Xtraordinary Living Blog

Why Learning A New Skill Is Like Having A Baby

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:42:37 PST

I recently came across and article that I felt was very appropriate for the "time challenged" among us.

One of the reasons people are always looking for shortcuts is because there is so much more to do than we have time for. Therefore we are always running short on time and putting things off until some magical "later" when we will have time.

Imagine you just had a baby. And that baby demanded your attention. At 3am. At 6am. At 9am. What are you going to do? Are you simply going to turn back the clock? Or tend to the baby?

If you speak to parents of newborns they are never ever prepared for the onslaught of time.

It’s like their fortress of sleep and sanity has been invaded. They can’t focus; they can’t keep awake. And no matter how many times you tell them to be prepared for the sleepless nights, they can never ever be prepared. The first time they understand what it means to be in a perpetual emergency state is when they actually have the baby.

Continued...

Amazing hand art

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:42:20 PDT

It is always fascinating to me when creative people make simple everyday things look extraordinary. Enjoy the following hand painted masterpieces.

Are you looking for employment?

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:29:00 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

Here's some great advice for people who are currently seeking employment. It is by Seth Godin.

The three elements of full employment

You will never be out of work if you can demonstrably offer one of the following:

* Sales
* Additive effort
* Initiation

Sales speaks for itself. If you can sell enough to cover what you cost and then some, there will always be someone waiting to hire you.

Additive effort is distinguished from bureaucracy or feel-good showing up. Additive effort generates productivity far greater than the overhead you add to the organization. If your skills make the assembly line go twice as fast, or the sales force becomes more effective, or the travel office cuts its costs, then you've produced genuine value. That surly receptionist at the doctor's office--she's just filling a chair.

The third skill is the most difficult to value, but is ultimately the most valuable. If you're the person who can initiate useful action, if you're the one who makes something productive or transformative happen, then smart organizations will treasure you.

It's easy to fall for this scam

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:11:24 PDT

The following is a scam alert. I received this from LifeLock, very reputable firm that I use for protecting against identity theft. By the way, I also highly recommend you check out LifeLock as a way to minimize the odds that you will become a victim of identity theft.

Type: Jury Duty Vishing Scam

Method of Delivery: Phone call from an alleged court officer

Primary Region Effecgted: Reports from 11 states, including: Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, California, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Hampshire; may spread nationally

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (www.fbi.gov)

Scam Characteristics: A caller identifies him/herself as an officer of the court and notifies the victim that a warrant has been issued for their arrest for a failure to report for jury duty. If the victim protests they have never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks for a Social Security number and date of birth to verify the victim's identity and cancel the arrest warrant. This fraud is spreading quickly and has been reported in 11 states so far.

Recommended Precautions:

Be Suspicious
These vishing scams (a combination of the words "voice" and "phishing") are designed to get you to provide criminals with your personal and financial information. Most organizations will not ask you to provide your sensitive information during an unsolicited phone call, so any caller that does should immediately send up a red flag.

Never Provide Your Sensitive Information to Unsolicited Callers
Sensitive information includes your Social Security number, your credit card or debit card numbers, your birth date or birthplace, your vehicle registration plate number, and any other information you wish to keep private.

Contact the Court in Question
To determine the legitimacy of the call, contact the court in question at a number that can be found in the phone book, on a phone directory website, or by calling directory assistance.

Sensitive information includes your Social Security number, your credit card or debit card numbers, your birth date or birthplace, your vehicle registration plate number, and any other information you wish to keep private.

Is customer service an investment or an expense?

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:39:31 PDT

I have a Dell computer that is still under an extended warranty I purchased last year. I've been having some minor and mostly annoying problems with my computer for months. Two days ago, I contacted Dell about the problem and today, a Dell technician came over and repaired my computer. Pretty impressive, right? Unfortunately, no.

This is because my call to Dell two days ago was my third call. Both previous times I spent over two hours during each session working with a tech support person over the phone. And after all that time, my problems weren't fixed. They kept insisting that the problem was something other than their computer.

