Yes, it’s THAT time of year again… My official birth date is Monday, July 21st.  I am heading out tomorrow for five days in San Francisco, so this is the last blog entry until I return next Wednesday. 

In honor of all births, deaths, and the life we live in between, I’d like to share a story told to me by a very dear friend:

On the first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know in class. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose.  I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant hug.

I asked, “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?”

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids …”

“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this great challenge at her age.

She responded, “I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she shared with me.

After class we walked to the Student Union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next 3 months we would leave class together and talk non-stop. I was always mesmerized listening to this wonderful “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and amazing life experiences with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon as she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet.

I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her 3X5 index cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order now, so allow me to share with you what I know.”

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began …

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only 3 secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving great success. You must laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream.  When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!

There is the huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are 19 and lie in bed for one year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20 years old. If I’m 87 and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn 88.

Anybody can grow older – it doesn’t take talent or ability to grow old. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change – to have no regrets.

The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose” …

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.

At the end of the year, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died very peacefully in her sleep.

Over 2,000 college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can be.

These words are passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
We make a LIVING by what we get – we make a LIFE by what we give.

Just because I haven’t done this in forever… time to lighten up a little with a few “enlightened” words.  Enjoy!

Showflake:  n.  Person who chronically misses every appointment.  (“Is Stephanie going to attend this seminar, or is she pulling a showflake again?”)

Nontourage:  n.  A group of undesirable sycophants.  (“The meeting went well until Mr. Johnson showed up with his nontourage.”)

DIZO:  n. Acronym.  Describes busy, working, all-too-typical couple:  “Dual Income, Zero Orgasm.”

SoDeeWah:  n.  Socialite / Designer / Whatever.  “The model, actress, whatever of the ’00s… always on the phone… looks really busy ‘doing deals.’  YOU know the type.” 

It should take you two and a half seconds to read this sentence.  Any faster and you won’t absorb its meaning.  The motor response of the retina, and the time it takes the image of a word to travel from the macula to the thalamus to the visual cortex for processing, limits the eye to about 500 words a minute.  (That’s peak efficiency; the average college student can expect a rate about half that.)

“There is no such thing as speed reading,” says Keith Rayner, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  “Not if your definition of reading is comprehending text.”  Studies show that fast readers fare worse than slower ones when questioned about the text. 

So, to get smarter, slow down.  The quest for knowledge isn’t a race…. learn more by pacing yourself.  It’s even okay to move your lips. 

On Monday, May 5, the Wall Street Journal’s Erin White ranked the top most influential business thinkers: Gary Hamel, No. 1. This article follows up a recent story in USA Today talking about rich entrepreneurs.

Who’s missing from both groups? Women.

Not a single one popped up in the Journal’s Top 20 list. Rankings were based on Google hits, media mentions and academic citations. But, I say where there’s weakness, there’s opportunity.

I would love to hear about more female speakers. (Better still, I’d love to BECOME one!) Yet, most of today’s wealthy women are still making their money through inheritance or divorce. So, why aren’t there more influential women business thinkers on these lists? How can this change? If you’re a man, would you be motivated to hear a female speaker? If no, why not? If yes, who?

“No one thinks it will work, do they?” asks Diane Court.
“You’ve just described every great success story.” says Lloyd Dobler.

From Cameron Crowe’s 1989 movie hit, SAY ANYTHING

“There is no difference between a pessimist who says,
‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says,
‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’
Either way… nothing happens.”

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

Go grab your weekend!