Thursday, July 28, 2011

Assume you are anything but what you aren't...

Published author Brian Andreas designs thoughts geared toward giving your imagination reason to let go of reality so you can dine within a feast of playfulness. He writes: A few said they’d be horses. Most said they’d be some sort of cat. My friend said she’s like to come back as a porcupine. I don’t like crowds she said.

If you sit and stare at a dog or cat long enough it becomes easier to understand the body language chosen to engage your ambitions. The four legged furry type mesmerize the elegance of deep thinking in the center of an extremely busy afternoon. I want to shout, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

Are dogs and cats people too? Were they people or might they be studying our awkward behavior knowing the next step in the process is to grow a pair of almost nearly naked hairless arms and legs with a seemingly bigger brain but hardly if ever thick enough to lay claim on such a fascinating skull?

I don’t think I was ever a dog or a cat. Although I’ve rescued many from horrid conditions created by over zealous human stick figures; at times the unperfected circle seems to show me a square or half moon with a hook on the tip to grab whatever’s left after everyone’s gone.

Growing up wild with desires to have hair longer than a wooly mammoth, one might assume a fascination with elephants might in fact feed every reason to believe that his totem animal could be a humungous trunk carrying land walker with vibrant vocal chords that vow to protect.

But I’ve never been visited by the creature of choice therefore making such claims as it being my totem is nothing more than a child’s wish. That’s how human’s work; we think therefore we must be. I see incredible tattoos that features wolves, eagles, bears and snakes and with each passing row of colors I’m always blessed with a need to stop and ask the passerby, “Who, what, why, when and how?”

The truth about totem animals is they pick you…you don’t pick them. Basically meaning just because my teenage walls were blanketed with outrageously cool posters of the rock group KISS and my first garage band featured a lead singer that spit red food coloring from his constantly expressive cussing lips…I’m not Gene Simmons.

Totem animals come to you…

They stand in the hidden shapes of an overbuilt manmade planet and take notes of your growth or lack thereof.

As much as I dream of capturing the stature of a fearless Grey wolf that faces daily challenges like a warrior seeking shelter for his nation; the inner core of such a mindset is what methodizes unexpected blurring during your visions this day forward.

Taking the time to notice the jazz performed by birds is step one in discovering the identity of your teacher. Stop and look around. Document the temperature of the midsummer breeze while accepting the seeds of unnamed weeds growing between your toes.

Nestled in the corner of your eyes will always be the visitor; a turtle, a hummingbird, rabbit, finch, water bug, squirrel, quite possibly a cat, bright yellow bumble bee, gnat, spider or something as simple as a giant black carpenter ant on a mission to build a better soil for his or her ground people.

Just because I wear adult shoes doesn’t mean I’m grown up; shallow things such as totem animal searching fascinates the purpose of my dreams. Jamie Samms and Ted Andrews are brilliant writers and storytellers who’ve taken the time to share the history of why lives are reached not by humans reaching out but animals reaching in.

Play it as a game…if an owl flies in front of the car; do something on the web other than read Face Book entries…seek the knowledge of why the owl elected to choose you to fly beside. Compare it to your day. Utilize the energy of that moment in a decision made. Suddenly you begin to realize that communication isn’t just a human trait. The word is everywhere and in everything.

It’s the size of our ego that keeps us from being as free as the wind.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

We've lost the war on losing weight. Do your job and shut up!

A very good friend just returned from Spain; instantly I questioned, “What do they think of American’s?”

“They say we’re fat and lazy…”

End of story.

Only on the radio can you keep me trapped inside seven seconds.

So the world thinks we’re fat and lazy…offended? Yes. Embarrassed? Yes. In an age of unending cutbacks and legalized department head demands that truly can’t be met, we’ve earned the right to brag about working harder and longer than those before us; only to be downsized by the mental images held by other boarder patrols.

Why does the world think we’re lazy? Is it because of an addiction to larger than sin flat screens, the constant drive to fork out fifteen bucks to see a weekend movie, our loyalty to shopping at malls, flea markets and on line? We do to say we do only because after we’ve done…we need to do to better accept the doing of a nation gone mad on forcing doer’s to do or else.

Do the pictures sent through web page vibrations showcase a heavier than normal American and without further thought the first impression is overweight means lazy? With fast food venues on every corner, vending machines at work and stadiums that promote concessions more than professional players…our commitment has evolved into a burning desire to eat.

