Message of the Day - Defanging The Frightening Nature Change

Good Morning,

We all know life is full of changes:

• Technology Changes
• Rules Change
• Work Changes
• People Change
• Economies Change
• Change changes
  

For the folks who are innately afraid of change, I imagine it is a pretty scary world out there. Seldom in all history has there been a time where what we do, how we do it and with what tools we do it with may be obsolete within 25 years. Seems like a long time, 25 years. 25 years ago things were a bit different (1984):

• No WiFi
• No World Wide Web
• No Cell phones (smaller than footballs)
• No PDFs (from Adobe anyway)
  
• No Flat Screen TV's, much less computer monitors (plenty of green CRTs though)
  
• No Online anything except proprietary and closed networks (BitNet, DunsNet, Military, etc)
• 20 Meg Hard Drives (if you were lucky enough to have a hard drive)
• Commodore 64 was still king!
  

25 years before that (1959)

• No personal computers (Certainly nothing you would want to put on your lap)
• No Digital, and possibly limited transistor technology
• No cordless anything electronic (I may be wrong on this one)
• No Visa or MasterCard, but Amex cards were a full 1 year old!!
• No VCR, much less DVD, CDs, or cassettes. And get this, no 8 Track Tapes either (they were 6 years away from entering the scene), but you could get Reel to Reel tapes!

25 years before that (1934)

• There is TV, but I am certain you would not like to watch the Sunday games on it (http://www.tvhistory.tv/pre-1935.htm).
• You get the point.
  

It is almost frightening to think what life would be like without all that we have grown accustomed to in our lives. Going back to 1934 would be very difficult for some. This same fear also faces us with the increasing speed of change coming at us in the days ahead!

With speed of change increasing, it gets harder to plan for the future.

So what can we do?

One bit of advice comes from some 1,800 years ago from our friend Marcus Aurelius who says:

"Consider whence each thing is come, and of what it consists, and into what it changes, and what kind of thing it will be when it has changed, and then it will sustain no harm."

The Roman Emperor is suggesting that we embrace change by understanding change better. That by looking deep into that which is changing and seeing what it was prior to the change and what it is changing into, we can better understand what it means and how to better prepare for and embrace it.

Part of this embracing change is also not holding onto what we will lose (what is changing), rather what we will gain. Often we see change and fail to look deeper than the superficial change and nothing more. Kind of like judging a book by its cover, but instead of a book, it is change.

Seeing deeper into something that is changing will help us understand it better and take the fangs out of the change. We may not like what is changing, and how it means to our lives, but at least we understand it better and can plan for how to face it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

Message of the Day - There is a limit of how much we can juggle

Good Morning,

I was not able to get to my car for a few moments yesterday afternoon. I knew that I parked on the 4th floor, so when I climbed the stairs in the parking garage I was a bit shocked to see no car. Looking around, I noticed the sign for the 5th floor. Realizing I overshot my floor I turned around and ran down a flight of stairs, and as I walked out to where my car was, nothing...again.

Looking around again I noticed a sign saying 3rd floor. I overshot it again. Stopping for a moment and regaining my thoughts I tried to understand what had just happened. I was pretty sure it was not a tesseract (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/wrinkle/section5.rhtml). I was also pretty sure my blood sugar was not completely out of whack.

Taking it slowly, going back up one flight of stairs, I made it out to the fourth floor and to my car. I felt a bit surprised that I could not find an entire floor in the parking garage.

Why did I miss it. It could be that I am just a goof and my mind was deep in thought with upcoming events and activities or I was trying to not be run over by the lady coming down the stairs as I headed up, and the other person who was coming up as I went down.

By being engrossed in something other than what I was doing, I completely missed the reality that was around me. I am reminded of stories of Albert Einstein who, when teaching at Princeton University, was so absent minded that there were signs posted 'Beware of Professor'. He had once left his house without pants, and other interesting oddities.

With everything going on in my life I seemed to have reached a point where I am mentally overwhelmed. Where I would think of one or two things in my travels, my mind is racing between dozens. I have had to consciously step back from several activities in my life until the recent chaos settles down to the normal dull roar.

I guess there is limit to how much we can handle and juggle at any one time. As we learn and grow, that amount increases, but there is always a limit.

Although, it would have been cool if it really were a tesseract in the parking garage!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

Sanford Berenberg
sanford@berenberg.net
www.berenberg.net

Message of the Day: Going Above and Beyond or Into Orbit?

Good Morning,

Earlier this week my wife Karen and I watched a documentary on a man named Chiune Sugihara. He worked for the Japanese government during the early days of World War II, and was stationed in the Japanese embassy in Kaunas, Lithuania. During this time, he performed an amazing feat of human kindness.

Many Jews had fled Poland and other nations ahead of the Nazi advance into Soviet controlled Lithuania. The Jews needed a miracle to get out of Lithuania before it was too late, but the Soviets did not make it easy. For these refugees to leave they needed a destination visa, a country willing to accept them, a transit visa, a country that would allow them to travel through, and an exit visa for the country they wanted to leave.

A few ingenious Dutch Jewish refugees figured out that they could get approval to go to Curacao, a Dutch colony. This was a destination that did not require a passport (which few of the refugees had). The Jews received approval to go to Curacao from the Dutch embassy. Step one done, next they needed a transit visa. At this same time, the Soviet Union told all embassies to close their doors and leave. The only two embassies that remained open were the Dutch and Japanese.

Sugihara saw the growing atrocities against the Jews in Europe. Meanwhile, he also saw the Jew's chance for survival diminishing daily. He asked Japan to authorize giving these Jews transit visas. The Japanese government denied the request, multiple times. Against his country's orders, Sugihara granted visas to over 6,000 Jewish refuges, giving them a chance at escape.

It started with one person and grew into thousands; the refugees came to the Japanese embassy in Lithuania for a transit visa. Chiune Sugihara knew what would most likely happen to these people if he did not help them. He also knew what would happen to him and his family if he did. His decision showed he cared more about saving others than his own future. Sugihara started hand-writing hundreds of transit visa's a day. He approved all visas shown to him. He even approved those that were not complete.

He continued writing visas for several weeks as he knew time was short. When his office was to shut down, he asked for an extension to keep the embassy open a little while longer. With the extension granted, he kept filling the visas out until his office was ultimately forced closed. Sugihara did not stop there. When his family arrived at the train station to leave Lithuania, he filled out more visas while waiting for the train to arrive. He even filled out visas when he was in the train, through an open window, before it departed and one or two more for those who could keep up with the train as it left. As he left, he would not know if his work had saved anyone.

For his actions, he was later reprimanded and ultimately dismissed. Afterwards, he lived a rough life where he was forced to scrape by to provide for his family for many years. All the while, he never spoke of the event. Due to other situations, he changed his name to help improve his chances of helping his family. It was not until 25 years later that Sugihara found out if any of the Jews he helped made it. Today, there are somewhere over 40,000 people alive today directly because of this man disobeying orders.

Sugihara helped save the lives of others with no expectations. He received nothing in return. There has been some growing recognition of his work over the last 20 years, but I am certain it was not why he did it.

Forty-five years after he signed the visas, Chiune was asked why he did it. He liked to give two reasons: "They were human beings and they needed help," he said. "I'm glad I found the strength to make the decision to give it to them." Sugihara was a religious man and believed in a universal God of all people. He was fond of saying, "I may have to disobey my government, but if I don't I would be disobeying God."  (http://www.rongreene.com/Sug.html)

When we think about going above and beyond to help others, we sometimes wonder how far is too far. We sometimes wonder if what we do matters. This should not hold us back from giving the help others need if we can, especially when we are someone's last chance.

When helping others, ask yourself:

Have I done enough to help others in need?  Can I do more?

I think we know the answer...we can often do more, and it does make a difference!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

Message of the Day - I am not going to melt!

