He peddled the old 3-speed bike up the hill, as he’d done so many times before. But this time was harder, much harder. The hill hadn’t changed, but something seemed different this time. Upward progress was so slow, that the bike seemed to pause in space between grinding pumps of the pedal. “If only I can make my way to the top”, he thought, “then I can enjoy that glide down the other side before the road flattens out again at the bottom.” He wondered what was different, though it was hard to think very clearly through the winded and achy discomfort of his climb.

“Should I have checked those tires when I pulled the bike out of the garage?”, he thought between pumps. “They looked ok, but as I glance down now past my seat the rear tire looks pretty wide where it meets the ground. And why is the chain making a grinding noise with each hard push? Darn, the gear lever is stuck. Where did I put that 3-in-1 oil can? That stuff sure seems to help. Maybe next time”, he thought. “Too late now, though, I just need to keep pushing because I sure don’t want to start over. But, man, this isn’t as much fun as I remember”…….Friction!

Whether you’re peddling a bike uphill, or driving a change through your business, the feeling can be much the same. The initial idea may seem better than the reality, once you get into it. Change and friction are uncomfortable partners. The prospect of change can be the Fiction we tell ourselves about how it can be; just add an “R” for Resistance and you’ve magically created Friction. Friction makes the process so much more painful than it has to be and it can even stall progress altogether.

So why not do whatever you can to alleviate friction — before you start down the path of change? Here are some key elements that create the friction in a Change Initiative:

• Lack of Preparation. Thinking through all the steps between the garage and the top of the hill will reveal friction points.
  
• Reality of Making Progress. It takes effort to move a bike up a hill, or a change through a business.
  
• Clarity of the Goal. Where does the change lead?
  
• Recognizing the Benefits. Once you start up the hill, it’s hard to think about the benefits. If team members can visualize the slope “on the other side of the hill”, they’ll be much more likely to help you overcome the friction points along the way.

Change is hard, but we tend to make it harder than it has to be. To accomplish beneficial change, it is worth recognizing, and minimizing, the friction that accompanies it. Enjoy the Journey!

You’re pondering that message you just received. What is the sender really saying? Is the true meaning of it conveyed in the way it reads or sounds?

If that message is a Text, odds are that it was sent spur-of-the-moment. It may only be a partial thought, but it may also be driven by emotion. But can you decipher it? Was the sender happy, sad or possibly mad? Perhaps they were trying to be funny. But you’re not quite sure and, if they weren’t trying to be funny, well……what in the world was that emoji supposed to mean?

Texts may be useful for quick facts, but they don’t tell a complete story. Accompanying photos may help, but the words often fall short of conveying context and true meaning. Then there are Tweets, which are like Texts on Steroids! It doesn’t take much for them to blow up and cause widespread misunderstanding and upset.

E-Mails are a bit better, because the sender usually has more to say and has decided that a longer message warrants use of a more deliberate medium. However, the ease and speed of creating it may cause the writer to click “send” before it is ready for prime time. Are the thoughts clear and concise, or does it ramble? Are those “hot words” in there, because they certainly sound emphatic and a bit angry? Is the sender really that upset and are you sure what issue they have or action they expect? Perhaps sending a clipped response is just the thing you need to do to ferret that out. The more you think about it, the more annoyed you are that they’d send that message to you at this time of day and when you are busy dealing with so many other, more important, matters. War by email is about to commence!

The written word, especially when crafted into texts or emails, often lacks the context needed to create understanding of its true meaning. In fact, research reveals that only 7% of the meaning is contained in the words themselves and a whopping 93% comes through how you say them and the non-verbal cues that can only be discerned in person.

A Voice Message may help convey emotion, using words that are usually the equivalent of a text message. But if that message becomes a ramble, the recipient probably quits listening before reaching the end of it. So, what’s the key to conveying true meaning?

The “Great Communicator”, former President Ronald Reagan, had a gift for getting his point across. When he delivered his thoughts personally, he connected with people in a way that most only dream about doing. In his memoirs, Reagan cited instructions to his speech writers early in his presidency that they should be no longer than 20 minutes and must “tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you've told them.” By being as clear and concise as possible, and delivering his message in a very human manner, his true meaning was revealed!

Achieving true meaning is the worthy yet elusive goal of communication. Modern technology certainly enhances the speed of delivering the message, but raises the probability of ‘static’ interfering with the accurate transmission. If it’s truly important, the true meaning can only be delivered in person.

​Tempus Maximize!

Do you have an uplifting place, one that gets you in touch with your potential? It may be a physical, or metaphysical, space that calls up your inner force. That inner force inspires you to see more, to be more and to listen to a higher calling.

I’m not tying this energy to a religious calling, although for some it expresses in this way. But I am referring to a spiritual force that somehow finds a way to stimulate achievement at a higher level; that energy is inside us all along, although it is often drowned out by the white noise of our 24/7/365 world. Visiting a quiet, reflective space with visual cues may help it awaken from dormancy and move it from the subconscious into conscious thought. It is there that a decision to act in pursuit of a higher calling enables progress to be made.

The value of a lifetime investment at a higher level can be seen in what we do with, for and through others; the more we invest, the greater long-term value we create. My close friend, John Spence, has a saying in his firm that “Accepting mediocrity in your life makes you a magnet for mediocrity in your life”. You eventually become like the company you keep. Conversely, pursuing a higher calling makes you a force for excellence in your life and the lives of others.

The grand idea here isn’t necessarily to change the world, although you may be destined to do that! The point is to discover what your life was meant to be and allow your higher calling to lead you upward on the journey.

Tempus Maximize!