- Owen Kosevich (2005 – )
American 6-year-old motivator

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Give more push…

Take action.

Make contact.
Ask the question.
Give the feedback (take the feedback).
Put it out there.
Go deeper.
Be real.

Don’t waste a moment going through the motions. (no gomos in 2-12, people who go through the motions)

You’re here to make good things happen for other people.

(tic toc)

"Look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter."

Paul Simon (1941 – )
American music artist

Printable WorkDays charts are here, wallpapers are here.
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1 minute from Owen who just learned how to ride a bike (inspired today’s quote).

50 seconds from Jessica on getting your mind right.

2 enthusiastic minutes of my boys getting lost in their work.

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- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
American poet

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Give more inspiration / example…

In 1899, in one hour after dinner, Elbert Hubbard wrote a 1500-word essay (10-minute read) titled "A Message to Garcia."

It’s one of our favorites.

A true story of initiative and responsibility, the piece went on to be printed more than 40 million times (it’s still well-known with the big dogs of business and required reading for Marine Corps recruits and Naval Academy students).

Read it online or download a free copy (share it with your team).

Got young kids? Download and read them the children’s version we created (Rowan to the Rescue).

(Here’s the recently produced PBS program on Hubbard. Chapter 8, Hubbard’s Rise, is the segment on the Garcia story.)
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Fourth quarter printable calendars are up here.

Did you catch Eric Thomas (the hip hop preacher) in last Wednesday’s quote? If not… On a well-earned break or outside the money hours, he might be just the guy to get you rolling (5-minute video). It’s meant for students but it’s reminded me to work hard and focus more than once.

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This is Eric Thomas speaking to a group of students at Michigan State University a few years ago. He calls himself the Hip Hop Preacher.

If you want more, his TGIM series on YouTube rolls. I like Episode 27 in particular – it’s kind of a 212 message (what’s 212?).

Got a favorite? Email us.

then from another…

and then from another…

What would the pictures of your work look like?

(Don’t be a Gomo. Make good things happen for other people.)

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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).

One of the big reasons we’re here is to make good things happen for other people.

It’s simple but for some strange reason, it’s not always easy.

Over the last decade, the Gallup organization has conducted surveys to determine how into our work we are (as you likely know, it’s referred to as ‘employee engagement’). The averages over the decade…

• 29 out of 100 of us are engaged (smovers)
• 54 of 100 are not engaged (gomos)
• 17 of 100 are actively disengaged (d-grunts)

This last group actually ‘works’ to make things worse. Can you imagine how horrible it must be for someone to feel compelled to invest their limited time and energy in tearing things and people down?

Most of us (if not all of us) have been Gomos and D-grunts at times but true D-grunts and Gomos stay there (complaining, watching the clock, entitled, not making good things happen for other people).

Here’s my proposal…

As Smovers and 212ers (aware and responsible), let’s be sure we do our best to lead by example. If we slip, let’s remember we’re obligated to bounce back (Smovish principle #9).

Then, let’s all commit to encouraging someone who’s on the fence between Smoving and being a Gomo (and remind them it’s much more fun on this side). Maybe, if we each have a small success, the example will awaken and encourage even the D-grunts to reconsider their ways. How amazing would that be?

How do you save a Gomo or D-grunt? I believe it begins by loving our people which as you might guess, isn’t all hugs, kisses, and rainbows. It’s about sweeping away the eggshells (theirs and ours) and going for truth.

For those who’ve not read my essay, Love Your People, you can find it here (a 5-minute read at most). We’ve published it in a cool little booklet format with questions and thoughts that can help you get closer to loving your people more consistently (kind of a work/play book).

My presentation of Cross the Line might also be a helpful tool for encouraging someone. You can watch that here.

Gallup’s “State of the American Workplace” can be found here.

No Gomos Printable

No D-Grunts Printable

Get a No Gomos wristband here

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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).

With everything, there’s a line.

On one side of the line is a greater chance to make good things happen (better results, better relationships, more responsibility). This is where you’ll find all those people you admire.

On the other side, there’s less of a chance.

And with each line, there’s a choice. You want to cross the line or you don’t. You want the better chance at making good things happen (meaningful things) or you settle with the lesser chance.

Your choice.

It seems simple but…

Then there’ll be those times – those times when in the short run it’ll seem like you can’t cross the line (no matter what you do). But then, those misses (those hurdles) in the short run will sometimes help you over the line in the long run (in a way you couldn’t have seen). They’ll serve as lessons, giving you more depth to your experience – making you stronger and better prepared for bigger and more important challenges you’ll face in the future.

But you won’t know that at the time.
At the time, you’ll just see that line.
And it might seem like a wall.
But it really is just a line (a line you want to cross).
And it’s yours to cross, but you have to decide (make that choice).

It seems simple but…

Then there’ll be those people – those people who’ve decided they’d rather not cross the line and would prefer you didn’t either (and unfortunately, sometimes those people might be your friends). Maybe they’ll sprinkle in a little doubt or withhold a little encouragement at just the right time (or even encourage you to do the wrong thing). Maybe they’ll be a little less subtle about it and just step directly in your way.

And then, every once in a while, there’ll be you – that inner voice that’ll try to tell you you’re not that special and that making something exceptional happen is for other people. (What are you thinking?)

Then there’ll be the work – the work that’ll be the real challenge that some people never face because of those times, those people, or that inner voice that keep us from putting in the effort and bouncing back when things get tough.

But there’s the line.
And it needs to be crossed.
And you can cross it.

It’s up to you.

(Which side will you choose?)

“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.”

Fridtjof Nansen
Norwegian explorer

The essay above and how to Cross The Line (Commit, Work Hard, Focus, Bounce Back) are available in the cool little booklet here. It also includes a coaching section of questions to help you Cross The Line more effectively (and some notes pages for your thoughts).

To learn more about how to use the Cross The Line message to support your company projects, goals, or upcoming meeting, visit this page.

Personal notes on Cross the Line

Watch & listen to the Sam’s Cross the Line™ presentation (4 minutes).

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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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).

Cross the Line™ is a trademark of Give More Media Inc.

Leaders: If you’d like to present this to your people, you can pick up a copy at http://www.GiveMore.com/cross.

We also have a version for school students (high and middle).

Know a student who could use the message? Send them to this version.

Get the Cross the Line™ Wristband

Principals and teachers: If you’d like to present this to your students, you can pick up a copy at http://www.GiveMore.com/cross.

We also have a version for companies/organizations (better for faculty & staff).

Get the Cross the Line™ Wristband

The concluding thought on sparks and presupposing is great.

Who could you encourage today?

Be a Smover.

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Get “Cross The Line” in a cool little booklet here.

Crossing the Line is a choice to commit… to care. It’s a vow to minimize going through the motions with your time (No D-grunts, No Gomos)… to expect and enjoy more from yourself.

To start, we need to ask ourselves why we’re doing what it is we’re doing in each role of our lives. From that, we can create our personal constitutions or ‘reason for being’ in each role (the French call it “raison d’être”). Then we choose to commit to our reasons for being by working hard, focusing, and bouncing back from the inevitable short-falls and misses.

Crossing the Line…

At work is a choice to commit to serving, encouraging, and supporting other people (comfortably and uncomfortably*) – customers and colleagues.

As a leader is a choice to commit to serving, developing, and inspiring other people (comfortably and uncomfortably*).

As a teammate (colleague) is a choice to commit to contributing your talents and strengths to a team and its objectives above anything else.

As a parent is a choice to commit to developing a child into a contributing and caring adult (one that can also Cross the Line).

As a spouse is a choice to commit to caring deeply for your partner – encouraging them, supporting them (comfortably and uncomfortably*), to give and to accept love (care).

As a friend is a choice to commit to another person in the give and take of enjoyment and care.

As a student is a choice to commit to learning in order to contribute more to the world and enjoy more from the world (and Cross the Line yourself).

As an athlete is a choice to commit to giving your best possible effort to the sport you play – to continual development, intensity, and perseverance.

On the field is a choice to commit to giving your best possible effort to the game at hand.

In the gym is a choice to commit to giving your best possible effort to each exercise you engage in (no going through the motions and never seeing a result).

With your faith is a choice to commit to living it completely (not selectively).

In truth is a choice to commit to complete honesty without omission, regardless of consequences (comfortably and uncomfortably*).

You Cross the Line to Be 212.
You Cross the Line to Be a Smover.
You Cross the Line to Be SalesTough.
You Cross the Line to Love Your People.

What does it mean to Cross the Line in your world? To what are you choosing to commit?

* Comfortably and uncomfortably: Comfortable is the easy and more enjoyable in the short run. Uncomfortable is the challenging and sometimes better approach in the long run (not necessarily always, though). Uncomfortable is illustrated in the video clip below.

Get “Cross The Line” in a cool little booklet here.

To learn more about how to use the Cross The Line message to support your company projects, goals, or upcoming meeting, visit this page.

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“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race” — the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.”

David Foster Wallace
American writer

from his commencement speech in 2005

“All right, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out in that gutter dying… and you had time to sing one song, huh? One song people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know what you felt about your time here on earth. One song that would sum you up… you telling me that’s the song you’d sing?

Or would you sing something different? Something real, something you felt?”

Sam Phillips talking to Johnny Cash from the film Walk the Line (2005)

The clip…

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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).

Cross the Line™ is a trademark of Give More Media Inc.