For What Are You Known

When people think of you, your brand, or your place of business, what do they immediately think of?

Tonight as Carolyn and I drove around our small town we started listing the things that make some of the restaurants memorable.

Restaurant A has good oatmeal

Restaurant B has amazing coffee with heavy cream

Restaurant C has incredible burgers

Restaurant D has the best Italian food

Restaurant E has lousy coffee (even lousy coffee is memorable)

And we added a few others. 

You see, people know things about your business and about you that they may never verbalize to your face or put on a customer survey, yet you are being rated and judged based on their perception of you.

And so it is with us as individuals.

~I think people perceive of me as an 

   encourager.

~My friend Ruth has never been happy in any 

   job she has held for as long as I have known 

   her.

~John is a thinker.

~Walt is always ready to help someone in

   need.

~Louie is lazy.

~Mary is resourceful.

~Aileen is an amazing cook.

~Don’t eat what Lucy cooks.

You see the pattern.  People make judgements about us too.

My point …

Get in touch with yourself and make sure your persona matches what you aim to give off.

Make sure your business is true to the impressions you set out to leave in people’s minds.

And if you fall short?

Do some research.  If you are a restaurant, ask your customers how they like your coffee?  Do you like the way I fry your bacon?  If there was one thing I could to do improve my business and get you to come here more often, what would you say?

Maybe what you are known for is not what you want to be known for.

Perhaps you can improve on that.

Maybe!

P Michael Biggs

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Encouragement Inspiration

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Sabbatical

My Cherished Reader:

It is sabbatical time for me.  After seven years of steadily churning out blogs for my six blog sites it is time for me to step away.  There will be no new posts for the next ten weeks.  I will resume with some fresh insights and thoughts after Labor Day.

Thank you for your consistent support of this blog.  I cherish your interest, your readership and your comments. 

My back-list is still available and I encourage you to continue to dip into that as often as you wish.

I will post an occasional oldie-but-goodie from time to time on social media sites, but mostly this is a regathering time for me.

See you in September.

P Michael Biggs

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Live ... Don't Just Exist

Perhaps this is a short philosophy lesson.  Let’s pursue it anyway.  

A quote:

To live is the rarest thing 

in the world.  Most people 

simply exist and that is all.”

Surely by now you’ve been encouraged to live in the moment, right?  In a nutshell, that means as we’re going about our labors and leisure, there are times that come along when we need to pause and reflect on what is happening in the moment and be very present to the moment.

You might find yourself sharing a lovely sunrise or sunset with a significant other.  Be very present at those times.  Note the gentle breeze blowing softly across your brow. Note the ever-changing colors of the sky, and note the sounds in that moment.  Memorize your present moment.

People who simply exist seem to rush past life at breakneck speed.  They never slow down and smell the roses, they miss their children’s soccer games and ballet performances, they eat a meal and in ten minutes forget what they just ate.

They rush to the next item on their list of life’s duties simply to check the next one off as having done that, or been there, and look what they missed.

I’m learning to master this philosophy at this point in my life.  We love the idea of being able to slow down and tune into this mindset of being present in the moments of my life.

And life is richer and sweeter because of it.  Carolyn and I savor our moments.  We are sucking the very marrow out of life and making sure we are in the moment for those significant opportunities.

We practice being ‘in the moment’ at meal time, down on Sunset Boulevard, eating yogurt, walking hand in hand doing nothing except being together, and a hundred other life experiences.  We’re not experts at it, but we’re better than we were.

We don’t want to simply exist in this world.  Our intent is to memorize our lives as we live them.  We love nothing more than to reminisce over a shared moment – and sometimes they are brief and fleeting, and we attempted to capture them in our minds and hearts.

That is a pretty grand way to live, if you ask me.

Anybody can exist.

A flea exists.  A snake in the grass exists.

Our intent is to savor our existence.

We’re leaning into life.  Want to join us?

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Own Your Own Reality

Your reality is yours to own, and don’t allow anyone to tell you differently.  Your power of choice is one of the great gifts we’ve all been given, and when used wisely leads to some amazing discoveries and adventures.  This quote grabbed me tonight.

Now I really like that. 

Here are some words that have been said to me in the past and I am thankful I did not buy into them.

“You’re an accident waiting to happen.”

“Get away from that thing, boy.  You don’t know nothin’ about machinery.” 

(This was said to me as a youngster during a moment of fascination with a reel-to-reel tape recorder.  Later I produced numerous recordings, using both reel-to-reel and was one of the first to use Pro Tools.)

Don’t buy that saw.  Why, you’ll cut off your thumb.”

“Oh no.  Don’t marry her.”  

(Carolyn is my best friend and soul mate, and we are celebrating our 10^th anniversary this September.

What is your reality?

                                    What is your destiny?

Listen to your heart.  Allow your instincts to guide you.

And if you listen to others, be sure they are wise and not jaded in their views.  And especially make sure they are not laying on you their own fears, regrets and limited thinking.

I think that is enough of this for one session.

Happy Trails as you discover YOUR reality!

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time