To keep the lessons simple and easy to share, I’ve structured them as a set of 25 lessons. Each lessons is a bit of insight or a way of thinking that you can apply at a micro or macro context. Here are my 25 lessons from John:

1. Above the line or below the line.  Distinguish between what’s "above the line" and what’s "below the line."  Below the line is just doing what’s expected.  If you get it right, nobody cares.  If you get it wrong, or miss the boat, everybody gets upset.  Above the line is where people look for real value.  When you’re doing your job, some things are just expected.  You need to ask, what’s above the line that really counts?
2. Demand side vs. supply side.  When it comes to delivering value, there’s a supply side and a demand side.  On the supply side, it’s what you’re “pushing” out the door.  On the demand side, it’s what people are “pulling” for.  To be relevant, know the demand side.  If you can tap into demand, you can streamline your supply to be relevant and valuable in the eye of the beholder.  To know the demand side requires customer empathy.  It also means knowing where the growth is.   
3. Change the business or run the business.  Some people are change agents at heart.  They have an eye to the future and they like to change and evolve the business.  Others are more focused on running the business.  This means they focus on improving the systems and processes to improve execution and results around the current business.  They are complimentary.  One isn’t better than the other, but sometimes the business needs more influence from one than the other.  Another way of viewing this is a metaphor: CEO (Chief Executive Officer) vs. COO (Chief Operating Officer.)
4. Surprise and pop.  The key to an evocative or sticky idea is to have an element of surprise and “pop” right from the start.   If you just have an intellectually sound idea, it might be missing the emotional element that can take it to the next level.  Surprise and pop are a way to give an idea legs right from the start.
5. Everybody has flaws.  There are no great people.  There are people that do great things.  Heroes fall.  It’s the “feet of clay” scenario. People aren’t heroes, they do heroic things.  The point is, don’t miss the good because of the bad, and don’t get caught up in putting people on pedestals.
6. The customer, the problem, the competition, and success. This is a line of questioning for evaluating a project proposal or when figuring out business strategy or what to do.  To get clarity and focus, you can ask the questions, “what is the customer problem they are trying to solve?” … “who is the competition?” … “what is success?”  They are questions that cut right to the chase.
7. If you’re explaining, you’re losing.  If you have to explain it, you’re losing.  Idea or arguments should resonate.  They should make sense to the audience, simply, without the need for exhaustive elaboration.  If you find yourself explaining, you’re probably losing, and it’s worth either changing your position, or finding a simpler way to make your point.
8. Slippery Slope.  This is a metaphor where a small first step can lead to a chain of events that amplify a negative impact.  For example, if you fall over the edge of a slope, you can slide all the way to the bottom, gaining momentum and force along the way.  You basically slide out of control.  The idea here is to watch out for ideas or solutions or decisions that might seem like little impact up front, but that can lead to a downward spiral out of control.
9. The “How” Trap.  Don’t get stuck in the “How” trap, arguing over how something should get done.  Get the “what” right, first.  Stay focused on the goals, and stay flexible in your approach.  Give smart people the room to creatively solve challenges, rather than dictate their approach.  Agree to the goals and get out of the way.         
10. Periodically surprise people.  To avoid being taken for granted, periodically surprise people.   
11. Simple is always better.  The simplest explanation is the best.  When you have an option between simple and complex, always go for the simpler one.  It’s the one that will succeed in the long run.
12. 3 year Bets / Business Strategy / Roadmap.  When thinking about the business, make a map.  Use a time frame of 3 years to paint a future.  Where do you want to be?  What will the customer look like?  What will demand be?  What will the competition be doing?  How will you scale the business?  Use the 3 year time box to help shape the strategy and to paint a roadmap.  Keep in mind, it’s a straw man that you can evolve, but it helps build a shared picture.
13. You put yourself in your own box.  It’s easy to box ourselves in, either by our thinking or our actions.  Own the box you put yourself in.  Don’t limit yourself.  Don’t let others box you in.  Expand the box. 
14. Fundamentally flawed.   Some ideas never make sense right from the start.  They’re based on an idea or concept that just won’t hold up.  Find the fundamental flaws so you don’t waste time going down a path that will never work.  Don’t fool yourself or ignore the fundamental flaws.  Find them fast, acknowledge them, and move on.
15. The space between the products.    This is often a sweet spot when it comes to adding value for customers.  If you think in terms of a Venn diagram, you can imagine the map of customer demand and you can imagine the map of product or service supply.  The intersection is what’s addressed.  All the open gap where customer demand is unfulfilled becomes opportunity.  You can then evaluate the value of the opportunity.  The space between the products is the domain of opportunity.
16. Watch out for science projects.  When a project is purely academic and has no business case, you can think of it as a science project.  While science projects have value, in the context of business, you need to know the value – both to the business and for the customers. It’s tough to justify science projects in the context of a business.
17. Metrics, people, and process.  A simple frame for thinking about the business is metrics, people, and process.  Take care of the people so you can run the business.   Set the metrics so people buy in and achieve business results.  Improve the processes to support the people and achieve the right results, based on the metrics.
18. Bridging process and people.  Processes should support people, not the other way around.  Bridge the gap between people and process so that people don’t have to work around processes to get things done.  Get rid of processes that don’t work or get in the way.  Provide enough process to go from chaotic results to more predictable impact.
19. It’s leadership failure.   When things fail at a grand scale, it’s leadership failure.  To make progress as a person or a company, stand for something.  Lead the change you want to see.
20. It’s about the people.  The heart of the business is the people.  Focus on the people.  If you take care of the people, they can take care of the business.  Don’t let a focus on the business, turn a blind eye to the people that make it happen.
21. Get clarity on the impact you want to make.  When you’re thinking through your career aspirations, get clarity on what you want to accomplish.  Is it level versus title versus responsibility versus actual customer/business impact versus perceived impact?  … What is the end goal?  Is it the level or the title or the responsibility?  Is it the actual customer/business impact or perceived impact?
22. Live your values.  Life’s short.  Live your values.  Live your values at work.  If the values don’t mesh, it’s not the right place for you.
23. People-centric vs. System-centric.  When you drive a team or organization, you can be people-centric or system-centric.  A people-centric leader focuses on the people and makes the most of the people at hand.  A system-centric leader drives through policy, processes, and procedures, focused more on the system, than the people at hand.  The ideal is a hybrid, blending the best of people-centric and system-centric to enable and support the people for the best impact, in a sustainable way (supported by enough process.)
24. It’s about business strategy.   Technology has to support the business and it can’t be for technology’s sake.  Whether it’s Enterprise Architecture or product XYZ, it’s about the business strategy.  The business is the heart and soul that exists in the long run, and technology is an enabler, not the end, and not the dominant, driving force. 
25. Connection and conviction.  This is a helpful model to think about balancing connection with people, with a conviction to business results or some idea.  The sweet spot is in the middle where you stay connected with people, while having conviction and courage to bring an idea or change to fruition.

