When Lightning Really Strikes

So I’m making dinner on Friday night. It was cooking and I went to the patio door.  My wife was on the other side of it and we were engaged in small talk.  Have you ever heard lightning as it hits.  It’s a sound I’ll never forget.  We both jumped.  I distinctly remember going about four inches off the ground. Scared? Maybe a little but of course being a guy you never let on to that sort of thing. 

After dinner I sat down in the living room and went to turn on the television connected to the satellite box.  There was no response.  The same thing happened to the TV in the basement and in the upstairs bedroom.  Turns out it was the next door neighbor’s house that got hit and our proximity to the strike effectively “fried” the satellite receivers and apparently the upstairs television.  Internet service was knocked out as well.  We found it would take three days before the service could be repaired and later learned it would be a week

This became a lesson in creativity and of remembering the past.  The lack of service allowed time for some long neglected work around the house.  It provided time to write this blog. (Made it to a coffee shop in order to post it)  It also provided an opportunity to step back and undertake what used to be a favorite past time of mine and that was listening to music with the headphones. I pulled out some albums from those days and no sooner had the music been in my ears than I was transported back to the late 70’s and early 80’s.  This in turn allowed for a lot of pleasant memories to come flooding back.  It was a good couple of days. 

Maybe the real lesson here is to not have to wait for lightning to strike.  Maybe there a need for all of us to turn it off from time to time…the box, the computer, whatever else it might be from distracting us from accomplishing so much more in life. Life just might be a little more fulfilling.

Perseverance

I learned something this past week. 

The lesson came from an unexpected source and it proves the point that we can all learn something from someone regardless of their place in society or on the chronological spectrum we all are on at this time.

My daughter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Simpson College in 2008. But after four years of a quality higher education she spent the next 18 months or so trying to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life.  (I decline the inclination at the moment to offer commentary on why this decision making did not happen before graduation.)  But the decision she eventually made appears to have been the correct one.

Blair returned to her Alma Mater to pursue a master’s degree in education.  She wanted to teach Spanish; something she had studied since the ninth grade. Her decision required sacrifice and indebtedness.  She sacrificed, to an extent, the life of a typical early 20 something in order to hit the books when others were socializing. She  sacrificed financially by having to go deeper into debt.            

Fast forward two years to this past week when got a phone call late in the afternoon.  I heard a slight whimper on the other end and said, “Hi, Blair.” 

“Dad.”   “I got the job.”  She had just learned she was going to be the high school Spanish teacher in a central Iowa school district and the tears were tears of joy.  “After all of that work, Dad, it paid off.” “Thank God.”

This is a lesson for someone in their 20’s like Blair, to someone in their 50' like me and older.  You can set a goal in life.  You can hope it will come out the way you want it to come out.  You can seek the help of others as you pursue it.  But in the end, it’s up to you.  You have to put in the work, the sacrifice, and be persistence to reach that goal you have set in life.  All of it translates into perseverance that is needed to reach the desired result.  

And it’s a lesson I learned from a 20 something for a goal that I have set for myself.  Perseverance is key to the success of any business including the one associated with this blog.

Planting a Seed

Greeting to my connections on LinkedIn and thanks in advance for the read.  Since LinkedIn is supposed to be a business to business type of social media it seemed only appropriate to announce here that I have decided to turn my public speaking endeavor up a notch.  This doesn't mean at the moment that I am giving up on broadcast journalism but instead means I am trying to expand my horizons by trying to seriously expand this aspect of my life.  I thoroughly enjoy public speaking and have come to thoroughly enjoy teaching during the process.  I teach about life so I guess that puts me into a category of being a "life coach." 

I asked you to come here to plant a seed.  You belong to various organizations that are always searching for interesting speakers for programs, conferences and seminars.  I only ask that you keep me in mind if you have any input with regard to the selection process.  You can learn more about what I'm trying to do at www.keys-4-life.com.  And before you ask, credit my wife for the name of the company.  She said if you are teaching people about life, their potential can be unlocked by opening the door but you cannot do that without first having the key to do so.  She's right.

Thanks again for the read.

Jim