Be Ready For It

It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m writing this Monday Message early for a reason. I’m writing it early because my daughter is scheduled to go into the hospital on Sunday to give birth. She already has three children, two that are still young, so I offered to help her with getting those kids to and from school and their many other activities. So I will definitely be very busy this weekend and all of next week. And yet I can’t stop thinking about how my daughter is about to give birth to a precious new baby girl.

The only problem with the timing is that I’m trying to finish up a huge portfolio of pole inspections for my largest client. I still have 60 poles to inspect, but since I knew I was running out of time, I decided to go to bed early Friday night and get up way before dawn this morning to head out and try to finish those last 60 poles. I left the house at 5:30am and when I arrived at the site, the sun was just cresting the horizon. I thought to myself, well I wanted to leave early and be ready to start the job by dawn, so I definitely accomplished that goal.

After unloading my tools and equipment, I surveyed the surrounding parking lot light poles. At the same time, i just happened to glance up at a nearby building. That’s when I saw a huge sign at the top of the building, shining ever so brightly in the early morning glow of the sunrise. The sign said, “Ready at Dawn” in brightly illuminated letters and I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but my first reaction was to laugh and then I thought to myself, “Is this a sign from God?” Is He trying to tell me something?

You know what… I think it was a sign from God! Especially since I’ve been praying like crazy lately for my daughter to stay strong and her baby to be born healthy. I decided that God was answering my prayers by telling me to remember that every new day is a blessing, and that we have to be ready for it, no matter what the day brings. In this particular case, I finished the job and the very next day brought forth the blessing of a healthy new baby granddaughter by the name of “Blakely Rae”. Now I know that not every day that springs forth at dawn is going to be a happy one, but I think I get the message… whatever happens, be ready for it!  

A new baby is like the dawn of all things – wonder, 

hope, and a dream of all things possible.

~ Eda J. LeShan

Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day

I just know today is going to be a good day! Why you ask? Because yesterday I learned something important!

I wanted to go golfing but didn’t have a lot of time. By the time I parked my car, unloaded my  clubs, got a golf cart, and checked in at the pro shop, I only had about 7 minutes before my tee time. So I rushed down to the range to warm up and hit a few balls.

As I parked my golf cart I checked my watch, and I was down to only 5 minutes before my tee time. Why am I always in such a rush? As that thought crossed my mind, I realized I had left my sunscreen behind in the car and started to panic It’s already 90+ degrees at 10:00 in the morning, so I really need that sunscreen, but I desperately need to warm up before I tee off, but of course I can only play 9 holes because I have so much work to do, plus my wife needs me to stop by CVS to pick up her prescriptions, and I didn’t have time yesterday to drop off a shipment at UPS so I need to do that, and, and, and… why am I always in such a rush!!!

That’s when I looked up and saw him. He was staring at me with a quizzical look on his face and I’m pretty sure I know what he was thinking, “Why is this idiot always rushing around like a chicken with his head cut off?”

I had seen him before on the golf course, but only briefly. Mainly because he moved at such a fast smooth pace. He was a handsome guy, with long hair and big brown eyes, but he was freaking me out because he just kept staring at me. I know what he was thinking, “Dude, you need to chill!? (Was he really thinking that or was it just my own stress case paranoia overtaking me.) Eventually, he just shook his head and turned away.

And that got me thinking… If even the super speedy, always moving, rapidly running, Roadrunner can slow down once in a while to enjoy life, maybe I can too!

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. 

Comes into us at midnight very clean. 

It’s perfect when it arrives, and it puts itself in our hands. 

It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.

~ from the headstone of John Wayne

Rhythm in Your Soul

Did you know that the human heart is a muscle? I read about it recently in a health article that said the human heart is “an organ containing a group of tissues that work together to perform a specific function, which is to pump blood throughout your body”. Well, that got me thinking about how I need to get my heart into better shape as I get older… or I might not get older!  

So I began this morning by jumping on my bike and pedaling along the sidewalks and streets of Coto de Caza where I live. The area is beautiful, but unfortunately it’s mostly hills, so it wasn’t long before my legs were hurting, and my lungs were burning. But I figured the pain in my legs and lungs would be a gain in strength for my heart. So I kept going.

At one point, I was going a little too fast down a steep section, hit a rock and almost lost control. I saved it, but my water bottle went flying. When I went to recover my water bottle, I noticed one of those wireless “ear buds” laying on the sidewalk. I remembered seeing a woman walk past me a few minutes earlier, so I pumped the pedals and climbed back up the steep hill to track her down. When I got to her, she was really nice but informed me that her “ear buds” were the old-fashioned ones with wires. At the same time, she informed that she had passed a friend of hers named “Goysha” 15 minutes earlier going the other way. She said Goysha lives a mile or two down the road in the “Greens” complex and she wars wireless ear buds.

So I thanked her, got back on my bike, and started pumping the pedals again going the other way. I made it all the way to the entrance to the “Greens”, but no sign of Goysha. I turned into the complex and hit a fork in the road. I looked both ways but didn’t see anyone, and wondered which way to go? Then I remembered what “Jack Reacher” always says in his adventure novels, “When in doubt, always turn right.” So I turned right and when I reached the top of the cul-de-sac I caught a glimpse of a lady going in her front door. I pedaled furiously and yelled out, “Hey Lady!”, just as she was closing the front door. Two seconds later she opened the door, wondering who the crazy man was yelling at her. Turns out her name was Goysha, and she had just lost a wireless ear bud, and she was very happy to see me!

As I pedaled all the way back home, I was exhausted but happy that I was able to help someone out. And that got me thinking.. Maybe there are two ways we need to exercise our hearts. One is with cardio and the other is with caring. Because it seems to me that if people have both a strong heart and a good heart, everyone will be in better shape!

Every beat of your heart can create rhythm in your soul.

~ Emily Dickinson

The Real Challenge

From a young age, I’ve always been a person who likes challenges. So I would often “challenge” myself and set lofty goals for things I wanted or things I wanted to achieve.

Unfortunately, as a young man my goals were often shallow and frivolous and to be honest, a little bit embarrassing as well. They were mostly about dating a certain girl, or buying a faster car, or keeping up with my peers, which should never be your goal at any age.

However, as I grew older my goals changed. What’s interesting is that my goals didn’t change just because I got older, they changed because I changed. For example, as I matured and started a family, my goals shifted more towards helping my wife and children and less about helping myself. And when I started my first business, my initial goal was to make the business successful. But as I started hiring employees, my goals shifted to include helping my employees achieve success as well. I discovered that it felt really good to watch one of my children win at a sporting event, or get an award at their High School. That same great feeling showed up when one of my employees earned a promotion, or when my wife and I were able to afford to give out awards and nice gifts to our employees at Christmas time.

So in my opinion, most people do change over time and so do their goals. Now that I am much older and semi-retired for example, my goals are a lot less lofty and probably back to being a bit shallow. One example, 12 years ago I took up golf and gave myself the goal of becoming a single digit handicapper and also to shoot a round in the 70’s. I admit that’s a bit frivolous, but those are two very difficult goals. At this point in time I will probably never become achieve a single digit handicap, but last Friday, after 12 years of trying, I did finally score 79 in a round of golf. It felt really good to achieve that personal goal, but it also brought back a flood of memories of other goals achieved over the years that were so much more meaningful because they involved helping others.

And that got me thinking… Having goals, and working hard to achieve those goals, is a good thing. But what’s more important is to make sure to have goals that matter, not just to ourselves, but to others. That’s the real challenge!

God gives us dreams a size too big… so that we can grow into them!

~ Anonymous 

Do Good, Get Good

You know that saying, “Karma is a bitch”? (Sorry for the bad language.) Well it’s probably true, but not always a bad thing.  Let me give you an example.

When I was a teenager, I remember going to the bank with my Dad. He was cashing a check and I was just tagging along. As we drove away, my Dad said he didn’t think the cashier gave us the right amount of money and asked me to count it. I did and he was right, there was way too much money. He immediately turned the car around, drove back, and returned the money, explaining to me that not only is it wrong to keep the money, it might also get the cashier in trouble. Just one of his many life lessons that has stuck me, especially since the very next day my Dad was given a large pay raise at his job.

Fast forward to current times and last week I had a chance to put that lesson to the test myself.  At my pole inspection company we use a ton of rust inhibitor spray, but all year long it has been harder and harder to find. After waiting weeks, I got a call from McFadden Dale Hardware that my order for 24 cans had finally come in. I drove to Santa Ana, went into the store and some guy named Anthony waited on me at the will call counter. He had trouble finding my order, but finally came up with 20 cans. He wrote up my order, I paid for it, and left the store. But when I got in my truck, I noticed he only charged me for 14 cans. The stuff is expensive, and I didn’t want the guy to get in trouble, so I returned to the store and told him he didn’t charge me enough.