Pessimistic ruminators are at the most risk for depression because they replay and dwell on the bad things. Rather than a ruminating pessimist, you can be an action-oriented pessimist. An action-oriented pessimist does not talk to themselves much at all, and when they do, it’s about what they plan to do, not about how bad things are. So then, the key to defeating depression is changing either rumination or pessimism and changing both helps the most.

How the Pessimism-Rumination Chain Leads to Depression
When you ruminate and you have a pessimistic explanatory style, you spiral down. Seligman writes:

Here’s how the pessimism-rumination chain leads to depression: First, there is some threat against which you believe you are helpless.  Second, you look for the threat’s cause, and, if you are a pessimist, the cause you arrive at is permanent, pervasive, and personal. Consequently, you expect to be helpless in the future and in many situations, a conscious expectation that is the last link in the chain, the one triggering depression.

The moral of the story is, either be an action-oriented pessimist, or a ruminating optimist, or ideally an action-oriented optimist that periodically dwells on the bright side of life.

Photo by insertinanename.

My Thoughts on Happiness
I think the key themes boil down to how we talk to ourselves, how we respond to things, how we make meaning, who we spend time with, and how we make the most of what we’ve got.   The other key thing is that happiness is dynamic and it’s not a static state.  It’s about living, learning and growing, and rolling with the punches.  I also think it’s important to think of happiness as a skill.  Drive from happiness.  For durable happiness, lead your happiness from the inside out.  Most importantly – enjoy the process.

Top 10
Here are my top 10 favorite happiness quotes:

1. “Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.” – Pearl S. Buck
2. “I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse.  I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.” – J.D. Salinger
3. “If you think sunshine brings you happiness, then you haven’t danced in the rain.” – Unknown
4. “It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.” – Margaret Bonnano
5. “It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” – Dale Carnegie
6. “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
7. “Nobody can take away your pain, so don’t let anyone take away your happiness.” – Unknown
8. “The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. ” – Charles L. Morgan
9. “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Oppenheim
10. “The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” – Allan K. Chalmers

What is Happiness
According to Wikipedia, happiness is “a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.”    Here are some quotes that illuminate and define happiness from different perspectives:

• “But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?” – Albert Camus
• “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley
• “Happiness is… usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.” – Thomas Szasz
• “Happiness is a direction, not a place.” – Sydney J. Harris
• “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Happiness is a Swedish sunset -it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it.” – Mark Twain
• “Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” – Francesca Reigler
• “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
• “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” – George Burns
• “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
• “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi
• “Happiness is when your mind is thinking through your heart.” – Judi Singleton
• “Happiness, it seems to me, consists of two things: first, in being where you belong, and second -and best -in comfortably going through everyday life, that is, having had a good night’s sleep and not being hurt by new shoes.” – Theodor “Fontane
• “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt
• “Independence is happiness.” – Susan B. Anthony
• “That is happiness; to be dissolved into something completely great.” – Willa Cather
• “There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.” – George Sand
• “To fill the hour -that is happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.” – Edward de Bono
• “Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.” – Sophocles

Skilled Happiness
You can learn to be happy and you can improve your happiness with skills.  When you think of it as a skill, you can change your thinking, feeling, and doing to drive from happiness.  Here are some quotes on building a happiness habit:

• “Everything is material for the seed of happiness, if you look into it with inquisitiveness and curiosity.
• The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment. There always is the potential to create an environment of blame -or one that is conducive to loving-kindness.” – Pema Chodron
• “Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.” – Unknown
• “Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.” – Mildred Barthel
• “Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.” – Elbert Hubbard
• “Happiness is a thing to be practiced, like the violin.” – John Lubbock
• “Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” – Aeschylus
• “Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances.” – J. Donald Walters
• “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama
• “It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.” – Katherine Mansfield
• “Misery is almost always the result of thinking.” – Joseph Joubert
• “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and “start searching for different ways or truer answers.” – M. Scott Peck
• “There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life — happiness, freedom, and peace of mind — are always attained by giving them to someone else.” – Peyton Conway March
• “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” – Helen Keller
• “When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” – Dalai Lama

The Pursuit of Happiness
Chasing happiness can make it elusive.  You have to bake happiness into the journey.  Here are some quotes on pursuing happiness:

• “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne
• “If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.” – Edith Wharton
• “If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator.” – W. Beran Wolfe
• “In the pursuit of happiness, the difficulty lies in knowing when you have caught up.” – R. H. Grenville
• “It’s pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness. Poverty and wealth have both failed.” – Kin Hubbard
• “The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.” – Mark Twain
• “The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase, if you pursue happiness you’ll never find it.” – C. P. Snow
• “The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure.” – Francoise de Motteville
• “There is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -are always attained by giving them to someone else.” – Peyton Conway March
• “We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.” – Walter Savage Landor
• “You can never get enough of what you don’t need to make you happy.” – Eric Hoffer
• “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” – Albert Camus

