February 2008

I’m sure you’ve come across my newest pet peeve yourself.  Probably more than once.

I honestly don’t have many pet peeves, but the few that I have belong in some sort of peeve hall of fame…or would that be hall of shame?

The newest entry is this:  It peeves me when a businessman or businesswoman simply becomes a busy-man or busy-woman, to the point of being too busy for their customers or clients.  Instead of serving the people who got them to where they are, they’re too busy going after new people - bigger and so-called better things.

If your business is “blowing up,” so to speak, the people with the cash are the dynamite.  Your customers or clients got you there - you didn’t wake up one day and arrive there all by yourself.  You can, however, wake up one day and find that it all came to an end.

People who are in business for themselves are especially bad at forgetting this simple fact.   All they can think of is growing their business by coming up with new products, new software, new this, new that.  They often leave you with the impression that you’re no longer important to them, as though you’re “so yesterday.” 

Not cool.

I’ve noticed it online a lot lately.  Frankly, I think that if an individual ever tells a customer or potential customer that they’re too busy to take care of something, the customer should say, “Wow, I’m really sorry that my money and I bothered you.  We’ll go bother someone else now.  And, don’t worry, I’ll tell everyone I know to do the same. Have a great day.”

I can’t even imagine telling someone who had respected me enough to use my product or service that I was “too busy” for them.  If you’re that swamped, why not say, “I really want to help you, and I promise I will. I have 100 pots on a 4 burner stove right now, so I can’t promise that I’ll be able to help you as soon as I’d prefer to, but know that you are a priority.  I will take care of this as soon as possible.  Thanks so much for understanding!”

Yet, what do you get from most of these people?  “I’m just too busy.”

Again, not cool.

These are generally the same people who think they’re waaaay above answering the telephone.  You leave a message for them and they never return it. You call again.  Nothing.  Whatever happened to treating people with respect? Your reputation is riding on it.

I guess it’s something we all need to be more mindful of.  Whether we’re running our own business or running a household (or both).  We should treat everyone around us with the respect they deserve.  If someone does something for us and we neglect to say, “Thank you!” - we disrespected them. 

If we aren’t willing to put ourselves out for other people, why should they ever put themselves out for us?  It’s possible…it’s just possible…that we’re becomming far too “me” oriented.  Looking out for number 1 will leave you as alone as the number 1. 

Very not cool.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m afraid that we’re getting to the point where we just kind of skim over food recommendations.  I mean, we’ve seen the information so much we could probably write our own health journal.  But, left unsued, the information won’t do us a bit of good.  We have to actively implement healthy eating and living into our daily routines.  Salads and vegetables instead of burgers and fries, green tea instead of coke, fresh fruit instead of ice cream.

The beauty of it is once you start eating better, you start feeling better.  Instantly. But the minute you creep back into the fast food joints and start tossing down the fat, the carbs, and the salt - your engine starts getting all bogged down and sluggish again.

A question, why do we ever go back?  Do you think it’s Habit?  Do our bodies start to literally crave what they’re accustomed to?   I mean, it’s not for taste, obviously.  A vegetable plate at Cracker Barrel or a delicious sub (like the seafood one!) from Subway wins out over a burger and fries any day.

At any rate, according to Everyday Health, the following groups of food can help to control and even reduce high blood pressure.  They can also help to keep you out of the doctor’s office in the first place.

Foods high in potassium: Bananas, citrus fruit, dried apricots, fish (especially salmon, flounder, and tuna), green leafy vegetables, legumes, melons, potato skins, poultry, raisins, tomatoes, whole-grain cereals, yogurt

Foods high in calcium: Blackstrap molasses, broccoli, canned sardines and salmon (with bones), dairy products (milk, cheese, and yogurt), kale, tofu

Foods high in fiber: Apples, barley, brown rice, corn, legumes, nuts, potatoes with skin, prunes, whole-grain cereal and bread, yams

Foods high in magnesium: Fish, green leafy vegetables, legumes, meat, nuts, poultry, whole grains

Can you believe we’re already into the second month of 2008?  All those things you’ve heard about time are true - it waits for no man, it marches on, and there’s never enough of it.  February really snuck up on me this year.

Have you gotten your New Year’s Resolutions out and scoured over them yet?  I got mine out and put them under the spotlight last night.  I got a pen and divided a sheet of paper in two (yes, Michael dearest, a piece of your cherished printer paper…drives him nuts when I use his printer paper to write on).  On one side I wrote “Things I’m Doing Right” and on the other, “Things I’m Doing Wrong.”  The two sides and I spent about 30 minutes together over a glass of green tea.

See if you recognize yourself in my reflection.

I started off like a rocket - I’d say that for the first two, possibly even three, weeks of the year, I was a machine!  I walked every day, red meat and fried foods were just a memory, I was on schedule with all of my online work, I got a lot of things organized and accomplished…..  I was on top of my game, man.  Then, by the time the end of the month rolled around, well….not so much.

It all comes down to one word, I think:   F - O -  C - U - S.  During the first days of the new year (weeks if we really put forth the effort) we are so honed in and so focused on the changes we want to make.  Because of this steely focus, we’re more aware of the lines we’re trying to stay within.  When we lose that focus, the lines aren’t so clear.  They become faded and gapped.  After a while, we’re outside of lines we forgot even existed!

The good news is that lines can be reinstated, focus can be reestablished, and the whole honing in thing can be revisited  Thank God for the prefix re-, right?  That’s why frequent little self checkups are so important.  If we catch what we’re doing wrong early enough, we can get right back on track.  It’s also good to see what we’re doing right, of course, because a little encouragement goes a long way. 

If you suspect that you have a few “wrongs,” don’t fret….fix.   

When I was a teenager, I played in a softball league. Whenever we took the field, we’d always warm our arms up before the batter stepped to the plate.  The throws to first didn’t count - they were just there to serve as warmups.  It allowed us to work out kinks, get our confidence up, show off for the boys at the fence…that sort of thing. 

Think of setbacks as warm-ups.  They point out where you need to aim next time.  Learn from them, then move forward with even more determination.  Your goals won’t know what hit them.

This is cool!  Remember my post about Mystermoney?  It’s a very, very, very good e-book that I recommend highly. 

The author, Rich Ezzo, has waxed brilliant.  Again.

He’s currently collecting quotes and is looking for contributors.  But before you start reciting your favorite Mark Twain or Maya Angelou quotes, there’s a really fun twist you should know about. 

Rich wants YOUR words, not THEIR’S!

If your brain cells are up for the challenge…and I believe they are…. see The Best New Quotes of All Time for more information.