#63: Success

#62: Gossip

Testing for gossip

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and ...”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really …”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

#61: Rest of the world

The international food shortage

Recently, a worldwide survey was conducted and the only question asked was: "Would you please give your honest opinion about the solution to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was, not surprisingly, a huge failure. Because:

In Africa they didn't know what "food" meant.

In Eastern Europe they didn't know what "honest" meant.

In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant.

In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant.

In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.

In South America they didn't know what "please" meant.

And, in the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.

#60: Big Picture

Would you buy a house if you were only allowed to see one of its rooms? Would you purchase a car if you were permitted to see only its tires and a taillight? Would you pass judgment on a book after reading only one paragraph?

Nor would I.

Good judgment requires a broad picture. Not only is that true in purchasing houses, cars, and books, it’s true in evaluating life. One failure doesn’t make a person a failure; one achievement doesn’t make a person a success.

#59: Value

A big corporation hired several cannibals. "You are all part of our team now," said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees." The cannibals promised they would not.

A few weeks later the cannibals' boss remarked, "You're all working very hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals all shook their heads, "No," they said.

After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, "Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?"

A hand rose hesitantly in admission. "You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but nooo, you had to go and eat someone important!..."

#58: Helping

The Wet Pants

There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it..

When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives. The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.” He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, “Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!”

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out.

All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”

Moral: All of us go through all good and bad things in life. We should always remember how we felt when we were in same condition and should not mock others for being in it. Always try to understand their situation as if you are in it and help much as possible praying to god that today you are in a condition to help someone who needs it.

#57: Business Quotes

Good business leaders create a vision,
articulate the vision,
passionately own the vision,
and relentlessly drive it to completion.

-       Robert Kiyosaki

Efficiency is doing things right;
effectiveness is doing the right things.

-       Peter Drucker

 

The size of your success
is measured by the strength of your desire;
the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.

-       Robert Kiyosaki

 

What you get by achieving your goals
is not as important
as what you become by achieving your goals.

-       Zig Ziglar

#56: Stress

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses".

-      Alphonse Karr

 

"We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality".

-      Marcus Annaeus Seneca

 

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin".

-      Mother Teresa

 

The only difference between a diamond and a lump of coal is that the diamond had a little more pressure put on it.

-      Anonymous

 

"People are as happy as they make up their minds to be".

-      Abraham Lincoln

 

"When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity".

-      John F. Kennedy

 

"Life is not a matter of having good cards, but of playing a poor hand well".

-      Robert Louis Stevenson

 

"If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate".

-      Thomas Watson, Sr.

 

"Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness".

-      Richard Carlson

 

"Keep your sense of humor. There's enough stress in the rest of your life to let bad shots ruin a game you're supposed to enjoy".

-      Amy Alcott

#55: Learning

A Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

#54: World Proverbs

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself. Chinese

Character can be built on daily routine. Japanese

If you plant grass, you won't get rice. Malaysian

Dig your well before you are thirsty. Hindustan

Even the best writer has to erase sometimes. Spanish

There is no wise response to a foolish remark. Czechoslovakian

You can tell who the good seamen are during a storm. Greek

Do more things by wisdom than by force. Hungarian

He who possesses knowledge possesses the world. Uzbek

Through other people's faults, wise men correct their own. Canadian

Do not be excessively timid or excessively confident. Cuban

Little by little, the bird builds its nest. Haitian

A dog that always barks gets little attention. Argentine

 

#53: Stress

“A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience,
raised a glass of water and asked, ‘How heavy is this glass of water?’

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, ‘The absolute weight doesn’t matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem..
If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it,the heavier it becomes.’

He continued,
‘And that’s the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later,
the burden will become increasingly heavy:
and we won’t be able to carry on.’

‘As with the glass of water,
you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.
So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down: don’t carry it home.

‘You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you’re carrying now,
let them down for a moment if you can.”

Author Unknown

#52: Winning

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong"
When a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn't my fault"

A winner works harder than a loser and has more time
A loser is always "Too busy" to do what is necessary

A winner goes through a problem
A loser goes around it, and never gets pass it

A winner makes commitments
A loser makes promises

A winner says, "I'm good, but not as good as i ought to be"
A loser says, "I am not as bad as a lot of other people"

A winner respects those who are superior to him and tries to learn something from them
A loser resents those who are superior to him and tries to find chinks in their armour

A winner feels responsible for more than his job
A loser says, "I only work here"

A winner says, "There ought to be a better way to do it"
A loser says, "That's the way it's always been done here"

Choose to be a winner!

