In This Edition:
1. Fleet Center Follies
2. Taking Care of Everything
3. One Thing at a Time
4. Thoughts to Ponder, from Comedian Steven Wright
October is my favorite month, for so many reasons! The leaves, the air, the
golden sun. In California with the recall vote coming up I'm wondering how
that will all work out. In North Carolina we've the State Fair and that's
all that matters!
Fleet Center Follies
Many Octobers ago, I visited my best friend Peter Hicks in Boston.
He has season tickets to the Celtics. He lost interest after Larry Byrd
retired but, now and then, rather than selling them off to friends, he goes
to a game or two himself. He took me to one game, and I was astonished.
Not because of anything that happened during the game, but because of the
environment in which I found myself. I had been to the old Boston Garden
with its creaky floor and smell of beer, its cramped quarters, and its poor
circulation.
The difference between the Fleet Center and the Boston Garden
however, was that in the Boston Gardens the game was the thing to paraphrase
Shakespeare. At the Fleet Center the game was anything but the thing. The
seats were multi-colored, there were more bells, whistles and alarms than I
can begin to describe. There was orchestrated applause. There was organ
music. There were vendors offering all kinds of things unrelated to the
game.
The Fleet Center for me literally had a carnival atmosphere. It was
as if management was not willing to trust the fan to stay interested in the
game for its duration. Or, as if they felt they had to compete with Barnum
and Bailey's Circus, or more recently the throng of theme parks that have
spread all through America and the world.
A Sports Illustrated entitled, "Bang the Fan Slowly" talked about
how this phenomenon is becoming pervasive. Every single moment for the fan
throughout the game has been orchestrated.
The implied message here is that it has reached the point in our
socio-cultural evolution where enough people believe the game itself can no
longer be the focus of fan attention. This is sad for many reasons.
Further, what it tells us is that the ability to dominate the environment
through sight, sound, smell and to both stimulate and direct fan behavior
have not only become culturally acceptable but culturally desirable.
More disturbing is that for this to happen you have to have a
population base of outer- directed individuals i.e. those who do not proceed
in life based on internal cues, but take their cues as to how to respond and
how to react largely from their external environment.
Taking Care of Everything
According to Greek legend Prometheus had to do everything himself.
Americans traditionally have had a streak of the Promethean urge within
them, probably best typified by John Wayne, who took care of everything
himself.
Some people believe that hard work always merits reward, and
they'll carry this notion with them to their graves. In the work-a-day
world, you frequently see middle managers who decide to leap frog several
positions in the company by taking on more projects, even though they're
already filled to the brim. Among entrepreneurs, you may see someone try to
crack a new market that has long been unresponsive, even though the
entrepreneur is already juggling several balls, and short-changing his
health.
There's nothing wrong with working hard, unless you make
unrealistic efforts for goals when you lack the money, time, skill, or
connections. As you begin to deplete your body's resources, your immune
system diminishes.
What are some of the danger signs of someone who believes they can
do it all and do it all by themselves? You believe you'll be able to
overcome obstacles by working harder and appreciate the challenge. If other
people think it can't be accomplished, all the better. You may become
overbearing or short with others but hey, you're in pursuit of an important
goal and that's what counts. Besides, you're the only one who can do the
job right.
Organizations in our society tend to seek out people with that
attitude. If you're willing to stay overtime, work on weekends, and
minimize your vacation time, you just may be your boss's star performer.
Working hard in itself is not a problem, unless you carry a set of
unreasonable ambitions. Too many career achievers fall into an endless
cycle. They feel their accomplishments are too little, and experience
disappointment, frustration and health threatening stress. To relieve these
feelings they work harder so they'll accomplish more and hope a golden
rainbow appears.
Admit to yourself that you can't do everything and acknowledge
trying harder may not be worth it. If working hard is a way for you to gain
the respect of others, or self-respect, it's time to rethink your whole
approach:
Rather than focus on your weaknesses, accentuate and develop your
strengths. Also give yourself realistic time frames for ambitious goals.
Divide and conquer. Take smaller steps when setting larger goals
so that you don't burst a spleen along the way. When progress is slow, try
a different direction, different door, or different mindset. The notion
that you and you alone must take care of the whole thing, in a word, is
erroneous.
One Thing at a Time
At my health club, a women with a walkman got on the stair
climber next to me. Then she opened a copy of a health and fitness
magazine. To my amazement, she proceeded to step up and down, while
listening to music through headphones, and reading about health and fitness.
I almost asked her if she wanted to some chewing gum.
I wonder how many automobile accidents are attributed to people
attempting to do two things at once -- put on makeup, shave, eat, smoke, or
listen to 200 hundred decibel music.
Thoughts to Ponder, from Comedian Steven Wright
- When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
- Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
- I intend to live forever -- so far, so good.
- Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
- And for Halloween, what happens if you get scared half to death twice?
