Monday, June 15, 2009

Stealing from Seth Godin

When working on my personal mission statement last year one theme kept emerging. I wanted my children to see me as a hero. (you can see my mission statement on my profile page) The only way I could do that was by improving the world in some small way for them. This post from Seth Godin speaks to my personal values on such a deep level I want to share it with you.

You matter
When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.
-Seth Godin

Thank you Seth. Imagine how we could change the world if we all tried to "matter" just a little bit more.

This blog is going to be a little bit less active for the next few weeks. Stay tuned though because fabulous things are happening.

Thank you for spending time here.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Have you ever done anything really stupid?

This blog has been neglected you these past two weeks. I'm sorry and I'm back.

I was just mowing the lawn and did something incredibly stupid (well two things actually):

One, I should have made my now eleven year old son do it!

and

There was a newspaper that had fallen out of recycling and was waiting for me on the lawn. I knew it was there. Even walked past it a few times. Then I started heading right for it, thinking as I got closer I should stop and pick it up. I didn't though. I kept going. Mowed right over it. Now instead of having one newspaper on my lawn I had thousands of little pieces spread all over the yard. True the moment of destruction was kind of cool. Satisfying even, but after I finished the two hours of yardwork I had another twenty minutes of picking up shreds of newspaper - and didn't get them all!

After I did this I started thinking about stupid things people do. Like not training their front line staff. Every person in your organization has an impact on donor loyalty and the financial bottom line. Then I thought about Jonathon Grapsas's blog. You should read it - it shares another story of the stupid things people do.

Thank you for spending time here.