4 Keys to Success

I attended a seminar today hosted by our local chapter of IABC. It was facilitated by Ritch Davidson and was about having fun at work. Ritch works for Playfair, a California-based company that is dedicated to helping college students and businesses to succeed and have fun while doing it.

It was probably one of the best such seminars I have attended and I thank whoever brought it to our town, but that's not what today's posting is about. 

I have attended many such seminars, taking copious notes and making promises of applying the principles. I generally stick the notebook on the shelf and if lucky a few months later go back and look at my notes to see if there's anything of value there. Sometimes it works, but I have found that you should expect to come away with one good idea that you may be able to put into daily usage. I expected pretty much the same today.

After getting started Ritch said something that caused me to put down my pen, listen and know that I had found one perfect example that I can apply everyday of my life, and hopefully teach others its importance.

He started with "Let me give you the 4 keys to success".  Up until this point most of the information had been in the way of an introduction and the attendees had been taking notes hoping to find something there later. As he started, each poised their pen ready for the words of wisdom that would help them enjoy their jobs and be successful.

He started very softy:

"Row, Row, Row your boat"

"Gently, down the stream"

"Merrily, Merrily, Merrily"

"Life is but a dream"

He then said "Let me explain"

The first line says work, but even more importantly, not just row your boat, but row, row, row so you should work hard.

The second line says go with the flow, don't stress,  take it gently.

The third line, says have fun and using the triple inference, have lots of fun.

The fourth line is the one that could be open to a bit more interpretation, if you don't do these things, life could be a nightmare or a gentle dream. But I believe most of my dreams are about things I do and I love, so therefore I feel that it means life is what you put into it.

I will be doing more research into fun at work and the Playfair company and you should expect to see more in the future.

As I have stated here before, it may not be original but I like it. It will be easy to remember and I'll keep that nursery rhyme in my mind as the stress starts to mount.

Oh and by the way, I also got some great ideas on how to have fun at work.

Family Time

My brother passed away last week at really much too young an age; but he hadn't taken care of himself. He led a full, rough life that he throughly enjoyed and did it "his way".

My thoughts today are not on his  death and life but about my family who came in from all over the United States to pay their respects and love. It was great to see my remaining brother and sisters and the in-laws plus nieces and nephews. It was like a large family reunion. 

It was a difficult time for everyone until the service on Saturday, afterwards my mom's church supplied lunch for all of us and then my baby brother had everyone to his house. We have a background of Irish Catholic, so it was a type of good ol' Irish wake. Much alcohol was consumed (almost as much as my aunts and uncles did when my grandmother passed away) and great stories and memories were shared by all.

On the drive home my lovely wife and I were discussing trying to arrange some type of annual reunion instead of waiting for a catastrophic event to occur. We observed that when you try to plan a reunion there is always a conflict somewhere, or it's too hot/cold at that time. There always seems to be some type of excuses.

I heard through my son that the "cousins" have decided that they will not wait that long to get together again.

I encourage them - set a date, let everyone know and those that don't make it will miss a great time.

Because it shouldn't take someone dying to remind us how precious life is and how much we need each other.