Although I am most definitely an early adopter of technology, I admit that I hesitated before buying my first iPad.  At first, my excuse was, “I already have an iPhone and a Mac…what do I need this middle-sized form factor for?” Because I travel a lot for business and need to be fully functional when I do, I could never see myself leaving my laptop at home, so that would mean I would be carrying around even more weight by bringing the iPad.  After watching my husband adore his for a few months, I thought, “Well, I bet I would really have fun with it, but $700?? Outrageous!”  Finally, I got down to my last and final objection: books.  I love books.  I love the way they feel, I love the way they smell, I love meandering in bookstores…And I knew that when I bought that iPad, given how much my husband was reading on his iPad and how much he was loving it, that I would never pick up a print book again.  Or very rarely.  And this made me sad.

But I bought it anyway.  And my prediction has come true.  At a recent simulcast event, I was given a hard copy of one of the presenter’s books as part of my entrance fee.  I didn’t want it.  It’s sitting right over there on my bookshelf.  I already know that, if I’m ever to read that book, I will buy it again in digital form on my iPad.  (That’s a bit of cheery news for book publishers: Yes!  We may buy our favorite books twice to get them on our iPads!)

This morning I read a prediction from a futurist that the last newspaper and books will be printed in 2030.  Magazines might be in there, too.  Here are my predictions for what the post-print world might look like.

1.  It will be much harder to prove to visitors to your home that you’re smart.  Everyone knows that smart people have bookshelves stacked with tomes.  If they’re really smart, they not only have every shelf lined with books, but those books have other books stacked on top of them sideways, have books stacked in front of them…it’s doubtful, if books are gone, that you’ll even have a basket of bathroom reading material for people to observe and see how smart you are.

2.  Bookmarks.  Gone.  I will not miss the tassels.

3.  The consumer magnifying glass industry, having for at least a decade been expecting a bubble based on the huge aging baby boomer generation, will become focused primarily on children.  A new Saturday cartoon featuring a magnifying glass-like alien that burns people by focusing the sun will create a small market resurgence before the industry fades into oblivion.

4.  Reading glasses: being mostly no longer necessary, they will become fashion items.  The reading glass lanyard business will experience a boom.

5.  Doctor’s offices will offer free WiFi, and pharmaceutical companies will advertise on the login page.

6.  More wine bar/book exchange stores like the Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar in Asheville, NC will open around the world.

7.  More trees will grow unmolested. (Naaaah.  Just kidding on this one.  The world will find some other reason to cut them down.)

8.  Obvious: there will be paper mill closures. Some laid off workers will open small speciality paper making companies.

9.  Newspaper will actually start charging for their content online!  Brilliant!

10.  Students will suffer less back and shoulder damage from carrying 50 lb. backpacks.  All of their textbooks will be online.

These are just a few of the changes that I can see, and some of them are tongue in cheek, of course. What changes do YOU see coming down the pike as we become a more and more digital society? Please leave me a comment below!

My Mom told me that dark colas have phosphoric acid in them, and phosphoric acid leeches calcium from your bones.  The older I get, the closer I get to osteoporosis, and so phosphoric acid is probably not something that I want to pour into my system on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, I’m not a coffee drinker (which also has phosphoric acid, btw).  Hate it.  Also hate real tea.  They just taste bitter to me.  But, I do like a bit of a caffeine jolt to get me and keep me going.  So long, long ago, as a teenager, probably, working at Burger King, Coke became my breakfast beverage of choice.  This despite the fact that in sixth grade I did actually watch some teeth totally disintegrate in a jar of said beverage.

Later, when weight became an issue, I switched to Diet Coke, which tastes like crap, but I got used to it.  I drank it for years and years and years for breakfast (and sometimes lunch!), and when I stop in for breakfast at a McDonald’s or BK, I still order it, because they don’t carry Diet Pepsi.

Which I switched to just a couple of years ago, shocking my entire family, because Pepsi seemed to be just a little bit gentler on the system, and…surprisingly…tastes better.  Took me a long time to de-brand myself of Coke.

