There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. “Well,” she said. “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. “Hmmm,” she said. “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said. “Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head….

“YEAH!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

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Many thanks to the wise author, whoever it is.

Thanks to Amber Ludwig for today’s insightful guest post:

We are all winding down the 2011 year (hard to believe it went by so quickly!) and resting up to take charge in early 2012. It is important to really take that time to REST because January is an often hectic month where business owners, like you and me, are eager to expand, build and conquer. We are FULL of inspiration and creative ideas. Many also feel financial pressure from spending a little too much over the holidays, and expansion in business usually requires a budget to play with. Today I hope to provide some tips for consideration to help you through this transition.

Now is the time to set goals for the New Year. Now, usually when we set New Year’s goals, they tend to be “Lose Weight” or “Make Money” or “Quit This” or “Start That.” This is an AWFUL way to set goals! You are basically setting yourself up for failure because there isn’t a benchmark for success and they tend to be “all or nothing” which is a scary goal to have.

I try not to put the weight of the world on my shoulders by setting too high of a goal. I set goals that are tough to reach, just not impossible. I know that in January pressure will be higher which means I’ll require more rest and better time-management. I know I’ll be entering the busy season in my industry so setting “realistic” goals is vital. When we don’t hit our goals we become less likely to set future goals for fear we won’t hit them. But, you will go MUCH further in life with goal-setting. That is a fact.

Once you have your goals in mind, it’s time to create a strategy. For example, we don’t just say “I want to lose 5 pounds” otherwise it most likely won’t happen. Instead, we make a strategy to lose that weight by speed-walking for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Notice I didn’t say 7 days a week. If you have that holiday weight-gain you are feeling more lethargic and it’ll be tough to keep yourself motivated to follow-through.

I always give myself a couple days off as a reward for hitting my 5-day goal, and also to give myself a mental break. When we are too hard on ourselves, we buckle and often run and hide from our goals. Another example is, “My goal is to create a 3-piece audio how-to program by January 6th, then promote it in x, y, z ways weekly to make an extra $1,500 in January.” The tip is: The more detailed you get with your goals, the more likely you are to hit them.

Setting goals and creating the strategy is about 20% of what it takes to succeed, I believe. The other 80%? It’s all due to your mentality, focus and decision-making ability. For example, this morning I woke up feeling VERY tired and lazy. After all, I just had 5 days off for the holiday! I absolutely had a decision to make. The one I wanted to make was hit the snooze button and mentally complain about getting up. The decision I did make was to snap out of bed and work out. My day would have played out in two totally different ways depending on which path I chose. Today I feel focused, light and productive thanks to working out.

With each decision we make (and we make HUNDREDS each day) we are getting closer to or further away from our goals. You will come across many difficult decisions in the next few weeks (to eat that fudge, or not – to click that snooze button, or not), until you are back in your routine. Make the right decisions that will make you feel better about yourself, help others and get more success.

Now is the time. Let’s rock this out!

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Thanks, Amber. And now a personal plug for this git-er-done woman: She was my go-to person for building this Web site. She’s smart, on the ball, and easy to work with. She does much more than Web site design: social media, book launches, and more. I highly recommend her. Check out Amber’s Web site.

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be efficient. Take this morning…. I approached the Safeway checkout lines with my 2 items. Two express lines were open.

Line #1: Tami is my favorite checker. She’s friendly to everyone, and we’ve both taken PSI Seminar, so it’s fun to have that in common, to check in on a deeper level.

A couple people waited for Tami’s register, so being efficient, I picked the register with no customers:

Line #2: Maile the checker always seems to be bored out of her gourd, and I’ve never seen her smile. When she mumbled, “Thanks for shopping at Safeway,” I didn’t believe she meant it.

I left the store trailing a dark cloud. What was I thinking? For a few more minutes of my time, I coulda had a V-8. I mean, I could have enjoyed checking out with Tami. I could have left Safeway with a laugh instead of a lesson.

Have you had a lesson in the value—or not—in being efficient? Please tell your story below.

These fit so well they should be in a dictionary.

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

BEAUTY PARLOR:  A place where women curl up and dye.

