Posts Tagged ‘success’

We’ve all had our Manny Alpert moments.

In 1978, Alpert was an ABC-TV cameraman covering a fund-raiser for the National Hemophilia Foundation in New York’s Manhattan Center ballroom. He was stationed in the balcony overlooking the ballroom floor where University of Pennsylvania student Bob Speca Jr. had spent nine days setting up a maze of 100,000 dominoes. Speca held the record for nonstop domino toppling at 50,000 and planned to break it for a worthy cause.

The crowd of press and onlookers hushed when eight-year-old hemophilia sufferer Michael Murphy stepped forward to topple the first domino. As the small rectangles began dropping, Alpert leaned forward for a better look … and his press pass slipped free. The card tumbled into the maze, setting off a second chain reaction that threatened to ruin the event. And there was nothing Alpert could do to stop it.

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When I was a little girl, my mom had an antique typewriter—the one pictured on the About Me  page of this site. If she needed to type something and didn’t have access to the more modern machines she used at the office, she’d pull out that big, clunky Remington and start pounding the stiff, old keys.

When I was 12, I wanted to type like Mom. So I asked to borrow old Model Seventeen, carefully covered the keys with black electrical tape, and started training myself in the Qwerty keyboard. It didn’t take long before I was fast enough to make the long, silver keys crush together in a big clump, too.

Since then, I’ve earned a degree in journalism and picked up a lot of additional training. But none of the formal education I’ve received has been as essential to my everyday work as the hours I spent practicing on that antique typewriter.

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Okay, it’s not really polarized … at least not for the great majority of Americans as they work or try to find work, and worship or don’t worship, and spend time with their traditional or nontraditional families. The great majority are just trying to live their lives the best they can.

For that great majority, the world doesn’t become polarized until they launch into a discussion of some religious or political issue … or until they turn on the cable news channels. Then they suddenly find themselves combatants in the so-called “Culture Wars.”

Squirming? Don’t. MoveThatMountain.com isn’t drifting into religion and politics. This is neutral ground. But it’s also a place about overcoming your challenges, conquering your bad habits, coping with your crises, and figuring out how to make your life a little easier. Doing combat in a culture war takes a lot of energy that might be better spent moving the real mountains in your life.

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“You have a piss-poor attitude.”

It’s an old country expression–one that will not please my mother when she discovers I’ve used it. But the thing about old country expressions is they’re quite … expressive. When you hear that phrase, you have no trouble conjuring an image of the attitude in question or remembering the last time you felt that way.

This is not the attitude to win you an affectionate squeeze from your sweetie, a gold star from your boss, or really great service at your favorite restaurant.

On the other hand, it has its good points.

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It’s been a real bad day. One of many lately. But then the radio decided to have a chat with me. It said, “Hey, Soul Sister!”

I love it when the radio wants to chat. This time it reminded me that music can always make me smile, even on bad days. It reminded me that I love R&B—even though “Hey, Soul Sister,” by the group Train, isn’t an R&B song.

And it reminded me that you need to have soul to get through tough times.

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Some mountains you’ve stared at your whole lives, wondering “How am I gonna make this thing move?” Others seem to drop out of the sky. The earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One minute you’re living your life … the next you’re caught up in a heart-pounding nightmare.

You may find yourself facing many new struggles in the aftermath of a catastrophic emergency. But what about during the emergency? What can you do to help improve the odds that you and your family will survive those initial hours of chaos?

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Mention apples to me and for some bizarre reason I picture the evil queen from Disney’s version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She’s disguised as an old woman tempting Snow White with a poisoned apple. Maybe she comes to mind because I’ve never been crazy about apples. Apple pie, apple tart, apple cake, apple rings? Yes. Ordinary apples that haven’t been laced with piles of sugar? Not so much.

But I’m having a change of heart.

One of my biggest struggles is taking good care of my body and keeping it in optimal working condition. Despite the best intentions, I often fail when it comes to choosing the most nutritious fuel. As a friend once told me, I’m proof that it is possible to survive without eating fruits and vegetables. To survive, yes. But to thrive? Not really. Supplementation doesn’t take the place of enjoying nature’s bounty. And I recently learned that few natural foods have as much to offer as apples.

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What happens when you have a big dream but no education or experience to support it? Does that mean you have to give up your ambitions—or at least put them on hold until you can collect the prerequisites?

Not necessarily. How’s your supply of chutzpah?

Edith Head was an educated woman. She had a B.A. in French from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.A. in Romance Languages from Stanford. But she didn’t have the education necessary to get the job she really wanted.

So it’s a good thing she had all the nerve in the world.  Read the rest of this entry »

Recently I settled in to watch a DVD of my favorite reality cooking series. In an early episode, one of the contestants, already a successful chef, confided to the cameras that he’d decided to appear on the program to show his children he’d done something with his life.

His honest confession made me a little sad.

The idea that you have to appear on television—gain some measure of fame and public recognition—to validate your life explains everything from reality TV to … well … blogging. But it’s a flawed perspective.

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So … we’re two weeks into the new year. How’s it going?

That well? Uh-oh.

How many times have you planned to launch into a new project at work, make a serious commitment to your personal goals, renew a relationship with friends or family members, start losing weight, lay the foundation for starting your own business? You get off on the right foot with a lot of positive thinking and excited optimism.

Then reality sets in.

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