But after Mom told me about the phosphoric acid thing, and the fact that she herself imbibed a Mountain Dew (no phosphoric acid, being a light soda) in the middle of the day to power through the afternoon, I thought, Ah.  Okay.  I’ll have a Diet Pepsi in the morning, and then, if I want a second caffeine jolt, I’ll have a Mountain Dew.

Finally, I said, hey: I don’t need this dark cola at all.  I’ll just switch to Mountain Dew in the morning.  My bones will be so happy!

After a few weeks of my new routine, I started to realize that I was grinding my teeth at about 10 am.  And having an enormous amount of anxiety.  And having a lot of trouble concentrating.  I attributed it to feeling like I had too much to do.  That I have big goals to accomplish for this year.  That after sitting at my desk going through a bunch of useless email junk, I was worried that I was wasting time. Part of that may be true.  But this morning I did some research, and it all clicked. Here’s the deal:

Mountain Dew has a HUUUUGE amount of caffeine.  Way more than Diet Coke.  Which has more than Diet Pepsi.  Without realizing it, I had actually stepped myself down on the caffeine thing, and then jacked myself way back up, even higher than before!  My goal all along has been to one day get off caffeine and the battery acid that is diet soft drinks (really, they’re not food), and now I’ll have to start all over again.

In life, it seems we’re always running.  Running, running, running, away from one consequence only to accrue another.  What this experience taught me is that if it feels like I’m zig zagging, it’s probably worth my time to pause for a moment and look more deeply at what’s really going on.

(There’s only 3/4 of a 12-pack left in my fridge.  Then I REALLY have to quit drinking it.)

Oh, and btw again, I just read a study that says that diet soda drinkers have thicker middles than non-diet soda drinkers!  Seriously??? Could this be (one of my) problems?  Are you experiencing this?  Comment below and let me know!  Thanks!

When I wrote The Science of Making Things Happen, I was really focused on what today’s cutting edge science tells us about how the universe really works and how we fit into that picture, individually.  While working with this material and my clients for the past few years, I’ve realized the power that this science has to impact our ability to lead others, as well.  Let’s take a look at just at three specific ways this science can be applied to improving the performance of teams.

1.  You get what you measure for.  Quantum physics tells us that they way we measure will either slow down or accelerate a process, chemical or otherwise.  This bears out at the macro level of the universe—our everyday world—as well.  As individuals, we have the tendency to take measurements of ourselves that don’t serve us.  We are incredibly judgmental of ourselves, and when our brains are busy figuring out what’s wrong with us (or berating us for it), opportunities are passing us by because we don’t have enough capacity to see them, too.  This slows down our progress toward our goals.

Whether we mean to or not, we pass this judgment along to those we lead.  We measure them according to our own measures of success for ourselves.  Because we’re all so different, that makes no sense.  But we still do it, anyway.  And the problem is, while we’re busy judging, we’re not seeing the opportunities we have to lead our people into the light.  And our poorly targeted measurements of our team members slow them down, too.  These measurements can be about goal achievement (“You didn’t make your sales goals!  You know, I put you in this position because I thought  you were a star…”), behavior (“Tommy, you’ve really gotta get out of your cubicle more.  Nobody knows who you are!”), personal traits (“You’ve gotta stop staring at everybody, Steve (Jobs).  You’re freaking people out.”), and more.

If we were to turn those measurements around…and start measuring our team members as if they already had everything they needed to create success…here’s what we might say instead: “You didn’t make your sales goals, but you did make some good sales.  What can we learn from those?” Or, “Tommy, when you’re spending hours at a time in your cubicle, I know you’re getting a lot done.  How can I help you to communicate that success better?” Or, “Steve, I’ve noticed that when you stare at people, they do what you want them to do.  Don’t ever change that.”

I threw that last one in because I’m reading Steve Jobs’ bio.  If you haven’t read it, you’ll be astounded by what he got away with, as far as being outside cultural norms. But ya know…he always seemed to be aware of the fact that he didn’t have very much time on the planet.  Isn’t that interesting?  Maybe if we all stopped worrying so much about what other people thought of us, and instead focused on what we truly value, our contributions—like Steve’s—would be world changing.

