I like to highlight this fact by, once a month, looking at things we encounter on a daily basis and seeing what important lesson we can from them.

In today’s installment of “Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects” we are going to talk dirty. Very dirty….

5 Things We Can Learn From Cleaning Our Bathroom

1. We Don’t Find What We Aren’t Looking For

I’ll gladly vacuum and I’m more than happy to do the dishes, but cleaning the bathroom is my least favorite household chore. That being said, I do a decent job at keeping my bathroom clean…or else that is what I thought.

The other day, I finally decided it was time to clean the bathroom. Prior to cleaning, if you would have asked me how dirty it was on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the inside of a bottle of Purell and 1 being the inside of a fish), I probably would have given it a 7 or 8. I was way off. It was more like a 2 or 3. There was gunk around my sink, grime under my toilet and even layer of filth underneath my hand soap.

I never really noticed that stuff before because I was not looking for it. Deep down I knew my bathroom was dirty, but I thought that maybe if I looked the other way it wouldn’t seem so bad. It is amazing what we can see if we just take the time to look.

2. It Can Be Easier To Do A Little At A Time

All said and done, it probably took 45 minutes to clean up my bathroom. My bathroom is small so I didn’t plan for it to take that long, but as I stated above, it needed a lot of work. As I also mentioned above, I don’t like to clean my bathroom. And I really don’t like to spend 45 minutes doing it.

It would have been much easier to clean a little at a time. Wiping the sink here, scrubbing the toilet there. Had I been doing any of that at all over the previous month, I wouldn’t have had to endure 45 minutes of pain.

3. Some Things Take Extra Work (Scrubbing)

I don’t want to get too graphic, but some parts of the bathroom took more work than others. You know the spots. The ones that are so heavily caked on with grime, that you wonder if you’ll just have to accept it as the new color of the toilet. You think they will never get clean.

It is not impossible to clean those spots, but they take a little extra elbow grease. The same can be said about many other types of work we face.

4. Our Biggest Strength Can Be Our Biggest Weakness

Did you know that the bathroom sink might just contain more germs than the toilet? It is true. One study found that the level of bacteria found on the sink tops even the toilet. Doesn’t seem right that the worst place we can put our hands is the same place we need to go to clean our hands.

Sometimes the things that are the best for us, can also be filled with hidden dangers, if we aren’t careful.

5. Success Doesn’t Last Forever

I was very proud of myself for cleaning my bathroom. I kinda felt like I deserved an award (maybe a golden plunger). But my success won’t last long. The bathroom is getting dirtier and dirtier as I type. Success may not last long. We are only as good as our last pass. Just ask Peyton Manning, who was benched in the same game that he set the NFL record for most career passing yards.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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20 Extremely Well-Mannered Insults To Use On Your Worst Enemy – By Zainab Coovadia

I would never tell you to insult someone. But if you are going to hurl some grenades, here’s a great list of well-mannered and funny insults.

1. May the chocolate chips in your cookies always turn out to be raisins.

2. May every sock you wear be slightly rotated, just enough for it to be uncomfortable.

3. May your mother come to talk to you, and then leave your door slightly ajar, so that you have to get up and close it.

4. May your article load that extra little bit as you’re about to click a link so you click an ad instead.

5. May both sides of your pillow be warm.

Click here to read the rest of the list. #6, #9 & #15 are some of my favorites.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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I like to highlight this fact by, once a month, looking at things we encounter on a daily basis and seeing what important lesson we can from them.

In today’s installment of “Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects” we are going to look at something that is recommended by expects, but less than 50% of American’s do daily, and 10% never do.

5 Things We Can Learn From Dental Floss

1. We May Bleed A Little At First

I could never be a dentist. If there are two things I don’t like it is blood and putting my hands in strangers mouths. Dentists experience both of these very frequently, especially the blood. Even when they are doing things to help a patient, the patient bleeds. I’m sure you’ve been to the dentist and felt your gums become bloody while the dentist is flossing your teeth. Do they do that because they like to see you suffer? No. They know that we may bleed a little at first, but the result is well worth the trouble.

