If I were a kid in school today there is no telling just how medicated I’d be. So medicated, the very thought scares me!

I’m sure they would try their best to muffle the chaos in my head: chaos I just couldn’t wait to share with everyone in the classroom either by accident or on purpose. If I had to paint a picture of what’s going in there it would have to look a little like those television editing booths they sometimes show on screen. You know, the ones with two dozen screens showing two dozen different shots of just about everything going on around you.

Well, that’s pretty much the way it looks and feels to me… With a producer shouting, “Give me Two on my count: three – two – one – Now!”

I’ve got an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of white paper taped to the filing cabinet across from my desk with the words “STAY FOCUSED” printed in 60-point, bold type; but, it might as well say, “Pink Bunny.” Or, better yet, “Squirrel!”

Between the incoming phone calls, the work I have to catch up on by close of business tomorrow, the work coming in, payroll, the constant barrage of problems, challenges, opportunities and solutions… Well, I don’t stand a chance. In fact, it’s a wonder I get to accomplish anything at all and I’m sure I wouldn’t if it wasn’t just a matter of sheer force of will.

The most terrifying part of all? I’ve been doing it so long that crazy seems normal: so long, I actually crave it!

In all fairness, it’s a little worse because I was gone for five days and the five days I was gone were spent attending an industry conference that has me so pumped up it must look like I’m vibrating around the shop. It could have something with the “To Do” list I brought with me or the commitment I’ve made to continuing education and improvement. Either way, I know the people closest to me are going, “Buckle your seat belts: Here we go again!” And, they’re right!

As a result of the conference, I’ve made the commitment to bring a number of the possibilities I was exposed to back to our shop, changes that are almost guaranteed to enhance our ability to serve our clients. In fact, I’ve already started implementing some of those changes.

The goals are relatively simple: expand, improve and serve.

Now, all we have to do is do it!

As the weeks and months go by I’ll be bringing some of those changes here and then opening them up for discussion. If there really is anybody out there, you’re more than welcome to join in.

Even if you don’t join in, it should still be one hell of a wild ride: one worthy of your consideration, especially if we are successful.

I know that even though I don’t know how it will end or what it has to offer, I still can’t wait to get started.

No, not bicycling… It isn’t the wheels that are spinning. It’s my head!

I’m in the middle of what feels like an endless cycle of effort: like being on a treadmill and having absolutely no control of the speed or the pitch and all you are doing is fighting like hell to keep up. And, it isn’t any one thing…

I could lay it all off on the magazine writing I do, but I’m caught up. Actually, if you want the truth, I’m slightly ahead of the deadlines on both magazines: a great feeling if I do say so myself. And, if that was all I was doing I could take a deep breath and maybe even relax a little. But, and you may have already guessed this by now, it isn’t… And, I can’t.

I just finished writing ‘my’ article for our newsletter, AutoInsights… And, a response to a number of the comments on the Counterman.com website – one of the two columns I write each month. There have been forty-one comments on this one particular article – a significant number of comments for a trade magazine, especially one in our industry. And, that deserves (demands) my attention.

Before that, I felt compelled to comment on a blog post penned by the president of one of the trade associations I belong to. Most of the time I’m able to persevere and have the discipline to ignore posts like these regardless of who the author might be. But, this time the subject was one I have written about extensively myself and just couldn’t stay away. I wrote a blog post for my other blog at: CaptainCarFix.blogspot.com. And, a guest editorial. So, it isn’t as if I haven’t been writing.

Quite the opposite, really. I think I’ve been writing too much – just, nothing for here which is why I’m writing this now when I should be getting ready for bed. Guilt is perhaps the most powerful of all motivators and I’m feeling pretty guilty about focusing all my efforts elsewhere.

So, here I am, apology and explanation in hand… With a promise to be more diligent, even if it is unclear who – if anyone – is out there. Regardless, I’m here and as long as I have the keyboard I guess that’s all that matters.

When I return, I’d like to share some of the ideas that have been bouncing around in my head: ideas from the latest of Seth Godin’s two newest books, Tribes and Linchpin. There are some important ideas buried in the pages of both and I think they are worthy of sharing. Until then, it’s time for me to quite…

Know how I know? Lesley, my wife, just told me so!

I’m sick!

Not the kind of sick that sends you sprinting into the arms of a psychiatrist, although I know a number of people who would argue that’s exactly where I belong.

And, who knows: in the end they could be right! Aside from that, who am I to argue! Especially, when the numbers suggest that one out of every four people is nuts.

Think about that for a moment: one out of four! If that really is the case, you need to think about your three best friends. Do they seem normal? Are they OK? If they do, and if they are: chances are you’re “the One!”

But, even that’s OK. Because, I for one, think ‘normal’ is more than a little over rated!

I’m talking about ’sick’ as in infirmed. You know, head stuffed up, runny nose, chest congestion, head ache, and on and on and on! the kind of sick that makes you look terrible and feel worse, the kind of sick you won’t do anything about because you think it’s ‘just a cold’ and going to go away any minute. That’s the kind of sick I’m talking about…

When it became apparent the symptoms were getting worse and not better, I began to think it might not be a cold after all: I decided it had to be the flu! But, which one…

Was it the ‘normal,’ run of the mill kind of influenza that’s currently making its rounds? Or, could it be something more exotic? After all, I did fly to Philadelphia and back. I was in an airplane: an aluminum alloy germ factory, for more than ten hours! The temperature change was violent: seventy degrees here, twenty-five there. In fact, I just missed the almost three feet of snow they just experienced!

And, what about that weird guy in seat just behind me… the one hacking up a lung all the way to Los Angeles! He didn’t look like he was from either Philadelphia or L.A. In fact, he didn’t look or sound like he was from anywhere on this side of the world.

He looked like a carrier, if I ever saw one: the kind of guy who wouldn’t miss an opportunity to kiss a pig!

Or, that woman… the one just across from me, the one with the little kid who kept sneezing. Or, the flight attendant with the runny nose.

That was just a week ago, and now I’m the one sneezing: the one coughing, the one with the runny nose.

I let this run its course for last couple of days hoping against hope I would turn the corner and start to feel better. I took my vitamins, downed my supplements, drank my orange juice: all to no avail. So, this afternoon I went to the doctor only to find out that what thought was a cold in the beginning, and the flu in the end: was really bronchitis coupled with a sinus infection complicated by a very, very sore throat!

The doctor told me to go home and get into bed… I told her that she’s been reading too much fiction! I can’t. I don’t have that luxury. And, I’m not sure I would go home and get into bed even if I could. I know there are plenty of things you can do in bed when you’re feeling OK. But, what is there to do in bed besides sleep WHEN YOU ARE FEELING LOUSY!

And, that’s not the worst of it! Being sick is annoying and downright inconvenient! I want to go to the “Y” and swim. I can’t – partially, because I know I’ll sink to the bottom of the pool and drown the way I feel right now. And, partially, because I don’t want to be the guy responsible for getting half the people in the pool sick: the one responsible for the next pandemic!

I want to get back to my martial arts training. But, I can’t, pretty much for the same reasons. I have all kinds of other things to do. But, I can’t. For the most part, because I’ve got nothing left by the time I get home from the shop at night.

So, if you come to the shop tomorrow don’t shake my hand. If you do, ask for the Purell. It’s waiting for both of us just behind where I sit. I’ll understand. In the meantime, I’m going to take the bag full of medication the doc prescribed for me and get into bed because I’m sick and sick sucks, and the only thing I feel like doing is sleep…

I’ve been interested in this ‘blogging’ stuff almost since it started. But, interest isn’t always enough to motivate one to action.

I don’t watch television because it is a distraction I can ill afford. I work eleven or twelve hours a day at the shop and spend most evenings writing for both sides of the industry I am involved in. If you understand deadlines and recognize the kind of writing responsibilities I’ve accepted, it shouldn’t be hard to understand why someone like me would not allow themselves the luxury of getting involved with a series they know they’ll never be able to follow?
So, despite my interest, I never allowed myself the luxury of following a blog or a blogger until my son started writing about his Iron Man training experience (theironmadman.com).
You might be able to ignore a televisions series, but it’s unlikely you would be willing to ignore one of your kids – especially, when that kid is as articulate, thoughtful and as entertaining as mine is.
Consequently, I found myself ‘hooked’ on Ryan’s blog for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the tendency most writers have to share their innermost thoughts and feelings in print more readily than they might in conversation. The interesting thing about following his blog is that it inspired me to go back to the gym and start training again myself.
At about that same time, and through the same son: I discovered Seth Godin’s blog and became an addict almost instantly. That blog started me thinking about my own business in ways I never even thought possible before. Now, I wouldn’t think of starting the day without checking in with either.
Reading about blogging and starting to follow more and more blogs forced me to consider blogging myself – a difficult decision when you aren’t sure you have anything of value to contribute to the terabytes of material already out there. Nevertheless, I added this blog to our company website.
After I started blogging here, I discovered that there were parts of my life independent of the shop and my industry involvement that I felt compelled to write about.
Please note the use of the word ‘compelled.’ Somehow, this ‘blogging stuff’ has gone from an interest – and, a moderate one at that – to an obsession. Note to self: do not get obsessive-compulsive, anal-retentive individuals started on projects that feed their compulsive-obsessive nature! Not, if you want them to stop! Not, if you care whether or not they ever enjoy a normal life again!
So, I started a second blog… Not bad for someone who didn’t see the need to have a first one! Now, I spend more time than I would like agonizing over what to put where, and whether or not I really do need two blogs in the first place.
Barring all that, I’ve got to tell you that from a personal point of view, whatever this is: it’s weird! You start out not knowing what you’re going to say one moment, and then trying to figure out how to stop the next.
It’s kind of like going to therapy without a therapist: you’re on the couch struggling to make a breakthrough, struggling to say something substantive, when all of a sudden you’re stricken with verbal diarrhea and find that you just can’t stop! And, all the while – not a sound can be heard, because there is no one there to guide you.
It’s like talking to yourself, only you’re not. You’re talking to anyone and everyone out there who will listen.
You’ve got to wonder what it says about us: this need to connect, the need to communicate, the need to share the intimate details – the minutia, of our lives, with literally everyone in the known universe.
What does all this say about the nature of our relationships and how we choose to interact with each other? Is this some kind of a window into an ‘arm’s length’ future where relationships become more virtual than real; more distant than intimate?
I don’t know and I’m not sure, but this does seem like a good place to ask questions like these: doesn’t it?

This will be a short post followed by a “travel day” tomorrow. I’ll explain as I go along…

Normally, I would feel compelled to just “shine it,” and get back to blogging when both time and spirit allowed. But, I just finished a few chapters in Seth Godin’s newest book, Linchpin: and, it would be accurate to say that Seth ‘guilted’ me into writing now instead of later. According to one of my favorite authors, “You have to ship!”

Shipping means disciple, and discipline means attacking the things that are most important and need to be done first, now. In keeping with that sentiment, here we go.

Yesterday was our 40th Wedding Anniversary and our kids invited a very small group of our most intimate friends - our “Three O’Clock in the Morning” friends – to a luncheon they put together for us in Westlake. It was a spectacular afternoon! There isn’t much you can say about being with a group of people you have known quite literally, forever – nothing except that time spent that way is somehow all the sweeter.

There isn’t much you can say about the blessing of having your children close and not spread out across the country or the world, either.

It was a beautiful afternoon made more beautiful, if that’s possible; by the company and the conversation, the warmth and the joy.

We’re going to continue that feeling throughout the day today and, then, with diner tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll be up and on the road before anyone I know who is not working ‘graveyard’ or a split shift will be up. I’m headed to the airport for a first A.M. flight to Philadelphia and two presentations there. I will try to write from the hotel, but I never know what’s going to happen with my time when I get where I’m going. When you sign on for a speaking engagement like this the only thing you can be sure of is that your time isn’t necessarily your own.

But, tomorrow marks another special Anniversary – it’s our 30th Anniversary in business on Los Angeles Avenue (We actually opened on Tapo Street exactly one year before we opened on L.A. Ave.). That too, is an experience filled with beautiful memories, incredible relationships and a number of great stories as well. There isn’t much you can say about spending your life with a group customers and friends you have known quite literally, forever; either – nothing except that time spent that way is somehow all the sweeter.

Between the two events and the pressure of traveling and then presenting two nights in a row I am, quite frankly, overwhelmed! Consequently, I think I’ll wait until I process at least some of these emotions to share them. At least, that way they might even make some sense. But, I will share just one reflection here and now before I sign off. It’s something that happened when the business hit its 25th Anniversary here in the Valley.

On the verge of that anniversary, I called the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce and asked how many of all the businesses that opened in 1980 when we opened, were still open and operating. They called back to tell me – five years ago – that only 6% of the businesses that had opened when we did were still in existence. That was a pretty humbling experience.

I’m sure that percentage is even smaller today, especially after the past eighteen months. So, if you are reading this and you are one of our customers or clients, all I can say is: Thank You for thirty wonderful years! You enrich my life and the lives of everyone at the shop more than you can know.

To Lesley who has hung in there with me and who, I am sure, got a lot more than she bargained for when she signed on: Thanks, Kid! You are my life…

If you are the folks I’m working for Tuesday night and Wednesday – see you soon!

Until then, stay well and take care… Be back soon.

There was actually a time when I really enjoyed traveling, particularly on business. I must have enjoyed it because I did it a lot…

How much is a lot? About two-and-a-half million miles on American Airlines alone: enough to qualify for Lifetime Platinum! But, then again, that was before the long lines, lost services and lunatics with C4 stuffed into their Jockey shorts.

You’re probably wondering how in the world a shop owner managed to collect that many miles and for doing what? It’s a valid question that I asked myself a lot. It’s certainly a long way from fixing cars or running the shop. It isn’t, however, a long way from the training I’ve done for the past twenty-five years, the seminars I’ve facilitated or the columns I’ve written. And, the traveling was a direct result of all of the above.

If the truth were to be told, I never enjoyed the traveling. At the very least, it was brutal… Up at four-thirty or five o’clock in the morning to make a six o’clock flight on Friday to work on Saturday and then fly home on Sunday. Or, leaving Simi before six o’clock regardless of the estimated time of departure just to beat the traffic on the 405! Winter trips through Chicago and O’Hare were always an adventure, never knowing if you were going to make it either to your destination or home again without an unscheduled, two-day layover. It got to the point it really was beginning to both look and feel like self-abuse!

Nevertheless, I did it because as much as I hated getting to wherever the seminars were being held; I loved sharing what I had learned and helping other shop owners or distribution professionals understand the service industry better. In the end, I really enjoyed helping other people avoid the mistakes I’ve made. I really enjoyed helping others succeed.

Now, I find myself getting ready for a trip next week and I’m already looking in the medicine cabinet for the antacids! You see, the big difference in my life right now is the shop and the fact that after forty-four years of doing all the different things I’m doing and have done; I like being at the shop and running the business the most. I guess that passion may be why people keep asking me to share what I’ve learned… That, and the fact that what I’ve learned seems to be working.

It’s still a ‘Good News/Bad News’ thing, though. Only it’s both good and bad in both directions. It’s good because I love the training I’ll do and the keynotes I’ll deliver, but it’s bad I have to leave here to do it. It’s bad that I have to deal with airports security, checked bags, and snow; but, it’s good I get to come back home to the shop again when I’m done.

I’ll just have to remember to finish my work early, head to the lavatory an hour and fifteen minutes before we land and then sit quietly doing nothing for the balance of the time we’re in the air before touch-down. That ought to be easy for someone like me: someone who is always doing something, someone who never slows down or stops… Someone who doesn’t necessarily want to be sitting there in the first place!

I like being challenged… Really, I do. And, there appears to be an infinite number of challenges to confront and overcome just about every day when you own and operate your own automotive service business.

I like multi-tasking – Yes, I’m a man who is not only capable of doing more than one thing at a time successfully; I’m someone capable of doing whatever it is I’m doing well as well, no matter how many whatevers it turns out to be!

I like hard work. I even like working hard. As a matter of fact, I prefer it. The day goes by much more quickly when you are passionately involved and deeply committed.

I really like the people I work with and the customers and clients who come to the shop and make my professional life possible as well.

I enjoy the relationships I have with our suppliers… even when I don’t enjoy them. And, I love the industry I am a part of even when I hate it: and, there are times when it feels as if I’m hating it more…  and, more often, than ever before!

In other words, I like just about everything there is to like about what I do; where I do it; who I do it with and who I do it for. That should make me a pretty happy guy! Certainly, a guy who is happy more often than not… And, I am.

Unfortunately, however, I’m willing to bet it doesn’t always seem that way… At least, not to someone looking in from the outside. Why? Because doing everything I’ve mentioned above simultaneously can be stressful!

Wait a minute! Scratch the “can” in that last sentence! Using “can” instead of “is,” can be misleading because it “IS” stressful. “Can” almost makes it seem optional and it isn’t. Consequently, there can be no “can” about it!

If I seem a little stressed at the moment it’s only because I am. I got home late after a long afternoon where even I’m not sure what I was doing beyond whatever it was I had to. And, while I think I may have gotten it all done: getting it all done within the time frame in which it had to be done did not come without a price and that price is the way I feel right now!

I’m not whining about it… It’s the path I’ve chosen. I just wish the walk wasn’t as brisk at times. That way I might be able to get a handle on where I am and where I’m headed. OK, that’s a bit of an exagerration.  I do know where I’m headed: it’s the distractions along the way – the detours, potholes and roadblocks that make me nuts! That, and the fact that you can’t see very much when you’re working that hard and moving that fast. And, that’s where loving what you’re doing and who you are doing it for becomes critical, because you couldn’t survive on a constant diet of stress; at least, not for very long. There have to be moments of quiet coupled with moments of clarity. There has to be an abundance of satisfaction. Otherwise, all the “other stuff” would eat you alive.

So, if I seem distracted at times or I begin to act erratically; if I appear tense or driven, or it seems I’m moving in too many different directions at the same time, or it looks like I’m doing too much, it’s only because I am or I have. If it looks as if I don’t know where I’m going, if only for a moment: it’s probably because I don’t… for that particular moment. But, that’s OK… if only for the moment.

I know where I’m going. I’m moving out. I’m moving forward. I’m moving up. How do I know? Because up is the only direction you can go when you like what you do, who you do it with, where you do it and who you do it for… And, I do!

Ask anyone and they’ll probably tell you the very same thing.

There are few things in the world that get me crazier than average. Average drives me nuts!

No one I know strives to be average, at least no one I actually want to know or continue to have a relationship with.

Striving to be average is all about giving up, coasting, taking the easy way out, accepting ‘good enough’ as good enough. It’s about complacency… accepting things as they are because doing nothing is less complicated and takes far less energy than doing anything.

I’m not talking about someone who is trying the best they can but can’t prevail because of circumstance, limited opportunity or limited ability. I’m not talking about the people who can’t do any better or try any harder… By definition, they are trying as hard as they can to be the best they can be; to do the best they are capable of doing.

I’m talking about the people who could make a difference, who could do better: but, after careful consideration, choose not to. Generally, at the risk of putting themselves or someone close to them in danger of some sort. They would rather work at ‘getting by,’ than work at getting better. And, I think what bothers me most of all about this social or cultural phenomenon is that it seems to be growing.

People come by the shop to take an order or solicit our business, either representing themselves or other companies, and they just barely manage to follow the script, as if showing up was enough. They don’t bring anything of value to the relationship, they don’t create anything of consequence, they don’t move information up or down the pipeline. Hell, half the time they don’t even say Hello!

I can’t live like that. I don’t think I would even if I could: could, as in allowed. I’m not wired that way and neither are any of the people I work with. They are constantly trying to learn more, get better, accomplish something significant, overcome obstacles, attain success. Now, they may choose to define success a little differently than the majority might define it. Their success isn’t always about ’stuff’ or money. More often than not, it’s about that feeling of satisfaction that can only come from doing something extraordinary. And, extraordinary rarely occurs without a serious compliment of exertion.

I think the answer is not only simple, it’s obvious. This level of performance – Or, perhaps, more appropriately – this level of non-performance, should no longer be accepted as adequate by anyone anywhere at any time anymore.

Complacency should be banished, and its practicioners and advocates no longer tolerated or accepted.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’m going to give it a try… And, the sign I place at the edge of the  driveway will read: Average No Longer Tolerated Here

I should have been at the gym this morning, but instead I spent that time at breakfast with a ‘friend.’

I placed ‘friend’ in quotation marks because I wasn’t quite sure how else I could let you know that I didn’t know what else to do with it. Friend is one of those words we have cheapened to the point it no longer means what it once did. I know how that must sound and ‘cheapen’ may not be the best word to describe what I’m trying to say, but these days we tend to refer to anyone and everyone as a ‘friend,’ a  ’good friend,’ or a ‘best friend, or a ‘dear friend,’ and I have to wonder: Are they, really?

I find this particularly uncomfortable because I was raised by someone who insisted that if you were fortunate to have one or two people you could call friend during the course of your life you were a very lucky guy. But, of course, my father was someone you could call at three o’clock in the morning and all he would want to know was where you were and whether or not you needed him to bring anything with him. Past that, he was on his way…

“Why” you needed him was never a question. Nor, was “What” you did or “How” you came to need his help in the first place.

Breakfast was with a professional ‘friend’ of more than twenty-five years: someone I’ve seen just about every week for somewhere around 1,250 weeks, give or take a few (I know, but who’s counting.). What made the morning so interesting was the quality of the conversation. It’s amazing how much more effective communication can be when it is uninterrupted: how much more you can accomplish.

I say that as if there was an agenda. But, there wasn’t. At least, none more pressing than repairing a crack in our relationship: both personal and professional, that was beginning to ‘run’ as welders are won’t to say.

I think we accomplished a lot. If nothing else, we managed to “button-hole” the crack to stop it from running any farther: from getting any worse.

I’m not sure where this morning’s breakfast will fit within the context of the “Great Scheme of Things” either. After all, neither of us would qualify as a ‘3:00 A.M. Friend’ for the other. At least, not the way my father defined friend. But, we managed to stop the bleeding, more or less.

We achieved a new level of understanding. We learned to listen more carefully. We deepened our relationship as acquaintances, which is great! Did we exchange phone numbers so we could call at three in the morning… Well, not yet. But, who knows. This could have been a start…