2.  You’ll end up where you plan to go.  Quantum physics tells us that our conscious observation modifies outcomes.  We apply the power of our observation in many ways: via the creation of a vision; applying our attention, focus or awareness; and by visualizing our desired outcome.  The creation of a vision is the first step.  Why?  Because defining a mental, verbal and written vision of the future creates a destination.  When we know where we’re going, we can apply our attention, focus, awareness and visualization abilities to get us there.  In other words, everyone is on the bus.  Everyone knows there is a bus. And everyone knows where the bus is going.  Doesn’t that make you feel better just thinking about it?

Here’s how it helps you: if there’s someone on your team that doesn’t know there’s a bus, you have to introduce them to the bus, and you now know that you have a Bus Introduction problem. (That is, an employee onboarding problem.) If they know there’s a bus but won’t get on, then you know you have an employee performance problem.  And if they get on the bus, but keep saying that the bus will never get there, then you know you not only have a performance problem, you have a team performance problem, and the best way to deal with that is to kick the offending team member off the bus. Poor cultural fits do not go away. Every moment the team spends in the company of a team member who isn’t committed to the team or who doesn’t believe in the destination is a moment in the Twilight Zone. The bus will seem to be moving, but it isn’t; and if it is, it’s won’t be headed where you thought it was headed.  Danger, danger, Will Robinson!  Get that person off the bus!  Now!

3.  The only way to create a new future is to shake up the present.  Decoherence is the universe’s method of turning quantum possibility into reality.  It basically introduces new information in such a way that current patterns are broken and new ones emerge.  If you really want to make tomorrow different from today, you’ll have to do the same thing.  They keys are 1), a lot of new information, and 2), delivering it consistently over time.

You may find yourself slipping back into old patterns yourself.  So it’s very important to work out a support system that will help you stay accountable to the change you’ve committed to make.  There’s a whole host of mechanisms by which to do this: regular reminders on your Outlook calendar, weekly lunch meetings with peers who share your vision, empowered supervisors and managers who carry your torch, and accountability partners, such as coaches and mentors.

Helping your team members craft their own personal visions, measure their own progress in accelerating ways, and break their definitions of the present in order to make room for a new future are three major tasks of today’s Possibility Leader™.  What other tools do you think today’s Possibility Leaders need in their toolkit?  Would love to hear your thoughts!

So glad that you’re still with me, and that we’ll be creating a new reality together in 2012.  This will be a very exciting year for both of us…a year crackling with change and opportunity.  Can you feel it? Are you designing something fabulous?

I am!  And while I was crafting my new vision and plan, a quote from my friend Hilary Schneider, formally EVP of Yahoo!, crossed my mind:

“Your strategy should tell you what TO do, but it should also tell you what NOT to do.”

 Hmmm, I wondered. What should I resolve to STOP doing in order to make more time and space for the things I NEED and WANT to be doing?

So, I decided to review how I’ve been spending my time and develop a simple tool to help me analyze each activity for its usefulness in getting me where I want to go.  I also decided this was not about creating some draconian daily regime that would have me setting aside my health, fun or family.  It would have to be about balance.

So on a piece of paper, I put the following column headers at the top: ACTIVITY, AMPLIFYING, FUN, HATE, MUST DO.  The idea being that I would list all my daily and monthly typical activities, and then categorize them: is this an activity that helps brings my vision to life? If so, check AMPLIFYING.  Was it something I enjoyed doing?  Then check FUN.  (You could also substitute the word “LOVE” here.) Is it something that I absolutely hate doing?  Check HATE.  Is it something that must be done, no matter how I feel about it, or is it something I could stop doing?  If the former, a check goes under MUST DO.

Here’s are the 5 main takeaways I derived from this exercise:

1. There are some activities that I spend hours and hours on that deliver no discernible results or opportunities, or are not amplifying in any way.
2. There are some activities that I spend time on that I enjoy, but are really just for fun, and maybe I’m over investing.
3. There are some activities that I had a MUST DO label on, that I really don’t have to do.
4. There were several things I hated, and I believe you should not have to do anything you hate or are really bad at. Life is too damn short.
5. There were several amplifying activities that I need to START doing that weren’t even on the list.  And these included things that will help me achieve balance and peace while still creating amazing results.

