Lessons in the Silence

Not what you might expect!

I was attending our National Speaker Association - Illinois Chapter meeting about a week ago.  It was the best meeting I have attended in over 2 years.  It wasn't that I had any predetermined expectations of the main program of the day.  I'm not sure what I was expecting ... but whatever I was expecting ... well, it wasn't what I got!

Meet Rory Vaden.  He is 26.   And he is not probably delivering the message you might think he is delivering either.  Tell Rory that his generation is filled with a sense of entitlement and wants it all and wants it now ... he might just agree with you.  He might also not limit it to his own generation.  His message for success comes from a place of discipline and sacrifice.  It is a refreshing wake-up call that is hard to ignore. While Rory delivers his message with a spoon full of sugar ... you find it hard to walk away and hit the snooze on what you have just heard.

To reinforce his message he is on a national mission he has branded as "Take the Stairs".  And he isn't asking you to do something he isn't willing to do.  In fact, while in Chicago he climbed all the stairs of the Sears Tower ... and he is going coast to coast climbing the stairs of the 10 Tallest Buildings!  As I traveled last week, I noticed Rory was right.  No one takes the stairs ... they prefer the effortless escalators.  I'm taking the stairs ... and seeing things just a little more clearly with each step I climb!

Rory ... thanks for a great message ... delivered in an exceptional way!  Thanks for helping people see the realities of life and helping them wake-up ... rather than roll over and hit the snooze. 

On the iMPORTANCE of connection

If we are willing to wake-up to the lessons of life, we can learn them most anywhere at anytime.  I had just woken-up on Indian Rocks Beach near Clearwater Florida.  We were on our family spring-break vacation.  We had the whole family laid-out under the sun.  I decided to pull my iPOD from our beach bag to enjoy a few tunes.  It was there that my IPOD taught me about the iMPORTANCE of connection!

I placed the earplug cords such that I could run them to my ears from behind rather than from the front (who wants their chest tan to include a white streak from your iPOD earplug cord running across your body!).  I got all situated and picked up the iPOD to make my song selection.  The sun was brightly baking down and diminishing my ability to easily see my iPOD screen.  I finally managed to focus and select a song.  Then I tried to adjust the volume.  I could still barely see the screen, but with what I could tell, I was correctly doing everything to adjust the volume upward.  But there was no sound.  I kept trying to adjust it.  Even when I turned it to full-volume I could just slightly hear anything.  I was getting increasingly frustrated.  I mean, how hard could this be?  But I kept trying ... determined to get it to work.

Finally, exhausted from trying, I did what all smart parents do when they have a technology issue.  I begged for help from my 15-year-old daughter.  Julie walked over with confidence and took control.  But no matter what she did, there was still no sound ... except for a very distant sound when she cranked it to full-volume.  As I reached to readjust the earplugs in my ear, I discovered the problem.  In the midst of being so concerned about getting the cords all set under me rather than on top of me, I had pulled the earplugs out of my ears.  No wonder there was no sound!  It was only at full-volume that I could hear a slight sound as the earplugs sat on my beach towel beneath my ears!

Julie lost it.  Her contagious laughter got us both uncontrollably laughing.  It woke the whole family from their sunny slumber as they all enjoyed laughing at me ... certainly not with me!  After all had settled down, I reset the tunes and adjusted the volume to the perfect setting for this beautiful beach scene.

It was there that it hit me ... the iMPORTANCE of connection!  It didn't matter how much I worked on trying to fix the volume on the iPOD ... and nor did it matter who I asked to help me solve the problem.  My efforts were focused on the wrong problem.  The problem wasn't with the iPOD.  In fact the iPOD was working perfectly.  The problem was with ME!  I wasn't connected.  I wonder how much needless effort we invest on a problem that doesn't exist ... on something that only appears to be a problem simply because we are not connected

As I basked in the sun and listened to my tunes, my mind drifted from connection to connection ... friends, clients, family and God.  I thought of frustrating problematic conversations.  And prayers that seemed unanswered.  It made me want to return to the basics and recommit to connection.

Sometimes you need to put your hands to your ears and recheck the connection.  You might be amazed at what you start to hear ... and see ... and experience!

Slowing Down to Catch-up

My last BLOG was about the CUBS ... you know, waiting until next year.  Alright ... enough already with the smart comments asking if I was going to be like the CUBS and "wait till next year" to do my next blog entry!!   With my last blog entry on September 28th, I guess I am still not very consistent at this ... at least not yet! 

Have you ever been sitting in a presentation and felt the speaker was talking directly to you and no one else.  Like singled-out!  That is how I felt at church this past Sunday when the message was on the importance of daily reading and reflecting ... journaling.  I have always realized the importance of journaling, but have never been very consistent at it.  And rarely do we get good at something if we are not consistent with it.  Maybe that is why I struggle with consistency on my blog.  It is a bit of a journal.  But I know the issue is deeper than consistency ... I think it is about reactively moving too fast.  Just trying to get it all done!  Saying YES when you know you should be saying NO or at least NOT NOW.  Journaling clarifies and crystallizes your thoughts ... helping you respond YES, NO or NOT YET at the right times to the right things.  It is like slowing down to catch-up ... a bit of a paradox.  I actually don't have any plans of slowing down anytime soon ... but rather to make journaling and blogging a part of the rhythm of my days.  i am not so sure speed is the issue.  I know a lot of people who go really fast ... but are very clear about what they do.  You know what they consistently do?  They reflect, read and journal each and every day.  I know if I do, I will see more clearly ... and I trust you will too.  Is there an alarm going off in your life to adjust the rhythm of our daily routine?  If so, refuse-to-snooze.  It is never too late to start again.  My next blog ... very soon!

Tanks ... but NO TANKS!

It is a sad day in Chicago.  Not because the Bears won't have Tank Johnson on the field to help defend their NFC Championship Title and a hopeful ride back to the Super Bowl.  But it's sad that we have yet another high-profile example of someone who didn't learn their lesson.  Tank hit the snooze one too many times.  If there is someone who had every alarm going off in his life, it was Tank Johnson.  As an awesome defensive tackle he has rung the bell of many opponents.  But this last year his "bell" had been ringing.  Lovie Smith and the Chicago Bears' organization did everything they could trying to wake Tank up.  The truth is that only Tank knows his real struggles.  It would be easy, as many will, to sit back and throw stones at Tank.  Maybe our time would be better spent in using Tank as our own wake-up call to ask ourselves where we are hitting the snooze.  Today, the Chicago Bears sounded an alarm that was anything but silent ... thanks, but no thanks.  Imagine if Tank had refused to snooze?  It's never too late for Tank or any of us to wake-up to something on which we have been snoozing.  Don't go back to sleep watching how this story ends ... if you do, you might miss the media frenzy of Paris Hilton's departure from jail.  But that's another story.  Talk about a cat with nine lives.  Don't think you will be so lucky.  Neither was Tank.  Wake-up ... and refuse to snooze!

The Sobriety Project

If I am really willing to admit it, last night was a wake-up call.  Jimi Allen is simply an incredible photographer.  I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jimi this past year.  He is an awesome photographer (and as you get older, in the speaking business, you need an awesome photographer!!).  In sitting through a photo session with Jimi, you quickly realize that he is a master beyond photography.  He is a storyteller and he simply uses his photography to tell a person's story.  The only thing better about Jimi, than his photography, is his heart and soul.  You combine his photography with his heart and soul and you get the Sobriety Project.  I went to check out this mobile photo gallery last night.  I went because Jimi was my friend.  I left thinking at a different level.  You see, Jimi Allen Photography has joined with others to create this incredible mobile exhibit.  'sobriety' is a vision to take the sobering reality about homelessness into the community and a mission to work together affecting change. Homeless or previously homeless individuals share their stories through portraiture and documentary photography as well as audio interviews.  The stories are left raw ... in their own words.  Their stories are heart-breaking ... and the recovery of some fills you with hope.  I left rethinking the homeless, their stories and my perceptions ... and thinking about what else I need to rethink.  Just when you think you are making some progress, you realize that life is full of "Silent Alarms" that are trying to wake you up ... and challenging you not to hit the snooze button any more.  What is something you need to rethink?

Time is on the MOVE!!

I had to laugh when a friend shared with me a new product that is for sale on the Internet.  It is an alarm clock on wheels!  You get to hit the snooze one time for a bit more rest ... but there is no second chance.  You hit that snooze button twice and those wheels start spinning ... launching that alarm clock right off of your night stand and racing forward across the room on a path that changes each day.  Snooze twice and you are going to be up searching for that clock to turn it off!  The name of this clock is simply "Clocky".  It sounds like such a nice name and looks so angelic for being such a little rascal! So you may ask, why would you ever buy a product that would send you on such an irritating, early-morning goose chase?  Maybe it is because we know how much we love to hit the snooze button on our night-stands.  What's not funny about this is that we do the same with the alarms going off in our life.  We just keep hitting the snooze hoping that we can just sleep it off and all will be better.  My hope and prayer in writing Silent Alarm was that it would stimulate our thinking to help us (you AND me) wake-up to the more subtle lessons of life.  I hope through the wonders of technology that we can virtually come together on the "front porch" of this blog to raise the ongoing awareness of the silent alarms in our life.  I look forward to sharing ideas with you and learning from the responses you share back in return.  In the meantime, remember the lesson of Clocky ... hit snooze and you are on a roll, but not necessarily in the direction you wanted to go!