Episode 119 of the Walking Leader Podcast is now online and ready for your listening pleasure.
In Episode 119 of the Walking Leader Podcast, your host, David Guerra talks about NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION versus SUCCESSFUL ONBOARDING.
David talks about how the first impression any organization makes should NOT be the one that leaves the new hire doubting their decision to accept the job offer and joining the organization. Do what you can now to remove any form of doubt because once that first impression is made it cannot be undone. Always create WIN-WIN situations in all that you do.
Start Strong! Stay Strong! Finish Strong! Be Strong!As always, I remind you to GO BEYOND THE GRIND & GO BEYOND THE HUSTLE BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO BE THE WALKING LEADER AND A LEADER THAT IS GREAT TO FOLLOW!
I used to blog, a lot. By a lot, I mean a lot. Then as life usually happens other things come into our lives and quickly that what we know to be important is moved to a back burner to simmer until we are ready to deal with it. That is exactly what happened to me when it came to blogging.
Then when I wanted to get back in to a regular schedule of I found that I had difficulty finding new blog ideas. It seems that all the good ideas have been taken, or have they?
No! All the good blogging ideas are still out there. I know for a fact, that the surface has only been scratched. How do I know this?
Simple. The good/great blogging ideas have yet to be hatched. No matter your genre, your area of expertise or what you find interesting enough to talk about there are so many unique perspectives that if all of a sudden, everyone started blogging the blogging ideas would continue to flow and never end.
Again, how do I know this?
I know this because every day there is something new happening. There is something different. No two days are alike and that is where I find my blogging ideas. Well, that is where I am finding them now.
I find them and jot down those ideas in my handy, dandy, trusty FIELD NOTES notebook. I keep those ideas listed, thus filling a well of ideas. However, there is a slight problem.
The problem is taking those ideas from the FIELD NOTES and onto this page, this screen, and into your eyes and mind.
That might just be for the next blog post. I should not forget what today’s blog post is about: How I find my blogging ideas.
As I wrote, before writing in my Field Notes notebook, I am finding those ideas in what is happening in the world around us. It may be a news story about corporate social irresponsibility or leadership failures. Then again, the ideas come from those feel good stories and where the good guy wins. Something that catches my eye or I hear talking and behaving.
Finding those blogging ideas means I have become an OBSERVATIONAL NOTE-TAKER or a RECORDER OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE. However, I should add that many of the notes or experiences that I record might not ever see the light of day on my blog. If you take my process of blogging ideas then I recommend the notes you take should remain unpublished, well at least 99% of them should go unpublished.
Sure, they are good ideas to you. You recorded them after all. However, what goes on to become a blog entry should be those ideas that are GREAT IDEAS. Those gems in all your notes that call out to you are the ones that become blog entries. However, keep those ideas that do not make it to blog entries because what is not great today may become great later. It all depends on what the future brings.
There may be an event or individual that reinforces something you noted a while ago. Life is funny that way as things tends to repeat itself involving other individuals and in other circumstances. Sometimes, the events or individuals are overt and other times they are so sublime that in a blink of an eye things have happened and it is over. Remain observant to what is happening all around you and vigilant when it comes to jotting down those ideas.
If you have been struggling for find blogging ideas then please, turn on the television, open the newspaper, fire up the PC, bust out that pen, paper, observe life and get to jotting those ideas down. Turn those ideas into blog posts. Give it a try. What will it hurt?
by David G. Guerra, MBA
Author of the Walking Leader and Great To Follow
“But that was yesterday. I had the world in my hands but it’s not the end of my world. Just a slight change of plans. That was yesterday. But today life goes on. No more hiding in yesterday. ‘Cause yesterday’s gone, ooooh!”
– Foreigner “That Was Yesterday”
So today is Sunday! For most places on the planet today is the first day of the week. It is the first day listed on the majority of the calendars I have seen in my limited travels around the planet. Sure there are unique and different calendars out there but none of them threaten the standard of Sunday being the first day of the week. With that being said let’s press on.
There is a song that I like a lot when it comes to addressing today and tomorrow and most importantly, in what place to put yesterday and the yesterdays before yesterday. If you have not guessed it by now (looking at the embedded video), it is “That Was Yesterday” by Foreigner. It was released in 1984 as I was starting my senior year of high school and challenges the future was about to bring me.
However. that was quite some time ago and yet, the song still reverberates as I like to go back to the music from time to time not to get stuck in the “days of old” but to remind myself that for as much as things have change they still remain the same.
Right now, another batch of high school seniors have graduated. They have fallen over the guard rail that was high school and are now falling head first beyond the precipice and into the future. The uncertain future. Sure some of them may know where they are going next such as College, University, Trade School, US Armed Forces, etc. but even then that is not a done deal. Yet, they, like I did so many years ago, moved into the future because there is no alternative to that option.
Moving forward can be a difficult thing or relatively easy.
It can be difficult for those that are stuck in their hay-day of high school. Almost all of us, know who I am talking about. That guy that is living his glory days of throwing the game winning touchdown or catching the game winning touchdown or that cheerleader who was the most popular for 4 years in her past. They are quick to let you know and don’t forget their cronies then, that for some weird reason are their cronies now. WHY?
Then there are those that have moved on. Sure we look back every once in a while. However, when looking back it helps to use that backward glance to adjust your course as you navigate into the future. Remember the old adages, “you can never go home, again” or “a ship in port is not doing its jobs.” All that means you have to keep moving and not resting because resting means too much time on your hands. Once you find yourself with too much time on your hands you start you remember. Unfortunately, when people reach that point they start to remember the good times. Of course, they also look at the bad times with such anger and ferocity that the reasons are obscured as to what cause the bad times. They start to look for causes and usually they neglect to see themselves as a possible cause. That’s when things start to go askew.
Things go sideways because they want answers they may never ever get because others have moved on. That’s when the past gets tangled up in their present. In mixing the past with the present they begin pushing the future to the side. Folks, when the past overtakes the future there is no room for growth. The past is like a pool of stagnant water. It sits there, going no where. It just sits there getting murky, stinking from the pond scum. Eventually the life that was in that stale, stagnant pool will die, think of a pond that has depleted its oxygen. Sure it might be nice to look at but eventually the fish and other life in it will die. Once the fish die they will float to the top and start to decay. What was once teaming with life becomes a ugly, muddy, dirty mess that no one will want to come close let alone even think about.
Yet, those stuck in the past will find themselves believing that others created the dead pool of water that is their past. Obviously, completely oblivious that no one would touch that swamp gas filled pool of ugliness with a 10 foot pole. Yet, they continue believing someone else (not them) is responsible for the mess that continues in their lives. Thus, the cycle of not moving forward continues.
Folks! Those living in the past included, remember that it is NOT too late to turn looking toward a brighter and better future by just cease letting the past become your focus. Turn to face the future. It is the future we can change with a word, an action. The past is like a library filled with the thoughts, actions, and deeds of a time gone by. We can check them out but like all libraries we have to return them by the due date. And if you don’t return it by the due date there will be a fine.
Imagine, how wonderful the future you make will be. And yes you can check out the past. Do not fear thinking about yesterday so long as you remember ‘yesterday is gone”.
