"Did you know..." by Bille Baty

"My Twitter Pet Peeves" from " The Industry Review"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 05:44:00 +0000

Today I'm sharing a great post from my friend, Udi Schlessinger's blog "The Industry Review." You can visit his blog at http://www.industryreview.org/tag/twitter-bots .

Thanks Udi...

After you’ve used social media sites for a while, you start finding common patterns, specifically, annoying patterns. Although each one of us is annoyed by different things, usually there are commonalities that annoy each and every one of us. I’ve decided to create my own list of pet peeves and share it with you.

Originally I was hesitating whether I should call this article ‘Pet Peeves in social media’ and have one section for Twitter, one for Facebook and one for LinkedIn, all sites I know really well. However, considering I have fewer LinkedIn pet peeves, than say, Twitter pet peeves, I think I need more time to get a list worth reporting. So for now this is only for Twitter.

Second, after I came up with this subject I met a great guy on Twitter, Darren Williger (@Williger). Not only he’s extremely witty and hilarious, but it turns out he also created – a video – that (can you guess it?) is about Pet Peeves in Twitter. I thought that I can’t seriously write an article on the subject without including his video. I am fully aware that no matter what I say, people will remember Darren’s video (which is awesome) as the point of this post. Oh well, I bow down before you, Darren – absolutely brilliant video!
Here’s my list of Pet Peeves. Feel free to add some of your own.

Many users have some kind of auto-follow script – so when you follow them, you get a direct message (DM) “Thank you for following me, blah blah blah”. That’s fine with me. However, the thing that irritates me the most (more than spammers!) are the users that send you the DM – but don’t follow you back, so you can’t respond! It goes along the lines of “Thank you for following me. Here’s my blog. Can you tell me about yourself?” (remember, all automated). But I can’t answer! Because you haven’t followed me! I’d much rather not get anything, and not be followed than get a message I can’t reply to!
Following the previous item are the users who have an auto-follow that sends you to some kind of unrelated sales page. Sometimes the description is even deliberately misleading like, “learn about me in this link” or “read my blog here” but when you press the link, it’s a sales page! Dude, we just got to know each other, and you’re already asking me to buy something from you? What are the chances this is going to work? Occasionally these links are broken and don’t even work – which truly makes these users look ridiculous. I used to respond to them “your links are broken” but never received a response. Not even once.
Bots, particularly the sophisticated ones. I don’t know whether these are real people who do 90% automation, or bots that occasionally have a real person controlling them (there’s a subtle different in my opinion). But do any of these sentences look familiar?
- 140 cramping your style?
- Apu Akhbar?
- Ma Shlomkha?
- Como está?
- Hur är det?
- What’s everyone talking about?
- Robin Williams survived open-heart surgery; has new role in film – and life
- Too many tweets. Too little time to reply.
- Why is Twitter a verbal gym? Stress relieve for the mind.
- The day ends with a tweet.
- iphone is always ringing. standby
- Random tweets
- Is Obama doing a good job?
- Ogenki desu ka
I’m sure some at least look very familiar. Guys, I understand you want to automate things, but for crying out loud, get a better list. All these are real messages I’ve seen over and over and over and over. The ironic thing is that one of the messages is ‘random tweets’. My guess is that someone made a list of things to tweet, and the title was ‘random tweets’, and somehow this got into the actual list of things being tweeted about.

I tend to retweet them with a smart ass comment, and never, ever, received a response. i.e. “Ma Shlomkha? -> Do you even understand what that means? Of course you don’t, you’re a bot” (it’s “what’s up?” in Hebrew).
Spammers: I won’t elaborate. They annoy me less than most people. I even find them funny at times (read my post 5 Different Types of Spammers).
Users promoting products in an idiotic way. Personally, I have no problem with people using Twitter as a vehicle for promoting products – not at all (hey, I may do this too at some point). But come on, be smart about doing this. Don’t say “Want to learn how to make $158,081 in less than 8 hours?” or “Gain 1,500 followers in the next 21 minutes!”, be smarter about this. No one in his right mind will take you seriously. And if they do, I assure you, they don’t have a credit card or a way to pay you.
People doing #FollowFriday for people they don’t follow themselves. Quick explanation: #FollowFriday is a very nice Twitter Tradition. Usually every Thursday/Friday people will tweet a list of the people they recommend for following. Some just include names, other give lists with brief titles “amusing conversations” “sweet and funny”, etc. This is what gives Twitter its personality.

However, some people do #FollowFriday for people they don’t follow themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s okay to retweet someone’s FollowFriday tweet even if you’re not following the person (since you’re basically just saying “listen to this guy, he knows what he’s saying”), but don’t publicly recommend following someone when you’re not following your own advice. It’s like a health guru eating junk food in secret – do what you preach!

In particular I was irritated by a guy I tried to converse with a while ago (we have some things in common so I thought he’d be interesting to chat with). He ignored 2-3 tweets I sent him. One day I RTed two of his tweets. he ignored these too. Ok, I get it, he doesn’t want to talk. However, the next Friday he included me in his #FollowFriday. He wasn’t talking to me (at all), or following me himself, but he publicly recommended that people follow me. How hypocritical is that?
The last one is pretty mild: Direct Messages (DMs) that require 10 separate messages. Yes, I understand the whole 140 character limit (that’s the point of microblogging), but at times you want to say more, and the only alternative is to use 10 consecutive messages. My friend Suzanne gets a phone call for every one of those and it can become really annoying. I would’ve much preferred if the direct message system was not limited to 140 characters (blasphemy, I know!), or alternatively, it could send you to an extra app that allows you to write one long email which will automatically be broken up. Or even just use real email (which is my preference).

That’s my list. Any ideas for more?

37 MORE Success Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:27:00 +0000

I thought it was time to share 37 MORE Success Quotes...

Quite a few folks commented on the last 37, so I think that's a good number. I've tried to attribute these to the correct Author/Source but if there are any which I got wrong, please let me know.

If you have any personal favorites, please share them. I would love to read them. Here we go...

1. “If you are going through hell, keep going.”Winston Churchill

2. “Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”Henry Ford

3. “Action is the foundational key to all success.”Pablo Picasso

4. “Success is not a destination. It’s a journey.”Zig Ziglar

5. "You must do the thing you think you cannot do."Eleanor Roosevelt

6. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”Theodore Roosevelt

7. “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”Demosthenes

8. “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."Elbert Hubbard

9. “Running from your fear can be more painful than facing it, for better or worse.”Chuck Norris

10. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”Lao Tzu

11. “If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become a truth for you."Louise L. Hay

12. “If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke."Brendan Francis

13. “Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.”Marcus Aurelius

14. “Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny.”Carl Schurz

15. “One of the main strategies of the successful is that they constantly seek guidance from experts in their field.”Jack Canfield

16. “The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion.”Alexander Graham Bell

17. “The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.”Confucius

18. “I am not the smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeeded because I keep going, and going, and going.”
Sylvester Stallone

19. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”
William Feather

20. “One hundred percent of the shots you don't take don't go in.”
Wayne Gretzky

21. “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
Michelangelo

22. “Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.”Proverbs 4:23, The Bible

23. “Control your own destiny or someone else will.”Jack Welch

24. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”David Brinkley

25. “People are anxious to improve their circumstances but unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound."James Allen

26. “Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.”Jon Bon Jovi

27. “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?"
Brian Tracy

28. “Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.”Jonatan Mårtensson

29. “There'll be two dates on your tombstoneAnd all your friends will read 'em
But all that's gonna matter is that little dash between 'em..."
Kevin Welch

30. “To be successful, one must take chances.”Willie Stargell

31. “The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”John Foster Dulles

32. “To follow, without halt, one aim: There's the secret of success.”Anna Pavlova

33. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.”
Conrad Hilton

34. “The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.”Bob Proctor

35. “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”Sun Tzu

36. "We may get knocked down on the outside, but the key to living in victory is to learn how to get up on the inside."Joel Osteen

37. “That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.”Robert Louis Stevenson

Keep Believing...

