This past weekend, I was in the airport twice in a twenty-four hour span for my Sixthman Throwdown party (which kicked ass by the way, big thanks to Cindy!)  With Thanksgiving, site inspections, cross-country concerts, Christmas, and five cruises on the near horizon, I’ll be spending a LOT of time in airports, waiting in lines, and on airplanes.  I can’t wait.

Seriously.  I love airports, and I enjoy flying.  The longer the flight, the better.  The longer I’m stuck waiting in an airport, the happier I am.  Flying alone? Not a problem.

Why?  Simple.  I absolutely love reading, but I can never find the time to read as much as I’d like when I’m home.  There’s always a TV show to watch, place to go, game to play, etc.  However, in an airport, there is nothing to occupy my time except an iPod (set to my carefully cultivated Relax playlist), a quasi-comfy chair, and a good book.  I prefer airports that charge outrageous amounts for wi-fi…that way I’m not tempted to waste my time on Twitter or Facebook.

An hour and a half before a plane ride, a two hour flight (four if I’m heading to the West Coast), and more time waiting for my ride after the flight means I can blow through an entire book in an afternoon.  My book purchases generally follow a week of studying best-seller lists, friend recommendations, and Amazon reader reviews.  However, I’ll check out the airport bookstore and buy impulsively on a whim.  The last three books I’ve bought (and finished before leaving the airport):

Water for Elephants: one of the best books I’ve ever read.  A great story about an old man in a retirement home, who looks back on his crazy life as a young man with a traveling circus troop.  I finished this one halfway through the flight.

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell: the most offensive, improbable, ludicrous, laugh-out-loud hilarious book on the market.  The guy next to me on the plane couldn’t believe that I was laughing so hard from reading a book.  If you’re easily offended, avoid at all costs.  If you’re not, and can put up with an egotistical maniac, you’ll never laugh harder.

The Game: Fascinating non-fiction book, written by a NY Times writer sent to infiltrate a secret society of pick-up artists.  The guy gets in so deep, that he actually becomes one of the world’s best, eclipsing the great Mystery (VH1′s “The Pick-up Artist” host).  Luckily I picked this one up on a day when I was stuck in the airport for seven hours.  I couldn’t put it down.

So that’s my airport ritual: read, read, read.

How do you spend that hour and a half waiting for the plane to take off?  People watching (who doesn’t love doing that)? Reading trashy tabloid magazines? Sleeping?

-Steve

For those of you who receive our Sixthman printed newsletters (3 times a year), we set out to create one interactive promotion or contest with each issue. So far, we’ve asked people ‘where you at’ and had them send postcards accordingly, we’ve sent those who wanted a cruise on a ‘Sixthman Scavenger Hunt’ and submit their findings, and most recently, we challenged our community to throw parties across the country on Nov. 8^th.

Yeah, we know. Sounds crazy, right?

And it was! November 8^th, 2008 will forever go down in history as the first annual ‘Sixthman Throwdown’ competition. Notice I said ‘first annual’…

The idea – get our community together to throw parties.

The process – have each party host send us an invitation. A ‘selection committee’ narrows all invitations down to 10 final parties. Randomly, 5 of those are chosen. And Sixthman crashes all 5 to vouch for whose is best.  

The crashers – get teams of 2 from the Sixthman team to volunteer to crash.                         

The prize – winner gets a cabin onboard cruise of their choice.

It was for sure an out-of-the-box idea that took all of us in the office a while to grasp and be willing to take a risk on. I mean think about it: what we were doing was potentially putting ourselves in a position to show up at a party, with people we didn’t know at all, and have it be that awkward moment when you know something’s about to go wrong.

However, most of us had faith in our community – and for good reason.  We found the 10 volunteers (it was just as tough as it sounds) and we divided up the parties randomly. Here is the breakdown.

* Steve and Jana went to a small fishing town in Maryland to help raise money for a fishing boat captain named Ralph.  

* Andy and Ashley went to hang on a small island south of Tampa, and participated in an ‘Olympics’ of sorts.

* Lauren and Barb went down the street to Lawrenceville, GA where im pretty sure moonshine and bbq were the hits. 

* Melissa and Carla ventured to a block party in Charleston, SC who had managed to get sponsors. 

* And Nora and I hauled ourselves to Denver, CO for a backyard, bonfire, tiki bar gathering of more friends than her and I have together.

All I can say is… wow.  I would have never imagined that I would get as much out of crashing a party. And from stories in the office today, everyone felt the same.

All year long, our team plans these experiences and invites our community to join us in what we hope to be a few days they will always remember. It is a year long process that we are still trying to get perfect. Our hosts in a way, had the same challenge. And they nailed it.

