Wow…it did it again yesterday…the stock market climbed over the 10,000 mark for a second time this financial season. Something about the recession numbers weren’t dramatically pummeled like months past so the news didn’t send a seriously out of control spin into the overpriced chairs a big old famous decision makers sit in.
I am such the Scrooge! This news isn’t new. I’ve been spoiled, tainted, poisoned and tossed into the doubt fire by the Dustin Hoffman flick Wag the Dog—where it seems all things that take place is nothing more than governmental marketing.
Three weeks shy from Black Friday…CEO’s and their wanna-be sidekicks are screaming, “Get those numbers up! Do what you can to make what we do look brand new and revitalized! If we don’t break out with some hot numbers the first day after Thanksgiving…3/4’s of this staff is gonna have to go.”
Thank god my stepfather Joe didn’t run his household that way, “If we don’t get the lawn mowed, chickens fed, rabbit cages cleaned and your mothers kitchen rebuilt before 5pm Saturday, I’m dumping half you kids off at the nearest park and not coming back.”
Why would today’s elementary aged kids want to grow up to participate with Corporate America if they’re being delivered the portrait of a big bad mean old man in a heavily decorated office where the carpet in front of the desk cost more than three houses in the neighborhood?
The New York Yankee’s just picked up their 27th World Series title. I love the Steinbrenner style of baseball—no matter what the cost, that family surrounds themselves with winners. Too bad American businesses don’t play the same game. Every hallway is blessed with the cheapest, hardest working, most dedicated presently available—they know they aren’t the best at what they do, they’re just thankful they have a job and that’s good enough for the boss man.
No wonder we went crash!
I heard the absolute best quote from a local business owner yesterday, “What’s wrong with American consumers? Stop listening to CNN, NBC and Fox News! If 9.8% of this nation is currently unemployed, what are the other 91.2% of the people doing?”
What we need to identify are the lines that separate our personal uniqueness.
The workplace has become an entity of super-organization…be all that you can but be everything to me between nine and five. Some have stuck to that plan while others stand back thinking, “I know he ain’t talking about me.”
The master of the do it my way plan is Glenn Frey from The Eagles who has no problem claiming he’s got the gift—but his band in 2009 has nothing to do with the passion of performance they delivered in 1977. Today’s success is fed by a rivers need to survive in a big business world. Those unstoppable harmonies are no different than Wal-Mart whipping out their research to see what products the average Joe is willing to dump his trust in.
Author Leo Babauta can see both sides of the business fence—those who do and those who don’t. But somewhere on this playing field there’s got to be a resurgence of energy that’s going to generate a big enough wave to conquer back workday pride. You can’t go if there is no flow. Damming up the process aren’t wild beavers from nearby manmade lakes…it’s not even bosses demanding 210% from every breath you take. The common ground employee is kicking their own tail and allowing themselves to get away with it.
According to Babauta, it doesn’t matter what team you bat for…time management has been destroyed on American soil and it’s got to come back asap. Without time management your life pretty much takes on the appearance of the rigid face of a granite mountain.
I am a total a** when it comes to managing time. If you step on it put on the Tae Kwon Do fighting gear… Time is a object of nothingness more valuable than the best diamonds in the world. We don’t live in California where being late is accepted. I don't get angry at a time wasting foolish player...you earn the fake smile and horrible horrible radio laugh at jokes that wouldn't make it at home in front of the kids. You've already wasted my time, you aren't getting the rest of my energy.
If American companies aren’t based on giving clients the best…how can we change that? Do what you do know. Become a master of a single art.
Gain control of your flow and what you’ll discover is room to grow. Choose only the tasks you are passionate about. If you’re barely moving the Richter scale on love, knock it away…it’s a time killer.
Choose a task that challenges you but don’t suddenly become Superman. You’re only so good.
Eliminate distractions. Quit sitting back in the office with your feet up, rediscover who are by putting a halt to the chit chat with coworkers who have nothing better to do than feed your non-caring brain with methods of madness delivered during last nights family fight. Emails are a disease. Cell phones not only cost too much but your company wastes a lot of their dollars keeping you on a time clock blessed with your talk talk talk.
Immerse yourself in the task. Go all out and have fun doing it. If an idea hits you, don’t wait for acceptance…hit the road running and make life happen. A good friend of mine was part of the team that developed fiber optics…this team of scientists knew really powerful strength before it became cool to the rest of the world—when asked if she was paid millions and billions for helping to discover something so valuable, she calmly looked at me and said, “Being there when it happened is worth more than the dollars I toss out on items I don’t need.”
So, while the stock market continues to create the open journey toward the land of happiness keep in the back of your brave heart what goes up comes right back down—one can only hope the next time we dip and your ship is left without water, the idea of being owned by big business America is a thought that went out with the 90’s.
Winning is a choice. You either are or you aren’t a winner. Remember one valuable lesson in life…all the kings’ horse and all the kings’ men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Wanna know why? They weren’t winners. It was just another job, whatever it took to get by.
Be your best today, tomorrow and everyday you come to work and in the end you will find yourself looking into the rearview mirror at a set of eyes belonging to a true American champion.
Getting back to living…steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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