An Extra Hour For Your Lineup

There were some interesting findings in a regular feature of Reader's Digest. In It's Around The World article it asked people from around the world, "What would you do with an extra hour?" Some of the results were:

• Spain: 50% would use it for family time
• Turkey: 41% would exercise
• Germany: 37% would sleep
• India: 50% would work another hour at their job

In the US the results were:

• 37% Family Time
• 32% Sleep
• 23% Exercise
• 9% Work

What is even more intriguing is how obtainable an hour could be for many people. Get up 15 minutes earlier, take 15 minutes less for lunch, cut out 15 minutes of web surfing or TV viewing and you already have 45 minutes. Send a couple less e mails and text messages and you are approaching the coveted hour.

The key is being a good ringmaster and making the best use of your discretionary time to make these moments a reality-regardless of how you plan to spend it. What would YOU do with an extra hour-and what are you willing to change to make it a reality.

What's Driving Your Lineup?

Time magazine has a regular feature called "Postcard________." The March 2nd issue was entitled, Postcard: Beijing. The article discussed China's tough approach to those suffering with internet addiction.

The part of the article that caught my attention was a quote in the 3rd paragraph from the US Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. They classified internet addiction as "Behavior in which the Internet becomes the organizing principle of addicts' lives." Organizing principle... meaning their thoughts and actions were all organized to maximize their ability to be engaged with the Internet.

That got me to thinking. What if we tweaked the phrase a little to evaluate our own situations and our "organizing principles" to see what is most impacting our thoughts and actions? It might then read, "___________________ is the organizing principle of my day (or week or month or life). Taking a moment to reflect on our honest answer(s) might be helpful in determining if we are acting based on purpose.... or something less healthy.

The Single Parent As Ringmaster

If ever there was anyone who comes close to being able to actually juggle elephants, it would have to be the single parent. They are quite simply amazing in their ability to maintain their job, take care of a family and sometimes even squeeze out a few moments for themselves.

At a recent training program I met another one of these incredible ringmasters who was struggling with their "wide open" circus. In our discussion after the program we talked about a number of strategies to attempt to help them run their circus a little more smoothly. They included:

Work Ring

• Leverage every resource to make your job more manageable. Whether technology, work schedule or people. Be willing to ask if additional resources are available if you feel like you are drowning.

Relationship Ring

• Carve out a dedicated block of time to spend with a child or children each week. Even if it's only 30 minutes. Guard it with your life. Make it something they (and you) look forward to, and turn off the mobile phone or Blackberry. Don't overlook the morning hours. A quality sit-down breakfast may nurture more than the body.

Self Ring

• Recognize you desperately need that "me" time to rejuvenate your own energy. By taking a moment or two for yourself, you will actually be making yourself a better parent and employee.

Most importantly, don't be afraid to engage the other performers in your circus to assist you.

Losers Make Winners Of Others In A Unique Way

When you watch the Super Bowl, do you ever wonder how they get the shirts and hats of the winning team printed so quickly? Of course they don't wait until the last minute. They have merchandise for both teams ready and when it's over they sell the appropriate ones.

That begs the question, "What happens to the merchandise of the losing team?" There certainly aren't any "AZ Cardinals-World Champions" shirts available (sorry, Cardinals fans). Interestingly enough, the hats and shirts are donated to World Vision, an organization providing assistance to the poor and underprivileged children of the world. This year some of the merchandise went to Central America. Those disseminating the shirts say that for some of these children it will be the first time they have ever received a new article of clothing. These children may not know who the team is or in some cases even know what football is... but they do know somebody cared-and that's just cool.

One For Those Who Have Children In Their Lineup

Carlos Slim Helu is one of the richest men in the world. To help you better understand his wealth, consider this: If you make a landline phone call in Mexico, 92% of the time the call will be carried over phone lines belonging to his company.

In an interview with Fortune Magazine, some of his charitable giving was highlighted and the passion for his children and grandchildren was obvious. The interviewer asked "Slim" about his philosophy on life and what guided some of these behaviors. His answer is something every parent (including me) needs to hear time and time again. He said, "Many people want to leave a better world for their children. I'm trying to leave better children for my world."

WOW!!!! While there is no doubt we need to be building a better tomorrow for the coming generations, I wonder what impact we could all have if those of us who are parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors, etc. focused on "building" better children. Ones who have the character, attitude and abilities to succeed in such an uncertain future. A better world indeed.