Newsletter for June 2008:
How Shall We Then Live?

Contents:

1. This Months Thought
2. How Shall We Then Live?
3. Quotes of the Month
4. Strictly Business: Making Money, Creating Wealth
5. Humor: Disorder in the Court

This Months Thought

You can have just about anything you want in life. You can live just about any lifestyle you wish. You can be or become any one you choose. The only question is, "What will you do with your one and only, glorious life?" Once you answer that, the rest is just a matter of strategy and execution.

How Shall We Then Live?

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes story, "The Hound of the Baskervilles," there's a wonderful conversation about whether the Lord of the Manor has installed electricity in the castle. The reply is, "No, Sir. He's decided to wait a generation or two to see if it catches on."

I love that story because it lends perspective to our need to rush and worry. As George and Ira Gershwin noted over 70 years ago, we live with a constant "need for speed." But I'm not sure the need is as intense as we believe.

Some things, like wine and wisdom, seem to mature slowly.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate being able to fly to conferences in LA or Canada, I appreciate instant messaging and the convenience of email. I love watching the Olympics live, as they happen. These are marvelous things and they serve us well. As an avid reader, I love being able to go online, any time, to research and order a book on a moments notice without having to leave my home. That's wonderful!

As a coach, my job is to help my clients be more productive, achieve higher goals, make more money or have a larger impact on the world. It's amazing to see what we can achieve with smarter strategies and better tools! We can do far more than we have imagined, and helping my clients achieve important goals is where the joy is!

So long as "doing" more allows us to "become" more.

Many years ago, I think it was Ann Murray who sang about the clowns at the circus and at the end of the song, she asks, "Is that all there is?" I fear that at the end of life, many of us will be left with the question, "Is that all there is?"

I remember as a child, fishing with my uncle T.E. on one of our family ponds. I would watch how he cast a line and I’d try to copy his technique. It would cool down in the late afternoon and the water would be so calm it was like looking into a mirror. We had horses and sometimes they would be grazing near us with the sun setting in the distance. He would cast, then I would cast and we talked. There was no radio or television, no iPod or internet, but we had plenty of time.

Obviously, we are not going to turn back the clock. We are not going to "wait a generation or two" to see if the digital age "will catch on." We are not going to abandon email or give up our cell phones.

But with all the options and opportunities in front of us, it is essential that we ask, "How do I want to live my life?" More than ever, we have an obligation to choose our priorities.

It seems to me, the sequence is this:

1. First, decide your values and priorities. What's important to you? What do you want more of in your life? What do you want less of? Get clear!
2. Second, choose a strategy. How have other people done what you want to achieve? What skills, strategies and partnerships have worked for other people? Find out!
3. Execute your strategy! In the end, it comes down to daily action. Once you know what you want and have a plan to get it, the key is execution.

You can have just about anything you want in life. You can live just about any lifestyle you wish. You can be or become any one you choose. The only question is, "What will you do with your one and only, glorious life?" Once you answer that, the rest is just a matter of strategy and execution.

Quotes of the Month

"Fear is nothing except a drain of energy and not a power unto itself. Trust in yourself, for therein lies the true power." -- Lori Hard

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing." -- Theodore Roosevelt

"Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish." -- Jean De La Fontaine

"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." -- Harvey Mackay

Strictly Business: Making Money, Creating Wealth

Recently, I heard some interesting statistics on TV. A few years ago Japan suffered through a deep recession for almost 10 straight years, while America had relative boom times. During those ten years, the following occurred:

Japanese citizens saved 27% of their income; Americans saved essentially nothing.

The average Japanese family has a net worth of $177,000; the average American family has a net worth of less than $3000.

The average American family has almost $12,000 in consumer debt -- in other words, many of us actually have a negative net worth!

We make more money than any other nation on earth; and we spend about 103% of what we make. This makes no sense!

The key to creating wealth is NOT simply in making more money. The key is understanding how money works, saving a bit every month, and using compound interest to your advantage. This is not complicated. It is not very exciting or difficult, but we seem unable (or unwilling) to do it.

Read a few good books on how money works. Find tools and resources that can help you. Invest more and spend a bit less than you make!

Humor: Disorder in the Court

These exchanges have been around a long time, and I have no idea whether they actually happened or are the product of someone's fertile imagination. But I do solemnly swear that they made me laugh! I hope you enjoy them - and to anyone whose words are quoted here, I'm sorry!

ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan.

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he's twenty.

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh....

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?

ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies were performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting in a jar on my desk.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Rodger Blaker works with executives, small business owners and professionals who want to grow in their business and create an extraordinary life! For info on resources for your success, visit: http://www.rodgerblaker.com or call me at 214-485-2238.

GIVE A GIFT TO A FRIEND! Please forward this copy to your friends and colleagues! That's how I grow!