Personal Branding Statement

Over the past few months I've been attending a lot of industry meetings. Recently, I attended a Human Resource Meeting that inspired me to improve my overall brand in my career search. So, I decided it was time to do some soul searching, so I'm digging into the keys of branding.

1. Know what you stand for
2. Spread the word
3. Be consistent across platforms

To start with knowing what I stand for, I know I'm a big fan of Supply Chain. My trip to Denver for the CSCMP conference was a great experience. I enjoyed earning my Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. However, I also like to feel like I'm doing "good" for the world. I've loved the outdoors from a young age, so I think putting a slight environmentally friendly twist on things would make me happy. Based on those ideas, I came up with the following.

Personal Branding Statement:

Recent MBA graduate with customer service experience looking for a Operations Analyst position in the Fashion Industry, related to Supply Chain. Interested in improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact. 

Target Companies:

Brooks Brothers

Limited Brands (Victoria's Secret)

Talbots (White House Black Market)

Life is Good.

Eastern Mountain Sports

My next steps are to spread the word and enforce consistency across my online medium. New web page! Whoo HOO!

What 3 hours of early morning journaling can do

I woke up around 3 am this morning to pop some laundry in and start writing. So after creating a few pages of semi-complete sentences that structure themselves somewhat as commands and somewhat as questionable grammar, I found what I was looking for, that jewel of an idea.

Targeting what I want to do with the rest of my life has been a challenge. I tried engineering, writing, editing, financial planning, and went back to school for my MBA. During my MBA, I figured out that I liked supply chain. It was interesting. It seems to be history in the making. After all, there are lots of historians that get excited when archeologists dig up some old Roman canal. Logistics is how we live as human beings.

"Supply chain," however, is not very specific. And while I was at the CSCMP conference in Denver, I was told more than once, "pick an industry that you're interested in." Well, how do I know what I'm interested in? The answer came to me when I finally decided to get a job, any job, even one that won't quite cover my bills.

So, I started walking around town and applying to anything and everything. Only, I didn't apply to just anything. I applied to work at American Eagle, White House Black Market, Victoria Secret, Hollister, and Ann Taylor. Yes, I also applied to Hallmark, Munsons, and a few other stores, but it was the fashion stores that I really followed up on.

Now, I've always have had my own sense of fashion. In college, I was very convinced that cut off pants over pajama bottoms was going to be the next big thing. Thankfully, I've made some personal improvements since then. (Read: I dated girls that helped me make the proper corrections.) And, I've graduated to a look somewhere between American Eagle and Lands End.

But that isn't quite specific enough, because, well, I care about the environment. At least, I like to think I do. So, as I thought about these two things, fashion and the environment, which are frequently in conflict, the idea hit me:

Dress smart, both in fashion and for the environment. 

That's a solid idea, right there. I Googled it, and it didn't come up, so I felt original. Obviously, fashion uses a lot of not so great chemicals and supply chain uses a lot a fuel, so this is really about measured improvement and starting the implementation of Detox (Greenpeace) and Lean (Toyota) practices. Essentially, use friendlier chemicals for the environment and shorten supply chains. 

Chemicals are being improperly disposed of in many manufacturing processes. There were a lot of dye mills around where I grew up, and town tours often include the phrase, "And you could tell what color they were dying the fabric that day because the water came out the same color." In 100 or 200 years this practice has not stopped, just moved elsewhere. 

Not surprisingly but often overlooked, fuel makes up the majority of logistics costs. The further something travels, the more fuel you burn, the worse it is for both the environment and your pocketbook. 

Due to mystery chemicals and fuel, the more time a product changes hands, the more expensive and toxic it becomes. With each exchange the wholesaler has less control of their product, and upstream management becomes either more complex or ignored. In which case, does the complexity justify the cost? Or what costs are incurred that the wholesaler doesn't know about? 

Congratulations Laura & Ken!

Congratulations to Laura and Ken Bujold who were married this past weekend! Glad my sister found someone as amazing as she is.

That Zombie Time of Year

FunWorld Men's Complete 3D Zombie-Adult

There's always a lot that happens around Halloween. However, this year, there seems to be a few more zombies out on the streets. Here are some I saw while I was out in Denver.

CSCMP 2013 Conference

Just had the privilege of attending the 50th Anniversary Conference of the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals. I really enjoyed my time there. Perhaps, it's my Liberal Arts bias, but I thought the final speaker, Mike Rayburn, was fantastic. Not only was Rayburn an amazing guitar player , but he did a great job illustrating three points.

