in life where others have been ungrateful for the favors we have done for them, or the gifts we have given to them. I learned a long time ago, that you should think twice or more before turning down a gift from someone. Giving is such a powerful act that shutting it down by not accepting can be very painful, both in humiliation and in other ways.

Turning down the generosity of others can be very painful, and that is because of how good it feels to give. Helping others is such a powerful feeling that many folks focus their lives on helping others to keep that high going for as long as possible. Imagine the feeling of being shut down, having the door slammed in your face when you are trying to give to another (not trying to sell anything).

Devastating is one word for it.

Please remember it is okay to allow others to give to you, and think twice before turning someone else’s help down. In other words, allow others to help you from time to time. Even us self sufficient folks can use a hand every now and then. Really.

Our organization will support a smaller charity next year, and I am certain that they will be more grateful (or will at least acknowledge our gift by depositing the checks and using the money to actually help someone).

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, February 9, 2009

Message of the Day - Will the REAL you please stand up?

Good Morning,

I remember my Dad talking to me back in the 1980’s about why he was buying a larger house. His current house seemed fine to me; it had 5 bedrooms, a living room, family room, and plenty of storage and a garage. The reasons he told me he wanted a larger house was because one of his employees had recently bought a house larger than his. I asked him if he was serious. He said it was the custom in corporations, and that was the reason he got the new house. Some of these customs drove the image of the ‘Corporate Clone’.

How many actions do we make in our lives which are merely for position or for politics?

And if we dedicate our lives to playing politics or playing ‘the game’ do we lose ourselves in the process? I mean, does the ‘real’ us get covered up with what the world wants us to be? Then what happens to us?

I often seem folks find heroes in life who go against the grain. They do what no one else is willing or able to do, and then suddenly they go main stream. They ‘Sell Out’ and join the machine. These are people who supposedly give up who they are to get some quick cash, position or take advantage of some opportunity instead of going forward with how they are doing things today. Then again, are those people truly selling out, or are they just being themselves and their audience put them on a pedestal for wrong reasons?

It is a hard road to take for some. We feel pulled in all directions and are easily swayed down the nearest path or start the newest hobby or read the latest book just because someone else said it was all the rage. Remember in ‘I Love Lucy’ (there I go dating myself again) when Lucy, Fred, Ethel and Ricky are in a fancy restaurant. Lucy orders first and then changes her order after everyone else orders because she likes what they ordered? Some folks change directions and positions like the way the wind blows. Others know who they are and can stay the course no matter what life and others throw at them.

To make matters more confusing, we have to try to be ourselves in a world where life is lived in overdrive and speeding up. We can look forward to a greater number of life events being pushed so fast, they become ludicrous. Like Danny Kaye in the knighting ceremony in ‘The Court Jester’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Aiyec2czY) where the entire ceremony is rushed to the point that it is hilarious. The sad part is if we take a look back out or very day lives, we can easily see this happening to us today!

I have struggled in every place I have ever worked, lived and played because I am me. I say things people do not like, and I refuse to be someone that I am not, honesty can be upsetting. Then again, there were times in my life when I was not totally sure who I was. It has been a lifelong struggle for me to make sure that the person I know that I am is not being shaped into something else due to the company I work for, or the company I keep.

It has served me well to be able to negotiate life better being myself. In tough times, when we don’t know who we are or we pretend to be something we are not, that is when the walls come down. Back in 2003 when I was downsized from the Dot.Com, I did not know who I was and my world nearly collapsed. Today, I am more prepared, not totally there yet, but more prepared as I have a better understanding of who the real me is, meanwhile continually sharpening the saw.

So when the real you is asked to stand up, do you know who that person is? Have you met them? May it’s time you do.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg