Successful Blog

A Playlist for the Network Breakdown

by

Sorry I Was Hard to Reach

breakdown
  • Communication Breakdown by Led Zepplin
  • Zero by Smashing Pumpkins
  • Crash by Dave Matthews Band
  • Breakdown by Tom Petty
  • Too Low for Zero by Elton John
  • Crash by Gwen Stefani
  • Breakdown by Alan Parsons
  • Freedom at Point Zero by Jefferson Starship
  • Crash by David Byrne
  • Breakdown by Jack Johnson
  • Lost and Found by Trial and Error by Steppenwolf
  • Crash by Aerosmith
  • Detroit Breakdown by J. Geils Band
  • Disciplined Breakdown by Collective Soul
  • Crash and Burn by Simple Plan
  • Ground Control to Major Tom by David Bowie

Looks like other folks have had similar problems.

Feel free to add your own song titles.

See you back here soon.

Smiles,
Liz

Other People's Kids, My Social Network, and Friends

by

We Change, We Grow

relationships button

Ever notice how other people’s kids grow up faster than we expect them to? Somehow we place them in time from the moment we last saw them and when we meet them again they’re bigger, older, and well, just different than we remember.

A colleague close to my heart been busy since the fall. So have I. . . . We haven’t really kept up with each other day to day. He popped up on Skype on day last week to make sure I am fine.

An interesting thing happened in that conversation. He assumed I was the same person operating from the place as the last time we spoken. But I’ve been through universe of realizations about life. I’ve made changes in who I am since that time.

I had to say, “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You’re thinking I’m who I used to be.”

I told him about the change in my thinking. He was surprised, but also pleased.

I keep thinking about that conversation. I never realized that I, too, had been expecting friends and colleagues to stay placed and unchanging in time.

What have I missed simply because I assumed no changes have occurred? Even that person in the mirror has changes I’ve not noticed.

I’m looking at everyone with new eyes.

And I take this thought to my personal social network.

If I’m looking, really paying attention, and I can’t tell when a people have grown, do I know them well enough to call them friends?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Dealing with Difficult People: Are You the Dealer or the Difficult?

by

Can’t Be Both

relationships button

I keep thinking about a conversation I had with my son. We were talking about people he worked with. He’s had jobs since he was 16 years old. So we had quite a gallery to review and dissect.

In the way of discussions about past coworkers, the topic really became how to deal with difficult people. We got to the idea that difficult people are regular folks who just happen to think differently than we do. He saw plenty of examples in his own life in which people thought he was “difficult” when he merely had another idea.

“But, what do you do,” he said, “when someone sees you in the wrong light? It doesn’t matter if you think they’re being difficult or they think you are.”

“Well, one thing I’ve found out is that you can’t be mad and supportive of another person at the same time. Mad gets you looking at yourself. Supportive gets you looking at the other guy.”

If you want to be the dealer, not the difficult one, you gotta join the other guys’ team and then figure out what to do from there.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

What Are You Holding?

by

I've been thinking . . .

about holding. . . . Holding can be a good thing or a bad thing. It depends what we’re holding. If it’s a holding pattern, it’s less than anything — we’re not going anywhere at all.

We need to hold onto our dreams. When we hold them up for the world, we’re more lilely to find the dream become ours.

If we hold tight to a bad thing, we’re held to what we’re holding. Sometimes holding on, only serves to hold us up, by keeping us attached.

man and woman walking on pier

We hold hands. We hold ideas. We hold material things. We hold the power to influence others, and the ability to change the world.

We hold our breath in anticipation. We hold meetings and conversations. We hold each other as we walk through our lives. We hold a memory in our hearts.

I have a feeling that the things worth holding are far larger and far fewer than the things I should let go.

Does that hold true for you?

Liz's Signature

Liz and Dustin on Lifehack Live! this Morning!

by

Sorry I Didn’t Tell You Sooner

Mighty great thanks to Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org and Lifehack Live! the podcast. We had a lovely conversation this morning about relationships and business. If you’d like to listen in, click the logo below.

Listen in to Liz and Dustin on Lifehack Live! this Morning!

Thank you, Dustin!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Wishing to Be Someone Else . . .

by

I've been thinking . . .

about this part of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29.

. . .
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him with friends posess’d
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope
With what I most enjoy contented least.
. . .

A young man told me about his dream for a business. Then he told me why it wouldn’t happen. I said, “Tell me about the problems that are in your way.”

He did.

I offered a solution to the biggest one.

He argued for the problem — explaining why no solution could solve it. In the course of the argument, he pointed to others who were already living his dream. I reminded him that they were not offering nearly as much as he was. Still he kept moving the conversation away from his value to what and where others had “more” to offer. Everyone else was worth more.

A mere two weeks ago, the young man was filled with the potential of the new year. He was boundless power. Now he compared himself to everyone and found them all higher, bigger, better. I said that if he was determined to be lacking, trying to be someone else was a great way to get there.

Even Shakespeare had his moments of thinking he didn’t measure up. I have to think we all do. But Shakespeare held onto his dream, and we know his name.

No rule says only certain folks get to make their dreams come true.

Why do we wish to be someone else? Do we think another life would be easier?

Liz's Signature