The Secret of Happiness
You don’t have to climb a mountain and ask a guru about the secret of happiness (although that could be fun.)  You can gain deep insights from some of the various quotes:

• “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” – Benjamin Disraeli
• “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -because we will always want to have something else or something more.” – Brother David Steindl-Rast
• “Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.” – Aristotle
• “Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.” – Helen Keller
• “Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.” – Buddha
• “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” – John Barrymore
• “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” – Albert Schweitzer
• “If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden. He will not be searching for happiness as if it were a collar button that has rolled under the radiator.” – W. Beran Wolfe
• “It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.” – Margaret Bonnano
• “Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller
• “My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right?” – Charles Schulz
• “Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.” – Unknown
• “People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.” – Ramona L. Anderson
• “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
• “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer
• “That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.” – Henry David Thoreau
• “The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
• “The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. And happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy.” – Dalai Lama
• “The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.” – Unknown
• “The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live.” – Bertrand Russell
• “The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness.” – William Saroyan
• “The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances.” – Martha Washington
• “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.” – John Milton
• “There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state to another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.” – Alexandre Dumas
• “To be truly happy and contented, you must let go of what it means to be happy or content.” – Confucius
• “What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.” – Leo Buscaglia

General
Here are some general quotes on happiness:

• “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright
• “All men have a sweetness in their life. That is what helps them go on. It is towards that they turn when they feel too worn out.” – Albert Camus
• “All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within.” – Horace Friess
• “But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine.” – Thomas Jefferson
• “Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.” – Dalai Lama
• “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. Carl Jung
• “Everyone smiles in the same language.” – Unknown
• “Everyone wants to be happy and nobody wants to feel pain, but you can’t make rainbows without any rain.” – Unknown
• “Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Norman MacEwan
• “Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose and the politics of joy.” – Hubert H. Humphrey
• “I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.” – John D. Rockefeller
• “I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein
• “I think I’m afraid to be happy, because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens.” – Charlie Brown
• “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust
• “Love is a condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert Heinlein
• “One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.” – Mark Twain
• “Smile -it makes people wonder what you’re thinking.” – Unknown
• “Smile -tomorrow could be a lot worse.” – Unknown
• “The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?” -  Henry David Thoreau
• “The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
• “The truth which has made us free will in the end make us glad also.” – Felix Adler
• “The world has to learn that the actual pleasure derived from material things is of rather low quality on the whole and less even in quantity than it looks to those who have not tried it.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
• “There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. ” – Carl Jung
• “There is no duty we so underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
• “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.” – James M. Barrie
• “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” – Bertrand Russell
• “What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness.” – Baruch Spinoza
• “When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and night you cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter.” – Albert Camus
• “Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.” – Mark Twain

Ironically, I’m not happy with my collection of happiness quotes — yet.  I think I’m missing some gems.  Help me find the best of the best.  What are your favorite quotes on happiness?

Photo by lepiaf.geo.

An optimist on the other hand, explains it as transient, situational, and specific. For example, you might tell yourself, “this too shall pass” or “it’s the situation” or “in this case, things didn’t go so well.”  When you explain it this way, you condition yourself for learned optimism and you empower yourself to take action.

Photo by skippyjon.

In the book Be the Hero: Three Powerful Ways to Overcome Challenges in Work and Life , Noah Blumenthal writes about 3 types of stories and how to change our stories to improve our results.

People Stories, Situation Stories, and Self-Stories
The following table summarizes the 3 stories, according to Blumenthal, and the victim and hero perspectives for each:

Improve Your Effectiveness Through Stories
You can shift from victim stories to hero stories by asking, “what would the hero see?” or “what would the hero do? “   As simple as this sounds, it combines multiple key skills:

• Mastering your stories. (This helps you avoid fight-or-flight mode and improves your emotional intelligence.)
• Changing focus. (Asking yourself questions changes your focus and puts you in a more resourceful state.
• Finding the positive. (You adopt a positive mindset vs. learned helplessness.)
• Distinguishing between you, the situation, and other people.
• Empathic listening. (This is the # 1 communication skill according to Stephen Covey.)
• Changing mindsets. (This is a simple way to change state without knowing NLP.)
• Reframing (This is a simple way to turn your problems into challenges and opportunities.)

By telling yourself better stories, you can be the hero, one story at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time.

My Related Posts

• Master My Stories
• Strategic Stories
• 3 Stories Leaders Need to Tell

Photo by immortalice.

New Jersey, Key West and Vegas 
Our original plan was to swim with the dolphins, but we made the trip up as we went along.   We stayed flexible and planned loosely around spending a week in Jersey, a week in the Keys, and a week in Vegas.  While we didn’t do it all, we did a lot … from jet skiing around the island of Key West to skimming across the Florida Everglades in an airboat to horseback riding in the desert.  The scenery across the country from snow storms to sunsets was flat out amazing and the pockets of history and culture were evocative and inspiring.  Stories like finding a sunken Spanish ship, the Atosha, with more than $300 million in gold, silver and emeralds renewed my lust for treasure hunting, Jacques Cousteau style.  It’s a vivid reminder that our vast seas are rich with history and artifacts.

Why a Road Trip?
There’s nothing like doing a “choose your own adventure” with your personal “iron horse” on the open road.

It’s freedom at its finest.  My favorite part though is the “think time.’” It’s where I think my best thoughts, and I always reinvent myself.  Road trips also remind you of what’s important.  You can only bring so much.  Getting away from everything for a while is also a great way to get perspective.  It’s funny what you miss and what you don’t.  