When we are chasing our dreams, we will all bleed a little at first, but the result can be well worth the pain.

2. We Can Be Surprised By The Impact Some Things Have

Flossing may not seem like a big deal, but it is. If fact, research shows that flossing daily may actually add 6.4 years to your life. See, if you do not floss, you are more likely to develop gum diseases such as gingivitis. And if you have gum diseases such as gingivitis, you are almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary heart disease as those without gum conditions. Crazy that such a seemingly small activity can have such a huge impact.

Next time you think a small action with your family or at work is inconsequential, think again.

3. Just Do It

Do you floss before you brush your teeth or after? Guess what? It doesn’t matter. You can floss before, after, or both, what really matters is that you just do it in the first place. The main thing is that it gets done.

Spend less time worrying about the timing of your actions, and more time acting.

4. Even Great Things Take Time To Catch On

Dental floss was invented in 1819 by Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from New Orleans. However, floss was not commercially available until 1882. So, dental floss was around for 63 years, before people cared enough to make it available for everyone to purchase. I think we can all agree that it is a great invention, but it’s popularity didn’t explode overnight. And even now, it could still catch on even more, as evidence by the stat I referenced earlier that less than 50% of Americans use it everyday.

Think about Levi Spear Parmly and dental floss next time you are frustrated that your product is taking its sweet time to take off.

5. Take The Time Now Or Pay Later

It is easy to see why less than 50% of Americans floss everyday. It is kind of a pain. Plus we usually save it for the end of the day when we are tired and just want to go to bed. But if we just spend a few minutes at the end our day, we can save a lot of time and money in the long run. Take the time to do it now, or risk the expenses and health complications that come with gum disease.

We are all tired, and just want to do to sleep, but taking that one small action now can save us time, money and stress.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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A similar thing happens in other aspects of our lives. In order to help, I will be offering 10 seconds of warning in a new segment called “Side Effects May Include…”.

When Becoming Organized, Side Effects May Include…

– Abnormal feeling of accomplishment.

– Chronic swelling of free time.

– Plummeting thoughts of “not knowing your schedule.”

– Unstoppable shrinkage of confusion.

– Reduction of tripping over things on the floor.

– Enhancement of “knowing where I put that paper.”

– Strange tendency to add things to your calendar.

– Lowered occurrence of juggling too many things at once.

– Uncontrollable urge to stick to your planner.

– Increased ability to see the top of your desk.

– Decreased appetite for “just winging it.”

– Clutter-blindness

Photo credit: Flickr

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I like to highlight this fact by, once a month, looking at things we encounter on a daily basis and seeing what important lesson we can from them.

In today’s installment of “Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects” we are going to talk about an object we always want to have at our fingertips…an object that conveys power and control…an object that is the source of many fights…the television remote control.

5 Things We Can Learn From A TV Remote

1. We Have To Press The Right Buttons

TV remote controls are pretty awesome. With the simple click of a button we can pause a show, watch two shows at once, or change channels. So much power with so little work. But there is a catch. We can’t just point the remote at the screen and press any button. We have to press the right buttons. One wrong button and we could be watching MSNBC when we meant to watch Fox News. It may not seem like much, but the right buttons make a big difference.

It is said that a good coach or great boss knows how to press the right buttons for their team. They know when to yell vs. when to console. They know when to pull back and when to push ahead. This knowledge can make or break the success of a team. The same is important on our individual projects. Knowing what buttons to press, and when, can be the difference between going in reverse or moving forward.

2. We Need Power

Don’t you just hate when the batteries in the TV remote go dead? It always happens at the worst time and there are no other batteries in sight. Without power, our remote is useless and we are left with a button-filled paperweight.

When we do not have power, we are useless. I’m not talking about power as in muscles or command of a room. I’m talking about sleep. Recharging our batteries. The other day I sat in a meeting where one woman slept the entire time. Not only was she useless during the meeting, but I’m guessing she was useless for the rest of the week because she missed what was covered in the meeting. She was basically a button-less paperweight.

