Does anyone out there have an old aquarium that is over 50 gallons, in decent condition, and that they would be willing to sell me for a reasonable price? I am in the market for a large fish tank (preferably at least 48" long, but less might be ok), and retail prices on them are outrageous!
This is for a personal science project that I am interested in doing, so your efforts would go to the worthy cause of advancing human civilization.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Ideas for Rent
Unfortunately for you, my wife found out about my ideas concerning leadership. So, instead of giving my ideas out to the world for free, she wants me to develop a seminar that people will have to pay for. If you know her, I'm sure you can picture her saying this. This is the girl who used to rent her Barbie stuff to other kids instead of sharing!
Just so you know what I'm thinking about, I will give you an illustration. Imagine your friends invite you to play a new game with them. They take you out to where you are going to play, and they explain all the rules and strategies to you. When they are confident you understand, you all begin to play together. Almost as soon as the game starts, you start to notice that people seem to be doing things you thought were against the rules. Then, they start penalizing you for infractions that you thought were totally legal. Next, your team is getting frustrated with you, even though you are trying to do exactly the strategy they described to you before you started.
How would you feel in this situation? Confused and frustrated. And rightly so! If there were other rules that superceded the ones they described at the beginning, why didn't they just tell you about them before hand? Are they just changing the rules as they go along in order to cheat, or because they don't understand the rules very well themselves? And why is your team so mad? Aren't you just doing what they told you to do? If they had wanted you to do something else, all they had to do was tell you.
Sadly, I've noticed that many of my friends and relatives are felling this exact way in their lives. Be it at work, church, school, other groups, or even at home, many people feel confused and disoriented because the "rules" of the group seem to be always changing. This is a direct result of poor leadership. One of the bedrocks of good leadership is consistency, and that seems to be a trait severely lacking in many leaders today. There are many reasons for this lack of consistency, many possible solutions, and many good reasons to be more consistent.
Imagine yourself as the leader in any group situation you want. For some this might be hard, for others it will be very easy. Until you've led, you can't grasp how hard a task it actually is. What if I told you (remember, your a leader right now) I could make your group:
-achieve its goals faster with less work
-save more money
-improve interactions and relationships with other groups
-improve member morale, satisfaction, and retention
all while reducing the work load on you (the leader)?
Doesn't that sound good?
Just so you know what I'm thinking about, I will give you an illustration. Imagine your friends invite you to play a new game with them. They take you out to where you are going to play, and they explain all the rules and strategies to you. When they are confident you understand, you all begin to play together. Almost as soon as the game starts, you start to notice that people seem to be doing things you thought were against the rules. Then, they start penalizing you for infractions that you thought were totally legal. Next, your team is getting frustrated with you, even though you are trying to do exactly the strategy they described to you before you started.
How would you feel in this situation? Confused and frustrated. And rightly so! If there were other rules that superceded the ones they described at the beginning, why didn't they just tell you about them before hand? Are they just changing the rules as they go along in order to cheat, or because they don't understand the rules very well themselves? And why is your team so mad? Aren't you just doing what they told you to do? If they had wanted you to do something else, all they had to do was tell you.
Sadly, I've noticed that many of my friends and relatives are felling this exact way in their lives. Be it at work, church, school, other groups, or even at home, many people feel confused and disoriented because the "rules" of the group seem to be always changing. This is a direct result of poor leadership. One of the bedrocks of good leadership is consistency, and that seems to be a trait severely lacking in many leaders today. There are many reasons for this lack of consistency, many possible solutions, and many good reasons to be more consistent.
Imagine yourself as the leader in any group situation you want. For some this might be hard, for others it will be very easy. Until you've led, you can't grasp how hard a task it actually is. What if I told you (remember, your a leader right now) I could make your group:
-achieve its goals faster with less work
-save more money
-improve interactions and relationships with other groups
-improve member morale, satisfaction, and retention
all while reducing the work load on you (the leader)?
Doesn't that sound good?
Monday, February 13, 2006
A Leaf in the Wind
It has come to my attention that there really is a leadership crisis in America today. I'm not talking about what is going on in the nation's capitol. I'm talking about the kind of leadership that we all experience daily in our homes, civic organizations, religious groups and, yes, our jobs too! I am interested in exploring the idea of consistency in leadership over my next few posts, and I hope that you will bear with me while I stuggle to awkwardly articulate my thoughts on the subject.
Never fear, I will soon get this out of my system and go back to writing about the stupid things I say to get in trouble with Julie and the things that I am breaking at work.
If it gets too intense, I may simply abort this effort. In which case, you will just have to have a conversation with me sometime to get the rest of my thoughts.
Never fear, I will soon get this out of my system and go back to writing about the stupid things I say to get in trouble with Julie and the things that I am breaking at work.
If it gets too intense, I may simply abort this effort. In which case, you will just have to have a conversation with me sometime to get the rest of my thoughts.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Stuff you need to know to live
Tonight, I feel I should enlighten my readers with some odd news to which they might not otherwise be exposed. 3 links, and then I go to bread... I mean bed. (If you can name the simpsons episode this comes from, I will give you 5 bucks.)
Some people are such stupid idiots. I would have sent her to jail and sued her. I wouldn't have asked for money. I would have asked to damages to be paid in her having to put signs up on her house that say she is a stupid idiot.
I always thought those guys were TOO well dressed. Check it out.
I've heard of some crazy fights at churches, but this takes it to another level.
Some people are such stupid idiots. I would have sent her to jail and sued her. I wouldn't have asked for money. I would have asked to damages to be paid in her having to put signs up on her house that say she is a stupid idiot.
I always thought those guys were TOO well dressed. Check it out.
I've heard of some crazy fights at churches, but this takes it to another level.
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