If I Had Only Known

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:44:00 +0000

There used to be this place in San Antonio called Playland Park. It was like a little Disneyland. Okay a very, very little Disneyland. But for someone growing up in San Antonio in the 60’s it was so very, very cool!

It had this huge wooden roller coaster. I can’t remember the name of it but it was BIG and scary for a little kid. I loved riding that roller coaster. I actually loved all the sounds and smells and noises of that place…Playland Park.

It was a part of me and my life and my memories. As I grew older I would go there with family and friends and ride that BIG, scary roller coaster. The older I got, the further back I moved in the cars on the coaster. Then one day I was in the last car. When you reached the top of the big hill, everyone would throw their hands up in the air and scream and act like idiots as the coaster raced to the bottom, leaving your stomachs and your cares somewhere far behind you.

I loved that place and swore I would take my kids there as often as I could just like my parents had done.

I remember the last time I was there. I had been fishing at the coast and came home. I learned my family was at Playland Park so I went there to meet them and have some fun. As we were leaving for the night, several members of my family wanted to ride the roller coaster one more time and get some pictures doing it.

I was tired from the trip and told them we would do it next time. We all went home not knowing that would be the last night Playland Park would ever be open. It never opened again and that BIG, scary roller coaster was torn down and sold.

I’ve often wondered why I didn’t ride that BIG, scary roller coaster just one more time. I always tell myself “If I had only known…”

There are a lot of “If I had only known…” times in our lives.

All of us have them. They may not include roller coasters or Playland Park but they may include seeing a friend or loved one for the last time.

They may include the last time your son lets you hold his hand.

They may include the last time your little girl is a princess.

They all are times we wish we had again.

It’s a human experience we all share…”If I had only known…”

Live today…treat your family…talk to your friends…take in the sights and sounds and smells…as if this were one of those moments…

“If I had only known…”

Keep Believing…

Twitter & The Meaning Of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Sometimes we get caught-up in things which really aren’t that important when you look at the big picture of life.

I am basically a positive person but sometimes I am tempted to go off on a negative rant.

That almost happened this morning when I was watching the news. I saw a story about Lady Gaga moving into the position of Most Followers on Twitter.

I started to become indignant and then I remembered, in the whole scheme of things, how unimportant Twitter and Lady Gaga and the “Most Followed” really are.

You know what’s important?

LIFE!

That’s really important. Not just life, but living life. Determining that no matter what hand you’ve been dealt, you’re going to come out on top…with a smile.

MY WIFE!

She’s a great person who has stuck with me through thick and thin…And believe me when I tell you there has been a lot more thin than thick. She causes most of my smiles and a lot of my gray hair.

MY CHILDREN & GRANDCHILDREN!

Tyrants that they sometimes seem to be, they are still my progeny and the way I touch the future. I call them CHAMPIONS and my Buddies.

MY FRIENDS!

Online or offline doesn’t matter, a friend is a friend, and we all need friends. The best way to have friends is to be a friend. I thank God for my friends! That brings me to…

GOD!

HE brings meaning to meaningless lives. HE actually is 1^st on my list of what’s important, and coincidentally HE also has the most followers. But as a writer, I like the way this all flowed. J

Keep Believing…

P.S.

If I would have allowed myself to be negative…which I didn’t…I probably would have written something like this…

Twitter and the Meaning of Life

I heard today that Lady Gaga recently moved ahead of Britney Spears as the most followed account on Twitter. Being that I’m not a “little monster” this didn’t nearly impress me as much as when @aplusk pulled off the trouncing of CNN.

In fact, it didn’t impress me at all.

Over the past year I’ve seen the changes @Biz and others have made to Twitter as a sign of things to come. Things most of the “regular” users of Twitter have had to swallow, like one more dose of poison, so the “STARS” can attain their lofty heights in the rankings based on number of followers.

Things which have kept the rest of us mere mortals firmly anchored to the ground, gazing skyward at the loftiness of the Twitter “STARS” knowing, that as mere mortals we can never attain such loftiness.

@Biz and his cronies can make any changes to Twitter they want to make. After all, they started Twitter. We didn’t.

We just started using it. We just started spreading it, virally; spreading the word of this cool little social networking and microblogging service that could be pretty awesome…Spreading the word through emails and texts and blog posts and word-of-mouth.

We didn’t do anything at all to get the little, baby blue “T” at the bottom of most television commercials you see today. Lady Gaga did.

With the ascendancy of the new “Queen of Twitter” life has taken on a new meaning.

Well, actually life hasn’t, Twitter has.

Twitter has become even less important to me now than it ever was. I see a certain banality in it which I see growing exponentially. The new “Queen” is simply a sign of what the “controllers” of Twitter want for Twitter…

STARS!

As for all of us nonSTARS, we can still play with Twitter. We can still use Twitter. We can still promote Twitter. We can still help grow the net worth of Twitter…as long as we stay in our place…nonSTARS.

GOD save the Queen!

I CAN

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:07:00 +0000

What are you believing about yourself, right now? Are you believing you can…or you can’t? Do you think you have what it takes to succeed?

Someone once said, “Every success is built on the ability to do better than good enough.” Are you able to do better than “good enough?” Are you able to keep trying, even when you’re losing?

You know what? Sometimes we lose. That’s just the plain truth…we lose. BUT we are not losers. Every loss helps you become the winner you are destined to be.

Michael Jordan put it this way, “I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

WOW!

Those are the words of the man many say is the best who ever played his sport. He says he succeeds because of the failures he’s experienced.

That is a key we all need to learn. Failures are important to success. If you give up and quit after one failure then you are defeated.

If you learn from that one failure and go on with your life then you aren’t defeated. You’re not defeated until you give up and quit.

Have you failed 300 times or 9,000 times? Michael Jordan did and he just kept on playing. He kept on getting better. He kept on learning what worked and what didn’t work. He kept on believing he could win. He kept on believing “I can!”

If you don’t already believe it, start right now.

Say, “I CAN!”

Keep Believing…

Twitter Powers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 May 2010 22:26:00 +0000

“The earth seemed to move with me. I found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never knew existed.” Roger Bannister

In my last post I gave you some great websites and blogs to follow and learn from to help you get a strong foundation on Twitter. In this post I am going to show you Twitter Powers and begin the “how to get Twitter Powers” process.

Remember what it was like in high school or college? Learning was actually a lot of reading. Well, to learn about Twitter Powers you have to start learning from some real Twitter Powers. You need to study what they’ve done…and what they’re doing…NOW!

This will mean doing some reading. Are you up to it? If so let’s start.

These Twitter Powers are by no means the only people on Twitter you can learn from nor are they the only ones you should learn from. BUT, if you study them and what they have done and put some of it into practice…POOF…you’ll be the Twitter Star we talked about last time.

By the way, POOF stands for:

P – practice until you get it

O – occupy your space on Twitter

O – overcome every obstacle and failure

F – finish on top

We’ll spend more time on POOF in my next post, now to the Twitter Powers.

@williger is a Twitter Power you may have overlooked. He has quietly built a following in the millions for his Twitter accounts. His personal account @williger currently has over 160k followers. He uses every tool at his disposal to accomplish extraordinary Social Media feats.

Here is one of his videos which went viral:

It’s called “Twitter DM lament - I won't join your Spymaster Mafia!” and it is hilarious. You want to keep him in view and learn as you do.

@CiaoBella50 is a Twitter Power who adds wit and Twitter expertise to her 85k followers. Although she is "just a girl with a dream" you can learn a lot from this dream-girl and her blog, Ciao Bella.

@Scobleizer is a Twitter Power with 123k followers who understands what being a Geek is all about. In fact he’s interviewed more than 3200 of them. He says “Make every tweet magic.” He also understands using video. He recently had 500,000 views of a 17 minute long video. There are many "teachable moments" with him. Just for grins, check out his Profile on Google.

