Category: Uncategorized

Do I think Speak & Lead will survive? Will it thrive?

I don’t know. I hope so, but we’re struggling. We need to attract at least 2-3 new members before the summer starts and a new year begins. Otherwise, we’ll just keep struggling. Eventually, sometime next year, we might have to increase the frequency of the meetings to 2 a month. We just have to. I think having meetings every 2 weeks is better than having them every 3, as we do currently.

But.

But it’s inconvenient. It’s incovenient for me and incovenient for other people. But we really have no choice. We need members. Members need more opportunities to grow. We have to also allow guests more opportunities to attend our meetings. Having them every 3 weeks, though, convenient, seems like eternity.

We also need new leadership. I am willing to step aside. But only if I think it’s the right thing to do. That is, if there is somebody that will be interested in taking us to new highs.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

A leader does not have to necessarily do the “popular” decisions. He or she has to do the right decisions, however painful they are.

I am wasting too much time in the morning.

But wait, I should start from the status on my 5am wakeup call. I have to say I’m doing great. I am constantly waking up at 5am. That’s a major accomplishment for me. And I have to say that I am quite happy with the amount of time that I get from doing so.

What I do with the time is another story.

I need to be better. For sure. I am wasting too much time. If all I do is waste the time and spend it on things that are not that important, then why wake up at all.

I need to develop a routine: I will do my important tasks first, before reading any twitter/email/facebook/news/etc. That’s the only way I can stay focused on the tasks that I need. On the tasks that are important for me. I have to do that!

I am slowly being converted to live a better, more fullfilling, more open life. I truly am. I am happy because of it. It makes me more “useful.” It makes me more open. I am becoming a better person.

It all happened because of a few books I finished reading. That tells me something: books have a great influence on me. I listen to what is written in them. The key, though, is taking the message from the book and applying it to my personal life. Once I’m able to do that, things flow easily. It becomes a habit.

My next big project for myself is actually being myself. I still struggle with that. I still need a log of work in this area. But I’ve got a book to help me: Be Yourself. Isn’t it a great title? I think it is. And it is a life-changing book. It has changed my attitude to my wife. It’s much better now.

I called 2010 a year of new me. I hope to live up to the expectations. I think that’ll happen if I continue on the path of improving myself. It’s going to happen, I know.

Previously, I thought the bible is way overrated. I never thought I could get myself to read it. It’s an old book. I had a feeling that it belong to church reading. No longer. I am slowly being drawned to it. It’s starting to catch my attention.

How?

Why?

Recently it got referred to quite heavily in Love Life for Every Couple. Book that was recommended in The Takeaway, who also recommended the Bible. I found an easy to read Bible, The Book. I just saw it today. It’s easy to read as it’s written in a  modern language. I should say, translated to the modern, easy to understand language.

But how am I going to use it? Or, how is it going to help me?

I’m not sure. Yet.

But it’s loaded with great advice. It’s has a lot of great information on how to lead a married life. I think it also has some great information on how to become a better person.

Is it an ultimate self-help book? Could be. I think there is a reason that it’s considered the most influential book of all times. A lot of people recommend it. A lot. Ton.

I guess I was never ready for it. I think I’m starting to be ready now. I have that feeling now.

I’m curious to hear what my wife thought about the house. We’ll talk it over. If she really liked it, then I might have to make a move. If so so, then I have to decide. It might actually be a better problem to have.

Do I think housing will move up in the near future? Probably not. There are just too many problems. Too many foreclosures. Too many bank owned properties.

But at $370 or so for a fairly new house? It might be such a bad buy after all. It might be a good one. But as Tom said, it might be better to renovate yourself. I don’t know.

I like the house. I think it’s in a very good town. It looks good. The setup is not great, but good enough.

There is a small issue… I don’t have all the money for the down paymen. Will have to come up with around $70K!

I started doing some more extensive house searching. I went to look at a few houses yesterday. One of them was really nice. It’s in Mahwah and currently stands at $395K. It’s in a decent location. And the nice thing about it, is that it’s only a 9 year old house! Nice city. Very good schools. Low taxes. What else am I looking for? Good question. I’m waiting for my wife to see it. If she likes it, I will talk to the realtor and see whether I should make a move and for how much.

It’s going to cost me. That’s for sure. I was thinking of putting $375 or $369 as a first offer. Will that be enough? Who knows.

It was a rough day on Wall Street today. The stocks went down around 3%. VIX went up over 20%. Am I surprised? No. I’m more surprised that it’s taken this long. There is just too much bad stuff going on.

Is there more to come? Likely. But nobody know. If I knew… yeah. 🙂