Are you busy or just doing "busy-work"?

In our day in age we get the feeling that everybody is overly- busy, there is not just enough time to get all these tasks done. 
Just the other day I was facilitating a group of hi-tech managers and was amazed about how pressed they were in that they were not able to read all their e mail, let alone answer them intelligently. 
There is a difference between "busy" and doing "busy-work". 
Busy is just ... busy. 
Getting lots of things done, being in action, having a full calendar. 
In my mind most "busy" that is efficient is really a positive thing. 
However, when we say "busy-work" there is an element of lack of efficiency and lack of reflection, this I would say is a negative frame of mind.

Busy can lead you to a sense of accomplishment, meaning and effectiveness, there is probably some type of framework with goals and tasks involved. 
Busy-work often camouflages a lack of focus as well as a fair amount of unneeded stress and tension. 
Hurried and tension are not very helpful in most cases and it probably means that you are lacking a workable, sustainable framework and probably will run out of steam before you get to and establish desirable results.


I would like to invite and challenge you readers and ask you to ask yourselves, what can you do to create a better "busy" without leading to undue hassle and tension?


Think about it. It can be a powerful question towards an important change in your work and life!

The Harder it gets…the better the opportunity?

These are extraordinary difficult times, as the War in Gaza enters its fourth week. 
So many of us find ourselves in a turmoil, an emotional roller coaster, with no preparation, no road map. 
Fighting in Gaza, rockets into Israel, our soldiers on the ground and we…. are left to wonder, hope, pray and help ourselves keep calm to make it to the next day. 
This is my first time as a father to a combat soldier, it is not a role I looked forward to, to say the least, and before I had time to get used to it I find myself in the thick of things…


Life has a habit of throwing us into all types of difficulty and challenge. 
It is times like these that I think and contemplate pieces of wisdom to see how it can help find clarity within chaos- one such piece is that of Albert Einstein's within "difficulty there is opportunity". 
Isn't it really so? As treacherous and as frightening as war is- and I hate all war- perhaps it in lie the seeds of opportunity, if only know how to look…

Are Israelis obnoxious? Yes…but on the other hand…

What I am going to say is probably going to tick off some people in more ways than one, but I just hope that even these people will read to the end(not something very common here in Israel…)

I'll start by saying that I wasn't born here. Not even close- I immigrated to Israel at age 21 from the US, that small country that has some connection with Israel…despite the fact that my Israeli mother spoke to me in Hebrew (I answered in English), and despite that fact that I received a strong Jewish, Zionist and Hebrew education in school, and despite the fact that I made a number of visits to Israel in my childhood to spend time with the many relatives here, it was only when I came to Israel and went into the army did I understand the whole truth: no matter how much I wanted it to be otherwise I was not "really Israeli". At times I was "almost there" as my Hebrew was quite good, but within a few minutes of any conversation the truth became clear that "they" were Israeli and I was something different, unlike those "Certified Israelis".

I will make the picture a bit more complicated. I am embarrassed to say and recall that as a child and teenager that I was a type of class leader and instigator in poking fun at the many Israelis who made their way to our Jewish communities in those days- some as Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachers, others as summer camp counselors, still others as children of "Yordim"- a somewhat pejorative term in those days for Israelis who left Israel for the "easy life" of America and Europe. I am ashamed to recall just how active I was in laughing at these Israelis who spoke English with an accent (which was odd since both my parents had heavy accents in English!), I would laugh at the way the Kibbutzniks came to play basketball with us in the "Paladium" hiking boots (did they not realize that this was a definite "no-no"!). I would poke fun and instigate others at how these Israeli teachers could not really control our rowdy class of Jewish-American kids. I was a child, a teenager, I had a swift tongue and I used it in a fresh and unkindly manner. Don't recall too much compassion coming out of me then…too bad, all water under the bridge of the 1960's and 70's.

I immigrated to Israel, not once but three times. I left, not once but twice. As it looks now, with nearly 25 years of staying put here that this is it, although who knows what may lie ahead of us on the other side of the tunnel…

During these years I have met and gotten to know thousands of Israelis, in Israel and around the world, from all walks of life and situations. So…are Israelis obnoxious? In my opinion, and in a totally over-generalized way in many ways….yes! There is something in the Jewish DNA that has evolved in this land that consumes its people that has created so many obnoxious people, let's face it. If you live here- or even if you don't- you have certainly seen them on the road, in the bank, post office, public places, places of work, etc., they are everywhere…aggressive, loud, pushy, opinionated, ego-centered, nobody else exists except for them…easy to argue, easy to fight with, easy to rip you off in business, winners of the Nobel Prize for lack of patience, nervous, tense, cut you off in mid-sentence, winners of attention deficit award for people unlike them, want everything NOW, hopelessly fatalistic and short on hope for the future…in a country with a climate that is too hot, traffic jams that are too long, prices that are too high, enemies who are painfully too many and too dangerous…

You don't believe me? Do your own survey amongst Americans, European and Asians who meet Israelis selling them stuff from the Dead Sea in shopping centers, or Jewish communities in the US- go ahead and ask them, sorry to say but you are probably not going to get a great reception….in short I would venture to say that the "typical Israeli" is not so typically appreciated…

But, on the other hand, and boy is there ever an "other hand"…

Are you aware of what has been going on here for the lasts 3 weeks during the "Operation Protective Edge"- pretty dumb name in English- let's call it the War in Gaza? I am at a loss of words to describe that intensity of feeling and pride how the people of this country have risen to the occasion to unite during these very difficult times…you have to be here and see it to believe it! This is what happens when the people of this country feel threatened, when they find themselves under unceasing danger of rockets being fired and tunnels being dug from under their homes with blood-hungry terrorists coming from nowhere headed for their next massacre in Israeli villages.

Volunteers in the tens of thousands preparing huge amounts of food, hot meals for a population as large as the Unites States, people heading south with makeshift devices to help soldiers have the opportunity to finally have a shower, a haircut, hear some music, what have you. People how have left their homes only for the purpose of giving, supporting, helping and showing their live for the soldiers, who are our sons and daughters, soldiers who are sacrificing their very lives in order that Israelis can be spared the fear, trauma and danger of rockets flying overhead.

And the funerals…how painful…one solider who was killed, was a "lone soldier" from the US, who was here without family. One person wrote on facebook that he wanted to encourage people to honor his memory by attending the funeral- 30,000 people turned out!! They came because they wanted to show their appreciation, their love for someone they did not know but who they knew came to help Israel exist and continue to exist. One funeral after the other, thousands of people who come, most with no connection to the deceased, only that he was way too young to go. One can feel the strong embrace, the tears that flow from so many hearts…families of the deceased know and feel that they are loved even in life's loneliest moments, they know that they are not alone.

The wounded are visited by hundreds of strangers, everywhere you go there is someone offering, doing, asking if and how they can help…hundreds of thousands of Israelis are under rocket fire but they endure, they carry out their daily lives and continue to support the military in its efforts to bring about a safer existence for them and so many others. Even on the micro-level, with so many people the parents or family of combat soldiers in and around Gaza it is hard to concentrate and people understand, they accept, they support…it is all for the effort that people understand, appreciate and hope to assist.

One cannot complete these words without noting the soldiers themselves; those young people aged 19, 20, 21 as well as those more than twice their age, who have willingly gone to put their very lives on the line between Gaza and Israel. They have done it, and with the strongest of motivation, because they understand, trust and believe in what they are doing, despite the danger and fear. As a father of one such soldier who is somewhere between his home and Gaza right now in these very tense days I can say…that today I feel and understand "the other hand" more than ever before.

The "other hand" of the Israeli is clearer and more compelling to me than ever before. I deeply know that if and when I will ever be in true danger, hardship, threat…if I should ever have the unfortunate experience of getting stranded in a car at 3 AM in the middle of nowhere, I know that there are so so many people who will come to my assistance. This country of Israelis continues to be full of obnoxiousness but…when push comes to shove…there is a very deep human soul that is here beneath the surface, above and around us and IT is the oxygen that we breathe daily in this difficult part of the world, whether we notice it or not. It is true that people here can drive you nuts, but…in the moment of truth…with all the niceties, politeness, smiles, comfort and order behind us, this a country with a "protective edge". A big heart drives the "obnoxiousness" here but it also drives the huge heart that makes this nation tick…

Even if we don't sleep much at night we can still sleep quietly. A paradox? Of course! But on the other hand…

HOW TO TURN A MID-LIFE CRISIS INTO A MILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS

I just saw this lovely blog post on "Fast Company"  and loved it:
HOW TO TURN A MID-LIFE CRISIS INTO A MILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS

Photo by Grant Cochrane

How very often we find ourselves in the "I am my career" prison- what I have done I will always do, my profession defines me. That's it. I'm stuck.
But you are not! So long as you have the courage, determination and drive to take responsibility of YOUR life you can use so many tools, experiences and social interaction to open up those "mental chakras" and begin seeing what you never have seen before.
In this case, a  39 year old (is 30 mid-life? Wow, what does that make me, "after life"?) successful software engineer made the courageous change to say "no" to something that just made her money without any passion. She said "yes" to putting on a backpack and travelling the world. One thing led to the next---love of food---health orientation and then- a totally new business idea: "Love With Food". An online subscription box company that offers organic or all-natural snacks for $10 or $19.95 a month, Love With Food launched as a solo venture in 2011. The next year Ong’s startup raked in $250,000 in revenue. Love With Food is now up to $2 million, has 15 employees, and growing fast."
Do you feel like going out there and doing the same? Do you feel that you could also find that "missing link" in your professional life if only….if only you could put on that "backpack" and let freedom ring the creativity bell?
I know this route quite well. Have been there before and have accompanied quite a few others as a coach on that route.
Does this ring a bell? There are times that one need not wait for the bell to ring but one needs to get out there and ring them oneself!....

Mastermind and Rocket Attacks: What's the Story?

I think if you are not Israeli and/or have not experienced what it means to have rockets fired over your head and into nearby streets, fields and homes, you will have a hard time imagining just what it is I am going to write about. Because, frankly, it doesn't make any sense, it is not something that can be easily comprehended.

But this is exactly what has been the reality Southern and Central Israel (much more so in the south) for nearly 3 weeks now. I would like to share with you my little anecdote, from the "mastermind perspective".

It was the fourth or fifth day of the War in Gaza, July 2014, 12 mid-level managers gathered together for a second of four quarterly mastermind events. Participants arrived a bit late as the nightly rocket alert sirens, 24 hour news updates and morning traffic slowed us all down. After some morning refreshments they were all seated there in the circle awaiting the facilitator (me) to get the ball rolling. Which is what I did by saying, "It is very important to start every mastermind meeting with an infusion of positive energy as the mastermind is driven by positive thinking, one for the other". I explained to them that we were going to do an exercise in pairs in which each person will describe one very positive development in their lives at this very moment, "I will ring this bell", I continued," and then I want one of you to just start talking about this positive thing for two minutes." Which is what I did…but…the exact second that I rang the bell we heard a very loud "rocket alert" siren go off. We all scattered to one of the areas on the floor which was considered a "safe haven", as we were in the basement many others came down to the floor and suddenly we were about 40 or 50 of us out there waiting to hear the ….boom!... another rocket was intercepted and destroyed by "Iron Dome", the extraordinary Israeli innovation that has protected Israeli civilians from the otherwise certain damage, horror, injury and even death that would have resulted from the hundreds of rockets that have been launched into Israeli citizen, towns and villages over the past few weeks.

A few minutes later we were all back in the room, seated, buzzing with energy and adrenalin, but back in stride, moving ahead with our daily program. The Mastermind took over as if nothing had happen, one more siren would take place later that morning but the mastermind program took place in its entirety with all the positive, supportive and professional energy of all.

I ask you, reader, is this normal? Is this something that one can live and ignore over time? One may say many things about Israel and Israelis, both positive and negative as their view may be, but I must say that I am intensely proud and admiring of this "gene" Israelis are carrying. It is the gene, or attribute that says, "we go on, no matter what!", it does not allow the threats, violence and reprimands of others to sway daily lives. It is a type of "toughness" that makes "winners", regardless if your views are "left or right", "religious or secular", "nationalistic or global"…I have never seen a people who can so easily just carry on the routine as if nothing has happened. It is the attribute of drive, commitment and standing up for what you believe it.

The Mastermind is not an "Israeli product", but on this day I felt it was. There was something about this mastermind event that was unlike all others. It was a mastermind that said "We are Here and Now". Rockets or no rockets, the mastermind goes on…

 

 

Meeting Life's Bummers….and Redefining Meaning

Wow! We hear and read so much about how to take life's tragedies and redefine and reframe for positivity.... but no words can match the power of seeing and witnessing something like this....awe-inspiring....sacred...

Jess Markt was going into his second year of college and was a high jumper on the University of Oregon track team when a spinal chord injury left him a paraplegic. 
He understood that he could dive deep into despair over his new future or he could simply embrace the challenge. 
He chose the latter. As it happened, Jess decided to take-on not simply his own disability, but also the traumatic disabilities of a very special group of people: Afghans crippled in the violence of the U.S. war against the Taliban.

What Jess did was "redefine meaning" in a life that turned from comfortable, competitive, successful and easy to one that was tragic, depressing, fearful and hopeless.
 It took him a few hours, then a few days, then a few weeks and then a few months, but then----he found his new meaning and he lifted himself from despair to service!

The following video says it far better than words. 
Jess sought out paraplegics from as far away as he could- Kabul Afghanistan- and brought them new meaning and a new life via what Jess knew best- sports.

To me, people like Jess are the real teachers, mentors and coaches of life….I salute them in body and soul!
The League of Afghanistan