Good Morning,

Yesterday,  Feedblitz fixed my messages so that you can now respond directly to me again. Thank you for your patience!

A few weeks ago while I was doing my Sunday morning parking lot greeting it had started to rain. I was prepared with an umbrella and walked around the parking lot greeting folks and offering to walk them in under my umbrella if they wanted. One lady looked at me and smiled and said as she declined my offer: "I'm not going to melt" Then she walked off to her destination.

That caught my attention. Here was someone who was going to face a bit of discomfort, walking in the rain, and have to sit around in somewhat wet clothes and did so gladly. She realized that the worst that would happen to her was getting wet, that she was not like the Wicked Witch of the West from the movie 'The Wizard of Oz' who when doused with warm water started melting and died.

How often in life do we shy away from taking actions or doing things which our fear of discomfort is so strong that we do fear we will melt?

Nike brand athletic shoes has the motto: "Just Do It".

When we acknowledge what we don't want to do and just do it, we often get more accomplished in life. Better yet, we achieve more when we roll up our sleeves and go to work.

Statistics also support the value of not worrying about 'getting wet'. Most successful people are not those who are the smartest or the most trained, or the most educated. Rather the most successful people in life are those who just rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Not matter what you have to face or what challenges before you, maybe take another look to see if the risk you face is no more than just getting a little wet or if you will melt.

If you won't melt, then why not roll up your sleeves and get to work?

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

Sanford Berenberg
sanford@berenberg.net
www.berenberg.net

Message of the Day - The Focused and the Dispersed

Good Morning,

 

My current read is John C. Maxwell’s “The 21 Indispensible Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow” (http://www.amazon.com/21-Indispensable-Qualities-Leader-Becoming/dp/0785274405). Like most of Maxwell’s books this one flows nicely and has oodles of information to help paint clear pictures of each point.

 

One of the 21 Qualities is Focus.

 

Focus is important if we want to achieve our dreams and accomplish our goals. The opposite of being focused is being dispersed, distracted or walking around in a fog.

 

One of the concepts John Maxwell shares with us is there are tools and ways to distract others and lose focus. He tells us why a Lion Tamer enters a Lion’s cage with a four legged stool. It is a tool which causes the Lion to loose focus. The Lion looks at each of the four legs and cannot focus on any of them. This ties into another quote in the book, “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape” – Anonymous.

 

This means that there are tools and methods to help us gain and lose focus in our lives. This also means we can learn to turn on laser precision and increase our ability to focus.

 

I find that I can focus better when I try not to multi-task, that I turn my attention to one activity and simply plow through it. Then if I take a break, I can work on something else, but I try not to do two things at the same time or go back and forth quickly between tasks.

 

As I get focused, the rest of the world is tuned out and my speed and accuracy increase steadily.

 

Sometimes I use music, other times I try to work in a secluded place and try to reduce or eliminate distractions. One of my challenges is that I love talking with people, so when I hear conversations around me I often find myself listening to what is being said and get lured away from what I am trying to focus on. Increasing the volume of my music, speaking to myself as I work about the task or going into a closed room seem to help there.

 

The key is to set your self up in such a way as to have fewer distractions. In some cases it means no pictures, or ‘toys’ or turning off the instant messenger or email. It also means practice keeping your attention in one place for an increasing amount of time.

 

Learning to focus takes time, but with these little baby steps, we all can start honing our laser precision.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net  

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

Message of the Day - Paying Attention to the Little Things

Good Morning,

 

I have been trimming down some due to my new 25-30 minute daily ‘Bo’ exercise routine (walking our Bull Terrier, ‘Bocefus’, daily, or rather being walked by him). During my walks if there is enough sunlight (I go out between 5:30 – 6:30 AM) I try to help our community during the walks.

 

Since I am carrying a pooper-scooper and a plastic bag, I often use the scooper to pick up litter during the walk. Generally, I avoid going after the litter when Bo and I are running, for fear of being dragged the rest of the way home by 75 pounds of boundless energy.

