TUESDAY - DECEMBER 10

Hello all, Drive safe today! We did get a little snow last night and people who don't take their time. One of the ops ladies is already in the office, she said coming from Rutherford County the roads were just wet until Franklin. The off ramps were pretty slick so take a lot of time there. Day cares and Schools are closed as is expected when there is a flake of snow but we are open for business. Jason UPDATE - Roger is out on the roads south of town, he also said mostly wet, watch the overpasses and on/off ramps. The parking lot has some ice so watch yourself walking in. And please, clear your windows before you leave.

Saturday Dec 7th

Short Version = We're open. :) Long version = I spent the last 30 minutes or so scanning the news stations and the forecasts for the morning. Looks like Nashville avoided the bad scenario of still raining + sub 32 degree temps. We stopped raining and then the temp dropped which means that most roads are fine. You can go here http://ww2.tdot.state.tn.us/tsw/smartmap.htm?city=Nashville and on the left click "camera" and it will show you the camera's. Everything is flowing fine now and according to the news stations the rain/sleet/drizzle/snow is over for the evening. You can also click "road condition" and it will show you icey spots. As of right now there are none listed. According to the late news you are going to want to take your time on the side streets and your driveway will more than likely be the worst part of your drive. Take your time on the back roads, give extra time and stay warm. Hope to see you all at the Holiday Party!

Let it SNOW!

Hello gang, Bill should have just sent out an email regarding this weather blog we're having to dust off. I'm sitting at home and it is actually snowing right now. It isn't sticking, but it is snowing. As the email said, we are adults, not children. This is a business. Give yourself plenty of time, drive safe! Let's hope this thing blows by us. But if we have some issues in the morning, check here.

Sharpen the Saw

I talk a lot about taking a little bit of time to “sharpen the saw.”

If you’ve ever had to cut something with a saw and you’ve had a dull blade you know that it makes for a tough tough time.   Takes 2 times as long and twice the effort.   You should always take time to sharpen it.   In terms of our career and life, we should take a bit of time each and every day to sharpen our brain.  Hone our skills.

Did you know that in our learning library we have 4 of the top 15 customer service books?    How many have you read????   Any?  

·         The Zappos book, Delivering Happiness

·         The Starbucks Experience

·         Your call is (not that) important to us

·         The Nordstrom Way

We have a ton of books up there.   Even if you are a moderate reader you can take 30 minutes a day and get through a book in a few weeks.   Believe me when I say…..I HATE reading.   Can’t stand it.   But, I do like to make myself better each and every day.   So I do it. 

You are in customer service.  Why wouldn’t you read up, try to learn a new technique or two.   The great thing about sharpening the saw is that it doesn’t just apply to this job.   You can apply it to any future job and in many cases to your personal life.   So there is really not 1 down side to taking some time out to learn something new.  

Give it a shot!   To check those, or any other books from the library, talk to Bill.

Let's have some fun!

Today should be a good day.   It is a new week.   Should be a nice morning and we may see some much needed rain for our gardens this afternoon.    Hopefully everyone is refreshed from the weekend. 

Isn’t it a great day to be alive?    Or would you rather not be with us on Earth today?????  J

Don’t settle for anything less than greatness today.   Have some fun.   Be extra LEGENDARY today.  I’m sure if you thought hard enough you could come up with some very good reasons to be negative today.   But can’t you also find plenty of good reasons to just be in a good mood and make this the best day you can make it?   Take this day as a present.   Have as much enthusiasm as a 6 y/o opening presents on Christmas.

I’m always asking my wife why she isn’t as excited as the dog to see me.   She gives me a kiss and a “hey honey how was your day.”   The dog?   He runs to the door, little paws slipping all over the kitchen floor.  Tail wagging so hard his whole body is moving.   Jumps up trying to give me kisses and then does a bunch of circles around me.  Treat the day like that!

Make Lemonade

You’ve heard the expression right?    When life hands you lemons make lemonade.

Ah, sounds so easy when they say it like that.    It isn’t easy, but it is possible.  Most of us already do it and we may either not realize it or we take it for granted.   Have you ever made a mistake?   What did you do after you made it?   Did you study it and learn so you didn’t make that same mistake again?    If you did they you just made some lemonade.   You took something that was a negative, or a weakness, or oversight.   You corrected it and made it better.   

When you are having a really good time do you just stop right in the middle and go home?   No, you let it keep rolling.   That is making more lemonade.  We already know how to stay positive and make things better, yet sometimes we choose not to listen to ourselves. 

If you see a good thing, a co-worker go out of their way to help someone.   Let it inspire you to help your next customer.

If you have a bad call where things don’t go great, let it inspire you to be a bit better on the next call.

If a customer pays you a compliment, pass one on to a co-worker or the next customer.

If you hear something great, point it out.

