Author: Tendenci Open Source Software

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Live Everyday Like It Is PlasmaCar Race Day

PlasmaCar Race Day
Z-Man Ready for Race Day

My son Z-Man turns 7 today. SEVEN! Time moves so quickly with little ones. One of my goals in life is to stay as present as possible, to absorb each moment of life as it happens’ especially when it comes to family… especially when it comes to my guys.PlasmaCar Race DayZ-Man is such a great inspiration for living in the moment. He still lives in a world where magic happens’ where Santa is real. He is just now sorting out that Scooby-Doo is imagined and MythBusters is true.

Z-Man lives his life fully present and in the NOW. Things that are sad saturate him’ and then in 10 minutes’ something that’s funny tickles him to his funny bone. He lives with excitement for almost everything (the only thing that deflates his sails is putting away clean clothes.) He races to get the mail, zooms to brush teeth, zips out the door to go ride his bike. Everything is adventure’ everything is worth getting exciting about.

PlasmaCar Race Day
PlasmaCar Race Day

We have a Thanksgiving Day Tradition here at the Schipul Office. We munch, we mingle, we visit with family, and then… we race. We race PlasmaCars in the parking garage… younger and older… we race. And Z-Man, bless him, he believes we race every day. He has asked me at dinner, ‘Did you race the cars today?” He gets super excited when he comes to visit me at work and asks me every time, ‘Where are the racing cars?” As many times as I tell him we only race on Thanksgiving’ he has believed we race all the time.

Today… today is the day… today we race! And Z-Man has finally gotten it down that we don’t race every day. So today, he thinks we are racing just for his birthday! He popped his head into our dark room this morning before 5AM and quietly snuck back to his bed only to happily emerge at 6:23 exclaiming, ‘Today is my BIRTHDAY!”

Z-Man
Z-Man Racing

And I am inspired… what would it be like to live my life with that much excitement- to cherish each moment and the magic in it.

Z-Man teaches to me to live each day like its PlasmaCar Race Day.

Happy Birthday Son… you are blessing and a treasure and a joy.
My life is richer because you are in it.

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Youth is Wasted on the Young

Some facts about dear old dad

  • He came from Mexico the legitimate way
  • Found work
  • Raised a family
  • Became an entrepreneur
  • Has worked for himself for over 20 years
  • Paid off his home in 5 years
  • Currently in 0% personal debt

One of my many stories

When I was younger my dad would circle the property around his business every chance he had. If we went to the movies, the grocery store, to visit family or friends; he’d always find away to reroute our way home just to get a glimpse of his business. He did this a lot, to say the least.

When I was 6, I asked him; why are we always coming back here. You do this all the time and it takes forever to go home. He looked at me proud; as though he was glad I asked the question, but not fully prepared to benefit from the answer.

‘This is my business and if I don’t look after it, no one will.”

This message along with the many others helped shape my perception of this world.  At the age of 6, responsibilities were but a mere blip on my radar.  My father made sure to remedy this.

Everyone in this world is born into a debt of responsibility.  The sooner I learned this lesson the sooner life got a lot easier.  I love listening to my father and those that came before me.  [Don’t tell him I said that].

Somewhere between elementary and the graduating of college my father lectured me on his experiences with finances, relationships, time , and dreams.  My father makes bold statements about what I should do with my life.

Ironically it was not the bold statements that taught me anything.  It’s the stories he tells about his experiences.  The memories that he illustrates with such detail.  It’s easy to take  scenarios  that he builds so well and deduce my own lesson.

It’s  unfortunate  that many lessons are learned without the time to apply them.

My father has given me the ability to start from where he currently is in his life.  He’s given me time, which until now I thought was impossible to give.

When I was younger my father got me to do things by teaching me.  22 years later he’s still getting me to do things by inspiring me.

“Youth is wasted on the young” — George Bernard Shaw

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I let go of my bananas!

I have definitely had my share of troubling experiences in life. But don’t worry, I won’t whine about the bumpy roads my life has traveled. My stories are a lot like everyone else’s; relationship problems, troubling times at work (yes, even at Schipul), financial struggles, etc.

I realized that I was extremely unhappy and it was showing, big time. I had a horribly negative attitude towards everyone in my life, including my family. I didn’t want to be around people and they surely didn’t want to be around me.