#51: Persistence

A Lesson From The Chinese Bamboo Tree

(Oriental thoughts)

You take a little seed, plant it, water it, and fertilise it for a whole year, and nothing happens

The second year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens

The third year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. How discouraging this becomes!

The fourth year you water it and fertilise it, and nothing happens. This is very frustating

The fifth year you continue to water and fertilise the seed and then...take note. Sometime during the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree spouts and grows NINETY FEET IN SIX WEEK

Life is much akin to the growing process of the Chinese bamboo tree.
It is often discouraging. We seemingly do things right, and nothing happens

But for those who do things right and are not discouraged and are persistent, things will happen.
Finally we begin to receive the rewards.

#50: Propriety

As per my recent trip to Taiwan, I thought something from Confucius would be appropriate. 

 Propriety means: “the quality or state of being appropriate or fitting” (thefreedictionary.com)

You could interpret this in many ways, but I suppose you could read a little bit of situational leadership and proper communication into this as well…

#49: Communication

Essence of Tact
by: Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., The Sower's Seeds

A Sultan called in one of his seers and asked how long he would live. "Sire," said the seer, "you would live to see all your sons dead." The sultan flew into a rage and handed the prophet over to his guards for execution. He then called for a second seer, and asked him the same question. "Sire," said the prophet, "I see you blessed with long life, so long that you will outlive all your family." The sultan was delighted and rewarded this seer with gold and silver jewellery. Both prophets knew the truth, but one had tact, the other did not.

 

 

3 Tips to Improve Face-to-face Communication in the Workplace!

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Kathie Must

1.       The first step is to have some face-to-face communication! Email/chat has overwhelmed our workplace communication methods. We couldn’t work without the speed and immediacy that electronic communications provide. But — the big but — is that “e-mail,” by definition, is just words, making this form of communication much more easily misunderstood than face-to-face conversation. Over 90% of meaning comes from something other than the words themselves — 55% comes from facial and body language and 38% comes from vocal inflection. So choose wisely. Meet face-to-face if there is conflict, if the issue is potentially sensitive, or if your real intent is to build relationships.

2.       Then, use that 90% well! Be aware of both your body language and the body language of your conversation partner. Facial expressions are universal, but body language, eye contact and intonation can be interpreted very differently across cultures. Are you conveying interest, openness and attention? Your stance and the way you move can help convey a sense of connection. The non-verbal actions can “fit” the words and reinforce the spoken message, or completely negate it. Are you saying “yes” and shaking your head “no”?

3.       Remember the goal is to express your ideas in a manner that will be understood. You intend one message. Is that the message received? Don’t assume. We all have filters and biases that influence interpretation. Check out your own assumptions. And clarify the message being received. Take responsibility for the message that is actually received.

As we are spending less time face-to-face in workplaces, make it work for you!

#48: Compassion

Bishop's Gift, The
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Once a church had fallen upon hard times. Only five members were left: the pastor and four others, all over 60 years old. In the mountains near the church there lived a retired Bishop. It occurred to the pastor to ask the Bishop if he could offer any advice that might save the church. The pastor and the Bishop spoke at length, but when asked for advice, the Bishop simply responded by saying, "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you." The pastor, returning to the church, told the church members what the Bishop had said. In the months that followed, the old church members pondered the words of the Bishop. "The Messiah is one of us?" they each asked themselves. As they thought about this possibility, they all began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off, off chance that each member himself might be the Messiah, they also began to treat themselves with extraordinary care. As time went by, people visiting the church noticed the aura of respect and gentle kindness that surrounded the five old members of the small church. Hardly knowing why, more people began to come back to the church. They began to bring their friends, and their friends brought more friends. Within a few years, the small church had once again become a thriving church, thanks to the Bishop's gift.

#47: Perception

Mind's Eye
by: Neil Eskelin, Source Unknown

In his book, "Psycho-Cybernetics," Dr. Maxwell Maltz tells of an experiment that showed how mental practice can actually improve our skills. The test involved the ability to sink basketball free throws. Maltz says that "One group of students actually practiced throwing the ball every day for twenty days." Their efforts were recorded on the first and last day. A second group, that was also tested on the first and last day, engaged in no sort of practice between their tests. A third group was scored on the first day, then spent 20 minutes every day "imagining" that they were throwing the ball at the basket. When they missed, they would imagine that they corrected their aim accordingly. The final results showed that the first group (which practiced 20 minutes a day) improved their scoring ability by 24 percent. The second group (with no practice) showed no improvement. The third group (who practiced only in their mind) improved in scoring by 23 percent. Changing your mind's eye will have a positive effect on your physical eye.

 

Prejudice
by: Anthony de Mello, SJ, Source Unknown

"Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so," the Master said. When asked to explain he said, "A man cheerfully observed a religious fast seven days a week. His neighbour starved to death on the same diet."