 

One thing I noticed the other day is that I sometimes pass by smaller pieces of garbage and don’t pick them up. As I walk by them I see them and simply move on. When I think about it why I didn’t get them too, I hear myself saying ‘it’s too small’ or ‘it’s not my job to get them all’ or something like that.

 

Then it hit me that I sometimes do the same thing in life. I go through life working hard at whatever I put my mind to. Then when something comes up that I consider ‘small’ or ‘inconsequential’ I sometimes ‘overlook’ it and move on.

 

I thought to myself as I passed these by and wondered if it mattered or not. Sometimes those little factors come back to bite me if I do overlook them, and other times they don’t.

 

After having this realization I am making a conscious effort to pay more attention to these little things in my day to day life. Since doing this I have noticed that the quality of my work has improved and I am getting better at telling the difference between the little things that matter a lot and the little things that don’t matter so much.

 

It is not an easy delineation, and as with all things, doing it daily has been the best practice at improving this skill.

 

Part of the challenge is that I am a driven person, and while I can dive into the details, I often get impatient with them when I want to get the projects completed.

 

Changing your nature is not always easy, and sometimes it is just plain impossible.

 

One thing I know, though, is that if I don’t try I will never change.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net  

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

Message of the Day - The Code of Bushido - Courage

Good Morning,

 

Recently I have been listening to some books on tape (cassette). One of these books is called “Smart Leadership” by Michael Podolinsky (http://www.ebook3000.com/Smart-Leadership---A-Simple--Effective-Way-To-Inspire_23072.html). In one part of the tape, Michael talks about the relevance of the Code of Bushido, you know the code of the Samurai Warrior of Japan. He shares three tenets of the code, but depending on where you look, there are more. Below are seven of the primary codes:

 

Gi - Rectitude – Being a person of integrity, and being competent.

Yu - Courage – Having the strength to do what is right.

Jin - Benevolence – Being kind to others.

Rei - Respect – Showing proper courtesy and esteem to others who are deemed to deserve it.

Makoto - Honesty – Being truthful and trustworthy.

Meiyo - Honor  - Living by this code in all that you do.

Chugi – Loyalty – Remaining steadfast in your allegiances to others, tenacity.

 

-Taken from (http://www.bigbearacademy.com/bushido-code.html)

 

Michael shares the importance of having courage in being a leader. The courage I want to focus on, though, is not in leading the team through difficult times and dealing with adversities outside of the team or department. Rather, it is the courage to face the internal department or team.

 

A leader needs courage to share difficult news and feedback with their own team members. This is hard because a leader often has to deal with these people daily either face to face or through some other format or medium. We have all heard the concept of asking someone to repeat something while looking into our eyes to make sure they are not lying. This is a concept of confrontation: that the fear or uncomfortableness of confrontation will make it harder for someone to hide falsehoods.

 

This same concept comes in dealing with those around us. It is sometimes hard to share bad news with someone you care about and work with daily. I know it takes a strong person to do this. In one of my early management roles my first assignment was to tell a very popular Temp employee that their services were no longer needed. Out of the gate, my boss knew that I would make or not by how much courage I could muster to take on this task.

 

Having courage also means telling your team members when they do something wrong or if they are creating a problem for others. It can be both frightening and awkward to tell someone about body odor or personal habits which offend others, but it with courage, it can be done.

 

Having courage as a team member is also important. If you have concerns or questions, you need to have the courage to ask them. You should find the right person, but try to avoid going around your bosses back. That usually ends poorly for either you, your boss or the working relationship.

 

Having courage now, doing the difficult tasks helps a leader down the road in two ways. The first is does not let problems fester over time and explode to full blown emergencies. Second, it shows the team that the leader is strong enough to face difficult challenges and forthright enough to share with them when something is going wrong or right. That is, working for a courageous leader can mean that you will not have to worry where you stand in the team, they will tell you.