One day I was in the book store just browsing when I came across a book called Letting Go of Your Bananas by Dr. Daniel T. Drubin. The title grabbed my attention and actually made me laugh. It’s a short paperback, only 119 pages.  I like reading those kinds of books so I bought it.

Of course the book is full of motivational, “You can do it!“, type of references. But it’s also insightful and it just spoke to me. By “letting go of your bananas”, the author means letting go of everything negative in your life, anything that limits you from personal growth. On the second page of the book, he writes,

“If we refuse to let go of the things or people that hold us back, life starts to rot and then stink. The only way to go beyond where you are in your life is by being willing to let go of the things, people, habits, and beliefs that keep you where you are instead of where you want to be.”

That spoke volumes to me. As I continued to read the book, I made a list of all of my rotten bananas. They ranged from personal habits to people that I considered to be very good friends. I started working on myself, my attitude, and my life in general. I broke off relationships that brought negativity in my life and focused on ones that were positive. I got a better attitude at work. I even went to counseling and got my personal life under control. Of course my life is far from perfect but I’m definitely on a better path after reading the book.

I’ll leave you with this, from the last chapter of the book, 9 guidelines for taking charge of the rest of your life:

  1. Think one step ahead and always have a back up plan for whatever you are doing: don’t put all of your plans in one basket. Challenges in life can  strengthen  your resolve and build your character, so be flexible when the situation calls for resilience and steadfast when an obstacle is in your path.
  2. Understand and effectively utilize the power of your personal affirmations and self-talk. The two most important words of personal power are “I am”.
  3. Be childlike in your willingness to accept no as an answer. Be deliberate about what you want and when  confronted  with a no, dig in and  totally  invest yourself in the attainment of your goals.
  4. Live the principles of TELL – Teaching, Earning, Laughing and Learning. When you work toward earning a living as well as earning the admiration and respect of others, you improve your life.
  5. Always deliver more than you promise. When you live up to your word and then give more of yourself than even expected, you elevate yourself and how others view you.
  6. When given the choice regarding how to think and behave, always choose limitless over limited. When you think in limitless terms, you expand your potential.
  7. With a dramatic need for speed, decide to break  the  speed barrier for  changing  your life. Comfort is not necessarily your friend.
  8. Become more purposeful in your thoughts, actions and attitudes.  To live a more meaningful life, there is no  substitute  for purity of purpose.
  9. Eliminate the  eighth  day of the week: “Someday”.  By procrastinating and putting off until Someday the things that need to be done, you restrict your growth and  diminish  your personal potential. Do it now.
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Living Debt Free!

Living debt free!? What is that!? Yeah, that’s what I said 2 years ago. That is until I found the man with the plan, Dave Ramsey. Dave teaches you three basic principles:

  • Give
  • Save your Money
  • Pay off your debt

You can sum it up in one of his famous quotes, “Live like no one else so you can live like no one else!”.

What does  that mean? If you want to keep up with the Johnson’s you’ll need to stop impulsively buying stuff you can’t afford, stop charging your life to a credit card, and start acting your own wage. Don’t go out and buy an iPad because your overly in-debt friend is waving his illustrious gadget in front of your face. Save the money up and buy it cash. A year later you’ll be the person going to all the happy hours and getting the good cocktails while your friend sips a Rob Roy.

I am thankful for life without debt  (almost without debt  i’m almost debt  free!). I have less stress, security, and I know that I will retire comfortably.  Every time  I look at my savings account I feel AWESOME! Statistics show that over 90% of all successful people have no debt. Look at companies like Google and Apple, they are debt Free!  Why can Apple spend a ton on R&D and release quality products the way THEY want to? Easy, they don’t have investors telling them what to do. They have FINANCIAL FREEDOM! Remember that you are a slave to your debt.

It’s an easy concept. Spend less and save more. So why is it so hard to do? It takes blood, sweat, and tears. It takes discipline to live like no one else but the rewards are life changing. Imagine your financials looking like this:

  • Checking account: $10,000+
  • Savings account: $50,000+
  • Investments: $150,000+

Next time your house air conditioner takes a dive off the Grand Canyon the $5,000 dollar bill won’t  haunt you like the  poltergeist. You will stand up on your high chair and yell GOT IT while wiping the chip right off your shoulders.  Impromptu vacation anyone? Why not!

I highly recommend taking  Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. It will change your life. If you need any convincing I dare you to save up a $1000 emergency fund. This is Dave’s Baby Step 1. Trust me, it will feel awesome to know that you have a $1000 security buffer. Your mate will love it too (See step 7).  I just wish that High School and College would have taught me how to handle my finances correctly. It would have been much easier to start at 18 😉

Have a blessed thanksgiving!

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Never Stop Learning

When I was little, my dad used to drive me to school on his way to the office.   I would sit there, listening to Engines of Our Ingenuity or one of his books/lectures on tape.   At the time I probably would have rather been listening to Weird Al (because I was cool like that…), but I still tried to pay attention.   When we would pull up in the carpool line and I was ready to get out of the car, he didn’t give the standard ‘have a nice day at school!”   He said ‘learn as much as you can!”   He said that every day.   I was a pretty hyperactive and distractible child, and didn’t always heed his advice, but that message has become a huge part of who I am now.   If I’m passionate about anything, I’m passionate about learning.

There are a lot of things I’m grateful for, but since we’re picking favorites, I must say I am most thankful to be part of a family that prizes continuous education.   It would be nice to say that my drive to read and learn is self-generated, but my family instilled the importance of education in me from birth.   They are the ones who deserve the credit.

My father is like a walking encyclopedia, and has the widest knowledge base of anyone I know. I am continually humbled and inspired by his insatiable drive to fill his brain.   My mother reads everything about yoga, anatomy, medicine, health, mind, body and soul she can get her hands on (and throws some Tolstoy in the mix occasionally for good measure).   My grandmother is legitimately the most well-read person I have ever met (my father and my Uncle Richard closely follow), and continues to be a voracious reader at 80.   She still takes classes at the Women’s Institute, and audits classes at Rice.   So many people become complacent as they get older, and allow themselves to stagnate.   Not her.

My family has taught me the value of knowledge, not just through their words, but through their actions.   I will always be thankful for that.   I don’t know if I can ever catch up to them, but I can certainly try.

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In which I learn the most important life lesson about women

My brother, sister, and I from high school, circa 2000
My brother, sister, and I from high school, circa 2000

One day my sister Kathleen and I were both up at our church and I wanted to tell her something. We were in high school. She’s 14 months older than I am. We liked each other, never fought.

We were very close as children, moving around a whole lot, but when it came to personal issues—as high school students—it wasn’t like we were opening up about our formative experiences.

At church that day, she wasn’t around me at the time so I scoured the church for her and eventually found her tucked away in a back room. The type of place where you have to really want to talk to someone if you’re going to commit to that kind of search. She was crying, curled up on a couch.

I had never seen my sister cry; she was always very strong and in control. I came in the room, sat down, and asked her what was wrong. She started to tell me, and I would interject every once in a while trying to ease her feelings.

I hated to see her cry and I wanted to do anything I could to fix it. She would start talking again and then I would comment again and she’d have to start talking again and I’d try to comment again because it hurt me to see her cry.

Eventually she just turned to me, stared me down and said: “Shut up!” I froze. “I don’t always need you to fix things. Sometimes, women just have to talk. And all you have to do is listen.”

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I Shall Pass This Way but Once


The old saying goes:

I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

These words can be found in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People (pg. 32), but they are not originally attributed to him. Similarly, that book is not the first place I have heard this virtue. I first heard those words from my father, and have heard them repeated here in the Schipul offices.

I don’t remember the circumstances of my first exposure to this virtuous statement, though I can only imagine it was one of the many times that I failed to appreciate an opportunity for kindness. My dad sat down with me and shared “I shall pass this way but once”. He went on to explain the broader meaning of the tale. It’s not about passing through a town or place or really anything specific. It’s about every moment, every interaction, every opportunity to do good. It’s not about buying gifts or planning celebrations. It’s all about the little ways you can show kindness, much like those Liberty Mutual commercials.

It’s easy to glamorize doing good things, to fantasize about writing huge checks or volunteering every weekend somewhere or even just planning special events for your family every night. But this message is about doing much less and achieving much more than those things. It’s the tiny, seemingly insignificant things that you can do to help someone else out that can matter so much more to them. You don’t have to spend money or give all your time, you just need to act in a good and kind nature.