3. We Have Power When We Have Control

The person who controls the remote controls the TV. They decide what is watched and watch is skipped over. Many fights have been fought over who decides what to watch. Ultimately, the holder of the remote decides.

Now that I have shared the earth shattering news that we need to get some sleep, let’s talk about the other type of power we need. We need control. When we are in control, we are way more efficient. We control our diet and we lose weight. We control a room and people listen. We control our bowels and we do not need diapers. Control is very important.

4. It Helps To Know Where We Are Turning

For my TV, I know that channel 206 is ESPN. When I want to watch ESPN, I know exactly what to do…press 206. If I didn’t know what channel ESPN was, I would have a very difficult time getting there. I may eventually find it, but it would take many more steps.

In life, it helps to know where we are turning. It also helps to know what we are looking for. Just like looking for sports on ESPN, looking for a career change or a new diet is a heck of a lot more difficult if we do not know where to turn.

5. We Can Do It From Here

The reason the phrase “turn the channel” exists is because we used to have to get up and physically turn a knob to change channel. Imagine having to get out of your comfy recliner, stumble over to the TV and use our hands. Sounds awful, right? Thankfully those times are long gone. Now we can change the channel from the other room if needed. God Bless America.

Thanks to fancy inventions and amazing technology we can do a lot from where we are. We can work with people from all over the world from our comfy recliner. We can go to school in our pajamas (I guess we could always do that, just now we don’t get funny looks). The world is more connected than ever and gone is the excuse “I would change, but I don’t want to move.”

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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I like to highlight this fact by, once a month, looking at things we encounter on a daily basis and seeing what important lesson we can from them.

In today’s installment of “Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects” we are going to talk about an object we so clearly use everyday that I can’t believe I haven’t covered it already…the Internet.

Yes, the internet. You know, that thing I’m using right now to write this, and you’re using right now to read this. It is something we’ve become so attached to that I recently heard someone comment that he hopes his niece is born with WIFI, since he will be spending a lot of time with her. I doubt that will happen, but I also doubt it will prevent him from finding another way to get online.

5 Things We Can Learn From The Internet

1. Don’t Become A Dinosaur

I think it might be an Internet law that when you talk about a website that fell from grace, you have to mention MySpace. You probably know about how MySpace took the Internet by storm in the 2000s only to fall by the wayside and see sites like Facebook and Twitter pass it by. There are plenty of other examples like Hotbot, Ask Jeeves or Crumble-ology. Okay, I might have made up that last one, but it definitely sounds like something that would have been online at some point.

Are we becoming the MySpace of our profession? Are we destined to be the Crumble-ology of our craft? (Actually now that I think of it, Crumble-ology sounds like something you would study in culinary school). To avoid a similar fall of the face of the earth, we need to be constantly evolving. Learn a new skill. Take up a new hobby. Enroll in a Crumble-ology course. Anything to keep on, keeping on.

2. Everyone Has A Voice

Imagine what the Internet would look like if only a select few could add to it. Sure it might still be interesting, but it wouldn’t be nearly as great. You might get awesome sites like ESPN.com, but you wouldn’t be able to hear random dudes make up words like Crumble-ology (that is the last reference, I promise). My point is, the Internet is so great because we never know who is going to chime in with the next great idea.

When we are chasing our dream it is important to keep our ears open. We can be so narrow minded that we forget that everyone has a voice. We may bypass a helpful idea because we are not listening to the speaker.

3. Even The Best Things Can Seem Scary

As I have written in the past, I fear many things, but the World Wide Web is not one of them. But you’d be surprised just how many people think are afraid of the Internet. They think every email is out to steal their identity. Just hearing the words, “open a new window in your browser,” makes giant butterflies dance around in their stomach.

There are many great things out there, but for each one I am sure you can find someone afraid of it. I may laugh at someone’s fear of the Internet while at the same time being ashamed to acknowledge my own fear making new friends. In life, as online, even the best things can seem scary. Our ability to step into that fear helps shape just how great that thing can be.

