Got Good PAAM?!

In this crazy (yet wonderful) world; full of crazy (yet wonderful) stuff; with crazy (yet wonderful) people; doing crazy (yet wonderful) things; living crazy (yet wonderful) lives - the importance for us to have a positive, do-it-anyway, turn-the-other-cheek, chin-up, flip-that-frown-upside-down, upbeat mentality toward craziness, is ... IMPERATIVE.

To help us see, why this is so - check out what Mother Teresa wrote in her brilliant piece of writing called “The Final Analysis”:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

Hits home, don’t it?

Similarly (but from a completely different spectrum) - there’s a fun, old-school, Dennis the Menace cartoon, where Dennis is forced to sit in a chair facing the corner, as he was required to when he did something that he shouldn't have. With his dad and mom hovering behind him unhappily, Dennis muses, “But we’ll laugh about this when we’re older.” Cute, yes, but there's a point, right?!

And there's a more important point from Mother Theresa's heart of hearts - and that's that good perspective, attitude, aptitude and mindfulness (PAAM) matters.

It matters a lot.

The fact is, we're living in a crazy (yet wonderful) time; with lots of crazy (yet wonderful) people; doing crazy (yet wonderful) things; living crazy (yet wonderful) lives. And how we choose to deal with this reality - is up to us and our PAAM.

Crazy (yet wonderful) is Good.

Much More Better!

On a recent family road trip - my kids passed the time by watching the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie on a portable DVD. (You know, when I was a kid, we passed the time by being bored; soo not fair.) And while it would have been nice to have watched as well (safety first, you know) - I was able to listen along, and enjoyed the movie nonetheless. And since I've seen the movie about two dozen times, I was able to visualize most of the scenes anyhow.

One of my favorite sayings in the movie (admittedly, I have lots of them) is from Captain Jack, when he quips, "Much More Better!" Not only is it a fun part of the movie - the line has become somewhat embedded in my own nomenclature. In fact, as Jack himself would muse, it's become part of my repartee; my lexicon, rap, and parlance. I even have a tendency to mimic his accent when saying it (much to the embarrasment of my wife and kids). But hey, having lived in England for more than 7 years, I can still deliver a rather convincing British dialect, if I say so myself, thank you very much. Spot on, what what?!

Think about it: Who doesn't want things to be Much More Better?

I do! Don't you?

So the next time you're thinking about doing something - that's really worth doing - at work, in business, and in life - ask yourself: How can I make this Much More Better? After all, nobody likes a Davey Jones. He's uuggllyy. And Much More Worse.

Much More Better is Good.