@GuyKawasaki is a Twitter Power who has grown his following to over 232k and he’s done it organically. He gives amazing tips on his blog “How To Change The World.” He also started Alltop which is basically an aggregator of all things Hot in "Social" and "Tech". Keep him on your radar.

@ProBlogger is another great example of a Twitter Power. He actually makes a living from blogging and tweeting and all things Social, and has more than 96k followers. I'm sure you can learn a few tricks by studying what he does.

@ModelSupplies is a Twitter Power who has grown her following to over 58k by providing great and interesting content as well as conversations with her followers. And if you need more twitter tips, you have to read her blog. Here is an excellent example, "How To Get Listed On Follow Friday Twitter Lists." She is well worth learning from.

This is a good start. Visit these Twitter Powers and learn from them all you can. I will have more Twitter Powers for you next time and we will go over POOF.

Keep Believing...

Tweet Night

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:06:00 +0000

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'” Charles M. Schulz

Love it! That quote by the creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip hits home on so many levels. The one I'm going to talk about here is trying to be a Twitter Star overnight.

I'm sure you've read the DM's (direct messages for all you twitter neophytes) touting "Get 1000's of Followers - Click Here". When you click on the senders profile you notice they have 129 followers. I guess they haven't done the "Click Here" part, yet.

Like all things good, you may have to wait a while to become Twitter Star. Unless your name is Beyonce, or Ashton, or Ellen, or Kardashian you probably aren't going to set the Twitterverse on fire overnight.

But you can practice a few things to leapfrog over the rest of us mere mortals and really put your Twitter life on steroids. I'll start with a few in this post and continue with more in upcoming posts.

The first and most important thing is to understand the rules you must play by. The first are called the Twitter Terms of Service (TOS) and you can find them here: http://twitter.com/tos?PHPSESSID=debec4ce1124da18c632a97423a6fa5e

Next, you need to learn about Twitter Jail and how important it is to stay out of it. Believe me, as someone who has been there...more than once...you don't want to wind up there. My friend Dr. Udi Schlessinger has written some great posts on the subject and that brings me to the next point.

Read some blogs from people who are succeeding at what you want to do...excel in the Twitterverse. Udi is one such person and his blog is here: http://www.industryreview.org/

The post I mentioned earlier on Twitter Jail can be found here: http://www.industryreview.org/social-media/twitter-jail-a-mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma

A must visit for the best blogs about Social Media, Twitter, Facebook and getting followers is http://www.followers.biz . This is one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly sites I've found and although it is currently being revamped, it hosts a wealth of information and is a definite Bookmark worthy site.

It was created by my friend and a guy who understands Social Media Marketing, Larry Wentz. If you wonder whether Larry knows what he's doing, visit http://twitter.com/LarryWentz and see for yourself.

In my next post I'll give some more essential blogs to follow and creative steps to be the Twitter Star you always knew you were. Until then, Tweet Night!

Keep Believing...

37 GREAT Success Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:31:00 +0000

I know many of us spend “some” time thinking about success on a regular basis. Several people have asked me for more of the Success Quotes I mention from time to time. I have put together 37 Success Quotes which I really like and muse on.

They are in no particular order, so #1 isn’t necessarily the best nor is #37 the worst. Please don’t complain about where your favorite is on the list…they are random.

I know there are many more I could have included but this list also is not exhaustive. It’s simply 37 Success Quotes which I like. If you have a quote you like on the subject of success, share it. I’d love to see some I have never read. Here goes…

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success."
Thomas J. Watson
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”
Bill Cosby
“Success is dependent on effort.”
Sophocles
“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted”
David Bly
"Success is a journey, not a destination."
Ben Sweetland
“If there is no wind, row.”
Lain Proverb
"The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore."
Dale Carnegie
“A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself.”
Jan Christiaan Smuts
“Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
Jim Rohn
"God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest."
Swedish Proverb
“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”
Sven Goran Eriksson
“When you get an insight or inspiration, do something about it in twenty-four hours – or the odds are against you ever acting on it.”
Bill Glass
“For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?”
James Allen
“There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning.”
Christopher Morley
“Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.”
Arnold H. Glasow
"Success doesn't come to you…you go to it."
Marva Collins
“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success”
Napoleon Hill
“Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally.”
David Frost
"Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life - but what we do about what happens to us."
George Allen
“No one, no thing, no situation can stop you. The power to succeed is within.”
Bille Baty

“Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time.”
Arnold H. Glasgow

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiam.”
Winston Churchill

“If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.”
Albert Einstein

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
George Sheehan

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Herman Cain

“To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.”
Mark Twain

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“We can change our whole life and the attitude of people around us simply by changing ourselves.”
Rudolf Dreikurs

“One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.”
Benjamin Disraeli

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
Mario Andretti

“You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling than feel yourself into action.”
Jerome Bruner

“Victory comes not by strength, wisdom or riches but by getting up again, each time we stumble and fall.”
Bille Baty

"Unless you're willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won't happen."
Phillip Adams

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
David Brinkley

“Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission.”
Neil Kendall

“Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.”
Ross Perot

“Ninety percent of all those who fail are not actually defeated. They simply quit.”
Paul J. Meyer

Keep Believing…

I Am Not Ashamed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Some people tell me that I am going to lose followers and hurt my business because I tweeted about prayer. Actually I tweeted about praying for a sick person but I get the point.

I would like to say this:

My name is Bille Baty.

I am a husband.

I am a father.

I am a grandfather.

I am a brother.

I am an uncle.

I am a friend.

I am a businessman.

I am a networker.

I am a go-giver.

I pay it forward.

I am silly.

I am happy.

I am positive.

I am far from perfect but I am attempting to be the very best person I can.

I believe in God.

I am a Christian.

I believe in the power of prayer.

If I need to change any of these things to please someone, or do business with them, or share some social platform of interaction, or keep from losing followers, may I just say...

As you leave, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you!

As imperfect as I am, I am not ashamed of who I am or what I believe.

If I choose to mention prayer, or God, in a tweet or in a blog post, that is my prerogative.

It is your prerogative not to read my tweets or blog posts and to believe and mention anything you choose and can get by with in your tweets and blog posts.

I am not ashamed!

I will continue to be the person I am, only better.

Keep Believing...

10 Ways To Say Hello

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:01:00 +0000

I thought I would get deep with this post and give you "10 Ways To Say Hello." Here goes...

Hello
Hi
Howdy
Wassup
MEH
Halloo (Estonian)
How do you do
How you doin'
Shalom
Hola

Personally, I like the "head-bob to the back" but that's just my opinion.

Yes...there are MANY more ways to say "Hello". Unfortunately my "10 Ways To Say Hello" list only had room for 10.

Sorry!

If there is a demand for it, I can do a bigger list.

Adios (that means good-bye).

Keep Believing

Social Media 201

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:51:00 +0000

So I'm in Seattle this week for Social Media 201, an exciting, mind-blowing experience and chance to learn from some of the best in Social Media and marketing. I am humbled and truly blessed to involved with such great people as those putting on this event and those speaking at this event. I am truly honored to know them and be associated with them.
This whole experience has been one of serendipitous cosmic alignment, the likes of which you would have to be an eyewitness to fully appreciate. We have come together from all over the nation to meet at the Microsoft Executive Conference Center, many of us meeting "face-to-face" for the first time, having an intimacy as friends and collaborators which developed because of the very Social Media we're here to talk about.

This is totally amazing!
Tonight at dinner we met some folks who will be attending tomorrow. The level of excitement they showed made those of us who have been involved since this event's inception fully understand what kind of demand there is for legitimate, quality help with Social Media. A demand which will only grow as new horizons quickly come into view and new products and services come to market. It's an exciting time to experience. I'm glad to be a part of it.
Social Media 201 is being streamed live, in HD around the world. Watch for the links which will be released tomorrow morning. The entire event is being recorded and will be available in some form after the event is finished. There will be live updates, videos, pictures, interviews, and more available during the event and posted on all of our blogs and websites as quickly as we are able to update.
You can go to www.SocialMedia201.com to get the information on the links and to see some of the folks who have put this all together.
If you're going to be here, stop by and let's get a picture together!
Keep Believing...

There's A Homer Simpson Inside Of You

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:09:00 +0000

Did you know there’s a Homer Simpson inside of you?

“Dope!”

Seriously, I’m going to list a few of Homer’s quotes and see if any of them are familiar to you…or if you have an eerily similar thing you've said…or thought.

“Oh, so they have internet on computers now!”

“Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers.”

“Well, its 1 a.m. Better go home and spend some quality time with the kids.”

“Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?”

“When will I learn? The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a bottle, they're on TV!”

“Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.”

“I want to share something with you: The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.”

“If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing.”

“Yes, honey ... Just squeeze your rage up into a bitter little ball and release it at an appropriate time, like that day I hit the referee with the whiskey bottle.”

Okay, maybe you don’t have Homer inside of you but there is someone inside of you, and it may not be the person we all know and love.

There was this two-year-old boy who one morning asked his mother, “Mommy, do you want me to go to the damned car?” You see his mother had been flustered a few times and been running late getting to work a few times and had yelled at the kids in the morning a few times saying, “I’m late…get in the damned car.”

This two-year-old thought the shiny thing in the driveway with four wheels was called a “damned car” and innocently asked if he should go to it.

All of us probably have similar stories because all of us struggle with life. Life has good times and life has not so good times. Life has choices we all have to make:

Am I going to be positive?

Am I going to be negative?

Am I going to bless?

Am I going to curse?

Am I going to believe?

Am I going to doubt?

Am I going to solve a problem?

Am I going to create, or add to a problem?

Am I going to be happy?

Am I going to be unhappy?

Am I going to build up?

Am I going to tear down?

Am I going to add to?

Am I going to take away from?

Am I going to love?

Am I going to hate?

Your life…and how you live it…is decided by you…you on the inside…

Unless you have Homer on the inside…then you believe this, “Your lives are in the hands of men no smarter than you or I, many of them incompetent boobs. I know this because I worked alongside them, gone bowling with them, watched them pass me over for promotions time and again. And I say ... This stinks!”

Keep Believing…

Tomorrow Is A Choice...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:39:00 +0000

Tomorrow is a choice...that you make today.

This is something which I firmly believe…you can have the tomorrow you want and desire, if you make the right choices today.

What kind of tomorrow do you want?

What are you doing today, to have that tomorrow?

Tony Robbins said, “How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?”

This doesn’t do away with living life to the full, today. Wasting today is simply foolish. I like the way Tom Landry put it, “Today, you have 100% of your life left.”

That’s the best way to look at each day we’ve been given.

According to John Wayne, “Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.”

It is a gift. Each day is a new chance to make, not a new beginning, but a new ending.

So what ending are you writing for tomorrow?

Keep Believing…

Things Aren't Always The Way They Seem

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:24:00 +0000

The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect my stupidity.

I have three hands-free headsets on my desk.

One for my cell phone.

One for my computer and Skype and making videos.

One for my landline, business phone.

So today, I’m sitting at my desk, minding my own business, jamming to some GREAT music, and working.

My business phone starts ringing and I look at the caller ID. It says Otis Ortiz. I don’t personally know an Otis Ortiz, and I wasn’t expecting anyone named Otis Ortiz to call and I was very busy, working.

By the time I decided to answer it, the call had already gone to voicemail. Oh darn! I missed the call from someone I don’t know. I’ll have to listen to the message.

I paused the music I was listening to, waiting for a message. Huh, no message. I went back to work.

In a few minutes the phone starts ringing again and you guessed it, Otis Ortiz is calling. I pick up the handset and answer in my professional business voice, “This is Bille.”

I heard a woman’s voice say, “Hello.” Only it was more like, “Hello?”

I deepened my voice and added the Zig Ziglar effect, “HELLO.”

Again I heard a woman’s voice say, “Hello.” Only this time it was really more like, “HELLO???”

This time I decided she was hearing impaired and I yelled, “HELLO!!!!!”

She came back with a yell of her own, “HELLO!!!!!”

I loosened my tie, well I would have if I was wearing one, and I really screamed, “HELLLLLOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

The phone went dead.

I calmly placed the handset back on the phone and picked up my glass of chamomile tea. Just as I placed the glass to my mouth, the phone started ringing. It was Otis Ortiz!

I picked up the handset and calmly and professionally swallowed, and said, “Hello.”

A woman’s voice, “Hello?”

Me, “HELLO!”

Woman using Otis Ortiz’s phone, “HELLO!?”

Me, “HELLO!!!”

Imposter on Otis Ortiz’s phone, “HELLO!!!???”

Me, quickly ingesting my blood pressure medicine, “HELLLLOOO!!!”

Person who I’m not sure is a woman but I am sure stole Otis Ortiz’s phone just to torment me and keep me from work, “HELLLLOOO!!!”

Before I can take in enough breath to give her the “Hello” she really deserves, she hangs up.

This exact same scenario plays itself out two more times. Now, after the fifth call from the mocking, banshee from hell, George Costanza from “Seinfeld” starts to rise up inside of me. I plan what I’m going to say to whomever it is manipulating Otis Ortiz’s phone in such an evil manner. It went something like this…

“Where the heck do you get the nerve? You invite me up for coffee and then you don't call me back for four days? I don't like coffee, I don't have to come up. I'd like to get one more shot at the coffee just so I could spit it in your face.”

…except I would have said phone call instead of coffee…and stuff like that.

So I’m waiting, with my hand over the phone, putting the right words together in my mind, and the phone rings. As I jerk the receiver to my ear, ready to erupt like Mount Vesuvius, I see something fall off of my desk. I stand up to see what fell, and as I look over the edge of my desk, I see the hands-free headset hanging from the cord, plugged into the phone. This muted the microphone on the handset I had been picking up, allowing me to hear her but she couldn’t hear me.

I put on the headset, said “Hello” and had a great conversation with a dear friend who was using her son-in-law’s phone. Her son-in-law’s name is Otis Ortiz. He’s a great guy, letting his mother-in-law use his phone like that.

You know, things aren’t always the way they seem. It wasn’t a rude person calling me to torment me. It was a dear friend calling someone too stupid to work the phone correctly.

Barbara Johnson said, “Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.”

A lot of times we feel like “stripping our gears” when we really don’t have all the information we need to make an informed decision. Not everything is as it seems. It’s not as bad as we imagine. It’s not the end of the world. We will be happy again. We will survive. The Sun will rise again tomorrow. Just because the clouds hide it from view doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Just have faith…things aren’t always the way they seem.

Keep Believing…

You Can't Always Get What You Want

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:04:00 +0000

I know this may sound weird coming from someone who signs off with "Keep Believing" but I believe it's true, nonetheless. Let's see if you agree...

I'm not going to go through all the obvious things you can't control, like other people, the weather, when the fish are biting, that tee shot AFTER it's left the tee, how long you have to wait at the doctor's office, what your three-year-old is going to say at dinner with you boss, etc.

If you could control all the things in your life, you would see me on TV every week, winning the PowerBall. Well, I guess actually if YOU could control all the things in your life, I would see YOU on TV every week, winning the PowerBall.

We can't control everything; therefore, we can't always get what we want. What we have to do is learn to want what we have.

It isn't easy and it doesn't mean we have to settle and it doesn't mean we can't have a better life. What it means is we need to learn to appreciate what we have...right now.

A better life is a good thing and we all need to strive to grow and have goals, BUT, do we appreciate what we have...right now?

You may not like your job.

Oscar Wilde said, “The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.”

Today, many people don’t have to imagine they don’t have a job. They actually don’t have a job and would appreciate yours, so quit complaining about it. Appreciate your job until you get a better job, or the job changes, or maybe, you change.

I’ve learned this in my life.

More times than I want to admit, it wasn’t my life or my situations which needed to change, it was me and my perspective. I had to learn to appreciate what I had, where I was, who I was.

The weird thing is, every time I’ve made adjustments in my thinking and my appreciation, my life has gotten better. I didn’t just think it got better, it actually got better.

