Land of the Free?

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

Vince Lombardi 

As I was driving home from my weekly Sunday morning coffee catch up with my cousin, I found myself once again stooped at a traffic light facing a park.

It's a very small playground, maybe the size of a large single home property, with a jungle gym set up for kids.

It has 7 different signs posted by the town.

One sign reads "welcome to the Teaneck Park system". and then goes on to list about 15 different rules to adhere to when visiting this tiny parcel of land.

As if this isn't enough, there are as I said,6 more signs, each one emphasizing all of the "don'ts" associated with this patch of grass.

One sign was specific to ball playing.

It listed every imaginable form of ball playing that is prohibited.

It wasn't good enough to just say "no ball playing".

Nope, they went to great lengths to list everything from baseball to bocce ball to golf and any other game that used a round (or not so round) object that can be tossed, kicked, hit or otherwise had fun with.

Did I mention that this park was tiny?

As if you could even want to throw a ball there.

7 signs!

No dogs.

No smoking.

No food or drink.

No ball playing.

No fun of any kind (okay maybe I made that one up).

But seriously, 7 different signs?

It would take a parent longer to read the signs than there kids would ever want to play there.

And are they all really necessary?

It just seemed to be a bit of overkill to me.

I won't be surprised if soon there isn't an eighth sign specific to mask wearing and vaccinations.

Yep, that's exactly what this park needs.....another list of don'ts.

And maybe a fence with a gate and a guard.

Now there's a novel new idea.

I think I'll reach out to the town council on that!

Shavua Tov!

Flashback

“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.”

Epicurus 

On my way into work this morning I drove past The Garden State Plaza.

There were a number of cars in the parking lot already, bringing me back to my days of setting up Halloween stores.

It's now mid-August, which would have meant that we would just about be hitting our stride.

Each season, the first couple of stores were all about getting familiar with that year's offering and regaining the muscle memory of the grind of opening 30 stores in 45 days.

I couldn't help to reflect on why I enjoyed that madness.

For me, it was about being the best at doing what very few others are capable of doing at all.

It was about having the opportunity to create 30 new spaces, each in a very short period of time.

Start a store, finish a store and move on to the next store without any down time.

It was truly organized chaos for under 2 months.

And it wasn't good enough to achieve good enough.

Excellence (not perfection) was the rule of thumb.

Attention to detail was every bit as important as getting the job done.

Often these 2 things were contrary to each other.

No matter though.

One could not be sacrificed for the other.

These were exhausting times.

I dare say, there is no way I could do that kind of work again.

Somehow, in that time and space, it seemed perfectly normal to me.

I can't say that I miss it.

I do know that it played a huge part in making me who I am and how I think.

It's probably why the thought of retiring and chasing a golf ball around for a few hours each day is so foreign to me.

It helps explain my need for constantly searching for my next challenge.

Shabbat Shalom!

Empathy

"One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity."

Albert Schweitzer

 Lately I have been semi-binge watching the tv series Ozarks.

Maybe not for everyone, however, I seem to be more than just liking it.

For some reason, I find myself connecting with the lead character Marty Byrde.

Marty launders money for a Mexican drug cartel.

On what seems like a daily basis, Marty finds himself making choices all in attempt to keep his family safe and secure.

Always juts one step ahead of the next pitfall, he seems to be destined to never being able to just relax, breath and feel at ease.

Instead of feeling anxious while I watch this, I actually empathize with Marty.

It's how I feel about my life, always just 1 step away from the next pitfall.

And always trying to keep those around me out of harm's way.

It's exhausting!

Like Marty, I rarely have to look over my shoulder.

Innately I know the dangers that lurk behind me.

Not moving forward at all times will inevitably bring about unwanted consequences.

Planning and acting are the only way to stay ahead of the dangers that surely will be my demise if I don't act.

Act, not react.

Like Marty, I never seem to be able to find peace.

I suppose this should concern me.

It actually doesn't.

Mostly because I have been doing it for so long, I really don't know how to be any other way.

Comfort in being uncomfortable.

Kind of weird, but kind of me.

Personal Growth

 “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

Thomas Jefferson.

During the Hebrew month of Elul, our Rabbi sends out a daily message.

Yesterday's message struck a chord with me.

He shared a story and then this quote from Leo Tolstoy;

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Rarely has a truer statement ever been made.

A number of years ago, I made personal growth a priority in my life.

I started reading as much as I could from a number of different leaders in this field.

Not so coincidentally, it was also when I began writing.

I read books, listened to audio books, subscribed to magazines and followed the best of the best on social media.

I even began developing my meditation practice, dedicating myself to a daily routine.

It was a marvelously transformative time for me.

and then, just like that, I stopped.

I stopped reading, listening, meditating and eventually even writing.

I can't tell you why, I just did.

I knew better than to let that happen.

Still, one by one, these good practices all went by the wayside.

Again, not so coincidentally, a couple of pounds came back.

And then a couple more.

And a couple more.

I still wanted to change the world.

I still was searching for how I could leave my significant mark on this orb before I was done.

But somehow, I stopped doing the work on myself .

The work that is the gateway to all good things in my life.

"Most people want to change the world to improve their lives, but the world they need to change first is the one inside themselves." 

Rabbi Benjamin Blech

I'm grateful that I have once again begun to write.

As we all know, the Journey begins with 1 single step.

Why 40?

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”

George Bernard Shaw 

Now we settle in to being shopkeepers.

7 days a week,52 weeks a year.

You know what they say about entrepreneurs; someone who works 80 hours a week to avoid working for a 40 hour a week paycheck.

Just to be clear, the grand plan does not include us being here every waking hour of every one of those days.

Nor does it mean that we will all be here every minute this place is open.

For now, in the early stages of this new venture's infancy, we are following the W.I.T. program.....Whatever It Takes.

Eventually, like water, scheduling will find it's own level.

However, all of this work and effort has me wondering, why a 40 hour work week?

When did that become the model for success?

Getting ahead in life takes more than that.

Somewhere along the way, people have bought into this complacency and believe that 40 hours a week is good enough.

It never was and it never will be.

I hear a lot lately about raising the minimum wage.

How about raising the minimum work out put?

There are plenty of jobs to be had.

I believe in supply and demand.

If there are more jobs than there are people to fill them, business owners have hard choices to make.

Wages like any other commodity will find their appropriate level naturally.

I hear the argument "how do you expect someone to raise a family on minimum wage?"

I don't.

I expect people to wait until they can afford to have that family before staring one.

I believe that if you have a family, you get with the W.I.T. program.

Nothing in life is a given....you want more, go get more.

I would love a getaway home.

I just wouldn't buy one and expect to just get a wage to allow me to have it.

IF I work hard enough, maybe that will happen.

I am the only one who can make that happen.

One thing I know for sure, it will take more than 40 hours a week to get there.

Shavua Tov!

Where have all the flowers gone?

 "Training yourself to live in the present - without regretting the past or fearing the future - is a recipe for a happy life."

JIM LOCKWOOD HUIE

A number of years ago, a friend and colleague and I were having a conversation. It was around the time when reality shows were exploding onto the scene. In case after case, these shows promoted the worst behavior imaginable. And people were eating this stuff up.

It was like a new form of crack. Viewers couldn't get enough of ill mannered boorish behavior.

I remember commenting that I believed there would be a push back.

As a society, we couldn't possibly continue to support such offensive trash and eventually there was sure to be a righting of the ship.

We were bound to get back on course.

Boy was I wrong.

Chivalry and all other forms of sensibility are in fact dead.

Today we celebrate all of the wrong things and we do it with gusto,

splashing it out over any medium that will carry it.

TV, Social media, film, and in our educational systems.

Words like respect and humility have no meaning any more.

Dress codes?

Unheard of.

Proper etiquette?

There is none.

Common decency ?

Gone.

All have been replaced by self indulgent bad behavior.

There is no such thing as rude anymore. It's common place.

Back in the day, Rudy Giuliani instituted what became know as the Broken Windows campaign in NYC.

Start by cleaning up the small stuff, like broken windows and work your way up the ladder until eventually we can tackle the bigger problems.

Today, all of the windows are broken!

Trash lines our streets. Not only literally, but figuratively.

I fear that I was wrong when I predicted that there would be a course correction, that common decency would eventually win out.

It's a damn shame.

Truly a damn shame.

Shabbat Shalom!

Creativity

 "Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures."

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

When we opened The Grooming Shoppe over 5 years ago, one of the highlights of Becca's day was when a new customer would walk in and remark "this place is so cute!".

It was a huge testament to how hard we had worked to create the look and feel of the place.

This new venture, The Petcare Market, dos not elicit the same response from people.

What I hear now from the other side of my office wall is "WOW".

There is a big difference between "this place is so cute" and "WOW".

"This place is so cute" always made Becca smile with pride.

"WOW" makes her well up with satisfaction.

The other day I heard a customer ask her "are you happy?"

Her answer was "this is a dream come true".

My friend and fraternity brother Doug Smith posted in his blog the other day " given a choice between creative and selective, go with creative every time".

Doug who coaches leaders, hit the nail on the head.

The new shop is a result of creativity.

One does select WOW....one creates WOW!

The question I find myself asking is now that we enter the mundane world of being shop keepers, where will I find my next avenue for creativity?

It's only a matter of time until I start getting itchy!