But lazy?

As much as you want to believe the company policy of keeping you at forty hours a week is their mandate to being accepted as a straight and forward law abiding group of thinker’s and doer’s…those in the trenches are anything but lazy and have decided in the name of saving their rights to have insurance to keep their mouths shut.

“How many hours do you work?”

“40…”

“Have you ever not been paid overtime for work that’s not part of your daily commitment to the company to which you work for?”

This is where you have to be careful because the distance you put between your words is a true sign that something isn’t right in your lie.

American’s are committed people. Although some need to be challenged to participate with the rest of the waves moving forward; the process of our success story is…we get the job done in ways that outshine other nations but because their elected officials have found no purpose in protecting the rights of their workforce it’s their legal right to keep the cost of hourly work at unlivable levels…American’s look bad for wanting to collect a few more dollars on their paycheck.

An eight hour day is no different than a work of art from Peter Max. It’s what you bring to the canvas that adds value to the end result. Business leaders don’t recognize those numbers they see the total cost of the end result not the amount of human developed energy swiped from a one time extremely important family morals.

That’s where we’re lazy. Family time, at home escapes in man caves, art rooms, cluttered closets or mind melting in front of Oprah, being a lone in the bathroom to do what only comes natural is a complete waste of company time. And like a brother or sister fresh from the bowels of a good old fashioned sibling blowing up and out…the very second someone questions the situation the leader of the pack raises there arms and carelessly denies any wrong doing…knowing that doing can’t be done unless the doer is willing to do without leading others on in the way of illegally doing what’s required to be done or you’re gone.

Fat because a burger never treats me bad. I’ve yet to have an argument with a Krispy Kreme. Fat because there’s nothing left in the heart to want to do anything at home not even mow the lawn. Fat because technology has laced your shoes to a desk like handcuffs on Charles Manson left out for public display.

Lazy?

Place ten American’s in a room with no mirrors and microphones and within seconds you’ll document the unpainted truths about a people wrongly accused and because of it we’ve decided to stop fighting and just participate. Mom and Dad, uncles and aunts and grandparents from several decades back wouldn’t have let this happen to their America.

Fat and lazy allows us to accept change as long as we have insurance at the end of every day.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Organizing your wallet creates success...

The depth of the average pocket is measured by what? Living most of my childhood south of the tracks, life’s ever changing obstacle course forgot to introduce me to the importance of owning everything. I still remember the day when finding a weathered feather from a barn swallow heightened the passion for living.

About a month ago Face Book hooked me up to a web page called The Daily Challenge; simple tasks that do more for your invisible self than the person showcased by the color of your car, size of your refrigerator, diameter of the flat screen or how thick the green grows inside the clip purchased at an airport because you got tired of pulling crap out of your pocket and the loose dollars didn’t make sense.

Todays focused is based on getting better control of your spending habits by taking five minutes to organize your wallet. The mission to release excess weight such as receipts, handwritten notes and phone numbers, plastic cards you’ve maxed and no longer use and get out of jail free cards swiped during your last bout with Monopoly.

Freeing up space gives your core energy a place to grow.

Julia Cameron teaches creative writers, painters and musicians to constantly keep a watchful eye on the presentation of their closet. The more you stack, stuff and clutter up the joint the easier it is for you to become depressed, pulled in too many directions and fearful there being a large crash.

My biggest fantasy isn’t to one day find success in radio, have my music featured in Rollingstone Magazine or get my taxes paid on time. I want to rent, steal or borrow a humungous ugly as sin blue dumpster and park it in the driveway; every room, every corner of the yard—throw every chapter of this badly written book away.

No yard sale, flea market or city trash pickup because the last thing I want to experience is to walk into someone’s house and see a radio script signed by Carolina Panther kicker John Kasay hanging on a strangers wall.

This isn’t a negative! We spend our childhood years demanding not to become our parents only to check out wearing our grandparent’s shoes. If you’ve ever spent a weekend wandering through someone’s past shoved into a box and thought, “I’d rather be putting eight hours in at my normal job.” Then you should expect people to feel the same way when you aren’t around to stop them from invading what you call sacred.

How sick are we in the department of hording? Drive slowly through a local campground and see what people are bringing with them. We don’t camp in America we rent temporary spaces to transfer our home to.

