Courage of Conviction

I wrote a post on the subject of freedom vs. security. This subject goes way beyond politics. Every day we make decisions that are towards freedom or security, or atleast what we think is security.

Here’s a different way of thinking about freedom and security:

It’s easy to choose security - it’s familiar, it’s stable, and it’s predictable - i.e. we gain a sense of control.

The choice of freedom on the other hand is unpredictable. It may come out as assisting an employee towards their dream job or career - knowing full well that you’ll “lose” a great employee if you do that. But imagine how happy that employee will be for the duration they remain under your employ. What’s the ripple effect of that on your customers?

Grassrootspa.com posted Tony Phyrillas’ article about meeting with John Perzel to talk over his legislation for adding 10,000 police officers to the state. At the end of the article Tony asked Perzel about the pay raise. Of course he’s unrepentant. At the very end, Perzel also stated that “He also believes he will return to his former post as Speaker of the House next January.”

Well, that about set me off. In fact, it’s not just me. There’s some very lively debate over on the grassrootspa discussion board about this. It’s actually generating other blog posting, like Alabama in Between, where my comments were quoted.

And since they were my comments, I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up (although I encourage you to read all the comments - it’s a lively and healthy debate).

I wrote a post on managing conflict.  When it comes down to it, regardless of the obstacle, what matters is how we look at the situation.  Do we respond with an emotional reaction, or do we see the experience as a learning opportunity?

This past week, I was presented with a conflict.  My initial reaction was one of anger - a very normal response.  I was not happy about the situation.  I wanted to publicly confront an individual about a situation.

Then I decided that being angry wasn’t going to solve anything (and would probably make the situation worse), so I decided I would determine what I could learn from the situation.

What I learned first was a reminder that I cannot control other people - either in what they do or how they think.

Read the rest here.

Yesterday when I saw that we were in a near full moon, I knew that it didn’t bode well for conservatives.  Tonight’s results confirm that.  As I’ve stated before, election night is usually pretty depressing for me - my favorites usually don’t win.  At any rate, tonight the establishment triumphed within the GOP.  I imagined many conservatives who would have voted for conservative candidates went over to the Dems to vote in their presidential primary - thus our conservative candidates lost votes to the establishment Republicans.  My own opinion of this whole thing is that it does more damage to the GOP in the long run.  Now we are stuck with all these establishment Republicans.  Who would do more damage a Dem president or a whole bunch of establishment Republicans?  A better question - Is there really any difference?

And again, I’m left wondering, how do we end up with all these crappy candidates?

And tonight’s results again confirm to me why I’m not a Republican anymore.  I’ve never been happier to be a registered Independent.  I already know who I’m voting for in most of these races, and in most cases, it’s not anyone listed on the ballot.  This will be the first election in which I’ll be writing in names for over half of the positions on the ballot.

I can already hear the criticism - “Gee Matt, by voting that way, it’s actually a vote for ____.” That’s where I disagree.  That’s how people like Arlen Specter get elected - we supposedly have to settle for these people.  I quit settling for candidates many years ago.  A vote for who I believe in is a vote for who I believe in.  It’s a vote that says I’m tired of crappy candidates and I’m not going to legitimize their selection by choosing between two bad choices.  I won’t vote for the lesser of two evils - it’s still a choice for moving in the wrong direction, it’s just a matter of how fast you’re getting there.

Here’s my test for voting - Who can I vote for and be able to look at myself in the mirror and not be ashamed of myself because I voted for a certain candidate.  I’ll tell you this much, there are plenty of candidates who I could vote for because they are the lesser of two evils - but then I’d be ashamed to look in the mirror at myself.  And frankly, that’s far more important than any argument for party unity, or any fear tactics, or “lesser of two evil” arguments.

Recently, I wrote a post on the idea of change and status quo.  The deeper issue is control - what is control?  What do we have control over?  How do we use this?  How does control affect entrepreneurs?  All great questions.

Here’s a short part of the post:

It’s been said that the only thing that stays the same is change.  Yet how often do we attempt to hold on to something?  Why is it that we attempt to keep things the same?

The simple answer is control.  As human beings, most of us are obsessed with control - especially us entrepreneurs.  We will do whatever we can to prevent change and hold onto the status quo in order to have control of a situation or our lives.

Read the rest here.

I’ve been invited to be a panelist for the the Identity and The Body Politic Forum at the Good Life Cafe, on N. Hanover St. in Carlisle this evening, April 16th.  The program starts at 8pm.  Come join the discussion - it should be a good time.

You can see the poster for the event here.

Today I wrote a post about control.  Here’s an excerpt:

What do you have control over?  Be honest, and I mean really honest, with yourself - what do you really have control over?

The answer is - not much.  You really don’t have control over much of what happens.  About the only control that you have, to some degree, is how your react to things.  Even then, our subconscious habits control most of how we react.

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.