Anvil Graphics Blog

At the risk of sounding like a bad football coach or an even worse businessman motivator, the cliche’ is true, “Attitude Is Everything”.

Into every situation we bring an essential ingredient for success or failure, ourselves. We are ever present, and constantly making subtle judgments about our surroundings and the people present. Our attitude colors every one of those interactions and causes us to either accept or reject the people and ideas around us.

Our attitude is largely a result of our own self-talk, that little sound track constantly running in our heads. We are taught that we are winners, but so often people feel less than confident. Our inner self-talk reflects those feelings, and begins to come out in how we interact with others. Right now there are a lot of people who have lost a job, or are working fewer hours and making less income. These kinds of outward influences can certainly effect how we view ourselves, and it effects how we talk to ourselves.

I suggest that you are worthy. Your life situations, or even your own bad attitude, are only temporary. You are a child of God, forgiven – and worthy. There is no need to feel shame or guilt, or to carry scares of the past into the future. You are a unique creation from the creator of the universe, magnificent in your complexity and possibilities.

Don’t fall into the trap of constantly speaking what you have and where you are, let your inner voice lead you to something new – something unseen. Believe in something great and move in that direction.

I challenge you to change your inner self-talk to echo a new reality. Your are worthy of so much more, capable of things so much greater. Let your self-talk speak of your destiny and direction. Let speak you to a great attitude were you see new promise. Be a child that your Father can be proud of.

I stay busy, I am pretty sure of it. And I whack line after line off ‘to do’ lists both here in the office and at home. And things get done, I can point to plenty of projects and errands and meetings and phone calls and emails and family time and involvement at church. I don’t watch much TV, perhaps 8 to 10 hours per week (and virtually no sports). We don’t have any of the premium cable channels, so half of what I watch is in Spanish. I don’t game online or with the Playstation. I don’t Facebook or MySpace or YouTube. I do have a Linkedin account, but it took me 3 months to fill in the profile and make my first contact. I don’t spend much time online at forums or surfing the internet. Unfortunately, I don’t volunteer much time at all in the community or at a school or in a nursing home or with Boy Scouts. I don’t spend time online tracking my meager investments or planning my next brilliant financial move.

I don’t remember my parents being so busy. I remember them in the living room having long conversations about work, night after night. I remember long Saturdays doing some house work and then settling in for a BBQ on the patio. I think they paid their few bills in a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon. My parents worked hard full-time, but in their off hours they were really off, and appeared (at least to a child) to have hours and hours of leisure time.

We seem to spend 3 or 4 hours a week inputting every receipt into Quickbooks, researching mistakes by the water company, following up on overcharges at the bank, reconciling multiple accounts, talking to a rep at Verizon about the PureLuv.com charge that showed up on our cellphone bill, finding out why Intuit started charging $39 every month after a one-time tech support call. And so it goes.

Our modern world sucks the time and life out of all of us. We were supposed to be empowered by technology, when the reality is that it is just another thing on a never ending to do list. I have “list anxiety”, that nagging feeling that there is always another thing that needs to be checked off – another project to complete.

So I don’t think I am a procrastinator, I try hard to get the things done which need done. I know I am not alone, on this planet we are the busiest nation of people going nowhere — our faces turned down to our iPhones, checking voice mail for the tenth time today.

Pretty much every day I get emails from otherwise highly qualified professional people who are poorly identified in their email communication. Here is what I mean.

There is a message in my inbox right now from a great sales lady who works for a really good printing company. She is identified as Terry Knox (not her real name) and the subject is “Did you know….”. I sort through a lot of email each day, and I did not immediately recognize this salesperson and the subject line is less than enlightening. This message was one click away from the trash heap.

In the inbox of email there are two things which identify you and the purpose of your message; the SENDER (or NAME) and the SUBJECT. It is really important that you take full advantage of both of these data fields so that your recipient knows who you are and what you want.

Take the time and go into your account settings and adjust your name. If you are writing email representing a business, then use the business name like “Anvil Graphics”, or if part of a larger organization perhaps combine your name with that of the company like “Bob at Microsoft”. Avoid only your personal name, and for goodness sake don’t use only your first name without identifying the business you represent. When you enter your identity in the email account, don’t use quotation marks. When your message arrives I want to know who you are and where your from (so does everyone else).

