Become What You Want To Date or Marry

ジンジャー&レモンマートルティー 2011.9.16
Image by Poran111 via Flickr

Written from a women’s perspective and full of wisdom…

#1 – Look in your relationship mirror

If you’re in an unhealthy relationship or with someone that is not fulfilling you, look in the mirror.  What do you see in them that you yourself own? [sic]  If they’re cold and distant, well maybe you share that quality in your life, or perhaps are accepting that quality because you feel you deserve it.  It’s important to understand the reason why we attract people who are not satisfying us and better yet, why we stay.

#2 – Mate “Must-Haves”

Time to get out a pen and piece of paper…it’s “list” time.  You’re going to make a list of all the attributes that are a “must” in a future mate.  Make two columns on a piece of paper.  Title the left column “must have qualities in a mate”…and then start listing them (i.e. family oriented, hardworking, funny, etc.) Once you’re done, turn to the right column and title it – “qualities in me”.  Then go down the list you made for your mate and check off those traits that you yourself have. Those traits that are left unchecked, if they’re really important to you, then work on creating them in your own life (for instance, if you want a man who is sensitive, yet you hold your feelings close to your chest, work on opening up).  After you’re done with this list, run it by a friend for an objective view.

#3 – Be realistic

Let’s be honest, you’re not going to be able to tell if the man you just met (whether online or in person) has all of your must-have mate qualities upfront.  Give it time…after a few dates you will see if you start checking those must-have traits off the list.  Also, while looking out for those traits, be open to other qualities that may be attractive to you as well.  It’s also important to know that one mate will not obtain ALL your must-have traits.  So pick 3-4 that are truly must-haves and leave the rest for ‘nice-to-haves’.

It’s crucial in this process of finding our life-long mate to be aware of the qualities you find attractive in someone else that you can also find them in yourself. First and foremost, you need to be that ‘person’ for yourself!

“First and foremost, you need to be that ‘person’ for yourself!” True dat…

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Why? Mostly because it remains unencumbered by gift-giving or expectations of anything besides a good meal and a good time with family. We don’t have to travel anywhere or do anything except be thankful and be together!

This year, I’m most thankful for the people who will be sitting around my table [CJ and all me boyos] and the beautiful view I have when I step out my back door… [click on the photos to enlarge]

Business-wise, I’m grateful that for 8 days out of this year, this was the view from my hotel window! Every day in Germany is a gift from God…

It has been a great year for e1evation, llc and I’m grateful for all the people that have helped make it so: Bill and Sara, Sue, David, Dana, Heather, and Green Bay Greg, to name a few. As it says in Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” — you all have made me ‘sharper’. I’m grateful for Facebook and the power that it has to reunite old friends — some of whom even become clients like Shawn and Tara — and make new friends — like the two Swedish girls from Viktor Rydberg Gymnasium that have made the Esther’s Hope ministry their senior project. The power of social media continues to amaze me, but at the end of the day, it’s really all about ‘people power’ and the ability of technology to support it…

From Panos

In parting, here’s some obligatory multimedia for the day…

Have a great day tomorrow, however you decide to spend it. I’m checking out for the holiday — see you on the flipside!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Been laid off? Don’t despair — it may be the best thing that ever happened to you! e1evation, llc came about as the result of a layoff — a couple actually — and I’ve had some of the best years of my life since the last time that happened almost 5 years ago…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJltcT7DH7g&feature=player_embedded

If you like the movie, you can join the Facebook group. If you need help or support leave a comment or use the contact page. I may be able to offer some encouragement…

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Image representing Alltop as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

As a father of 6, parental analogies are always close at hand for me. It’s why I sometimes say that clients are like children in that when you see them take the things you teach them and they make it their own and excel, you can’t help but burst with pride. Recently, the AGCO blog was included in the agriculture feed at Alltop, the internet’s best source for news aggregation, becoming the only Farm Equipment manufacturer to do so…

AGCO’s success should rightly be credited to Jamy Johnson, a budding online community manager and social media practitioner who took the time to embrace the ‘e1evation workflow’ and make it her own. Last month, their blog had over 10,000 visits and it’s rapidly becoming a key factor in lifting the corporate website to new heights in search and traffic rankings as well…

Kudos to Jamy’s manager Sue Otten who had the courage to embrace social media in the ag space before ag social media was cool! If Jamy and Sue can rise to the top using “good, fast, and cheap” social media tools for agriculture, imagine what you can do in your industry!

Why You Should Learn By Doing

Learn to Skate
Image by wuperruper via Flickr

Do you enjoy learning new things? I certainly do.In particular, I enjoy about learning new ways to better myself and my relationships with others. When I first started on this quest I couldn’t get enough. I read about it all the time on blogs, online magazines and in books. There came a point where everything I read was just a slightly different version of the same thing. I was stuck.

I felt as though I had run out of things to read and ideas to try, yet I didn’t feel any better. I didn’t feel as though I was a better person or that my relationships with others had improved at all. There was something missing. It was the doing.

It wasn’t until I actually started applying what I had learned in the personal development realm to my own life that it started to make a difference. All the lessons, all the truths were suddenly having an impact. There was a huge difference in simply knowing it vs. actually doing it.

If you read all the books, blogs and articles on ice skating you would likely think it’s pretty easy, and it is … in theory. But strap on some skates and step on the ice for the very first time and my bets are that you’d be sitting on the ice a whole lot more than you’d be gracefully gliding around on it. It boils down to the old saying that practice makes perfect.

Here’s another reason I’ve found for ‘learning new things by doing’ — it makes me more sensitive to the learners in my life by reminding me how hard it can be to try anything new. What about you?

Add as Friend…

I looked up an old friend in Facebook yesterday and clicked ‘add as friend’ as I have hundreds of times before. The difference this time is, I know he’ll never accept. Why? Zach’s life was cut tragically short on Tuesday while he was doing what he loved best on this earth; flying…

Firefighting News covers it here, although his name is not mentioned. Details on the accident are sketchy…

“The Lockheed P2V-7 aircraft on the way to drop retardant on a California wildfire was between 100 and 300 feet off the ground when it crashed less than 2 miles from the Reno-Stead Airport on Monday evening, said Tom Little, lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Little said nothing indicates pilot error played a role in the crash, which brings to 27 the number of deaths in fatal crashes of firefighting air tankers in the U.S. since 1991.” Source: Official: Jet engine on fire before tanker crashed – USATODAY.com

My buddy Craig Hairrell and I were talking about this yesterday as we pored over the reports across the internet over the phone. You read this stuff in the headlines every day, but once in a blue moon it means something to YOU personally.

Zach was a young man of the most exceptional character and potential. We both attended Morningstar Community Church in Aurora, IL when I lived there and we would still visit from time to time when we came back to town to visit family. Later, when I was engaged by LoPresti Aviation on a couple of projects and he was a student at Moody Bible Institute’s Aviation School we would seek each other out after services and talk flying. He was living my dream; young, handsome, gifted, a bright career in aviation ahead of him. His eyes would shine as he shared details about the program and I would hang on every word. All that is over now…

All except the eternal part — the part that really counts. You see, Zach knew Jesus Christ in a personal way and it showed in everything he did. His salvation and eternity are secure. Still, my heart breaks for his parents, Marci and Steve, and the temporary loss they most certainly feel until they are reunited with him in glory. Until then, I imagine that Zach will be testing a new set of wings — one that will never fail him…

Moral of the story? You’ve heard it before. Life is short. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet “Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried grapple to thy soul with hoops of steel”. In other words, ‘add as friend’ while you still can…

Powered by ScribeFire.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Start a Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