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I wish I had something insightful to say about investing money, but, alas, I do not.  That’s not an arena in which I have a great deal of skill.  Or knowledge.  Or talent.  So, if I were Marcus Buckingham, I’d say, “Ric, investing isn’t one of your strengths!”

You see, Marcus defines a strength as this perfect storm of skill, knowledge, and talent that results in near perfect, consistent performance.  It’s the stuff you do exceptionally well the vast majority of the time.  The “skill” part are the steps it takes to complete a task.  You can learn those tasks.  You practice them.  You master them.  That’s you mastering a skill.

The “knowledge” part is more stuff that you learn, but it’s not about steps but about details.  Knowledge is what makes you convincing when you argue a point.  Knowledge is amassed and gives us credibility.  You learn and learn and learn, and you impress with your expertise.  That’s you mastering knowledge.

The “talent” part is the place where science and technique sort of go out the window, and the stuff you’re born with, the stuff you do because…well…it’s just natural.  That’s talent.  It needs no other description.  You do it.  You’re good at it.  You enjoy it.  That’s you mastering your talent.

Put them all together…again, skill, knowledge, and talent…and you have your strengths.  Strengths give you personal power.  They give you an adrenaline rush.  They give you a thrill.  You soar when you do them.  You feel energized.  Weaknesses, on the other hand, aren’t necessarily the things that you’re bad at.  They are the things that suck your energy.  They drain you.  They give you bags under your eyes and remove all trace of joy from the moment.

So, if you’re going to invest time in anything, in which area should it be?  Should you spend your days investing time and energy into those things that steal your life away from you?  Or should you spend your time and energy on those things that bring positivity to your life?  There is a body of research that demonstrates that you’ll never get the return on investment from time and energy spent on your weaknesses that you will get on the same time and energy spent on your strengths.

As a matter of fact, they’ll tell you that a fraction of that time and energy spent on a strength will return more to you than two or three times that equivalent spent on a weakness.  To paraphrase Dan Pink, this isn’t a feeling…this isn’t philosophy…this is science.  There is scientific, statistical data that demonstrates that the best way to improve your performance in life is to focus on your strengths.  To quote Marcus again: “Work on your weaknesses just enough to make them irrelevant, then move on.”

To me, that’s the best possible investment advice that anyone can ever give you.

Asking yourself the hard questions is the first step towards crafting a different life for yourself.

Answering the hard questions is even better.  We can call that the second step.

Taking action based on those answers is even better still.  We can call that the third step.

How many people do you know who get past the second step?  How about you?  That third step is a killer, that’s for sure.  It’s like the third rail of the subway.  Well, not really.  We just convince ourselves that it is.  It’s easier to avoid the third step than face the potential consequences of disrupting the status quo.

That’s the voice of experience.  No need to fight to convince anyone of my credibility today.  Something tells me that nobody is going to challenge this post.

I have this friend who likes to remind people that you have to put your “what” before your “how.”  He has to remind people of this because most of us (that includes me!) get an inkling of the answer to the “what” question, then run off, half cocked, and start tackling the question of “how.”  This is almost always a less than ideal course of action.  Why?  Simply stated, if you haven’t fully answered the “what” question, you’ll never fully solve the puzzle at hand.

So, completely answer “what” first, then go after “how.”  I’ve done this before at his urging.  Great results…seriously.

Now, I want to add something to the formula, and that something is “why.”  The answer to the “why” question is actually the hardest of all.  It is easy for “what” to change, particularly in light of the challenges that might arise when we start on the “how” part.  I’ve come to believe that “why” is the deepest, most personal, and often most compelling question to both ask and answer.  When “why” is clear, “what” is clearer and more enduring.  As I’ve already said, “how” follows “what,” and that part of the question remains the same.

In summary, understand the reason a thing must be done (why), define the desired outcome (what), then build the plan to get there (how).  It seems elementary to me now, but “why” is the question that I have been avoiding all along.  I can already see that the reason I’ve stagnated is because I’ve been pursuing “what” without knowing “why.”  As I begin to put “why” into perspective, I can already see the distracting “what” question narrow in focus.  

Life simply is.  Whether life is good or bad is a matter of opinion.  It’s a matter of perspective.

A stone simply is.  When the artist looks at the stone, they may choose to paint a realistic landscape with the stone at its center.  A graphic designer may choose to create a stylized representation of the stone in just two colors.  A poet may choose to create haiku about the stone.  A journalist may choose to write a story about the significance of the stone within the context of some greater political issue.  And when a sculptor looks at the stone, they see within it the hidden potential of the next Venus or David locked away inside.  Regardless, the stone remains a stone.  The physical properties of stone still apply.  It may simply appear different.  At its essence, it is still the same; it is still stone.  

What makes the difference is what the individual brings to the stone.  It’s about the perspective.

In the world we live in, we have to expect difficulty.  We have to expect challenge.  We have to expect adversity.  All these are guaranteed.  All those good times are guaranteed, too, but I find that people seldom lament their good fortune, their propensity for having such fantastic and transformative experiences.  No, most of the time, when we obsess, we obsess over the moments that just don’t seem to go our way.  Even then, with hindsight, we can often find benefit from the difficult times.  Unfortunately, hindsight doesn’t help us in the moment.  In the moment, we seem to be incapable of assessing our situation from just more than one perspective.

Applying multiple perspectives to life is about looking at life in the moment, from multiple emotional states, to help you understand yourself better.  To see those positive perspectives at the moment of great adversity takes work.  It takes deliberate and conscious effort to push through the fear and the anguish.  It’s not easy, but doing so will help us find a resolution to the problem at hand more quickly.  It clears the mind, and it opens us up to the creative possibilities.  We are at our most powerful when we are applying our strengths to any situations and actively co-creating resolution.  It beats the alternative: waiting for resolution to find us, then reverse-engineering a positive perspective.

Positive perspective in the moment is a tool we can learn to use not only for ourselves but for those we influence.  Whether or not you lead formally is irrelevant.  Every human being we interact with every day of our lives, once they come into contact with us, fall into our sphere of influence.  We all lead by example.  The power of positive influence, or the influence of positive thinking, is immeasurable.  It’s as easy to benefit from it as it is to share the benefits with the world.

In the work that I do as a leader of people for a large organization, my perspective is often the best gift that I have to offer.  My role is often that of coach and of supporter.  People come to me often with issues, knowing that I will listen and offer them my unique perspective.  People don’t normally come to me for my technical expertise or because I know the right people or because I hold the organizational hammer over them.  I think people come to me because I will listen.  If all I can offer is a positive perspective each and every day, then I’ve managed to achieve something meaningful.  In many ways, I believe this gift of being present for others is the purpose of life.

The next time someone comes to you seeking your counsel or you find yourself in a moment of despair, gripped by fear, think first about positive perspective.  Choose to find that perspective.  Apply it.  It can make all the difference in the world.

We are the painters, the graphic designers, the poets, and the sculptors of our lives.  Life, in the end, is precisely what we make of it.  Whether the moments in life are good or bad…that’s all a matter of perspective.

I’ll probably regret posting this, but…for Pete’s sake, what is WRONG with ABC Television?

Here’s how I know that Satan has a hand in the TV programming at ABC: I watched “Freefall” last night.

 What’s “Freefall?”  It’s a primetime gameshow.  The contestant answers questions correctly, they get prizes.  Simple premise.  The hook?  Their prizes are on a conveyor belt.  As they attempt to answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly, the conveyor belt moves the 3 prizes along.  The fourth object in line is a cash prize.  The faster they answer the questions, the more likely the contestant is to score all 3 prizes PLUS the cash bonus.  Like I said, simple premise.

 So, what happens when the prizes pass by the contestant on the conveyor belt?  Well, how about…THEY FALL OFF THE ROOF OF A MULTI-STORY BUILDING!  That’s right, the CRASH…they EXPLODE…on the ground below.  And when I say “prizes,” I’m talking about furniture, plasma TV’s, barbecue grills, exercise equipment…you name it, they got it.

 Let’s recap this vital point: if the contestant fails to answer correctly in time, a washing machine might plummet to its destruction.

 Notice, I’m not being flippant.  I’m not trying to inject humor.  This isn’t funny. 

 I cannot remember EVERY seeing something so reprehensible, so environmentally irresponsible, so socially…MESSED UP…wrapped up and delivered as “family television.”  Seriously?  Seriously?!?  I mean, SERIOUSLY ABC? 

 You know, the Roman Empire fell in part because it decayed from the inside out.  If there had been TV back then, I am sure ABC’s “Freefall” would have led the ratings. 

 I ask myself a few simple questions.  Like:

      – How much does this show cost?

     – Where does this stuff come from?

     – Where does the broken stuff go?

     – Who thought that people should be shown that it’s OK to just break stuff, for no reason? 

     – Who thought “because I bought it” was a good reason to the previous question?

     – Does anyone at ABC know where “away” is?  You know, as in, “We’ll throw it away?”

I’m so angry right now.  I don’t normally have these visceral reactions to TV.  There was just something so WRONG with what I saw last night.  My not-quite-10-year-old son would have been appalled.  This show is a primetime show.  Kids WILL watch it.  What a horrible and sad example these adults have set.  Is this what our society has come to?  At least if my kids see some horrible act of violence on TV, I can explain it away as fiction, as special effects wizardry.  This…this I can’t explain.  I shouldn’t have to.

 I’m not angry.  I’m heartbroken.

Some things are easy to consume in their entirety.  Donuts, for example.  I think donuts are easy to consume.  I think a decent pizza is easy to consume.  The little pseudo-articles that seem to make up the bulk of most magazines today…those are easy to consume.  A bite here, a nibble there.  Done.  The world is filled with things that are consumed.

There’s a term we use around our house to describe things that initially appear easy but wind up not being so easy to consume: powdered donuts.  I, for one, don’t have a problem with powdered donuts.  We have this friend, though, who thinks powdered donuts are gross.  Specifically, he hates the little powdered donuts that come in the box with the crinkly, clear plastic window on top.  They look so good to him.  When a box is opened, they smell so good.  Everyone digs into them with gusto, sometimes devouring them in one bite.  The people eating them seem to be having such a good time.  They lick their lips clean of the white, powdery sugar that coats them.  

Sometimes, he gets carried away in the frenzy, in the enjoyment.  “Those little donuts look so good!” he thinks.  So, he goes for it.  He reaches in; takes a donut; pops it into his mouth.  Then…then the realization sinks in: he hates these things.  They taste like crap, at least to him.  He spits it out.  He wipes his tongue.  He takes a swig of milk to erase the taste from his mouth.  Those donuts should taste good to him, but they don’t.  They should be easy to consume, but they aren’t.

Powdered donuts.

 There are other things in life, more universal things, that should be easy to consume but aren’t.  Unfortunately, a good many of those are things which could prove beneficial to us.  They should be beneficial, but they aren’t.  We don’t let them be.  Today, I was reminded that, as far as I feel I have come in my journey of discovery, of connection to purpose, I still have some abandoned pathways to revisit.  I know why they are there in the state they are in.  They should have tasted good, but they didn’t.  They should have been beneficial, but I sabotaged them.  That’s OK; there’s a reason why I let them be.  I wasn’t ready.  Now I am.

Looks like it’s time to clear some half-consumed, powdered donuts off my plate.

My fingers are creaking.  Creaky fingers.  It has been a while.  Yes, it has…

I’ve been getting scary e-mail.  Not the kind that makes you wonder what’s wrong with the world or that makes you think it’s wise to send your bank account information to some dude promising you millions of American dollars if you just claim your prize.  I’m talking about the kind of scary that has you looking over your shoulder.  The kind that gives you reason to hesitate before going out in broad daylight.  The kind that settles in with you at night, under the bed.

What was that sound?  Who’s watching me?  What’s in my mind?

That, my friend, is the Universe.  And you better be scared because when you make a tiny crack of a space for her to reveal herself to you and move on in, you’re done for.  It’s over.  Your hers.  Or his.  Or His.  Whatever.  You get the point.

That’s the kind of scared that starts these creaky fingers moving again.  It’s the kind of scared where you set things in motion that may or may not lead anywhere, that may or may not open opportunities, that may or may not…lead to change.  See what I’m talking about?  S-C-A-R-Y.  Scary.  

The destination isn’t scary.  What’s scary is the prospect of lifting oneself up from the big, comfy couch of life and shuffling feet out the door, on some new adventure, and not just down the hall to the potty.  

Oh, how I have missed you creaky fingers and scary e-mail…

Transitions are great.  They mean that new things are on the horizon.  They can also be challenging because…well…new things are on the horizon.  “New” can be glitchy.  I am trying something new: a different platform for my blog called Posterous (www.posterous.com).  It’s a super-cool service that I hope will open the creative possibilities.  I just need my old to merge with my new.

So, transitions, some time off, and the overall need to recharge have kept me away.  But I’ll be getting back into full swing pretty soon with some new ideas, some new approaches, and a new commitment to “publishing.”  It makes me smile to think about waiting until a new month begins, so I’ll be more or less silent until the first full week in July. 

Out with the old, through the transition, and in with the new.  Here’s hoping it all comes together!