Rated "M" for Mature

Nuggets For The Noggin

Rated “M” for Mature

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 14, 2012 

Being on the fritz of late, I have been forced to watch more television as I could do very little else.  Here is my observation: 

While watching a college football game I was afforded the opportunity to also view and absorb the advertisements for soon-to-be-released movies and computer games.  Yes football is a violent game but not as violent and explicit as the advertisements for these products.  Then as if it made it permissible to put this garbage on television, the announcer declares, “Rated M for Mature.”  Do these people who put this vile stuff on the air think ONLY mature individuals are watching at that very moment? 

As they say on the pre-game show for the National Football League, “COM’N MAN!”  If this garbage is not created for the youth of our world who is it created for?  Adults?  Why would anyone want to go to a modern movie where the name of the game is to outdo one another for the most sexually explicit and violent scenes including an ever increasing number of dead and destroyed bodies?  Who exactly is kidding whom? 

Now we watch the news and see violent acts taking place throughout the world.  Why not?  We are constantly barraged with visuals of people killing people.  Who amongst us really thinks that such visions are not destroying the minds of children who watch them or play the senseless video games?  Violence is much like lying - the first time is difficult but it gets easier with each lie; at least that is what I am told.  Not like I have any expertise in this regard. 

Sesame Street proved that repetition can teach children to read and understand at a very early ages.  Why then would not violent images accomplish the same thing?  Why does Hollywood continually produce what I consider to be violent garbage?  The answer is simple: people are paying to see it.  Rated M for Mature means it is okay for adults to see this crap but not children.  But children watch adults.  Children whose parents smoke are more likely to smoke.  Children are more likely to drink alcohol if their parents drink.  Children whose parents are Democrats are more likely to grow up to be a Democrat; same for being a Republican or Independent.  Children emulate their parent’s actions, both good and bad.  Children who grow up in an abusive home could very easily become abusive when they reach adulthood or before. 

One of the more valuable lessons I have ever learned was to imagine that everyone you meet has a tattoo on his or her forehead that reads:  WCILFTP & MMFI.  It is a great lesson but of late I feel it is incomplete.  What do the letters stand for? 

WHAT CAN I LEARN FROM THIS PERSON 
MAKE ME (THEM) FEEL IMPORTANT!

 

The problem is that you can learn both good and bad from someone or something.  Conversing with people is like reading a book.  What has been said or written may not be in line with your Core Values therefore you don’t have to believe or take action on what was said or written.  You can and should take away the good stuff; throw out the bad.  That is not to say, however, that you cannot learn something from what you hear or read even if it is something NOT to say or do.  The problem, at least in my opinion, is that most people simply do not know how to properly listen or how to pause to understand what they have heard or read.  We are becoming more like the Internet every day as we get faster and faster yet retain and understand less and less.  Our children are being taught and trained by the boob tube. 

Adolph Hitler figured this out in the 30’s if not the 20’s.  I am paraphrasing him when he said, “Give me the children at an early age and I can rule the world in 10 or 15 years.”  He created the Hitler Youth and began to train the way they think so that when they became adults they would think as he wanted them to think and we all know how that turned out.  Look at the pictures from the Mid-East where you can see children 4, 5 and 6 years old carrying assault rifles and repeating vicious slogans.  Vince Lombardi said, “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit!”  Once you learn anything it becomes a habit; good or evil. 

Now instead of someone like Hitler we have the movies and television infiltrating the minds of our children and we as a nation sit by and sadly permit it to happen.  There is a current advertisement on television that says it all.  It depicts an adult and a child arguing over the last portion of Mac & Cheese.  Then the child says, "You can have it if you allow me to watch a PG13 rated show."  The next picture, the adult is eating the Mac & Cheese and the child is mesmerized while watching television. 

Like it or not, we are all role models for someone. Maybe a son or daughter, a husband or wife, an employee or employer or maybe someone we may not even know.   Like someone I don’t know who is reading this Nugget and then makes a decision to be a more effective role model because of it. 

It all starts with BEING AWARE; a lost art.  Be aware of what is being unconsciously (and consciously) saved on the hard drive of your mind.   It starts with giving up the Mac & Cheese; doing the right thing; setting the right example, especially when no one is watching.  It starts with feeding your mind like you feed your body.  No wait, then your mind would be bigger than your body; not a good thing.  Rather it starts with feeding your mind the GOOD thoughts, ignoring all the junk food that will not serve you and the people you know very well.  You CAN change the world for the better by simply working on and improving your relationships, one-at-a-time, and hopefully it will be passed on.  Here’s a thought – use Joe Tye’s Direction-Deflection-Question (DDQ): 

Should what I am about to say or do be rated “M” for Mature? 

If you need help with the answer avoid using heavy machinery!

Are You Like A Fortune 500 Company

NUGGETS FOR THE NOGGIN

 

What Do You Have In Common With Fortune 500 Companies?

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 7, 2012 

“Someone with a job is never secure.  Someone with a calling is never unemployed!”

Joe Tye 

The answer should be obvious except for maybe you-know-who.  It’s that you both are in business but can you prove it?  I have always laughed at the statement:  “If the government made selling real estate illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” 

Why reinvent the wheel.  Successful businesses such as those in the Fortune 500 have figured out what it takes to be successful.  In my opinion that is: 

• Start with a very clear Mission Statement
• Identify and establish Core Values for the company that supports the Mission Statement
• Have a business plan in place that is under constant review and revision to adapt to ever changing conditions
• Create a company training plan and courses that support professionalism, the Mission Statement and the company’s Core Values
• Then hire quality individuals that think and act in accordance with the Mission Statement, Core Values and the Business Plan
• Track and evaluate the actions they take such as advertising campaigns such as are they productive?
• Create an image and logo for the company and stick with it
• Identify the company’s wealth builders and do whatever it takes to maintain contact with those wealth builders such as employees, customers and business relationships.
• Finally from Gary Keller, LEAD WITH REVENUES; NOT WITH EXPENSES!

I want to emphasize that this Nugget is my opinion and that I truly believe that a majority of real estate agents and probably other types of sales people do not understand that when they decided to go into sales that they at the same time consciously or unconsciously decided to “open a business” - their business.  Even though they may be working under the banner of a parent company, e.g., Keller Williams Realty and Keller Williams Realty Professionals, all sales people are actually businesses unto themselves.  Therein lies the problem. 

If you were truly in business for yourself and you are, why would you not follow the path that other successful companies have already proven to work? 

Keller Williams Realty International has established a mission statement:  “To create jobs worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.”  Admirable to say the least.  I would prefer to think of it as “To create callings worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.”  As the emphasized in the above quote from Joe Tye: “Someone with a job is never secure.  Someone with a calling is never unemployed!”  What is YOUR calling? 

Selling real estate is an intermediate calling not an end result.  It is a means to achieve your life’s calling whatever that may be.  Jeffrey Gitomer states it best:  “To get everything you want in life, help someone else get what they want – FIRST!”  Therefore if you believe that - then selling real estate would help people to achieve their American Dream by helping them achieve home ownership.  Once that is accomplished you have taken another step to achieving YOUR personal dream of (you fill in the blank).  It could be something as simple as financial freedom, college education for your children and grandchildren, a trip around the world, charity work, etc.  It can be whatever you desire. 

I read somewhere about the rocking chair test and I apologize for not knowing who wrote it.  The rocking chair test involves envisioning yourself sitting in a rocking chair on your front porch looking at a view you have worked all your life to achieve.  You then ask yourself questions such as if you could do it differently what would you have done differently?  Any regrets? 

Personally I have two regrets.  The first is that I did not take the time to train myself on money; how to earn it, how to spend it; how to invest it; and, how to make it work for you.  The second is what this Nugget is all about, I did not think of myself as being in business for myself – a business owner.  Instead I always felt I was working for a company. 

As each situation in life and business reveals itself to you the questions then become: 

• If I am a successful business owner, what would I do or want to have one of my employees do in this specific situation?”
• If the situation involves a customer, what is the best resolution for the customer?  Remember what Gitomer said, “To get everything you want, help someone else get what they want – FIRST!”
• What would I or my employee do that would be in keeping with my stated business mission statement?
• What would I or my employee do that would be in keeping with my stated core values?
• What would the best course of action be that would take me towards my goals and objectives?

The most useful tool I have ever discovered in this regard was created by Joe Tye.  It is the Direction-Deflect-Question (DDQ).  “Is what I am about to say or do consistent with me being the best I can be?”  The answer should direct you to the proper actions to take. 

With all this said, sitting in MY rocking chair, this is what I would do if I were given the opportunity to start over: 

Use the Direction-Deflection-Question (DDQ): 

IS WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY OR DO CONSISTENT WITH....... 

• My life’s Mission Statement
• My personal and company Core Values (*)
• My personal and company Business Plan (*)
• My personal and company Training Plan (*)
• Being my ideal self or ideal employee (*)
• Being REACTIVE or PROACTIVE in my spending and tracking my activities
• The IMAGE I want to be known for
• Supporting, interacting, and maintaining contact with my personal and company’s Wealth Builders
• Leading with revenues; not with expenses!  Maybe the most important of all.

(*) Note:  Remember when you are in business for yourself you are not only the company owner, you are the company employee, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, The Chief Marketing Director, etc. etc. etc. 

Yep, that is what I would do.  What would you do?