1. What if you could...
2. Write music that you can't play.
3. Be your own virtuoso.

Rayburn convinced me of the value of being the best. Though showing what he could do with the guitar, play all the part to Bohemian Rhapsody at once, he showed me the value of pushing my abilities to the next level. And, each of his three points were ways of stretching yourself, just a little more. 

His first point, "What if you could," was a way of disarming the "we can't do that" mentality. He said, "that's great, I agree that we can't do that.... but what if we could? How would we go about that?" It was just a way of setting limitations aside and thinking differently.

His second point, "Write music you can't play (yet)," was about setting goals that you can't reach. Everyone can find 10% improvement by working a little more or making things a little more efficient. But orders of magnitude of improvement are only made by thinking differently and setting big goals. 

His third point, "Be a virtuoso," was all about being the best at what you do. Make a commitment to be the best.

Zen and the Art of Supply Chain

I came across a Forbes article on LinkedIn, and I started to comment, actually left a comment, when I realized this would be a great concept for a job post. And, since the article left a bit wanting, and I had the first comment on the CSCMP board, I figured, why not, my blog could use a post.

The article spoke about Zen and Supply Chain. This idea touches on a couple books for me (1) Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and (2) David Allen's Getting Things Done. Taking those two books into mind, I wrote the following.

Supply chain is kind of like yoga for business. You want to use every part, and you want each part to be in shape and flexible. And you want to add muscle, but you need to keep stretching your capabilities to do that. A good combination of Lean and Strong helps a company react correctly to unforeseen events. Similarly, the old zen proverb state that you should react to things as a pond reacts to a rock thrown into it, equal to the force applied. A large bolder makes a big splash, but a pebble is barely noticeable as it hits the water.

 And, I really think that about sums Supply Chain up. The water comes from Allen's organizational mantra and the application of Supply Chain is really just Pirsig's logic that Zen can be applied to anything. And yoga might have been a bit more influenced by Drs. Oz and Roizen and my own personal practice.

The Outline of Doom

One of my professors in college (way back in 2002) was a huge practitioner of outlining. He suggested going through an entire book, writing down all the headings in a Word Document and then proceeding to fill in those headings as you read through the book. And, he made us do it twice. While this was a very effective method for understanding the contents of a book, I never did it again. Mainly because life stops when you get that involved with anything. While I've blogged about books, journaled about books, written letters to an author after every chapter of a book, I've never retried this very time tested version of outlining until today.

I've developed an interest in Business and Process Analysis. During my MBA, my class got really into SCOR Analysis, which is a way of reviewing supply chains. While my group used the method extensively for our project, I wanted to go a little more in depth. So, I ordered a similar book that would fit my particular field a bit closer, the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK Guide). 

There is nothing Earth shattering about either of these two methods. They are simply ways of aligning thought processes between multiple people, across multiple cultures. If you already know how to think, getting a grasp of these communication skills, not necessarily any particular method, makes doing business, engineering, supply chain, or whatever a whole lot easier.

However, fitting my creative mind into a structure is like pounding a square peg into a round hole, so I got the book. And now, after years of resistance, I am about to do that time honored outlining method and hope it works just as well as I remember.

Managing contacts

There are lots of ways that I've managed contacts: Outlook, Excel, LinkedIn, Facebook, Lotus 1 2 3... Lately, I've taken to putting contact information in as many places as possible and hope that some combination of my Hotmail account and my iPhone can put all these contacts into some sensible order. There is simply no good single method for keeping track of changing contacts.

So, I'm thinking about going back to the Rolodex. No use constantly updating devices, like Val in Stone Soup. Just flip to the right page and pull up the contact info for one of the 5 people you actually talk to. But the world doesn't work that way, anymore.

What's the alternative? Gardening. Just sort of let things go wild. Pull the weeds (spam) and prune the trees (massive organizations) and hope the data sync takes less than an hour or four.

Following blogs

One of the best ways to stay connected to your network is through blogs. You get to put out as much information as you want, and you get to intake your peers' input at whatever speed you desire. And you can use Google to fact check anything you want. 

While the tendency to social network with blogs (and, frankly, lack of ad revenue) has spelled the end to Google's Reader, I never saw blogs as a way to just take in information. Throughout my work and academic career, I've had a number of classes that have focused on the importance of creating RSS feeds, but I've always been more interested on the articles that appear on my Twitter Feed. 

I'm more interested in what interests the people around me. Yes, I occasionally go searching for obscure news on the Oort Cloud, but I see that a more leisurely activity, which automation would simply diminish my joy of finding small random facts. The articles that my friends, colleagues, family and random people (whom I've somehow connected to) write give me insight to the way they think. 

