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Just found the Bomb sight…www.allprodad.com

Popularity: 5% [?]

Posted on July 3rd, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Fathering | No Comments »

Fathers Day Writing Contest Winner Announced!

Re: Exciting news

Well, I would have to say: My dad’s the best!
Why: He took in kids who needed a home, when he didn’t have to!

He gives unconditional love and does things for others with out asking for anything back!
When you need him he’s there, never giving it a second thought!

He’s one you can always count on and loves everyone!
I don’t know what I’d do with out my dad, he’s my #1 hero and I’m glad that God brought me into his life to be my dad!

I couldn’t ask for anyone better!

God took me out of a bad situation and brought me into a home where he knew I would be taken care of for the rest of my life!
I love my dad very much and I would do anything for him; just like I know he’d do anything for me!!

So there’s my Father’s day tribute for me!
Rebecca
——————–

CONGRATULATIONS REBECCA FROM CA YOU ARE THE WINNER OF THE 1ST ANNUAL FATHERS DAY WRITING CONTEST ON WWW.BECOMEABETTERFATHER.COM…!!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Posted on July 1st, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Family, Fathering, Relationship Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The 5 Question Problem Solving Test..(try it)

THE 5 QUESTION TEST

What is success in _____________? How would you define success in ________________?
What specifically has to happen with ___________to achieve this success?
Can you do it? Is it doable?
Will you commit and do it?
When you do it how will you reward yourself?

Popularity: 12% [?]

Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Goal-setting, Health/Wellness/Wholeness, Relationship Development | No Comments »

THE STOCKDALE PARADOX….(timely)

Good To Great, by Jim Collins

The Stockdale Paradox
Chapter 4, pages 83–85

The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner’s rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda. At one point, he beat himself with a stool and cut himself with a razor, deliberately disfiguring himself, so that he could not be put on videotape as an example of a “well-treated prisoner.” He exchanged secret intelligence information with his wife through their letters, knowing that discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death. He instituted rules that would help people to deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, so he created a step-wise system—after x minutes, you can say certain things—that gave the men milestones to survive toward). He instituted an elaborate internal communications system to reduce the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for 25 letters, c doubling for k.) At one point, during an imposed silence, the prisoners mopped and swept the central yard using the code, swish-swashing out “We love you” to Stockdale, on the third anniversary of his being shot down. After his release, Stockdale became the first three-star officer in the history of the navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor.⁵⁹

You can understand, then, my anticipation at the prospect of spending part of an afternoon with Stockdale. One of my students had written his paper on Stockdale, who happened to be a senior research fellow studying the Stoic philosophers at the Hoover Institution right across the street from my office, and Stockdale invited the two of us for lunch. In preparation, I read In Love and War, the book Stockdale and his wife had written in alternating chapters, chronicling their experiences during those eight years.

As I moved through the book, I found myself getting depressed. It just seemed so bleak—the uncertainty of his fate, the brutality of his captors, and so forth. And then, it dawned on me: “Here I am sitting in my warm and comfortable office, looking out over the beautiful Stanford campus on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story! I know that he gets out, reunites with his family, becomes a national hero, and gets to spend the later years of his life studying philosophy on this same beautiful campus. If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?”

“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

* * *

I didn’t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”

“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.

“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”

Popularity: 18% [?]

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Health/Wellness/Wholeness, Relationship Development, Religion | No Comments »

10 Principles of Leadership

Ten Principles of Leadership
By Tod C. Novak

A title doesn’t make a Leader. Values make a great leader. A leader must inspire confidence. A leader has passion for results and is marked by unwavering integrity. A leader encourages others to achieve success. A leader has the courage to make decisions whether they are easy or tough. A leader is a people motivator. A leader must be effective in good or bad times, in victory or defeat. A leader must remain focused and positive, and turn every obstacle into an opportunity. Most of all a leader makes things happen and get things done

1. Leads by example. We can all remember our parents trying to lead us by example when we were children. Their leadership was most effective when they taught us by example and acted the way they wanted us to act. All of us remember being told not to lie…then the phone rang, we would answer the phone and it was someone Mom and Dad didn’t want to talk to. Their response was “Tell them we are not Home!” When Mom and Dad were asked why they lied they said “it OK to lie sometimes, you’ll understand when you get older”. What kind of example were they showing us? We judge others by their actions. We judge ourselves by our intentions. That’s a double standard.