Let every accomplishment, no matter how big or small be a celebration, let it inspire more greatness.

Ever notice how Powerful Kindness can be?

POWERFUL!

Kindness -           a kind deed : favor

the quality or state of being kind

Did you know that there is 1 principle that is true of each and every major religion in the world?     Each one has some form of “do unto others as you’d have done unto you.”    Funny that with all the differences we see in each other, we all basically just want to be treated good.   And, if that happened how much better off would we be?

Being rude to someone has no benefit.   Being mean has no benefit.   Yet for a moment it can feel good.   It is just like junk food has virtually no benefit, but for that 1 moment it can taste so good.    We know it isn’t good for us, but it is easy and hey, everyone else is doing it.  Right!?

Hard to do the right thing and be nice to people sometimes.  So much easier just to be mean, especially when so many people probably deserve it.  J   But, the best way to combat a rude customer is with kindness.  Not sarcasm masked as kindness, but good ole fashion kindness.    Have you ever been mad at something, you’re trying to take it out on someone and they just continue to be nice????   And then you get more mad when you realize you are the one who’s wrong and this person is just trying to help???   UGH, why couldn’t they just be mean so you could be right????   I hate that. 

Strength comes in the form of kindness.   It is really hard to be mad at someone who is truly a kind person.   As your customers call in, try to think of the situation they are in, how would you feel.   How would you want the rep to treat you in that situation?    Do unto our customers as we’d have them do unto us.  

Don’t meet the rudeness with rudeness.   Nothing ever gets solved when that happens.

Principles

“It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them”  ~ Adlai Stevenson

Ever notice how anyone in the spotlight seems to fail miserably at what they are trying to live up to?     Just off the top of my head I’m thinking in the last 10 years or so several top “anti-gay” congressmen have been outted for being gay.   The head of the tax committee was himself committing tax fraud.   And, currently in the news our Attorney General, they guy who is supposed to be the top guy upholding the laws of the land is being accused of shattering the 1^st amendment.

Now, I’m not trying to get political here.   This is why I choose a couple of issues that are on both sides of the aisle so to speak.

What I am saying is that if you have a set of principles it is pretty hard to live up to them sometimes.    It is hard to do the right thing over and over again.   The “correct” road to be on is often the harder one to be on.

·         Yeah we shouldn’t smoke.   But quitting is hard!

·         I know we shouldn’t eat McDonalds, but it is so easy to pick up.  I can’t cook when I have my child running around turning her strawberry shortcakes into Sinead O’Conner!    (just look it up young people)

True Story –

·         We should spend time with our families,    but do you know my family????

Lot’s of things we should do.  We know we should do them.   We really do know we should do them.    But it is tough.  

The more you live by your principles the easier it is to think about them.   The more you think about your principles the easier it is to live them.    Focus your thoughts on the positive, what you know you should do.    Make a list and review it daily.   Put that stuff in front of you.   Give yourself an incentive for success.    List out the reasons you are doing this tough thing that you are doing.   Is it for health?   For family?   For personal gain?    Focus your life on the important things that really matter.   Then live every part of your life to make it happen.

Don't worry about complaining

People complain, A LOT!    Let them.   That is one of those things we cannot control.  

It has been almost 2 months since we went out to Dave and Busters for a day of getting out of the office.   During my talk we went over focusing on things you can control vs things you cannot.    Have you tried to remember that?    Have any stories you want to share.  A couple of you have shared a story or 2 with me on a certain topic.    It is fun to hear people apply something you teach.  Especially if it works.   But how great is it to be in that extremely tense moment and then in an instant just think to yourself…..you know what, I cannot control this and whether I’m mad for a minute or a year it will make no difference to anyone but me!    That is a very empowering feeling indeed.

But back to complaining.   We complain about the winter being too cold, the summer being too hot, raining days being too rainy, traffic being too heavy, gas prices being too high.  Too much, Too little. 

Next time you are complaining about something, or if you hear someone complaining about something give it the old 90 day test.   In 90 days will you even remember this?      In 90 days will you remember how much it rained today?   Or that someone cut you off?   Or that you got shorted a couple of French fries from McD’s?   Sometimes that answer will be yes, we do remember some of the bad things, typically the BIG bad things.   But for most of the things we complain about…..nope.   They will not be remembered.

Then think of the good things in life.     In 90 days will you remember we did bacon Tuesday?   After 90 days do you remember a bday present?   Do you remember a good chat with an old friend?   A vacation?     I would say that most of the good things are the things we remember for a long time.

So forget the complaining.   There are plenty of people in this world who just love to complain.   Complaining will not go lonely.  If you divorce yourself from complaining it will find another companion, I promise.    So don’t worry about the future of complaining, it will be just fine.