Understanding how people think is the key to networking. Also, observing what people think is important is also worth noting. More important thoughts are linked to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and email. Good bloggers post regularly, and, sometimes, this means posting when there isn't a lot to say. On blogs with less traffic, those "filler" posts don't always get an honorable mention on social media. You can also better tell what the target audience is by how you find the article, for instance a Facebook post might be more targeted to friends and family. Finally, people just appreciate thoughtful responses to their writing, and a general correspondence can take both the blogger and the reader in an incredible, new direction.

Coworking

A reasonable alternative to a personal office is something called "coworking." Essentially, it is a lot of people that share an office. Here in Manchester, Connecticut, there is a place called Axis 901, which is where folks get together to work alone. It's an interesting idea and a great way to get things done, as sitting in the house can be lonely or distracting, depending on who is or isn't home. Coworking provides just enough hussle and bussle to provide a steady stream of working motivation.

I know this because, I actually got to go and try working on site for a half day. While I didn't interact with anyone except the facilitator, Mark, I was able to create a couple blog posts. Before I moved out of state, I had always dreamed of having my own office in Manchester, and coworking would have been a perfect solution. Now that I'm back, I hope it is an option for me in the near future. So, if you're working at home and find yourself distracted or just not getting as much work done as you should, try and find a coworking facility nearby.

My journey towards meditation

Last weekend, I attended a Buddhist style introduction to meditation at the Odiyana Center. Meditation has been slowly encroaching on my life, and I figured that I'd finally take a class. In college, my roommate and I attended some stage hypnosis shows of James Mapes, at UConn's Jorgensen Auditorium, which introduced me to the concept of hypnosis. I also took some Creative Writing classes at UConn, which included an extensive study of the Beats, some of whom were very interested in Buddhism. And, a few years later, I was introduced to a movie called The Secret, which introduced me to the notion of listening to motivational tapes and putting myself in the right mindset. More recently, I actually started listening to hypnosis tapes and doing occasional meditation.

But, where does all this lead? Achieving personal balance is more than just completing a task. It is internalizing and understanding the world around me. But to do this, I slightly sever my connection to the world. Perhaps the answer is simply in the silence that surrounds me.

Balance your job for the long term from the beginning

Back in highschool, I used to run cross country. One of my first races, I started too fast, took the lead early, but I didn't have enough energy to complete the race along side the other runners. Later in life, I had a job, where I initially put in a lot of time, energy and passion, but I didn't have enough energy to keep up the pace over the months and years.

It's important to plan for the long term, and set expectations (for both you and your employer) at reasonable levels. Going gangbusters with the hope that things will level off is not a great solution. I remember temping for the job mentioned above. I wanted to work for this company so badly that I was putting in 50-60 hour weeks. I charged by the day, so I would only have to really charge the company for 40 hours a week. On top of this I was commuting 2 hours each way. The company eventually hired me on, and I found the cheapest place I could to rent, but I was still going gangbusters almost 2 years later. Human resources started asking me to report overtime. The top boss kept saying not to "work" over 40 hours. Some of the people whom I assisted wanted to know why I "couldn't work" 12 hours a day, anymore. I'd sneak into the office on weekends to catch up on work, but I couldn't meet the expectations I had set for myself to achieve, as I wasn't achieving these expectations within the allowed parameters. At this time, my personal life fell apart. My car was sideswiped in a hit and run. I couldn't afford rent. So, in not my proudest moment, I quit and went home.

Let's be honest. A 60 hour week is pretty standard these days, but a company needs to provide you the resources you need to succeed in life. While I loved my job, I couldn't figure out how to afford a place to live or transportation to work. I had not negotiated the correct terms for myself in advance. While many employers see this as not their problem, it reduces the efficiency of the workforce. Therefore, it is your (and my) job as the employee to negotiate the best offer available when taking on employment.

When starting work, keep a win-win attitude, but make sure both your expectations and the employers are on the table. Do not compromise in advance, such as reducing your asking price. Put your needs on the table, and don't feel bad about pushing back. Make sure you understand the company's needs. If a company is hiring you for your vehicle, your education or where you live, these costs need to be factored into what the company pays you. Your new company would not sell its products below operating costs, neither should you sell yourself below your costs.

Good negotiation is like preparing for a race. Eat a lot of pasta two days before, make sure you get enough sleep, and have a plan for your race pace. You can't finish the race or do a great job, if you don't have enough gas to get to the end.

The Phased Wake Up

How do you wake up when you just don't want to? There are lots of reasons why these days occur. Typically it's some combination or variation of: You're between things in life. You don't have anything scheduled till the afternoon. You've just had a very busy but questionably productive few days. Your schedule has gotten off kilter, or even that you're depressed. While it is best to avoid this lethargy by planning ahead, having an exercise schedule or just a regular morning routine, forward thinking doesn't help you when you've already fallen into a slump. So here are some easy steps to refresh yourself after getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

1. Consume a hot liquid. Make coffee or tea. 
2. Give yourself a set amount of time to goof off. Set a timer for 15 minutes and surf the internet.
3. Eat a small breakfast.
4. Take a shower and get dressed like you're going to do something.
5. Do something that you consider productive, like make a daily schedule to follow.

This list is rather simple, but it would have helped me alot in college. Yes, a personalized scheduled morning routine that has been made into a habit is superior; however, know that if you wake up in a bad mood and without a schedule, you can pretend to have one, and pretending will be at least half as good, which is better than not at all.

Goal Lists

Something that I have resisted for quite some time is the Excel goal list. There's something about putting my life desires on a spreadsheet that makes them seem, well, mechanical. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, my creative side still cringes at the thought. However, today, I finally sat down and made some initial lists for a handful of areas of my life.

Oprah.com recommends only 5 of each Must Have/Can't Stands for your love life (first thing in my search), I think it's important to get everything out there and then whittle it down to your priorities. Let's be honest, (1) single, (2) straight, (3) female, (4) smart and (5) attractive doesn't really start to scratch the surface of an ideal mate. (What qualifies as smart or attractive, anyway? What about location?) What the "Limit 5" is really doing is keeping overly restrictive requirements out of the equation. For instance, if I would only date women shorter than 5' 2", that would be a severe limitation. The purpose of these lists is to identify the spirit of what I'm looking for, so I know when something similar comes along.

These lists, in their longer forms, also get you to think about what is truly required to reach your goals. For instance, how would I like to acquire my new puppy? Not anytime soon :-( Keeping the lists together also encourage me to think of other things to pursue, such as maybe a literary agent. And, I've also set up the lists to be compatible for binary analysis at some point down the road.

Professional Organizations

As September approaches, professional organizations will be coming back into the light, as many go dark for the summer. Becoming active in these organizations is a challenge, as they are typically geared toward seasoned professionals. While it is easy to send a check to your organization of choice, are you really a member if you don't show up to meetings and network with other members of the organization?

A not so utilized membership of mine recently came up for renewal. I've resisted renewing it; however, I reconsidered after receiving my "final notice." Being in the process of looking for work, the opportunity to have another iron in the fire was just too tempting. However, I do realize that it is more important to be active in a single organization than a member of many.

The Art of Reading

There is a tried and true method of learning that our teachers try to impress upon our young minds: Write at least one journal page a day and read. These things are not mutually exclusive. Learning is different for everyone, and each person will experiment to find her path. Personally, I have found that diving into non-fiction books is the most productive means of learning.

Simply put, the books I have learned the most from are the ones that I have spent the most time with. I have written in the margins. I have summarized chapters. I've written the authors. My journal entries reflect the ideas I have just read, sometimes with direct quotes. While previously, I thought my intellectual prowess was measured by how fast or how many books I could consume; I now realize that a more thoughtful measured approach to study is optimal.

Until recently, I also believed in the power of stream of consciousness writing. Each morning I would journal as much as possible without interruption. Now, I feel free to access data outside of myself. My need to write stream of consciousness, "to tap my inner soul," is no more. I can spend 5 minutes meditating for that. Understanding comes from processing information in a more comprehensible fashion.

Job hoppers? Your brand sucks.

Rex Huppke wrote an article that appeared in a number of papers this morning on the cost of Millennials' job hopping. Younger employees are simply up and leaving about 30 percent of employers surveyed, leaving these companies with significant replacement costs. This is perhaps reflected in the growing Quits Rate (1.6% in June), which is seen as an indicator of an improving economy.

Losing your workers due to dissatisfaction puts you at a competitive disadvantage. Regardless of the cost of employee replacement, projects are interrupted and dissension forms in the ranks. Your company brand has taken a self inflicted wound.

While you can't keep everyone happy all the time, there are a number of things that go into your company brand: Product, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Culture, and one of these things is not like the others. You can change your product, revamp your marketing, even switch your supply chain, but you need to grow your culture.

To grow company culture, you need to understand what motivates your employees. Furthermore, you need to understand how your needs, the company's needs and employee needs align. How? Just ask. Yes, in this respect, your four-year-old might be smarter than you are. Just keep asking "why?"

Why are our employees leaving? They're unhappy and feel unappreciated.
Why do our employees feel unappreciated? There is no internal structure for advancement.
Why isn't there an internal structure for advancement? It's too expensive.
Why is it too expensive? Our consultant said it would cost XX thousand dollars.
Why is that expensive? Given staff replacement costs, it isn't expensive.
Why can't we do it for less? We can; we'll put our technical writer on the project.

Your people run your company. By taking their needs into account, a fully formed company will take care of itself and continue to grow. Also, happy employees might just stick around for awhile.

The Pain of Self Improvement

After I finish a particularly painful self improvement project, such as writing a letter from an ex to myself or working with my inner critic in some other way, I take a moment to really feel the pain I've inflicted on myself. It must be a sensation similar to recovering from surgery. "Well, I'm still alive, but was it worth it?"

Obviously surgery comes with real life or death risks and can be the difference between walking and rolling around in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, so the comparison is not perfect. But both real surgery and emotional surgery hurt. You bleed on the table or you bleed on the page, and either way there is a bit of soreness after. And, after both, there is a chance that you'll have to go through the whole process again.

In short, reprogramming the brain is not an easy task. Developing new and more beneficial habits takes real effort, often so much that it is shocking than anyone strives to self improve at all. Having just written down 10 things I needed to improve and then diving into each in explicit detail, I'm shocked that human society ever emerged from Feudalism. Changing for one person is hard, and it must take a lot of people changing to change a whole society.

In the end, I hope the effort to change is worth it. Success is just the willingness to try different things until something works.

Forgiveness

Here's another topic from Canfield's book that is a personal adventure: Forgiving. Intellectually, it makes a lot of sense. Emotionally, it's a beast. I, like most think, "Sure it would be great if I didn't think about someone I absolutely loathed all the time. But that person is always going to come to mind. It's just human nature." While this is true, the pain can be lessened.

The best way I've found to "forgive" is to write a letter to the person. Write a letter from that person to me. And finally, burn both letters. It's a nice symbolic ritual, and I found it eases the pain. Then move 1000 miles away. Ha! Time and distance do wonders though.

Business Cards

I got a useful tip about business cards from a local entrepreneur. I handed him my card, and he looked at it. "I can't read your name, Mike." He said to me. "If it's dark and loud, and I don't hear your name, I'm never going to be able to pretend to know it by glancing at your card."

Up to this point, I thought the business card was simply about transferring contact information, and I had chosen a beautiful script font for my name. It's perfectly legible in normal office light. But, business cards aren't for normal office light. These tiny slips of cardboard are for bars, back alley deals, networking events, conferences, etc. If you're well advertised on the Internet, there isn't any reason you can't use an Ocean's 11 style business card.

Make your name MASSIVE. The whole point of a business card is to get someone to remember you. Make it easy for the person you're meeting. Let them hear, read and say your name.

Following Advice

Advice and decision making is one of those things you just have to do. Make lots of choices. The more choices you make the more you'll understand what decisions were smart, which were stupid, and why each idea matured or evolved the way it did. Here are a couple quick tips if you're stuck.

1. If you parents or someone that cares about you suggest something that doesn't take a lot of effort is legal and isn't going to unravel your master plan. Do it. We often get tunnel vision and small tweaks can go a long way toward improving our lives. You don't have to agree, instead of arguing save your energy and just get whatever it is done.
2. Listen for hesitation when asking for advice. No one wants to rain on your parade. If you're making a major life decision and three or more people hesitate before answering, rework the plan. 
3. Keep your hand out of the cookie jar. If your only reason for not following advice is "that doesn't get me what I want," maybe it's time to figure out a plan to get something similar, better and more lasting. Better to take the pain of not having something or someone upfront than the devastation caused by your crazy plan blowing up in your face.
4. Look it up on the Internet. There are lots of people that are smarter than you.
5. Sleep on it. No good decisions are ever made in the wee hours of the night. 

Yin, Yang and Ho'oponopono

A couple months ago, about the time I was listening to a to a YouTube recording of the Tao Te Ching, I took a shower, which typically would be uneventful, but I was able to conceptualize the concept of Yin and Yang in this particular instance of showering. I was very excited, especially since the Yin and Yang phenomenon is cliché, unassuming, and thoroughly difficult to truly understand.

In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu writes:

The Way gave birth to unity,
Unity gave birth to duality,
Duality Gave birth to trinity,
Trinity Gave birth to the myriad creatures

The myriad creatures bear yin on their backs
             and embrace yang in their hearts
They neutralize these vapors
             and thereby achieve harmony

There is no better way to explain the concept of yin and yang that I have come across.

Recently in my continuing study of The Success Principles, I realized my vapors were creating a thick fog, especially when it came to acknowledging my past successes. Great relationships with lots of good times ended badly, and I forgot the good times ever happened. A successful 5-year run at a company ended with me stretching a little further for a promotion than I was capable of at the time, and I forgot that I learned public speaking and all sorts of things about finance and retirement plans. I didn't notice that I went back to school after I left the job, got my MBA and learned everything that I needed to know, becoming the person I was trying to be when I took the promotion originally.

Jack Canfield wrote, "the more you acknowledge your successes, the more confident you become." I needed to find a way to neutralize the fog that obscured my vision, which I did in a simple mantra called Ho'oponopono.

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

The Hawaiian chant of Ho'oponopono is utterly disarming. It's my way of balancing and neutralizing the vapors that obstruct my vision (in the metaphysical sense), and I use the chant to return to positive thinking when I have strayed from that course of thought.

Consistent and Persistent Action

I've always made a point to do at least two things a day that drive me towards my goal. Currently, I'm job searching, so that means 2 job applications, everyday. As I continue to read through Jack Canfield's   The Success Principles, I'm realizing that my current approach is only getting me 40% of the way there. Why only 40%? Jack has a rule of 5. So does John Maxwell, although his "Rule of 5" is a bit more specific and has more to do with self development than simply accomplishing something. 

Regardless of who came up with the idea or how the idea is applied, two people, much smarter and more accomplished than me believe that consistent and persistent action happens 5 times a day, not 2. Using the rule of 2, I currently have 53 active job applications. How many would I have if I had done 250% more work? 130+? Maybe. 

There are other ways that consistent and persistent actions show themselves, though. There are phone conversations, blog posts and other ways of "getting the message out." Part of consistent and persistent action is having a broad based approach. Simply put, you're more likely to find your keys, if you look in more than one drawer.

Thinking about prosperity

After listening to Wallace Wattles's Magnum Opus, The Science of Getting Rich, over and over again, or at least two or three times, I figure I have at least heard the concept that thinking about prosperity will bring abundance to me over the due course of time. However, there is the tricky part of actually being ready for that abundance and prosperity.

Last night, I came across a TED Talk on introversion. At one point, Susan Cain talks about how great spiritual leaders (Jesus, Moses, etc.) go out into the wild. Then they take what they discover in the wilderness back into society.

What is interesting is that I don't hear a lot about urbanites going out into the wilderness to find themselves, alone. I can think of one person in all my experience that made a point to go into the woods by himself for any extended period of time. And when I heard he was doing this, I did ask him why he would do such a thing, and he responded with something about finding himself. Perhaps, more of us should consider the personal journey into the wilderness, so we can find ourselves, as well.

Hanging on the Vine

Staying connected to our life force--the divine, Jesus, Buddha, or what ever you'd like to call it--is a balancing act. The goal, as illustrated in the Christian Tradition (John 15), is simply to abide or be present with the divine. We do not try to act or mimic the divine, for that is a standard we cannot achieve. Instead, we let the divine work through us.

If I were to grow a tomato plant (I'm not too familiar with grapes, which are used in the classic story), I would stake the plant up, so it would produce the most fruit. I do not have any control of whether or not the plant actually bears fruit. Perhaps, I could order a box of honey bees to increase the chances of pollination, but ultimately, all I can do is make sure the plant gets sunlight and water. And, at some point in the summer, I'm probably going to get a tomato or two.

This phenomenon is perhaps likewise in our own personal growth. I do not have control of when the work that I'm doing will produce results. While I can do many things that make results more likely, I do not know exactly when a business opportunity will take off. All I can do is stake myself up (be it with education or otherwise) and be patient. All that is really important is that I (like the vine) stay attached to my life force (or roots).

Ask and Keep Asking

This is the whole "secret" thing. That little bit of knowledge that has been kept from the general population. It's one of those things that you have to figure out on your own. There's a great story in the Bible (I forget where) about a guy needs something from his neighbor at some ridiculous hour of the night. The character  just keeps pounding on his neighbor's door. The neighbor tells the guy to go away, and he just keep pounding until he gets what he wants.

With modern technology, the new twist on this is that it's harder to say no in person. There's something about getting in front of someone and asking that increases your success, like a connecting of the souls or something. So, get out in front of as many people as possible.

Does the Internet Let You Grow?