I have never felt so invited, so welcome, so looked after, so appreciated, and so blown away by a 12-hour time period with people I had just met.  I can only hope that is how our community feels the minute the step foot on the ship, walk through the halls, see friendly faces, meet their neighbors, watch that one magical moment happen, and say ‘see you next year’. I can only hope.

To Brian and Julie, thank you! You both (and your friends) hosted an incredible throwdown for us. You have such a wonderful group of friends surrounding you that I can’t wait to see again onboard The Rock Boat Niner.  You rock!

ape

In a classic scene of Seinfeld, Kramer starts a business where people call his house and press phone prompts to decide on which movie to see.

Lacking the technology to automate the process, he answers the phone himself and asks callers to press numbers on their phone so he can read the description of the movie and tell them the times of the movies they want to see.

Because he could not recognize the tones when people selected their movie, he resided to a final prompt that said “Why don’t you just tell me the movie you want to see?”

So here I am each week trying to think about what thoughts, stories or perspectives I can share to make people feel like their life is better for taking the time to read.  In our business, when we struggle to come up with an idea or solution, we reach out and ask our community.

So here I am, asking you all to suggest some topics that would be of interest to you.

Personal philosophy or stories?

Insights on the business?

Funny stories about Rock Stars?

My head is full of useless and useful info, I just don’t know which is which.

“Why don’t you just tell me the topic you would like to read about”?

I’m not gonna lie to you
I don’t know what I’m doing
Even after all these years
I’m lost

I’m not gonna lie to you
I’m a little bit crazy
I try to keep my head on straight
It’s always a little bit off

But my heart…it feels right for the first time in my life
For the first time… 

I may have the tendencies of a crazy person sometimes…
act a bit goofy now and then
i even have a strange giggle that will present itself sometimes when I am being mischevious or something just gets me in the right way…

but I am not crazy
my therapist has assured me of this…not crazy…just complex… Over-thinker, selfless to the point of flaw sometimes, overworked, blah blah blah…but the important part….not…not crazy.

whew.

Crazy is like getting 200 spam emails all about male enhancement.   Who gets all that?

Crazy….

Crazy is paying off a credit card and not feeling that weight.  Huh?

Crazy….

Crazy is watching your dog or cat and wondering what they are thinking long enough that you start to engage in conversation with it.   Who would actually talk to their pet?

Crazy…

Crazy is thinking that college will actually gives us all more than that notion that upon graduation all will be okay…has to be…my/our life will start
money will just pile in…job stability will be in our grasp…we will have it all figured out..cause mom and dad said college was necessary and would give us the education to accomplish life…
crazy

Crazy is falling in love.  No.  I didn’t log on and upload my profile yet.  How can that be?

Crazy…

But that is how it goes most days right…we have our little dose of crazy however it comes…
traffic
a phone call
an email
a pet
a spouse
a partner
a thought
a kiss

What I have come to learn is that those crazy moments sometimes are the most defining about who I am.  So my life might be crazy but I am right at home in it.  Which doesn’t make me crazy, just human.

thanks Edie Carey…for good lyrics…that make sense today…most days…

-kelly

Four guys.  A drummer, a bass player, a guitar player, and a singer who plays a little guitar too.  You can find a four-piece rock band like this in any town across the country on just about any night.  You can find them in clubs, pay your $8 cover and have a good time.  Other times, you’ll be asked to shell out $80 for an upper deck seat in an arena. 

So what’s the difference?  A band may have an well-written, identifiable, and hooky song without that song necessarily being a radio smash.  Why will hard working folks willingly drop a sizeable chunk of their weekly salary on a concert ticket to see bands like U2, Coldplay, or the Dave Matthews Band in stadiums instead of hitting up their local 200 capacity club?

It’s the moment, the excitement, the indefinable, untouchable it that destroys what little empty space is left between 20,000 screaming fans.  Groups that command seemingly outrageous ticket prices can do so for a reason.  They make you feel like you’re in a moment that is not only worth that ticket price, that moment is priceless.  Anything is possible in that moment.  They make you feel like you are a part of something.  You will go to work or school the next day telling your friends how they should have been there.  How they just can’t understand what you felt last night.  It’s in the music, but, just as importantly, it’s in the room.  It is made by the fans as much as it is by the band.

It’s that intangible that keeps me coming back to music.  When I’ve been on a boat, surrounded by bands for three weeks, with sore feet and sore ears, it is that idea, that feeling, that makes me go to back into that night’s show regardless of whether I have to be there or not.  I don’t want to miss what could happen.  I don’t want to miss out on being a part of the one-time-only moment that is sure to take place.  And regardless of my individual circumstance leading up to the show, I leave feeling better…about myself, my surroundings, my world. 

