Archive - May, 2008

Drunk or Just "Employed?"

May 29, 2008 in Finding Passion, No More Mondays with 8 Comments

Last week my Wednesday morning Eagles group was privileged to have Rabbi Daniel Lapin sit in as our guest.  Dave Ramsey had invited him to speak to his entire company that morning and our little group of thinkers was honored to dialogue with him for a couple of hours in advance.

As a Hebrew scholar, Rabbi Lapin shares some very insights about that language.  Here’s one of his many interesting examples: 

“When Noah planted a vineyard, drank of its wine and became drunk, the Hebrew word used in Genesis 9:21 to describe his inebriated condition is SHiCHuR.  But when someone hires someone as an hourly employee, as in Exodus 22:14, the person is a SaCHiR.  In Hebrew the words look exactly the same.  Read more »

Your Days

May 29, 2008 in Finding Passion, No More Mondays with 1 Comment

At Brighthouse, an Atlanta-based innovation consulting firm, staff members get five week’s vacation, AND five Your Days.  The five Your Days are free days that the staff are encouraged to use to visit someplace conductive to reflection and thinking.  No particular goal to solve anything – just what they call “blue-sky thinking.”  CEO Joey Reiman believes this unstructured thinking is just as important to their success as time spent hunkered down in client meetings or looking at computer screens.

Other companies like Maddock Douglas and Google also encourage their workers to spend up to 20 percent of their work hours pursuing whatever intrigues them.  Read more »

Oh No — the Sky is Falling

May 29, 2008 in No More Mondays, Personal Development with 1 Comment

In the constant interviews about No More Mondays, it seems inevitable that the question about being in a “recession” comes up.  I wish I could convey that whether or not we are in a recession is much like whether or not we believe the sky is falling. 

Remember that famous children’s fairy tale?  One day Chicken Little was scratching in the garden when an acorn fell on her head. She decides to tell the King, and on her journey meets many other animals who join her in the rush to share this startling news.  “How do you know the sky is falling, Chicken Little?” asked Henny Penny.  “I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears, and a bit of it fell on my head,” said Chicken Little.  Read more »

Bulimic Work

May 26, 2008 in Finding Passion, No More Mondays with 2 Comments

You know the term – Bulimia. The disorder where someone binges on food and then induces vomiting to compensate for it. As horrible as it sounds, I see people who very much display the same characteristics in their work.

Rob is a layout editor for the local newspaper. His cell phone never stops ringing: reporters are demanding deadlines that are impossible to meet, journalists are furious their stories have been bumped, a national news story breaks 15 minutes before press time, he knows his nagging chest pain is more than just indigestion, and once again he’s missed his son’s baseball game. But he sucks it up – knowing that in just 10 more days he can leave for his annual two week vacation. He’ll unwind and get rid of all this stress.  Read more »

You Might be a "Sluggard" if…….

May 13, 2008 in Finding Passion, No More Mondays with 26 Comments

The dictionary defines a “sluggard” as a habitually inactive or lazy person. Here’s an example. My wife Joanne is mentoring a young lady who just got out of prison. While incarcerated, a grandmother cared for her 4-yr-old daughter. This gal counted the days until she could be reunited with her precious little girl. Three weeks after she was released she was told that the father of the child wanted full custody. It seemed odd that he was unwilling to care for his child while the mother was in prison – and now he has a sudden desire to be the sole caretaker.  Read more »

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