Oliver DeMille

Oliver DeMille has started a great movement and brought into the light a great method of education. Oliver DeMille is the author of a book called A Thomas Jefferson Education. I had a wonderful opportunity over the weekend to listen to Oliver DeMille at the Annual Thomas Jefferson Education forum last Saturday. I have found that much of the power behind Oliver DeMille’s speech comes from my already agreeing with what he is saying , just that I haven’t taken the time to put the same ideas in to words as thoughtful or as thorough as Oliver DeMille does. On Saturday Oliver DeMille spoke about how we are in a Fourth Turning and the rules of how to be successful have changed. The last group of people who have gone through a similar time are all pretty much dead or senile now. We still need to learn from them. Oliver DeMille’s primary text to teach from was Our Home, a 19th Century book written about the time surrounding and during the Civil War, another Fourth Turning in American History. It was a good speech. Oliver DeMille has been very ill for the last several months and made a heroic effort to support the forum by being there for the keynote address. I truly wish him well. Comments Welcome

Kids are Great

There never seems to be a bottom to the humor and fun that comes from the minds of my kids.

They just have a new and honest view of so many things and do a great job of reminding me when what I am saying makes no sense at all or when I need to simplify an explanation or to pick a better word.

For example, my five year old reminded me that the structure he was building was designed to fight bad guys.  Most of the things he builds or creates will send many “bad guys” to their doom and an untimely demise.

They remind me of what is really important and what matters. 

I love my kids.

New Business Opportunities

For the entrepreneurial minded it can be very tough to think about new ideas and then to implement them.

When you get thinking and using the creative part of your mind all sorts of possibilities and business ideas begin to open up to you and then the confusion and chaos begin.

For example, I typically have about 5-10 ideas a week about how to improve my business or to make it grow and begin to make things happen.  That is partly why this blog is neglected so much.  I have a few other blogs I am maintaining as well.

How do you rake out the clutter from the real ideas  you should pursue?  How do you know when you have hit on a good idea versus one that only sounds good?

The secret is focus.  If you can focus on your goal and see where you are right now, then you can also see how to get there and hopefully what intermediate steps will get you there.  Focus on your goals will bring clarity and knowledge about what you should do to advance to your goals.

Focus matters.  If you have any other tools or methods you use to pursue your goals, feel free to comment below.

Helping Friends

So, I like working from home because of the flexibility of schedule to take care of things that come up.  Like a broken water main.

This wasn’t at my house.  It was at my friend’s house a couple of streets over, yesterday.  He is a close friend of mine and not having water to the house can put you in a bind.  Really.

We spent most of the day excavating and pulling rocks out of holes, and trying to pull the pipe loose from the house.  We wildly successful at removing the pipe in about two foot sections where it would break off when we pulled on it.

At the end of the day, an angel appeared.  He is another person in the neighborhood who is a very experienced bobcat driver and he dug out the rest of the trench in not too long of a time when compared to the difficulty the rest of us would have had in using the same machine.  It was nice.

Today, we still need to hook up the line and fill in the bed of the trench with sand and refill the trench, but without the giant rocks.

I like being able to help out when times are tough for people I know.   That’s part of working at home for me.

Comments Welcome

An old note.

I was cleaning and organizing and came across a card I have not read in many years.

Now, for your reading pleasure is a verbatim transcript of the card.  (We’ll see how good I am at typing, gramatical errors in the original, no I don’t know who the author is.)

The Parable of the Popper

Behold at the time of harvest the ears of corn did bring forth kernels which were dried and prepared for the popper’s hand.

And popper did take the kernels, all of which appeared alike unto him, and did apply the oil and the heat.

And it came to pass when the heat was on, some did explode with promise and did magnify themselves, yea, even an hundred fold.

And some did burst forth with whitness which did both gladden the eye of the beholder and satisfy the taste of the popper.

And likewise, some others did pop, but not too much.  but lo, there were some that did just lie there and even though the popper’s heat was alike unto all, they did bask in the warmth of the oil and kept everything they had for themselves.

And so it came to pass that those which had given of themselves, did bring joy and delight to many munchers.  But those which kept of the warmth and did nto burst forth, were fit only to be cast out and were thought of with hardness and disgust.

And thus we see that in the beginning all appear alike, but when the heat is on, some come forth and give their all, while others fail to pop and become as chaff on the threshing floor.  To be discarded and forgotten.

We are all given much and have a great opportunity with all of the problems around us.  We will all be given opportunities to shine in the midst of the approaching darkness.

When the heat is on, will we shine and pop forth?

Comments Welcome

More Kids Stuff

Sometimes I forget how awesome my kids are, then they say things that make you think.

The other day I was making my meal replacement shake and was running the blender on high (for the extra smoothness of course).  My five year old had to tell me what it sounds like.

“The blender sounds like an elephant trying to get a stuck peanut out of its nose.”

Now I consider myself informed.

