Courage of Conviction

Today on my EADDblog, I posted an article on saving money and how it relates to life and business.  Here’s an excerpt:

This past week, I cut out about six different monthly services that my wife and I haven’t been using all that much.  These were for both business and personal use - including the landline phone at home.  It’s been months since I picked up the landline to make a call - so why did we keep paying the phone company $35 each month?   

In total, we’ll be saving just under $200 each month by canceling the services that we did.  So why didn’t we do this months ago?  Why did we keep sending our hard earned money to other people for things we didn’t use?   

and…

The lesson is simple - small things, when combined, can make big impacts.  It’s true when in comes to money.  It’s also true when it comes to time.   

I posted an article on my EADDblog about urgency and putting out fires.  I based it off of a blog post from Seth Godin on the subject.  It’s really an excellent piece and worth the read.  Here’s a piece:

You can have grand visions for remodeling your house or getting in shape, but if there’s a fire in the kitchen, you drop everything and put it out. What choice do you have? The problem, of course, is that most organizations are on fire, most of the time.

Over on my EADDblog, I posted an article about signing up for the Hartford Marathon, why I decided to run another marathon and how it relates to business.  Here’s an excerpt:

The marathon signifies so many things to me - perseverence, dedication, development, pushing yourself to your limits and beyond, attitude, focus, and more.  People ask me how I can do it, year after year.  How can I do all the training that is required, especially with a young family.  How can I run 4 hours straight.  How can I be excited about getting out an running in the rain in the early morning.  How can I…

The simple answer is that I can’t do any of that - what I can do is be someone who takes one step and then another and then another.  It’s not about running 26.2 miles - it’s about running up to the next corner, or taking the next step - pushing myself to do just one more because I know I can.  Small and simple is the way you do a marathon.  As the old Chinese proverb goes - the journey of a thousand miles begins with one first step.  The same is true with a marathon. 

The key for you, my dear reader, is to relate the marathon to yourself.  What is your marathon?  Is it your business? 

Enjoy.

Today, I posted an article about thinking on my EADD blog.  Here’s a quote from the article:

A Stanford Institute study showed that 79% of people do not think.  When I first heard that, it shocked me.  But upon further thought, that pretty much fits into the 80/20 rule.

Enjoy the full article.

A friend of mine, Ryan Shafik, sent me this video that the Harrisburg CBS Affiliate did on the Smoke Freedom Day.  Enjoy!  You may recognize some of the people in the video. 

I think Ryan’s analysis can be used for more than just smoking bans.  I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many issues the legislature deals with that it shouldn’t.  Another good argument of why the legislature should be in session for a few days as possible each year.