The Bacon Tuesday Revolution

We've been doing "Free Bacon Tuesday" once a month for about 4 months now.   Some have asked me....."Jason, what is Free Bacon Tuesday?"    Well, it is quite simple.   That is where I give you free bacon, and its Tuesday.

This idea started as a joke, to some, but to me bacon is a pretty serious topic.   During a round table meeting  a couple of reps named Roger and Dave put in an idea that once a week we get free bacon.    They were kidding.  I think.   But I was not.   I went down to Costco and purchased 100 pieces of bacon, cooked 50 pieces up in the morning, 50 in the afternoon and began to pass it around in our newly termed "bacon dispensing pumpkin."    We're south of Nashville so some may call that a punkin.  The employees seem to love it, big morale booster!  

Once a month on a random Tuesday we do "Free Bacon Tuesday".    And I don't think I'm ever going to stop it!

Challenge Yourself

Every once in a while it is good to go a little beyond what you know you can do.   If you are a runner and you are used to running 10 miles a day, go out and run 13 some time.  If you lift weights and you have a steady routine, pick a day and raise all your weight 5 pounds.

Ever heard of Roger Bannister?   He was the 1^st man to run a mile in under 4 minutes.   Through 1954 no one had ever run that fast for 1 mile.   In fact most people held the 4 minute mark as some number that for humans would be physically impossible.  In the 1952 Olympics Bannister had a subpar, by his standards, outing and took two months or so and really consider quitting.  He thought about never running again.   But then he snapped out of it and set out to be the 1^st person to break the 4 minute mile.      He ran a 3 minute 59.4 second mile.   Whew.    Funny thing was, not only was the 4 minute mile attainable, his record didn’t even last through the end of the year.   Before 1954 was over John Landy ran 1 mile in 3 hours and 58 minutes.

The point here is that had Roger Bannister pushed himself to do something no one thought was possible.  Once the myth of the 4 minute mile was broken others started running, all because they knew it could be done.

Think about what you do in your comfort zone and then push yourself to get better.  Break out of your routine, stretch yourself physically and mentally.  The more you do this the more flexible you will become.   Quite often you will surprise yourself.   I’ll be you are capable of far more than you realize.  If you stay in your comfort zone all the time you may never progress as a person.  Challenge yourself!

Achievement can be your best friend

Have you ever thought about how cool achievement is?

Here are some things that achievement does NOT care about –

 It doesn’t care where you came from.

·         It doesn’t care if you are rich or poor.

·         It doesn’t care if you are tall or short.

·         It doesn’t care if you are good looking or ugly.   (Heck, if ugly people couldn’t achieve things I’d probably live in a broke down car somewhere alone!)

·         It doesn’t care what you did yesterday or even 1 minute ago. 

You can achieve your goals.   It doesn’t matter if you said you were going to do something a million times.  If you choose to do it today, the achievement will be there waiting for you.   Like a best friend, achievement is always there waiting for you to just grab it. 

Achievement, no matter how big or small has worth.   So celebrate your achievements daily and start reaping some of that personal wealth that is surrounding you at all times.

Do you have an agenda?

So many agenda’s these days.    The liberal agenda.   A conservative agenda.  Right wing, left wing.   If you look at any of these agenda’s or just our news cycle in general most of what you will read will be negative.  

How odd that we live in a country where 90% of people say they hate negative political ads, but they person who wins every election is typically the one that runs more negative ads?    That doesn’t make much sense does it.

What’s your agenda?   Have you ever thought about it?

In the news we hear about the murders, we hear about the bad cops and even some of the bad things that happen in our military.   Rarely do we hear about the good side of those scenarios.    Teachers help children every day in this country and no stories.   A teacher does something inappropriate to a child and it will be front page news for weeks. 

My point is we have a choice here.   We can choose to do what everyone else seems to do and focus on all the negative stuff in this world, or even in our call center.   OR, we can seek out the positives.   It is just as easy to speak about the best customer you had today as it is to speak about the worst customer.   Yet we often choose the worst when we are speaking.  

Take on a positive agenda.  Talk about the customers who compliment you, the ones you help.   All the ones that say thank you instead of the ones that don’t.    Spend more time talking to the people in your life who always bring your spirits up and try to help you.   Not the ones that say “oh don’t do that , it will never work.”    Focus on the things you CAN do vs those you can’t.   Live your life putting effort into the things you can control vs the things you cannot.  

If something bad happens you can still control your reaction.   Remember that you can be mad about something for 15 seconds or 15 years.   Either way the only person you are impacting with your anger is you.

What agenda will you adopt?

How critical are you of yourself?

http://www.upworthy.com/2-people-described-the-same-person-to-a-forensic-artist-and-this-is-what-happene?g=2

Take a look at that link.   Just a 3 minute video.    The have a forensic sketch artist have people describe themselves.  Then, they have someone else describe that same person.  The images that are portrayed when talking about themselves is much “uglier” than when someone else describes them. 

