Lotto Craze

Yesterday had lots of interesting moments: My son and I are both sick so we stayed home and spent some quality time, my parents came over to nurse us to health (I'm so blessed by this!), and my husband got to reconnect with an old friend who was in town.

Oddly enough, the biggest theme of the day was the big Powerball Jackpot.  Let me begin by saying that I honestly don't believe that I've ever bought a lottery ticket for myself.  Nor do I have a desire to buy a lottery ticket. In full disclosure, I have bought lotto tickets for friends and family as gifts - especially scratch-offs.  This probably makes me the minority, but I'll do my best to explain my rationale:

1. I'm totally satisfied, and have been for quite some time.  My family and friends are healthy, close by and always there for me.
2. I look at everything I get as icing on the cake, a gift from God
3. If I won the lotto, I wouldn't know what to do with the money besides give most of it away to people/organizations who really need it.

I'm fortunate enough to love my job and my life as is.  I would not want to quit my job if I won the lotto because I enjoy the connection and challenge that it gives me.  We would love a cottage on the ocean some day, but I look forward to working on that goal over time.  It'll be that much sweeter once my dream comes true, and I'm confident that it will.

I'm not passing judgement on people that play the lotto.  I love people who play the lotto!  Both my dad and husband bought a lotto ticket yesterday.  They are dreaming big and that's fantastic.  My concern is that many people who play the lotto think that huge amounts of money will bring them happiness, but that's just not the case.

Michael Norton, associate professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of Happy Money:  The Science of Smarter Spending said "Research shows that the impact of additional income on happiness begins to level off around $75,000 of income - but people keep trying to make more and more money in the mistaken belief that their happiness will continue to increase". 

I was watching the news last night, and there was a report about a Bangladesh sweatshop fire that killed over 100 sewing operators making 18 cents an hour.  This is the US equivalent of making 33 cents an hour.  It brought to mind a lyric in the song Ain't No Reason by Brett Dennen -"Slavery stitched to the fabric of my clothes".

It's important to keep some perspective and understand the realities of the world we live in.  How would your life be different if you spent more time counting your blessings rather than counting your cash?

The Secret Killer of Innovation

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of professionals that focus on innovation.  I read the group an excerpt from Daring Greatly that quotes Peter Sheahan (author, speaker and CEO of ChangeLabs):

     "The secret killer of innovation is shame.  You can't measure it, but it is there.  Every time someone holds back on a new idea, fails to give their manager much needed feedback, and is afraid to speak up in front of a client you can be sure shame played a part.  That deep fear we all have of being wrong, of being belittled and of feeling less than, is what stops us from taking the very risks required to move our companies forward.
   
     If you want a culture of creativity and innovation, where sensible risks are embraced on both a market and individual level, start by developing the ability of managers to cultivate an openness to vulnerability in their teams.  And this, paradoxically perhaps, requires first that they are vulnerable themselves.  This notion that the leader needs to be 'in charge' and to 'know all the answers' is both dated and destructive.  Its impact on others is the sense that they know less, and that they are less than.  A recipe for risk aversion if ever I have heard it.  Shame becomes fear.  Fear leads to risk aversion.  Risk aversion kills innovation."

This struck a real nerve for me because I have witnessed, first-hand, workplace bullying.  People that belittle, publicly humiliate and shame their colleagues and direct reports.This is the killer of innovation/creativity, and yet, we wonder why we don't have enough of it.  I urge everyone to build each other up, not break each other down.  Cruelty is unnecessary.  Conjure up the courage to speak out when you witness these behaviors in your workplace, as you're out and about, or even in your own family.


Stock image is from following website:  http://tweakyourbiz.com/management/2011/05/12/do-not-stand-alone-workplace-bullying/

Video is from Florida Blue youtube site

Daring Greatly

I've wanted to start a blog for some time now, and just finished reading Daring Greatly by Brené Brown, so what better time to give it a go.  The book is focused on "how the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead".  I'm a very open person, and put myself in situations that many people find highly uncomfortable.  I actually find comfort in the uncomfortable.



Anything that makes me freak out a little (sweaty palms, racing heart, butterflies in my stomach) gets me really fired up and makes me feel alive.  I try to achieve this feeling at least once a day!

I just got back from visiting my gorgeous and incredibly talented sister in Tarpon Springs, FL.  In my mind, she's an artistic genius.  She paints, draws, sculpts, plays instruments by ear, sings like Adele, and is a wonderful mother to two beautiful toddler girls.  She went through a period where she sort of lost herself.  I know many women who have done this after having children.  The good news is - she's back, with a vengeance!  And I couldn't be prouder.

She's a graphic designer by training, but she's been a stay-at-home mom for nearly 4 years.  Just recently, she took a part time job working in her field.  Not because she needs the money, but because she wants to keep growing and learning in her craft.  She also started a photography and face painting business.  And she has started writing songs and playing the guitar/piano again.  It's quite inspirational, and it got me thinking about my own talents and abilities.  How am I blessing the world with the gifts God has given me?

While I wasn't blessed with the art gene, I was blessed with the gift of courage, speaking the truth,  and authenticity.  Reading Daring Greatly further validated the fact that I'm all in when it comes to living my life.  To quote Kung Fu Panda, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present".  I will write stories about my life with the goal to inspire, encourage, and spread the love that's in my heart.