Lemons? Well then we will make Orange Juice!

Never in a million years would I have envisioned what transpired the last few days.

Our ideas have been validated and we are on a much more clearly defined path for 2011. It does take time and if you put in the effort, you definitely get the rewards.

Learn from your mistakes. Yes, I know, some I am still working on, but business mistakes or even accidents should turn into goldmines. Always look on the bright side of life.


Inspiration comes in many forms, and I know as an administrator it happens often when you least expect it. Can you just get inspired? Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Maybe you just need something or someone to help you, a muse, or a diversion. Watching the movie of A Few Good Men last night and Tom Cruise, as Kaffee, talking to Demi Moore as Galloway and Kevin Pollak as Weinberg says:

Lt. Weinberg: That's the plan?
Kaffee: That's the plan.
Lt. Weinberg: And how are you going to that?
Kaffee: I have no idea. I need my bat.
Lt. Weinberg: What?
Kaffee: I need my bat. I think better with my bat. Where's my bat?
Galloway: I put it in the closet.
Kaffee: You put it in the closet?
Galloway: Well, I was tripping over it.
Kaffee: Don't ever put that bat in the closet.

He needs the bat to help him think. He got it and knew how to get his mind working.

For years I kept a yo-yo in my desk at whatever office I was in and could be seen wandering around a building or campus playing with it and it helped me solve many problems. Needless to say it also left a number of puzzled faces around Burger King, IBM and Citibank especially. Although it never bothered the Broadway theater staff where I worked earlier in my career.

What is your bat or yo-yo? Hopefully you know.

For if we do not step away from the computer or work or whatever it is that engulfs us, how can we lead or be inspired to lead others? I don't want my kids, or employees, thinking that the answer or idea is online or found by working harder. It isn't.

Although my wife will argue with me about having it, I do need the pinball machine to help me think sometimes. I should probably move it to the office but then the kids would be upset. Many of you probably play on your Wii or whatever devices.But I digress.

When I picked logo colors for my business logos over the years I always come back to the same ones. Orange and green usually. Squidoo had this to say about the colors:

How the color orange affects us mentally and physically
* Stimulates activity
* Stimulates appetite
* Encourages socialization

How the color green affects us physically and mentally
* Soothing
* Relaxing mentally as well as physically
* Helps alleviate depression, nervousness and anxiety
* Offers a sense of renewal, self-control and harmony

They also happen to be the team colors of my favorite NFL(Miami Dolphins) and college football(The U otherwise known as the University of Miami) teams.

And so it is when I look at the logo or my business card or when clients see it.

Right now, thanks to a discussion I had earlier(Thanks John V.!) I also want to write some more, not just technical articles but other formats.

So next time life or work get you down, don't try to make the best of it, alter it entirely. Change your viewpoint, perhaps radically, and others will take notice as well.