I live by one rule in radio…only bring what you can take out in an hour. I still have unopened boxes brimming with 95QQ office clutter from 1993 in the garage. Not just any box…the fancy stuff you get at cool stores that claim its ok to save everything. Promotional pictures when my hair touched my a**, earphones the size of NYC and radio shows on reel; the last time I played on one of those things was 17 years ago.

No wonder I can’t grow in the business! I’ve run out of room to stuff more inside! I know! I’ll write and put everything on a hard drive. How’s that working for ya? Computer running a little slow? How many plastic objects do you have stacked up that would volunteer to melt first during a home fire?

Take five minutes and clean out your wallet. The next time you step on the scale you might actually earn a smile rather than an old person grumble.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, July 25, 2011

Disconnecting from modern technology...

Modern technological advancement has ripped an extremely important page from the giant chapters of American history; Skype, Face Book, Twitter and Smart Phone texting have replaced handwritten letters from immediate family to our U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Nearly gone are the almost unseen thumb prints and ink stains, pencil scratches and eraser burns, unexpected cologne or dust particles, the truth about fear and the constant dares to be endlessly strong during storms of constant change.



Having face to face time or instant access via the web has begun a process of adding layers to a side of America only PBS, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have been honorable enough to borrow from closely knit relations willing to open the realms of reality to the rest of the world.



Not decades but centuries of letters written home have added depth to cold war torn nightmares combined with oversaturated political propaganda. Although emails easily serve as documented proof of a soldier’s travels inward and out…part of our history rests in the curves and straight lines of a grown man and woman’s style of hand writing.



I grasp the emotion of locking eyes with a heart only your soul knows on the cold face of a computer screen; technology has caused the distance that makes a heart grow fonder to become a mile marker not a history maker. The intimacy of truth shared by two wandering wishes is what added romance to black and white movies.



I always pictured my Grandfather jotting down personalized views of an uncivil Germany on a hot butter thin hard to locate sheet of paper then shoved quickly into a much too small envelope before being shipped back to the states for Hattie Mae to read, “My Dearest Bride, a short note to hold, to nestle up to when you are alone, to touch when loves made you cold, to bend and shape when life doesn’t feel like its going your way. I’m sure you have questions pertaining to this place of war…not tonight my music maker, let this slow dance belong to our next time, not the fear of losing our final touch by the careless behavior of warlords and leaders who find no faith in the hand I continue to hold even though you are much too many miles away.”



Handwritten letters can be compared to the slow moving stream that once played like children in the winding larger than Canada backyard; with time ink fades, as do the memories rolled up in the collections of skin under our aging eyes. With so many investing what little work pay is left in plastic surgery lost are the reasons why getting old seemed so damn important to our grandparents and those before them.



Each morning at sunrise I daily write with a silver tipped nib which is carelessly crashed into the awaiting ink well of many blended colors; for reason other than I hear music the moment the gentle scratch of metal meeting paper takes a thought from within and gently lays out a path for a passerby.



The owner of an art studio at the Epi Center in downtown Charlotte refused to believe my stories of painting pictures with words…only to fall witness to his silence when slowly lifting my constantly busy fingerprints toward his assuming way…for no day passes that I’m not marked by the writing instrument chosen to rob from me what history is quietly losing.



Teach your fingers new tricks—the opposite hand was created to balance the paper so it doesn’t slide from beneath the pressures of print or cursive. The fatty part of your writing hand was created to protect the single bone that resembles a straight edge keeping your thoughts straight on paper with no lines.



Reading books is a brilliant thing to teach kids but what happens when becoming an adult teaches you to stop physically writing? Why as a child would I choose to wanna learn?



Be you but through something someone else can barely read…your handwriting.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Friday, July 22, 2011

Your boss doesn't give a rats butt about your stress...

George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “There are only two qualities in the world: efficiency and inefficiency, and only two sorts of people: the efficient and the inefficient.”



Depending on what time of day it is or where you’re currently hanging your head while tossing those eyes at a computer screen; it’s difficult to grasp the concept of understanding how this fits into a modern society where nearly every player firmly believes what they offer and continue to bring to the surface of reality is always the best and nothing but.



Maximizing the minimum is the new disease.



Corporations do it everyday by downsizing boxes of soap then slapping a new label on it: New and improved with a bigger punch! They’ve maximized the minimum.



In the past three years department heads have cleared out their staff to the point of not leaving enough of a skeleton around to inspire CSI Miami to look into a possible crime.



Show me someone who doesn’t feel ten armloads of stress and pressure and I’ll introduce you to a person that knows how to manage tension but doesn’t have a clue on how to manage relaxation.



From the pages of his book Secrets of a Martial Arts Master, author Richard Andrew King explains relaxation requires only two things: mind control and technical expertise.



Tension is linked to the mind. The more you’re told what to do and how to perform it, the harder your mind works. Tension destroys relaxation creating a serious lack of power and proper execution.



We are the cause of the tremendous amount of stress delivered everyday. Because we aren’t in control of maximizing the minimum the end result is an out of control headache, depression and or reason to pop the top off a bottle of tequila and suck in back to back chunks of liquid emotion.



Learning to manage relaxation is a great workplace tool not a decision to stop by the massage hut on the way home. When you breathe too fast your head becomes light forcing the body to get weak and pass out. Stress is no different. You can only handle so much before being introduced to the backwash of business.



We can’t control other people; instantly you’ll be labeled an a** or failure. The true mark of a master is better understanding that you can only change what you’re capable of controlling. Mastering energy influences your body to relax.



The majority of us have allowed people with money and poor insurance policies to seize our efforts and turn it into things we can’t talk about. We’ve evolved into the crowd of rowing ship slaves onboard wooden boats headed for a new land that promises freedom of speech, cheap gas prices and a better dollar menu at McDonalds.

What’s the most you can give without maximizing your minimum? In a business world oversaturated with give me your life or die leaders…there comes a time when surviving requires an act of courage from you…don’t fight, become a squeaky wheel or develop a temperament that pushes people away. Face the fricken facts; managing tension comes in a bottle managing relaxation is crafted by the hands of an inner eye connected to a decision to never cross the line of maximizing your minimum.



The wrist watch I wear wasn’t designed to tell me the time. I use it to measure my heart rate. Too much pressure introduces me to a reason to take a walk around the office. Too low and I hit the floor to do pushups and sit ups.



I can’t control the unheard of amount of work that enters my path daily nor am I going to complain about it because I knew it was a rattle snake when I picked it up. Maximizing my minimum means changing what I can control…the amount of stress allowed to seep into the soul.



Get control! Learn to manage relaxation.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

John Mayer versus Arroe Collins

John Mayer sings:



Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change.



Lecturing on the campus of Appalachian State University yesterday Mayer’s lyrics caught fire in my imagination refusing to be controlled nearly twenty four hours after the episode.



If waiting for change is your thing you’ll never change. Society has turned it into a choice. Politicians speak of change as being an item that instantly changes while Preachers continue their journey of warning wandering souls that change is on the way. But just like free crab legs at Joe’s tomorrow, tomorrow never gets here.



Major mile marker moments one hundred times larger then your greatest Christmas ever invokes change and until you have one…everything else remains.



A fellow broadcaster explained to me his reasons for leaving Charlotte, calling it a decision based on the wisdom of his father-in-law; Only three times during the average lifetime are you given the opportunity to endure a once in a lifetime moment. If your final decision isn’t to embrace the change, it could be decades before the next once in a lifetime opportunity arises.



If life truly delivers only three changes…what if time already spent reveals you’ve got only one left?



What is opportunity other than the art of communication? If the plan unveils your two feet firmly stuck in quick dry concrete that might explain why everyday lollygags its way down the path labeled the final horizon.



Change happens while it’s happening creating more reasons not to wait for change but rather become part of its continuation. How many retired people do you know that passed away a year after letting go? Compare that to the number of coworkers and family members in your life that still have jobs but have decided not to grow?



Mayer continues his song;



It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change



No page is written inside books of history without there being change. Be it by man, nature or from places we can’t identify…it’s never if but rather when. Then it becomes our choice to change with it or give permission to the wisdom of fate to take our hands and guide our dreams down a different street.



A single guitar string can be finely tuned to tease your ear but until it’s introduced to five others like it…music waits in the corner of the creative mind to be born. Or does it? We were so poor growing up that my guitar featured only three strings which never stopped me from creating change.



Change doesn’t always win public approval for decision making offices sought. Change isn’t just coming it’s already happened. Change is a choice no matter how many opportunities time allows to unfold. If three is all you need then it was your choice to stop playing.



Where are you today? What’s keeping you from change?



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, July 18, 2011

Fake smile versus real smile...what's more natural?

What sort of daily message are you sharing? Remember, what you say has a way of coming back… I got an email that read “Thanks for teaching me how to fake a smile.”



I didn’t fake what came natural. I laughed knowing the origin.



It’s not that I fake my reactions; I’ve been trained for three decades how to react in public.



There used to be a time when radio station program directors diligently sat with budding broadcasters fine tuning the art of conversation; which often included an order from the decision maker to smile each time you open the microphone.



Dan Miller and Jack Stevens at KOOK in Billings coaxed me into never saying it’s a cloudy day. Partly cloudy is actually party sunny. What’s so fake about that?



Bill Conway at EZ air-checked me explaining listeners don’t believe it unless they feel it. It wasn’t just any four songs in a row without talk…music is about relationship.



I may look at the world differently than most but I do fake a smile. I’m extremely guilty of constantly jumping on the center line of a white picket fence never taking sides but that doesn’t mean I can’t lean in whatever direction is required.



Positive? Maybe too positive…



The origin of that adventure stems back to 1981 at my first full time job in radio at KXLO where P.D. Paul sternly reminded me that radio people must perform at all costs. His physical words were, “Even if your mother’s gravely ill…true Broadcaster’s don’t let anything stand in the way of a performance.”



Is it only radio people that fake smiles?



Not according to Wisegeek.com. They say a fake smile uses different facial muscles. Your brain is controlling the situation by telling your body to do something. The geeks at Wisegeek say laughs and smiles are natural and the brain isn’t involved in the reaction.



Spotting a fake smile is in the eyebrows. When you naturally smile your eyebrows dip in the center. Plus the fold in the skin in the center of your forehead moves inward.



Fake smiling is very natural. Scientists believe human’s whip out a can of fake to keep them from having to deal with fear. Clinched teeth aren’t often pretty so it’s natural to suck in a lung full of air and release fake.



Fake I’m not but my smile might be…it’s always my goal to make someone’s moment better even it requires a fake smile to get you there. The opposite side of such a commitment could be why Howard Stern spends hours in solitude meditating after his show. Being “on” requires a lot of unnatural energy.

Although few have seen it…publically I teach future communicators that Arroe on the air cannot be compared to Arroe in a commercial production studio. I believe that by being open with the several personality changes on-air talent go through there’ll be answers to those moments when even meditation doesn’t work.



Why would your job be any different?



Learn to recognize the fake moments; know how you feel while being fake and especially watch those around you on how they react to you versus those moments when real smiles and laughter grow like wild roses.



I will never tell you to fake a smile but I'll open your eyes to a different approach to reality and its bite. I’ve dedicated my path to inviting peace by walking in peace. If I’m smiling on the air it’s because I’ve been trained to believe its not what you say its how you say it that determines the outcome of the original thought.



I challenge you to know why you are faking a smile. Are you in fear or under pressure and exposing your true self could cost you? After a bout of fake giggle and wiggles make your day better by treating your subconscious and inner core to a real smile; find a joke, a funny video or squeeze a stuffed animal to hear the air inside rush out like someone with crazy sounding bad gas.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

React or respond...who wins?

I’m guilty of it. You’ve probably experienced it. Without thought…you reacted. Causing my weakness are emails or text messages. If I can’t see your eyes or hear the emotion in your voice, everything shared must be an attack.



Inside the pages of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin exposes the identity of quick reactors: politicians, CEO’s, office department heads, parents attempting to control what teens do today and 99.6% of the people stuck in rush hour traffic.



Reacting to a situation comes without thought.



While growing up Mom ordered me to count to ten; it happened so often I can do it in several different languages.



Godin doesn’t say, “Don’t move an inch!”



The lesson he teaches is to know the difference between reacting and responding.



In the old days of radio we elected to react to competing stations that claimed they played more music, featured less talk or gave away bigger prizes and more money.



“We’re number one with today’s hottest hits!” “We play 24 songs in a row!” “Go ahead spin the dial…they’re playing commercials and we’re playing music.”



Is that supposed to convince an innocent listener to stay plugged in? No wonder the new millennium generation turned to the Ipod. Rather than reacting in the 1980’s and 90’s radio should’ve enhanced the opportunity by responding with less bragging and more community involvement.



Radio is about relationship. Reacting is the metal wedge that leads to separation. The introduction of emails, texting and Face Book has opened the door for radio talent to respond to listeners. To reconnect with a larger than life group of wanderers wanting nothing more from their radio station than a reason to believe that this moment is going to be much better than ten minutes ago.



Seth Godin believes that initiating is extremely difficult. Leaders see things others refuse to recognize. In essence they cause events that force reaction and not response. Leaders create change…its how you react or respond that generates success or failure.



Research shows consumers can’t afford the gas required to drive all over town. Target responded by adding groceries to their selection of items to buy. Convenience stores have chosen to react to the recession; instead of working with consumers who’ve dumped their entire check into their tank they’ve done nothing to encourage us to come inside except briefly lower the cost of power shots, sports drinks or cheaper than Starbucks coffee.



Do you react or respond to more work being dumped on you at a place of business fighting to keep its doors open?



Where do you locate solitude when it feels like the employer wants more than you can deliver?



Who is the person on the receiving end when reaction takes the majority of the pie?



How can you be leader in a world with too many chiefs?



The more questions you ask…the better the view of the valley floor. Respond to your bad day by gifting your mind, body and soul with a walk through the neighborhood, a fresh book to read, a place to draw scribbles and doodles or take pictures of something natural like a giant beetle or spider.



Reacting is going home to pick a fight or feeding your hunger with ice cream and other sweets usually ending up being alcohol or drugs.



Reacting is what we do when confronted by an unexpected copperhead snake. 99.8% of homeowners kill them then complain about the bugs, mice and other creatures that naturally got out of hand because the zoo keeper was taken out by the human mafia.



I will always believe in you first…



arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Monday, July 11, 2011

Without perfect timing you don't have a song to sing...

The father of a lower belt martial artist student politely asked how much it would cost to quickly get his son to the rank of black belt; without shame I laughed. From the outside a black belt is a series of dark threads; inside a black belt is a never ending journey.

In his book The Black Belt Book of Life, Richard Andrew King reveals two very important quotes:

Saint Charan Singh taught, “Impatience is wanting something to happen before the due time.”

The Bible makes it clearer: To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Timing is everything; without perfect timing cars don’t start and your favorite song would be a collection of misplaced thoughts.

I witnessed an act of perfect timing over the weekend; comedian/actor Chris Tucker ripped up the stage by carefully delivering his personal life experiences that drew the audience in then he’d flush them out completely bathed in laughter sweat.

Tucker’s approach to standup isn’t a pleasant marriage because his style isn’t in tune with today’s constantly busy society. We want fun now. Don’t make me wait! Make me laugh now! Tucker proved his right to stand on that stage by accepting our disconnection from perfect timing. Through an art of relating with his listeners…the night quickly became the perfect place to be.

Richard King invites you to picture the batter at the plate; if he swings the moment the ball is pitched…there’ll be no success.

Like many budding black belts Richard’s experiences as a fighter were blessed with dark bruises, broken bones and shattered desires to want to learn more. To regain control of confidence; he didn’t stop…he began the process of learning how to recognize the strength behind perfect timing.

I’m horribly guilty of not respecting why perfect timing serves such a higher role. While in the recording studio sessions became nightmares because vocally I wanted to be part of every music change. Things got so bad during one session my wife sat behind me tapping on my back.

Is this why family members, friends and coworkers tune you out? Your timing is off. Demands can’t be met because by the time the receiver understands the message we’ve passed twelve subjects.

Missed are several opportunities if the only thing you’ve been taught is how to forcefully move to the center of a battle only to learn the challenger understands how to slightly move to the right or left allowing you to burn up precious energy.

Impatience is wanting something to happen before the due time.

There are a lot of assumed masters controlling important decisions being made. The Great Recession isn’t a natural disaster…it’s the end result of Corporate America’s decision to stop believing in perfect timing, “We don’t have time to wait for experience. Hire anybody with a great haircut.”

A mountain can be moved…highway makers do it everyday; one rock at a time. How trustworthy would the road be if it took only a week? This might explain why bankers don’t invite me over to their institutions for free coffee and cookies. I refuse to stop asking, “How many days does the average can of tuna last when the only thing to their name is the loose change under the passenger seat of your car?”

Practicing perfect meaning having a grip on perfect timing…

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Is it time for a new movie role?

I don’t read books. My bad habit is studying the once blank pages where someone laid their ink stained fingerprints. I’m not a book critic but rather a creature that demands more input.

A coworker begins the day with a friendly, “Good morning!”

The chase begins…it becomes a mission to better understand the origin of such greetings.

Three questions:

A. Is it morning because a Webster’s Dictionary says it so?
B. Do third shifters say good morning when getting home?
C. Do they truly wish me a good morning?

Wordpress.com calls it mechanical. It’s an automatic that instantly pops into play. 80% of what we do on a daily basis is repetitive. Every dream we have or subject that makes you angry or fearful is like watching cable TV in the summer…repeat after repeat.

Studies show this is why the divorce rate is through the roof. Saying I love you is role playing. It’s too easy to turn the channel.

A co-creative comes into my studio yesterday beginning the conversation with a compliment. I caught myself taking cover and instantly brought it to his attention,

“Please don’t begin any conversation with me that calls my work incredible or the client loved it.”

Shocked by my interruption he quickly learned of how I knew his next step would be to make changes to the project. Complimenting first isn’t good business…it puts the receiver on the defense. You want something and to get it a little ego boosting seems to be the current wave of reaching a destination.

I never walk into McDonald’s and tell the manager, “I love what you’ve done to the place! Smells like a Starbucks in here!” I offer a friendly smile, get the fish sandwich then get on with my life.

With so much interaction on Face Book, Twitter and smart phones we’ve become the loneliest mess of people in history. Screwing things up isn’t the desire to connect but the material we bring to the center of the stage.

I never call someone by their real name when they enter my space. It’s boring! Kris Stevens on 969 the Kat has been called Kevin so much that one day he’s going to say, “It’s 12:15 with Kevin and here’s Kevin with his new song called Kevin.”

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome is caused by repetitive motion. If 80% of what we do daily is a cut and pasted from yesterday…no wonder our backs, legs, head and heart are bent out of shape.

This might be the reason why people aren’t inviting you to their office Taco Party! Madonna needs to open a school and teach this nation how to master the art of reinvention.

How do you change? Awareness… Become aware of how you greet people. Document how you pay your bills on line or shout at the kids for busting your flow of workday traffic. Awareness helps you generate new beginnings.

Wordpress.com invites you to meditate. It is looked upon as being a single place where new sounds are born. From it energy is given new air to breathe. The goal is eliminate your need for too much talking. 80% of what you offer is last week’s news.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The next step?

Dr. Perry Cox is a fictional character from the one time successful TV show Scrubs. More times than most I found his presence to be degrading, disrespectful and extremely damaging to the budding careers of medical professionals. And yet if given the opportunity to be heard the wise cracks and knife stabs to the unknowing back were in fact lessons that shaped not shattered.



A great example is his theory on why having a strong ego is outrageously important, “Ego is good you dumb a**. Ego is the reason why that guy wants you to be a surgeon. Ego is why she is borderline attracted to you.”



The webpage rsdnation.com deflates the ego tale but explaining without it life would be more truthful.



Can you imagine life without an ego? How large would an office computer be? What if moon shining hadn’t inspired trail busters to take their fast cars to dirt tracks? Would Michael Jordan be the greatest NBA player of all time?



Emtek.net believes in balance. Ego and ego-less are two approaches that can be run side by side in a complementary fashion. Your aim is to find the balance between the two so that you can enjoy the pros of both while suffering none of the cons.



No matter how big your ego claims you’ve become…reality constantly connects you to someone much bigger. It’ll be their ego blessed with the super powers that’ll squish every effort required for you to feed more energy into that ego.



Dr. Cox doesn’t deny that he’s got an ego. Being open with his emotions is like having a license to drive a car. Modern business and friendships are fed by a weak rule of thumb; you knew it was a rattle snake when you picked it up…the moment it bites; you can’t punish it for what your ego says was wrong.



If you’re brilliantly great and far better than everyone else at work congratulations! But what if what you’re holding isn’t meant to be an ego but instead confidence?



Sparkpeople.com expresses the importance of knowing the difference between having confidence versus having too much ego. The heads too big when the only thoughts shared are always about you. Rather than bragging about your victories open the door to discuss how you got there so other’s can learn from your efforts.



Be a leader not a drill instructor.



Subliminalmp3.com keeps their ego in check by keeping it under control. Studies show that people with larger than life egos can be unbearably insecure. Exposing an ego serves as a cover up.



Nobody is safe from developing or being confronted by people like Dr. Cox. As faithful as we assume he is to the profession is nowhere near as destructive as he comes across. What might have happened to the nurses and other medical leaders if he hadn’t chosen to verbally deflate them everyday? Did they become working pieces of art in motion or were they trained to abuse future students?