#46: Constraints

Excerpt from Joseph Sugarman (“The Adweek Copyright Handbook”):

Have you ever looked at a circus elephant anchored to the ground? If you have, you might notice that the elephant has a metal collar around its leg to which it is attached a small chain. And the chain is attached to a wooden peg driven into the ground. Pretty good protection?

Pretty lousy, if you ask me. That 12,000-pound elephant could very easily pick up its foot and with one fell swoop yank the peg out of the ground and walk away. But the elephant doesn’t. Why? I’ll explain.

When that elephant was still a baby, that same collar and chain and peg were used to hold the elephant in place. The restraint was sufficient to hold the baby elephant in place even if it wanted to break way. And break away is indeed what the baby elephant tried to do.

So every day while the baby was chained up, it would pull at the chain and pull and pull and pull until finally a cut appeared on its leg exposing the sore sensitive layers of deep skin tissue. It hurt to pull like that and soon the baby elephant, realizing the effort was both futile and painful, stopping trying to escape.

As the baby elephant grew older, it never forgot that bad experience with the chain and the peg. And so whenever it was anchored down in a sport, it would think, ‘Hey, it’s impossible to break away and besides, it hurts.’

The adult elephant had what I call an ‘assumed constraint.’ And all of us have the same problem to one degree or another.

#45: The good and the bad

To Make Rainbows You Need
By Catherine Pulsifer, © 2007


For as long as I can remember, my aunt had stained glass hanging in her window. She had pieces from all over the world, each one hand crafted by a stained glass artist.

She loved them all, but there was one piece that hung in her kitchen window and she often referred to it as her "motivational stained glass". She told me that she hung this particular piece in her kitchen window where she would see it every day.

The stained glass piece, which she was referring to, was a rainbow. And on the rainbow someone had written the saying:
"Remember, to make rainbows you need sun and rain."

The motivational stained glass piece was one of the smaller pieces of her wonderful collection, and was not particularly well done. I asked her why she kept it there. She said it gave her motivation on days when life presented challenges. It reminded her that we need to have some bad times to appreciate the good times. And, on the days when life was good, it always reminded her that life doesn't get any better than this.

I was at our local farmers market and found a stained glass rainbow similar to the one my aunt had hanging in her window. The one I bought did not have the saying on it, but every time I look at it I can remember my aunts words and the saying ….

 

"To make rainbows you need sun and rain".

#44: Integrity

Maintain Your Integrity
by: Author Unknown, Heart At Work

A while back, there was a story about Reuben Gonzolas, who was in the final match of his first professional racquetball tournament. He was playing the perennial champion for his first shot at a victory on the pro circuit. At match point in the fifth and final game, Gonzolas made a super "kill shot" into the front corner to win the tournament. The referee called it good, and one of the linemen confirmed the shot was a winner.

But after a moment's hesitation, Gonzolas turned and declared that his shot had skipped into the wall, hitting the floor first. As a result, the serve went to his opponent, who went on to win the match.

Reuben Gonzolas walked off the court; everyone was stunned. The next issue of a leading racquetball magazine featured Gonzolas on its cover. The lead editorial searched and questioned for an explanation for the first ever occurrence on the professional racquetball circuit. Who could ever imagine it in any sport or endeavour? Here was a player with everything officially in his favour, with victory in his grasp, who disqualifies himself at match point and loses.

When asked why he did it, Gonzolas replied, "It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity."

#43: Restraints

Free to Soar
by: Wayne B. Lynn, Life, Free To Soar

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multi-coloured creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing in the heady atmosphere above the earth. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check. Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!" They soared beautifully even as they fought the imposed restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. "Free at last" it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind." Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. "Free at last" free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction. How much like kites we sometimes are. (Life) gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and (pardon the pun) never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground. Let us each rise to the great heights our (life) has in store for us, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.

#42: New beginnings

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." Bill Vaughan

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." Oprah Winfrey

"You will never reach your goal until you start to take action, any action." Byron Pulsifer, Take Action; Don't Procrastinate

"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." Henry Ford

"All glory comes from daring to begin." Eugene F. Ware

"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises." Demosthenes

"You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you." Barabra Sher

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything." Napoleon Hill

"Don't be afraid if things seem difficult in the beginning. That's only the initial impression. The important thing is not to retreat; you have to master yourself." Olga Korbut

"Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." Meister Eckhart

"Discontent is the first necessity of progress." Thomas Edison

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." Walt Disney

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." Lao-Tsu

#41: New Year...again

 

H appiness depends upon your outlook on life.
A ttitude is just as important as ability.
P assion find yours this year!
P ositive thoughts make everything easier.
Y ou are unique, with special gifts, use them.

