Author: Kevscott1

My oldest son and I go out to dinner every Tuesday. He picks the place, we go, bring it home, eat, and talk. Today, he picked one of our favorite pizzerias. We went in and looked at the choices. I was disappointed that my favorite meat slice was not made. The slices I got were good, but I wanted great. The service, or should I say the server, was not good either. He was slow and clearly not into his job, which included serving us. After I paid, I left a small tip in the tip jar. When we got to the car, my son asked me why I had left a tip. When I explained, he interrupted me and said, “I do not think he deserved it.” He was right. The person did not go above and beyond to serve my son or me. The server did not have my favorite slices ready. The server did not have a positive attitude, and he did not deserve the tip. I clearly sent

the wrong message by rewarding the server with extra compensation. He is going to expect that going forward. I had a message to learn as well. It is not ok to receive poor service and provide the server with a tip. We both failed the interview.

Please ban Laser Pointers from any and all presentations from this time forward. 

They drive me nuts.

Can anyone explain the reason for using laser pointers? Is it to blind the audience or cause them to enter an epileptic shock trying to find the bouncing dot like a dog chasing a… well yeah, a laser pointer? What is their point besides allowing the presenter to have their little mini lightsaber to spread fear in the eyes of the audience? 

The other day, I attended a presentation about current issues in education. The presenter used a laser pointer. The presenter effectively used the laser pointer to give me motion sickness while reviewing everything in her 3,000-word per-slide presentation.  She used the device as effectively as a drunken pirate steers a ship. After a few hours, I thought she was using the laser pointer to point to unimportant words in her slides. She went so far as to use the laser pointer to outline what she was reading from the presentation my bosses spent good money to send me to. While searching for the remains of my lunch that were robbed from me by the motion-sickness bandits, I realized this was a waste of my time, my bosses’ money, and the energy in the laser pointer she wielded like Jack the Ripper.

When I was a little kid learning how to read, we watched movies that asked us to follow the bouncing ball that bounced on top of words as they were read to the class. This bouncing ball was smoother than the presenter’s use of the dreaded laser pointer. No fear of being stabbed in the eye by a light beam stimulated by an emission of radiation.

Toward the end, the presentation got worse. When the presenter stopped to talk about a slide, she would face the audience with the laser pointer in her hand. She never remembered to turn the laser pointer off. We would duck as the laser pointer made its way around the room. The presenter’s hands were moving as if she was the Philhomarnic’s next conductor. When her tempo changed suddenly, and her hands took a sudden sharp turn, participants ducked behind each other, hoping the mass of the person next to them would allow them to see clearly when the event was over.

There is no need for laser pointers. Please join me in banning them for life.

Every day is an interview.

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong.

I hate bad driving even more when I am the bad driver.

Every once in a while, I notice my agitation growing inside me while driving, especially when I am behind a slow driver. I am not patient when stuck behind a slow driver, AKA Slo-mo-fo, Farty McOldperson, etc. The problem is that I get so frustrated that I become the next bad driver.

Case in point. I was getting out of work and stuck behind someone who was not moving when the light turned green. I flashed my high beams. The driver looked up from his phone and started driving very slowly. So slowly, it seemed that he was trying to get me stuck at the red light. I got through, but maybe I shouldn’t have. The light turned yellow as the driver in front of me went, then it turned red when I was in the middle of completing the turn. The driver then proceeded to go 10 miles an hour to get to the next block. At this point, I was livid and following too close behind. At the next turn, the driver did not go when there was space. Instead, he waited and turned at the last possible moment. I was stuck waiting for my opening, which I took. After getting into the traffic flow, I  passed the annoying driver that influenced my driving habits and went to my appointment. A few moments later, that same car causing me aggravation, passed me on the left. Now I was irate, but I let it go. 

As I was in the waiting room, I realized that my reactions took me off my desired path. The first goal is to get to my destination safely, and the second is to get there on time. The bad driver might have affected the second goal, but I was the one who would affect the first goal.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy

I am inundated with emails, especially from new companies. I am unsure how these companies get my email address, but I suspect that unsubscribing from one company’s email sets me up for others’ emails. The additional emails from new vendors seem to occur most often when I click unsubscribe and am taken to a new page asking me why I no longer want to receive the emails or to “please” confirm my email address. Am I clicking a button that is providing my email address to others? Is my email address being sold to other companies once I unsubscribe? Do I really need to submit the answers to these questions to be completely unsubscribed? Can I just click the email as Spam and move on?

Junk mail was easier. But the unwanted bulk of paper was a strain on the environment.

Let me know if you have any insight.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.

To be successful over and over again, you need to have a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and share them with those involved in your actions. Pilots do this before a flight, during a flight, and after a flight. They have different SOPs for different conditions, and they are very successful. The pilots I have flown with have a 100% track record. If you want to be more successful in any area of your life, develop SOPs for the tasks you do, review them and make the necessary changes, and share them with those completing tasks with you.

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong

I took some time to review the books that I read in 2022. Here is a list of my favorite reads:.

1. Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be – Stephen Pressfield
   • This is a great book. If you still need to get it, do so now. I got a signed copy of his latest book, Govt Cheese, which is next on my reading list.
2. Fairy Tale – Stephen King
   • I love Stephen King’s books. This was riveting from beginning to end. It was a great story, a little whimsical at times, and he weaved the plots together with mastery. It is a large book, but well worth the investment. What’s next from Stephen King in 2023?
3. In the Blood: A Thriller – Jack Carr
   • Jack Carr produced another book that had me hooked from the beginning. I am, impressed that he has kept his attention to detail and developed creative plotlines five books into the series. I am looking forward to #6 later this year.
4. The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakeable Performance – Dr. Nate Zinnser
   • If you want to become better, get this book. Focused and on point. I refer to this book often.
5. Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave – Ryan Holiday
   • I am interested in Stoic Philosophy. Ryan Holiday does an excellent job of relating it to the way we can live our lives.

Runner Up: Final Spin – Jocko Willink: Definitely a book to add to your shelf if you have not done so already.

Three books about becoming better and two works of fiction. A good balance. I read a lot and aim for at least a book a week, on average. What books did you read this year that I should add to my list? Follow what I read on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?feature=friend-invite-url&invite_token=ZmRhODQ1M2ItZmFjZC00MDQ2LTg4NzUtYWIxYzc5ZjQwYTll. 

Hopes for 2023: A new novel by Amor Towles.

He is my favorite author. If you still need to read his books, start right now. They are so well written. “A Gentleman in Moscow” is a great one, to begin with, but they are all great.

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong

It has been a few weeks into the new year, and it is time to assess your progress. First, are you still keeping your resolution(s)? Are you still making the changes you wanted to make a few weeks ago? 

Next, do you have new changes that you want to make? Are you going to wait until next year? 

If you want to be successful, the answer to the last question is a resounding NO. If you want to be successful, you will make those changes today, not tomorrow, and not on New Year’s Day. Do not wait for New Year’s Resolutions, as most people have given up their resolutions, and make the change now.

What is your change going to be? Are you willing to fight for your transformation?

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong

Get your Doctors appointments in order. Get a physical once a year. Get a dental checkup every 6 months. Get your eyes checked on an annual basis. See a dermatologist regularly (I go once a year). The more regularly you go, the better maintained your body will be. The better maintained your body can be, the healthier you will be.

Please note that if you have any questions, consult your doctor, preferably an expert in the field of your questions, and get the answers you need.

As a society, we regularly go to the hairdresser. We regularly get our cars tuned up, and we must ensure that we also regularly go to our doctors.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy

I Own the Morning

Forget resolutions. Have goals. Focus on them obsessively until they are part of who you are.

Here is my main goal:

Get to 176 lbs and 14% Body Fat

Send me yours.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong/ Stay Healthy

I watched a football (American version – but this story can apply to any team competition) game this weekend. In overtime, a player on the team that I was rooting for fumbled the ball on the goal line, and the other team recovered and won the game four plays later. Not the result that I wanted, but I moved on.

The player who fumbled the ball did not handle the failure well. He was devastated, understandably. He was inconsolable on the sidelines, writhing on the ground while coaches and players tried to support him. Competitors hate to lose. However, how we handle the events of the competition will designate who we are. Since this game was on national TV, and the cameras could not stop focusing on his post-game actions, everyone saw his poor reaction to his failure. If my children were watching, I would discuss how this is not how we want to act when we fail.

For this athlete, the grief was too great. Instead of representing his great school with dignity, he chose to put the spotlight on himself and his pain. The old “Feel sorry for me, I screwed up!” pose. People do not know how to lose. Messi does not know how to win, but I’ll save that for a later blog. We must teach our competitors to fight failure, push the limits so they may fail, and handle their losses with dignity and composure. When you fail, learn from the failure and move on. Do not perseverate on the results of your actions. Move forward.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy