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Further
Reading ...
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The Newest Case for Human Capital - Eileen McDargh CSP CPAE
The United Kingdom-based Institute of Personnel and Development recently released a study showing that investing in people rather than technology makes a far greater contribution to an organization’s bottom line. The seven-year study of more than...
Credit Card is adding the silver lining to your pocket - Janet Williams
In the new millennium plastic money or credit cards has rendered a new zing factor to your pocket. This has not only made you economically more flexible but subsequently added glamour to your financial image as well. No more bulging out hip pockets...
Office Politics - Kevin Hobbs
Office politics! It’s just another way of saying: “The employees are not getting along!” When so much of a company’s success depends on the employees’ ability to work together as a cohesive team, it is critical that people understand and...
What? Home Business?? - John Cordice
Today’s world is accelerating at a pace never seen before, and there seems to be a lot of things people forgot about… Home Business? Hmm… sounds like a lot of trouble, a lot of work. With a job you don’t need to worry about anything. Just do...
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Aw Son, Just HIT the Thing
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Written By:
Charles Burke
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These days my work is mostly on the Internet. But there's
one principle that I use nearly every day.
And I learned it from my dad almost 40 years ago in a very
different line of work.
My father ran a plumbing shop in the competitive western
Chicago suburbs. Now and then, when a man didn't show up or
called in sick, he'd ask me to fill in for one or another of
his regular laborers. I wasn't union, but apparently it was
okay. He had friends.
One day he set me to work breaking a concrete floor. We had
to chip out the cement around a drain, replace it, and
trowel in new cement to seal it.
Now, you need to understand. My father was built like a tree
stump, while I ran more along the lines of beanpole. I was
not his favorite worker because I "thought too much and
wasn't very strong."
This floor breaking job was not the kind of work I enjoyed.
It involved holding a cold chisel and swinging a five-pound
baby sledge hammer at it really hard. Often my aim was bad
so the hammer missed the chisel and slammed into my wrist
instead.
About ten minutes after he put me to work breaking the
floor, dad came back, expecting to find the job completed.
It wasn't.
"Son, just what the heck have you been doing all this time?"
"Well, dad," I told him proudly, "I figured out a good way
to do this more safely. I just tap the chisel and move it,
tap it and move it. I'm generating a circle of shock waves
down into the concrete. That way, it'll break along the
lines and I won't hurt my wrist again."
Dad gave me a truly worried look. He said, "Aw son, just - continued below ...
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continued ...
HIT
the thing."
Well, I did hit it then. And the job only took five more
minutes to finish. Oddly enough, even though I managed to
hammer my hand two or three times, I was proud that I'd just
gone ahead and done it.
Of course, Dad did practice what he preached. He had a whole
quart jar on his dresser at home filled with broken watches
that he'd smashed doing exactly what he was advising me to
do. He kept them as a reminder, he said, that if you'll just
go ahead and do the job, you can afford to buy all the
watches you need.
But the lesson I learned that day has never left me.
And even today, nearly 40 years later, when I'm tapping
tentatively away on the edges of some job or other, trying
to launch a new website without making any mistakes, or
trying to figure out which script I need to install but I'm
reluctant to invest the time to just install one and see
what it does, I still sometimes hear my father's voice:
"Aw son, just HIT the thing."
When I hear that, I have to grin because he's still urging
me to take action, be less cautious. Just go ahead and get
the job done, never mind the bumps and bruises.
And that's not a bad lesson to carry through life.
About the Author
Charles Burke is the author of "Command More Luck," a book
offering powerful suggestions for getting more cooperation
from life, luck, and your own mind, especially in uncertain
times. Whether you call it synchronicity, serendipity, or
just plain old luck, you CAN become more "naturally lucky."
Go to http://www.moreluck.com
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| _Additional Resources ... |
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Driving Yourself Nuts with Invoicing? - Seth Matson
With EZ Invoice, Inc. TM, get relief, not headaches! If you have a website and you want your invoices to look professional, but don’t want to go through the headache of learning a full accounting software package, EZ Invoice Inc. TM is your...
Turn your Business’ New Year Resolutions in PR Revolutions - Shannon Cherry APR MA
As eyes look forward to a new business year, many small business owners and entrepreneurs are hoping that this upcoming year will be the one that catapults them into success. But according to Shannon Cherry, APR, businesses often overlook a key...
7 Power Packed Tips To Increase Your Ezine Publishing Success - Ken Hill
1. Use autoresponders to publish and promote your ezine. Autoresponders with a broadcast feature are a low cost way to begin publishing your own mailing lists including your own text based, HTML or web based ezine that increases your sales. ...
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