But this is only the first half of the message. The latter portion is a bit more intimidating. As we grow older, we begin to recognize the missed opportunities of our past. I’m only 25 and I can count stacks of occasions, of moments, when I could have been better. As my father explained to me, life comes with thousands of opportunities, but you only get one shot at each one. I can’t go back in time and hold the elevator for the woman I can hear walking down the hallway. I can’t go back and offer to clean the dishes from a meal that I did not have to cook myself. Each opportunity presents itself only once, and we must seize each as an opportunity to show kindness.

Thanks Dad, for reminding me often that I shall pass this way but once.

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Inspired by Looking Beyond the Window

Looking in Florence, ItalyI am a small town girl, who grew up in small town Texas. Really. CNN said it was the smallest typical small town in America for the Millennium 2000. It was a great place to grow up safely where the rest of the world didn’t set the pace. My mom chose it so she could care for my father in his later years of aging health care and not worry about their little girl when she couldn’t keep an eye on her every minute. It worked, I have some great memories even if I grew up rather quickly. But, it didn’t do much for my world view and experiences.

One of the greatest gifts of my Mom gave me was the encouragement to learn about other cultures and travel when possible. So much so, that it required faith and living out her dream. On the eve of a summer study abroad for Architecture in Italy, she was hospitalized for a heart attack. A phone call from my sister while I was packing interrupted the hundreds of little decisions about what to pack in only a backpack and carryon for 10 weeks. A long night, and several conversations later, and I was on a plane at her pleading. Mom never traveled across an ocean, but dreamed of it for her daughter. In all that was going on, she told me “Go! Learn about the world and have a better life that I dreamed of for you! Live out my dream for me.” It’s hard to argue with a 115 pound (when soaking wet), wiry, Texas born and bred Mom. And, her cardiologist promised to take good care of her.

What I learned on that first trip abroad was to experience everything different than in my world, appreciate the differences and similarities. I came back inspired by history, art, architecture, culture and the people that make all these things so vital. Umm… good red wine and cheese as well, but that is another post. I learned with historical significance what we do in this world, in this lifetime, affects those who will come after us and builds on the body of work for our humanity. Could I have learned these things without traveling abroad, yes. Would I be the same person, no. My mom somehow knew this more than I did. She knew I needed to experience people and living differently. I know my place in this world is here in Texas, but I also know in small ways, I am connected to a larger picture and have so much more to learn from others.

Mom did get released from the hospital and we shared great stories about my travels and many more trips and escapades. She lived vicariously until her heart couldn’t keep up with her spirit anymore. Her eyes shined with each story and photo and in retrospect, yes, Mom was right. Mom, Thank You for inspiring me to experience more about the world other than what is outside my living room window. Even when I had to leave your side under extreme circumstances, you inspired me to be a better neighbor to human culture.

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Book Give-Away: Greater Than Yourself

Update: We Have a WINNER!

Happy Thanksgiving folks! I hope that you have a wonderful Holiday. Thanks to all the folks who shared their comments about being inspired.

Now onto the important FREE Book thing – we dropped the names in the magical internet hat at www.Random.org and  Jim Struck has won the Schipul Thanksgiving Book-Away! We will be sending over a copy of Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership. Congrats Jim! We would love to hear your thoughts on the book once you get a chance to read it.

Thanx again everyone for sharing – now…   go eat some Turkey!

***

It’s November again in Schipul-land (well, it’s really November everywhere else too, but is makes for a good opener) … and we are once again focusing on thankfulness. This November we are celebrating the sources of our inspirations… those people, quote, movies, books, etc. that have influenced us, motivated us, inspired us to do bigger, better, awesomer things.

To celebrate our celebration of inspiration we have a super special giveaway!

While our blog posts are sharing those things that have helped us get farther down the road of life, we want to give away a copy of book that focuses on how we can all give to someone else’ to inspire them, help them grow, lift them up, guide them through the obstacles of the work place, or community space, or fill-in-the-blank space.

