Luck

I've long loved a quote I originally found attributed to Shiller, but have subsequently found as Louis Pasteur's (though "favor" replaces "luck") - "Luck favors the prepared mind."  It so inspired me that I created and framed this counted cross stitch quote.

Years have unfolded and I've created my own version - "Luck favors the curious, optimistic, caring and prepared!".

How Full is Your Glass?

One of the classic differentiators between optimists and pessimists is whether they see the glass as half-full or half-empty. I was born and raised as an optimist and see the glass as full and overflowing.  However, I know several folks whose glass is half-empty, cracked and leaking.  This week I learned of the ultimate pessimist who asks, "What glass?".

Seizing Moments

Kristin Kaufman's book Is This Seat Taken? beautifully illustrates the life gifts we are given when we seize every opportunity to fully engage and learn from those who cross our daily paths.  Her stories of encounters with cab drivers, young children, manicurists, waiters, grocery baggers and executives are full of lessons and enriched with her thought-provoking questions at the end of each unique chapter.

Kristin shares a valuable perspective on success, "Success is aligning who we really are inside our souls with what we do and how we contribute in the world."

The book is peppered with with examples of everyday people who are making the world better for those in their circle by making the most of what they've been given. 

Kristin's insights reinforce the powers of optimism, empathy, observation, gratitude, resiliency, courage, trust and the joys of embracing love and life's simple pleasures.

How Full is Your Glass?

Is your glass half full to overflowing as mine is? Or is it half empty to cracked and leaking like some folks I know. Though we all tend to be optimists or pessimists both groups often assert that they are realists. Regardless of our typical label, we have the chance each day to choose the way we'll view situations.

Everything's Connected Even When Our Paths Diverge

It's been an emotional week as several of Sterling Bank's key contributors left today as a result of our merger with Comerica.  Though we've known their separation dates for a long time, it always seemed that our farewells and thank yous were distant.  Time flies and "then" became "now" far sooner than we hoped. 

Each of these special individuals approached their exits with optimism and appreciation for their opportunities.  "Good-byes" in banking and in life are far too limiting. We've said "so long" to each of them as we wish them continued success and as we positively  anticipate that our paths will be forever positively linked.

Hopeful Anticipation

We are in the midst of an executive search for a non-profit leader.  The current CEO is terrific, but has chosen to retire.  We've carefully crafted a success profile for the search firm to identify necessary skills, abilities and experiences in a qualified leader.  Now we are in hopeful anticipation of a rich pool of superb candidates. 

When we have carefully prepared for an important task such as this, hopeful anticipation is a realistic and energizing force for the team responsible for taking the next steps.

Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley

Matt Ridley has written an insightful book, The Rational Optimist - How Prosperity Evolves. It seems that I'm in the minority as only 20% of people have a genetic tendency toward optimism.   The author gives statistical reasons to believe in a brighter future.

This generation has access to more calories, watts, lumen-hours, square feet, gigabytes, megahertz, light-years, nanometers, bushels per acre, miles per gallon and dollars than any previous generation.

All the dire predictions of debilitating shortages and unchecked disease are based upon extrapolations of life without innovation.  But according to Matt, "Embracing dynamism means opening your mind to the possibility of posterity making a better world than preventing a worse one".

He promotes the concept that ideas and innovation are limitless. And I love his premise that is the basis of my blog (Everything's Connected) that the secret of the modern world's progress is interconnectedness.

Task List

In a meeting this week, one of my co-workers extolled the virtue of using Microsoft Outlook tasks to provide a single, visible to do list.  I'm a fanatic about putting all of my appointments in my Outlook calendar, so it made sense to further consolidate my activity view.  This is only day two, and it's a long weekend, but I'm cautiously optimistic that this may be just the tool I've needed to simplify my life.

Lucky Penny

I was leaving an event with a colleague when I spotted a penny.  As I leaned over to get it, I said the phrase that I've known forever, "Find a penny, pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck".  My contemporary knew that pennies were lucky, but had never heard the saying. 

The found penny to me is illustrative of seizing opportunities at our fingertips.  When we are alert, receptive, expectant and optimistic, we are able to seize the opportunities that others overlook.

Waiting to Exhale

A couple dear to me has been fighting his cancer through 6 months of grueling treatment.  They just received the most wonderful news that he is cancer free!  HURRAH!

As we were electronically discussing the great news, she indicated that she felt like she was finally able to exhale, and hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath for the past six months.

My response was, "I think waiting to exhale is like learning what it’s like to get enough sleep after years of sleep deprivation. Fortunately, when you’re in the midst of the experience, you don’t realize what’s happening. You’re just doing what you know you need to do to advance every day."

I'm so impressed with the way that my friends dealt with this most challenging situation and am motivated by their attitudes, courage and faith.

And, I hope that we'll all realize that each time we're waiting to exhale (or get some much needed sleep) we're doing what we need to do to support the people and causes we hold dear.

Amazing Optimism and Creativity

My years as a Junior League volunteer at Texas Children's Hospital are golden.  I was frequently asked how I could go every week without being depressed.  Never did I leave TCH without being grateful that my situation was mine.  Most often, I left incredibly inspired by the amazing children who joined us for weekly craft projects. 

Our method was to invite children who were cleared to leave their floors to join us to create a craft project.  We were often blown away by children who were only hours out of serious surgeries who joined us.  And we had the joy of developing relationships with precious patients who battled chronic or terminal illnesses.  Their outlook, realism, optimism and "seize the day" attitudes provided as much or more benefit to the faithful volunteers as did our compassion, commitment and creativity provide to the patients we were fortunate to serve.