First they blamed it on a Microsoft Windows problem. Unfortunately thanks to the lousy quality of Windows products, that was a very plausible explanation. So after spending several more hours re-installing Windows and all my other software, the problem was still there.

The next time I called, they blamed the problem on my monitor. They said because the monitor was of too high resolution for the graphics card in the computer, I needed to upgrade my card. The fact that I had had no problem with the same monitor for a couple of years, didn't seem to matter. Turns out that after replacing the card - at my cost, the problem still wasn't solved.

After talking to my BNI's computer geek and explaining what I was going through, he said that unfortunately my experience wasn't uncommon. I was just about ready to bite the bullet and get a new computer, when I decided to give Dell a call one more time. This time I made it very clear from the onset that I wasn't interested in getting any more diagnosis over the phone. I told them that I simply wanted to know if they intended to honor their warranty or not.

I will never know what caused my issue to be finally handled in an appropriate manner. It might have been my attitude or my luck with finding a customer service rep that cared. Or it could well be some other formula that they have at Dell that says that if a customer has tried X times to resolve the problem to no avail and they keep calling, then maybe they should take care of the problem.

What I do know is this: Dell blew it! I'm certain that they have lost money on my extended warranty sale. But more importantly, they have lost my trust, my goodwill and most likely my future business. They might have been better off treating me poorly and saved themselves the cost of trying to fix my problem.

Back to my question on the title of the post: is customer service an investment or an expense? Had Dell done what they ended up doing for me on my first call to them, it would have definitely been an investment. The way they did it, turned out to be an expense. What a shame.

Japanese Rice Fields - Amazing art

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:03:00 PDT

Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan. But this is no alien creation - the designs have been cleverly planted.

Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colors of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields.

As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.

A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants, the colors created by using different varieties, in Inakadate in Japan The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Toyko, where the tradition began in 1993.

The village has now earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry and this year the enormous pictures of Napoleon and a Sengoku-period warrior, both on horseback, are visible in a pair of fields adjacent to the town hall.

More than 150,000 visitors come to Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, every summer to see the extraordinary murals. Each year hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in late May across huge swathes of paddy fields.

Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies, created by precision planting and months of planning between villagers and farmers in Inkadate

What else are we missing?

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:57:28 PDT

Image by wmacphail via Flickr

This is a true story. You can read the full article here. It is one of the reasons why I'm so fascinated about the work that I do with people. It shows that our thoughts and perceptions greatly impact feelings which in turn impact our actions and our results. As you read this story, ask yourself: what does this mean for me? How would I have responded?

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed.. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin valued at $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the price of seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

Ideas are a dime a dozen - execution is not

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:54:42 PDT

I often get asked if I am not worried that someone will take the concept behind QuoteActions and "steal it." My response to that is - "Let them go at it." This is because the idea behind QuoteActions is very simple. However, the execution is not.

Business people are very protective about their ideas. They mistakenly believe that the value is in the idea. The fact is, that there is very little value in an idea - how many great ideas you've had and have done nothing with them?

Conclusion: great ideas are worthless until executed. One mediocre idea executed brilliantly is much better than a great idea executed poorly.

I will be sharing some more about this subject in future posts.

Photographs from Patrick Notly

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:33:00 PDT

Remember that this fellow has Autism. What a beautiful way to communicate

Enjoy the ride; there is no return ticket!

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:47:00 PDT

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Another powerful message from the late George Carlin. Enjoy!

George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Ooooh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take your breath away."

More Amazing Photographs from Patrick Notly

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:24:00 PDT

The power of the Elbs

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:18:00 PDT

I was recently struggling with a task when I received a wonderful article. Rather than paraphrase it, I decided to post it here for your enjoyment. The article is by Roy H. Williams, The Wizard of Ads. Hope you find it as useful as I did.

Makers of miracles have magical little helpers. Is there a miracle you'd like to make?

Would you like to learn the magic of the elbs?

Elbs are Exponential Little Bits, tiny but relentless changes that compound to make a miracle. The power of an elb lies not in its size, but in its daily occurrence. For an elb to work its Exponential magic, the Little Bit must happen every day... every day... every day.

Every day.

Funny thing... When daily progress meets with progress, it doesn't add, it multiplies. To harness the magic of Exponential Little Bits you must learn to ask yourself, "What difference have I made today?" And never go to sleep until you have done a Little Bit to move yourself closer to your goal. But you must do a Little Bit every day, no matter how tiny the thing might be.

Exponential Little Bits work both ways. They can lift you up or hold you down. There is much power in the ELBs.

Start with a dollar. Double it every day for just 20 days and you'll have 2,097,150 dollars. But if you diminish each day's total by just 10 percent (a Little Bit) before the next day's doubling, you'll amass only 793,564 dollars. Diminish each day's doubling by 35 percent and you'll have only 56,784 dollars - a holdback of 95.83 percent.

There's a line in Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" that says, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down! I could say 'Elves' to him, but it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather he said it for himself."

Is there a wall between you and your miracle?

I could say how to bring it down.

But I'd rather you said it for yourself.

Roy H. Williams

Free directory assistance calls from Google

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:32:00 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-goog411 (1-800-466-4411.) This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free -- great when you are driving on the road with no pen, pencil or paper handy.

Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number. I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for information that I have programmed.

The voice at the other end says, "City & State." I say, " Garland , Texas ." He says, "Business, Name or Type of Service." I say, Firewheel Golf Course." He says, "Connecting" and Firewheel answers the phone. How great is that? This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!

Click on the link below and watch the short clip for a quick demonstration.

http://www.google.com/goog411

Amazing photography by Patrick Notly

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:10:38 PDT

Patrick Notly is a German photographer who happens to be Autistic. Below are some of his amazing pictures. I will be sharing more in the future. Enjoy!

Knowing vs. Doing

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:58:46 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

People are always looking for knowledge and information when they first come to our courses. However there is a big difference between knowing something and doing it.

It can best be exemplified by this post by Dr. Robert Gilbert

There’s a big difference between having the knowledge and the application of it. There’s a big difference between knowing what to do and doing it. Once a teacher asked, "What is agriculture?" The student replied, "Agriculture is just like farming, but farming is doing it."

The speed of change

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:16:31 PDT

The world as we know it changing faster and faster and we can barely keep up with it. The following video shows some of the ways in which the world is accelerating. It is both very exciting and very scary.

Relativity

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:00:05 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

My teenage daughter is almost 16 and since she's had a driver's permit for the past five months, she would rather drive than ride her bike. I, on the other hand, am constantly looking for opportunities to ride my bike instead of driving my car - I'm getting ready for one of our upcoming Bike & Barge Learning Vacation trip to Holland where we will be riding an average of 30 miles/day. Everything is relative!

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You can't judge a book by its cover

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:32:36 PDT

Click on this link to watch proof that you can get unexpected performances from unlikely sources. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Susan boyle, Xtraordinary Living, Amazing Performances, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Podcast #53 - The Joy of Connecting

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:07:06 PDT

Our guest for this podcast episode is Bonnie Ross-Parker, CEO/Founder of The Joy of Connecting - Marketing With Heart. Bonnie's organization specializes in helping women in business through networking. As "America’s Connection Diva", Bonnie is an entrepreneur with a background in education, franchise development, publishing, network marketing and community development. She combines vision with a unique set of skills. Formerly the Associate Publisher of The Gazette Newspaper/Atlanta, she focuses her energies on supporting women.

In this episode, Bonnie shares her insights on:
-- Why she felt compelled to create a unique business networking model for women.
-- What sets The Joy of Connecting apart from other networking organizations like Chambers, BNIs or LeTips.
-- Why the monthly evening get together is considered an experience or an event rather than a meeting.
-- How Bonnie has successfully incorporated PL&L's QuoteActions, follow up and relationship building system, with over 300+ of her contacts.
-- How you can find a group in your city, or better yet, become a licensee of The Joy of Connecting for your area.

Bonnie shares a lot of valuable information. This is an excellent podcast to forward on to family members and friends. If you'd like to receive Bonnie's complimentary e-book "Y.O.U. Set a High Standard for Being Human" simply enter your name and email at her website listed below.

For more information and/or become a licensee, visit http://www.TheJoyofConnecting.com

AS A XTRAORDINARY LIVING PODCAST BONUS HOOT . . .
Check out Bonnie's husband, Phil Parker's book "Grandpa Does Grandma." http://www.grandpadoesgrandma.com.

After you listen to the podcast post your thoughts below. In addition, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 1-800-609-9006 x3144 and record your comments and tell me what you think.

This episode is approximately 28 minutes long. To listen to it, click on the play button below:

Instead of listening to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing directly using your preferred podcasting tool (see below.) The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Subscribe:

Or copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool:

http://www.switchpod.com/users/rickipll/feed.xml

Technorati Tags: Bonnie Ross Parker, The Joy of Connecting, TJOC, Networking, Rick Itzkowich, Xtraordinary Living, www.productivelearning.com, Rick Itzkowich

Four finger pianist

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:28:06 PDT

Impressive mother/daughter duo

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How to fail successfully!

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:32:42 PDT

Excellent 30 second video to reframe failure.

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It's never too late

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:25:37 PDT

One of the few things I regret in my life is that I never fully went after my dream of playing professional baseball. I've always regretted this because I never knew what might have been had I gone after this dream. Well, after watching this short 3-minute video, I may finally have a chance to find out.

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Adversity creates heroes - Picaboo Street

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:59:22 PDT

Tiger Woods II? Kyle Lograsso is an amazing talent with an amazing story. Enjoy

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Practicing Silence

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:35:22 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

Has your cell phone gone off at an inappropriate time? The following tip came from CoolPeopleCare. There's nothing more distracting than an ill-timed 10-second rendition of Fur Elise or Hakuna Matata. But how can you remember to turn your cell off when attending an important meeting, lecture or funeral?

The answer is PRACTICE.

Try it out. Walk in and out of your building 10 times tomorrow. (Yes, we're serious.) Each time, take your phone out and silence it before you take another step. Soon enough, you'll develop a very beneficial nervous habit. That way, the next time you're somewhere else (like a movie, wedding or trial), you won't be able to take another step until your mobile is quiet.

Podcast #52 - Moving from Scarcity to Abundance

rick@productivelearning.com (Rick Itzkowich) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:42:23 PDT

Our Podcast #52 guest is a global business leader and educator. DC Cordova, CEO of Excellerated Business Schools for Entrepreneurs and the Money & You Program, joined me for the timely topic of creating abundance during turbulent times.

In our 52nd episode, we ask DC some key questions:
> What is global entrepreneurship?
> Why should even solo-preneurs or small business owners look global for new business?
> How would a business owner go about establishing international relationships?
> What are some ways people can deal with fear?
> Why creating the right mindset is the answer.
> What does social entrepreneurship mean?
> How can everyday people take steps to move forward in today’s economic climate?

After you listen to the podcast post your thoughts below. In addition, you can leave your feedback by phone. Simply call 1-800-609-9006 x3144 and record your comments and tell me what you think.

This episode is approximately 33 minutes long. To listen to it, click on the play button below:

Instead of listening to the podcast here, you may want to consider subscribing directly using your preferred podcasting tool (see below.) The benefit to you in doing this is that it frees you from being tethered to your computer. You now have the freedom to listen to it WHEN & WHERE you want to.

Subscribe:

Or copy and paste this URL into a podcasting tool:

http://www.switchpod.com/users/rickipll/feed.xml