Take the time to write a meaningful subject line. Avoid phrases like, “Whadaya think???” or “Call me” or “Proposal”. In a very short phrase try to capture what your communication is about – like a thesis statement, make it specific. So instead of ‘Call me’, you might write, “Need to change Friday’s meeting time”. This is much more helpful when your recipient is reviewing their inbox and trying to figure out what action to take (and how long it will take) for each message.

Specific subjects also really help when organizing email. Some of us file away your email messages for future reference, so we like a quick topic overview. We use Thunderbird to manage email partly because it allows for folder and sub-folders. We file your messages away based on the project, so we can quickly find the information in the future. A clear subject helps us do that much quicker, without having to review the message again.

One final note, when possible, try to limit your email to one topic, that way the message can be filed away easily into one folder (one subject line / one topic / one folder). I admit this takes extra time and effort, but when you get a reply, you actually know the moment you see the message in the inbox what the reply is about – all because you took the time to write a good subject line.

Yesterday our family purchased new cell phones, which is really pretty exciting for us. For the first time ever we have text messaging and the ability to send photographs to one another. We have teenagers who will now be able to actually communicate with others in the teen text vernacular. Cathy and I also actually bought decent phones for the first time ever. We had considered the iPhone, but in the end the could not justify the additional cost of the phones and the monthly data fees which accompany their usage. So, in the evening after picking up our phones we went to play a relaxing round of miniature golf. Sure enough, a mom in a group near ours spent considerable time checking her phone, and texting people. She was there with what I assume are the most important people in her life, yet mentally disconnected from her family and the fun game at hand. I would like to think that her attachment to the phone was necessary, perhaps she was waiting for her doctor to contact her with a test result, or maybe she had a young daughter on a date an she was waiting for confirmation that she had returned home safely. That is what I hope, because she was distancing herself from those nearest to her. Be in the moment, enjoy the company of those around you, give into their lives. You can check messages later, it will wait.

I worry very much about people driving cars and texting or talking on the phone, it is foolish and dangerous. Most of us can barely be dialing a number without hitting something or driving off the road. So now there is a new menace behind the wheel: People trying to operate and follow their GPS mapping system. I am the first too admit that GPS systems are way cool and can serve a great purpose to drivers. The problem is that people are driving and trying to fool around with this thing. Recently I was in north Denver in an area I was unfamiliar. I had a good folded map, but that still required a quick stop to fold it into a small package and to study the turns ahead. I submit that a GPS unit would best be operated with the same quick stop. People just don’t multitask as well as they think, and driving is getting more and more dangerous because people are doing all these different activities while trying to drive. Lets face it: It is hard to tune the radio, drink a coffee, text a friend, put an address into GPS, eat a sandwich, slap the kid in the backseat, apply make-up, sort coupons, check out the hotty in the next car over, read online headlines and still maintain any control over a moving 2500 lb battering ram. We all are just not that talented (yea I know, you are different – probably the same guy texting while tailgating me at 78 mph). Relax, take it easy, arrive alive, it is more fun that way.

I have to admit I have a bad tendency to talk too much and listen too little. Or worse yet, think about what I am going to say next while the other person is talking, so I don’t really hear what they are saying. Becoming an active listener is a great skill. There are things we can do to pay better attention to a speaker and to demonstrate that we are engaged in the conversation and receiving what is being said. Here are  a couple of tips to improve your listening skills: • Look at the other person and really focus • Sit up and lean forward, get on the edge of your chair • Shut off distractions like radios or TV • Take notes • Ask follow up questions to the other persons remarks • If you have a problem hearing, avoid loud environments , or pull the person aside to a quieter corner • Show interest in the subject and see if you can learn something new or valuable • As a courtesy, don’t take phone calls during a conversation. Becoming a good listener takes practice, but anyone can do it.

I really like cell phones. We were early adopters and have used the mobile phone for years now. They have gotten us out of a few jams and freed us up to be more productive in many ways. That phone allows us to keep in touch at all times, but I would encourage you to draw some borders. There is a guy who wears a bluetooth headset during church, as if he couldn’t miss a call (and he doesn’t look like an emergency room doctor). We have all been in a movie or meeting where phones are going off, and it is a distraction to be sure. It is okay to not be available, really. If the call is important the caller will leave a message and you can check it at a convenient time. Focus on the people you are with at the moment; show them they are important by not interrupting the live conversation to take a call. It is rude, and almost always unneccesary. Live in the moment and enjoy those around you, the phone will wait.

If someone offers you a piece of gum, take it and thank them.