Lessons from a kitten

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Today, my cat told me to:

1. Pay attention when I speak.
2. Feed me often - or make it look like you are.
3. Let me sleep on your desk.
4. Don't rub my belly...massage my ears, please.
5. Get back to work; You are spending too much time trying to understand me and you have better things to do like:

1. Prepare a program so people will pay attention to you.
2. Eat often - but not too many cookies.
3. Take a nap when you need to.
4. Get a massage when your neck starts to hurt.
5. Work hard and be glad that you can.

Thanks, Ted. Now, go back to sleep and let me work...

Good friends.

Image by Frank Kehren via Flickr

I had the time and brains to make a phone call to a friend in San Francisco. She is a writer and spiritual director. She is excited about the changes in her life. She is doing what she loves. Her daily exercise is learning new things and experiencing the divine.

God, I love her. She really can dance to a different drum in the vast unknown.

Dancing in the unknown is the best place to dance, me thinks. You make up your song, and you make up your steps, and when you trip, you laugh out loud. The unknown has no rules and unlimited possibilities. The best part: You don't care who's watching because you are DANCING!

Turn the music up, please...I need to learn how to dance.

The sun was shining.

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Lake Michigan was its gorgeous self and people were out and about. Milwaukee was shining on Saturday. Even though the city hid behind clouds and a wild thunderstorm on Sunday and Monday,it was still a wonderful three days.

When I hear people complain of rain, I thank the chief rainmaker for not bashing the northeast with hurricane winds. I send good thoughts to the recovering city of New Orleans. I pray for the people of Pakistan and I know that we are blessed. Even when our barbeques get rained out.

Enjoy the day and celebrate September's arrival. Buy some mums, plant them and watch the rain and autumn sun make them flourish.

It's a social media disease.

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Okay. I will admit it. I am overwhelmed. There are so many resources for posting out there that I am on the verge of dying from redundancy.

Did you notice my blog yesterday? Between Twitter and Facebook it was posted SIX TIMES! Now, I think I am pretty progressive but how on earth was I to know that all my tools - blogspot, twitter, facebook,tumblr and hootsuite - would do the posting (and then reposting...ugh) for me?

So here's the way it works. I write the blog post. I post it on the VIP Leadership facebook page. It posts to the Kathy Larson profile. Tumblr picks it up and reposts it. Next, Hootsuite publishes it on twitter. And then...facebook posts to Twitter!

It seems in our quest to become "social" we have created a reposting matrix that acts like a virus. I like to write but even I don't want to read my stuff that many times...

So if you see multiple posts from that look like spamming, I am sorry. I have a social media disease. Don't worry it's not contagious.

We're jammin'

Image by ROOTS UP via Flickr

Bob Marley lives. Who can help moving to his most famous tune? It is the best way to get a start to any day.

Some people would say he is too mellow but not me. "Mellow" is the magic word to get through a full day. Hyper means mistakes and missteps. Ever try to find your keys when you are rushed? Yeah...you know what I mean.

Rushed work doesn't mean great work. So here's a tip: Fill your day with LESS. If you were to keep track, I bet you can't accomplish more than Six Things in a day, anyway. So why not start there? Do Six Things really well so you can be jammin' instead of screamin.'

I have a worksheet for you that I will send you if you will let me know how it goes after you used it for a week. I bet you be smilin.'

From my mouth to the page

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Well, I'm working with Dragon dictation today - a brand new app (for me) on my iPhone. My back hurts which is pretty much going to eliminate being able to sit at my computer for very long.

Dragon let's me dictate into my iPhone and let's me "write." I can even post from here. Check it out. Now, if I only had something to say. This post is just an experiment. An experiment I could learn to love. (I hope...)

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Peanut Butter Memories

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My sons are flying in from Portland and Brooklyn. We are headed to our cottage for a family week after we play tourist in my hometown, Milwaukee.

I rushed around all morning "getting ready" then hunted for something to eat, before sitting down to write, and found the peanut butter. I took three pieces of toast and coated them with the crunchy spread then devoured them all. I am full with peanuts and memories, now.

There were many PB & J's packed in school lunches in the eighties. In the 90's there was little time and little interest in bagged lunches but somehow a jar of peanut butter disappeared each week. In the 00's we kept up the pace and now, as I said, I am holding my own by devouring hefty portions of the stuff in one sitting.

If you are getting ready to spend time with your family, no matter how old they are, please stop rushing and try a peanut butter sandwich. I think it will make you smile, but, I know it will slow you down. That must be the real reason peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth.

Breaking up is hard to do

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Dear Blackberry,

It's time for you to go. You were a good friend when we travelled around the country and even Canada. But your injury - you know, that rollerball thing - put you out of the running so that you couldn't be replaced by a kindred BB.

I am now an Apple girl with a brand new iPhone and I can't wait to get an iPad...

You may not be happy, but, my kids will be proud.

I lost my arm today.

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Oh, what to do? My Blackberry broke. The damn rollerball won't spin which has sent me into a tailspin. My phone is just a phone now.

Remember the not-so-good old days of voicemail?

Remember when you had to wait a day (or more!) for someone to get back to you because they were in a meeting?

No one could bring a phone into a meeting. They would bring a briefcase.

Wait a minute. The Blackberry is the new briefcase. No wonder I am lost without it. I miss you, BB but I think I will get an iPhone.

No rollerball...

Hurry! You have got to say something.

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My goal, dear reader, is to achieve pristine and interesting - not redundant - content for you each day on various social media sites and in my newsletters. It appears, however, that may not always be possible because it takes a lot of time to develop an important topic and important is pretty subjective, right? Which is why I can't and don't always do it. I just like talking about stuff.

