Curious about Authority: How Do You Feel about Having It and/or Experiencing Someone Else with It?

Definition of Authority: Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; power exercised by a person in virtue of his office or trust; dominion; jurisdiction; authorization. The power derived from opinion, respect, or esteem; influence of character, office, or station.

“Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely like exercising authority usually lose it.” - Malcolm Forbes, American publisher

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out.” - Ronald Reagan, American President

I chose “authority” for this week’s theme because it popped up a couple of times in the books I was reading and the CDs I was listening to, and then in my fitness classes. Let me tell you the story.

The classes have all grown in size – as many as 35 people in some. I am quite time oriented and start right at the scheduled time. Most of the participants arrive early, pick up their tools and get settled in their spots. However, there are several – and usually the same ones – who arrive late and after we have started. They still have to pick up the tools of the class and then get settled.

Quite a few of the on-time students pointed out to me that these late-comers cause distractions. They urged me to say something about it. “After all, it is your class and you have the authority.” So, at the end of each class I pointed out that, especially in the Yoga class, coming in late was causing an interruption to the flow of the classes. So, if they could arrive even a few minutes early, we would all – including them – benefit.

It has been better since, and many of the on-timers have thanked me. I learned that I don’t need to be a heavy-handed authority figure, but I should make use of it when called for. How about you? If you are in a position of authority, how and when do you use it?

As usual, the quotations were plentiful and eye opening:

• “That's why editors and publishers will never be obsolete: a reader wants someone with taste and authority to point them in the direction of the good stuff, and to keep the awful stuff away from their door.” - Walter Jon Williams, American writer
• “There is no moral authority like that of sacrifice.” - Nadine Gordimer, South African novelist
• “Where the people possess no authority, their rights obtain no respect.” - George Bancroft, American historian
• “The wisest have the most authority.” – Plato, Greek philosopher
• “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist
• “Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character.” - Robert E. Lee, American soldier

And a few more with a different twist:

• “Authority has every reason to fear the skeptic, for authority can rarely survive in the face of doubt.” - Vita Sackville-West, English novelist
• “Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” – Anne Bradstreet, American poet
• “If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself - your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers.” - Dee Hock, American businessman
• “My only purpose is to teach children to rebel against authority figures.” - Sherman Alexie, American writer
• “Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us?” - William O. Douglas, American judge
• “But because our organization has grown so much and in so many different ways, the delegation process places responsibility and authority on the shoulders of people you can watch grow and watch the way they treat others.” - Vince McMahon, American entertainer

How do you feel about authority? I would love to hear about times when you were called upon to use yours.

Curious about Preparation: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance – It That True for You?

Definition of Preparation: The act of preparing or fitting beforehand for a particular purpose, use, service, or condition; previous arrangement or adaptation; a making ready. The state of being prepared; preparedness; readiness; fitness. That which prepares the way, or introduces; a preparatory act or measure. Accomplishment; qualification.

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius, Chinese philosopher

“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.” - Oprah Winfrey, American entertainer

As a girl scout, I was always told to “Be Prepared.” I just finished one of the best books I have read on preparation. It is David Allen’s, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life. He is a master of productivity and preparation for “anything.” Allen is succinct, straight forward and an excellent task master.

As I started work on this week’s blog, I realized how important proper preparation is to me and how it has colored my life and accomplishments for years. In college I wasn’t a crammer – I was a reviewer. As a speaker and storyteller I am prepared with more information than I need and extra stories just in case. As an instructor – either in fitness or continuing education classes – I feel better practicing ahead of time and arriving early to set up everything. Yes, I do write out lists along with using many of Allen’s project techniques.

I found so many glowing and helpful quotations to remember and follow:

• “I'm a big believer in the fact that life is about preparation, preparation, preparation.” - Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer
• “If you don't have talent or preparation for whatever you want to do, you will not be successful in anything.” - Alicia Machado, Venezuelan celebrity
• “It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.” - Henri Matisse, French artist
• “One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” - Arthur Ashe, American athlete
• “Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.” - Dwight L. Moody, American clergyman
• “You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation.” - Roger Maris, American athlete
• “There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything.” - George Washington Carver, American scientist

And a few more with a bit of a twist:

• “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” –
  Robert H. Schuller, American clergyman
• “Running a school where the students all succeed, even if some students have to help others to make the grade, is good preparation for democracy.” - William Glasser, American psychologist
• “Some people are making such thorough preparation for rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine.” - William Feather, American author
• “Stretching was a major part of my preparation.” - Edwin Moses, American athlete
• “But to me the bottom line is the more education you can give yourself, and the more preparation you can do, the less chance of failing.” - Stuart Pearce, English coach
• “Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control.” - Richard Kline, American actor
• “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” - John Dewey, American philosopher

So, how much do you prepare? I would love to hear from you.

Curious about Abundance: Do You Believe That There Is Abundance for All? What Are Your Areas of Abundance?

Definition of Abundance: An overflowing fullness; ample sufficiency; great plenty; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; wealth: -- strictly applicable to quantity only, but sometimes used of number.

“The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little.” - Ben Sweetland, American author

“Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You, and you alone, can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving.” - W. Clement Stone, American businessman

I am still hearing about the “lack of abundance” surrounding us – the persistent focus on today’s doom and gloom. Therefore, I decided to investigate the theme of abundance for this week’s blog. Yes, I have tightened up on my spending and am working diligently on my forthcoming book, How to Reap the Rewards of a Portfolio Career.

The quotations I found are excellent and thought provoking. However, they were in short supply compared with the quotations that are not as positive – for example, I only found two and a quarter pages of “abundance” quotations, whereas I found fourteen full pages of “lack” quotations with approximately twenty quotations on a page.

I feel strongly that we should enjoy abundance in as many or even more areas as we experience lack. Doesn’t it follow our mindset and/or our attitude? What do you think? Let’s all agree with Sarah Ban Breathnach, the American author who wrote, “Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.”

Here are some more of the great quotations I found:

• “Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.” - Wayne Dyer, American psychologist
• “Expect your every need to be met. Expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level.” - Eileen Caddy, English celebrity
• “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” - Henry David Thoreau, American author
• “What we need to do is really improve energy efficiency standards, develop in full scale renewable and alternative energy and use the one resource we have in abundance, our creativity.” - Lois Capps, American politician
• “Not what we have. But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.” – Epicurus, Greek philosopher
• “Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.” – Alexander Solzehnitsyn, Russian novelist
• “When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around us, it's in tedious abundance and we take it for granted as if we're going to live forever, which we're not.” - John McGahern, Irish writer

So, I suggest making a list of everything you have in abundance. I think you will be surprised. And, do let me hear from you.

Curious about Contemplation: Do You Take Time to Contemplate? What Are Your Areas for Contemplation?

Definition of Contemplation: The act of the mind in considering with attention; continued attention of the mind to a particular subject; meditation; musing; study. Holy meditation. The act of looking forward to an event as about to happen; expectation; the act of intending or purposing.

“An art aims, above all, at producing something beautiful which affects not our feelings but the organ of pure contemplation, our imagination.” - Eduard Hanslick, German writer

Inspiration for this week’s theme came from my re-listening to Michael Gelb’s fascinating book, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. Besides introducing us to the genius da Vinci, Gelb describes the seven principles that help define how Leonardo thought. And yes, contemplation is one of those.

I love writing this blog, because it not only forces me to pick a theme, it also – through my investigation of the theme’s quotations – but also lets me read how others have felt about it. This is incredibly enlightening and does lead me to heavy contemplation.

You will find the following interesting and invigorating:

• “The wise man knows how to run his life so that contemplation is Possible.” - Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher
• “Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.” - Jean Arp, German sculptor
• “That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful.” - Edgar Allan Poe, American poet
• “The act of contemplation then creates the thing created.” - Isaac Disraeli, English businessman
• “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” – Aristotle, Greek philosopher
• “Action is greater than writing. A good man is a nobler object of contemplation than a great author. There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read.” - Ross Perot, American businessman
• “Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there divines the spirit of which nature herself is animated.” - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor

And, a few more with a different twist:

• “I think a lot of contemplation happens in bathtubs. It does for me. Nothing like a hot bath to ease the tension and think about what's going to happen next.” - Sarah McLachlan, Canadian musician
• “If there is a special Hell for writers it would be in the forced contemplation of their own works.” - John Dos Passos, American novelist
• “If we know the divine art of concentration, if we know the divine art of meditation, if we know the divine art of contemplation, easily and consciously we can unite the inner world and the outer world.” - Sri Chinmoy, Indian philosopher
• “There are few things more pleasing than the contemplation of order and useful arrangement.” - Arthur Phillip, British soldier
• “Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.” - Nicolas de Chamfort, French writer
• “Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing.” - Dodie Smith, English dramatist

I hope this article moved you to contemplate. And I do recommend the da Vinci book highly. They also offer a companion workbook, which I have placed on my Wish List. I would love to hear how it is working for you.