Anthony became really flustered and checked the bill over and over again trying to figure out his mistake. Eventually he looked at me sheepishly and said, “Thanks for coming back, I really screwed this up”. I paid the balance and then asked Anthony to please order me 24 more cans. He said it would take a long time to get them. I nodded, “I know”, and left.

Thirty minutes later, I get an unknown caller on my cell phone. It’s Anthony, and he says, “I got you 24 more cans of rust inhibitor in will call right now. Come get them.” When I asked him how on earth he got them so fast, he simply said, “Don’t ask, just come get them.”

Karma – noun – Definition (In Buddhism) the sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

My definition of Karma –  Do Good, Get Good!

Treat people as you would like to be treated. Karma’s only a [b!#@%] if you are.

~ Anonymous

In Front of Others

The pole inspection work I do can be really hard and physically demanding and sometimes I wonder why I do it. But I have to say that overall I really enjoy it because the work is both challenging and satisfying, and the results are important in terms of providing safety and reducing property damage.

My latest project involves checking the light poles at several local High Schools, including the Football Field, Tennis Courts, Parking Lots, and Pool Areas. Schools are especially critical areas because the last thing I want is for a light pole to fall on a child. But the work can be draining and after 5 hours in the hot sun on Saturday, kneeling over and over again on blazing hot concrete, I was ready to go home.

Fortunately, I had one of my sons helping me because we had 90 light poles to check in one day. By the time we got to the last two poles in the pool area, we were both pretty tired. It’s always the last pole that’s the worst (Murphy’s Law), so of course it was a total struggle to remove the pole base cover. It took us 20 minutes, but when we finally did remove the cover, we discovered the anchor bolts that support the pole were completely corroded and disintegrating. It was an obvious safety hazard, hidden by the base cover, and at 30’ high and 800 pounds, that pole could do some very serious damage. Not to mention the pool area was filled with young kids swimming and playing in the pool.

I was still bent over working on that last pole when I heard a woman’s voice. I looked up and saw her standing nearby with her little boy. She said, “Thank you for working so hard to keep our school nice!” She probably thought I was a maintenance person sweeping up dirt (instead of a certified ultrasonic metals inspector checking for safety hazards). But I don’t think it matters what I was doing. She simply wanted to make sure I knew my efforts were appreciated. A kindness that caught me by surprise!

Her simple act of kindness and thoughtfulness had a positive effect on me… it brightened my day and made the hard work I was doing that much more meaningful. But I think there’s another important benefit to her simple act of kindness. I bet when that little boy grows up he remembers how thoughtful his Mom was to others, he will someday… copy her example. It’s not just what you say and do, it’s what you say and do in front of others!

Kindness is just love with its work boots on.

~ Karen McCullah

Hang Ups

I learned early on in life that communication is super important. How? By making the mistake of not communicating properly and then suffering the consequences caused by it. Like when I told my Dad I was just going to borrow the car to go get gas, when I should have communicated that I was going to pick up four of my friends, get gas, and then go for a joy ride. I admit, proper communication isn’t always easy, and neither is being honest when you’re young.

I am a lot older now and I have learned something. Being able to clearly communicate your thoughts and ideas in a concise manner will help tremendously in so many different areas of life. Whether you’re trying to deliver an important suggestion to your overly stubborn boss, or trying to explain your feelings of love to your wife, good communication is the single most important factor that will help you succeed.  But the problem is that I am often so intent on getting out the thoughts in my head that I don’t truly listen to the thoughts and words of the other person. That’s a mistake because communication has to be a two-way street.

I’ll give you an example. I was talking with a customer at a job site recently, and he was trying to tell me how he wanted me to do the pole inspection project at his site. But instead of listening and considering his ideas, I immediately went to that place in my head where “I know better” and started telling him what I thought should be done before he even finished speaking. That is the essence of poor communication and it’s also inconsiderate on my part.

Shortly after that happened, I left the job site and headed home in my truck. I often listen to talk radio and/or radio sports programs where people call in and ask questions. I heard one caller ask a really difficult question and then he said, “I’ll hang up now and listen to the answer.”

And that got me thinking… From now on, instead of getting so “hung up” on expressing my own thoughts, ideas, and feelings, I am going to try to simply … hang up and listen!

Communication works for those who work at it.

~ John Powell