-Melissa

So, I’ve been trying this “Living in the Moment” thing, perhaps you’ve heard of it?  Wow, it is definitely a challenge!  See, I’m a spinner.  Or actually, I used to be.  I was Queen of the “what if?”, as in “what if I’d said this, what if I’d done that, what if this or THAT happens?” But, you see, the past is a done deal and the future is yet to be, so the only thing you really know is RIGHT NOW.  And right now, I am sitting at my desk, writing my blog, eating an Eggo waffle.  And I feel pretty good about it.

Do you know how much energy it takes to worry about the future?  A ton!  I couldn’t believe it when I finally started to concentrate on the now.  I felt so less….exhausted.  So I embraced this new strategy.  Instead of freaking out about stuff that hadn’t even happened (i.e. things I can’t control), I spent my time and energy being present in the here and now.  It’s an amazing feeling, being present.  I heard more. I saw more.  And the more I was able to stay present, the more I WANTED to stay present.  So now, instead of losing sleep at night worrying about what’s yet to be or lamenting over what has been, I say to myself; “Carla, at this very moment, there is nothing you can do about this situation.”  It works every time, whether it’s 3 in the morning or high noon.  Whew!  Living in the moment certainly isn’t easy, but the effort made to do so is absolutely worth it.

Don’t you agree?

–Carla

In my previous blog post, I talked about applying the 80/20 rule when cleaning out my closet.  This rule (also known as the Pareto Principle) was inspired by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who researched back in in 1906 that 80% of the wealth in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population.  Since then, the rule has been studied and applied to every facet and aspect of life.  Dozens upon dozens of articles, studies, and even books have been written on the subject.

One such book, The 80/20 Principle, was written by Richard Koch (an inventor and entrepreneur).  In it, he details just how much of this rule can be applied to your life to improve success at work and happiness in life.  Here are some of the instances that Koch highlighted to show how applicable and far reaching the rule can be:

• 20% of taxpayers account for 80% of IRS revenue.
• 20% of motorists cause 80% of accidents.
• 20% of those who marry comprise 80% of the divorce statistics.
• 20% of your work activity is responsible for 80% of your productivity on the job.
• 20% of your leisure activities account for 80% of your happiness.

The last two are the ones that truly resonated with me.  I’ve become slightly obsessed with the Pareto Principle, and thus have become obsessed with applying it to as many aspects of my life as possible.  These are the examples that I have noticed:

• In my experience as a Sales Rep (prior to working for Sixthman), 80% of my commissions came from 20% of my clients.  I spent the majority of my time chasing around clients who barely bought anything from me.  The 20% that contributed the most profits didn’t require chasing.
• My iTunes playlist! 80% of the time, I’m only listening to 20% of the songs on my playlist.
• To stay in shape, only 20% of the time dedicated in the gym produces 80% of the results (the other 80% is diet).

In reading as much as possible about this subject, a few things have become apparent to me.  I often used to spread myself too thin, overworking myself on projects that didn’t show the results comparable to the amount of time and effort I had applied.  If 80% of my productivity and happiness comes from only 20% of the things I do, then I should be doing everything I can to put myself in a position to become as productive, efficient, and effective in those activities.  It comes down to simple mathematics: if you get 80% productivity from doing Activity A verses only 20% productivity from Activity B, an increase in effort for A will cause an increase in productivity 4 TIMES greater than putting the same exact increase in effort into activity B.  The goal is not to “simply do more.”  The goal is to “do more of the right thing.”

So far, I am working towards completely 80/20′ing my closet, my workout routine (in and out of the gym in 40 minutes!), and my work day (a constant process).

What can you “80/20″ in your life?

-Steve

Last Saturday morning, I found myself in a meeting at a resort with an executive team who all had young children.  Our travel plans required that they schedule the meeting at this time and all I could think about as we sat around the conference table was how we were all missing one of the most precious times parents get with their kids.

My favorite memories growing up were the Saturday mornings watching Scooby Doo and eating bowls of Fruit Loops with my twin brother, Asher.  Then, once the sugar buzz kicked in, we would run into my dad’s room and wake him up by jumping on him and we would pretend we were professional tag team wrestlers taking on Andre the Giant.

So here I was, missing my own Saturday morning with my kids, and indirectly causing others to miss it as well.  Talk about putting pressure on a meeting to produce results.

For those wondering, it was a great meeting and very productive but on the drive home, it made me think of how most of us spend lots of time in places doing things that are not in line with who we want to be.  My dream job requires me to miss some Saturday mornings and school functions but gives me lots of flexibility in other times.  What if I hated my job and still had to miss these moments?

So I ask you…..Where are you NOT right now and what are you NOT doing?

…with your kids?

…pursuing a dream?

…helping people?