COMMITTEE:  A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

DUST:  Mud with the juice squeezed out.

EGOTIST: Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.
[My Favorite]

HANDKERCHIEF:  Cold Storage.

INFLATION: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

MOSQUITO: An insect that makes you like flies better.

RAISIN:  A grape with a sunburn.

SECRET:  Something you tell to one person at a time.

SKELETON:  A bunch of bones with the person scraped off.

TOOTHACHE: The pain that drives you to extraction.

TOMORROW:  One of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

YAWN:  An honest opinion openly expressed.

WRINKLES:  Something other people have, similar to my character lines.

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Feel free to leave your own daffy-nitions below.

Intrigue-master Sam Horn compiled the best 20 Thanksgiving quotes about being thankful. She writes,

“If the only prayer you ever said was ‘Thank you,’ that would be enough.” – Meister Ekhart

You’ve heard the saying “out of sight, out of mind?”

Keep these quotes “in sight, in mind” so you and your loved ones can live in a state of gratitude year-round.

Gratitude quote #1: “When you drink the water, remember the well.” – Chinese proverb

Gratitude quote #2: “When I started counting my blessings; my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson

Gratitude quote #3: “Make yourself a blessing to someone. Your kind smile or pat on the back just might pull someone back from the edge.” – Carmelia Elliott

Gratitude quote #4: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Ward

Gratitude quote #5: “Happiness is gratitude doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton

Gratitude quote #6: “Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” – Betty Smith

Gratitude quote #7:  “As we express our gratitude, may we never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

Gratitude quote #8: “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘Thank you?’” – William Arthur Ward

Gratitude quote #9: “I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping green spirits of trees, for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e. e. cummings

Gratitude quote #10: “When the eye wakes up to see again, it suddenly stops taking anything for granted.” – Frederick Franck

Gratitude quote #11: “When you give and carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, ‘Yes, this is how I ought to feel.’” – Rabbi Harold Kushner

Gratitude quote #12: “One of the very first things I figured out about life is that it’s better to be a grateful person than a grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you’re grateful, you have more fun.” —Barbara Kingsolver

Gratitude quote #13: “Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” -Garrison Keillor

Gratitude quote #14: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – Colette

Gratitude quote #15: “Unless people like you care a whole lot, things aren’t going to get better, they’re not!” – Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Gratitude quote #16: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset

Gratitude quote #17: “What if you gave someone a gift and they didn’t thank you for it. Would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. If you want to attract more blessings, you must appreciate the ones you already have.” – Ralph Marston

Gratitude quote #18: “I didn’t realize all that was going on and never noticed. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.” – Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town

Gratitude quote #19: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before I open a book, and before sketching, painting, swimming, walking, playing, dancing and before I dip the pen in the ink.” – G. K Chesterton

Gratitude quote #20:
“Normal day, let me aware of the treasure you are.
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
Let me hold you while I may; for it may not always be so.
One day I shall dig my nails into the earth . . . or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” – Mary Jean Iron

Gratitude is the gift that keeps on giving. The more you give, the more you get.

May this collection of Thanksgiving quotes help you keep the spirit of gratitude front and center in your life so you are constantly thankful for all that’s right in your world.

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Check out Sam’s blog:  http://samhornpop.wordpress.com/

One of my favorite charities called this morning to say Thanks. Normally, I’d appreciate a call like that, especially since they weren’t hitting me up for money.

But not at 5:15 AM.

Who calls at that hour? It’s never good news. The ringing woke me up. Wrong number? No. When I heard a woman’s voice leaving a message, I ran for the phone. That meant dashing down the stairs and rushing to the kitchen, just in time to hear the voice wishing me “happy holidays”….click.

Who called? The Heifer Project. I love these folks. I love giving chicks, rabbits, goats and bees to people around the world. I love knowing that I help people help themselves. I make it possible for poor folks to send kids to school or plug a leaky roof. And I appreciate a thank-you.

But not at 5:15 AM.

It was tempting to call right back, but I meditated first. TM calms me, soothes my barkiness.

