Flying Solo

I learned to fly an airplane in August of 1992.

It was a Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

A college graduation gift.

The real gift; however, wasn't the flying lessons.

The real gift was the CONFIDENCE I GAINED from the flying lessons.

Especially the confidence I gained from that first experience flying SOLO.

Just me and the plane.

Soon after that experience, I discovered the confidence to "fly solo" in other endeavors.

Running a marathon.

Starting a business.

Managing a department.

Becoming a parent.

I discovered that success in ONE area, fostered success in OTHER areas.

So...

On the days we feel our confidence sagging...

Perhaps the cure for waning confidence isn't doing LESS to build ourselves back up.

But doing MORE.

And then DOING it.

Flying solo.

Signing up for that 10k race with your son that you think is way to far--for YOU.

Or teaching that business class at the community college even though you think you have nothing to share.

Or taking that leadership role at church or the school PTA--even though you don't feel like a leader.

Taking a chance on yourself.

Flying solo.

And being amazed at how far you can fly.

AMJ

A Lot of Lousy Paintings

I teach a beginning oil painting class on Monday evenings.

I tell my students what my painting instructor told me when I began painting:

Relax.

You have to paint a lot of LOUSY paintings before you can paint that GREAT painting.

The great painting destination you will consider MASTERY.

That great masterpiece that you will paint one year from now will only happen....well...one year from now.

I have found this simple but important axiom to apply to nearly every endeavor.

After crossing the finish line of my first sub-four-hour marathon this past October, I recalled the many LOUSY marathons I ran where every mile was a pride-swallowing grind due to amateur training mistakes. Mistakes like carbo-loading on spicy food the night before a race and washing it down with a milkshake for "protein."

LOUSY idea.

LOUSY race.

But it took those LOUSY races to get to the VICTORY race.

The race called MASTERY.

And such it is with any endeavor.

It takes a lot of lousy songs to get to that great song.

It takes a lot of lousy poems to get to that great poem.

It takes a lot of lousy golf games to arrive at that perfect swing.

So if you find yourself in the middle of "Lousy-ville" right now on your way to your destination, I say take heart.

And know that the state of "Lousy-ville" is only a TEMPORARY stop.

Because that awesome destination called MASTERY is just down the road.

It's just a few paintings away.

AMJ

It Doesn't Matter That You Can Calculate Depreciation

Every semester, my Accounting students ask me what specific Accounting skills offer the best job prospects.

I tell them the skills employers REALLY NEED have NOTHING to do with Accounting.

I tell them that in my experience--as a former accountant--the best jobs go to the people who are really good at the following:

Finding great people.
This means having the humility to decide to surround yourself with people who are smarter and more experienced than you.  This decision, ironically, makes you smarter.

LEADING great people.  Not MANAGING great people.  A monkey can boss people  around.  Only a LEADER can inspire the group to follow him / her and help the team discover strengths and talents they didn't know they possessed.

Managing Projects. 
This means taking a room full of people from different departments and organizations  (i.e. people you have no authority to FIRE) and getting them to work together and complete a project that is  a)  on time and    b) on budget

Speaking with Passion
This means having the guts to look your boss in the eye and ALWAYS tell him or her the absolute truth --no matter how scary and unpopular the truth may be--and offer an honest and insightful recommendation. 

So here is the deal:

Learning to calculate depreciation is an important skill.

Learning to amortize a bond premium is an important skill.

Learning to produce a statement of cash flows is an important skill.

But these are skills that are not unique.

Which means they lack value.

On the other hand...

Finding great people.

Leading great people.

Managing big projects.

And speaking with passion.

Are absolutely unique skills.

And are skills that many are AFRAID to develop.

But they are the skills that are FAR more valuable to a company and shareholder value than contemplating the FIFO vs. LIFO inventory valuation methods.

So next semester, please, go ahead and purchase that textbook for Intermediate Accounting to advance your academic growth.

But let me encourage you to also develop the skills that will REALLY make a difference.

A difference to you subordinates, your peers and your future boss.

The skills that can't be found in the chapter discussing depreciation.

AMJ

Eating the Elephant

The Ironman Triathlon is one of the most daunting athletic challenges on the planet.

It begins with a 2.4 mile swim in the ocean, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and finishing with a 26.2 mile marathon---all in one day!

I read how many of the professionals that prepare for the big day utilize a training strategy called "mental chunking."  Instead of looking at the race as a threatening 140 mile event, they break the race into smaller events---perhaps into multiple 5 mile events.  This provides the athlete with a much needed MENTAL advantage as a 5 mile race is much easier to wrap one's mind around and far less threatening than a 140 mile race.

Now notice:  using the mental chunking approach doesn't change the race--it is still a whopping 140 mile long day--it simply changes the way the athlete LOOKS at the race.

Which in turn impacts how the athlete PERFORMS in the race.

The mental chunking approach is akin to the cliche question:  how do you eat an elephant?  Answer:  one bite at a time.

I have found this mental strategy to be extremely effective--on the track and in life.

A 16-week semester filled with a teaching overload, department head duties, all coupled with kid's sports and homework and an endless to-do list of other family obligations can at times look overwhelming---even impossible--- when viewed as a whole.

But I have found that taking the giant elephant of obligations called "life" and breaking it into small pieces, pieces that can be managed, one bite at a time, one week at a time, seems to make the impossible---possible.

And not let the big elephant, seem so big.

AMJ

Only 100%

Steve Prefontaine (known as "Pre") was one of the greatest middle and long distance runners in American history.  He held the title in the 2,000 meter to 10,000 meter track events.  He was expected to win gold in the Montreal Olympics in 1976 but tragically died in an auto accident in 1975.

Although he died at the young age of 24, his legacy on and OFF the track inspires today.

Pre not only inspired people by his PERFORMANCE  on the track.  But by his PASSION on the track. 

It wasn't just WHAT he did.  But THE WAY THAT HE DID IT that inspired others.

He was known for his unorthodox racing tactic of "front-running." A gutsy method that meant he gave 100% effort for 100% of the race--a tactic that was contrary to the traditional racing method of holding back until the last lap, and then leapfrogging the opponents to the finish line.

He felt this traditional approach to racing was dishonest.

He believed that anything less than 100% effort--at any time-- was unacceptable.    Pre once said::

"I don't want to win unless I know I've done my best, and the only way I know how to do that is to run out front, flat out until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken-shit."

I think Steve Prefontaine's approach to racing not only inspires us.  But more importantly, CHALLENGES us.

Challenges us to look within and ask what our life's work is.  Our mission.  Our source of passion.

So here is our challenge.  Our opportunity.  We can:

1.  Find work that that gives us PASSION.

OR

2.  Find PASSION in the work that we do.


If Pre were alive he would tell us to find our gift.  Our life's work.  And do it at 100% effort.  

For as he said:  "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."  

AMJ 

Simple vs. Easy

SIMPLE solutions are often not EASY.

Losing weight is simple:  eat less, exercise more.  Sounds easy.

But go into any bookstore or local library and you will find entire sections dedicated to the endeavor of dieting.  Diets that promise thinner waistlines by partaking of fare like seaweed soup or tofu burgers.

Next to the diet section is the fitness section where one can find over one hundred titles on RUNNING.  Yes, running.  How to run faster, farther, with shoes, without shoes...

I suspect there will be a section dedicated to breathing soon...

When you get home from the bookstore, flip on the tube after midnight and see how fast late-night comedies segue into a barrage of exercise infomercials.  Infomercials touting triple-dog-dare-power-yoga or getting mega-ripped abs while sleeping. All for three easy payments of $39.95.
  
Saving money for retirement is also simple:  spend less, save more.  Sounds pretty easy.

But after perusing the diet section, walk over to the personal finance section.  You'll find a plethora of "investment" advice.  Advice that includes enticing opportunities like "executive income while working from home," "real estate investing with no money down."  For the pessimist investor there is advice a plenty on ways to prepare for the coming apocalypse by parking one's nest egg into gold, freeze-dried food, guns and ammo!

How did we get here?

I have a theory.

Exercising, dieting, saving for retirement...raising good kids--anything worthwhile in other words--takes discipline, consistency and hard work.

And it's THOSE THREE WORDS (i.e. virtues)  that take the easy out of simple.

It is the LACK of those three virtues why we have stores dedicated to providing slick covered books, videos, powders and pills to prop up our sagging dedication and discipline when things don't feel quite so...well...easy.

Training for a marathon (26.2 miles) is pretty straightforward: run 4-5 days per week for 18 weeks while slowly increasing the mileage.

Simple.

Disciplining oneself to CONSISTENTLY run 4-5 days per week for 18 weeks--even in bad weather.  Well...not so easy.

So here is my idea:

Instead of zipping to the nearest running store and grabbing every running book, running video, and a stash of bars, gels, and gu's--along with a heart-rate monitor and any other electronic gadget one can velcro to one's body to fool us into believing that training is easy... 

Why don't we just recognize that most of the things that we seek to grow in our life that are worth growing--our health, our finances, our families--are pretty simple to grow.

But come at a cost.

But often NOT paid in money.

Or gadgets, or books, or videos.

But instead, are often paid in large denominations of the virtues discipline, consistency and hard work.

Three virtues that are simple.

Very simple.

But not easy.

AMJ

From the Heart

I recently found an old John Denver album in my basement.

It was a 1975 live recording of a performance at Red Rocks ampitheater in Colorado when his career was beginning to blossom.

I know, I know.  I'm a geek. 

But as I listened to the four-decade old recording, I couldn't help but be impressed.  Impressed by the emotion in his music. Every lyric in every song felt authentic.

From the heart.

I doubt John Denver ever began writing a song with a focus group.  Or by hiring a team of consultants from McKinsey and Company on how he could best "leverage his synergies" to "maximize market share" to "enhance stockholder value."

I suspect John Denver first and foremost wrote songs to create great work.  Work that was bigger than him. Work that would endure beyond his life.

Work from the heart.

I suspect that even those who dislike his music would concede the authenticity in his music.  And that he succeeded in creating work that endures.

I have no musical talent.  But I hope that in some way I can create work that conveys the passion that people feel in John Denver's music.

Work from the heart.

I sometimes wonder if college business schools have it wrong.

Business schools teach students to earn a profit by identifying a need then creating a product to meet the need.

But it seems like the truly great entrepreneurs, artists, writers, athletes, and musicians do it the other way around:  They create great work, and THEN find the need.

The iPod, The Grapes of Wrath, It's a Wonderful Life....even the yellow "sticky-note" were all created BEFORE we knew we needed these items.

Perhaps college business schools and should look to children--that's right CHILDREN--in teaching entrepreneurship.

Why are we always attracted to a child's artwork?

Because we know it is made from love.

It is authentic.

It is from the heart.

What if more companies made and sold products this way?

So how about this for an idea:

Instead of asking,  "what SHOULD I do with my life?"  Perhaps the better question is "what is it that I HAVE to do with my life?"  

The work that I MUST do. 

The work that is authentic.

And from the heart.

AMJ