Greater Than Yourself
Greater Than Yourself

Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership is a book devoted the idea that the goal of genuine leader is to help others. To help those around us become more capable, confident, and accomplished than we are. That’s right… a leader’s goal is help the people we lead to be Greater Than Ourselves.

‘Real leadership, in other words, is an extreme act rooted in love and motivated by a desire to create a better world’ whether it’s the world of your company, team, neighborhood, or family.”

Written using the now very popular allegorical form, Greater Than Yourself wraps the three tenets of Greater Than Yourself’ Expand Yourself, Give Yourself, and Replicate Yourself – inside a fictional narrative. We follow the main character on his journey towards understanding and embracing the ‘GTY” way of life.  The book is a short and sweet read… ending with a perfectly useful recap of the steps to the Greater Than Yourself philosophy. It strips out the entire story and gives you the guidance you need to embark on your ‘GTY” way of life. The book is also supported by a vast and active online community at www.greaterthanyourself.com

My favorite quote of all time, the one that keeps inspiring me over and over again is the Marianne Williamson quote stating, ‘as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” It will come as no surprise then that one of my favorite quotes from this book is right in line with this idea…

‘One tricky part of a Greater Than Yourself project is that you cannot truly give in a worthwhile way to those around you without accepting within yourself the qualities the program emphasizes. You must be willing to expand yourself, to give your abilities to another, to tap into the greatness inherent not only in you, but it those around you.”

So’ we want to inspire you! We want to inspire you to inspire others! We want to give you a copy of ‘Greater Than Yourself.”

How do you win this amazing book? Glad you asked:

  1. Leave a comment below’ who or what has been a source of inspiration in your life?
  2. That’s it!

We will pick a winner using the random integer generator on Wednesday, November 24th.

PS –Be sure to let us know a good way to contact you when you win!

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Life’s too short to read bad books

If there is one thing that we Schipulites all have in common, it’s a love of reading. (I would also add cupcakes, LOL cats, and “that’s what she said” jokes, but some people hate joy.) We all have books around our desks, track our reading across multiple platforms, and have standing permission to grab a hot new business title from the local book store. In addition, we’re all pretty tenacious folks who hate to give up on something we start.   Some might even call it “stubborn”.

It’s those traits that can sometimes lead a person to be curled up on the couch, book in hand, slogging through a downright boring book. Oh sure, it’s not interesting and you’re not going to get much from it, but hey – you gotta finish, right? No one likes a quitter! And maybe it’ll turn around in the next chapter or so. If not, well, lesson learned. At least you get to move another one to the read pile.

That was me. Dragging my way though books that just weren’t doing it for me. That feeling of immense satisfaction gained from moving a book to the read stack was so motivating that even the worst books could hold down a spot on my nightstand. I couldn’t quit them. And often I was miserable for it. What was supposed to be a great way to relax and expand my thinking turned into a chore, a bother, and an obligation.

Fortunately I read a lot of blogs too, and one day stumbled upon a feature article over Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust. In it, she shared her “50 page rule” – if the book doesn’t grab you in the first 50 pages, give it up and move on to the next one. It’s not defeat. It’s knowing what you like and not trying to force it.   I loved it. In just a few words I got the confirmation that it wasn’t just me; and permission to put down the bad books. At the time I had just come from struggling with Infinite Jest, the highly-confusing massive tome of a novel by David Foster Wallace. I was just starting with a new novel and already at page 20 I was finding it over-written and lacking in story. I thought of Nancy’s rule and vowed to give it the 30 pages more – and was rewarded with an unexpected page-turner.

Most recently, I picked up a historical look at the game of poker – a subject I am deeply interested in – and began reading on a plane. Even with my handy Nook nearby, full of a dozen or so others, I found myself again trying to force my way through some very dense material. It’s history, and it’s poker – I have to love it right? It’s going to get more interesting, I just know it. Upon my return home, I left the book on my nightstand, ready to be picked up the next evening. When the time came though, I found myself going for the remote instead. Didn’t want to read it, yet didn’t want to give up. And then I remembered Nancy, and her sage advice. Life’s too short. Maybe the book and I weren’t getting along right now, but it didn’t mean we were doomed forever. I could set it aside, grab another, and try again some other day.

So thanks Nancy Pearl, for your wise “50 page rule”. It’s saved me yet again from literary heartache.