N ew beginnings with a new year.
E nthusiasm a true secret of success.
W ishes may they turn into goals.

Y ears go by to quickly, enjoy them.
E nergy may you have lots of it.
A ppreciation of life, don't take it for granted.
R elax take the time to relax in this coming year.

#40: New Year

I wanted to wish you all  a Happy New Year!  We’ve had a great year at work in 2011 but it’s time to look forward to 2012.   As Edith Lovejoy Pierce said: “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”

A special new year prose for the words of wisdom this week…

Recipe for a Happy New Year
By Author Unknown

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancour and hate.  Cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past-have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts.  Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavour of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing- don't do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution.

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humour.

#39: Making the most of it

Lessons from an Oyster
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

There once was an oyster Whose story I tell, Who found that some sand Had got into his shell. It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain. For oysters have feelings Although they're so plain. Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate That had brought him To such a deplorable state? Did he curse at the government, Cry for election, And claim that the sea should Have given him protection? 'No,' he said to himself As he lay on a shell, Since I cannot remove it, I shall try to improve it. Now the years have rolled around, As the years always do, And he came to his ultimate Destiny ­ stew. And the small grain of sand That had bothered him so Was a beautiful pearl All richly aglow. Now the tale has a moral, for isn't it grand What an oyster can do With a morsel of sand? What couldn't we do If we'd only begin With some of the things That get under our skin.

#38: MIS-perceived

A man in a hot air balloon is lost. He sees a man on the ground and reduces height to speak to him.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

"You're in a hot air balloon hovering thirty feet above this field," comes the reply.

"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.

"I do," says the man, "How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "Everything you told me is technically correct, but it's no use to anyone."

"You must be in business," says the man.

"I am," says the balloonist, "How did you know?"

"Well," says the man, "You don't know where you are, you don't know where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."

#37: Making Assumptions

This story is an 'alleged' transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian maritime contact off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. The tale, in various versions and featuring different nationalities, has circulated widely in emails and in books for many years, and has been used by numerous speakers and writers to illustrate lessons relating to negotiation, making assumptions, and related themes. Unfortunately it is not true, but it is nevertheless a great story.

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees South to avoid collision.

Americans: This is the captain of a US navy ship; I say again divert your course.

Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: We are a lighthouse; your call.

#36: Different ways to solve a problem

A mechanical engineer, a systems engineer, and a software engineer are in a car driving down a steep mountain road when the brakes fail. The driver desperately pumps the brake pedal, trying to control the speeding vehicle around cliff-edge bends, while the passengers do their best not to panic. As the car hurtles towards an impossible corner the driver spots an escape route into a hedge and a haystack beyond, where the car eventually grinds to a surprisingly safe stop. The three engineers all get out, shaken, relieved, and take turns to assess the situation.

'Hmm,' says the mechanical engineer, 'It looks like a brake line was leaking - let's repair the split, bleed the brakes, and we should be able to get on our way..."

The systems engineer thinks for a while and says, 'Maybe we need to contact the manufacturer and the dealer to confirm exactly what the problem is..."

The software engineer slowly climbs into the driver's seat and, gesturing for the others to join him, says, 'How about we get back on the road and see if it happens again?..'

 (An alternative final line, would be: "How about if we close all the windows and try again..")

#35: Challenge Assumptions

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."

Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.

Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."

So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.

Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”.

-Acknowledgement: M Hamanova

#34: Communication

Falling Trees

  by: Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific some villagers practice a unique form of logging. If a tree is too large to be felled with an ax, the natives cut it down by yelling at it. (Can't lay my hands on the article, but I swear I read it.) Woodsmen with special powers creep up on a tree just at dawn and suddenly scream at it at the top of their lungs. They continue this for thirty days. The tree dies and falls over. The theory is that the hollering kills the spirit of the tree. According to the villagers, it always works.

 

Ah, those poor nave innocents.  Such quaintly charming habits of the jungle.  Screaming at trees, indeed.  How primitive. Too bad they don't have the advantages of modern technology and the scientific mind.

 

Me? I yell at my wife. And yell at the telephone and the lawn mower. And yell at the TV and the newspaper and my children. I've been known to shake my fist and yell at the sky at times.

Man next door yells at his car a lot. And this summer I heard him yell at a stepladder for most of an afternoon. We modern, urban, educated folks yell at traffic and umpires and bills and banks and machines--especially machines. Machines and relatives get most of the yelling.

 

Don't know what good it does. Machines and things just sit there. Even kicking doesn't always help. As for people, well, the Solomon Islanders may have a point. Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts....