by Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen, and Holger Spamann, for The Harvard Law School Forum at Harvard Law School, December 7, 2009.

(Editor’s Note: This post is based on an op-ed article from the print edition of today’s Financial Times by Lucian Bebchuk, Alma Cohen, and Holger Spamann. The op-ed article is based on their study, “The Wages of Failure: Executive pay at Bear Stearns and Lehman 2000-2008,” which is available here. Although Lucian Bebchuk is a consultant to the US Treasury’s office of the special master for TARP executive compensation, the views expressed in the post should not be attributed to that office.)

According to the standard narrative, the meltdown of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers largely wiped out the wealth of their top executives. Many – in the media, academia and the financial sector – have used this account to dismiss the view that pay structures caused excessive risk-taking and that reforming such structures is important. That standard narrative, however, turns out to be incorrect.

It is true that the top executives at both banks suffered significant losses on shares they held when their companies collapsed. But our analysis, using data from Securities and Exchange Commission filings, shows the banks’ top five executives had cashed out such large amounts since the beginning of this decade that, even after the losses, their net pay-offs during this period were substantially positive…(continue reading)

I have spent the last three days engrossed in an amazing book that chronicles one man’s journey of making a difference in our world. The book follows the life and career of Jonas Salk, a man of great intrigue and genius. Early in the writing Salk is quoted for saying:

“Risks always have a pay off. No matter how they work out, they teach you either what to do or what not to do.”

Salk’s life was mainly in a lab creating and testing vaccines to fight the flu and polio. The more I read the more my definition of  ’risk taking’ is being torn apart. I have always thought that to take a risk was like making a grand gesture or huge leap of faith – which it can be. What I had failed to realize is that it is also about learning without limits, persevering through storms and even enduring countless failures. Sometimes taking a risk means choosing to stay verses go, to maintain verses change and to stop verses move forward.

This ever widening perspective about risk taking has challenged me to look at my life and my hearts desires. To consider the motives and agendas behind decisions I have made and plans I am creating for the future. Am I a risk taker? Yes. Am I willing to fail? Yes. Can I endure loss and uncertainty? So far. Must I know the end picture? Nope!

The challenge for you is to consider whether or not you are a risk taker. Consider all definitions and look back on your experiences – you might be pleasantly surprised with what is revealed.

Forever Forward,
jess

Marelisa at Abundance Blog has a fantastic post about a Stanford professor, who challenged her business school students to raise as much money as possible with $5 in ’seed money’ and 2 hours of time.  All groups were to prepare a one page Power Point slide and a 3 minute talk to share their findings with the class.

What could you do?

Hint!  The most successful groups ignored the apparent limitation posed by the $5 – and didn’t use the seed money at all

Hint!  The top group ignored the apparent limitations posed by the $5 and the 2 hours – and focused on the value of the 3 min. presentation

Amazing results followed.

The post and the video of Professor Seelig’s wrap-up are worth a quick look: go check them out here.

Questions for you:

• Are you letting the obstacles or limitations sitting right in front of your nose get in the way of seeing the possibilities just beyond?
• Can you look at a current problem in a different way – sideways, upside down, from the perspective of an entrepreneur or a business person or an artist or a tiger tamer – and come up with a completely different approach?
• If the limitations that get in the way of finding or pursuing your calling were eliminated – what could you do?  What’s stopping you?  Is it REALLY stopping you??
• What opportunities are out there that you’re ignoring?
• What ASSUMPTIONS are you making about your situation?

Consider taking one step:  Identify your blocks or obstacles – and then, ask yourself, are they really preventing me from doing what I need to do?

Are you spending a lot of time planning your NEXT GREAT THING?  Stop planning!  Get out there and experiment! Try it – a little bit at a time.  One of the best lessons from the class (for me) was that one group learned during the 2 hour period, while they were executing their plan – and their iterative learning netted them more money than simply following their original plan.  But this could only happen while DOING – could not have been predicted while planning.  So – TRY!  DO!  EXPERIMENT!  What’s the worst that could happen?

And please share your comments and feedback – I’d love to hear them!

As always, if you liked this post, please consider sharing with a friend:

I often see people drive in such a manner I just have one question to ask; why? Have you ever thought why drivers drive like they do? Instead of us wondering why they drive that way, I think it may be better if they ask themselves that very question.

There have been a lot of drivers in a hurry lately; why? If they thought things through, they would realize that poor weather slows down the traffic. For this reason they need to leave earlier in the mornings and expect delays. Leaving early would give them more time to get to their destinations and allow them to feel less stressed about this delay.

One of the things that drives me crazy are tailgaters. They follow so close at freeway speeds that I often can’t see their headlights through my rear view mirror. I can only ask; why? These drivers need to realize that they can only drive as fast as the traffic in front of them. Driving so close like that puts their vehicle at risk of major damage if someone has to stop quickly. It puts them and their passengers at risk of major of personal injury and it puts all drivers and passengers in the vehicles in front and behind them at the same risks. It’s time for those drivers to smarten up.

Since I’m now going to the mall more often these days to do my shopping, I often see drivers drive into the first parking space and stop; even though the space directly ahead of them is open. Why? Wouldn’t it make sense to drive through the first space and then into the next space so they can drive out to leave? This would allow the driver to avoid backing. I look at a national company’s incident reports and analyze them to find out how they can reduce their claims and costs. Roughly 20% of their incidents are backing out of a parking space. This can easily be fixed if they just asked why.

Seatbelt laws have been around every jurisdictions for many years now, but I still see far too many drivers and passengers not wear their seatbelts regularly; why? Do they not understand inertia? Do they not realize that they can’t stop their forward motion by putting their arms out to protect them? Airbags alone will not protect them from all types of crashes. These people need a reality check, but I hope it won’t be such a check that can ruin their lives. Seatbelts keep the occupant in a seated position to reduce most injuries from a sudden swerve or stop; not just a collision.

So, the next time you look at another driver and ask why they’re doing something dangerous or careless, think of what you do and ask yourself the same question. Maybe this will give you the answer.

Alan really pushed me to the limit this week.  Monday and Thursday we did cardio intervals for around 25 minutes, plus 40 minutes of hardcore weight training.  I was sore.  Tuesday and Wednesday we did core exercises for around 25 minutes, plus 40 minutes of heavy-duty weight training.  Ouch.  He is mixing up the weight training, for instance on Monday and Wednesday we did shoulders, back, triceps plus butt, hamstrings and calves, which is basically all my back-side muscles.  On Tuesday and Thursday we did chest, biceps, abs, and the muscles down the front of my legs (whatever they are called).  I’m working with weights from 5 to 40 pounds, depending on the exercise and whether I’m using both arms or legs to move the weight, or just one. 

Strong women rock!

The core exercises he has me doing now include:

• 30 crunches and hold the last one for 30 seconds
• “Bridge” where you lay on your back, get your shoulders under you with feet flat on the floor, and push your pelvis up as high as you can for 30 seconds; lift the right leg up for 15 seconds; keep it up as you dip your hips down to the floor and back up 15 times, for an additional 15 seconds; switch sides to raise left leg up for 15 seconds; keep it up as you dip your hips down to the floor and back up 15 times for another 15 seconds.  Relax and feel the burn.
• Side plank for 20 seconds, then 15 side dips; turn over and repeat.
• Get on hands and knees; hold right leg up straight behind you for 20 seconds; then raise knee to chest and then straighten leg and bring it up as high as you can.  Repeat this tuck-kick motion 20 times.  Repeat with the opposite side.
• Now repeat the whole routine again.

Alan thinks maybe my meds could be slowing down my metabolism.  Gotta see about that.  In the meantime, I’m still maintaining a very positive attitude and working to further improve my eating habits as well as the frequency of cardio workouts on my “off” days.

I did it!!!!!  Did you hear me roar all the way from central Virginia??

As some of you know, I participated in NaNoWriMo in November – tackling the feat of writing 50,000 words (more than I had ever written) of a book during the month of November.  ”Winning” was simply a matter of crossing the finish line – getting to 50k by Day 30.  For me, it was like running a long race, with the same feelings of excitement, fatigue, despair, loneliness AND camaraderie, hope, momentum, more despair, wondering if the end would ever come, and, finally, triumph.  I did it as part of my quest to find my calling, and I learned a lot about myself, writing and working on something important.

How to write a book – or accomplish YOUR dream:

1. Recruit – or find – a support team.  What a happy accident!  While writing is normally a solitary activity, I recruited two members of my writers’ group to join me as fellow WriMos (as they call participants), both to validate this crazy activity and to provide emotional support during this project.   Both of my friends helped me stay motivated during those long nights staring at an empty computer screen.  And the forums on the NaNoWriMo site provided so many ‘virtual’ teammates, from the WriMos moaning about just getting started a week before month end (!) to the WriMos suggesting that one’s main character develop a stutter (in order to get word counts up) or suggesting that characters break into song (nine hundred ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall generates a LOT of words!).  A team makes you laugh and distracts you from the desolation of writer’s block (or whatever creative block you’re facing) and also whups your behind when you’re lollygagging.  Having a team mate can generate those competitive juices.  When one of my friends sent out the jubilant email announcing the completion of her book, it motivated me to finish MINE on time.
2. Know – and feel confident with – WHY you’re doing this crazy thing: A few people asked me ‘why are you doing this?’  I completely understood their confusion.  With no payoff, little likelihood of publication (of course, that’s the next ridiculous dream . . .), and a virtual guarantee of crap as the final product, attempting this made no sense – if you’re motivated by money, publication, or only producing the highest quality product.  But, for me, doing NaNoWriMo meant getting into the habit of writing every day, pushing myself to produce, even if my muse just didn’t feel like it, and becoming part of a community of writers.  For me, these 3 things are important hallmarks of a writer.  And knowing – and feeling confident with – my own reason for doing this crazy thing helped me face and answer the doubts and incredulity of nonbelievers.
3. Don’t let perfect get in the way of the good. If I had set the objective of writing perfect chapters, I would still be staring at Page 1 of my book.  The wonderful thing about a contest that was all about quantity and not at all about quality was that my inner editor – sometimes known as that inner control freak – didn’t have anything to edit or control.  And, when you let your wild, chaotic, uninhibited self free of your inner editor/inner control freak, sometimes what comes out is surprising, amazing, hilarious, entertaining, productive and GOOD!  Let the editor/control freak come out later for quality checks, but let the wild child have its chance first.
4. Have fun! There were times – a LOT of times, when I just didn’t think I had anything else to say, when the words dried up, when I felt that my plot was even boring ME so what was the point of continuing?  And I’d feel sorry for myself.  But, sometimes, I would just say, well, heck with it, if I’m going to do this, I might as well entertain myself.  Thus, great stretches of my book are filled with ridiculous puns, inside jokes, cliches and truisms.  And when I wrote those sections, I laughed my head off, and the energy of the story shows how much I was enjoying myself.  And, surprisingly, some of those sections weren’t bad.
5. Take risks, experiment.  I learned about a program called ‘Write or Die’ during my 30 day project.  It’s a program that allows you to type in a word count or time goal, then emits a sequence of warnings when your typing speed dips below the target rate, until the final warning – and then the program eats all the words you’ve typed.  When I used that program, I could knock out something like 700 words in 30 minutes.  What productivity.  The other risk I took was letting my characters follow paths that were a bit unexpected or untraditional.  Some of my best plot turns came from these experiments.
6. A little karma can help.  I noticed that many of the users sporting haloes (yes, angel haloes, signifying they had donated money to the website to support the cause) seemed to have higher than average word counts.  Wanting to leave no stone unturned, I sent in my donation.  And here I am.
7. No excuses, just do it.  So many people did this in the midst of finals, while caring for children, while working long hours.  So many people had a 10K or 20K or even 30k or 40K deficit a week before the month ended.  And they all just did it, and reading the stories of crossing the finish line will make you realize that anything is possible.

SO – try!  risk!  DO!

Question: anyone else working on their dream, either a little at a time, or in 30 (or 40) day chunks?  How is YOUR effort going?  Any lessons learned?

As always, if you liked this post, please consider sharing with a friend:

NaNoWriMo status: Winna, winna, chicken dinner!  Woohoo!

As a driving instructor with Young Drivers of Canada for almost 22 years now, I’ve taught thousands of people how to drive. I’ve also logged over one million kms on all of my vehicles, both as a driver and instructor combined. Being in the vehicle feels awesome to me; whether it’s driving or instructing. I have to say, I’m glad a buddy of mine suggested we learn to drive when we were 16 years old. It was obviously the right thing to do. Was it the right thing for you to do?

Ever since I was a teenager I had heard about the local government wanting to raise the age of drivers from 16 to 18 years old. That won’t happen across any jurisdiction via the government, but parents could have a hand in deciding if their teen is mature enough to drive a vehicle safely. Driving skill alone will not save someone from a crash; attitude is also a big part of how someone drives. The maturity of a teen isn’t always there and that problem runs well into their twenties. They need a solid reason to want to learn how to handle a vehicle safely.

So, the question we need to ask is; when should you learn to drive? At what age? While I was out doing a driving lesson with a 16 year old student, it became obvious to me that he wasn’t trying to do much of what I was teaching him. We were early in his lessons so I stopped him and asked why he was learning to drive. “Because I’m 16 years old” he replied. He continued to explain that once you turn 16 it’s time to learn to drive and get your license. I must have missed that memo. This wasn’t good enough for me, so we went off to his home and I spoke with his parents. We all agreed to wait until he was mentally ready to drive. I saw him again roughly 6 months later and he did well during his remaining lessons as he now wanted to learn to drive at that time.

I’ve had students that were over 20 years of age when they first learned to drive. They needed to get a license to get a job. This became an important step in their lives, so they took it seriously. They wanted to be the best they could. I’ve also had students who were retired. Their spouse was getting too ill to drive, so they wanted to learn to drive so they could go to the grocery store, church and visit friends or family. The oldest new driver I’ve taught to drive was 72. They all had a reason, and not because they were of age.

The bottom line is this, ensure you or your family member is ready to learn to drive; both mentally and physically. It’s an adult thing to do.

I was recently asked why I write these articles for this site, newspapers, magazines and websites. It really made me think about it, so I took some time to put it all together. I have a passion. My passion has grown to become a large part of why I do what I do. My passion is road safety.

There are many things I do in my life, but the main thing I do is allow for success. I spend time with my family to help my wife and my kids become successful. I support them all in they do. I also support what my students do when I’m teaching them to drive. I believe in the “sell versus tell” theory of teaching. You’ll do things you believe in, not what you’ve been told to do. This means I have to sell my students on the process of our program at Young Drivers of Canada.

I completely believe that crashes can be avoided. I live and breathe this theory. I also believe that anyone can learn to drive; provided they learn the proper techniques. When people discover what I do for a living, they often tell me their most recent driving story. I have to be honest here; I’m often interested in their story because it gives me a chance to educate another driver on the proper way to survive on the roads.

I jump at the opportunity to speak to others about safe driving practices. The new information that someone may receive may help protect them, their passengers and their vehicle for many years to come.

Almost every day of my life I hear an interesting story, or see a driver do something that makes me scratch my head. I often wonder what goes through the mind of most drivers. Most often the thought isn’t about driving. More people think about their job, their home life or where they’re going instead of their task of driving. This multi tasking, including distracted driving, is hurting us tremendously and drivers need to realize they have to focus on their driving and not on anything else. My job is to help educate drivers to think more like drivers.

My passion has allowed me to do this to thousands upon thousands of people each year. While I had the pleasure of working with Discovery Network’s series Canada’s Worst Driver, it allowed me to convey safer driving practices all across our nation. My articles have been published in newspapers and magazines to help spread the word about safe driving, but I do most of this on my own time because it’s what makes me happy; safe roads for all of us, including me and my family.

The company that I work for and who has taught me a lot about driver training, and life, has an absolute wonderful program for both new drivers and licensed drivers. We’ve moved into e-learning for our new drivers because we’re never idle about learning how to drive. We’ve even ventured deep into how our brain works through cognitive training with ‘Cognifit’ (www.cognifit.com). This job is all very exciting almost every day that it’s so easy to keep the passion burning when I work at the place I do and with the people I do.

There’s never a dull moment with my life as a driving instructor at Young Drivers of Canada www.yd.com or as an automotive journalist.

So, that explains my passion; what’s yours?

This week was a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so I worked out with Alan 3 times this week instead of the usual four. Enjoyed two fabulous turkey dinners, one for lunch and one for dinner with different sets of friends; and both were really fun and muy delicioso. I abstained from any pie but nibbled on the olives. I’ve still only lost 14.5 pounds, so I ordered some goodies off Amazon to give me some extra help… more on that later.

