LET ME BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS

"Where the law is uncertain there is no law."

Proverb

This applies equally well to rules, requests, orders, instructions, and all other forms of communication managers use with employees.

If it's not specific it doesn't exist, and when that happens, it's the manager's, not the employee's, fault. 

HERE'S AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT

"It is difficult, if not impossible, for most people to think otherwise than in the fashion of their own period."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

By "period" Mr. Shaw means thinking, doing, and saying what everyone you know is thinking, doing, and saying, only because that is what they are thinking, doing, and saying.

If you find yourself doing that you're little more than just one of many sheep in the flock, mindlessly following many other sheep.

It's ok, to a point, to follow, just make sure you do so thoughtfully, because you've decided that is what you should do.

YOU'LL LEARN; ONE WAY OR THE OTHER YOU WILL LEARN

"The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct."

Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 BC) Writer, politician and great roman orator.

And some of the wise occasionally learn by necessity because they stupidly failed to learn using their wisdom.

We all learn, the question is, how?

NO MAN'S PLAN

"Action without a name, a ''who'' attached to it, is meaningless."

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-born American political philosopher.

A central tenet of planning is who will do the plan.

Without that there is no plan.

WHAT YOU PURSUE, NOT WHAT YOU WAIT FOR TO PURSUE YOU

"Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia."

Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) French surgeon/biologist.

Sooner or later you have to break through your own, personal "rock of inertia".

Nothing much good will come looking for you, you must find it.

CURIOUS GEORGE DOES IT, SO SHOULD YOU

"Whatever you have spend less."

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) British author.

Be it personal or business, probably the best financial advice you'll ever receive, made even better by adding "and save what you don't spend."

TODAY, 2 TO 1 OVER TOMORROW

"One today is worth two tomorrows."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

One to-do off today's list you might not otherwise get ta-done tomorrow.

That's worth a whole lot more than just two tomorrows.

IT'S UP TO YOU

"Affliction comes to us, not to make us sad but sober; not to make us sorry but wise."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

I don't believe affliction comes to us to do any of that but I do think that is or often can be the result.

It's all about how we choose to deal with adversity. 

GOOD NEWS IF YOU THINK YOURSELF WISE!

"Time ripens all things; no man is born wise."

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) 

Spanish novelist/dramatist/poet.

This means there are no limits to how wise you can become.

The first step is to recognize you are not as wise as you think.

The second step is to be open to all new ideas and things.

There are, of course, many more steps but do this much and you'll be wise enough to discover them yourself.

CHECK YOURSELF

"If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher.

Mr. Franklin advises us to do and say what need be done and said, knowing there will be those who disagree with us.

Agreed.

But we have an equal obligation to be as certain as we can that what we say and do should be said and done.

Not all of it should be.

PRETTY PROUD OF THAT HARVARD DEGREE ARE WE?

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Formal education is an important cornerstone of your future.

However, remember, there are four corners on every foundation.

What you learned in school is only the beginning of what you will ultimately need to know.

DUE AND PAYABLE (SOONER THAN YOU THINK)

"The excess of our youth are checks written against our age and they are payable with interest thirty years later."

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) British clergyman/sportsman/author.

And this isn't just about physical health; it applies to business debt as well.

Those debts also come due sooner than you think.

WHY YOU MUST KEEP TRYING

"Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments."

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American politician.

You wouldn't know what success was if you'd never failed.

But don't think failure alone is the road to success, it's not.

When you identify what doesn't work, create a plan you hope will work.

If it doesn't, make a new plan.

If you fall, pick yourself up and try again; never stop trying.

(MUCH) MORE THAN JUST THE THOUGHT

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become."

Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) Founder of Buddhism.

With respect for and apologies to Buddha . . . "What we think, we become"? 

Briefly thinking you will be wealthy will not make you so.

Briefly thinking you will be happy will not make you so.

The thought of whatever it is you'd like to become is only the beginning, to be followed by much planning and hard work to make it happen.

WE ALL HAVE BOSSES

"Liberation is not deliverance."

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French poet, dramatist and novelist.

So, now that you no longer work for someone else, have started your start-up and reviewed your list of "truths", make certain believing you are free is not on the list.

You've simply traded one master for many, many others.

SUNSHINE OR NOT

"False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade."

Christian Nevell Bovee (1820-1904) American author/lawyer.

Notice he said "false friends".

Your real friends will be there for you, sunshine or not.

Just be certain as to who they are and are not.

WHAT YOU SHOULD, NOT ONLY WHAT YOU MUST

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Moral courage is the strength to do what you know you should when you know no one will know you didn't.

PICTURE YOU

"Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."

Samuel Butler (1612-1680) British poet and satirist.

That being so, how do you want others to picture you?

UNTIL DEATH DO YOU PART (MAYBE SOONER THAN YOU THINK)

"The difficulty with marriage is that we fall in love with a personality, but must live with a character."

Peter de Vries (1910-1993) American editor and novelist.

While originally describing the marriage of two people it applies equally well to the merger of two companies.

What you think you will get very often doesn't happen.

Carefully evaluate the potential "personality" you hope to get so as not to end up with the "character" you don't want.

HAPPINESS IN THE MOMENT

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) French poet/writer/art critic.

Not as soppy as it may first appear to be.

We're all occasionally guilty of chasing something we believe we must have to be happy, only to put it aside when we get it to so we can set off in pursuit of something else we're really certain will make us happy.

There's plenty to be happy about now; enjoy this moment.

WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?

"Own more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest."

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) British poet and playwright.

The less you say about what you believe you know, the more you say about what you do know.