How can we be “Grounded” in a positive way? When I talk about being “Grounded” in the positive sense, I mean exhibiting those traits that keep us mentally and emotionally stable, admirably sensible, realistic and unpretentious. We are not born “Grounded.” Over our lifetime, we either are surrounded by people (i.e., parents, teachers, coaches, mentors […]
Tag Archives: grounded
3 Anchors, 3 Ships
Three anchors played a role in three shipwrecks across two centuries: the Grafton, the Invercauld and the Alacrity. The Grafton and the Invercauld wrecked on Auckland Island in the South Pacific a few months apart in 1864. The Alacrity, a ship on which I was a crewmember, wrecked on an unnamed cay in the Bahamas […]
The Girl with the Apples
I attended a Toastmaster meeting on the 7th of January. This organization is all about helping people become competent and confident speakers. If you have never been to Toastmasters, you should find your local chapter and check it out. One of the things they do at every meeting is assign a “Joke Master” who tells […]
The Cleaners, Part 2
Here is a follow-up to the story I recounted about the stained shirt and the dry cleaners. About a year after I moved my account, I was at the old dry cleaners to get a carpet cleaned. The owner of the shop emerged to speak with me, and we rehashed the story of the stained […]
The Cleaners, Part 1
Some time ago, I was reminded of an event that happened over two years ago. I had a custom shirt that got stained with ink… at the dry cleaner’s. After noticing the discoloration, I took the shirt back in, still in the plastic covering, and showed it to the manager. He insisted that the stains […]
Accountability for your own actions
I recently wrote about millennials who have been raised to not take responsibility for their own actions. A good example was in the news this week. A young man from Texas had been placed on probation for a vehicle accident in which he was the driver, was intoxicated, and hit a vehicle of a disabled person on the side of […]
Disney World—the happiest (and most exhausting) place to spend the day
And during the holidays? Not the best time to go. Don’t get me wrong; I am a Disney fan, and I was with my wife and 6-year-old grandson. But since it was the end of the holiday season, the park was slammed. It was a human car wash where you agitate your way through the crowd. There […]
Be a Grounded Millennial
I think a lot about millennials. As a consultant in the field of financial services technology, I foresee a significant change that will occur in the next eight to twelve years as millennials replace baby boomers as primary customers. Its not just happening in banking; it’s happening in every sector of our economy. Here’s a fact […]
The worth of accumulating experience
On December 21st, I was in Ft. Pierce, Florida, and I drove past Indian River State College. I have fond memories of this campus. When I was just fourteen years old, back when the school was Indian River Community College, my Dad was a professor there. He taught classes in the summer, and I got to […]
Have perseverance in everything you do
My wife bought a new toy for our six-year-old grandson, Liam, during a shopping trip today. This evening, as soon as I walked through the door, Liam wanted me to work on this project with him. It was a small dinosaur skeleton, separated into pieces and encased in an egg-shaped, hard plaster shell. The package […]