On the surface, "does the Internet let you grow?" is a silly question. Of course the Internet has no say on personal growth. Yet, sometimes the Internet comes up with cool suggestions. Pandora plays a cool song, YouTube shows a cool video, etc.

However, I noticed today that YouTube is recommending dating videos that I don't watch anymore. Not that someone new is in my life, just that, I've changed my life outlook and don't watch that particular type of video anymore. Yet, in a small way, here's the Internet pulling me back to where I was just a few months ago. It's like modern technology put me in a mold, and I didn't notice until I took a step (and found myself no longer within the mold).

Making it manageable

In a lot of ways, the Internet provides a nifty way of managing an idea that's out of control. It's called a blog. For instance, both this blog and my other blog are ways of taking concepts that I don't fully understand (being successful and forecasting respectively) and making those concepts more digestible for my mind. I can take complex issues and give my thoughts and ideas a regular workout against those tough problems over a period of time. Perhaps I will even get some feed back to hone my thinking, at some point.

By in large, I think with the combination of blogs and Pinterest, I have traveled through the next 10 points of Mr. Canfield's book. I've created, or in the process of creating, a solid image of my future, which actually brings a strong smile to my face.

The Specific Vision

I've started this blog post a few times, which has made me realize that I may not be as specific in my goals as I need to be. However, the other night I watched this YouTube Video on finding your Opus (warning it's an hour long if you're going to watch it).

To boil the whole video down to a line and a half, "Have something you're going to achieve in life (a big grand arching goal) and work toward that goal, no matter what." It got me thinking, and I was able to create this post on my forecasting blog because something in the movie helped me disconnect from the result and just enjoy the journey of learning and explanation.

Now that I have a sort of grand vision: figuring out how El Niño relates to Astronomy and proceeding on to business inventory forecasting from there. Hey, it's a little vague and perhaps misdirected, but it's a start, at least. With that concept in my head, I feel that I can better focus on specific tasks, such as those Jack Canfield talks about.

Because I could be going to a number of locations for work, I'm creating Pinterest Boards, such as Places to Live in 2013 to drill down on a multitude of specific options to approach. For instance, in the currently blank board I just linked to, I'm going to find 3 apartment complexes in each of 5 cites--Cincinnati, Hartford, New York, Boston, Seattle--by next week (total 15), which I want to look at, if I move to that city. Ideally, I would stay where I am, if I stay in Lexington. So, I'm taking specific vision to mean "baby steps" in a What About Bob? style/approach.

Volunteering Vets

I was watching The Daily Show last night and saw a segment on The Mission Continues, which is about veterans volunteering and finding a sense of community after war. It's cool that veterans have a place to go after going through experiences I don't think I could ever face. They definitely have my respect. These folks continue to serve their country and each other.

Vision

Mr. Canfield recommends having lots of "wants." My initial goal was to generate about 30 pictures of things that I wanted. Turns out that that is an awful lot of stuff, things, achievements and circumstances. Even with a fully loaded Pinterest account to choose from, 30 life changes is significant. There are 11 pictures represented here.

Paddle Board

Golden Retriever

An Awesome Backyard Pool

Lean Six Sigma Master Blackbelt

VW Convertible (Bug)

Hidden Room

            

Awesome Bike

A Boat

Family

Health and Strong Heart

Finding Ms. Right

Update: dead picture links removed 6/9/2013

Be Clear Why Your Here

This is the second of Jack Canfield's Success Principles. Because I've been working a lot on my resume, lately, I think of this principle as a resume objective. After a bit of thought, my purpose is to empower people and businesses through the written word. I've noticed that companies often do not have the proper level of documentation and often rely on the experience of their employees and a good deal of luck for things to happen correctly. A lot of money can be saved by just taking a moment to observe what is going on and set up a procedure to follow. Also, writing things down allows for the creative process to continue beyond the mundane day-to-day tasks and really think up unique solutions to problems.

Success Principles

Jack Canfield wrote a book called The Success Principles. He has said in numerous interviews that all you need to do to be successful is work the principles. I've had this book for a number of years now, and I would like a higher level of success than I currently have. To achieve this, I am simply going to work the principles in order and record my exercises and results here, and I will see if the principles truly work. There are a total of 64 principles. Since anyone can buy the book and read it; I'm going to limit this blog to my own personal experience with the principles, which means I may skip writing about some of them or not fully go into the "how" of my process. These next few entries are merely to capture the "why" of my process. I hope to keep the same "Smash Journal" type feel that I have had in previous posts.