4. Even With Convenience, We Get Lazy

I have a friend who teaches high school Biology. He told me he has one rule when his students write a report. You can’t rely solely on Wikipedia. He is not some crazy anti-Wikipedia nut job who spends his evenings concocting a potion with the hopes of destroying the online encyclopedia. He is simply trying to teach his kids to explore the internet and find multiple sources. He even explains that if they are afraid of venturing too far from Wikipedia, they can use the sources footnotes on the site. They barely have too look for other resources, yet time and time again he receives papers that simply cite Wikipedia.

As we go after our goals, we might get lazy. Despite having an enormous amount of resources – talents, friends, education – we get caught looking for the easy way. Much like my friend’s students we look in one area for all the answers. We need to not be afraid to look around and see what else this world has to offer.

5. Too Much Information Is Overwhelming

There is so much to learn from — and on — the Internet that I probably could have titled this list 1,000 Things We Can Learn From The Internet. But that would have been too much. The readers would be overwhelmed and probably wouldn’t make it through the first 20. Just because we can go on and on, doesn’t mean we have to.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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I stared at nature at work and got to thinking about how remarkable these tiny ants were. How are they able to accomplish so much despite being so small?

Let’s find out in today’s installment of Five Things We Can Learn From Everyday Objects.

Five Things We Can Learn From Ants

1. You Are Stronger Than You Look

We have all heard the stat about how ants can lift X times their body weight. I knew they were strong but I can never remember the exact stat so I decided to look it up. Would you believe that ants can support 5,000 times their body weight?? It is true, according to this article.

As I write this, I am watching a Golden State Warriors game. Steph Curry may look like a child, but he is one of the fiercest competitors in the league. We may not be able to support 5,000 times our weight, but we can all be stronger than we look.

2. It Helps to Have Help

I don’t care that an ant can support 5,000 times its body weight, I would take a grasshopper in a fight against one ant. I am guessing the ants prevailed because they either found the grasshopper wounded, or they attacked in bunches.

We often try to take on the world by ourselves. But that never quite goes as seamlessly as Hollywood might lead us to believe. Chasing our dreams will require help. And that is not a bad thing. I guess the title of this section (It Helps to Have Help) is redundant, but I like the way it sounds. We can all use a reminder that asking for help is okay.

3. There is Enough To Go Around

I am no ant expert, but I am guessing they are quite generous. You always see ants bringing food back to the colony. Ants must be familiar with the motto, “Sharing is caring.” The ants I saw weren’t worried about keeping the grasshopper to themselves. They knew there was enough grasshopper for everyone.

It is cool to ask for help, and it is even cooler to offer help. Whether it is your time, your skill or your knowledge, you have enough to go around. Don’t just keep it to yourself. Be willing to share.

4. Be Organized

A marvel of organization is the line that ants travel to and from their anthill. Dozens of ants travel in the same straight-line path yet managed to avoid one another, even when carrying dinner above their head. How do they do it? Sounds like a good question for Wonder Why Wednesday, but I am guessing it takes planning, direction and good GPS.

When we are hustling for our dreams, we very rarely follow a straight-line path. It is more like the video game snake, were we are just trying to avoid bumping into ourselves, let alone others. Organizing each day can help us avoid these crashes. I recently read about one thing that make millionaires do well. The article didn’t mention anything about GPS but it says that planning and direction make a huge difference.

5. You Gotta Go Out and Find it

The chances of a cookie landing inches from an anthill are slim. Ants seem to be fully aware of that and cool with it. They are comfortable scouring areas far away from home to find their next meal. They aren’t afraid to go out and find anything they need.

I don’t know about you, but I am often scared to travel far away from home. Literally and figuratively. I am more comfortable when I am familiar with my surroundings. Sometimes I feel like I am waiting for that cookie to land inches from my house. But if that is the case, I will always be waiting. In order to achieve our goals we need to be willing to scour the areas that are far away.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

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