The other big thing with road trips is that they test you.  All you bring is you.  Sometimes you have the skills you need, and other times you’re like a fish out of water.  I felt way more skilled for this trip than I had been in the past. 

At the end of the day, the skill that always helps me the most is asking better questions.   The thing that always surprises me the most is how different places feel.  It’s a wide spectrum and Key West doesn’t feel like the Everglades doesn’t feel like New Orleans doesn’t feel like Vegas.  I really enjoy the mash up and variety of culture that you can only get from a cross-country trip.

The Route at a Glance 
Here’s a snapshot of the route at a glance:

From Washington to N.J. …
It took us 2 and a 1/2 days to get from Washington to N.J.  We left Sat, Oct. 3rd, late in the afternoon, and arrived at our destination in N.J. late Monday night, Oct. 5th.  

We made good time despite Sunday’s adventures.  On Sunday we woke up to a blanket of snow in Twin Falls, Idaho.  There were flashes of light and the truck stop lost power.  We hadn’t expected snow and the last thing I wanted to do was get snowed in.  We hit the road fast and got back on the highway noticing road closures along the way.  We escaped the snow and ended up in freezing rain, which gradually tapered off.  It was smooth sailing until we hit torrential down pours and did a bit of hydroplaning. 

We escaped the torrential downpours and had smooth sailing once again until we hit the most amazing fog.  There was even a sign for it.  The fog was as thick as pea soup and lasted for more than 50 miles.  I was impressed.

Monday’s drive was simple compared to the snow, rain, and fog of the day before.  It gave me a lot of time for wandering thoughts and soaking up the scenery of the states we passed through.

We made good time largely because of the higher speed limits and open roads.  Talk about beautiful highways.  This is one of the first times I could really see tax dollars at work.  Many, many of the miles were either freshly paved or in progress.

N.J. Highlights
N.J. was about friends, family, food and memory lane – visiting the old stomping grounds and noticing the changes. 

N.J. in the Fall is fresh and the air is crisp.  With the turning of the leaves and the blaze orange, yellows and reds, it’s a visual reminder why N.J.’s official nickname is the Garden State.

From N.J. to Key West …
It took us a full day to get from N.J. to Key West.  We left Sunday night (Oct. 11) and got there Monday night (Oct. 12.) 

We left late on Sunday, after lunch with family in N.J. and then dinner in PA with some friends, so we did the bulk of the driving on Monday.  I was amazed how quickly the temperature shot up when we hit Florida.  It felt like when you open the oven and the hot air envelops you.

Key West Highlights
Key West is America’s only Caribbean Island and it’s the Southernmost point in the contiguous 48 states. 

As dense as it is, it feels like a village on a tropical island paradise.  After all, it’s only 4 miles long and 2 miles wide.  For a small island, it’s rich with history and character.  Jimmy Buffet created a Margaritaville, Earnest Hemmingway made it his home, and President Truman escaped to the Keys after his heart attack. 

Here are some of the things we did in Key West: 

• Sunset Celebrations at Mallory Square.  This is a daily ritual in Key West.  People gather in Mallory Square each night as the sun goes down, while entertainers entertain, photographers snap the setting sun, and everyone soaks up the ambiance as day becomes night.
• Duval Street.  This is where the action is. New Orleans has Bourbon Street, Las Vegas has the strip, and Key West has Duval Street.  It’s full of bars, shops, and restaurants, each with their own personality and features. 
• Jet skiing. We took a scenic 26 mile trip around the island.  I felt the need for speed, so I went full throttle for a few stretches (50+ miles per hour.)
• Sailing, snorkeling, and kayaking.  We took the Danger Charters packaged tour as a convenient way to explore sailing, snorkeling and kayaking in Key West.
• Ghost tour.  Talk about colorful stories.  This was an interactive tour.  We hunted for ghosts while we listened to stories ranging from a haunted doll to somebody who just couldn’t part with his wife, long after she was gone. 
• Hemmingway House.  I liked this mostly for it’s historical aspects.  Hemmingway was an author, adventurer and novelist.  I always like to see where amazing people have spent their time.
• Lighthouse.   Talk about amazing views from up above.  The island is extremely flat so you can see a lot from the lighthouse.  There is no elevator up.  Instead, you climb a spiral stair case to the top and from there you can walk out  to the rim around the lighthouse and find your best views.
• Buried treasure.  While I didn’t go hunting for any on this trip, I listened to the stories, checked out the museum, and enjoyed a book that goes in depth behind the scenes of the lives of real treasure hunters.
• Aquarium.   I’m a sucker for aquariums.
• Fort Zachary Beach.  It felt odd going through a military base to get to the beach, but once we got to the beach, it was another world.
• Butterfly exhibit.  Imagine walking through a garden where butterfly after butterfly flutter past you, in all different colors, shapes, and sizes.  Some of the butterflies looked unreal they were so colorful. A Juggler, Escape Artist, and Acrobat Extraordinaire
  At the Sunset Celebrations, we got a first-hand look at amazing feats of physical prowess.  I always enjoy watching people push their physical skills to the max, whether it’s defying gravity or simply performing a complex skill that requires precision and accuracy.   The main acts we watched were the escape artist, the juggler, and the acrobat. It’s one thing to see escape artists on T.V.  It’s another to see them work their skills right before your eyes.  This guy really slithered and shook his way out of quite the bind.

The juggler / unicycler wasn’t your everyday juggler.  This was a real dare-devil juggling act.  The juggler first climbs a ladder he balances on its two feet, then mounts a 10 feet tall unicycle, and then juggle flames.

