Happiness is BALANCE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_2Pf_2qDk4&feature=PlayList&p=BCF58D137C5E6215&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=21

AND YOU? (a poem)

I will if you won’t.
I do if you don’t.
I can because you can’t.
I harvest because I plant.
I confirm & you might.
I see all in black & white.
I believe and you doubt.
I succeed and you pout.
I grant and you deny.
I promise and you lie.
I conquer and you fail.
I am free and you are jailed.
I am content & you are angst.
I’m the advocate you’re against.
I am calm while you’re livid.
I’m the giant you’re the midget.
I see opportunity & open doors.
You’re insatiable wanting more.
I celebrate and you begrudge.
I speak truth and you fudge.
I will if you won’t.
I do if you don’t.
I can because you can’t.
I harvest because I plant.

--Written by Lorrinda S.M.
“This is how I feel today after being stood up.”
Email lsm at lorrinda dot com © 2009

Family Coupon Festival

My family is one of the best there is at coming together to accomplish something. Today, our goal was to organize the 1,500+ coupons that my sister had into a system that could be used by everyone. Jamie and her twin sister are bargain/coupon queens of the family. Mommy and I are the organizers. My nephews, ages 15 & 12 were willing helpers only because Grandma said they couldn’t play video games or eat ice cream until we were done.

Mom started the clip-fest by grabbing the scissors and diving in. When things were full swing the 15 year old grabbed a pair of scissors and the 12 year old and I were sorting the coupons into these 10 major categories:

1. DRINK 2. REFRIG 3. MEAT 4. FROZEN 5. PANTRY 6. STATIONARY 7. UTILITY 8. PAPER 9. HBA 10. CLEANING

When the piles were getting high, I started creating sub-categories and labeling the clear photo pages and organizing a notebook. It took 4 people 5 hours to accomplish something that the twins could easily use to do their shopping with and I am proud to share our family teamwork story and our organizational system!

My sister, the coupon queen, regularly gets lots of free items when things we have coupons for go on sale and the grocery store doubles and sometimes triples the face-value of the coupon. Everybody does their part. Everybody benefits. The last time I shopped with the coupons I spent $24 for $80 worth of items! How cool is that?

This system is very user friendly for all ages. Our ages are: 58, 40, 12 & 15. Clearly, what a team can accomplish together can be far more than the sum of their parts.

My Lazy Jaguar Day

Today is one of those days that I don’t feel like working ‘til midnight and I just really want as little drama as possible since I am feeling lazy’ish. I do not feel up to visiting anyone and there are probably only three or four people on earth that I want to talk to right now. Something good to eat would be a treat if I could find the inspiration to go to the grocery store. I’ll have fish and chili beans; two of my favorites.

Even though I thoroughly enjoy my work, sometimes it’s it’s ‘just like that.’ Here’s the plan: (as a project manager, you know I ALWAYS have a plan! J) I will give in to the awesome desire that I have right now to take a nap. In the middle of the afternoon, when all I hear is the hum of the desk fan that works 24/7. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and things will be a good kind of C-R-Azy. This time is needed to juice my batteries and be ready for whatever.

Myself said that I should pluck my brows, do my nails or listen to music and perfect my ipod playlist(s), but none of that sparks a great interest. Oh, maybe I’ll go to the mailbox. It is only 40 feet from the front door and I haven’t done that in a few days; maybe there is some unexpected money in there or more likely unexpected requests to send money to some vendor or utility.

I am fighting sleep, so I am doing things (like writing you here) that do not require a lot of brain power and I can just muddle through. I've had vitamins, coffee and acai today so what't the problem? When I had days like these in corporate America, I would find myself cleaning my desk drawer or organizing files. There is something about putting things in order that is soothing, welcoming and friendly.

There are no five-alarm deliverables [until Monday J] – so now what? This is what I’m going to do. Turn on some music (because usually it is dead silent in here), mop the kitchen floor (because little energy and no brain cells are needed to accomplish this task), shut down my trusted computer by 7:00 PM and read in bed until I fall asleep.

Time management is essential to having a successful career and life. Prioritizing tasks is one of the essential ingredients to good time management. Yesterday at 3:45 PM when I got an incredible urge to mop the floor was not a good time to do it; especially since I had a 5:00 PM deadline. Now, however is a perfect time. I used a concept called Backward Goal Setting. My goal was to have my weekly deliverables and the kitchen floor cleaned by Saturday when the “Happy Birthday America” July 4th celebrations began. However, the order that things happened was important. Therefore, take the time to ask yourself if whatever you are spending your time on is the best time to be spending your time on that thing. Read more about backward goal setting: http://tr.im/qOsa

I am reminded of a story about life choices and how we choose to fill our days. Remembering this helps me do things in the proper order and as a result maintain my efficient, happy self!

On the first day of class, a university professor stood in front of his philosophy class with an empty jar.

Without saying a word to his students, he removed the lid of the jar and filled it with golf balls. When no more golf bars fit he closed the jar with its lid. He then asked his class, “Would you say that the jar is now full?” His students observed the jar and concluded that the jar was indeed full.

The professor then proceeded to open the jar up and started inserting marbles into the jar. The marbles started to fill the gaps between the golf balls. After sealing the jar, he asked his class once again if they thought the jar was now full. The class concluded that the jar was indeed now full.

The professor opened the jar a third time and started pouring in sand. Obviously, the sand started filling the gaps between the golf balls and the marbles. He then sealed the jar and asked his class a third time if the jar was full. His class chuckled and replied in unison, “Yes, it is now full!”

The professor opened the jar and emptied two small cups of coffee in the jar. The liquid had completely filled the gap between the golf balls, the marbles, and the grains of sand. He then began his lecture.

“I hope you realize that life is very much like this jar. The golf balls represent the important things in life, like God, family, loved ones, health, things that you care intimately about. If we lost everything else in life, our lives would still be ‘full’. The marbles are the other things in our lives that are important, but our happiness shouldn’t depend on them. Things like our work, our house, our car, etc. Finally, the sand represents everything else; the small stuff.

“If we were to have filled our jar up with sand first, there we wouldn’t have had enough room for the marbles or the golf balls. If we use all our life and energy on the small stuff, we won’t have any room for the important things.”

After a brief moment of silence one of the students asked, “Professor, what does the coffee represent?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” replied the professor. “It means that no matter how full your life is, there is always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.” (Author unknown by me)

There you have it… even time for relaxation should be an essential part of your planning and goal setting. Since I have herein given myself permission to relax this evening, I will sign off and wish you well.

Here’s to balance, simple genius and getting it all DONE. Lorrinda

Purge Marketing Database: Pointy-Haired Boss Made Me Do It

Instructions for reading this blog:

1. Put your index finger on the lower left portion of jaw and rest your head
2. look towards the ceiling after you're done reading
3. think

My Reply to VMware

From: lorrinda [mailto:lsm@lorrinda.com] Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 1:45 PM To: 'The VMware Team' - vmwareteam@connect.vmware.com Cc: 'mmarks@vmware.com'; 'rjackson@vmware.com'; 'pmaritz@vmware.com' Subject: RE: Last Chance – Removal from VMware Marketing Database Dear VMware:

---

This is silly. Why would you purge an opted-in potential customer from your marketing database. What was the cost to get me as a subscriber? That money wasn’t well spent? Clearly you know I have not updated my profile and/or subscription preferences in the past 6 months. Why not continue to market to me with ‘baby-come-back’ campaigns or something. Maybe you just want me to think you will purge my name, but you really are not planning to do it… thereby creating a [false] sense of urgency so I will go ahead and do the update.

What would of worked for me here is something like this… We miss you… please visit _______ and update your profile so we can keep in touch. The presentation (colors, design, etc) of this message was excellent. The message was foo foo.Glad your first quarter profits are up! Sincerely, Lorrinda S. Michieka, MBA Move My Mountain, LLC http://www.movemymountain.com lsm@lorrinda.com

Original Message

<------- original message ---------> From: The VMware Team [mailto:vmwareteam@connect.vmware.com]

Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 10:03 AM To: lsm@lorrinda.com Subject: Last Chance – Removal from VMware Marketing Database General Service Announcement:

Thank you for your past interest in VMware. As part of our routine scheduled maintenance, we will be removing email addresses and associated subscription information from our marketing database for contacts who have not updated their profile and/or subscription preferences within the last 6 months. If you would like to remain on our mailing list and wish to receive updates on news, specific solutions, offers and much more, then please update your current profile. If you do not take any action by June 30th, we will permanently archive your record. We encourage you to visit the profile center and update your profile today. Best regards, The VMware Team PS – Visit the "Profile Center" today to avoid being removed from the VMware database!

Secrets to Getting Your E-commerce Customers to Come Back

My mom was helping me file stuff found in a stack of stuff at my home office. I ran across a coupon from Springfield Wire that came in my box of Danny DuzIt stainless steel sponges. This coupon continually made the cut when I was 'cleaning' my desk on previous occasions because I knew that Danny was the only pot scrubber that I ever wanted to use and I regularly give them as gifts. These things are amazing. I was first introduced to them in 1996 when somebody was selling them as a fundraiser. I've been hooked every since. They do not rust or tear like the store brands and can last up to a year it seems. No, I don't cook a lot, but when I do, there is sure to be a mess that Danny can fix. I have learned not to leave the kitchen the entire time something (anything) is cooking so I could stop burning stuff to the point that I could not eat it. That little coupon (and re-order slip) inside the box told me that Springfield valued me as a customer and my repeat business would be appreciated. There was a handy re-order form included too. Therefore, I am still giving 'their' product as gifts and blogging about it! Be sure to include a little something extra when you ship to your customers. When you ship an order to a customer, what do you include in the box? If your answer is: “The product and a packing slip,” you’re missing out on a big opportunity to keep customers coming back, says consultant John Park on … Secrets to Getting Your E-commerce Customers to Come Back

HBCUs should PLAN --> DO --> CHECK --> ACT

When it suits me, I consider myself a HBCU insider since I worked at one for several years and I took some classes while there. Shaw University in Raleigh, NC is in financial trouble. Many other schools are in trouble too, not just HBCUs, but this hits close to home for me.

From where I sat the amount of planning that was allowed to happen could have increased dramatically. I worked in the Business and Finance office for a while before ultimately becoming the Director of Administrative Computing and it seemed we stayed in emergency mode more than anything else. Stephen Covey’s “First Things First” analogy with the jar, the marbles and the golf balls was hauntingly true for us it seemed. Since administering a college is as cyclical as the college academic year itself, when things did show down we ‘shut down’ from sheer exhaustion. It is humanly impossible to be effective AND work at that pace long-term.

We are all familiar with the Academic Calendar. My unique contribution was the Administrative Calendar. I knew (and published) what had to be done in January to have the student information & financials system (Datatel) ready for incoming freshman. My sole daily work was that preparation. If I hit a showstopper in that prep, it was easy to shift gears and help others with their goals since I knew that system inside out and by default was cross-trained on every position in order to successfully migrate the system to a new major release. Cross-training employees is critical.

This morning, the Interim President of Shaw University, Dr. Dorothy Cowser Yancy said that she has an Abraham Lincoln-like management style; managing by moving about (MBMA). I really hope her enthusiasm is contagious, but more than that, I hope that her MBMA turns up documented cases and scenarios that bring about real change instead of an elaborate silent alarm system when she’s on the prowl. Dr. Yancy is making a great personal sacrifice to delay her retirement to fill this role for Shaw U so I believe her when she says, “Shaw has been around too long to fail. I believe in higher education, but I am totally committed to black higher education. I believe in HBCUs. I believe they should exist. And I believe that if they were not here, they would have to create us this morning.”

Raising $145 million during two capital campaigns while president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC is truly admirable, but did she teach them to fish? I hope so. Is the $39 million increase in their endowment still growing?... or have they ‘shut down’ from sheer exhaustion ? How did she do it? I, like a lot of other people, am hoping she does it again at Shaw. This is what I recommend happens at Shaw:

1. Take a hard look at every department, process and practice and decide how it feeds into the bottom line.
1. The ‘look’ should be extremely detailed and written.
2. Decide ‘What we do and why.’
3. Put everything in one of two buckets; (1) must-have and, (2) Nice-to-have.
4. Immediately halt spending for each “nice-to-have”
5. Analyze each must have and document processes and prioritize them.
1. Re-write and/or create job descriptions based on must haves.
2. Match employee skills to must-have positions.
3. Empower employees to own and do their jobs with built-in accountability.
2. Create measurable, repeatable processes and workflows that directly relate to university goals.
1. Each department/office should have weekly, monthly and annual goals that are transparent, monitored and measured.
3. Improve internal communications and reporting using technology & standards.
1. Leaders should be able to monitor, communicate and tweak departmental goals and progress.
2. Tweaking should be managed, documented and justified.
3. There should be a systematic way for customers (students) and employees to complain and/or give praise.
4. Faculty & Staff should know exactly how their role(s) contribute to revenue streams. They should absolutely be able to see and focus on the big picture through the daily grind.
1. Tie bonuses to performance.
2. Create incentives to motivate employees.
5. Take inventory of supplies, procurement practices and equipment.
1. Cut waste… who is using all the paper, ink, toner, pencils?
2. Are we paying too much for goods and services?
6. Account for and justify each incoming/outgoing dollar.

THEN… check all you’ve done, tweak, repeat.

Welcome Madame President. Good luck Shaw! I believe in you too.

Sincerely,

LORRINDA STEWART MICHIEKA, MBA Business Analyst Process Rengineerist (made that one up… [smile]) Total Quality Manager Lifelong Student Creative Effectiveness Guru http://www.movemymountain.com/ http://www.lorrinda.com/

Links: http://www.shawuniversity.edu/press_releases/Dr_Yancyl.htm http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5260644/ http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1552170.html