It seems everyone assumes that I must be eating like a horse since I’m being completely faithful to my workouts yet not losing weight, but in fact, I’m eating healthier than ever and in very reasonable portions. For instance, a yogurt for breakfast; a salad with hard-boiled egg for protein for lunch and no dressing; a bowl of homemade chili for dinner; yogurt for a before-bed snack; and water, water, water, water. That can’t be more than 1200 calories, surely. All I know is to stick with it, and my contrary metabolism has got to cave sooner or later. I did splurge and have one beer on Wednesday evening at the school festivities, but all I got for that was a horrible headache. Me + beer = Le Miserable!

Alan is planning to mix up my workouts since he says my core is very strong now; so we will be doing an assortment of upper and lower body weight training in addition to cardio intervals and core exercises. I just keep doing whatever he recommends, because I always feel better after my workouts than I did when I walked in; and I’m so energized and strong, I don’t want to lose all the progress I’ve gained. I just want to keep making significant gains in my confidence, endurance, energy, and strength. The amazing thing is that when I first started I was so far behind everyone else, but now I’m one of the strong ones. I’m one of the people who’s always hanging out in the weight room after school, dressed and ready to work. I’m realizing that one reward I’m receiving that was totally unexpected is the confidence that other people are expressing in my determination, and the respect in their voices when they comment on how I’m so consistent and faithful to my regimen.

Another thing that never seemed real to me before is that once I started to change my story, I could also help other people to change theirs too. I mean, if I can become disciplined in this, ANYONE can. And it’s not by strength of will except for the first two or three weeks; after that, my motivation has been totally based on the benefits I’m reaping in how I feel every day, and how I sleep, and how much more content I am with my life. It also helped me a lot to have people I didn’t want to let down. Alan is a terrific friend, and I didn’t want to let him down. My friends Gretchen, Kim, Beth, and Rhonda were cheering me on. That has been so helpful! So even though I’m kind of bummed about not magically dropping 25 or 30 pounds over the last 13 weeks, I know I’m on the right track, and since this is a life change, I’m not stopping for anything.

Things I never imagined before have now become a possibility to me. Firstly, trekking all over Egypt and climbing pyramids was my short-term goal. And that is only two weeks away!!! But I’m also looking forward to coaching soccer next year. I was already planning to do it this year, and all excited about it, but then there was a scheduling conflict with the classes I’m teaching to my colleagues every Tuesday and Thursday after school, so now that is postponed till next year. I’m thinking of my future vacations as opportunities to hike and bike and climb and swim and challenge myself in all sorts of ways. Isn’t that crazy?

More importantly, as I take more risks in the physical realm, I believe it will empower me to meaningfully demonstrate more faith in other areas of my life… being courageous and positive in my actions where before I was fearful and negative.

This week, I watched the movie Pay It Forward, and the words of the main character, a middle school student who believed in the power of change, really stuck in my mind.   It was less about helping yourself than being available to help others.  He said that it’s not enough to plan something out that you want to do for someone; you need to keep your eyes open and see where the need really is; and the thing that you give has to be a huge sacrifice, something you really don’t want to give.

No Guts, No Glory

After reading the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller this week, I became inspired to “rewrite” my own life story, to throw away the boredom and routine in order to live a life more stressful, more painful, more sacrificial, and more REAL than I could have dreamed possible. Because things that are worth achieving are worth earning the hard way.

Open to Change

I no longer desire a life of comfort and ease, of TV and movies and pseudo-happy endings; of selfishness, vanity, safety and security. I want my life to BE more, to MEAN more, to MATTER more. I don’t know exactly what that entails, but I’m open to change. And at my age, I don’t have a lot of time to waste!!!

Josh Liebner, Gershon Mader, and I ended up on an interesting tangent about the role of human resources in driving strategic commitment (previous posts here and here).  Both authors shared my frustration about HR’s inertia when it comes to transformation efforts.  In no small measure, this frustration comes from believing that HR should be in a unique position to drive change because they often know “what is really going on” or “what people really believe/think”.

We kept coming back to one question:  Does the human resources field attract people who can’t or don’t want to lead?  Our answer was “too often” and the discussion identified three drivers:

1. The reputation of HR as a leadership backwater is an on-going barrier to attracting risk-taking leaders.  Many people recognize that HR could be more, but ultimately…
2. The transactional nature of many core HR functions shapes its own org design.  What parts of HR must be done?  Well, they are the compliance, recruiting, and benefits administration functions.  Therefore, there is something about the work that attracts…
3. Gatekeepers.  Compliance-heavy functions require formal and structured lines of authority, which are quite easy to hide behind or to substitute for business decisions.

This last point highlights the position that HR has gotten itself into: gatekeeping may give it formal authority, but strategic imperatives don’t respect formal authority.  Emergent and adaptive systems will almost always find workarounds.

To that end, Josh and Gershon both suggested that a coaching and mentoring model is the best way for HR to engage in strategy.  This approach leverages the strength of HR — knowing the lay of the land — with a softer, less rules-bound style.  Acknowledging and shaping emergent behavior will be more fruitful than trying to ban or control it.

Another wonderful story from the NY Times.

Gregg Mozgala, a young actor with cerebral palsy learned to dance with the assistance and support of dedicated choreographer Tamar Rogoff, and started to feel nerves and body parts he had never felt before.

She set out to choreograph a dance piece especially for him, adapted to his body and his capabilities.  As they worked together, his body began to change.  And in the end, the work helped him to change the way he walked, from a stiff, unbalanced, and obviously limited style, to something much less remarkable, more fluid and “normal.”  Because the choreographer and the dancer used the experience to explore and experiment, rather than clinging to Mozgala’s initially limiting view of his own capabilities, they achieved more than anyone expected.

There’s an incredible video clip with the article that’s worth watching – you can see both the grace of Mr. Mozgala’s movements in the dance and just hints of his disability.

