Consider carefully before you say a hard word to a man, but never let a chance to say a good one go by. Praise judiciously bestowed is money invested.
— George Horace Lorimer
I have yet to find a man, whatever his situation in life, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than he ever would do under a spirit of criticism.
— Charles M. Schwab
I woke up early this morning - early being 5:00 a.m. - to get some reading done that I had fallen behind on. Usually when I wake up that early I’m headed off to the gym for some basketball with the dawn patrol crew, but this morning was just to catch up. Unfortunately, I was a bit groggy as I rolled out of bed and habitually started preparing to play basketball. I’d gotten dressed, put my gym bag together, and was just about to put my shoes on when I realized, today is Thursday, not Friday!
I ended up getting some good reading done, and was grateful for the extra time today. Tomorrow will genuinely be a basketball morning, so I’ll repeat the drill but actually put on my shoes and head for the YMCA at 5:30. Amazing what a year out of college does to you - just last year I was up until 6 a.m. to wrap up a project. Now I’m getting up at dawn to read or play basketball!
Do the things that matter most to you. If you don’t love it, it’s not worth it.
— Don Rosensweig, COO, Yahoo.com
I attended the second session of the Dale Carnegie Course this evening. We spent much of the evening dialoging with the instructor and others as we learned about and put into practice methods to remember critical information.
At one point we paired up and shared a bit about ourselves. The guy I was sharing with kind of looked at me funny when I said I enjoyed basketball as a hobby. He said, “But white guys can’t jump, right?” To which I quickly responded, “Yeah, but I play big.” We had a good laugh over it. And if you know me, you know how I have a tendency to think I’m bigger on the court than I really am - so there’s some truth in that.
At the end we went around the room and each person had to share their name and a memorable picture with which to associate that name. After each person had shared their names and pictures, we numbered off and had to write down the name that went with each number. About four people got all of the names (36 people, first and last), and though I didn’t get the spelling right on a few names, I was in that four. Hopefully I can build on that and keep remembering names well as the weeks go on.
All in all I enjoyed the session, and I’m able to be more intentional now as I remember names.
I was selected to attend a course on Effective Communication Skills at Lockheed this week, and already have homework! The course is about 12 weeks long, and looks like it will cover three of Dale Carnegie’s books in that time. We meet once per week, and have opportunities to speak with one another and grow in our ability to communicate using the skills we learn from the course.
I think it will be a great course, and as with all things, I know have room to improve. I’ll keep you posted as the course goes along. Who knows maybe I’ll pass on few gems of wisdom I learn from the course.
We had our third ultrasound today. It was amazing how much bigger and developed the baby is now.
We could make out a ton of distinct details (I’ll post the video once I get it converted), but had a bit of trouble verifying that we’re having a boy. The angle of the baby wasn’t “optimal” for viewing. Poor guy was probably freaked out at us staring at him while he’s stark naked.
The last video was pretty obvious, but I’d like to see how things turn out once I digitize and edit this third one. Our doctor said he’ll do another ultrasound around 30-32 weeks (We’re at 24/25 right now), so we can be sure. Hopefully we’ll get a little more cooporation from the kid this time =)
We went to the MidState Fair in Paso Robles last night to see Toby Keith in concert. It was a great concert; Toby played most of his best songs and had the crowd cracking up with his wise-cracks.
My favorite of the night:
I see I came to the MidState Fair in Paso Robles on Redneck Night. We’re gonna play three redneck songs in a row for ya.
–Toby Keith
Only a star can insult the crowd and get them to cheer for it! Ha!
Anyway we had a great time, and I’d definitely see Toby play again.