We also try to make sure that he feels important, strong, able to do things, and that he knows we love him.  So from time to time we ask him how come he is so cute.  His response:

“Because God made everyone special AND cute, except for grown ups.”

On further discussion, grownups are special, but not cute because grown ups are handsome and beautiful.  What a guy.

I think he’s a keeper.

Getting Started

So many people think and talk about getting going on their big dream or goal.  We like to think and dream and wish and talk about doing things differently but then that is where it ends.

Some of the most tragic words are if only, it might have been, someday I’ll be . . . .  Without the courage and fortitude to get started, we will never get ahead.

We need to have a dream with a plan and then it becomes a goal.  We can at least look forward to some ideas and plans and find out what we can do in the next 24 hours to move the result closer than it was.  We can always do something to push our goals forward.  In spite of whatever lack of resources we have we always have the gray matter between our ears.  There is always a new idea or an action that we can take to move our goals forward.  We need to use the ideas and act on them.

Getting Started can be nothing more than dreaming big and figuring out the next action to take.  We need to move ahead and the emphasis is on moving.  Without moving, it is hard to find direction and get ahead.

So take that first step and see where it leads you.

Who’s Scrooge?

This blog tends to lean away from political matters, mostly because this is not about politics.

A letter to the editor in my local paper the other day made an interesting, but unfair claim.  The letter writer claimed that Scrooge was a Conservative and only became a “decent human being” when he became a liberal.

Poppycock.  That analysis is sophomoric, inappropriate, and completely discounts the complexity of human beings.  There are selfish and generous people from both sides of the political aisle.  

The question about who is more generous when it comes to charitable giving according to some studies is that conservatives are.  There are articles about this study here, here, and here.  

Perhaps the real question is whose money are you being generous with?  Liberals are generally painted as being more compassionate because they support government programs to help the poor.  Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Food Stamps, Government housing, and other initiatives are common tools liberals use to help the poor.  The money for these initiatives come from either the Federal Reserve Bank in deficit spending or from tax payers. 

Conservative solutions tend to focus on private donors and giving.  They would have people voluntarily give of their means to help the poor.

The crux of it is that people are far more complex than the labels of conservative and liberal.  There are generous and stingy conservatives just like there are generous and stingy liberals.  Whether someone is in the giving spirit and attitude goes far beyond political leanings.

I hope that people are more generous this time of year and in the year to come because there will be many people who will need a helping hand as times get tough.

Comments Welcome

Kids at Home

So I work from home.

It has its own challenges and rewards.  I am a very happily married man with five kids.

They are 9, 7, 5, 3, and almost one year old.  It is tough to work from home with this environment, but I manage OK.

When all the kids are home, it makes a big difference to my productivity.   Thank goodness my sweet wife is here to clear the deck so to speak so that work can continue.

We wanted to get an early start on Christmas things, so my wife made some cookies to give away for Christmas and my wife decided that it would be a good idea to decorate them.  See, I would probably go for frosting, but my wife thinks it is a good idea to make it look nice and to actually decorate the cookie, not just eat the frosting.   She did a good job with it too, she made trees, trains, rocking horses, boots, snowmen, and other christmas shapes.  

The next step of course would be to divide them evenly and to deliver them.   We got them packaged onto plates, with a clear decorative cover and had them set up on about eight plates.   So before the delivery we had the plates setting out, waiting to go out.  

In comes the three year old.  She of course loves cookies and a freshly decorated cookie is pretty hard to pass up.  When the cookies are not constantly under guard, the mice come out to play.  Or is it when the cat is gone?  Anyway, she took one and licked it.  Frosting is yummy after all.  

The good news is that she didn’t deform the frosting too bad and if you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t notice it either.  So I don’t think the intended recipient of the cookie will mind either.  The 3 year old is pretty well over her cold now anyway.  

Just kidding.  She did lick the cookie, and it was replaced.  We happened to have a few extras.  It is just easier if she would leave them alone, but then again, she’s three and what do you expect?

I wouldn’t trade my kids for the world.  I know you veteran parents are probably thinking something like “just wait until they are teenagers”.   I’ll see about that then, for now I’ll enjoy the kids.

Focus in Life

There are many gurus who discuss the same issue of how to be successful.

The problem is that many times an idea is in your head and the words you have to describe the idea are very clumsy tools for effectively communicating the idea.  People resort to words, comparisons, analogies, and other literatry and spoken tools to communicate the idea.

For this reason, I find it useful to sometimes read from many people discussing the same concept because each new voice adds to the discussion and hopefully the understanding.  Sometimes the ideas expressed are new insights and exposition of a new understanding.

One element of success is finding a point of focus in life.  What is it that you can do well that you love to do?  Finding a way to do it, do it well, and then find a market for your abilities is one of the steps to finding success.

So take a few minutes and think about what you are doing.  It is a reflection of your talents, abilities, and things you find joy in?  If not, it may be time to re-evaluate what you are doing and thinking about.

Comments Welcome