So, if my musings are not your style, feel free to break up with me. I don't want to rush into a relationship anyway, and I really don't want to break up with my social media.

Ouch. See? I just read that and it sounds kind of obnoxious, doesn't it? My point exactly. Talk is cheap but writing is costly. Be careful what you say and for goodness sakes, please, don't hurry!

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Ride, baby, ride.

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Ahhh...how can you beat this weekend?

Friday night the Riverwest 24 Hour Bicycle Race began. The "Race" for most is really a fun community ride. Riders on $3K bikes saddled aside Dad's pulling baby trailers. There is even a spirit award for costumed riders on decorated bikes.

And of course, there were block parties. Kid's everywhere and you felt out of place without a beer in your hand. It must have been really hard to cheer and party for 24 hours. We didn't try.

We did take several course meanders on foot and Frank even hopped on his bike for several laps. We were there to watch the start and there for the end. There were more than 250 riders. Fun.

On Sunday, it was my speed. A trail ride from Brown Deer to Cedarburg. About 18 miles with a pastry in the middle. (Hey...I just needed to fuel up for endurance.) Two hours? 24 hours? There's a ride for everyone.

Mornin' in Milwaukee

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Milwaukee is misunderstood. Most of the people I know think of Milwaukee as:
1) a city in a flyover state
2) full of farmers
3) in the middle of steamy farmland.

Well folks, that isn't my experience. It's gorgeous here.

Bike rides along the lake are part of the perks of dealing with the urban life as are great museums, galleries,restaurants, theater and beaches. I really think you should come see us.

Stepping up my game

I am a Leadership Coach. 

I help men and women lead their organizations with passion and purpose.  I learn from people like Seth Godin and Tom Peters.  With their help, and books like Passion for Excellence and publications like Fast Company, I am inspired to share. So what is the point of today's post?  If you want to "find your people"  you must read.

People will say all kinds of things but there is no replacement for good writing.  Advice from experts is not a bad idea either and is better in print.

That's my opinion.

I want to be good writer and an expert.  I will go forth...and read.  Today:  The Pursuit of WOW! by Tom Peters, of course.

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I have been away for awhile...

I confess. I have been having a lot of fun exploring Milwaukee. This is a small city (about 275,000) with big heart and I have been loving it back. I have been enjoying my stay-cation moments very much, thank you.

I think we all need to take breaks. Lots of them. It may be that we can't take that three weeks away from our job or we have used up our time off at our sister's wedding or we are banking it for Christmas. And you may think that vacations are only good when we get away. I have an alternative: Stay.

Live with purpose and for pleasure. Give with joy and satisfaction. Breathe and be calm.

Now that's a good stay-cation.

I love Fast Company Magazine

Friday morning and a cloudy day turned into a sunny cup of coffee. Thank you Fast Company. This is a magazine filled with fascinating news, interviews and company profiles. It's actually exciting for me to read. Here are my highlights from the February edition:

1) How to Change When Change is Hard. This is from the guys that wrote "Switch" and I am sure I will refer to them often in the next few months. (I tend to latch on to a theme and beat the message to death - sorry.) The headline of the article grabbed me "Find a bright spot and clone it." ooooooooo...this is the kind of stuff that makes a leadership coach gasp for air and yell "Yes!"

2)Calatrava Goes Public. Imagine my glee when within this discussion about one of the greatest architects of our time (no kidding) there is a picture of our glorious Milwaukee Art Museum. The museum may be the number one reason to live here - besides Alterra coffee.

3)The History of Volkswagen. This one is for my kids. When they were in high school, we were in Marin in an adorable house with a carport. No garage. For the better part of two years there were dismantled VWs in my driveway, the carport and into the back yard. I had little appreciation for the art form that is the VW bug. I complained incessantly about greasy mufflers strewn about. Let this article serve as my apology, boys. You were right. They are gorgeous.

Now I haven't touched the cover of the big stories about science, sociology, technology and sports that fill it's pages. This is just what I read over coffee this morning.

I can't wait until lunch.

Tuesdays

I think Tuesdays get a bad rap. Tuesdays are the most productive day of the week.

I get organized for the week on Monday without really making headway on real projects. There are the stacks of messages, the emails to answer, the to do list(s!) to revise and the exhaustion from the weekend to overcome.

Wednesday is lovingly referred to as "Humpday" which translates to "it's down hill from here." What happened to "soar to new heights"?

Thursday? Thursday is the day you get ready for Friday.

And Friday is the day we do as little as possible (unless you are in the restaurant business which is a whole other deal) in order to leave early because it's hard to get anything done when everyone else has gone home early.

So, back to Tuesday. It would seem that Tuesday is a good day to actually get things done. The messages are answered, the downward slide hasn't begun, inertia hasn't taken hold, and you can work a whole day.

If everyday was Tuesday, think of what could be accomplished.

Trust Agents

I have been reading Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith lately. The premise is that you can use the web to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust.

One of the strong points in the book is that you should make friends because you can, and not because you are on the lookout to get something back. This reminds me of the golden rule, of course, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and what we used to say in Mary Kay all the time - and I mean all the time - "What you put into the lives of others comes back to you tenfold."

I believe all of that. A bit of altruism goes a long way.

Sometimes all we can do is think of the other guy. We don't necessarily need an action plan, a new widget, or a goal poster. We don't know if he will take our advice, perform at a new and higher level, or go home and forget about us. As Leaders, all we really ever have is hope and all we can do is consistently push the message.

And pray, of course.