I wanted what I had, and it made me enjoy what I had, and I had what I wanted…

I HAD WHAT I WANTED!?

Hey!

Wait a minute.

I started this off by saying “You can’t always get what you want.”

I was wrong. :)

Keep Believing…

I'll Have Fried Brains, Please

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:05:00 +0000

If you haven't read Chris Brogan's "The Assault On Anywhen", you must do so...NOW!

Seriously it's poignant, and timely, and got me thinking about the situation we've gotten ourselves into. It seems we have to be "available" 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

NO QUESTIONS ASKED! NO EXCUSES!

Someone close to me recently went home after work and set his Blackberry down on his dresser. His wife happened to be sick, so he cooked dinner and helped her as much as he could. He went to bed after a long day of work outside the home and at home.

He also happened to be on call and missed several alerts from work. He didn't get them until the next morning and by then it was too late, the damage had been done.

Now I want you to understand this, he worked 40+ hours at his job and was expected to regularly be "On Call" if needed, at home. He joined the ranks of us "Self-Employed" 02/26/2010.

I'm sure he'll be much happier AND much wealthier but the point is most of us are "On Call" the same way he was.

We have to answer every call on our mobile phone.

We have to return that text.

We have to reply to that email.

We have to be the one who turns twitter off every night.

We have to be available or we might miss something!

All this "I'm available anytime" crap is frying our brains. We have to be able to relax, unwind, unplug, disconnect, be still, be quiet and reboot.

But what if I get an important call, text, email, tweet (hehe)

Well I say, "MISS IT!" If it's that important they'll call back...tomorrow.

You're either going to miss it or you're going to miss life.

If the email...or text...or phone call...or tweet is more important than

life

health

wife

husband

kids

grandkids

family

vacation

living

your brains are already fried!

Keep Believing...

You Cannot Go Where Your Thoughts Have Not Been

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:25:00 +0000

You cannot go where your thoughts have not been.

Consider this, if you’re leaving on a trip to Amsterdam, don’t you mentally go to Amsterdam first? You plan your trip. You determine where in Amsterdam you actually want to go. Are you staying in a hotel?

Hostel?

The streets?

You think about your trip in advance. Your thoughts go to Amsterdam before you ever physically arrive.

Even if you are one of these people who say “I never plan anything. I just go where the road leads” your thoughts are on the road ahead of you, planning, scanning, organizing, preparing. That’s just the way it is.

Okay, forget Amsterdam.

Let’s say you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Your thoughts go into the kitchen to make the sandwich before the sandwich actually manifests in your hands. Unless your REALLY lucky and have a spouse who will go into the kitchen and make the sandwich for you. The way you like it…slices perfectly aligned…peanut butter spread uniformly across the whole slice of bread…grape, or better yet, blackberry jelly on the other slice topping a nice thin layer of butter, or SmartBalance, whatever, just so long as there is nothing dripping over the sides of he bread.

Did you just start thinking about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Even if you can’t eat peanuts without going into anaphylactic shock, you were still thinking about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Your mind went there. Your thoughts went there.

That’s the way we work. That’s the way we’re created. When you understand that, and how to use it for your good, it’s a powerful thing.

Try to stop your thoughts from going somewhere. Can you?

Maybe you can but I can’t. My thoughts are always active. Always mobile. Always working, planning, testing, devising, and calculating. What we have to do is start guiding our thoughts to go where we want to end up.

I have a plan to hike up Mount Evans this summer. If there’s enough time, I want to hike up Pikes Peak as well. Now my thoughts are being guided to the top of Mount Evans. I am considering what I need to do to be able to accomplish this goal this summer.

Even before I reach the summit, my thoughts have been there a thousand times. I have seen myself leaving the trees behind as I climb above the tree line. I see the rocks under my feet making it difficult to walk. I feel the chilled air even in the middle of summer as I approach 14,000 feet. I labor to breathe as I climb higher and the air has less oxygen.

Then it comes into sight, the summit. I run to the top and jump around like an idiot. I pose for a picture (which I tweet immediately) next to the marker showing 14,258 feet. I go into the Crest House ruins. I drink a liter of water to get rid of the high altitude headache and go collapse into the vehicle ready to drive me down.

I haven’t been there yet, physically, but my thoughts have!

Now let’s get to what I really want to talk about. Where do you want to be?

In your life…where do you want to be? Are you where you want to be? Are you happy? Do you know where you need to be, to be happy?

Are your thoughts going there?

Norman Vincent Peale said, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world”.

I believe this is true. If you want to change your life you have to change how you think. You have to get your thoughts working for you, positively.

That’s the key… get your thoughts working for you, positively. Even if we don’t know it our thoughts are working for us all the time. The problem is that many of us have our thoughts working overtime, working hard, and they’re working negatively.

We think things like,

“I’m so fat.”

“I can’t do it.”

“I guess I was meant to lose.”

“I wish I could travel.”

“I’ll always be sick.”

“I’m not supposed to have a nice house.”

“I was born on the wrong side of the tracks.”

“I will never make it.”

“A day late and a dollar short, that’s my motto.”

We almost think it is ‘righteous’ and ‘humble’ to be beaten down by life and barely get by and not expect anything good…just “Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be”.

What a load of bunk!

Anyone can send their thoughts there. It is the easiest thing in the world to be complacent and accept anything that comes your way as “The way it’s supposed to be” and just do nothing.

It takes intestinal fortitude to stand up and say,

“NO! That is not the plan for my life. I WILL have more.”

“I will do more.”

“I will live more.”

“I will laugh more.”

“I will love more.”

“I will see more.”

“I will give more.”

“I will live the live I am supposed to live. I will live a happy life. I will live a long life. I will succeed.”

Determine what it is you want to do and begin sending your thoughts there.

Determine where it is you want to be and begin sending your thoughts there.

Determine the life you want to live and begin sending your thoughts there.

Remember when I talked about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich earlier? That is a very simplistic way of explaining what I am talking about but it is also exactly how easy it is to change your life by sending your thoughts to the right place(s).

Once you begin, keep doing it.

Henry David Thoreau said “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”

That’s the key, keep sending your thoughts to the place you want them to be. Be in control of your thoughts. Make your thoughts work for you, positively.

Mahatma Gandhi said “A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”

That is pretty strong, what we think, we become.

I’ll let the Bible sum it up. Here is what it says in Philippians 4:8 from “The Message” translation:

“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

I’ll leave you with that. Think on the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly.

Send your thoughts there, the best, not the worst. Get them working for you, the beautiful, not the ugly. Send your thoughts-

Keep Believing…

Let me know what you think. Post a comment or email me. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

You're Exactly Who You Are Supposed To Be

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:42:00 +0000

You’re exactly who you are supposed to be. I know this is a little different from the regular blog you may read someplace else, but I have something to say which needs to be said.

Today, someone close to me told of how he had turned in the paperwork to get assistance with his disability.

When asked, “What disability?”

He replied, “You know that I’m slow. I’ve been slow ever since I was in that wreck and had brain damage. I’m slow and feel like giving up”

When he said that, I went back in time, twenty years ago, to my mechanic’s shop. I was there to pick my Suburban and I was about to pay a lady I considered my friend. She had been there in the office to help me every time I had my cars serviced for ten years or more. We always had great talks and she was a great person.

As she gave me the receipt for the work done, I told her I would see her next week when I brought in my other vehicle.

She smiled sweetly and said, “I won’t be here next week. The new manager told me this Friday will be my last day.”

“Why?” I stupidly asked.

“He said I’m slow, you know mentally, slow.”

She saw the anguish in my face and said, “Its okay, Bille. I know I’m slow. I’ve always known it. Its okay he wants me to leave, too. I’ll spend more time with my kids. My kids ain’t slow, they’re smart.”

I started to say something stupid again but she cut me off.

