Mother's Day Wisdom

Yesterday, being Mother's Day I enjoyed a sermon by my pastor's wife. Her words so impressed me that I felt led to share my notes here with you. It seems that as a teacher she relies on props to help her in her presentation and this was no exception. She chose to utilize clay and its many forms and properties.

She explained that there are three types of clay, which was news to me. The first is the kind we all enjoy as a child. It requires no water, is plyable once warmed by the touch of human hand, and impressionable but never takes a permanent form. The second is also requires no water, is plyable, and impressionable, however once it is is formed and dries it is what it is. During this process it is crumbly and can be hard to contain. The third clay is known as Potter's Clay. This is the clay that is spoken of so often in the Bible that it is worth noting it's properties.

Potter's Clay is the only clay that requires water. Unlike the other two types of clay it requires a very unique synergy with it's maker. With the addition of water, (could this be baptism?), it slips and slides in the potter's loving hands. This is the only clay that requires extreem heat to ensure its form remains. While in the kiln if the form has not been perfectly formed as the imperfections bubble to the surface it will develop cracks and chips.

Now consider the clay. Do you think it is fun to be beat, twisted, torn, and forced into shape? At least with the Potter's Clay it is loving hands that carefully form you. Which would you rather be? Even if you end up being chipped and cracked do you not think that you could be useful?

There is a wonderful book that was writen entitled, "God Uses Cracked Pots" by Patsy Clairmont. You don't have to stay broken to the point that you are useless. It is through our cracks and chips that God makes good use of us.

As a final thought I would like to share a quote with you. "Leaving a good impression is intentional, not unintentional."

The Day My Mouse Died

As a graphic artist and writer most of my business and communications are done via my computer. Many of those years I suffered from the tug of war syndrome commonly known as ‘too short mouse cord’. This is a very aggravating condition as I am sure you can attest. Ask any graphic artist, the graphic pen is a handy tool but needs much improvement to be totally reliable and useful. Besides which it isn’t really for typing or navigation.

For this reason when they came out with the wireless mouse I thought I had found my nirvana. Freedom was mine at last. With the insertion of two tiny little AA-batteries my quest was complete, or so I thought. I found out after a very short while that the major flaw my little piece of heaven had was that the life of a wireless mouse battery is short lived. The redeeming factor is that it warns you when the batteries are getting low. My frugal spouse insisted from the start that we should use re-chargeable batteries and being the loving and obedient wife, I agreed.

Herein lies the problem. One busy afternoon I was working away running five or six programs, updating clients information files, and in the midst of two instant messenger (IM) chats when my first warning went. I informed my frugal spouse of my need and the ever prepared Boy Scout that he is not; he had no replacement batteries in the charger. I held my breath, trusting the mouse to live just twenty minutes longer. But as you have already guessed my luck did not hold out. Moments later the two IM messages went unanswered and I sat frustrated staring at my monitor unable to tab my way to anything meaningful or helpful.

With nothing left to do but get up and walk away I was left lost and frustrated. I could only hope my clients would understand when I told them later why I suddenly began to ignore their messages. Unable to get anything else done I was quickly reminded of the days not so long ago before the invention of the computer.

There is a whole generation that can’t recall these times while my generation can recall pre-word processors and even television. Imagine that. No TV! Not even a VCR let alone a CD/DVD player! It is interesting how different our lives were with out these conveniences. The old typewriter with the correction tape built in was a real asset to the administrative professional (called a secretary back then). Now if we make a mistake we just back up and type it over again. Fingers in the wrong place on the keyboard delete the whole thing and start again. No muss, no fuss, no wasted paper or ink.

No matter how heavily we rely on technology, when it fails we know it is but an inconvenient hiccup. Wouldn’t you agree? We’d rather have to deal with the hiccups than traverse the road of life without our conveniences.

Attitude

Today I went to listen to a sage woman. She imparted much knowledge on the subject of attitude. One of the pieces she shared struck me as quite profound and so I wanted to share these words with you.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact attitude has on life." Attitude to me is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what others think, say or do. More important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We can not change the past...the fact that people will act in a certain way...we cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is to play on the one string we have and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it -- and so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitude." - Chuck Swindoll

Effective Communication

· Do your customers understand you?
· Are your vendors listening?
· How important is clear and accurate communications to you and your business growth?

This week a most interesting thing occurred. As I was surfing around my usual haunts I ran across a message on a board that brought up a very interesting and thought provoking subject. That topic was communication. As odd as it seems, and despite all of our knowledge, resources, and technology, we are remain unable to communicate effectively with each other.

Why is this such a problem for us? Why is it that communication continues to be our most difficult achievement? After all, are we not communicating in one form or another each and every day if not each and every moment? Not only do we interact with each other day in and day out but we have many methods of communicating. If you think about it I am sure you can come up with a lot more than the obvious two, verbal and written. What about body language; is that not a form of communication too? And that’s just for starters.

Read the full article in the upcoming Words of Wisdom Ezine, April issue. Available for the asking here: http://www.documeant.net#wow or find the link in the right side panel of this blog.

Insanity and business success ne're the twain shall meet

This month I hope you took the time to evaluate your business successes and failures. Without taking that one important step you could end up running around in proverbial circles. There is a saying I have heard many times that expresses this quite succinctly; "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), (attributed).

One of the things that you might consider doing differently this year is hiring a coach to guide you along the path to success. There are many business coaches that can assist you in your quest. If you have trouble with goal setting find one that specifically states that is their area of expertise, if marketing or business structure you will need to look for those specialties. The right coach can make night and day difference in your success. I challenge you to give it a try, if you don't achieve a heightened level of growth in your business after working with a coach I would love to hear from you. However, on the other hand, if you have already gone this route and have seen the benefits I would love to hear from you too.

So, let me open the floor for opinions, comments, and question. Please post them below.

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