The acrobat was John Allicock.  John is known as Dr. Juice, and he’s an acrobat with the Calypso Tumblers.  He’s 51.  Of course that’s tough to believe when he’s flipping through the air or doing push ups while his legs are straight up in the air.  I took a picture of him in action, while he was in mid-flip (he’s the upside down ball in the picture below.)

Here is the juggler tossing his flaming batons from on top of his 10 feet tall unicycle … 

Here’s the escape artist in a straight jacket and chains …

Here is the acrobat, flipping above an audience member lying on the ground …

Sailing, Snorkeling and Kayaking
This was a nice action pack combo with Danger Charters. 
 

We sailed out from the island and explored the water and wild life.  We got up close and personal with the reefs, as the water shimmered under the golden sun.

From Key West to Las Vegas
This part of the trip took us about 3 days.  We left Key West on Tuesday (Oct. 20th), and arrived in Vegas on Friday (Oct. 23rd.)  

When we left Key West, we stopped at the Ever Glades to see some alligators and take a spin on an air boat through the swamps before hitting the road again. 

In Louisiana, We had lunch at The Gumbo Shop in New Orleans, which turned out to be fantastic.  The food and ambiance were perfect.  I couldn’t help thinking about the impact of Hurricane Katrina, but it was nice to see New Orleans and it felt good. 

In Texas, we had  lunch at a steak house in Ozona.  When a Texas ranger showed up for lunch, I couldn’t help but think of Walker Texas Ranger.  My highlight for this leg of the trip is that the speed limit was 80 MPH for long stretches over rolling hills and scenic desert through Texas on Interstate. 10.

Skimming Across the Ever Glades
There really is nothing like skimming across the Everglades in an air boat …

Is it just me, or is the alligator headed my way smiling? …

Las Vegas Highlights
Las Vegas was about food, family and fun.  I played tennis for the first time in a long, long time.  After I made 3 perfect serves, I called it quits so I could end on a high note.  I forgot how good it feels to put my skills to work on the court and it was a sharp reminder that I really could use some lessons.

We considered hitting the Mob tour or checking out a ghost town, but we ended up choosing horseback riding as the main adventure.

Horseback Riding in the Red Rocks 
We like horses and we thought this would be a good way to enjoy the scenery.  We were right.

 
My horse’s name was Cinnamon and she was very good to me.  We followed a trail through the Red Rocks which is actually an extinct volcano. 

The Strip
We hit the strip in Vegas during the day.  I knew tourism was down, but it really felt pretty empty.

With the lack of crowds, it was pretty easy to walk the strip and check out all the sites pretty quickly.  Lady Luck didn’t smile my way, but we had fun checking out the various casinos and bright, shiny objects.

From Las Vegas to Washington
It took us about a day to get from Las Vegas to Washington. 

We left Tue (Oct. 27th) and arrived in Washington on Wednesday (Oct. 28th.)  

Sunrises and Sunsets
I’m a fan of sunrises and sunsets, especially on the road.   Here are a few of my favorite snapshots … 
A sunset in Mallory Square in Key West …

A sunset from Fort Zachary in Key West …

A sunrise from a truck stop in Arizona …

I thought we were driving right into the sun.  I think this was a sunset in Texas …

Lessons Learned
Traveling and the open road is always a great place for lessons and reminders.  Here are a few of my lessons:

• Maps and goals.  Without a map, you’ll be lucky if you get there.  Without goals, it doesn’t matter.  With goals and  a map, you get more of what you want.
• It’s the journey and the destination.  Savor the moments.  It’s what you make of it.  Make the most of it.
• Life’s not static.  Things change.  People change.
• There’s no place like home.  Home is where your heart is.
• Have as many good runs as you can.  Life is like skiing.  As Seth Godin put it, have as many good runs as you can before the sun sets.
• Wherever you go, there you are.  You always take you with you.  Bring your best self.  This includes your attitude and your skills.
• The journey of 10,000 miles starts with one.  Enjoy a mile at a time.  Thinking about 10,000 miles can be overwhelming.  Eating a mile at a time is simple.

I’ll be back.  Rather than keep it indefinite, let’s just say I’ll be back in November.  Every now and then I take some down time.  It’s one of my renewal patterns.  It’s partly why I like doing projects and why I like the change of seasons.  Great down time, helps me with great up time.  I remember Deepak Chopra once saying something like the child sleeps so well, because the child plays so hard.

I considered posting during my downtime, but that’s just now how I do my downtime.  Instead, I decided I would post on three things …

3 Things
In the spirit of The Rule of 3, I have 3 things in this post:
1. One Lesson
2. One Story
3. One Ask

One Lesson
I tried to think of the most valuable lesson I’ve ever learned.  I want to share that with you now:

… Think the thoughts that serve you.

How do you lead your best life?  A thought at a time.  This is where it all starts.  You’re the thinker of your thoughts.  Each thought can help you spiral up, or it can tear you down.  Your thoughts control how you feel (just try spending a day thinking about the best in your life, then compare that to spending a day thinking of the worst in your life.)  You can be your best coach, or you can be your worst critic.  You probably know how to push your own buttons better than anybody you know.

One of my most empowering questions is, “What’s the next best thing for me to do?”  Usually, I know the answer, and all I have to do, is just do it.  When I don’t know the answer, then the next best thing for me to do is ask.  The trick is asking the right people, and asking the right way.

The secret to thinking the thoughts that serve you is changing the questions you ask yourself.  Instead of asking, “why me?”, ask questions like, “what’s next?” or “what’s my best response?” or “what’s my next best move?”, or “who can I learn from?”  You lead your best life, a thought at a time, shaped by a question at at time.  Now that you know the secret, you’ll catch yourself.  When you catch yourself thinking like a victim, ask yourself empowering questions.  Changing your question, changes your focus.  Changing your focus, changes your life.