Click here to read Mr. Mozgala’s story – and prepare to be awed.  And ask yourself: Am I holding myself back with any limiting beliefs – and is there any way  I can  challenge those limiting beliefs?

As always, if you liked this post, please consider sharing with a friend:

NaNoWriMo status: 29K!  So far, yet 50K seems distant, and the end of the month is charging closer.  Do I have time???

It’s great watching how people work, especially when tackling a form of art that requires a deal of physical dexterity. It was overcast last Friday, with wind and dark clouds promising rain, although it was quite mild. We are experiencing some weird weather in Tasmania as is a lot of the Australian mainland. Lately our temperatures have varied from 32c to 16c, dry spells, wet spells, windy days and calm days. Global warming is alive and well here!

Last Friday’s class was divided into 4 sessions. Session 1. involved spray painting with stencils, all before 10.45 when we stopped for morning tea. Session 2. saw participants develop at least one painting to its completion. Lunch at 12.45. Session 3. was for the creation of a single major work. Some of these were on canvas. Afternoon tea at 3.00. A discussion about the day’s work then followed. Some were too exhausted to continue painting while others chose to keep going until we finished at 4.15.

It was a great day; a day of personal discovery for all the participants. That’s what art is all about!

Tomorrow: Some ’serious’ art from the class.

Richard

Since most of us tend to forget a variety of things over time, I thought this may be a good time to review how to get a grip. I’m not talking about getting a grip on reality; I’m talking about getting a grip on the road. Do you know what it takes to control a skid; or better yet, avoid getting into one?

The first thing to remember is that no one belongs to the “It Won’t Happen to Me” club. If you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself into a skid at any time of the year. Any time there’s a loose substance on the road surface, you’re risking a skid. This would include leaves; wet or dry makes very little difference at all. Other substances would include gravel, rain, snow, ice and even wet lane markings. These will all reduce the friction between your tires and road surface. Once you reduce friction, you reduce traction.

Skids are often caused by change; change of speed or direction. If you couple those up with any of the loose surfaces, you’ve got a high chance of losing control of your vehicle. For the most part, you can predict when your vehicle could skid or slide. If you pay attention enough to your driving, you should notice the road conditions and should be able to adjust to them. But how much adjusting and what type of adjusting should we do?

If you end up taking a corner too quickly, your vehicle may understeer. This is when the wheels are turned to the right or left, but the vehicle continues to plow straight ahead. This is often caused by too much speed into a corner or jerky steering; all on a slippery or loose road surface. The moment this happens, ease off the gas and look straight ahead where you want the vehicle to go. Turning the steering wheel more will cause a spin once the wheels have regained their grip on the road. This may cause your vehicle to leave the road.

You may also find yourself in a rear wheel skid, often referred to as oversteer. Oversteer is caused by too much speed into a corner, rough steering or harsh braking before a turn or curve. When you do any of those on a slippery road surface, you’re very likely to skid and lose control of your vehicle.

There are two ways to control oversteer, depending on the type of vehicle you’re driving. If you’re driving a rear wheel drive vehicle, like a full size sedan, look straight ahead, come off all pedals and shift to neutral. The rear drive-wheel may be moving at a quicker speed than the other 3 wheels causing the “fishtail” effect, so shifting into neutral allows it to move at the same rate of speed so the “fishtail” can stop. Again, look straight ahead and not around the corner. Trying to steer around the corner while in a rear wheel skid will most likely cause your vehicle to continue spinning. This could cause a crash with oncoming vehicles since it would most likely put you in the oncoming lane.

If you’re driving a front wheel drive vehicle and find yourself in a rear wheel skid, a slight tap on the gas will pull your vehicle out of the skid. Think of it as a pull toy when you were a kid. If you pulled the string, the toy would follow. The string was attached to the front of the toy; somewhat like the front wheels pulling the vehicle through the skid.

Regardless of the type of skid you’re in, respond immediately and never give up. Think of ways to avoid skids altogether such as reduced speed and winter tires during the winter season. This may help you avoid slip, sliding away.

Me: Hello God?  Are you up there?  I need to talk.

God: I’m listening.

Me: So I really want to find my calling, and I have all these ideas, and I keep writing things down, but I don’t know what to do with all the information . . .

God: Well, you can . . .

Me: And then there’s all the stuff I have to do with the kids and the husband, you know?  It makes it hard, God . . .

God: I know my child, I . . .

Me: And life in general is so messy, there are so many distractions.  I mean Facebook alone keeps me busy for hours a day . . .

God: Well, why don’t you . . .

Me: I feel like I can’t focus on anything, everything ringing or jangling in my brain, and nothing comes through . . .

God: I’m beginning to . . .

Me: I wish you would talk to people, like you did in the old days.  Are you listening?  Hello?  Are you even there God?

God: I’ve got another call . . .

So, today, we sat in the back for church.  And as the good Catholics know, sitting in the back means you go up for communion last.  Now, in our church, we pray after receiving communion, basically until the music stops and the priest moves on to the next stage of mass.  Which, if you’re sitting in the back, is not very much time.  I always march into church with my wish list for God: please bless Son1, Daughter, Son2, Husband, make me a better mom, oh yeah and make sure to help Husband be a better husband, he needs the help God, and while you’re at it, you better forgive him, he’s got some little things he’ll be talking to you about, and help Mom feel better and help me . . .