Kind of odd how critical we can be of ourselves. 

If you want to start taking some steps toward talking to yourself in a kinder fashion please take a look here.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/7-steps-to-positive-self-talk/

Pretty basic stuff, sometimes the basics are the best.

Are you worthy?

Are you worthy of the best life you can have? 

Worthy - Deserving effort, attention, or respect.

Understand that “worthy” is different from “entitled”.

Entitled - Give (someone) a legal right or a just claim to receive or do something.

If you think that you are entitled to something and you don’t have to work for it you sit around and wait for things like winning the lottery.   Or you think your life will be like a movie and some great thing will just fall into your lap.

If you think that you are worthy you put forth effort, attention and respect to your life, your relationship and the things that you think you are worthy of.  In my mind my worthiness is somewhat of an obligation.  It drives me to work even harder.  Because I believe I’m worthy of nice things.  I know that these things will rarely just fall out of the sky.    Yes, some people hit the lotto, win a car in a raffle or were just born with rich parents.   I, like most people, do not fall into that category.   So I get busy working.   If you believe you are worthy I highly encourage you to do the same. 

I use a lot of sports stories, because I know them.  Growing Walter Payton was one of my favorite players of all time.  “Sweetness” is what they called him.   At 5 ft 10 in tall and 210 pounds he certainly wasn’t the biggest guy on the field.  But that guy worked!   His off the field and off season workouts were legend….wait for it….dary.     Walter ran “the hill”.   The hill was a 924 foot extreme incline by his house, he would run it up to 20 times a day.    In the offseason he would run sprints in the sand.   He had Olympic sprinters come to work out with him and one thing happened every time someone came to work out with him.   He outlasted them.  Everyone.   He outworked everyone, every time.  Today Walter sits at the #2 spot on the NFL’s all-time leading rushers, he averaged just shy of 1400 yards per season for 14 years.  #1 is Emmit Smith who played 2 more seasons averaging a little over 1300 per season.

The NFL Network did a Top 100 players of all time.  Walter ended up #5 on that list.  Here’s that clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb2Gp1UCp2E

The Human Brain

What ENERGIZES you?

One of the easiest and most relate-able examples I can give is anger.   Think of a time you've been angry.   Burst of energy right?   Also fear?    Heartbeat goes up, adrenaline starts pumping and you are ready to fight or flight.   This energy though is often not coming from a good place, it is also not productive.   Often it is a quick burst that fizzles out.  

To quote Yoda -  “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

You can also teach yourself to gain energy from your passions.   If you care enough to get angry, why not put that energy and care enough for those things that matter most in your life.  If you really embrace the power of your passion you will supercharge your life and motivate yourself to achieve more than you have in the past.   Allow that passion to push you toward positive things.   When you get riled up and the energy starts flowing try to stay in control of it and direct it at something that is useful to you.

Live in the NOW

Hey gang,

Hope is great.   Dreams are fantastic.   Goal planning and list making is terrific.    All of these things should provide you direction and set your priorities of how to live your life.

BUT – We should live in the NOW.   Because now, right now, is the only time we can control.    Now is here, whether you like it or not.   Right now is here and it is ready for you.  So what will you do with it.

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. gave his most famous speech.   “I have a dream.”    If you’ve heard of it and maybe seen pieces but never the whole thing, you should check it out.  That speech is very motivating.   But it was just a speech.  Without all the marches and people fighting for their rights for the better part of a decade, small victories day by day that brought us from the times of segregation to now.   I use that as an example.   There are a ton of inspirational speeches, I’d venture to bet that any really great accomplishment started with a dream and some hope, and may be great speech.    The people that heard that speech went out the next day and they fought, and the next day they fought.   5 years later in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.   Yet his followers continued to fight.

Most of us aren’t fighting for something like civil rights in our day to day lives.  But our fight should be important to us, and we should live in the now.  Every single moment offers an opportunity for success OR disappointment.  Every single moment is a possibility.  It is a challenge and whether you like it or not you have to accept that challenge.  Because all those “nows” will come and they will go.   The question is what will you do with them?  

When you face each of those challenges, possibilities and opportunities and you fight for the now you will more than likely find yourself with 1 of 2 results.   1 – you will succeed.   2 – you will learn something.     They say in the fight game that you learn much more from a loss than you do from a win.   If you view any failures in that light and take something from it to better yourself it really isn’t even a loss. 

Not so much the roads, but the traffic

Woke up this morning to a couple of phone calls.    Looks like I-65 is dead stopped with traffic.   Secondary roads are pretty sloppy.

The good news is that it is almost above freezing so the roads should be better in no time.

2 hour delay today...

3 reps are in and logging on the phones as I type.   So when you feel you can make it, head on in.

Thanks you all.