30. Thankful For

This is my last post in the original "Smash Journal Challenge," as noted in post one. I'm certainly thankful for being able to complete this. I have a Thankful Board on Pinterest, which relates to this. I'm certainly most thankful for my wonderful and supportive family and the opportunities that they have given me.

29. Free Theme (list)

Some Things I've Written

Novels

• Kentucky Memoir
• Some Weird Thing on Trolls
• The Metaphysical Journey of Fredrick J. Seacum

Short Stories

• SLO Morning
• Wedding Weekend
• Disattachment
• SciFi Book

Poetry

• Waking the Dream
• Disattachement (Sestina)

28. Something Pretty

Here's a picture of a random waterfall in Costa Rica, from my travel bucket list. 

27. A Celebration

Best Wedding Cake Ever.

26. Mittens

This is Mittens. My uncle's neighbor had taken in a bunch of strays, and Mittens was one of the kittens.

25. My ride

After I moved to Paducah, the Cougar was on its last legs. I was driving between Paducah and Lexington frequently, which is about a four hour drive. One cold morning my car wouldn't start, and I had to have the car jumped. My Mercury was towed to a Toyota repair shop, where it wasn't fixed, but they did get it running, somehow. I limped back to Paducah, without the battery holding a charge. I replaced the car with a Blue Toyota Corrolla S, which has served me quite well for the past two years. No more worrying if I'm going to be stuck on the side of the road.

24. Makes me Google

Pinterest makes me Google more than about anything. It's a lot easier than finding magazines to cut pictures out to make vision boards.

23. Washi Tape

Washi Tape. I'm not really sure what it is. Here's a link to sheknows.com that explains it. Seems like a novel idea. Frankly, I didn't read the whole article. She knows, so I don't have to. :-)

22. In the Garden

Well, I don't currently have a garden, and it's the middle of February. If I were to have a garden though, I do live in an apartment, so I would have to make adjustments. The only thing I have kept alive here is a poinsettia. Perhaps, I can do some sort of porch jungle when the weather starts to warm up.

I seen a few really cool porch jungles. My neighbor has one, a friend of mine had one in Connecticut. It's a fabulous idea. Maybe I'll give it a try.

21. Chores

Over the past few weeks, I've really slacked off on chores. School and Skyrim have kept me occupied. I've managed to keep everything tidy but barely. Over the weekend, I updated my computer to Windows 8 and Office 2013. Office ended up loading on the wrong file, so it took me all weekend and a couple hours with the Microsoft help desk to figure that out, but, now that everything is working, both software packages are amazing. Moving everything around with Win8 is really fun, and Office 2013 has a citation package, which is really cool. As far as real chores though, my apartment could sure use a vacuum.

20. Something I miss

I do miss the snow. It sounds silly. Life is a lot easier without having it around. No slipping and sliding or being late places, but I do like to ski, snowboard and sled. A huge storm just hit the northeast, and we didn't get a flake here in Kentucky.

Something about snowmen and hot chocolate that is just an all around good time. Plus it reminds me of all my friends and family back in Connecticut.

19.Top Ten *Punk* Songs

In no particular order:

Underdog World Strike, Gogol Bordello
I Wanna Be Sedated, The Ramones
Float, Flogging Molly
Police Truck, Dead Kennedys
Astro Zombies, Misfits
Complete Control, The Clash
Welcome to Paradise, Green Day
You, Bad Religion
Psycho Killer, Talking Heads
Ruby So-Ho, Rancid

18. What I wore today

17. @ 3pm

I'm currently in an MBA program at the University of Kentucky. Today, I have Tereza Dean's class at 3 p.m. It's a supply chain management class. The class is part of a larger module. We're in the process of earning our Lean Six Sigma Green belts. This class has been coupled with other traditional classes, as well as  a course taught by LeanCor. I've been having a lot of fun in this module, and I'm hoping to launch my new career with supply chain management in May (Cross Fingers).

16. Snack Food

I've been really into nachos lately: Shake shredded taco cheese onto tortilla chips, like Tostitos Original or On the Boarder. Then spoon a teaspoon of Frog Ranch Salsa (Medium) onto each chip. Then top each chip with a slice of Serrano pepper. Shake more taco cheese on top. Bake at 375 for about 8 to 10 min, until the cheese is melted.

15. Favorite Color

Red. I think of love whenever I see it. This probably has something to do with my listening to hypnosis tapes on iTunes. I used to be really into green, and I still have a soft place in my heart for it. Green is a much calmer color. However, I do have a blue car. Definitely will go with red as my favorite color, for now.

14. Love

Some family and friends among many