Happy Halloween

This great site allows you to be enormously creative in carving pumpkins, with absolutely no mess.
Happy Halloween!

Too Much To Do

I'm trying to cram another year's worth of activities into the 4th quarter, including making plans for 2011.  The first month of the quarter zoomed by, filled to the brim.  The process is made more challenging as new opportunities arise daily to be added to my already overflowing schedule. 

When I have too much to do, it is essential to take time to capture all the projects in one visible document.  This eliminates one source of anxiety, the fear that I've forgotten about a smaller but important project.  Mental milestones allow me to realize that the overly frantic pace is temporary.  And taking a few moments to relish successes keeps my energy flowing.

When Tragedy Strikes

When tragedy strikes, follow your instincts. No one has a script.  If you think you should visit or call...DO!  We received the unthinkable call last night that dear friends' precious son had been murdered in a home invasion.  We could have waited to give them family privacy, but we followed our hearts and instincts and appeared spontaneously to provide hugs.  Absolutely right decision!  

Out of Our Element

One of our new, unique Sterling Bank "fun"draising projects for March of Dimes was "Dress an Executive for Halloween".  I had 10 other willing senior executives who agreed with me to be bid upon for dressing rights. Our teams were tame, and only three chose to bid.  Each of these teams chose to dress their own senior executive.  Since I was not an executive to be dressed, I rallied my other "non-chosen" colleagues to donate to dress our willing CEO. 

We "mummified" our CEO, discovered that our Operations EVP is a "hot dog", realized from our HR "flapper" EVP that there's a lighter side to work and ascertained that our Specialty Banking and Investments EVP will step way out of his comfort zone to make a great impression.

When we're willing to be vulnerable, we often make great connections and memories.

Why Aren't You Smiling?

I've had the opportunity to stand in many airport security lines and have become puzzled by the fact that very few people are smiling.  Most travelers are visiting loved ones, taking care of business or returning home after a trip.  Anticipation of a great visit, successful business meeting and homecoming are all reasons to smile.  Gratitude for love in my life and an exciting job brings a smile to my face.

What's in Your Glass?

My attitude is generally very positive because my glass is overflowing with gratitude. I recently did a gratitude exercise with a negative friend whose glass has barely anything in it.  We set a timer for the exercise, and reset it each time something negative was said.  After a few timer resets, my friend struggled to list a few important reasons to be grateful.  My assistance was then requested to propose items to add to the list.  Though many obvious areas of gratitude were rejected, several additional important ones were added.

Our thinking, positive and negative, directs our actions, attitudes, interactions and impacts.  A gratitude list provides a tangible way to focus on possibilities rather than problems. 

Most Frequently Mispronounced Words and Phrases

Yourdictionary.com has compiled a list of the 100 most commonly mispronounced words and phrases in the English language.  A review of the list reveals incorrectly added and missing syllables, common misspellings, transposition of letters, and substitution of familiar words to form humorous phrases.  In the case of the phrases, it appears that the mispronunciations are the result of hearing but not seeing them written.  I still vividly remember as I was growing up thinking what an odd name "Hollow Notes" was for a pop duo.  It made much more sense to me when I learned that the group was actually "Hall & Oates".