I hope that everyone had a great Fourth of July week-end. I certainly did.
On Friday, we kept it really simple and hung out as a family around the house. I was so happy because I was able to read, read, and read! I was able to read (skim the parts that didn’t grab my attention) four books. One (The Rough Guide to Blogging) was just okay.
The next one, The Power of Nice, was great. The authors, Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval, write about finding “nice” solutions (primarily in business, but also in personal life situations). They share principals and practical exercises (i.e. doing 5 nice things that don’t benefit you at all). They encourage the following: working with others; not being self-focused; being fun to be around; helping others – both friends and enemies; focusing more on doing your personal best than competing against others; being honest; listening and more. I especially like the point that they make about being empathetic/ putting yourself in the other person’s shoes/ trying to see things from other’s perspective. That’s something that I have to work on more. For instance, I’m not a big fan of meetings – never have been; probably never will be. My preference in dealing with matters that I don’t need to see/experience in person is 1. E-mail 2. Phone and then 3. Meetings (if absolutely necessary). I think that if I put myself in the other person’s shoes in these types of situations, it would help. (No, really, I’m bad with meetings/ any time that I have to sit for a period of time without interaction. I had to really train myself not to fall asleep during church services. When I was in “corporate America”, I would always sit next to a friend at long meetings, so that they could pinch/nudge me to wake up when (not if!) I dozed off.) In any event, the book offered some wonderful tips and as my southern family always used to say, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!”
Next, I read Display of Power by Daymond John, one of the creators of FUBU a clothing line. I like autobiographical accounts and this was a pretty good one. Mr. John had a pseudo-street upbringing and did some not so great things (like many of us!) while growing up. The main point of the book was that as humans, we pretty much start out with the same potential. It is what we do with what we have that determines our success or failure. I understand his point, but I don’t totally agree with it. I’m one of those combination nature/nurture believers. I think that everyone should do the best with what they have, but I don’t think that everyone has the same advantages (from birth/from life) and that by exerting the same effort will have the same outcomes. What I do like about the book though is that he honors his mom and the women in his life; he show the “hunger” and sacrifice that is necessary for success; he shares his failures as well as his successes; and that he acknowledges those that helped him along the way.
Eventually, Sean (my sixteen months old son) came into the room and kept closing my book, saying “The End” so that was the end of my read-a-thon.