“You know, in school everyone said I was stupid. When I got married and had my babies, I learned I wasn’t stupid. My husband never told me I was stupid, or slow. He just told me he loved me. I was pretty. I was the one he wanted to spend his life with. Then when my babies were born, they needed me and loved me just the way I am. They don’t think I’m slow. They think I’m Mom.”

We both laughed.

“You know Bille,” she continued, “I always thought when they called me stupid in school that God had made a mistake. Now I know I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be. There ain’t nothing I can do about what other people think. They are who they are. They think what they think. I know I’m who I’m supposed to be. I’m Susan.”

I fought back tears as I hugged her goodbye.

I can’t even count how many times over the years I’ve remembered what Susan told me that day.

“I know I’m who I’m supposed to be.”

It doesn’t always feel like it, but I know it is true. All of us are exactly who we are supposed to be. We aren’t mistakes. We aren’t stupid. We aren’t losers. We aren’t retarded. We aren’t unwanted. We are exactly who we are supposed to be.

Now personally, I wish I had more hair. I need to lose a few pounds. And I wish I looked like Brad Pitt.

But I don’t. I look like me, and that’s okay because that’s who I’m supposed to look like.

If I lose a few pounds that will be good for my health, as long as I don’t kill myself doing it, but it won’t change who I am.

What I look like isn’t who I am. My IQ isn’t who I am. My checking account balance isn’t who I am.

Who I am is the person inside. I know I’m who I’m supposed to be.

Susan is exactly who she is supposed to be.

My friend with brain damage is exactly who he is supposed to be and he is going to make it through this.

You are exactly who you are supposed to be.

I am exactly who I am supposed to be. I’m Bille.

Thanks Susan, for helping me to remember that.

I’m gonna work on the hair thing.

Keep Believing…

Live Life

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:22:00 +0000

The only way to live life is to start living. Here’s what I mean.

If you Google the exact phrase “live life”, there are over 8,650,000 results available. This is a subject on a lot of people’s minds. How do I live life?

Here is the answer. Are you ready?

Start living!

That’s it, start living. Today! Right now!

So many of us have a few favorite sayings, like:

“As soon as I _________ I’m going to get started.”

“One of these days, I’m going to travel.”

“Some day I’m going to __________.”

“When I get the bills paid off I’ll be able to do what I want.”

“When the kids grow up we can _________.”

“When my ship comes in I’ll be able to __________.”

“When I win the lottery I’m going to give __________ to charity.”

“As soon as I get the promotion I can __________.”

Let me go ahead and tell you:

You ARE NOT going to win the lottery!

Your ship IS HERE and has been here a long time; you’ve been looking in the wrong direction.

One of these days NEVER comes.

We will ALWAYS have bills.

The kids are your kids FOREVER.

You may get the promotion BUT then you’ll want to wait until the next one.

Some day IS today!

This is all we have, TODAY. We don’t have tomorrow. It’s not guaranteed. All we have is today and you have to start living today.

I have this friend whose Dad started an electric company. He worked hard his whole life building the company into one of the largest and most well respected in the market. My friend and his brother both worked for the company and their Dad had trained them their whole lives to know everything about the business.

One day the two sons would take over the business so their Dad and Mom could travel. The parents had always wanted to travel and see all the different parts of America. The parents bought a big, beautiful motor home. They turned the business over to the sons. They paid all the bills they had. They were leaving in two weeks. The Dad had finally done all he needed to do so he could finally live life. He was 62 and going to live life.

One morning the Dad had a sore throat and didn’t know why. The sore throat got worse and he went to the doctor. He had throat cancer so advanced there was nothing the doctors could do. My friend’s Dad died six weeks later.

After the funeral, we went to the parent’s home to spend time with the family. There, in the front of the home, was the new motor home. It sat there never used, never enjoyed, never driven across

America

, never experiencing life.

My friend’s Mom looked out at the motor home as we left the house that day and said, “I wish we could have lived life like we had planned.”

The only way to live life is to start living.

Right now!

You Can Get Away, Anytime

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Did you know you can get away without leaving town? OK, how about getting away without leaving your house? Or even getting away while you’re still at the office? You can do it! You should do it!

Here’s what I mean. We all have hectic schedules. We all have deadlines. We all face stress that was unheard of in past generations. No, we all aren’t facing death on the fields of Gettysburg, but we face an unmerited, fast paced stress our parents and grandparents would have believed unimaginable. Never before have we been “available” basically 24/7 like we are today.

We need to get away! Not like the “Calgon Bath”…although that’s cool if you’re a “bath” person…

or if you take a “bath” with the right person…just kidding.

We need to “mentally” get away. We need to unplug for a while, mentally. We need to take a mental break from all the stress and all the hectic schedules and all the deadlines.

So how do you do it?

I’m glad you asked!

If you buy this book you’ll find “21 Ways To Get Away”.

Just kidding again, sorry.

Here is one way to get away. I use this one and it really works. I like it because it is so easy and you can do it almost anytime.

Do you have some place in the world with fond memories for you? Memories that stir good emotions. Memories that are vibrant and warm. Well what you do is go there. I’ll tell you part of one of mine to explain.

I love Key West, Florida. I love almost everything about Key West. But there is one thing I always do when I’m in Key West. I have this special place I go to watch the sun setting into the ocean.

I get there about a half-hour before sunset and just enjoy everything happening. I allow all my senses to go into overload.

I watch the beautiful colors of the sky change, as if by magic, as the sun slowly slides beneath the turquoise sea.

I feel the wind blowing in my hair and across my face, and the sun’s warmth ebbing as it vanishes beneath the waves.

I hear the waves crashing and the birds calling and the lovers laughing and the tourists talking and the boats rocking back and forth in the waves.

I smell the fragrance of flowers and ocean and seafood and life and the pina-colada smell of the sunscreen my beautiful woman always wears.

I taste the salty sea air and the shrimp boiling next door and the fried fish down the street and the Key Lime Pie.

I marvel at the beauty and wonder of it all.

It always amazes me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there. But it’s always the same…amazing.

I can tell you it’s one of my places of escape. It’s one of my places I get away to. When I am getting stressed, when I am running behind and starting to overload, I stop.

That’s right! Stop.

Stop.

Get quiet.

Close my eyes and get away.

I go to Key West. Right then, wherever I am, I go to sunset in Key West. I allow all the good memories and emotions and feelings to stir within me. I relax in the cool tropical breeze. I take in the beauty. I hear the sounds. I smell the smells. I taste the tastes. I relax. I get away.

Your place may not be Key West, and probably isn’t. But I’m sure you have some special place and time inside of you that evokes good, positive memories. Go there. Get away. Relax.

It doesn’t cost a thing, and you can do it anytime you want. Well, almost anytime.

Let me know if you have a special place. I’d love to hear about it.

Oh, by the way, you can borrow Key West if you need to, but make your own memories...

and remember...You Can Get Away, Anytime!

Keep Believing…

Cats Are Finicky People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Cats are finicky people. Yes I know the definition of people is “group of humans” but don’t argue, just listen and you’ll agree; Cats are finicky people.

There’s this cat that lives in my house. It has several different names, Casey, K.C., CaseyJack, Fatso. It doesn’t really matter what you call him, and he answers to none of them. Notice I didn’t say “I have this cat”, or “My cat, K.C.”, or “Our family cat”, no, this cat simply resides in my house, rent free.

He’s like a bad boyfriend or girlfriend. He shows up for some attention and he’s off, never to be seen again, until he needs something, and the only “something” he ever needs and shows up for is food.

Food!

That’s right, this FAT CAT shows up only when he wants to eat, and you darned well better feed him…immediately. If you don’t, he goes into this whole needy person bit, falling down on the floor, crying, flipping over in front of your feet.

He doesn’t even know how to meow. All he can get out is “MEH”.

That’s it! “MEH”.

What the crap is “MEH”? I mean really, “MEH”? What does it mean? Well, I know what it means. In this instance, “FEED ME!” But really, is that the best you can come up with? “MEH”?

If the falling down and crying part doesn’t work, he goes into “hyper-rubbing-my-face-on-you” mode. Just as the title describes, he follows you EVERYWHERE you go rubbing his face on your feet, ankles, legs, cabinets, doors, furniture, chairs, table legs, black dress-pants, anything he can get his fat, furry face on, as long as he’s sure you can see him do it.

Oh, and just in case he gets hungry in the middle of the night, he has this other neat trick. It’s called the “I’m-gonna-stick-my-paw-under-your-door-and-rattle-it-so-loud-you’ll-think-someone-is-breaking-in-so-you-can-get-up-and-feed-me-‘cause-I’m-hungry-now” trick. This is a really cool trick. My heart loves it.

OK, so the cat that lives in my house gets fed. He’s happy right? Since he’s well fed he really rubs on our legs now, right?

WRONG!

It’s at this point that he turns into a feline Mr. Hyde. He gets a crazy look in his eyes, runs in terror from the very legs and feet he mere moments before could not stop rubbing, bolts from hiding place to hiding place, finally slinking upstairs, never to be seen again until Fatso, his schizophrenic altar-ego shows up wanting food.

This is where the people part comes in.

K.C. reminds me of some of the people I’ve known in my life…finicky people. People who require ‘a little more handling’. Does he remind you of someone you know? Does he remind you of someone you work with? Does he remind you of a relative? Does he remind you of me? Does he remind you of you?

Finicky means requiring much care, precision, or attentive effort.

Cats are finicky people…and sometimes people are too.

I hope I’m not!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:48:00 +0000

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Will It Still Hurt In A Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:44:00 +0000

“Will it still hurt in a year?”

“That’s a weird question.” I answered

Then I started to think about it. Will it still hurt in a year? I was sitting in the hospital after breaking my ankle. I was getting married in just over 2 weeks. I just spent $10,000 for a honeymoon in Hawaii. A huge wedding was planned. Flowers were ordered. People were coming in from all over the country. Tuxedos were all arranged. Flights were booked. Photographers, food, cakes, minister, dresses, all of it was done.

I figured I could hobble through the ceremony, as unsightly as it would be, having a groom on crutches. But I didn’t see how I could still go on my honeymoon in Hawaii. So when the doctor gave me the news about my ankle, I asked “How am I supposed to go on a honeymoon with a hurt ankle?”

That’s when he asked “Will it still hurt in a year?”

Doctors are like that. They “cut to the chase” so to speak. I guess he had much more serious things to think about. A guy with a broken ankle was not a spectacular thing to him. So he asked me a very straightforward question, a question that got me thinking. It got me thinking about more than my ankle.

How many times are we consumed with fear, or grief, or worry about something we are facing right now, in the present? It seems like our whole world is falling apart. It seems like the darkest hour of our lives. It seems like there is no way we will ever recover from this. It seems like it hurts too much right now. It’s unbearable. How will we be able to survive this?

I want to ask you this question. Will it still hurt in a year? Think about it. Will it still hurt in a year?

I’ve been through some hard times. When you’re in the midst of the hard times it seems like your world is just about over.

Divorce.

Death of loved ones.

Business stolen.

Abused.

Lied about. Lied to.

Cheated on.

Financially broken.

Heartbroken.

Forsaken.

No job.

Kids in trouble.

Car repossessed.

Dumped.

I want you to know, this too shall pass. It is simply something you are going through. It’s not the end. You will make it. You will live. You will recover. You will love again. You will smile again. You will laugh again. You will be happy again. You will have money again. You will have peace again. You really will.

Will it still hurt in a year?

NO!

It won’t. I can boldly say that as someone who has gone through many of the same things I listed. In a year it won’t hurt. It won’t, if you get over it.

If you get over it?

Remember my broken ankle? I had to let my ankle heal. But it did. It healed and on my 1st anniversary I had my honeymoon in Hawaii. It was great. It was wonderful. But I had to let my ankle heal. I had to get over my broken ankle. I had to give my body time to heal my ankle. I had to let it “not hurt anymore”.

You have to get over whatever it is you’re going through. If you keep living in the middle of whatever it is you’re going through, if you keep holding onto it, you’ll never get over it. You have to let it go. Get it behind you and never look back. Let the healing start.

If I kept re-breaking my ankle every day, it never would have healed. I had to stay off of my ankle. I had to leave the cast on and not open it every day. I couldn’t re-hurt myself everyday. I had to forget about it, let it go and let the healing begin.

Now, I can happily say it doesn’t hurt. My ankle doesn’t hurt.

What about you? Will it still hurt in a year? Do you want it to still hurt in a year? Can you get over it? Can you let it go? Can you let the healing begin?

Remember that question!

Will it still hurt in a year?

Make the answer…NO!

Keep Believing…

Bille Baty

300 Feet Up, Isn’t As Far As 300 Feet Down

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 10 May 2009 23:49:00 +0000

I told some friends I was going to call this post “300 Feet Up, Isn’t As Far As 300 Feet Down” but the real name of this post is “When It’s Time To Go…Go!” Sorry for the confusion but I will now try to make everything a little more clear.

Mazatlan is a beautiful place. The mountains along the beautiful shore overlooking pristine blue waters and protected coves bring tourists from around the world. That’s how I got there. I was a tourist. I love being a tourist. One of my favorite things in the world is traveling. The only problem with traveling is, when you go some place beautiful, or exciting, or relaxing, sometimes you hate to leave. This is what got me into trouble, again, hating to leave.

We had a wonderful time in Mazatlan, shopping, exploring, looking at homes in the hills, strolling along the beach, going places where few get to go, thanks to our guide. But the time came to leave and we bid our guide “Adios” and headed down the beach to our awaiting ship.

That’s when it came into view, the brightly colored parachute reminiscent of all the colors and decorations on the streets of San Antonio during Fiesta. Instantly the child rose up inside of me and I stopped in my tracks and said, “I have got to ride that!”

My wife being the sane one of the two of us said, “I don’t know, Bille, these guys don’t look like professionals. If you want to parasail, why don’t we book it on the ship? It’s time to go.”

I’m not sure but I think I stomped my feet in the sand as I said “I want to ride this one!”

She shook her head as she asked me if I wanted her to hold my stuff – wallet, cell phone, Passport. I said, “Nah, he said we would take off from the beach and land back on the beach. I won’t get wet.”

As they strapped me into the harness and put the life jacket on me, the adrenaline was flowing through my body. Excitement was in the air. It was electric. I was pumped. Soon I would be, according to my new friends, floating happily 300-400 feet above all these terrestrial losers on the beach.

In my endorphin induced state of euphoria, the whole world stopped until I heard these faint words floating through the fog in my mind, “Bille, you have on a life jacket. Are you sure you don’t want me to hold your stuff?”

The giant smile faded from my face as I repeated, “Life jacket?”

Why would I need a life jacket? You take off from the beach. You land on the beach. What’s with the life jacket? Life jacket?

My wife is actually much more intelligent than I am. She also doesn’t read this blog so don’t tell her I wrote that.

I quickly handed her everything I was carrying and headed off into the clear blue skies, and to my eternal destiny. No, it wasn’t that bad, but it could have been.

Take off was uneventful. I was quickly floating as high as the rope would allow me to go. The view was beautiful with all the tiny little people on the beach below, the beautiful blue waters going off to the horizon, the majestic mountains behind the city. I felt the wind caressing my face as I floated carelessly out to sea. The boat pulling me, far below, looked so tiny and weak.

In fact, the boat didn’t even look like it was moving. It looks like the man in the boat is waving his arms. All the tiny people on the beach seem to be waving their arms. But why are they waving? Oh well, I waved back.

The wind stops caressing my face. I realize the boat isn’t moving and now I am headed down into the ocean, FAST. Concerning the parachute, all I can say is, when the boat isn’t pulling you, you go down a lot faster than you’re supposed to.