Well, as we did not have any “official” prayer time – after communion and before announcements – I couldn’t go through my prayer wish list.  All I could do was kneel quietly and feel slightly harried.  Which made me think about being silent.  When do we ever just take the time to be silent?  Not just in our relationship with God, but just in our lives, to sit quietly (my fellow moms of young ‘uns know that this may have to occur in a locked bathroom), to allow ourselves to be quiet, without planning, thinking, plotting, angsting or strategizing.  Just sitting quietly.  For me, a vestige of my Cubicle-land time is feeling anxious about looking unproductive.  Typing madly at the computer, talking energetically on the phone or in a meeting, walking about with a clipboard were all acceptable modes of being.  Sitting with a thoughtful look on one’s face . . . not so much.  And yet, how many meetings could have been shortened or avoided, how many emails deleted, if everyone felt brave enough to just sit quietly.  And occasionally think.

In the Christian tradition, there’s a passage from the Bible that goes Be still and know that I am God.  I think the passage suggests that silence, and listening, can help us discover our calling – our own source of divinity – as much as or maybe even more than requesting, speaking, telling God what’s on the wish list.

Similarly, my friends who meditate report amazing breakthroughs in problems they have been noodling over – or they report feeling calmer and less anxious about their problems.

I think sometimes life drives us to be proactive and busy, because proactivity, movement, and visible progress look productive.  Thinking, contemplation, silence look . . . unproductive, lazy, unworthy (unless you are a Buddhist monk).  But all the movement and activity may blind us to the answer that’s sitting right in front of our nose, may keep us from acknowledging a deep need that is too quiet to make itself heard over the cacophony of life.

Sooo – give it a shot.  Is 5 minutes of quiet, without distractions, no reading, no thinking, no list-making, just quiet time doable?  Would love to hear about your experiences.

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NaNoWriMo status: almost 22K, more than I’ve ever written on one paper.  But still so far behind!  More mad typing in my future.

So today’s focus is on honesty.  Let’s all be honest together!

Well, maybe not.  Little white lies help things go so much easier:

• Sorry kids, McDonald’s closed early.  We’re gonna have to eat leftovers
• Oh Mom, of course I wore the pants you gave me that look like they were hijacked from a couch.  They’re just . . . perfect (for a couch)
• That’s a great idea, Boss, best ever (so long as it means I don’t have to do any extra work)
• I have a headache

Can’t we all just agree to keep the lies minor, unharmful, forgettable?

The problem is, the lies are easier.  And easier.  And even easier over time.  And eventually, you replace what could be deliberate, intentional (and prickly, uncomfortable) relationships with easy, pleasant nothingness.  Or you’ve eased your way into doing a job, an activity, a lifestyle that was easy to get into and so hard to get out of.

For me, sometimes the little white lies just support my laziness.  I promise to play a game, read a book, (wash the dishes) . . . and just don’t get around to it.

But facing the little pain of being honest helps you follow your calling:

1. When you choose to be honest, to say ‘no’ when it hurts, to say ‘yes’ and mean it, you strengthen that authentic self.  If you’re in touch with that authentic self, you’re that much closer to knowing who you are and what your calling is.
2. When you are willing to speak the truth, even when it hurts, others will trust you – and you will trust yourself.  You will feel more confident that Yes means Yes and No means No.  And you won’t waste time wondering if you should have done or said something that runs against your spirit. You will free yourself from the yoke of social expectations and move, unburdened, toward your objective.
3. You will save time and energy.  Lying consumes both!  Use that time and energy to pursue that passion.

I am going to try complete honesty (not sure whether to put a time limit on this endeavor).  Anyone with me?

Some ideas to ease the transition:

• Don’t talk at all  (I know, this one might be hard for some of us.  But it’s the easiest way to ensure complete honesty!)
• Stop and think before answering.  Sometimes, the social lie just pops out – POP! – because it’s so very easy.  But my family and friends deserve more than the easy answer, so I will try to slow down and think about my responses.
• How about – making that little white lie true?  You didn’t really mean to call that acquaintance for lunch, even though you said you would.  Well, if you call to set up lunch – you’ve turned that little social lie into truth.  See what happens!
• Keep trying.  Just like dieting, sometimes we fall off the bandwagon.  Don’t beat yourself up.  Tomorrow is another day.  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again

Let me know how it goes!

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NaNoWriMo status: 18K, slogging.  Must hit 30K this weekend or all may be lost.

Often I meet people who tell me about their dreams to start their own business. They don’t want to work for the man all their lives. They ask me what it takes to start your own business.

It’s a difficult question to answer because there are so many elements to being an entrepreneur. First, you need to be passionate about something. It has to be in your core. For many immigrants, they are passionate about their children and providing an opportunity for the next generation that they themselves never had. That drives many to amazing accomplishments. For others, the passion is about green energy, mobile technology, global health issues, and so forth.

Entrepreneurs also need a good support network of family and friends because owning your own business is not easy. It’s extremely time-consuming and emotionally draining.

Another very important component is the right personality. An entrepreneur cannot be risk-averse. In the type of businesses I’ve been involved with, I hire many very bright individuals with great business ideas. Some of them want to start their own businesses, and I know they have the intelligence and skills to be successful entrepreneurs. Yet, they lack the personality to actually be entrepreneurs. They are too risk-averse. And that’s fine because they can have fulfilling and financially rewarding careers within the corporate environment.

One time, a friend who is successfully climbing up the partner latter of a prestiguous consultancy asked me about entrepreneurship. I could tell he was thinking about possibly doing something on his own. Then, one night while driving together he started to panic because the gas gauge needle had just started touching the red empty mark. I laughed, and told him that making partner at his firm is a fantastic goal for him.

Since then, I’ve used that example with others who ask me about entrepreneurship. And a few have smiled and admitted they would panic as well. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Unfortunately many find out after an unsuccessful venture. Just do the “am I comfortable running on empty test” first.

by The Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2009.