2. Strives for excellence. A leader must strive for excellence in speech, attitude, dress, and how they treat others. A leader demands excellence out of themselves and the people around them. Excellence is going far beyond the call of duty and doing more than others expect of you. Excellence comes from striving and maintaining the highest standards, and going that extra mile. Excellence means caring…it means making a special effort to do more.

3. Attitude is everything. A leader always has a positive attitude. Their attitude is not determined by their circumstances but by how they respond to circumstances. Leadership has less to do with position, and more to do with disposition. Your attitude will influence others around you. Great leaders understand that the right attitude will set the right atmosphere, which enables the right responses from others.

4 .Eat the frogs. A leader must be a decision maker. They must address issues or problems quickly. The first thing they must do is eat the frog. We as human beings tend to put off the gooey slime covered frogs in our life. I say, eat the gooey slime covered frogs first (the biggest problems), then everything else seems easy. Leaders must take actions and make decisions that are right, even when they are unpopular. Then stand by their decisions.

5 .Take responsibility. A leader must take responsibility and be accountable for their actions and the actions of the group they lead. Recently, watching the news proves some leaders are not taking responsibility for their actions. They blame everyone else (Wall Street, board members, management, employees ect.) rather than showing accountability and taking responsibility for their actions. The day that you take complete responsibility for yourself and stop making excuses is the day you begin your journey to becoming a great leader.

6 .Do what’s right. A leader must act with integrity. Moral soundness and honesty are necessary to gain the trust and respect of others. A leader must not be influenced by a corrupting influence. Integrity means doing what is right at ALL times.

7. Passion is a key. A leader must have passion. Passion is contagious, and spreads to surrounding people. Passion is what turns an average leader into a great leader. Passion is stronger than desire; it is something that is desired intensely. When a leader is passionate about something, this strong desire is felt by those who are around him and they follow and support this passion.

8. Talk less. Listening is the act of paying attention carefully, with the purpose of hearing. The average person thinks at a rate of 600 – 700 words a minute. We talk at a rate of 150 – 200 words a minute so when someone is talking what are most people doing?… not listening. A leader must be a great listener, with empathy. They must acknowledge that the words that are communicated to them are actually heard. A great listener reads between the words examining body language and tone. Listening effectively to others can be the most fundamental and powerful communication tool of all. When someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening to others, communication problems are all but eliminated. Listen…Learn…then Lead

9 .Communicate for results. A leader must communicate effectively at all times. Strife and disagreements boil down to either lack of communication or incorrect communication. In a marriage or as a leader, at least 50% of all divorces and disagreements are based on wrong communication or no communication at all. The key to communication is that you should deliver information to a person based on how that person receives information, not how you choose to deliver that information. That’s why you must know and apply the four basic behavior types.

10. Leaders must have motivation. It is the reason why we do what we do. A great leader knows what motivates him and also what motivates those around him. He applies the Novak Principle…Everything boils down to Motivation. For example, you decide to change a habit or create a goal or dream, where do you start? First identify the goal or dream, FIND AND DEVELOP THE MOTIVATION, design a flexible and effective plan, take direct and immediate action, persevere and NEVER NEVER QUIT and the end result is SUCCESS.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Fathering, Relationship Development, Sales | No Comments »

right and left brain

Right Brain vs. Left Brain

Definition
This theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different “modes” of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other.

Discussion
Experimentation has shown that the two different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

Left Brain	Right Brain
Logical Sequential Rational Analytical Objective Looks at parts	Random Intuitive Holistic Synthesizing Subjective Looks at wholes

Most individuals have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools tend to favor left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain ones. Left-brain scholastic subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis, and accuracy. Right-brained subjects, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity.

How Right-Brain vs. Left-Brain Thinking Impacts Learning
Curriculum--In order to be more “whole-brained” in their orientation, schools need to give equal weight to the arts, creativity, and the skills of imagination and synthesis.

Instruction–To foster a more whole-brained scholastic experience, teachers should use instruction techniques that connect with both sides of the brain. They can increase their classroom’s right-brain learning activities by incorporating more patterning, metaphors, analogies, role playing, visuals, and movement into their reading, calculation, and analytical activities.

Assessment–For a more accurate whole-brained evaluation of student learning, educators must develop new forms of assessment that honor right-brained talents and skills.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 by Admin
Filed under: Health/Wellness/Wholeness, Uncategorized | No Comments »