Working with a Bunch of Crack Pots?
How can you boost productivity and morale if you’re working with a bunch of crack pots?
My friend, Kim, shared a story with me about a man with two large pots, hanging on opposite ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. The other one was perfect.
At the end of the daily walk from the stream to the house, the perfect pot was always full of water, the cracked pot only half full.
The cracked pot was ashamed that it could only deliver half of what the perfect pot did. After two years of this and feeling like a failure, the cracked pot apologized. “I am ashamed. Because of my flaws, you don’t get full value from me.”
The man said, “Did you notice? There are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other side. Knowing about your flaw, I planted flower seeds on your side. When we walk from the stream each day, you water them. I enjoy their beauty each day on the path and in the house, whenever I pick some to take inside. That couldn’t happen without you.”
We are all cracked pots – each with our own unique flaws. But these cracks and flaws can make our lives very interesting and rewarding – IF each of us can accept ourselves and each other for what we are, and look for the good in them.
Maybe all the crackpots in our world can be more than we’ve cracked them up to be.
copyright 2009 – Business Class Inc
The Joy of Independence
Note: Originally posted in 2008; brought from the archives in honor of our independence, especially the type of independence that boosts productivity and morale. Happy 4th!
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We crave it. We demand it. We fight for it.
We resent those who keep us from it.
Sometimes we get it before we are ready and we flail or fail with consequences from trivial to tragic.
And then sometimes – we resent the ones who gave it to us too soon.
Fight Dog Days with Ice Cream
Fight the dog days of summer by celebrating National Ice Cream Month. In the process, you can boost productivity, morale, the economy – even customer loyalty.
According to Wikipedia, July was designated as National Ice Cream Month by Ronald Reagan in 1984. He also declared the third Sunday in July (July 19) to be National Ice Cream Day. He stated that these two events should be observed with “appropriate ceremonies and activities.”
Wikipedia also stated that the ice cream industry provides thousands of jobs for United States citizens and generates annual sales of approximately 20 billion dollars.
So let’s stay cool, support our dairy farmers and all who sell ice cream.
Ways to celebrate with your staff:
Read more
Fighting the Dog Days of Summer
Many of you have been working hard to boost morale and productivity – trying to make the most of this tough year. And now – they’re here. At least for some of us. Those hot, sticky, summer days that Webster describes as “a period of stagnation or inactivity”.
The ancients believed that these hot, sultry days were caused by Sirius (Latin for the “Dog Star”), which rose just before or right at sunrise during this time of year. In an effort to appease the rage of Sirius, they sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of Dog Days.
In 1813, John Brady wrote that the heat was so excessive that “the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies”. From Clavis Calendarium, by John Brady, 1813 (see title page and full excerpt below).
I see signs of both the ancient and modern definition of “dog days”. Stagnation, inactivity, sour attitudes, Read more
Presto! Project is Done!
You know that big project (or presentation or proposal) that’s due in two weeks?
The one you haven’t started yet?
I know. I know. You’ve been meaning to do it. But it’s going to take HOURS and there are so many other things to do. You just haven’t had any big chunks of time to devote to it.
You actually thought you would get started yesterday but this and that happened.
Same thing happened the day before.
And the day before that.
And the day before.
But you KNOW that pretty soon the pressure will kick in and you WILL get it done.
You always do.
And it works out okay.
Usually.
But….it drives you crazy.
And everyone around you.
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