So, what are you planning for your personal (that’s right, just you) summer vacation?

In these months when spring and summer mingle and mix their warm elixir of iced tea, spandex sunshine and shoeless shuffling through freshly mowed grass, the tease of languid staring is rampant.  So, why not just “kick back”?

Your response:  there is no “vacation” for overachievers!  

Those of us card-carrying workaholics find it impossible to turn off the siren call to be on time, in control, efficient and always productive.  So, this summer why not bathe your mind in nothingness and anoint your body with wholeness.

Here is a practical paradigm to plan and then execute your own personal vacation in the next few weeks.

First, you must remind yourself this plan is not about the “vacation” identified with big Xs on your refrigerator door calendar. I am talking about scratching out hours this summer when you are unavailable to anyone or anything.

You are immediately saying, “In your dreams.”  Well, think this through.  How effective will you be to coworkers and/or family if you are the victim a summer spent “taking care” of everyone in a Clark Griswold pilgrimage to Wally World (which will be closed!)? If that is the extent of your rest and renewal, you will be left with a resentment hangover on Labor Day.

I am talking about an hour here and an hour there when you let everyone know you will be walking alone, staring alone, napping in the backyard alone or fishing alone.

Second, when you “drop out” you also have to “turn off” the gadgets that jerk you around the rest of the year.

How can you find peace if your Treo, Blackberry or iPhone are buzzing, bleating and beckoning with enticements of self-importance?  Do you know these devices have an on-off switch!  Are we all so totally intoxicated with our own worth that the world cannot continue to spin through space without our counsel and approval?

Third, keep a small notebook nearby.  No, I am not talking about working; I am talking about capturing your creativity.

If there is genuine relaxation taking place, you will grease the skids for innovative ideas to slide from your overworked neocortex into your world. Some of the insights you will receive will be about your career, how to effectively store the eternal junk in the garage, how to talk to your teenager or how you will celebrate a love that has been languishing in the maelstrom of malevolent preschoolers.

When our minds find relief, they will churn out amazing ideas and thoughts.  Pen and paper are the brushes of an active, renewed mind.

Forget the suitcases, airline tickets and plastic toothbrush tubes.  What will be the dates and times in the next few months when you will go on vacation…just your vacation?

Renewal has taken place when the same world looks new.

You know you have had a “great” vacation when you arrive home and look forward to going back to work.

Vacations are more trouble than they are worth if there was no “worth” to the vacation.

I have a priority of constantly learning new skills to manage my time.  I know I am not alone; therefore, I have a recommendation of an historic book that I still consult.

This book has the longest title and the longest impact, If You Haven’t Got the Time to Do it Right, When Will You Find the Time to Do it Over? by Jeffrey J. Mayer (ISBN: 0-671-69490-1)

Mayer will teach you how to “make an appointment with yourself,” how to quickly dispatch “administrivia,” how to overcome the “sidetrack syndrome” and how to end telephone tag.  If you just pick up one new idea that makes your work day more productive, this book would be more than worth its purchase price.

New Free Article

I have written a new article about the potent messages of silence in your workplace.

“The Screams of Silence” is about the honor we give to silence, the ultimate expression of passive-aggressive behavior in the workplace.  When we refuse to represent what we are thinking and feeling, we retreat by hunkering down into hovels of silence for safety.  Unfortunately, this learned behavior creates workplaces where coworkers send confusing and dehumanizing smoke signals to each other…which are often misunderstood.

If your employees are mute in your workplace, you may have a very active underground sound system that is screaming messages you need to hear.

You can download this article by going to www.execenrichment.com and choosing the DOWNLOADABLE RESOUCES option.  After filling out a brief form, you’ll be led to a list of current articles.  

DVD “Dancing with Difficult People”

If you would like to bring into your organization a one hour presentation I made on non-confrontational strategies for dealing with people who are difficult, go to my website at www.execenrichment.com and choose the OUR PRODUCTS option.  You’ll see a list of items I currently offer.

This is a great methodology to train people in your workplace how to verbally and emotionally respond to people who create nausea when they enter a room.  The video was made in front of a live studio audience in Dallas, Texas.

It is obvious not all our problems can be solved with money.

When the cyclone plowed up the delta region in Myanmar (formerly Burma) the world stood on its tiptoes and screamed to the survivors, “Help is on the way.”

