Thank Goodness It's Monday #448

CAN YOU NAME THE U.S. PRESIDENTS?

IN ORDER?

I can’t.  Probably will never be able to. Even with a visual aid.


Who held the job before the guy who was before Lincoln?

Who replaced Ulysses Grant? Who followed Woodrow Wilson?

(The end of this post fills in the blanks.)

But on this Presidents Day 2014 it feels like something that, perhaps, a patriotic citizen ought to be able to do.

 

Of course I do know someone who, even more than simply knowing the Presidents in order, uses the appeal of that bit of memory mastery to demonstrate the potential of, and train others in feats of, monumental mental dexterity.

Now if I could only remember his name …

 

Just joking. Of course I know it. He’s two-time USA Memory Champion -- 

 

Ron White. You may know him as well from numerous television appearances.

Or perhaps you met him live and in person at programs I was involved with some years ago, produced locally by my friend Eric Taylor.

 

And in that regard, while I do not embody much of what Ron preaches and practices, those among you who know Eric personally may recognize that Eric did learn from the master and has achieved a level of proficiency, particularly in the discipline of name retention.

 

But before this turns into an advertorial …

Let’s get back to the TGIM Presidents Day theme.

 

At those ‘live and in-person” events, after sharing his refined-for-the-21^st Century version of the 2500-year-old Roman “loci” structured memory training and development strategy, Ron used physical cues in the hotel ballroom where the training was taking place to aid the attendees in recalling the Presidents, in order.  And, by and large –

It worked. After a drill or two, folks who were initially challenged (me, too) were pointing at objects in the room and calling out – 

George Washington,

John Adams,

Thomas Jefferson,

James Madison,

James Monroe,

John Quincy Adams,

Andrew Jackson,

Martin Van Buren,

and so on …

Impressive, right?

Well … You’ll note that at the outset of this TGIM I allowed that I could not replicate the Presidents-in-order listing feat.  So you might, quite correctly, conclude that perhaps –

 

I’m not so enamored of the idea.

Before I get down to why, I do want to say I don’t demean the ability to do this kind of memorization. There’s a place for it and usefulness to it, I’m sure. But it’s something I just can’t get enthralled with.

In fairness, I do wish I had the personal horsepower to incorporate the basics of face/name recall into my repertoire. It’s difficult to argue with the legendary Dale Carnegie Principle #6 from How to Win Friends and Influence People: 

“Remember that a person’s name

is to that person

the sweetest and most important sound

in any language.”

And, when I have a “the face is familiar, but I just can’t get the name” moment, I hang my head in shame when I recall Ron’s admonition, “My dog remembers your face, right? And he’s never once gotten a name right.”

Bow, Oww. But about the idea underlying the application of these memory hooks …

I stand with Albert Einstein. (See TGIM #447. Seems I’ve stuck on Uncle Albert these days.)

 

Point is:In response to a reporter’s query admitted not knowing the speed of sound, Einstein is alleged to have expressed the view –

"I never commit to memory

anything that can easily be looked up in a book."

Truth in quoting: The more accurate citation of that sentiment, dating back to the New York Times in the 1920s and alluded to by scholarly  Einstein biographers ever since is:

“[I do not] carry such information in my mind

since it is readily available in books.

...The value of a college education

is not the learning of many facts

but the training of the mind to think.”

AH-HA! Moment: I know the first version of the quote because I’ve heard it enough times to have it “memorized” albeit perhaps somewhat imperfectly. 

AH-HA! Moment in Action: I get to share the more accurate version and get to use it to support my position because I’ve tried heartily to train my mind to question and challenge and think. And then I took the time and trouble to dig down through the search engine layers (somewhat the equivalent of reference books in our wired world) to find trustworthy, vetted, authoritative sources with citations.

TGIM PRESIDENTS DAY TAKEAWAY: We err greatly when we mistake rote learning and accumulating “facts” for gathering knowledge and wisdom and reaching for understanding. 

Consider: No doubt the Presidential giants who come easily to mind on this day embodied the always-be-learning ethos. 

Surely they had a remarkable command of much factual information. But they didn’t let it sit idly in their heads or parrot it back as the unyielding answer to challenges that confronted them. They explored what they knew … added to that knowledge … adjusted their thinking for the circumstances of the moment … gathered input and counsel from others and were open-minded in evaluating it.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: On this Presidents Day, rather than fret about whether we can pass the POTUS-listing test, we might consider it our patriotic duty to take an oath to resolve to be more Presidential in our thinking – emulating the best who held the office (whomever and whatever that means to you; no doubt your list doesn’t match mine).

Hail to the Chief. 

And hail and farewell for today to you.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. They may all be giants. Of course you have an opinion about who are/were the Best Presidents and Worst Presidents. 

We all do. And over the years there have been repeated attempts to gather the objective opinion of historians and political scientists to rank POTUS office holders, focusing on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults. 

In the spirit of this TGIM message I encourage you investigate on your own, if you wish. But as you proceed I’ll share a cautionary observation voiced by John F. Kennedy (who, these days, ranks in the top 20 but seldom in the top 10). 

In 1962, speaking to David H. Donald, noted biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy voiced dissatisfaction and resentment with historians who had rated some of his predecessors. Kennedy said, "No one has a right to grade a President—even poor James Buchanan—who has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions."

Thank Goodness It's Monday #447

IT’S TIME TO “BUT…” IN

AND CHALLENGE

SOME TIME-MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS

Wasn’t one of your 2014 resolutions to get more value from your time?



Albert Einstein told us,
“All of science is nothing more than
the refinement of everyday thinking.”

Today TGIM takes its cue from Uncle Albert
(see especially #3, below)
 
 

Good!

So I can save a big hunk of our time from the get-go and simply make the observation that, if we would start by applying some of the better time management principles that we’ve read and heard about from the beginning of time, we might have a solid foundation to build on.

 

Or maybe not.

Here’s a big catch: We’re all human, and with that “humanness” comes fallibility.

And a great deal of the “classic” time management advice doesn’t seem to take that into account. It doesn’t allow room to be reasonable with our expectations for ourselves or others.

Human beings are not automatons – mindless, emotionless mechanical beings who perfectly carry out every task or order like clockwork. And we don’t perform at our best when we’re treated that way.

 

So let’s invest the rest of our TGIM time together today reviewing and challenging golden-oldie time management thinking and investigating some strategic alternatives.

Time Challenge #1:

Fast action pays off

We’re reminded time and again that it’s important to be decisive … keep meetings short … keep the ball rolling. Doing things quickly supposedly saves time.

But …

Let me tell you a story: An executive in one of our client firms, desperate to do all these things, trained himself to be as brief as possible in meetings and abruptly cut through discussions with curt remarks like, “Get to the point” and “What’s your problem?”

 

By doing so he apparently saved time. But, as it turned out, he and his coworkers often had differing ideas of what had been decided and what would be done after a particular meeting.

Result: Fast action can slow results. Because of miscommunication, resolutions would inevitably become garbled and confused down the line. In the end the exec would spend twice the time that had been “saved” straightening out the mess.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Be clear about being clear. Stay alert for times when rushing the decision-making process might backfire. Be more intent on reaching sound decisions than with quickly dispatching meetings and the like. Take a little extra time, even when you’re sure you’ve reached the end and everyone concurs, to recap -- and hear others recap -- for the benefit of all, “Who will do what, when.”

Time Challenge #2:

Priority vs. Interest

Many time-management experts place great emphasis on doing things in order of priority. And, as a rule we would all agree it makes sense. Between watering the garden or putting out a raging fire, the right “priority” choice for the person with a hose in their hand is clear.

But …

Sometimes it’s better for people to do what they’re psychologically ready to do, even if it’s not the highest priority item. People are more interested in doing better, and therefore actually do better, when they’re able to follow their own “normal” routines rather than always being or feeling forced to do things strictly in some prioritized order of importance.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: All things being equal (or almost equal), don’t force priorities onto the daily routine. Do what’s most interesting when it attracts you. 

Added point: If you have the power to lay out the agenda for others, allow them as much set-your-own-order leeway as possible, unless you can give them a compelling, high-priority reason to do otherwise. 

TGIM Time Challenge #3:

Efficiency isn’t always “efficient”

Stopwatch toting time/motion study champions – the so-called efficiency experts – extol doing things in the most time-economic manner possible.

But …

Sometimes doing things a little less efficiently is far more enjoyable and more beneficial in the long run.

Let’s take another “meeting” example: One exec we know could easily cut the time he spends in meetings, probably by half. But he usually doesn’t want to. He enjoys talking and listening. Although it seems less efficient, he feels he gets a more nuanced sense of what’s going on with his staff and in his company and that he’s a better leader and decision maker for that. 

Added benefit: His employees like the relaxed atmosphere too. And without “this meeting will end in a half-hour, precisely” pressure, they feel free to raise issues that might otherwise go unaddressed.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Enjoy your time. And use more of your time for the things you enjoy. As Albert Einstein pointed out –

It’s relative. He actually said, “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute.”

I may not comprehend the math and the physics of Einstein’s Theories of General and Special Relativity but that the “hot stove/pretty girl” stuff makes sense to me.

TGIM Takeaway: Good time management principles are not immutable Laws of the Universe that apply equally to every situation and every person. As a group we are all so varied that few prescriptions can cover everyone at all times. So, in the quest to maximize the value of your time, realize that principles are neither absolute nor infallible and apply them with common sense and tact.

The only true test is to find what works for you over time. Experiment, then – providing it doesn’t waste the time of the others you interact with -- go with what works for you. 

So now it’s time to test that Einstein wisdom. I’ve no doubt about the stove part, so I’ll skip that.

It’s on to part two.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “I believe that misconceptions about oneself that one does not correct where possible act as a bad magic.” Poet, critic and essayist Laura Riding (1901 – 1991) shared that observation.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #446

A LUCKY RED ENVELOPE FOR YOU

(AND AT LEAST ONE IDEA

MORE VALUABLE THAN $$$)



Sculpture of Chinese zodiac Horse 
in a park in Zhejiang Province, China

Welcome to the Year of the Horse.

 

You may know that, based on an ancient system of astronomy and astrology, last Friday -- give or take a few hours depending where in the world you were/are -- the so-called Chinese New Year began.

 

So called? This New Year observance is determined by a lunar calendar. In China, the festivities are known as Spring Festival (春節) or Lunar New Year (農曆新年). From late January to mid-February, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and other countries also celebrate Lunar New Year.

 

Or maybe you know because you clicked through on the seasonal Google Doodle.

No matter how you come by the information, the Lunar Year ahead (year 4712) is designated the Year of the Horse -- particularly the Wooden Horse, incorporating a traditional Lunar New Year designated “element” into the mix.

You may also recognize some of the traditions that will be observed over the stretch of 15 days of ceremony and celebration to attract and welcome good luck and happiness.

Not surprisingly, many are customs that would fit in any cultural context at the beginning of a new year.

• People dress in finery to represent contentment and wealth.
• Homes are scrubbed clean.
• Rooms are decorated for the holiday.

Other traditions are unique.

• The room decorations are paper lanterns and flower blossoms.
• Walls are adorned with the Chinese characters for “Happy New Year” – Gung hay fa choy in Cantonese.
• Dragon-dance parades snake along streets with clashing cymbals and firecrackers exploding to ward off evil spirits.

And --

• Children and single, unemployed adults look forward to receiving red envelopes stuffed with cash from elders.

As the “elder” co-creator with my friend Eric Taylor of the Best Year Ever Program! some years (both lunar and solar) ago, I sort of feel obliged to commemorate any “New Year” observance and tie it to our message that –

Any time is the right time

to begin Your Best Year Ever!

So, although you may not be a child or an unemployed single, here’s –

A Red Envelope for you.

Sorry, no actual cash.

(Awwww …)

 But in the spirit of all these TGIM messages, I believe that “sharing an idea” is a time-proven strategy that’s –

More valuable than money. 

Think of it this way: If I have a dollar and you have a dollar, and we give our dollar to one another, we each still have only a dollar.

But, and it’s a Big BUT: If I give you an idea, and you give me an idea, then we each have two ideas that we can contemplate, be inspired by, work on with our individual talents and craft into something even greater than the original inspiration.

So, having “horsed around” with that concept some, let’s get back to this idea of astrology and universal truths.

According to the astrological aspects of the holiday, babies born in a Year of Horse are expected to have the following traits:

Strengths

People born in a Year of the Horse have ingenious communicating techniques and in their community they always want to be in the limelight. They are clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career. Although they sometimes talk too much, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy but stubborn. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are popular among friends, active at work and refuse to be reconciled to failure, although their endeavor cannot last indefinitely.

Weaknesses

They cannot bear too much constraint. However their interest may be only superficial and lacking real substance. They are usually impatient and hot blooded about everything other than their daily work. They are independent and rarely listen to advice. Failure may result in pessimism. They usually have strong endurance but with bad temper. Flamboyant by nature, they are wasteful since they are not good with matters of finance due to a lack of budgetary efficiency. Some of those who are born in the horse like to move in glamorous circles while pursuing high profile careers.  They tend to interfere in many things and frequently fail to finish projects of their own.