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)–The U.S. should be careful not to restrict risk-taking and capital-market access with proposed corporate-governance reforms, according to the head of a new commission backed by NYSE Euronext (NYX) and some of the nation’s largest companies.

Outrage over executive pay and risk-management issues laid bare by the financial crisis must be addressed, but new rules can’t make it harder for executives to make decisions and shouldn’t bog down board operations, according to Larry W. Sonsini, chairman of NYSE Euronext’s Commission on Corporate Governance.

“I fear if we over-regulate risk, we will over-stagnate growth,” said Sonsini,…(continue reading)

Hello Friends!

This week’s Motivational Essay is posted, Embracing the “No Way” Factor.

Here’s an excerpt:
*********************************************
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away… Now it looks as though they’re here to stay. Oh, I believe in yesterday…” (Lennon/McCartney)

With all due respect to Paul McCartney, I prefer to believe in Today. Even better, I want to believe in Tomorrow. Every word I type in the present is transported into a magical future, which is still yet a dream. The essay I’m
composing will be read tomorrow or Monday or maybe next Friday. A new WIP will take months to finish and weeks more to edit. We can forget in the tedium of the effort involved how miraculous tomorrow can and will be, especially if we lose sight of the magic in our words. There’s something to be said for introducing Optimism to Risk-Taking and discovering how amazing this collaboration can be.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” –André Gide

Every writer goes through it. A manic-depressive swing depending on where the story is at. When we’re in the zone, the words fly, the ideas are so thick they infiltrate our dreams and we can’t type fast enough. When we’re stuck with a
plot point or drowning with too many choices, we can unfortunately be quite unbearable. My favorite image (which I’m embarrassed to say is only slightly exaggerated) is of me dashing through the house, hands waving in the air, while I shriek, “I’m a hack!”

Ups and downs. Highs and lows. Welcome to the wonderful world of writing.

“You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods, for through it you can solve every human problem. It should make of you an incurable optimist. It is the open door.” –Robert Collier
***************************************************
Jump to The Write Soul: www.chironokeefe.blogspot.com    for  the complete essay!

Wishing us all a productive and inspired week. Keep writing!

–Chiron O’Keefe

How does one get from point A to point B? Begin by accepting that you are at point A and that B is where you want to head for. With respect to point B, one must see it clearly, otherwise it is merely an idea somewhere with the imagination or subconscious. One must formulate a plan and commit same to writing, besides exercising much thought and reflection during that process.

I plan to take the District of Columbia Bar Exam on February 23, 2010. That’s about 97 days from today.  The Multistate Bar Exam is a difficult 2-day marathon administered by the National Conference of Bar examiners (“NCBE”). My first dilemma was whether I should begin to prepare this early? Having read a number of MBE “success tips” written by knowledgeable bar exam preparers, it appears that I should. 

I am not a recent law school graduate therefore I may, in all likelihood, be  rusty in the substantive law, as well as in test-taking echniques. All the pundits advise examinees to begin as early as practicable. Chance is often a welcome event, however this time the high road demands maximum effort. So, here we go….

How much sense does this make?

I don’t want to think about something too much because if it doesn’t work out, I would’ve put too much mental and emotional effort into it..

But I don’t have a very positive outlook on things.. So I feel kind of safe thinking about something that I think probably won’t happen..

But I realize at the same time that I am nervous about the unknown and if things did work out in my favor then I had no reason to worry..

And at the same time I don’t want to put all of my eggs (thoughts) into one basket (situation)..

Perhaps the best solution would be for me to find a hobby or something to take some of this idle time.. Problem is..

Most of these thoughts occur while I’m in bed.. I can’t find that many hobbies!!!

The past couple days have been.. Different.. In a good way.. But have aroused some feelings.. Feelings I didn’t know existed.. The way I feel is different.. I keep trying to keep myself from saying that.. B/c I don’t halfway believe it.. But also because I don’t want to admit it..

This is new.. And I feel like I’m working on jeopardizing a good thing because of my fear.. I said I would take things a moment at a time.. But its hard.. I’m trying..

I’m going to keep trying.. Because I don’t want to not take a risk that could’ve paid off..

Two cheers for risk-taking…

I am a bit of an Idealist.  For me, Tilting at windmills = cool.  Writing a crappy book in 30 days without hope of publication or payment = sublime.

The problem with being an Idealist is that you want and expect everything to be perfect and wonderful, and sometimes you wait for everything to be perfect and wonderful before acting.  The advice: don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good was meant for Idealists.

Sometimes being an Idealist makes me ignore or discard perfectly good opportunities because they are not Perfect and following them would be “settling.”  And we Idealists never settle.  Ever.

This is not always a good perspective to have if you want to get things done.  Like making a living.

I remember a gentleman who used to work with me at the Big Company.  He was a paralegal working on human resources issues.  This was NOT his calling.  His calling was to be a minister.  But he put his heart and soul into his work for the Big Company because he knew that his work was helping him, incrementally, to pursue his calling.  He worked hard during the day and brought home a paycheck.  On evenings and weekends he preached, he led church groups, he volunteered.  He applied for jobs as pastor at a number of churches – and was turned down.  He kept on working hard at the Big Company, with a smile on his face.  He became “Dr MoMo” at the Big Company, sharing Motivational Moments with co-workers and pursuing his calling for free at the office.  And, finally, he got the call.  He’s now the pastor for a huge church, where his congregation adores him.  He did his job at the Big Company well AND he pursued his calling.  Even though his job was NOT his calling, he did it well because it helped him get to where he was going.

As my Plan for World Domination becomes clearer, I’m starting to realize that making money doing stuff other than my calling is not a bad thing – IF I have the right mind set. I can do a great job at work and be happy, so long as I continue to execute my Plan.  Eventually, I might be able to will make money pursuing my calling.   Or I might not.  But knowing that I will continue to pursue my calling, regardless of how I earn my income, makes me happy.  And honoring my commitment to my calling will make me a good employee at the next Big Company.  It’s all part of the Plan.

