Tag: day

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Cowboy Up

Today marks the end of the annual three-week Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Anyone living outside of the Bayou City might think that’s just a small gathering of rowdy Texans whoopin’ and hollerin’ about steer wrestling and saddle bronc riding.

While there is that, this year more than two million people visited the exhibits and midway, and up to 74,000 fans piled into Reliant Stadium each day to see performances by entertainers like Sugarland, Janet Jackson, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Lady Antebellum, Kid Rock, KISS and Brad Paisley.

Since 1932, the organization with 24,000 volunteers has contributed more than $235 million to area youth. It’s the heart of the city’s charitable efforts and an important ‘gotta be there’ social scene.

My 13-year-old daughter and I took advantage of a beautiful Spring Break day last week to pay $12 to park, drop $20 on games of chance, fork over $30 on food and – the best deal of all – spend just $20 to see CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Miranda Lambert.

Shortly after making our way through the entrance gate, I asked Kirsten to stop and turn around. I wanted to look over her shoulder to see if I recognized someone I knew in college. Although somewhat uncertain, I approached the man, said my name, and heard in reply, “David Handler, I know you.”

He immediately introduced me to his wife and two teenagers, and we spent a too quick 10 minutes reminiscing. I told Kirsten how we lived on the same floor in the huge Jester Center dormitory. I also reminded her that I’ve spoken to my kids about ‘the great amateur wrestler who never lost a match’ on many occasions.

My friend said he is an attorney in Houston, having graduated from UT Law School. His daughter smiled, embarrassed yet proud, when I told her what a great man she has for a father. It was a wonderful chance meeting after three decades, and we followed up by exchanging emails. Chances are 30 more years will pass without our crossing paths.

The next time you’re having a down day, think about my long lost friend who is achieving so much in life, and you’re sure to find inspiration. Stephon Breedlove – wrestling champion, attorney at law, family man – is blind. So is his wife.

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Rhythm Dance

Back in the day I created quite a few sports videos set to popular music for the various television entities where I worked as a producer. Two of my favorites were Kenny Loggins’ “Run for the Roses” (before the Cowboys played in the NFC Championship game the year the Super Bowl was to be at the Rose Bowl) and The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Thank God for Kids” (which, amazingly, will have its 29th airing this holiday season).

The key to setting sports to music is to combine the right beat with the perfect words and the best highlights. For some reason that came naturally to me during my television days. I’d hear a song every so often and would immediately envision how to use it. The amazing thing is most people – my musically inclined children included – would say I am not blessed with the gift of rhythm… at least when it comes to dancing or keeping a beat.

Yet in my daily life – both personally and professionally – I find rhythm to be one of my greatest strengths. Whether it’s sitting down to write my monthly e-newsletter, working in the yard, or participating in my latest hobby, I easily fall into the rhythm of the moment.

The words for my e-newsletter flow through my hands, as if magically, each issue. I simply sit at the keyboard and type. Mowing, gardening and the things that go with them allow me a few hours of escape, during which all kinds of inspirational ideas flow through my mind. During my hours each week in the pool, the silence sweeps me away to an almost meditative state. As the water flows around me, I find the rhythmic strokes much more relaxing than all the years running was my passion.

So, if you’re looking for peace, tranquility or inspiration, think about the rhythm in your life. Are you in sync? If not, look at where the interference is happening… and seek out that quite place inside you where alignment rests. You’ll find yourself more relaxed, more productive and, best of all, you’ll really like the feeling of harmony – and that could be the inspiration for a wonderful video of your life.

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Called To Serve

It’s Election Day in America… which is the most wonderful opportunity for citizens to have an impact on our nation. With so much frustration and turmoil happening all around, many feel their voices are unheard, that no one is listening. One thing is certain: the greatest gift – and responsibility – of living in a free society is to exercise your right to vote. If you need any reassurance or perspective on how important that is, just think about all the Iraqis who had their index fingers inked last year.