I had about 15 seconds to get right with GOD, ask that the parachute not cover me, and prepare for ditching. I’m not sure how long it was before a boat came all the way out to where I was and rescued me. I am pretty sure a shark or two had already given thanks for the bountiful blessing from above. But thankfully, I was rescued and only suffered a sore back for a few days,

When the boat returned me to shore, I literally fell out into the surf and was mobbed by Police, spectators, the boat crew, a whole crowd had gathered to see the man who fell to earth. There was my wife, calmly documenting the whole ordeal through video and pictures.

She walked up and asked two things. “Are you okay?” Are you ready to go, now?”

This brings me to a life lesson, When It’s Time To Go…Go.

Do you remember the guy who lived with the bears a few years ago? He made documentaries with the bears. He got pictures with the bears. He lived amongst the bears and survived. Then one year, he left the bears and was headed home but decided to return to live with the bears a little bit longer. He and his girlfriend were eaten by the bears. He should have known…

When It’s Time To Go…Go.

In investing or trading, it’s called pulling the trigger. When someone has a losing position and experiences significant loss, the hardest thing to do is “pulling the trigger” on the next trade. Experienced traders have all experienced this but know…

When It’s Time To Go…Go.

In marketing, there are things known as triggers. Marketing Gurus do surveys and research and spend all kinds of money to determine what the triggers are and what the triggers mean. They prepare to spend millions of dollars on marketing around these triggers. They know if a trigger is hit it means…

When It’s Time To Go…Go.

There are many more examples of this principle, you probably could give me a few of your own to add to the list, but I’ll leave you with this one. If you’re sailing around the world on a cruise ship and your spouse says, “It’s time to go.” Always remember…

When It’s Time To Go…Go.

Keep Believing…

Bille Baty

There Are 10 Things Not To Say To A Woman

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Some things shouldn’t be said to a woman.

It’s true! I have my list and I will share it shortly, but first some startling facts.

If you Google “10 things not to say to a woman” there are 72,300,000 results. That’s insane! That number, just in case you’re not wearing your eyeglasses, is 72 million plus. Why is it so important to know what not to say to a woman? I decided to peruse a few of the lists online just to gauge them against my personal findings. I must have looked at a couple million sites, or at least a couple dozen, and let me tell you, they don’t even come close to the truth.

It’s like a computer decided on Saturday night it had nothing better to do, so it sent little bots scurrying across the web, crawling every site they could find pertaining to women, and came up with things that can best be described as “Artificial Intelligence”.

I went to my wife, who is a “woman” by the way, and said “What do you think about these things that can’t be said to a woman, that I found on the web?”

After a 10 minute “discussion” about “How can you categorize people?” and “No two women are alike!” and “This is so stereotypical.” and “I’m sure a man wrote this…” she started correcting the list. That brought me to the first point on my list.

1) Please don’t tell my wife I have a list!
That’s right. Don’t ever tell a woman you have a list. Of any kind. They love to correct lists. You’ll hear things like,
“This doesn’t even belong on this list.”
Or “Move this down to # 8.
Or “Don’t say 10 Things…Make it 12 Things”.
Or “What about…” Any list will be wrong and need correcting.

2) “Whatever”.
This one word has caused me more “near death experiences” than Indiana Jones and James Bond combined. I don’t know if it’s how I say it, or when I say it, or just saying it. I can tell you, I have removed the word from my conversational repertoire. I only use its written form. Unless I’m writing to…people…who…uh…don’t appreciate the word…then I don’t write it either.

3) “Relax”.
This word seems to have the opposite effect of its meaning. The word “relax” to me has grown into a pictogram. Any time I am about to say “relax” the picture of a guy sticking a chair into the face of a lion pops into my mind. I see the lion eat the chair…and the guy…and I refrain from saying it. This may not work for you but it does for me. Try your own methods to see what works.

4) “It’s up to you”.
I cannot tell you how much weight I’ve lost with this phrase. I still haven’t been able to beat this one but I’m working on it. It’s like my brain is in my little, happy place and I hear the question, “Where are we going to eat?” Before I think, the words come out of my mouth, “It’s up to you”. Once I utter this dreaded phrase, I silently scream the Homer Simpson great, “DOPE!” I know instantly what I’ve done and there is no going back. I’m in the middle of “Frigid River” and I have to make it to the other side without drowning or freezing to death. Luckily for me, I’m a good swimmer…but still losing weight.

5) “We both need to join The Biggest Loser”.
I plead insanity on this one.
First of all it was a joke, but I still plead insanity. Also, I was heavily medicated and didn’t really know what I was saying. Lastly, it had been a really long time since I had eaten and my blood-sugar was low and I kind of like the way it feels when an iron skillet accidentally bumps into the side of my face. ‘Nuf said.

6) “Is it okay if I dance with (insert name here)?”
This is the same as asking, “Is it okay if I shoot myself in the foot?”
“Is it okay if I sleep on the couch for two weeks?”
“Is it okay if I watch Hell freeze over?”
“Is it okay if I take a long walk off of a short pier?”
“Is it okay if I bang my head against the wall?” I think you understand this one.

7) “What is wrong with you?”
Even if nothing was wrong before I asked the question…IT IS NOW. This is the same as waving a red flag in front of a bull. Although I understand a bull is color-blind, my wife can see the darned thing…and that it’s red…and that it’s waving in her face. I mean, really, this is the kind of question/innuendo you just don’t wave in front of anyone. Especially if you ever want to eat solid food again.

8) “How long until you’re ready?”
Now this one is difficult for some people (men) to comprehend. It’s a simple question regarding time. It should merit a simple answer…again regarding time. I have, however, found that time is the farthest thing from my wife’s mind when I pose this question. I mean the answers I get are really off subject as far as I’m concerned.
What does “Forget it, I’m not going” have to do with time?
How does “Do you want me to look good or not” relate to time?
Why would you say “You’re in front of the TV” when asked this question?
I have removed this question from the play list. I now simply make a loud noise with the keys for a few minutes and then head to the car. I usually don’t have to wait too long in the car. I have a nice library of CD’s to choose from, so the time goes quickly.

9) “Do you have to yell?”
Never, and I repeat never ask this question unless you want to raise the volume 20 decibels. It’s like having a remote control for my wife.
Loud conversation…ask this question…+20 decibels…
”You think I’m loud”, etc., etc., etc…ask this question…+20 decibels…
”Oh I’m not yelling yet”, etc., etc., etc…ask this question…+20 decibels…
”I’m about to start yelling”, etc., etc., etc…ask this question…+20 decibels…
”Now I’m yelling!”
Actually, this one is my fault. Well, actually all of them are my fault, but I do this one on purpose. I mean…I used to.

10) “You look…fine.”
First of all, never say you look fine. It’s almost like saying “You’ll do”. You need to put some meaning into this answer.
Yes, it is an answer. To one of the most dreaded questions in a man’s life.“How do I look?”
Have some answers that you’ve worked out in advance to use for this one. The planning is well worth it. It could save your night, your week, your life. Here are a few to consider.
“That color looks great on you.”Notice the reference to color. My wife loves it when I notice she wears colors.
“Wow, you really look beautiful with your hair like that.”PLEASE make sure she is wearing a NEW hairstyle when using this one.
“You look wonderful, tonight.” Make sure it’s night, otherwise use “today”.
Above all be honest.
Secondly, I want to call your attention to the three dots in the “You look…fine.” Answer. This indicates a pause. NEVER pause during this answer. It denotes dishonesty and a woman can tell if Santa Claus is lying. Don’t do it. As I said earlier, be honest…it matters.

Well, there you have my 10 list.

It isn’t real. It’s not about my wife. It’s not about women. It’s not about men. It’s about all of us. All of us want honesty. All of us deserve honesty. The reason there are 72,300,000 pages with lists about what not to say to women, or what to say to women, is because communication is so very important to us as human beings.

Communication can build a relationship or destroy a relationship. Communication can build a family or destroy a family. It can build a community or destroy a community. It can build a nation or destroy a nation.

The next time you don’t know what to say to someone, don’t Google it to find out what the "experts" say. Take a moment, look inside yourself, be honest and communicate…honestly.

It matters...honestly.

Keep Believing…

Bille