So – have you got Your Plan for World Domination?  Can you work on it even if your job is not perfectly aligned with your calling?  Maybe you can adjust your job to test out your calling in a tiny way. Or maybe your job takes care of money worries while you execute the Plan.  So long as you have your Plan and you keep chipping away at it, a little at a time, you’re good!

Here’s a bit from one of Dr. MoMo’s last emails, based on a Martha Graham quote:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time this expression is unique.  If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and will be lost.  The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions.  It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to stay open and aware to the urges that motivate you.  Keep the channel open.”  -  Martha Graham, Modern Dancer and Choreographer

Living, being, sharing yourself with the world.  What a challenge it is to live from that place, to live from the belief that if you don’t share yourself with the world, the gift of you will be lost and the world will not have it!  How many of you actually get what a gift you are?  Just because you exist, you are a gift!  Wouldn’t it be exciting to live in the world thinking, knowing, that you are a gift.  Not with conceit, but with joy that you are a gift.  Imagine how different your life would be!

As always, if you liked this post, please consider sharing with a friend:

Roger Bannister was the first man to break the 4 minute mile. Photo: Allsport UK/Getty Images

It seems to me that some of the saddest phrases I hear are:

• I could never do that
• I’d be scared to try that
• I’m too old to try something new
• I wish I could do that, but
• My life is too busy for that

Especially when the ‘that‘ is something that the speaker longs for.

So I love to read about people who’ve done amazing things.  Things that expand my view of what is possible.  Sometimes, letting your brain know that something is possible is all it takes for you to do it.  For a long time, people thought that running a mile in 4 minutes was simply a physical impossibility.  The IAAF began tracking world record times for the mile in 1913, but it was not until 1954 that Roger Bannister  broke the 4 minute barrier, almost 9 years after Gunder Hagg set the world record at 4:01.3 minutes.  And then, 6 weeks later, John Landy broke the 4 minute barrier.  And since then, the 4 minute barrier has been broken hundreds of times.  Is it possible that Roger Bannister broke a mental block, not just for himself, but for other runners as well, about what was possible?

Yesterday I posted about Eva Zeisel, who turned 103 and is designing beautiful ceramic pieces for Royal Stafford.  If she can create beautiful and functional works of art in her 100s, then perhaps we all can pursue our callings whenever or wherever we are.

And on a similar vein, I read an article in Runner’s World magazine about 82 year-old Bob Hayes, who has run the LeGrizz 50 Miler race 12 times, the first time when he was 70 years old.  This doesn’t mean we should all be running 50 miles at a shot – unless that’s a passion.  But when we expand our view of what’s possible, then maybe we can make more of our dreams come true.  And maybe that ’someday’ item that tugs at your heart and soul can move from the ‘impossible’ side to the ‘possible’ side.

Do you know of any great stories that changed your view of what was possible?  I’d love to read them!

I plan to continue posting stories about people accomplishing things that didn’t seem possible before they did them.  I hope they inspire you as much as they do me.  My question/challenge for you in the meantime: what is that dream you have firmly tucked into the ‘impossible’ column??  Are you sure it’s in the right spot?  Expand your view of the possibilities -and see what happens!

As always, if you liked this post, please consider sharing with a friend:

NaNoWriMo status: approaching 12k, hoping to hit 14k tonight.  Think that’s possible?  :)

Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.

-Garrison Keillor

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
-Seneca

Define Luck.

For some, Luck is…

• A Shell game – a set up for people to lose their money
• The Hand of the Unmoved Mover (God)
• Hard to come by
• From the devil
• Your favorite definition….

I have struggled with each of these definitions, having lived through various times in my life and career when each of them has made more sense than the others.

For Eileen C. Shapiro and Howard H. Stevenson, the authors of Make Your Own Luck, Luck is a strictly a matter of taking smarter risks in business. Every action you take is a bet. “Good Luck” occurs when you predict and bet on a winning result using the Smart Gambler’s Credo:

Smart Gambler’s Credo

They contend that Luck depends on a “Gambler’s Dozen” of 12 skills that help improve your Predictive Intelligence: or your ability to pick the right action that brings you the results you want.

Whether or not you buy into their “Gambler’s Dozen,” you have to admit that the idea of pinning Luck down to decisions under your control is a highly appealing one.

Using real-life examples, they walk readers through their OOPA! process: Orient, Organize, Predict and Act to demonstrate how each the 12 skills will improve your ability to make better bets.

I liked the book because it:

1. Changed my perception of Luck
   The book made me view Luck as something that can be managed, rather than some Random Force that impacts my life for good or ill. Luck is all a matter of good risk management, they seem to say.  Just identify what you want, evaluate the situation you’re in, look at future trends and make decisions based on facts.
2. Created a process to walk through
   And I have to admit that I have a weakness for anything that even hints of a process. OOPA! for goodness sake reminds me of Plan Do Study and Act (PDSA). I hate acronyms, but acronyms that remind you how to think critically about your decisions are OK by me.
3. Recommended ways to improve my decision-making skills
   The authors provide tips on:
   - Making Jump Bets: or should you make a radical shift in your life or career now?
   - Domino Effects: identifying the follow-on decisions that you will be locked into as a result of your decision

Buying into the authors’ definition of Luck is not essential to enjoying and benefiting from the book’s advice.  Improving your decision-making skills in these precarious times is important enough to warrant a quick read through of this book. Do you know of other books that provide advice on how to improve decision-making?  Leave me a comment or send me a tweet, my id is jgodfrey.