Were you born in a Year of the Horse? You probably don’t know. But you also probably felt that some of the characteristics – especially the positive ones – fit you. 

Now for me, almost any astrological stuff is –

Beyond understanding. Yet, as I’ve confessed before, I do look at my horoscope in the newspaper. I’ve got the daily Libra prognostication popping up on my computer home page.

And I read them with the fascinated knowledge that there is guidance to be gleaned in the cryptic messages (although that it is celestial and unwavering universal is highly suspect to me).

Year of the Horse TGIM Takeaway: I figure, at the least, horoscopes are well-intended advice. I’m certainly open to that. So that leads me, at the auspicious new beginning of the Year of the Horse, to this –

TGIM Takeaway: “We are wiser than we know.” Ralph Waldo Emerson said that some solar years ago in 1841.

How does that relate to this New Year 4712? We all would want the positive characteristics of those born in a Year of the Horse as well as the Water Snake (last year’s creature designation) or the Dog (my Chinese astrology birth year; I looked it up) and the other nine Chinese astrological animal signs.

And who wouldn’t want to embody the best parts of Libra, Scorpio, etc., etc.

 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: If we’re wise enough to know what characteristics are desirable, then we should be wise enough to set our own course in raising our skills in those areas in order that we might become all that we might become.

 

Our fate is not in the stars. The future is in our own hands. Self-improvement is the precursor to all improvement. So --

 

Quit horsin’ around.

Gung hay fa choy!  Get started on Your Best Year Ever! NOW.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “The horse, the horse! The symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action, in man.” British author D. H. Lawrence (1885 -1930) made that observation in 1931 (which was a lunar calendar Year of the Sheep.)

His life flows on in endless song ....

PETE SEEGER TELLS US

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

A great hero of mine died yesterday at age 94.

Pete Seeger
(May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014)

 

I’ve cited him numerous times in print and in my electronic ramblings and undoubtedly will continue to do so.

He was, and his legacy remains, a national treasure.

He felt and thought deeply, lived a caring and principled life, spoke his heart and considerable mind, and acted when he perceived injustice. 

  

•  If you do not know much about Pete, I urge you to discover more. The process will make you better for it.
• If you appreciated him at any level, you’ll follow his wisdom and join in a sing along of the songs he created and promoted, many of which you know although folks at large may not link them to Pete.

As for me: Two Pete tunes in particular will be going ‘round in my head today.

 

I think that they, as much as anything Pete wrote or popularized, embody the legacy he would have us pursue to honor and commemorate him.

 

The first one’s typical Pete who, recognizing its popular 19^th Century Russian roots, turned the “Ode to Joy” melody from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony back into a banjo tune, worked out some short lyrics, partnered with another activist/song writer Don West, and created –

RUSSIAN SONG/ODE TO JOY

Build the road of peace before us,

Build it wide and deep and long

Speed the slow, remind the eager,

Help the weak and guide the strong.

None shall push aside another

None shall let another fall

Work beside me, sisters and brothers

All for one and one for all.

Joy, Joy sisters and brothers

All for one and one for all.

 

You can listen and sing along at 1:20 here:

Pete's "Ode To Joy"

The other song I would have you know today Pete explained originated this way:

“In 1958 I sang at the funeral of John McManus, co-editor of the radical newsweekly, The Guardian, and regretted that I had no song worthy of the occasion. So this got written.” 

TO MY OLD BROWN EARTH

To my old brown earth

And to my old blue sky

I'll now give these last few molecules of "I." 

And you who sing,

Pete's Banjo

And you who stand nearby,

I do charge you not to cry.

Guard well our human chain,

Watch well you keep it strong,

As long as sun will shine.

And this our home,

Keep pure and sweet and green,

For now I'm yours

And you are also

Mine.

Listen and sing along here:

"To My Old Brown Earth"

 

Surround hate
Force it to surrender

 

Thank Goodness It's Monday #445

SUPER BOWL XLVIII:

THE REST STOP, THE TROPHY

AND THE MAN

The Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded each year to the winning team of the National

Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl.

• The trophy is named in honor of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi.
• So is the rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike nearest to the stadium where (weather permitting) Super Bowl XLVIII will be played Sunday, February 2, 2014.
• And so is a bit of streetscape nearby my company’s World Headquarters in Englewood, NJ.

From our conference room windows we can gaze across our little Depot Square Park, over the tracks and past the repurposed sort-of-Victorian-looking railroad station, at the spires of St. Cecilia Catholic Church which, for years, also offered the community a parochial high school.

 

Last June it got some special signage designating it “Vince Lombardi Way.”

The Lombardi coaching legend began there. In 1939, Vince Lombardi accepted his first football-related job as an assistant coach at St. Cecilia’s.

At age 26, he also taught Latin, chemistry, and physics for an annual salary of under $1700. And, the local story goes, as a bachelor he shared a boarding house room across the street from the school with the St. Cecilia’s head coach at the time, his old college football teammate from across-the-Hudson-River Fordham University, Andy Palau.

So, although I’m only a moderately enthusiastic or knowledgeable fan of professional football –

I’m a Vince Lombardi Fan by geographic proxy.

And also – being in the thick of the self-improvement, motivation, inspiration business – I can spout any number of bits of –

Legendary Lombardi Wisdom

You probably can, too --

• “Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.”
• “Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.”
• “Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.”
• “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
• “If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”
• “Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser.”
• “If you can accept losing, you can't win.”
• “We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
• “It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up”
• “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
• “If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”

Whew! Tough talk, right?

 

And while such fire-up-the-team-with-a-blowtorch locker room mentality might be effectively applied to a TGIM message in anticipation of northern climes, open stadium Super Bowl XLVIII –

 

Time has passed and attitudes have evolved in the 100+ years since Lombardi’s birth and nearly half century after his death. So I’m not so sure I’m completely comfortable in our 21^st Century with its old-school, leather-helmeted toughness.

But … But there is a perhaps-surprising Lombardi quote I’ve found insightful from the Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn-born, Jersey-boy-by proxy, Green Bay, Wisconsin tundra-tough coach. 

Lombardi also said: “Mental toughness is humility, simplicity, spartanism, and one other … love. I don’t necessarily have to like my associates but as a man, I must love them.”

And he continued –

“Love is loyalty; love is teamwork.

Love respects the dignity of the individual.

Heart and power is the strength of your cooperation.”

Interesting, right? A statement about love, obviously rooted in the man’s football coaching fundamentals, and indicative of the kind of devotion he inspired and how he made that happen.

Kinda tough love, no doubt. No pink cherubs or lovey-dovey poetic sentiments per se. But an insightful and insight-filled statement from a gruff tough guy who also never left any doubt about his intelligence, dignity and integrity.

 

The kind of guy they name trophies after.

 

TGIM SUPER BOWL XLVIII TAKEAWAY: In this season of hyped up and over-commercialized enthusiasm for an event that, when it’s over, will not likely have changed the course of our business, family or community lives, isn’t it a pleasant surprise to find a simply stated universal standard that we might all be well advised to live by.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: If we approached every day like we look forward to Super Bowl Game Day, how exciting might every day be? If we worked at our relationships with the single-mindedness that Lombardi brought to his devotion to football, perhaps we, like Lombardi, would never suffer a “losing season.”

One final note about Lombardi’s personal relationships: He was preoccupied with football and his family life in particular had exceedingly stormy passages Still, he lived his “love is loyalty” philosophy. Vince Lombardi is buried next to Marie, his wife since his St. Cecilia coaching days, in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Middletown Township, New Jersey.

 

Good luck to you and your team on Sunday. Perhaps I’ll see you in the traffic jam at the Vince Lombardi Service Area, mile marker 111 on the Eastern Spur of the NJ Turnpike near Exit 16W.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

 

P.S. More New Jersey/Lombardi Trophy/Super Bowl connections:




The made-in-Newark-NJ
(and now on exhibition there)
original
Vince Lombardi Trophy

In 1966, during a lunch with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Tiffany & Co. vice president Oscar Riedner made a sketch on a cocktail napkin of what would become the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The original trophy was produced by Tiffany & Co. in Newark, New Jersey.  And it’s back here NOW – for a limited time -- at my favorite Newark Museum.

Others have since been handcrafted by the company in Parsippany, New Jersey. The trophy was first awarded to the Green Bay Packers in 1967 (Lombardi’s last year as head coach) when the Super Bowl's official designation was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

Initially inscribed with the words "World Professional Football Championship," it was officially renamed in 1970 in memory of Lombardi after his sudden death from cancer and to commemorate his time as a defensive coordinator with the New York (ahem, now “at  home” in New Jersey) Giants. In 1971, it was presented for the first time as the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl V.

A new Lombardi Trophy is made every year and the winning team maintains permanent possession of that trophy, unlike many other team championship trophies. 

One notable exception: The first “Lombardi” Trophy for Super Bowl V. It was won by the then-Baltimore Colts and the city of Baltimore retained that trophy as part of the legal settlement after the Colts' move to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1984.

 

The contemporary seven-pound, 22-inch-tall trophies are cast entirely of sterling silver and have an extrinsic value of more than $25,000 each. After the on-field post-game presentation, the trophy is sent back to Tiffany & Co. to be engraved with the date and final score of the game, as well as the winning team's roster.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #444

WE ARE BOUND

AND WE ARE BOUND

 

Not so long ago I was allowed the honor of delivering the first toast at the wedding of two good friends – Julie and Gerry.

And since each was (and is) fond of both using words effectively and playing games, that gave me the opportunity to stand at the microphone with the wedding band behind me and recall a bit of verbal sparring that would occasionally take place when friends and family gathered.

For example --

 

The challenge: Think of a word that can mean the opposite of itself; a word with two generally accepted meanings that contradict each other.

 

One easy-to-think-of one comes from slang usage.

Cool – definition: Frosty.

“She was cool to the idea.”

Vs.

Cool – definition: Hot!

“Wow! She was a really, really cool chick.”

 

Or how about:

 

Fast – Moving rapidly.

“Fast track.” “You got here fast.”

Vs.

Or the opposite “fast” that is, fixed in position:

“Hold fast, help is on the way.”

 

And one more:

Original – something creative or new.

“That’s an original idea.”

Vs.

Original in the sense of plain or unchanged, as in

 “The original flavor.”

Got it?

Good. So did the wedding guests although, by this time they were wondering where this all was heading. 

You too?

Well, it actually relates to today’s Martin Luther King observance and gives us an appropriate-to-the-day TGIM Takeaway or two to consider.

 

We’ll start by defining our terms.

Contronyms: That’s what these self-contradicting words are called.

And, as I got around to making the toast, there’s one, I said, that was particularly appropriate for the couple and their wedding day:

BOUND

Bound together. Two people who have found each other, and know each other and love each other and choose to be interlocked, secure, united. Two families, joined. Bound.

And the opposite meaning.

Be in motion. Move toward something. Bound away for new, shared experiences. Bound off for a new life, together.

The Toast:

“To Julie and Gerry

– today bound and bound –

and bounded, as in ‘surrounded,’

with all the love and support of your family and friends.”

Awwww. OK. So as I stepped away from the mike the lead singer in the wedding band inquired –

“Do you know that James Taylor song?”

I do. And in retrospect it’s obvious that it influenced my thinking and toast. And it’s the glue that connects us to this Monday as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a leads us any TGIM Takeaways.

So I’ll now inquire of you --

Do YOU know that James Taylor song? 

It’s titled Shed A Little Light. The singer/songwriter was obviously inspired by MLK Jr. and, in 1991, on the album New Moon Shine, recorded this original song that both honors and pays forward the principles that guided the hero we celebrate today.

Here’s a particularly-worth-knowing part of the lyrics:

Let us turn our thoughts today

To Martin Luther King

And recognize that there are ties between us

All men and women

Living on the earth

Ties of hope and love

Of sister and brotherhood

That we are bound together

In our desire to see the world become

A place in which our children

Can grow free and strong

We are bound together

By the task that stands before us

And the road that lies ahead

 

We are bound

And we are bound …

Listen up: That’s just part of it. You can take under 4 minutes and hear James Taylor sing one version the whole thing HERE.

TGIM Challenge: What do you think about its message?

TGIM Takeaway: On the national holiday in the United States that commemorates the birthday of the late Martin Luther King Jr., it’s tempting to let his eloquence speak for itself.

There’s a world of wisdom in Dr. King’s writings and speeches that we can apply in the pursuit of improving ourselves and others; in our business and personal relationships and our efforts on the behalf of our communities.

But it’s also useful to realize how MLK Jr. inspired others when alive and continues to influence and inspire far beyond the limited frame of the Civil Rights Movement.

And the best parts of the man and his influence also speak to our individual obligation to all in the human family.

I was pleasantly surprised to realize how, at some level, the spirit of what we as a people now honor with a national holiday moved into popular song and worked its way into a wedding toast.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: In the land of self-improvement and personal empowerment I regularly occupy, we’re strong advocates of modeling the behavior of all-time greats. We often talk about carefully selecting your heroes and mentors.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Choose wisely.

Once again, in 2014, we are bound and we are bound.

Sisters and brothers, I hope you are as well.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S.  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or we will be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. MLK Jr. said that in his book Strength To Love.

Though the body sleeps the heart will never rest.