Maybe your list will reveal the same things…?

So, here are the 7 strategies I devised to create the time, energy and mental focus to support my amplification efforts:

1. Fun must be a part of every day.  Put some in.
2. If I want peace and a peaceful mind, I need to have a peace plan.  Put some peace time in every single day.
3. Schedule specific blocks of time each week for AMPLIFYING activities.
4. If it’s a MUST DO and I HATE it…delegate it.
5. If it’s a MUST DO but still a time waster—like, cleaning out my in-box—automate as much as possible, and reduce incoming by unsubscribing.
6. If I’m unsure about whether something is a MUST DO—like, being active on so many social media networks—then pick the most valuable parts of that activity, and automate as much as possible. Or dump it all together.
7. If an item has no checks next to it at all, STOP DOING IT IMMEDIATELY. I mean, seriously: why keep it up?  It doesn’t amplify, it doesn’t stir your emotions, and it doesn’t have to be done.  Seems extraneous, yes?

What I liked about this exercise was that it included how I felt about each activity, and allowed me to apply my value system, which was more useful than just building something like an Important/Urgent quadrant list.

What do you think of this approach?  Is there something you would do to improve it?  Would love to hear your thoughts!  Please comment below.  Thanks!

It’s 2011.  You’re suffering from the symptoms of living in what used to be the world’s leading power with the world’s next-to-last amount of vacation.  You can’t imagine living through one more round of layoffs, whether you are on the giving or the possibly getting side, but you still know another round is coming.  Your retirement is a pipe dream, but you remind yourself, whenever you remember, that the important thing is to be present now.  Now is all there is, right?  You’ve just been to the doctor because you don’t like that pain under your right ribs, but even though you know your liver is located there, you’re still gonna pour the cocktails tonight because it’s the fastest way to relief.  Your kids are a pain in the heart, you can’t remember the last time you were really happy, and you’ve kind of become resigned to the fact that this is what it’s like to grow up and grow old.

Yikes.  And only 70 million or so of us going through that in the United States.  Thought you were alone?  Worldwide aging is only one of the major trends that will drive the future.  It will impact your personal health and happiness, your ability to successfully manage teams, and the outcomes you intend to create for and through your organization.

But there’s so much more.  There’s the state of the world economy. There’s the impact of being globally connected and yet personally isolated.  There’s the world ending in 2011, 2012 or 2013.  (Or 2014, 2015, 2016…just Google “world ends in” and add whatever year you want.  I personally am going with February 14^th, 2016, because that’s what Dr. Peter Venkman predicted on his short-lived talk show in the movie Ghostbusters.)

Whichever, some part of the world will be coming to an end, whether it’s the end of U.S. dominance (2025), or poverty (also 2025)…some, such as author Richard Watson (Future Files), have even predicted the end of lunch (2028).

But so much will be rising at the same time.  Possibly the seas, definitely the price of oil, complexity, a new, less attached generation of workers…and all at a far greater pace with much greater impact than we have ever experienced before.

In these times of accelerated change, there is only one thing that can make a difference: being perfectly tuned to receive and execute on new possibilities.

As an individual, it means letting go of what you think you know.  Developing a highly honed creative edge.   Taking radical responsibility for both your beingness and your outcomes.  It means becoming a Possibility Leader™.

As an organization it means all of that, plus the will to put in place the environment and systems that will catalyze this transformation and maximize it, right now.  I call it the Possibility Culture™, a mixture of science, personal development, technology and urgency that creates a hotbed for innovation, execution and results.

As the CEO of your life and business, you know that today’s actions equal tomorrow’s outcomes. The question is: are your actions of today preparing you to create extraordinary results in the very different tomorrow we are all facing?

They can.  Anything is possible.  (As long as the world doesn’t end.)

Late this morning, I was working out at the gym.  On one of the televisions played the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” On another, a documentary on the Mayan calendar, and the date on which it ends (12/21/12).  The movie reminded me that there is place within me that I can go and feel my connection to all of the universe.  When I’m not connected, it’s because I’ve allowed some mental construct to get between me and that place.

The Mayan calendar documentary reminded me that I really don’t know how much time I have left on this planet, and maybe, if all of these signs actually point to some worldwide cataclysmic event, it could possibly be very, very short.

And that reminded me of a quote by actor Will Smith, who said, “I…LOVE…my life.  And that’s not something you can fake.” And it made me want to write it on my mirror.  But more, it made me want to write it, mean it, live it, ingest it, embody it.  Every day.  Every moment.  I am so incredibly blessed.  And to throw away even one second on worry, or discontent, or judgmental behavior, is extraordinarily irresponsible.  Because I’m pretty sure that if the world ends (possible), or my personal world ends (definite), none of that will be important.

It’s extraordinarily irresponsible to ME.  I am the only one creating my experience here.  And that was the message of the Bagger Vance movie.  The main character, Junuh, had to let go of past experiences that had changed the lens through which he looked at life, and remember the pure experiences of an earlier time when he knew who he really was, connected to the universe and all of its possibility.

In the movie, Junuh plays a golf exhibition match against Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones.  Hagen and Jones were real players.  Junuh was made up.  Although I’ve seen this movie before, I didn’t know this. In this watching, the names of Junuh’s opponents imprinted themselves on me in written form via closed captioning.

As I finished my run on the treadmill and went to work out on various weight machines, I chose machines that were close enough to that TV to keep an eye on the story.  The movie ended, leaving me with a feeling of deep possibility and connectedness, and I walked to the back of the gym to use a machine facing away from the televisions.  As I mounted the machine, a black and white framed photograph on the wall beckoned to me out of the corner of my eye.

Now, I knew a famous shot of Joe Frazier and Mohammed Ali boxing was the photo over the water fountain.  And a black and white of  Marilyn Monroe lifting weights was a framed and mounted photo I was quite familiar with in the gym.  But the photo that I hardly ever looked at…the one that caught my eye…was of a golfer.  And his name was Bobby Jones.

I thought to myself, “Get out!  That’s ridiculous!  On the day I’m incredibly touched and schooled by this wonderful movie, one that has a character representing Bobby Jones…I discover there’s a photo right here in my gym of Bobby Jones, after 3 years of coming here? And I SEE it?!” It actually brought tears to my eyes.

Yep. That’s how it works.  Our great partner, the Universe, is trying to get in touch with us.  If we’re paying attention, we see the signs.

I used to want a lot of things, but mostly now what I want is this: to see the signs.  To get connected.  To remember who I really am.

Because it’s awesome.  What synchronicities have occurred for you lately?

The Secret to Great Writing and Editing – From a Southerner, No Less | michael romaner.

If you were able to make it to my interview with radio host and social media storytelling expert Sandra Lee Schubert yesterday, then you’ll appreciate these tips collected by my digital media expert husband, Michael Romaner, picked up in Oxford, Mississippi, from the executive editor of Southern Living Magazine.

BTW, Southern Living is the 7th largest magazine in the country.

You would do well to use his tips for engaging and connecting with your audience.

Here’s my favorite: “Have a drink with your readers.”

Looking forward to imbibing in celebration with all of you! Cheers! –K.

P.S., audio for this interview coming soon.  Stay tuned!

Have you ever had a time in your life when you wanted to do something you really wanted to do, but weren’t really sure what you wanted to do?  Are you sick of hearing that if you follow your passion the money will follow, because you have no idea what you’re passionate about?

That’s just how I was at one point in my life.  I could not for the life of me come up with anything I was passionate about, much less the one thing I was passionate about the most.  And I realized I’d been feeling that way for a really long time.

Arriving at this conclusion is a blessing.  It’s an opportunity to say, “I know I have one life to live, and by golly, I want to really care about something while I’m here!  Just for me!”  And it’s an opportunity to launch a quest to discover what it is you care about.

This may take you some time.  Because realizing that you’re passionate about nothing most probably means you’ve become very separated from yourself.  It means you’ve been focused on external cues as to who you are versus internal cues.  It means you need to tune back in to that internal voice.

There are many ways to do this.  One is to think back on your childhood and remember what you were passionate about then.   My first attempts at this all came back the same way: “Nothing!  I’ve never been passionate about anything!”  It was very frustrating at the time.  If you experience this, then know that you were passionate about some things, and that if you allow yourself to explore and remember, eventually these things will come back to you.

For example, I was an avid reader, and I still am.  I am passionate about books, well-told stories, and learning. I have always loved science.  Not so much chemistry class, but current scientific discoveries and science fiction, where many things that are now in our world were first invented.  And I loved that, because I’m passionate about the future.  I’m constantly enthralled and intrigued with what we’re discovering about the way the universe works and how we fit into that picture.  All of those things were present in my childhood.

As an adult, I found another tool that got me closer to my passions.  A book called Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham.  This book is the outcome of thousands of interviews that resulted in the definition of 34 strength themes.  The cool thing is it comes with a link to an online quiz that will allow you to personally identify your own top 5 strengths.  Mine are Strategic, Analytic, Futuristic, Restorative and Significance.  You won’t know what these mean until  you read the book, but here’s what I learned: my strengths are my passions.  If I can apply them anywhere in life or business, I can turn on my passion!  And I can create better results.  Now that’s a powerful thing to know.

Would love to hear back if you read the book and take the quiz.  What are your top 5 strengths?

P.S., we can discuss later whether you really only have one life.

From: “Rhonda M. Smith” <rmsmith@breastcancerpartner.com>

Date: October 5, 2011 7:52:49 AM EDT

To: “‘Rhonda M. Smith’” <rmsmith@breastcancerpartner.com>

Subject: please help me spread the word

Greetings,

 

As you may know, in the past year I launched a new business (Breast Cancer Partner) devoted to helping breast cancer survivors recover from treatment by taking more holistic and integrative approach. I am blessed to have found a new focus, direction and sense of purpose in my work and a way to truly make a positive impact in the lives of other women through a health and wellness focus. My mission in my work is to educate, enlighten and empower survivors, as well as other women, to become their own health and wellness advocate so that they can live a life full of energy and vitality.  The change in direction of my work was born out of my own breast cancer experience and my desire to make the necessary changes in my life to put my health and wellness first after realizing what a difference doing this made in my overall quality of life.  Hence, the basis for the Recover Restore Reenergize^Ó Philosophy.

 

In the process of getting Breast Cancer Partner off the ground, I have realized that women in general can also greatly benefit from putting their health and wellness first, becoming their own health and wellness advocate, and from adopting the Recover Restore Reenergize^ãPhilosophy.  I have also realized how much we as women give of ourselves every single day to love, take care of and nurture everything and everyone we’re responsible for in our lives, saving ourselves for last, and truthfully how exhausting that can be whether we acknowledge it or not.  So, it doesn’t matter if she’s a woman recovering from breast cancer, a woman who is enduring the challenges of everyday life, or a woman living out her passion and purpose in the world – all women need to be more mindful about how they live, work and play everyday.

In addition, I’ve observed that the three equal factors that enable a woman to “thrive” and live a life full of vitality with grace, elegance and energy IS her ability to Recover, Restore and Reenergize herself and her life on an ongoing basis. So, I wanted to create something that would serve as a reminder to women and hopefully inspire them to take some time each and everyday to love and nurture themselves in healthful, healing way – The Recover Restore Reenergize^Ó T-shirt:

 

 

So, what I am asking of you is your help in spreading the word about the Recover Restore Reenergize^Ó Philosophy to help me reach as many women as possible in order to encourage them to schedule the time to nurture and love themselves each and everyday, putting their health and wellness first so that they can Recover, Restore and Reenergize themselves on a daily basis and be a better, bolder, brighter transmitter of light, love and energy to the world! 

 

You can do so by sharing this email with your network of friends and offering your endorsement of my work and what the t-shirt represents.  Or, you can order one for you and/or a woman you love and care about.

 

I greatly appreciate your support and thank you for partnering with me to empower and inspire women to adopt the Recover RestoreReenergize^Ó Philosophy!

 

Thanks you and have a fabulous day!

 

 

Rhonda M. Smith

Founder

Breast Cancer Partner

Phone:   (888)-808-4446

Fax (786) 513-4686

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email: rmsmith@breastcancerpartner.com                        

website: www.breastcancerpartner.com