- Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
English writer

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Give more truth…

If you’re not getting push back from time-to-time (or conversations aren’t occasionally uncomfortable), you may not be getting the full truth. And without the full truth, your choices and actions might take you in the wrong direction.

Make sure you do your best to objectively dig for truth (rather than hope or wish something to be. Ask that second and third question.)

We call it "wishing it in" at Give More. If you play tennis, you get it. In a match, if your opponent hits a ball that you’ll have to run hard to get, you might be lazy and "wish it out" instead of pushing it. Avoid "wishing in" a new hire (here’s an idea on this one), a partnership, or project. Go for objective truth.

Speaking of truth… Do you know the fable The Emperor’s New Clothes? I always thought I did but it really goes much further than I knew (10-minute read, tops).

It’s about truth, conviction, and being valuable.

Read with an English accent (which apparently can sound very different depending upon which part of England you’re from) and a bit of actor’s energy, you might find yourself laughing out loud with pity as you recognize the similarities to some of our organizational experiences today.

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- George Cecil (1891–1970)
American advertising copywriter

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Give more risk…

Comfort. Risk. Both are enjoyable.

One we strive to create. One we try to minimize.

One can make us lazy. One can make us stronger.

When did you last risk failure? When did you last leave your comfort zone?

212 challenge… Step out of your comfort zone once more each week and create over 50 additional opportunities for excitement, challenge and possibility each year. This is what life’s about.

It’s been said that youth is wasted on the young. By taking risks, we assure life isn’t wasted on the living.

212 commitment… Risk. Attempt. Fail. Succeed. Once more each week.

(from the book, 212° the extra degree® – what’s 212?)
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Q1 printable GiveMore calendars for Two-Twelve (one less syllable… and a year long reminder to give it that extra degree of effort).

Area code and state abbreviation charts are here.
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Today’s quotation is from a correspondence school advertisement in 1921. George Cecil was writing as William Lawrence.

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- Lance Armstrong (1971 – )
American cyclist
7-time Tour de France champion

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Give more challenge…

Too many people are losing productivity on a particular day of the week because of a Flintstone-like mentality perpetuated by sitcoms and morning radio personalities. (Search Twitter for the word "Mondays" today for proof.)

It’s getting to the point where Tuesdays are the new week. (Wednesday is hump day, Thursdays are almost Fridays, Fridays are practically the weekend and Mondays… They’re for ramping up.)

It’s time for a little LUKSA (it’s Polish for "let us kick some @$$"… not really… just an acronym we made up).

Could you help inspire a "let’s kick some @$$" Monday morning start to the week? Could you spark a little positive revolution and help someone break out of the TGIF mentality (or yourself if it applies)?

Wouldn’t both be more fun (and profitable)? How about just starting it at home?

Get a LUKSA printable reminder here.
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1 minute from Nike to get you revved up. I watch this at least once every couple of weeks. I love how it builds and then pops at 0.38. Sick good. (That’s really really good.)

If you know a teenager who wants to care, pass it along. I shared it a few weeks ago at talk with some high school students and it seemed to connect nicely.
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In case we missed you last week… Here are our results to our "What’s the worst thing about meetings?" survey (and the solutions – whether you’re leading it or attending it).

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- Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915)
American publisher and writer

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Give more thought…

You can draw value from a naysayer or cynic by remaining objective and positive in your thinking (yes, it can be tough).

Occasionally, they’ll point out valid hurdles or challenges you haven’t seen (even if they present it like an @ss). With their help, if you can remain objective/detached (and keep your ego in check), you’ll have a better chance of getting something valuable from the interaction.

Stay objective. Be no ego. Get value. (Seriously)

(5 ways to get your ego out of the way)
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Today’s quote is by Elbert Hubbard who wrote A Message to Garcia (1500-word classic on Initiative and Responsibility). Do you have your free downloadable copy? It’s one of our favorites. We’ve even created a fun version for kids.

(No Gomo printable reminders are here.)

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- Hillel (30B.C.–10A.D.)
Babylonian scholar

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Give more time…

Today is 20% of your week.

Two workdays are 10% of your month.

To lose only two workdays each month to fatigue or a desire to wait for a better day to do something, would be to lose more than a full month of workdays each year.

Imagine if your income reflected your slow days… and know that in the long run, it probably does.

47 workdays remain in the quarter. Tic toc.

(Who should you remind? Get your printable work days for 2012.)
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What if you checked email only 3 times a day?

Since November 2010, we’ve been doing this as a team at GiveMore to see if it helps us.

Here’s what we’ve learned.
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Today is one month out from Christmas day.

In the GiveMore quote we published on the day after Christmas, I highlighted some history of the day and suggested that the date itself was arbitrary and that we should carry the holiday’s spirit every day. A few subscribers were a bit annoyed with some of what I said (the original "Merry Today" post is here).

I just came across another piece written about a 100 years ago by a preacher that says what I was trying to say, but so much better. It’s called "Keeping Christmas" – something I plan to remind myself with on a weekly basis (about a 3-minute read). I hope you enjoy it.

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I’ve been thinking about the business of Christmas… Why we celebrate it and where it came from.

I was pretty surprised (as I’m confident you might be).

Please understand, I’m not kidding…

It looks as if the early Christian church was looking for a way to compete with the pagan celebration of Saturnalia – a week-long festival that honored the god of agriculture, Saturn. Apparently, during Saturnalia (are you laughing at this word yet?) there was also a group of Romans who celebrated the birth of a sun god named Mithra (who was born from a rock).

Mithra’s birthday was December 25.

So… Bottom line… A fourth century Pope took over 12.25 and set it as the day the Christian church would celebrate the birth of Jesus (a day that wasn’t celebrated until that point). History.com has it laid out nicely
with this video.

Now… I bring this to our attention because I’m not a fan of going through the motions (no gomos, right? – people who go through the motions) as I’m sure you’re not.

I believe our focus every day should be on loving our people (our families, our friends, our colleagues, our customers). But what exactly does that mean?

• It means we need to give ourselves to the people around us more (giving them our attention and care).
• It means we need to help end someone’s suffering when we can (and then look for more opportunities).
• It means we need to be kind, compassionate, and patient.
• It means we need to be truthful, forgiving, and humble.
• It means we need to enjoy the hospitality and gifts of others.
• It means we need to be thankful.
• It means we need to connect (really).
• It means we need to be attentive and engaged with our work (to how we contribute).

To me… all of these holidays we celebrate allow us to more often compartmentalize our gratitude and care rather than encourage it to be a part of our daily lives (missing out on a daily celebration that might otherwise exist).

At Christmastime, we embrace getting together more and giving gifts to each other (things) yet at the same time complain about the busyness (and business) behind it all, changing nothing year after year. (“Let’s get together after the holidays when everything settles down.”) Then we go into a New Year, pausing and reflecting at certain points over certain things dictated by our federal holiday calendars and those of our chosen faiths (and remember, a belief that there isn’t a god is also a faith).

But in our day-to-day (the bulk of our time here) opportunities for care (love), will we be awake enough not to go through the motions and make a positive difference to others whenever (wherever) we can… despite the particular day?

Can we remember (more often) that we’re here for each other – that that good feeling we get more often around our winter holiday of choice comes from a love that we can (and should) have every day?

“But then it won’t be special.” (special (adj.): being other than the usual)

Wouldn’t that be great?

12.25 is arbitrary. Merry Today.

(Valentine’s Day? You can’t handle the truth.)

UPDATE: I found this piece by Henry Van Dyke that says it so much better… Keeping Christmas.

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Copyright © 2010 by Give More Media Inc. This was written by Sam Parker. If you’d like to tell people about it somewhere (e.g., blog, newsletter, Facebook, social media), please reference Sam Parker of GiveMore.com as the author and link directly to the article. Excerpts are great but please don’t publish the article in its entirety without advanced written permission (email Sam using the address at the bottom of this page).

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when people agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you?

To ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-people are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness – are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old?

To stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a greave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for kindly feelings, with the gate open – are you willing to do these things even for a day?

Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world?

Stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death – and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?

Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

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This article was originally published in 1905 by Charles Scribener’s Sons. We revised a couple of words from men to people and the Bethlehem time reference from nineteen hundred years to two thousand years. We also broke up the paragraphs a bit differently.

What a great weekly read this is.

“People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”

- Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
English critic and poet

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- Chinese proverb

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Give more reminder…

For those who depend on customers, clients, or patients…

Remember… It took a lot to bring those people in. Make sure you keep them by continually radiating a service culture internally. When you see an opportunity, seize it (for the good of everyone).

Through your interactions with other departments, help and encourage each other to embrace the fact that it’s the customer/ client/ patient who keeps the lights on (metaphorically and literally). Don’t encourage, condone, or contribute to negative discussions about them. Focus instead on how your organization helps people solve their challenges and/ or improve their business or personal lives.

This is what keeps the lights burning bright (and you shining bright).

(smile & move)
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To help you kick off the day… A beautifully shot and scored video of New York (5 minutes). I’ve found it puts me in a great state of mind to make good things happen. (Thanks to Mark Hurst for tipping us off. Surround yourself with good people, you’ll learn about good things.)

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- Isabel Allende (1942 – )
Chilean-American novelist

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Give more investment…

Moving forward (now), make a conscious choice to flip that internal switch and focus on giving more for the dollars you earn (with your effort, with your product/ service) and you’ll find more will come your way. It may not always happen as quickly as you’d like, but it’s the better bet in the long run.

(pace your expectations… give more… enjoy more)
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When I think about today’s quote, it reminds me of Jon Stewart’s introduction of Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors program a couple years ago…

"Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen do anything, he empties the tank… every time. And the beautiful thing about this man is he empties that tank for his family, he empties that tank for his art, he empties that tank for his audience, and he empties it for his country. And we, on the receiving end of that beautiful gift are ourselves rejuvenated, if not redeemed."

That "every time" is what gets me.

Most of us don’t get the opportunity to empty the tank in such a cool way as Springsteen, but we can work to empty the tank and be rock stars in our own worlds.

As a subscriber to GiveMore, you’re obligated to empty the tank (No Gomos*).

Over the weekend or during a well-earned break, you can enjoy Jon Stewart’s hilarious and moving introduction to Springsteen here (9.5 minutes).

*Gomo: Someone who goes through the motions. The Gallup poll people tell us 54% of us are in this category (they corporate speak it using the term… disengaged). Get a No Gomo wristband here. Get a No Gomo or No D-grunt printable reminder here.

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- Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
Danish philosopher and writer

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Give more concept…

Sometimes, if we don’t have success after repeated attempts to do something, we can lose confidence and eventually give up trying. It’s called "learned helplessness" (we learn to be helpless).

Give more check: Any areas where you and your team have stopped trying (or try, but with little commitment) because prior repeated failures and/ or a perceived inability to succeed has trained you not to try? With customer care improvement initiatives? In motivating and improving team attitudes and cooperation?

If so, what can you start doing today to minimize any "learned helplessness" that may have set in? (Maybe have a Cross The Line discussion.)

To see (6-minute video) an interesting take on the concept from a class at Penn State Erie and to learn a little more about the person behind it…
click here.
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If you’ve not seen it or need a reminder to dump your excuses, here’s
1 minute from Nike.

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