Getting Lucky - Breathing Space Blog

Unlucky people miss out on random opportunities because they're too busy seeking something else. Lucky people see what is present beyond only what they're seeking.

"One Polite Request at a Time" - Breathing Space Blog

As a boy, Benjamin Franklin asked the governor of Pennsylvania for a book. In his autobiography, Franklin cites that moment as the beginning of his publishing career.

He also learned the importance of asking people for favors. People will then ask you for a favor in return, and thus one forms a free exchange, the foundation of all business: "one polite request at a time."

And, one polite request at a time is anexcellent way to approach your day and maintain a sense of breathing space.

Five Mega-Realities of Life - Breathing Space Blog

The five mega-realities of life serve as a framework to understanding change and how we can adjust our thinking and activities to maintain some semblance of control.

Sitting right where you are, what you now know about population — the fact that the world gains more than a quarter million people per day enables you to safely predict the following:

1) Investing in real estate, more specifically a home, now while prices are depressed and interest rates are low will be a sound financial move almost independent of your economic station in life.

2) Adopting a somewhat contrarian mindset will prove to be advantageous. Attempting to head into the city or out of the city at the same time as everyone, or booking theater or restaurant reservations at the same time as everyone else will be problematic or increasingly so as time passes. Commutes in all directions will become more arduous. Hence, living closer to work, living closer to shopping and conveniences, telecommuting occasionally, and shopping online will only grow in attractiveness and utility.

3) Old friends become more valued friends. Anchors such as family, close business associates, former college roommates and those who have shared experiences with us become more important with the passing of time. This is not to downplay the role of new friends, for indeed they can become great friends and eventually even old friends!

Figured It Out - Breathing Space Blog

My colleague, Bob Wendover wrote a book that should be on your desk:

Figure It Out! Making Smart Decisions in a Dumbed-Down World is a practical guide to everyday decision making. With all the competition for our time and attention these days, it's getting harder and harder to find the concentration to solve problems.  

Figure It Out presents a simple, three-principle system for making better decisions when it so tempting to take the easy way or simply avoid an issue. It is full of practical stories and illustrations. On top of this, you can access 18 short instructional videos that will help you flesh out the concepts in each chapter. 

A Deviance Advantage - Breathing Space Blog

Below are some notes I gleaned from a book with an unusual perspective:

Deviance Advantage: How Fringe Ideas Create Mass Markets
by Mathews, Wenty, and Wacker (Crown Books)

* Over the past several years, deviance, not reasoning, began to drive the social and commercial agenda. The result? Things that we found pungent only yesterday, we lionize today.

* Deviance migrates from the fringe to the social convention, rapidly creating markets, and changing the rules of the social and commercial game.

* The pace of change has picked up to the point where the functional distance between the fringe and social convention has all but disappeared.

* Markets form and dissolve in unanticipated places and in record rates. Yesterday's pariah is tomorrow's market darling, and what was once beyond the social pale is suddenly a hot commodity.

* The pace of deviant change is so intense and so relentless that we are beginning to witness compound deviance. The rules of the game keep changing before we have a chance to write them down.

Jeff's comments: It all seems kind of sad, doesn't it? Deviance rules, whereas goodness, purity, and wholesomeness are on the fringe. I hope society, and the popular media in particular, wake up soon.

No Alarm, No Adrenaline Rush - Breathing Space Blog

If you wake by alarm clock then, logically, you didn't get enough sleep. Receiving sufficient sleep for the night means that you arise on your own, without an artificial stimulant such as an alarm clock.

If you have trouble arising at a time you prefer, experiment with going to bed earlier to find that time in which you can comfortably arise without an alarm clock.

A benefit, to knowing that you've gotten enough sleep for the night because you've been able to arise on your own, is not to awake in an adrenaline rush. "Alarm" clocks and other devices are named as such because they are meant to alarm you. Is that the way you want to start each day? Being jolted out of your reverie and thrown into waking consciousness ready or not? How much different would your day be if you woke peacefully, naturally, completely on your own?

Breathing Space and Concentration - Breathing Space Blog

Here are notes I took from Sam Horn's session on Concentration years back. Still great advice to this day!

* Concentration defined: voluntarily focused attention.
* Discipline of ignoring irrelevant matters
* Fixing ones' powers, efforts and attention
* Most people work best under a deadline; when their concentration is focused.
* Fatigue is a big road block to concentration

This last note is telling!:
* Society is moving towards a lower frustration tolerance with less discipline, and more need for immediate gratification. These are detriments to concentration.

Breathing Space and Concentration - Breathing Space Blog

Here are notes I took from Sam Horn's session on Concentration years back. Still great advice to this day!

* Concentration defined: voluntarily focused attention.
* Discipline of ignoring irrelevant matters
* Fixing ones' powers, efforts and attention
* Most people work best under a deadline; when their concentration is focused.
* Fatigue is a big road block to concentration

This last note is telling!:
* Society is moving towards a lower frustration tolerance with less discipline, and more need for immediate gratification. These are detriments to concentration.

Making Decisions - Breathing Space Blog

Here is some sage advice about making decisions in both your professional and personal lives, from author and counselor Rebecca Merrill.

Rebecca Merrill, Living in Yes, c 2004

1. We all have to do it.

2. We never get to stop doing it.

3. Every new decision leads to more decisions. It's just a question of how

4. It's difficult to make good decisions for a multitude of reasons.

5. We spend a small percentage of our lives making decisions, but they determine the rest of our lives, which are the consequences.

6. There are no "right" or perfect decisions.

7. With every decision, you will experience some loss, especially if you choose to do nothing.

8. You can only make the decision you are capable of making when the decision is called for; all decisions are a function of who you are at the time you make them.

9. The quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your decisions.

10. It is well worth your while to learn how to make good ones.

Making Decisions - Breathing Space Blog

Here is some sage advice about making decisions in both your professional and personal lives, from author and counselor Rebecca Merrill.

Rebecca Merrill, Living in Yes, c 2004

1. We all have to do it.

2. We never get to stop doing it.

3. Every new decision leads to more decisions. It's just a question of how

4. It's difficult to make good decisions for a multitude of reasons.

5. We spend a small percentage of our lives making decisions, but they determine the rest of our lives, which are the consequences.

6. There are no "right" or perfect decisions.

7. With every decision, you will experience some loss, especially if you choose to do nothing.

8. You can only make the decision you are capable of making when the decision is called for; all decisions are a function of who you are at the time you make them.

9. The quality of your life is directly related to the quality of your decisions.

10. It is well worth your while to learn how to make good ones.

Key Reflection for All Time - Breathing Space Blog

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. 
  -- John Barrymore

Key Reflection for All Time - Breathing Space Blog

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. 
  -- John Barrymore

Telling Off the Junk Mailers - Breathing Space Blog

Please remove my name, and all its variations, and remove all of my contact information from any and all of your databanks, mailing lists, shared files, etc.

I do not want any mail, including solicitations, flyers, brochures, catalogs, announcements, circulars, postcards, promotions, faxes, or email at any time, ever, from you or any of your associates, affiliates, subsidiaries, vendors, or clients.

Thank you

Telling Off the Junk Mailers - Breathing Space Blog

Please remove my name, and all its variations, and remove all of my contact information from any and all of your databanks, mailing lists, shared files, etc.

I do not want any mail, including solicitations, flyers, brochures, catalogs, announcements, circulars, postcards, promotions, faxes, or email at any time, ever, from you or any of your associates, affiliates, subsidiaries, vendors, or clients.

Thank you

"Swim with the Sharks" guru on Handling Stress - Breathing Space Blog

"Swim with the Sharks" guru Harvey MacKay offers a long list of tips on handling stress, streamlined here:

• Be completely present for whatever you are doing

• Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue

• When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane

• Keep your pace relaxed, and go outside once a day

• Take notice of the tension in your body

"Swim with the Sharks" guru on Handling Stress - Breathing Space Blog

"Swim with the Sharks" guru Harvey MacKay offers a long list of tips on handling stress, streamlined here:

• Be completely present for whatever you are doing

• Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue

• When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane

• Keep your pace relaxed, and go outside once a day

• Take notice of the tension in your body

Are You Too Busy, Too Often? - Breathing Space Blog

“If you’re too busy to enjoy your life, you are way too busy.”
                     Jeff Davidson

Are You Too Busy, Too Often? - Breathing Space Blog

“If you’re too busy to enjoy your life, you are way too busy.”
                     Jeff Davidson

Get Creative - Breathing Space Blog

Notes from the wonderful book, The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron:

* Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy, pure creative energy.
* There is an underlying, creative force infusing all of life -- including ourselves.
* When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator's creativity within us and our lives.

* We are, ourselves, creation. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.


* The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
* As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
* It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
* Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source.

Get Creative - Breathing Space Blog

Notes from the wonderful book, The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron:

* Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy, pure creative energy.
* There is an underlying, creative force infusing all of life -- including ourselves.
* When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator's creativity within us and our lives.

* We are, ourselves, creation. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.


* The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
* As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
* It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
* Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source.