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.

The last few weeks have been tough…

The shop has been busy. We had my wife’s aunt staying with us. I finally managed to overcome my own personal nemesis and Achilles Tendon since childhood, Bronchitis – again. And, I haven’t been able to work out – in the pool or otherwise, since the last time I wrote about it here.

All in all, this is not the optimum scenario for me or anyone else, for that matter.

I think that’s why no one seemed to understand why I would wake up early… really, early… this past Sunday morning to drive the seventy-plus miles to Santa Barbara for a shop management seminar when that’s the same kind of thing I’ve been presenting for more than twenty-five years.

I don’t blame them! At first, I couldn’t understand it myself. Nevertheless, I was driven – figuratively speaking, of course – to do exactly that!

So, after a quick stop at Java Johnny’s – purveyor of the world’s most exquisite (and, powerful) coffee –  for a “special” and a large coffee with a double-shot… Hey! It’s a long drive and the Corvette isn’t the only thing that requires “High Octane” fuel! – Bob Seger, Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews and John Mayer found ourselves on the “Old Road” to Highway 126, and then the 101 Freeway to the Fess Parker Inn to listen to my friend, Ken Brookings, hold forth.

It would be hard to describe just how beautiful it was taking the “Old Road” to Ventura and then heading North on the 101. So, I’m not going to try…

I’ll show you instead. The picture quality isn’t what I’d hoped it might be. But, then again, trying to achieve great picture quality while rocketing along at seventy-four or seventy-six mile per hour may not be a realistic goal. Especially, when you’re the only one in the vehicle! And, I wasn’t able to catch the waves crashing over the rocks on to the southbound lanes like I wanted to… So, you’ll just have to take my word for it. But, it was magnificent, nevertheless!

Regardless, I made it to the seminar venue with just enough time to watch the para-gliders do their thing (Sorry, too busy watching and enjoying to think about more pictures…) and park myself for more than four hours of great information, stimulating conversation and a spectacular lunch.

It’s interesting to see how others react to a morning spent like this: Why did you go? Didn’t you have anything else to do? What in the world could possibly be worth that kind of a drive? Or, my personal favorite: I thought you already knew all that stuff!

The fact of the matter is: Information is power! There isn’t anything I wanted to do more than I wanted to go and sit and learn that morning! Hanging out with smart people and listening to what they have to say was well worth the drive! And, yes: I do know all that stuff already! But, as you learn and grow, everything you read or hear or experience impacts you in new and different ways and on formerly unexplored levels based on all the new information you processed. Consequently, the morning was glorious!

Almost as glorious as the ride home listening to the car’s tunes and thinking about all the great stuff I just learned for the first time all over again!

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?