One Story
I originally started Sources of Insight to  help anybody be their best in any situation.  I wanted to share the best insights and actions from books, people, and quotes to help everyday people become everyday heroes (one of my mantras is, “exponential results for the underdog.”)  I focus on giving you the best patterns and practices for mind, body, emotions, career, financial, relationships, and fun.  In a nutshell, it’s about sharing the wisdom of the ages, and standing on the shoulders of giants.  Imagine if you had the best answer or the best response for any situation?  It’s all about skilled living.  It’s about a life by design over a life by default.

I’m on my path, but I also know there is so much more to it.  How do I know?  I experienced it.  A few weeks back, I had a dream.  I was at a conference and Sources of Insight was projected on an enormous screen, larger than life.  Only it didn’t look like Sources of Insight, it looked more like a choose your own adventure map.  The closer I got to it, the more I was in it.  It was immersive.  Next thing you know, I was walking through a hall of heroes.  As I passed da Vinci, Socrates, Covey, Bruce Lee and other heroes, I absorbed their super skill. It was like a Vulcan Mind Meld on steroids. It was literally walking in a Wisdom Wonderland.

When I woke up, I remember thinking how harsh it is that we start from scratch.  So much of the best know how is spread over time and space.   It reminded me that it’s not about access to information or more information.  It’s all about useful information.  It’s about cutting to the chase to find the keys to improving mind, body, emotions, career, financial, relationships, and fun.  What you don’t know can hurt you, and what you do know, can help you.

One Ask
I have one ask.  If you use Sources of Insight, share your story with me … How do you use Sources of Insight?   This is your chance to help me influence the future of Sources of Insight.

Photo by richkidsunite.

So tell me … are you feeling lucky?  You can build a “lucky mindset” that either works for you or against you.   If you think the world conspires with you, or if you think the world conspires against you, you’re right.   Your views on luck can dramatically influence your success.  For example, if you think that success is out your control, then there’s no point in trying too hard.  On the other hand, if you think you can influence success through the right actions and the right mindsets, you’ll work at improving your success.

What the Great Ones Teach Us On Luck
Edward de Bono teaches us that luck runs the spectrum from very good luck to very bad luck.  Sometimes it really is about being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time.  Malcolm Gladwell teaches us that when it comes to personal performance, it’s not luck, it’s deliberate practice.  Nassim Nicholas Taleb teaches us not to mistake dumb luck for extreme skill.

Make Your Own Luck
Personally, I like the advice from a friend long ago.  He said, “Luck is when skill and opportunity come together.”  What I’ve found is that many things that look like luck at first blush, really are part of a system.  That said, of course, I know some things are unknowable.  In those cases, I focus on calculated risk.

This post is a collection of my favorite luck quotes.  In the words of Bruce Lee, “absorb what is useful.”

Top 10
Here are my top 10 favorite luck quotes:

• “Chance favors the prepared mind.“ – Louis Pasteur
• “Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit.“ – R.E. Shay
• “Diligence is the mother of good luck.“ – Benjamin Franklin
• “If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.“ – Henry Ford
• “In short, Luck’s always to blame.“  – Jean De La Fontaine
• “Luck is the residue of design.“ – Branch Rickey
• “Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.“ – Earl Wilson
• “The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.“ – Wilson Mizner
• “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.“ – Harry Golden
• “The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.“ – Edward Gibbon

More Quotes on Luck …
Here are more quotes on luck:

• “Ability is of little account without opportunity.“ – Lucille Ball
• “Bad things happen to good people.“  – Saying
• “Being deeply learned and skilled, being well trained and using well spoken words; This is good luck.“ – Saying
• “Don’t luck into success.“ – Saying
• “Everything in life is luck.“ – Donald Trump
• “Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.“ – William Shakespeare
• “Good luck beats early rising.“ – Proverb
• “Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.“ – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Good luck is the willing handmaid of a upright and energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.“ – James Russell Lowell
• “Good things come to those who wait.“ – Saying
• “I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?“ – Jean Cocteau
• “If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favorable.“ – Seneca
• “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.“ – Thomas Jefferson
• “If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness.“ – Les Brown
• “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.“ – Albert Einstein
• “It’s hard to detect good luck – it looks so much like something you’ve earned.“- Frank A. Clark
• “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.“ – John Lennon
• “Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it, there will be a fish.“ – Ovid
• “Luck has a peculiar habit of favoring those who don’t depend on it.“ – Anonymous
• “Luck is believing you’re lucky.“ – Tennessee Williams
• “Luck is tenacity of purpose.“ – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Luck is the idol of the idle. – Proverb
• “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. – Seneca
• “Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. – Langston Coleman
• “Luck never gives; it only lends.“ – Proverb
• “Luck never made a man wise.“ – Seneca
• “Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid.“ – John Dewey
• “Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work – and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.“ – Lucille Ball
• “Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.“ – Proverb
• “Maybe I’m lucky to be going so slowly, because I may be going in the wrong direction.“ – Ashleigh Brilliant
• “May good luck be your friend in whatever you do and may trouble be always a stranger to you.“ – Saying
• “May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.“ – Saying
• “Nature creates ability; luck provides it with opportunity.“ – François de la Rochefoucauld
• “Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.“ – Thomas Edison
• “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.“ – Demosthenes
• “Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.“ – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “So it’s probably eighty percent luck and twenty percent skill.“ – Chris LeDoux
• “The day you decide to do it is your lucky day.“ – Proverb
• “The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.“ – Tony Robbins
• “The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.“ – Bret Harte
• “Unlucky at cards, lucky in love.“ – Proverb
• “When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky.“ – Dr. Armand Hammer

What are your favorite quotes on luck?

My Related Posts

• Luck and Success
• Motivation Quotes
• Productivity Quotes

Photo by dearoot.

