People Notice

I served a client today.  She casually commented how nice my partner and I were toward her and compared our manners and service to a branch down south that basically ignored her.  She was very complimentary and appreciative of our service and attentiveness.  She noticed.

Carolyn and I ate dinner recently at one of Edmond’s nicer restaurants.  Our waitress started out with less-than-impressive skills and demeanor.  We noticed instantly.

As we often do, we commented on her attitude and Carolyn said, “Let’s see if we can turn her before we leave.”

We did, she turned, and we enjoyed a fine dining experience. 

And we noticed the difference.

Sometimes we think no one notices our mindset, and we blow it off and blow them off and give them a less-than-stellar experience. 

But they notice.  You better believe they notice.

So, every new customer/client is a fresh opportunity to wow and impress. 

The jerk at the next table will probably always be a jerk, yet the new couple that just came in deserves a fresh smile and my best.

Let them notice our best.  They deserve it.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

How I Got My Creativity Back

In order to tell my story, I have to use the personal pronoun a bit.  Thanks for understanding.

I’ve been blogging for 6 ½ years now.  Creativity is a huge card that I play or attempt to play time and again, for I write six blogs each week. 

My schedule is as follows: 

Early morning – do a social media promo for each blog

Before bed – do an extended social media promo for each blog

Monday        – write It’s All about People

Tuesday        – write The Almost a Minute

Wednesday  – write Steps and Skips

Thursday      – write Morning Notes

Saturday       – write Internet Church

Sunday          – write A Time for Rhyme

This is a grueling schedule, and I hold down a full-time job as a banker.  Needless to say, I need to fuel my creativity; therefore books are a huge part of my life as well.  So, I work into my nightly schedule some reading time.

Sometimes I get stale in my writing, and even lose my way. 

Carolyn and I just returned from a 12-day vacation to London.  I gave myself permission – YES – GAVE permission to not write or post or even check my readership numbers for 12 days.  I went into this time away as truly a vacation from writing.  I felt I needed to give my creativity a break.  That felt risky.  I had just recently reached a new plateau in readership clicks and I feared I would lose that momentum and some of that audience.

The creative miracle happened.  I eased back into things and have found a new vibrancy to my writing.  I regained my focus for Morning Notes particularly, and my poems have taken on a new and creative life of their own.  And my numbers are back in the ranges they were before the break.

Vacations work.  THEY WORK!

Really and truly – take your time away.  In October we will go away again for 10 days or so.  I intend to follow a similar path then as well.

You are the boss.  Take a break when you want.

And now, resume your normal and busy life.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Make a Start

Have you made a start lately?  The concept of “make a start” is another way of saying “I’ll try that.”

And I’ll try that has launched just about everything we see in our world today.

I talked of writing for thirty years before finally getting started.  One fine October day I “made a start” and now I’m approaching

200,000 clicks on my blogs. 

On the popular TV show Shark Tank we see many fine examples of individuals who finally “made a start’ and they are on their way to a satisfying and successful enterprise.

What is in your gut that continually asks you to “make a start”?  You won’t be discovered unless you do something about that itch.

Go ahead … MAKE A START!

Consider this as your permission slip.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

What People Want

I’ll give it to you in a nutshell – people want connection.  They don’t want to be just another account number in your data base.  They don’t want to be one of many who shop in your grocery store.  They want recognition and connection.

I served Robin recently at work.  I called her by name and spoke to her four-year-old daughter Lilly.  She commented this way.  “That’s why I like coming here.  You go out of your way to know our names and speak to us.”

At the grocer near work I am known by five of their employees.  I feel I belong and matter to them.  The grocer near my home should take lessons.  I’ve been shopping there for ten years and I’m still unknown.

We want recognition.  We want to be identified and cherished, even for one brief moment. 

Oh the power of your name.  It is the handle by which you are known.  What a nice compliment it is when someone remembers our name and actually use it in conversation or greeting.

Sock this idea away, yet never get far from it.  People in your world want this whether they acknowledge it or not. 

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Stumbling Over Your Behind

I will be brief, for the caption really does say it all.

I tricked you with the title.  We really can’t stumble over our behind, or can we?  

A bit of philosophy: 

Blunders happen.  

There is absolutely nothing 

we can do to erase a mistake. 

Forget the past, except for 

what it taught us.

And now, we move on.  Oh, learn from it for sure, but don’t stumble over it again.  Stumble over something new if stumble you must.

Get your big behind behind you and keep moving I say!

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Remind Yourself Every Day

It’s like bathing and eating.  These are daily tasks for most of us.  And so is reminding yourself of your goals, dreams and passions.

I am a writer.  I write every day.  I think about writing every day.

What do you want to do or be?  Perhaps you are a brick layer yet you dream of a singing career.  Remind yourself every day that you are a singer. 

It is the act of holding onto a dream and thinking of it at odd moments while you do your daily life that keeps that dream alive.

Give thought to your dream.

Give effort to it.

Think of it every day.

Learn something new about it every day.

And remind yourself every day of what it is that you are going to become.

It is doing within when you are without.

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Words of Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

Knock on the Door

I’m discovering an old principle that becomes new every day.  Many of us first learned this in Sunday school, yet it is a life principle.

Knock and the door will be opened to you.  Fear not – I’m reminding us of a life lesson, not a sermon.

The ‘knock on the door’ thing is simply that – in any endeavor, in skill development, and in success in just about everything we attempt, it all begins with the ‘knock’.  You have to knock.

For me as a writer, that means I have to write something every day.  I have to put my hands to the keys and engage my creativity in this skill.  And I can see great improvement after seven years of consistently knocking.

As a banker, I have to let my friends know I’m in the lending business.  I have to knock.

As a musician, you knock by visiting the practice room every day.  You knock on the door of your skill and ask it to improve.

The same is true with golf, football, tennis, ping pong, building a spaceship, building a house, or building a community.

We knock on the door of our skill and we invite it to bring us to new levels.  We desire to ratchet our skill up a notch or two.

What doors are you knocking on?

What is your aim?

By consistently knocking every day, we increase our chances of moving from good to better to best.

Go knock!

P Michael Biggs

Up-Words Web Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement Inspiration

One Word at a Time