For many the help has never arrived.  The piles of food, medicine and legions of health care workers continue to wait on wharfs around the world because flesh and blood politics got in the way.

The military junta of Myanmar has stalled, stonewalled and slackened for fear of “infiltration” by the outside world.  Their worst fear is their citizens may realize their country is being ruled by people with a Byzantine worldview.

While children and adults die in this Asian hellhole for lack of clean water, food and medical care, we are reminded again that all the fortune and superior intellect on our globe is impotent when facing well-fed, military egomaniacs content to sacrifice living, breathing human beings to maintain power.  

We just keep repeating bad history.

Let’s talk luggage.

This piece of equipment can be your best or worst friend when you venture out your front door.  After all, your world now resides in that box with wheels and a handle.

In the 20 years that I have been a “road warrior,” I have had two pieces of luggage.  That’s right, two pieces.  The best investment I have ever made.

For those of you who know me, I never check luggage.  That means I will throw my roller-board in the compartment over my head or hand it to someone I will never meet again to put in the back of a regional jet.  I have literally rolled the wheels right off both suitcases.

Therefore, I have a strong recommendation.

If you want a bag-for-life, I suggest buying a Tumi.  Both of my Tumi bags have been soft-sided roller-boards made of ballistic fabric.  

Tumi gives you a guarantee that if something structurally is damaged (handles, tear in the materials, wheels, zipper) they will either fix your bag or give you a generous credit toward a new one.  

On my first roller-board I had the wheels replaced twice and a new zipper installed.  On my second and present bag I have had the wheels and handle replaced.

Cost?  Plan on spending around $600.00 for a 22 inch roller-board bag.  Add it up.  In 20 years of difficult, demanding world-wide travel I have spent $1,200.00 for a piece of equipment that carries my home in it.  Quite a deal.

Here is my schedule for the remainder of May and the first portion of June.

This month I will provide information about words often used incorrectly.  You may want to keep this material handy.  I guarantee as your fingers fly across some keyboard you will ask, “Where did I just see the correct usage of this word?”

“As to whether”—the word “whether” is correct without “as to.”

“Being”—do not use with “regard…as.”  Instead of, “He is regarded as being the best presenter in the company,” it should be, “He is regarded as the best presenter in the company.”

“Care less”—the statement, “I couldn’t care less” is wrong.  When the “not” is omitted it is correct, “I could care less.”  Notice that “careless” communicates a lack of care.  

“Comprise”—this word literally means, “embrace.”  A correct use of the word would be, “This report will comprise all the facets of the project.”

“Contact”—this is a transitive verb meaning you should not use it with the word “people.”  We do not “contact” people: we look them up, we phone them, we find them or we meet them.

“Cope”—This is an intransitive verb that must be used with the preposition “with.”  Instead of saying, “I knew he would cope,” you should say, “I knew he would cope with the diagnosis he received at the hospital.”

I would give you more of these words that are often used incorrectly, but I thought you could not cope…with more right now.  

This has only happened once in 20 years, and it happened last week.

I double-booked two events on the same date.  One was a one hour teleseminar and, at the same time, I was obligated to make a three hour presentation with another client.

My staff and I could not believe this had happened.  My solution was to move the teleseminar back three hours.  It was not pleasant but my long-suffering, forgiving client made the accommodation on the teleseminar.

So, how did this happen?  We constantly review the schedule to avoid something like this ever happening.  In spite of our best efforts (a once a month review of the calendar for the year) we failed.

The best you can do is openly admit your failure and become creative with an alternative.  If you try to play CYA, you will lose.  

The written prayers in this section are Cal’s divine conversations reflecting the needs others have shared with him.

Everyone wants to know where You have been.  

They want to know where You were when the cyclone raked the Myanmar delta.  They want to know where You were when the earthquake snuffed out thousands of lives in China.  I want to know where You were a few nights ago when tornadoes danced across my neighborhood and took 10 lives in the dark.

You know, I am not supposed to be saying things like this, but You seem to be asleep at the wheel.

After all, You are the top honcho, big cheese, Creator of the Universe.  You tossed the stars and planets into orbit and gave us about 80 good years to savor the wonder of it all.

So, where are You?  You seem to be a no-show in this game.

“This isn’t a game.”

Pardon me, but look around.  There is a lot of bad stuff happening to good people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  It seems like a celestial dart board and I’m not sure when I will be impaled by Your lack of concern.  

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God….”

Obviously, You know something I don’t.