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.

There’s only one thing I can think of that’s worse than being in your car and on your way to the airport at three-thirty in the morning for a six a.m. flight and that is finding yourself in a hotel shuttle van on your way back to the airport at four o’clock in the morning for a six o’clock flight home  some forty-nine hours later.

The six o’clock flight home isn’t the bad part… It’s the traveling in general, the airports and the traffic (Yes! There IS traffic on the 405… even at three-thirty in the morning!). It’s the rush hour traffic you fly into regardless of where you go, especially if where you go is due East and the two or three hours you add to your trip almost certainly ensures you’ll be stopping more than going in the stop-and-go traffic you are certain to encounter. It’s eating alone and being ‘up’ and ready for an eight-thirty keynote followed by a three-hour seminar four hours later. Did I mention the eating alone? And, it’s changing planes or worse yet terminals in Chicago or Dallas.

And… and… and…

The only thing that can make any of it worthwhile: the leaving your home and your life and your business, are the people you meet and the natural beauty that you find yourself immersed in regardless of where you go so long as you allow that beauty to wash over you. That, and the intrinsic beauty of the people you meet every time you venture out into the world and the impact each of them can have on you… if you let them touch your life… And, especially if they allow you to touch theirs.

I left the shop for an association meeting and trade show in Pittsburgh this past Friday. Truth be told, I didn’t want to.

I know… I know… Then, why did you go?

Well, it wasn’t the meeting or the city or even the fact that it’s still winter there. Or, the fact they’ve had more snow than anyone should ever have to deal with. There was just too much going on here: too much going on at the shop, and I was having too much fun doing it to want to go anywhere. But, they asked and I accepted.

So, I got up at three o’clock Friday morning and was on the road by three-thirty.

I went over my notes for Saturday’s keynote in the air. I went over the slides for the seminar I was presenting later on that afternoon. I thought about the internal struggle I am currently confronting as I try to figure out how to break up my marketing budget: how much for acquisition, how much for retention and how much for loyalty and reward. And, then I started to think about how fortunate I am: how privileged.

I was asked… I was asked to share my experience, my knowledge, my life, with some of the most incredible people in the world: the folks who do what I do… automotive service professionals, like me.

They wanted to hear what I had to say. They were gracious and generous and attentive: grateful that I’d come so far to be with them. But, the real truth  is I’m the one who was really grateful. You see, I’ve yet to go anywhere and speak to any group where I didn’t come home enriched by the experience. So, if it sounds like I was whining about the opportunity to get up that early, I’m not. Not, really… I love what I do and I love the people I do it for. In fact, it’s pretty much what I’ve got written down on the little piece of paper I keep in my wallet:

To enrich the lives of those I serve, moving them toward the success that is so elusive in our industry, by sharing my personal knowledge and experience.

In the end, Pittsburgh was wonderful because the people were wonderful (The food wasn’t half-bad either! Especially, that Iron City cheese steak with the coleslaw and French fries built in washed down with some Iron City beer!). So, it’s a pretty good bet you’ll be reading about my getting up long before dawn to share what I’ve learned and where I’ve been with another group of shop owners long before I’ve had the chance to process how much I’ve learned and how much my life has been enriched by the last group of shop owners I just left.

I went to an association meeting in Santa Barbara last… Well, that’s not exactly true. Actually, I didn’t just go to an association meeting in Santa Barbara last night… I was the guest speaker.

Someone is probably thinking, “Santa Barbara? That’s more than seventy miles away! Why would you leave work early on a week night and fight the traffic up the Coast just to go to a meeting… even if you were on the agenda?” And, realistically, that’s a fair question. It is far, and it is a long drive: especially, after working all day.

The answer is elegantly simple. I did it because I was asked. That may sound like an over-simplification of sorts, but it isn’t really. I write for an industry trade publication and that means putting yourself ‘out there’ and one of the ways you do this is by making yourself available if and when you can.

There is another reason you do it and that reason is just as elegant, if not quite so simple. In fact, it’s a bit complicated. You do it because you have something to say… Or, at least, you believe you do. And, say it you must.

It’s an integral part of who you are, the most basic element of your being here: a big part of your purpose.

I guess, there is a third, less compelling reason as well; and, that is the ride up. If there isn’t any traffic – and, last night there wasn’t any to speak of  - I don’t think there is more beautiful stretch of “windshield time” scenery than the Coast Highway or the 101 Freeway between Ventura and the Northern tip of Santa Barbara.

If you aren’t familiar with the term “windshield time,” I’ll explain. It’s those long, sometimes isolated, sometimes difficult, miles between stops when you find yourself on the road. It is the countless miles with nothing to do but think about ’stuff.’

Last night’s ride to Santa Barbara was one of the best opportunities for “windshield time” I’ve ever experienced in a while: a beautiful sunset after a perfect day accompanied by good company and great – albeit, sometimes esoteric – conversation.

As good as the ride there may have been, the ride home was better… Why? Because, there was more to talk about and one of those many things was this idea of purpose.

I’ve thought about his a lot. And, in the end, I’ve come to believe that purpose is the single most critical element driving any kind of substantive change even if we don’t recognize its presence or understand its role entirely.

It is a sense of purpose that allows us to move out of our respective comfort zones and drives us into uncharted territories and great accomplishment… If we let it.

It is a sense of purpose that motivates us and allows us to stand alone against overwhelming resistance or great adversity: even danger… If we let it.

And, it is almost certainly an absence of purpose that dooms most organizations, projects and initiatives to fail.

Purpose is contagious…  Or, at least, it should be. When it is, it manifests itself as the passion of a movement. When it isn’t, it is almost instantly suspect and you’ve got to wonder about its imperative. A sense of purpose is the gift leaders offer those who follow: and, the purpose of purpose is to guide us and keep us moving forward, ignoring the displacement, frustration and exhaustion that can accompany great effort and/or great change.

On the ride home, it occurred to me that to a large degree this sense of purpose is the great divider separating success from failure; achievement and accomplishment from disappointment and despair. This is important because it forces us to confront our purpose: the what and why of who we are and what we’re doing, and whether or not that is enough to sustain us.

That was a lot to think about on the seventy-three mile ride home; more than enough to keep my mind occupied. For my next trip, I think I’ll consider this concept of purpose and how it relates to Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives.

Would you like to join me?