Postcards from the Funny Farm

Album Photo by: kevindooley

Isn’t this a great retro LP cover?  No, my post today is not about dinner parties but it is about the genius of planning.  It can make you rich, famous, well-liked, and any other goal you might have.  It’s been said that if you do the right things long enough then the right things will inevitably happen to you.  I agree with that saying and that’s why I subscribe to the idea of startegic planning.  My greatest drive in life is to plan and do great things.  I don’t always accomplish them, but I will always try until my last breath.  Are you speaking my language?

I once heard a motivational speaker on the radio say that, in order to be successful we need to “stand in the spout where the blessings come out.”  It sounds corny huh?  After years since hearing that, I have come to understand it better than I ever imagined.  It means what I said: doing the right things. You may be rich, you may be poor, you may be nothing in this world at all.  A little allusion to my 80’s rock heroes the Alarm there ;)  The “Absolute Reality” we all live under is the truth that if we do the right things, the right things will happen to us.  Life will never be perfect, but we can aim at perfection.  Would Bill gates have made billions on his vision without doing what he thought was right?  Answer: no.

We will never be as huge as we wish we could be without standing in the spout where the blessings come out.  I make $200-400 a month off blogging and freelance writing.  I want to make $2000.  What is stopping me?  The only limitation is in my mind.  Watch me go!  I hope you’ll set big goals and come along with me.

FYI: You can read more of the “right” things I have done in my writing career at my online resume.  I am actively accepting freelance writing work.

How many times have you been working at a fast pace and couldn’t stop for lunch?  When this happens, wouldn’t it be great to have chips, popcorn, maybe some candy bars, sodas, even a few boxes of crackers with maybe some cheese (if you have a fridge nearby).  You wouldn’t hesitate to get a memory upgrade on your work computer, so why do so many of us neglect our palettes at work?

We all know that we perform better when we are happy and feeling well.  Treats we like can put us in that state.  I know it sounds a bit silly but taking the responsibility to treat yourself can go a really long way when your week goes South or even North with no time for a break.  I’ll tell you that as far as I am concerned, a little snack before a boring teacher meeting can make a world of difference to my mood.  You might even catch me taking notes and getting some inpsiration!

We are struggling this month with the holidays coming and all, I’ll write more on that later, but when we have enough extra to try this, I’m planinng on hitting Costco and making the best goodies drawer at work the world has ever seen.  Do you do this?  If so, what do you stock your work drawer with?

In this, my second podcast, I got a great tip from my friend Jessica S. (I have to distinguish with an S. because my sister in law is also named Jessica and is also a blogger who reads Postcards) to go back through my thousands of archived posts and talk about one of those ideas.  Thanks Jessica!  As I took her advice tonight I ran across my quote page and thought it would be a great opportunity as I’m learning how to “talk to you guys” ;) to share some of these personal impressions I get from the crazy quotes I have collected.

It’s a bit longer than the last one, but I think I needed to make it longer this time.  I am actually somewhat happy with my voice.  Last time I sounded like I was out of breath thereby giving away my nerves.  There are a few pops on the microphone etc. that I apologize for.  But, I think I’m getting an idea how this should go and I hope you’ll tune in next week.  I promise to have a new concept.  It might have something to do with the amazing inventions of Rome, but nothing is set in stone yet ;)

Thanks for listening to this podcast.  Oh and one last thing, I wanted to say thank you to Nick for his encouraging comment about my podcast last week.  With wobbly legs, I am kind of learning how to do this as I go along so the positive vibes are appreciated!  We’ll see where it goes.

I’m in my 3rd night in Vegas on my big vacation of the summer. My wife found the killer deals and we’ve been restoring and rejuvenating our minds, souls, and spirits in nowhere other than sin city. Some might know we live about 3 hours South of Vegas, but coming here always feels like world travel.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the symbol “outside the box.” I’m considering working it into my tagline as a good descriptor to visitors of what I write here. People see Vegas in so many ways. Some see it as the devil, others a paradise. Watch for more on this. My hope is to get a larger post on these ideas up by tomorrow evening. Thanks for your patience.

Have you looked for better answers to your life’s questions outside the box? If so, how would you recommend one gets there?

If there is one post worthy of you slowing down to read today, it is this one. The writing contest results are in and posted here. It was a truly enjoyable time gathering the posts for this writing contest. Congratulations to the winners. To all who participated I say thank you for sharing your amazing visions with me, my readers, and the interweb.

I chose this topic for my contest because I have always been fascinated by Amazing Visionaries. They range from Walt Disney (photo: wikipedia) to Pat Rodgers (my grandfather). By watching their moves, I have been able to recreate some of that success in my own life. And I have written about it.

I heard a story many years ago about how the new tellers at banks get to spend a week handling money … nothing more. The reasoning behind this was so that the tellers could detect a fact having been made so familiar with the real. When we study the look of a successful person’s moves, we too can avoid being duped by false success stories. Just like the well known authorize.net spots fraudulent consumers, so these posts will help you spot the bad examples as well as the ones to follow.

The stories mentioned here are the “real deal.” By collecting them and putting them in one place, hopefully it will rub off on us. If you enjoyed the links, please bookmark this page, as well as the permalinks individually, and share them with others. In my opinion, now more than ever, the world needs more amazing visions! I think you will be inspired by what you read here.

Below are the 6 winning urls for “Amazing Visions: Blog Carnival Edition 2.” After that are links to all the entries. Why hold them back when inspiration is so lacking in our times! I hope you enjoy reading all of them as much as I did. Stay tuned to Postcards for Edition 3 in the near future.

TOP 3

1. How I got Started with Blogging and Freelance Writ... by Michael Kwan
2. Mother Teresa on Love by Chelle
3. How to become what you want to become, in about tw... posted at I Will Not Die.

Honorable Mentions

1. An Entry from Torri’s Travels by Torri
2. Nick’s Entry on Randy Pausch posted at Romandock
3. Amazing Vision - Mahatma Gandhi posted at Growing Happiness.

Though they didn’t get in the top three, these highly well written posts are the rest of these amazing visions . . . Please read them, you will find strength and inspiration. (Thank you again to these bloggers!) -in no particular order …

Josh Waitzkin an Inspiring Performer by Isabella Mori

A One Man Peacekeeping Force by Alexander

She’s Inspiration by Katelynjane

How Hokusai can Inspire Designers and Bloggers posted at Designer Daily

The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone - How In The World D... posted at Shattered Paradigm.

Privilege to Be with a Loved One at the Time of De... posted at Andy, saying, “My dad was one of my greatest heroes. This is my tribute to his legacy.”

(and one of my own I just threw in at the end!)

Amazing People and Things by Damien Riley