Tom Tancredi

Outnumbered about 7 Billion to 1.....

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Archives for August 2012

Kickboxing and the paunchy kid

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I’m kickboxing in the mornings and I’m damaged goods. My knuckles are bruised, my thighs are sore, and my knees are skinned.

In theory, I’ll start losing my paunch. And I’m the paunchy kid.

Kicking/Punching a bag is not as therapeutic as I was led to believe. I don’t channel my stress into the bag; I just get sore and tired. Moreover, I don’t really feel healthier afterwards or days after. I’ll let you know if there’s a change in my mentality regarding it, but currently it’s pretty un-exciting.

This is the right thing for me, though. Hitting 30, I need to keep active otherwise I’ll expand out. My waistline is already extending….ever so slightly. And there’s my paunch. My ever-so-lovely paunch that used to be a six-pack, back when I was 1/2 my age.

There is no business-minded analogy that I’m going to thread in this post. Sure I could say “healthy body, healthy mind” or “doing the right thing isn’t easy” or some other platitude. But really, I’m just talking about exercising and why I don’t like it. I’ve…..never liked it. Not when I was a teenager, not when I was a young adult, and not now. I love being able to do athletic THINGS (swimming, kayaking, etc). But exercising…never. And it amazes me because in the back of my mind I sort of bought into the promise that if you do something long enough, consistently, you learn to love it.

And that’s just not true. I probably will always hate exercise.

I'm a sad, paunchy Kid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wish he was here. He'd know what to do....

Pride with Extreme Prejudice

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I think there’s too much pride, but not enough to be proud of, in a majority of our daily lives.

Pride should be a rare commodity. Being proud should be a spiritual goal.

I want to make that word and the emotion one feels from having it to have meaning.

To be clear: I’m not griping about self-indulgent, self-entitled behavior. I’m talking about taking stock in our lives and really summing up what is worth being proud of, and what we would like to be proud of in the future. What is meaningful? What do we consider an accomplishment?

In that vein, we should stop the thinking of pride like “being proud to be an American”, or “proud to be Gay”, or pride for our sports teams.

Civic pride is another matter, and perhaps doesn’t fit in with what I’m saying. So lets just ignore that for now….

Here’s a thought: If your life is a bookshelf filled with momentos and trinkets, the few things you’re proud of should sit on one shelf.

What do you think?

Your business card is crap!

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I have just been turned on by the magical character that is Joel Bauer.

His business card is dice-cut, embossed, has a pop-up in it, and foil-wrapped. It’s a square so you can’t fit it in your pocket, but it looks like a GREAT coaster (super-thick card stock, so I’m assuming great absorption…)

Joel Bauer is self-made rich. He’s self-made successful. He makes a living convincing people that he’s so excellent at training THEM to sell. People swear that he’s helped them in their lives.

Here’s the link to a video of Joel telling you your business card is crap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_OtzL1xUiY

Here’s the contrast of another self-made rich/successful entertainer who’s business card is, according to Joel,  crap

 

Steve Martin - a studious PR man himself. He already provides his own spin...

Personally, I think we all like Steve Martin more than Joel. But I think I like Joel’s fans more than Steve. Joel Bauer appeals to a segment of people who are highly energized and motivated. People who are looking to change the world and want a plan/formula/strategy to make that happen. Snake oil salesmen or not, Joel’s convincing people everyday to be/do better (DGBG!) and, through his polished-sleaziness, his sermons seems to hit home. People are seeing results. Steve Martin plays the banjo and has good taste in modern art….and provides residual entertainment on his twitterfeed. I’d love to create crawfish with Steve, but Joel is inspiring a legion of people, any of whom I’d love to join of my team.

Plus, I think he’d like my business card.

 

 

 

Thoughts of the week

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THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK

#1 – Managing means you run on action-man juice.

Making sure that people are optimally assigned roles, that vendors relations are 100% ideal, and that the planning is being done correctly, is and always will be more work than anyone can ever do. It’s very easy to see yourself work 12-15 hours days, week over week, and get lost in the churn. It takes mondo amounts of energy and creativity.

#2 – Most people have a scheme that they’re going hatch whether you like it or not

And by scheme, I mean things like “I’m taking a vacation tomorrow” or “I’m going to ask for/demand a raise ASAP, muh ha ha ha….” And I’m never ready for any of those conversations. The majority of my job is planning, and I’m never prepared for anything I haven’t accounted for in my spreadsheets and charts. I need to work on this.

#3 – See more conceptual art in the world

If you’re not thinking how to do this day better than yesterday, you’re not growing. If you’re not growing, you’re not becoming anything you potentially could become.

Here’s two artists that will blow your mind…..

jennyholzer.com

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net