The woman who took my call was a perky Kiwi [New Zealander]. It was tempting to rat out Frieda, who phoned me. But the problem was not with Frieda but with her trainers. The Kiwi put me on the do-not-call list, which should let me sleep. I hope Frieda doesn’t wake the neighbors.

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Do you have a story like this? Please share it in the comments section.

How to squeeze more bucks from customers and put your business’s trust at risk. A guest post from Philip E. Humbert:

I had an astonishingly bad experience with a major clothing store this week, and I want to tell you about it. Perhaps it will remind all of us that perceptions count and integrity matters.

As a favor to my wife, I agreed to call a major catalog retailer and order some fall and winter outfits for her. I figured it would take 10 minutes to call the store, order the items, bill the credit card, and be done with it. And it might have, except for one little thing.

At the end of the call, the order taker asked permission to “include information about our travel club” in the shipment. I wasn’t interested and vaguely replied that would be fine. She then repeated the offer and said she needed a specific yes or no. That got my attention and I started asking questions.

It turns out that once I agreed to her offer, I was actually agreeing to let them bill my credit card for membership in the club unless I specifically declined within 30 days. Later, a supervisor admitted that almost everyone ignores the offer and throws it away with the paperwork they put in every shipment. Then, 30 days later, the company bills their credit cards.

I suppose what they are doing is perfectly legal, but I found it outrageous! For a $39 membership fee, they lost us as customers, forever. In one stupid move, they trashed their reputation, and we won’t be back.

My point? Trust is a vital business asset. Honesty, integrity, fairness and openness may be the “right” things, but they are also the SMART things when it comes to business! Never trick your customers! Never appear to take a short-cut, and always make the customer glad they did business with you.

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Copyright (c) 2011, all rights reserved. U.S. Library of Congress ISSN:  1529-059X
Contact him at: www.philiphumbert.com or email Coach@philiphumbert.com

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“If you could live anywhere in the world—and if money was no object—where would you live?”

I’ve asked this conversation question many times and never received a surprising answer. But one author did. Read an excerpt from The Road To Happiness by Mac Anderson and BJ Gallagher, and watch that answer take an unusual turn:

“On one trip about ten years ago, I was making conversation with the taxi driver, asking him my usual questions about how he came to live where he lived. Then I asked him a hypothetical question: ‘If you could live anywhere in the world—and if money was no object—where would you live?’

“Without hesitating even for a second, he replied, ‘I live in my heart. So it really doesn’t matter where my body lives. If I am happy inside, then I live in paradise, no matter where my residence is.’

“I felt humbled and a little foolish for my question. Of course he was right—happiness is an inside job.”

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For hundreds of great conversation questions, check out my ebook, “Do You Squeeze the Toothpaste in the Middle? Playful Questions for Dates & Mates.”

Why bother to proofread your résumé when you can write a timeless blooper instead? Read carefully. Some bloops are suttle, I mean, subtle.

• “I am about to enrol on a Business and Finance Degree with the Open University. I feel that this qualification will prove detrimental to me for future success.”
• “I’m intrested to here more about that. I’m working today in a furniture factory as a drawer.”
• “Hobbies: enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians.”
• “2001 summer Voluntary work for taking care of the elderly and vegetable people.”
• “Skills: Strong Work Ethic, Attention to Detail, Team Player, Self Motivated, Attention to Detail.
• “Objective: Career on the Information Supper Highway.”
• “Experience: Stalking, shipping & receiving”
• “I am great with the pubic.”
• “My duties included cleaning the restrooms and seating the customers.”
• “Revolved customer problems and inquiries.”
• “Consistently tanked as top sales producer for new accounts.”
• “Planned new corporate facility at $3 million over budget.”
• “Seeking a party-time position with potential for advancement.”
• “Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year.”
• “Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave.”
• “Am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details.”
• “It’s best for employers that I not work with people.”
• “I would like to work for a company that is very lax when it comes to tardiness.”
• “Spent several years in the United States Navel Reserve.”
• “I have a lifetime’s worth of technical expertise (I wasn’t born – my mother simply chose ‘eject child’ from the special menu.)”

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I thank Philip Humbert and his source, Sandy, for these gems. I welcome your comments.