If you know the cycle you’re in, you can make more effective decisions.  You can anticipate instead of react.  I’ve been trying to get a handle on the economy to know what to expect and to figure out what the best moves are.  The New Economy Cycle is apparently one of the most important financial planning cycles for your life, your investments, and your business.  It’s less about the day to day decisions, and more about the big structural decisions you make in your life, such as where to live, what jobs to do, what to learn in school, … etc.

The New Economy Cycle of today is 80 years. It used to be 58-60 years.  During the cycle, the economy moves through four seasons.  At a high level, the overall cycle starts with innovation in key niches.  Gradually, the changes move to mainstream, and there’s a growth boom.  Next, there is a shakeout which is an extreme downturn and economic correction. Finally, there is a maturity stage where prices stabilize.

In the book,The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History , Harry S. Dent writes about today’s 80-year generation-based New Economy Cycle.   Whether or not his predictions are right, Dent makes me think and it’s a new lens for looking at the big picture.  What I think is interesting is that his fundamental model is based on demographics and trends.

Key Take Aways
Here are my key take aways:

• The seasons of the economy are largely predictable.   While you can’t anticipate disruptions and other surprises, you can look at the bigger picture in terms of the markets overall patterns for rising and falling.
• Think in terms of 4 seasons.  The four seasons are: Innovation Season, Growth Boom Season, Shakeout Season, and Maturity Boom Season.  The Innovation Season is where radical new technologies and products first move into niche markets.  It’s where inflation rates rise and peak.  The Growth Boom, follows the innovation season.  It’s where the innovative generation grows up and learns and spends more money while adopting new technologies into the mainstream.  The Shakeout Season is where deflation and depression set in.  The Maturity Boom is where the economy becomes fully saturated with the new technologies, and this triggers the next radical innovation and inflation cycle.
• Missing the changes in the seasons can be devastating.  If you don’t know you’re in a downward trend, you could be swimming upstream against the current instead of riding a wave.
• The previous New Economy Cycle was 58-60 years.  Before the early to mid-1900’s the old New Economy Cycle occurred every 58-60 years.
• Today’s New Economy Cycle is 80 years.  According to Dent, the rise in the middle-class populations from the Industrial Revolution stretched the old New Economy Cycle from the Kondratieff Wave, to the 80-year generation-based New Economy Cycle of today.  The Kondratieff Wave was simply made up of two 29-30 year Commodity Cycles.  The 80-year generation-based New Economy cycle includes two 40-year generation boom and bust cycles.

Wiped Out in 3 Years
You can lose more in the downturn, than you make in the upswing.  Dent writes:

You don’t have to catch all the corrections and crisis along the way in each major boom and bust to progress in your quality of life and your standard of living, but missing the changes in these seasons can be devastating.  The entire gains of the Roaring Twenties were wiped out in just three years.

The Seasons of the Economy are Largely Predictable
Dent writes:

… these seasons of the economy are largely predictable.  Thousands of years ago, we learned how to chart and predict the annual weather seasons with great implications for agricultural planning and advances in our standard of living.  Even before that we learned how to track migration cycles for animals and to make clothes and store food in preparation for winter when we ere in the hunting and gathering stage.  The most remarkable insight in modern times is of unprecedented scientific advances and expanded predictability in most arenas is that economists, politicians, businesses, and investors still don’t see clear seasons and cycles in our economy, stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities – even though they follow similar longer-term seasons with regularity.

The 80-Year Generation Based New Economy Cycle
The New Economy Cycle used to be 58-60 years, but now it’s 80 years.  Dent writes:

In our lifetime, the New Economy Cycle has developed over about 80 years in four distinct seasons, but before the early to mid-1900’s it occurred about every 58 to 60 years.  Rising middle-class populations from the Industrial Revolution stretched the old New Economy Cycle from the Kondratieff Wave (which is simply compromised of two 29- to 30-year Commodity Cycles) to the 80-year generation boom and bust cycles) and we are likely to return to the 58- to 60-year cycle in the future as generational cycles recede in importance with falling birthrates around the world.

My Related Posts

• You Lose More Money When Stocks Go Down
• How Much Profitability Do You Need?
• The Five Small Business Success Formulas

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Peter Drucker was a leader in management philosophy and effectiveness.  As a writer, management consultant, and social ecologist, he played an influential role in shaping key concepts around business, innovation, decision making, leadership, productivity, time management, and personal effectiveness.  He first coined the term “knowledge worker” back in 1959, and helped pioneer knowledge work productivity.

I originally stumbled across Drucker while I was studying effective decision making techniques and I found that he was a wealth of insight in many other areas.  Drucker had a crisp way of making his points and he challenged the status quo.  I think what I liked most about Drucker was his ability to articulate things that you know to be true.  While I never got to meet Drucker, I get to study his legacy in the form of several books and great quotes.  This post is a walkthrough of the lessons I’ve learned as well as my favorite Drucker quotes.

My Top 10 Lessons from Peter Drucker
These are my top 10 lessons from Peter Drucker:

• 3 answers for the second half of life.  According to Drucker, there are 3 answers for the second half of life: 1) start a second career, 2) develop a parallel career, and 3) become a “social entrepreneur.” (See 3 Answers for the Second Half of Life)
• 3 kinds of innovation.  According to Drucker, there are 3 kinds of innovation:  1) process, 2) product, and 3) market. (See Innovation Objectives.)
• Boundary conditions for effective decisions.   Think of success in terms of a range or continuum of possibilities.  Know the boundary conditions for your important decisions.  Know what good looks like.  Know the minimum the decision needs to satisfy.  Don’t depend on everything going as planned.  Know when you need to abandon a decision.  If the decision is a failure from the start, don’t go down that path.  (See Boundary Conditions for Effective Decisions.)
• Consolidate your discretionary time.  Figure out how much discretionary time you have.  Consolidate your operating work for Mondays and Fridays.  Use your power hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for your high priority work.  Work from home one day a week.  (See Consolidate Your Discretionary Time.)
• First know what’s right.  First know what’s right for effective decision making.  To make the right compromise, first know what right is.  Don’t worry whether it’s liked, worry whether it’s right.  After you know what’s right, then you can compromise.  (See First Know What’s Right for Effective Decision Making.)
• How much profit do you really need to make? Know the minimum profitability you need to survive. Know the minimum might be higher than you expected.  Plan for minimum profitability over profit maximization.  (See How Much Profitability Do You Need?.)
• Know thy time.  Time is the scarcest resource.  You can’t make more time.  You have what you got.  Make the most of it.  Log and analyze your time.  Consider keeping lits of deadlines for urgent and unpleasant tasks.  Effective people make it a habit to work at improving their time management.  (See Know Thy Time.)
• Opinions over facts for effective decision making.  Know that decisions are judgments.  Start with opinions over facts.  Know the criteria of what’s relevant.  Test your opinions against reality.  (See  Opinions Over Facts for Effective Decision Making.)
• What is the relevant decision making criteria.  Know what to measure.  Whatever you measure isn’t the answer.  It’s about judgment.  Finding the right measurements is risk-taking judgment.  Insist on having alternatives to choose from.  (See What is the Relevant Decision Making Criteria.)
• What our business is, will be, and should be.   Don’t spend your energy defending yesterday.  Instead, spend your energy exploiting today and the future. (See What Our Business Is, Will Be, and Should Be.)

More Lessons from Peter Drucker
In addition to my top 10 lessons, I’ve learned several other key lessons from Drucker.  I regularly draw from Drucker for advice when it comes to thinking about time management or how to make better decisions or how to think about business impact.  I think Drucker also helped pave the way for thinking about employee engagement and employee empowerment.

Photo by laffy4k.

Here are some more of my lessons from Peter Drucker.

• 4 major time-wasters caused by management deficiency.  There are 4 main signs of management deficiency: 1) lack of system foresight 2) overstaffing 3) malorganization, and 4) malfunction in information (See 4 Major Time-Wasters Caused by Management Deficiency.)
• 4 Types of Problems.  Know the four types of problems: 1) truly generic, 2) truly unique, 3) generic, but unique for the situation, and 4) new generic problem.  (See 4 Types of Problems.)
• 5 bad entrepreneurial habits.  The 5 bad entrepreneurial habits are: 1) Not invented here 2) Creaming 3) Quality 4) Premium price 5)  Maximize rather than optimize.  (See 5 Bad Entrepreneurial Habits.)
• Decentralization and simplification.  Companies work best when they are decentralized.
• Develop disagreement rather than consensus.  Don’t make a decision unless there’s disagreement.  Disagreement provides alternatives, stimulates the imagination, and helps you break out of preconceived notions.  Understand the alternatives.  Know why people disagree.  Know both sides of the issues.  (See Develop Disagreement Rather Than Consensus.)
• Effectiveness over universal expert.  You can’t be an expert in all things.  You can round out your knowledge and get the basics, while still specializing in a few areas.  (See Effectiveness Over Universal Expert.)
• Employees are assets.  Employees are assets not liabilities.
• Focus on the customer.  The primary function of a business is to serve the customer and the primary goal of your business is to create customers.
• Half a loaf over half a baby.  Half a loaf is better than no bread.  Half a baby is worse than none.  (See Half a Loaf Over Half a Baby.)
• Innovation Objectives.   Innovation is how you grow your business.  The key challenge with innovation objectives is measuring relative impact and importance.  (See Innovation Objectives.)
• Know where your time goes.  To manage your time, you need to know where it goes.  The only way to know where you spend your time is to log it.  Your memory tells you that you spend time where you think you should spend your time, but it’s wrong.  (See Know Where Your Time Goes.)
• Manage by objectives.  Set the goals and get out of the way.  Help unblock people, enable and empower people to reach the goals.  Avoid the how trap.
• Non-profits provide fulfillment.  When you can’t find fulfillment at work, you might find it by volunteering for a non-profit.
• Planned abandonment.  Plan an ending.  Determine how long the commitment will be for, and create some boundaries around it.  If you won’t have enough time to finish it, don’t take it on.  Build in a review mechanism so you can determine whether to continue or change course or stop.  When you stop something, you make room for something else.
• Productivity objectives.  Results are the best way to compare effectiveness.  Quality of management is a key differentiator.  Focus on continuous productivity improvement.  (See Productivity Objectives.)
• Resource objectives.  Your business needs to attract land, labor and capital.  Your jobs have to satisfy the business and the people in the market.  The first sign of decline is loss of attraction to qualified, ambitious people.  Design jobs to attract and retain the kind of people you want.  (See Resource Objectives.)
• Service to others.   Business should contribute to society and to the greater good.
• Social responsibility objectives.  Bake social objectives into your strategy.  Society and the economy need to believe that your business serves a necessary, useful and productive job.  Think through your social and economic impact and responsibilities.  (See Social Responsibilities Objectives.)

Peter Drucker Quotes
It’s not just what he said, but how he said it.  Drucker had a way of nailing key concepts with precision.  His one-liners pack a lot of wisdom and insight into a bite-sized nugget, that’s easy to share.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

Photo by cote.

• Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.
• Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got.
• Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.
• Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.
• Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
• Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
• Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
• Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.
• Management by objective works – if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don’t.
• Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
• Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.
• My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.
• No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.
• People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
• Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
• Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.
• The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
• The best way to predict the future is to create it.
• The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.
• The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.
• The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.
• The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
• The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.
• The purpose of a business is to create a customer.
• There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
• Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.
• Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.
• Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes… but no plans.
• We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.

As you can see, Drucker paved a path for effectiveness and you can apply his insights and perspectives to work and life.