 

Courage is vital to working on any team, but it is not a commonly owned attribute. Some folks cower from fear, and cannot face what they consider difficult situations. I saw a woman take a failing grade on a college project because it meant giving a presentation in front of the class. She just could not confront speaking in front of others. This, though is a common fear, and to help beat it, join Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.com).

 

If you don’t have courage, and want it, then realize it will take facing those fears. And like speaking in front of crowds, there are always ways and means to help you. If you need help, contact me.

 

Have courage!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Turbo Charging The Power of You

Good Morning,

 

Isn’t amazing what we can get accomplished when we have our backs to the wall. The chores we do in the morning which take us half an hour can be done in under five minutes if we push it. The quality suffers a little bit, and the stress levels are a bit higher, but some of our best work is done in situations when we have an abbreviated deadline.

 

Zig Ziglar talks about how people can get more accomplished in the day before a vacation then any other day of the week. When we impose a deadline on ourselves, our internal sense of urgency increases and we pick up our pace.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just turn on these turbo charged selves whenever we needed to?

 

The truth is that we can and we often do.

 

The challenge though is we often do not choose to turn on the afterburners, they are turned on for us by outside situations usually in response to something or someone else. For example, our plans to spend 30 minutes to organize our office are changed when a call comes in and we talk for ten minutes. Now we have to do the job we planned to do in 30 minutes in 20 minutes.

 

Most of the time, we do it. Sure we get a bit upset, say some interesting phrases, but when all is said and done, the job we were going to do in 30 minutes gets down in 20 or less.

 

Once again we face Parkinson’s Law, where our activities will take up as much time as we give them. If we give the task an hour, the job takes an hour. If we give it 30 minutes, etc.

 

If we change the way we think to shorten our deadlines, on our own terms, then we can pick up our own pace and do more work in less time, without the added stress of something exterior pushing in on us.

 

We might just free up some valuable time in our days if we get good at this.

 

Try it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336

 

 

 

 

 

Message of the Day - With Friends Like These

Good Morning,

 

Tough situations in life can be a bear to work through. What we face in our lives challenges can often overwhelm us and beat us down. Some folks get so beaten down that they ultimately become broken people. They give up at each challenge and back down from anything they see being remotely difficult or dangerous.

 

To keep the edge, we need to meet our challenges and overcome some obstacles. While we do not have to win every event or overcome every obstacle, we have to have some sense of victory so we know what to look for and fight for.

 

One of the greatest gifts in facing these challenges is not needing to go it alone. That is, having someone there to help you. It could be a family member or friend.

 

When you have someone who is there when you need them, you have an ally who will bear the burdens with you and share the difficulties, and more importantly, support you morally as well. They can be the anchor in the storm and the navigator in the fog.

 

During my last two weeks of challenges, I had friends and family step up and be those anchors and navigators.

 

When life was handing me a very tough hand, a close friend jumped into action and gave me some better cards to play in addition to my family.

 

Having my best friend Howard come out to help me for a few days in addition to my close family was the engine tune-up I needed to get back into the race. I thank God for Howard and all of my friends and family because I know that they are there to help me when I need it. During Mom’s funeral, Howard’s hand was on my shoulder. What a sign of support and kinship! It reminded me that I am not alone at a time when it is easy to feel lost and alone.

 

Having good friends and close family though is certainly not a one way street. We have to also help out and be there and do the seemingly impossible when we can when we are needed. When we do that, we keep filling that emotional bank account Dr. Covey talks about.

 

When we abuse our friendship, and keep making withdrawals, we often find no one to come and help when the need arises. Some of us have taken advantage of friends in the past. It is not too late to fix the problem. You know what to do, give back to them.

 

I hope you also have some great friends, like Howard, and close family and that you too are filling that emotional bank account so that when you need to make an emergency withdrawal, you know they will be there.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net

http://www.berenberg.net   

http://learnandgrowdaily.com ß Click here to order: “Learn And Grow Daily!”

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/

502-533-9336