This election arrives particularly close to home for our family. Last summer my wife made the decision to run for a position on our local school board. After 12 years of helping our children navigate through public schools here, she felt the calling to participate in the leadership process. Ours is an open election in which you blindly declare for a specific seat, regardless of where you live in the district. As it turned out, she has no challengers – while another open position has three people vying for votes.

It was one of the special moments of my life when last week during early voting I cast my ballot for Kathy Handler, TISD Board of Trustees, Place 1. I would have voted for her even if we weren’t married. She’s a great listener, logical… a consensus-builder who seeks to find solutions rather than point out problems. She’ll do great.

Whether you’re running for political office or a regular citizen like me – with one vote and one voice – everyone is equal today. This is your opportunity to speak loudly… even if you’re the only one who hears how you feel.

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Mental Telepathy

Inevitably whenever I’m watching a sports event on television, I’ll make a comment at a critical moment and the announcer immediately repeats it. Last night, just before Boise State went on its BCS-saving last-minute touchdown drive, I started singing, “Felix the cat, the wonderful wonderful cat… whenever he gets in a fix, he reaches into his bag of tricks.” Within five seconds, Kirk Herbstreit said, “I wonder if the Broncos will reach into their bag of tricks?” My son laughed and said: “Do you have a microphone directly into their headsets?” My response: “I spent 15 years producing those games and the last 15 watching them as a fan, so I sort of know what they’re thinking.”

College football is my passion. Amidst mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage, doing ‘Zen and the art of automobile maintenance’ on our 10-year-old Camry, swimming and enjoying quality family togetherness this Labor Day weekend, I found time to watch ‘College Game Day’ and five football games. That’s a lot of moments to figure out what’s going on and where the announcers will take things.

The opportunity here in business is to climb into the heads of your customers (both internal and external ones) – and fully understand situations from their perspectives. Too often, leaders are so caught up in how you personally see things that you fail to consider what the view looks like from the other side of the table, or counter, or phone line, or desk. Yet stepping outside your own narrow scope opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Try it – let go of your bias – and you’ll discover the ability to anticipate what’s coming next. It’s a winning strategy in any game.

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Organizing Results

While facilitating a client’s recent executive leadership retreat, one of the attendees asked me: “So how do you stay on top of your priorities and get things done?” Many in the room expressed a similar interest in this topic, and they agreed to start 30 minutes early the next morning to create some extra time for me to share these techniques:

Make a list and check it often – Each Sunday night or first thing Monday morning I rewrite a one-page tracking sheet of everything that’s a major ‘Rock’ priority. This paper sits on the left-hand corner of my desk for the rest of the week, and it’s my way to keep focused on the big picture items that otherwise might be forgotten during the hours of a crowded day. This means the ‘not urgent and important’ quadrant that Covey identified never strays too far out of my mind.

Don’t let e-mail control your life – Once you open your In Box in the morning, you’re no longer in control of your day. So, I spend an hour working on other things before checking e-mail and diving into the fires that come with being a leader. (Note: read my post titled “Setting Priorities” on July 15th for more on this including my “Dr Pepper Approach.”)

Prioritize your piles – My goal is to start and end each day with a clean desk, and I’m probably successful 75 percent of the time. This means staying organized and being efficient. I have two types of current files: ‘clients’ that exist in the desk drawer to my right and ‘events’ that rest on the credenza to my left. I pull out client files the morning of their coaching sessions and place them in order by appointment time. The event files are clear project folders that I implement for all the other things we’re working on in our business. Each day I prioritize these from top to bottom, so I’m always focusing on the most important project first.

In addition to these, I utilize my calendar to block Genius Time for such things as writing this blog or reaching out to prospects. I also prioritize my workday by sequencing ‘these are the things I absolutely have to get done before I go home.’ One mental approach that works for me is to treat every day like it’s the day before I leave on vacation. I find it’s much easier to complete tasks and hit deadlines that way.

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