Success is brilliant to touch. Having deep pockets with a larger than life house to match is how we’re taught to chase the American way.



Master Harris makes one thing clear, “The greatest martial arts student isn’t the one that kicks and punches the best but rather spends time with the lower belts. You learn more by identifying the difference between a block that looks good versus one that saved your life.”



As this nation reshapes its future the last thing we need is a wall made of ego. It’s ok to believe in the path that’s made you rich…but in the end…none of it is going to Heaven or Hell.



I will always believe in you first



arroecolins@clearchannel.com

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Even if they weren't always right...we choose to use their words.

While sporting a Charlotte Knights baseball jersey at a July 4th block party a neighbor I had never met broke down the barriers of conversation and asked if I was a fan of the sport. Confidently I shook my head from side to side admitting that I was a much bigger fan of 80% off sales.

But I didn’t answer his question…I bounced around the main thought giving him reason to assume.

The Stock Market has enjoyed four incredible successful days with numbers that resemble life as we once knew it. Is it safe to assume America is back or is this nothing more then the birth of another propaganda driven setback?

Riverside Jr. High Art teacher Mrs. Foster spent the entire first quarter of the 7th grade painfully unveiling the color wheel and through patience we learned the true roots of violet, lime, baby blue, candy apple red and totally on fire orange were connected to four basic colors none of which were black.

I assume my house is strong enough to withstand the horrid winds and hail that rip through the Carolina’s during low flying out of control summer thunderstorms; by assuming I’ve allowed myself to be blinded from truth...I live in a forest surrounded by drought injured trees that find tremendous amounts of comfort slamming to the earth unexpectedly.

How did we get this way?

Ask my stepfather Joe and he’ll tell you our lives became poisoned by our own actions the moment he stopped taking his belt off to tan our hides.

I’ve yet to meet the 30’s plus person that doesn’t spin their wild twenties into a page from their parent’s books. Good mood, bad reception to fake smiles and clammy handshakes we spew things out so fast that our subconscious relies on what it’s been taught rather than put energy in busting down the walls of new shapes and designs.

When goals still aren’t met with acceptance and dreams continue to fall…the end result is assumption. We assume it’s safe to stop trying. Lost is the needle in the haystack; the part of the color wheel that introduces your eyes to a bright beautiful diamond.

I sat at a campsite for four days staring down at the dry dirty dusty earth beneath my feet. It wasn’t pretty dirt; no bright orange Georgia clay or deep dark stick to anything Montana mud or Idaho jet black soil. The lack of grass, weeds, wild onions, cattails or anything living forced my subconscious into a state of havoc. Looking up I saw every size and color of tents, dirty faces on grown men, ripped clothing and a serious lack of creative control. Modern day campers bring everything to their site…including the kitchen sink and uninvited Mother-in-law.

Assumption scared the hell out of me. On the weekend we celebrate this nations birth the picture delivered was an invitation to feel what life must be like living in a tent city; the very cities that have recently dotted the map after Hurricane Katrina, the tornados in Joplin and massive earthquakes in Japan.

Through assumption we’re forgetting about the requirements of what a diamond must experience before becoming the hardest strongest stone and most unforgettable jewel on the planet.

It’s become too easy to buy character.

Helen Keller clearly stated that character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Richard Andrew King reminds us that no human can become great until there’s heat, pressure and scars. Once upon a time in America there was a work ethic.

No morning passes that I don’t sit here and watch a red headed woodpecker tap on the large tree outside this radio station studio. Its bark torn to shreds, moss no longer interested in being seen with its long time friend. No limbs carry leaves of green and its beginning to lean toward seat I sit.

Take this very visible dead tree with an assumed path of destruction and connect it to your personal dusty campsite. Do the jersey’s you wear make you a fan of the sport? Are you meaninglessly casting your Mom’s words out expecting nothing in return because you assumed at your child’s age you didn’t listen either? I assume this building could withstand a 40 foot tree falling on it. The woodpecker on the other hand doesn’t give a rats butt about the conclusion of this story.

If life as you currently know it randomly evolved into a tent city…would you grow to love the dirt on a grown mans face or would you force him to wash the diamonds off the windows to his soul?

Your answer is the character you’ve become…

I will always believe in you first.

arroecollins@clearchannel.com