So here is the question I pose to you…what is good? And what is evil?

Before you answer this think about it for a minute. I mean really contemplate the questions, what is good, what is evil?

To stimulate your thoughts i thought i would provide the definitions from dictionary.com of each:
* good – morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious
* evil – morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life; harmful; injurious: evil laws.

Read those definitions again.

Now what is good? And what is evil?

Let’s start with what is good?

I challenge you to list some things you think are good.

Here is a list of things I feel are good:
* God
* America
* Freedom
* Serving others
* Being a parent
* Friendship
* Married life
* 12 Stone Church
* The BCS
* Georgia Bulldogs
* New York Yankees
* WrestleMania

What does your list look like? Is it exactly like mine? If not why not? You may disagree with some of my list and I may disagree with some of your list. So if what I listed is good and what you listed is good, what really is good?

Stay with me here…

I know many people that absolutely hate married life, they hate the BCS, they hate the New York Yankees so in their world these things are … EVIL. However on the flip side millions of people love these same things so in their world these things are … GOOD.

Have you ever thought about that? You know that the things you think are good are actually evil to someone else and on the flip side the things you deem evil are good to someone? When I thought about this I was stopped dead in my tracks. It staggered me.

I was like what really is good? And what really is evil?

That is what I plan to dig into over the next couple of days on this blog. Let’s take this journey together…

At my son’s school they have a program called AR (accelerated reading) where the kids read books, log onto the computer, and take a test. As they pass these tests they get AR points. It is a cool system. There is a huge list of books that are eligible which makes it even better. For every test my son completes he gets two G-Dollars at home, G-Dollars are our incentive program. So we strongly encourage (make him) read books on a regular basis so he can achieve high levels on his AR ranking.

We all know reading is good but here is my issue and where I become a hypocrite. While I am ‘strongly encouraging’ him to read guess what I am doing? Yep watching tv or surfing the net. Not a good example. See I want my son to do something but the example I am setting ain’t all that great.

This got me thinking about other things we make our kids do that we stop doing as adults. Your know things like…
* read books
* study
* play outside
* not watch too much tv
* go to church
* be nice to others
* be respectful to others
* don’t get smart with their parents

Yeah I dont like the list either cause I am GUILTY as charged.

When was the last time you read a book? Did you do it where your kids could see you? I am starting to make an effort to read at the same time I ask Greg 2.0 and Ashley to read. Trying to set an example.

Study / homework may sound like something we no longer need to do but I beg to differ. We should always educate ourselves. Think about it we say to our kids to study and do well in school for a better future but then we don’t continue to educate ourselves for a better future. It doesn’t matter your age you can still learn and improve your future. I am not saying you have to go to school but you can read certain things, attend seminars, watch webinars, read blogs, etc.

Play outside is another one. When was the last time you went outside and and played? Yeah been a while for me too. It could beg a walk, a run (I ain’t running), tossing the football, shoot baskets, etc. We know it is good to get fresh air which is why we want our kids outside, which is why the NFL has a program called Play 60. Yet we as adults have determined that we can sit inside…why?

I know so many people that send their kids to church because they think it is right but they keep their butts at home. If your think it is good for them then it is good for you too. Yeah it may be hard to do at first but give it a chance cause it may not only enhance their lives but turn yours around as well.

Being respectful to others when we aren’t. Hey husbands when was the last time you got smart with your wife or spoke to her in a way that you know was wrong? Wouldn’t you totally flip out if you son talked to his mom that way? Yeah I have been seriously guilty there too.

This blog is a hard one to read cause I AM SO GUILTY of these things.

I am trying now to set a better example for my kids. I am not asking them to do anything I wouldn’t do. When I ask them to read, I read. When I say no more tv, I turn it off of me as well. When Greg 2.0 is doing homework I sit there and work on things too or try to help him study. When I get upset about how he talks to his mom I look at me and think about how I have spoken to her.

Yes I am a hypocrite but I am getting better. I am trying. The key is to be aware and pay attention to the examples we set. Too often their short comings are really our short comings.

I saw these posts as a negative on the reality that stood in front of them. The reality they were speaking of were their jobs, careers, and school. It got me thinking about the fact that we create our own reality.

Yes we do. We create it by the choices we make. We are all at places in our lives due to those choices. Yeah it sucks sometimes but it is still the truth.

Think about it. The job you have, who accepted that job?

The friends you have, you made them your friends?

The marriage you have, who made it the way that it is?

The place you live, who moved there?

The attitude you have each day, who is responsible?

The weight you are at, who ate all those pies, cakes, and pizza?

Yeah that mirror is hard sometimes. The reflection is the hardest thing to accept.

Ultimately we choose our actions and more importantly we choose our reactions. We can choose each day what kind of attitude we will have. Our attitudes start to shape our everyday. As we shape that day we will influence others around us. That will lead to some stepping away from you and others will gravitate to you. Your surroundings will adjust.

You reality will start to shift.

If you don’t like your reality then I challenge you to adjust it.

If you don’t like your job change it. Now I know that may not be easy and may take time but it took time to get to where you are now at your job anyway. You can start taking steps today to improve your job situation. You can read books, go back to school, listen to educational or motivational recordings, read blogs, etc. You can look on Monster or Career Builder and apply for jobs. You have to first take steps to adjust your reality.

If you don’t like you friends, change them too. While this maybe hard it actually starts with you. You must first start to choose to change your attitude. Figure out what you want to be. Do you want to be a positive person? If so start choosing positive thoughts. Look at the positive side of things instead of talking about people. As you do this people will leave your life automatically while others come into your life. All of a sudden your circle of friends has changed.

If you have a relationship that is, shall we say challenged, then concentrate on your reactions to things. Don’t focus on your friend, family member, or spouse instead focus on you. Study how you react to things and then calmly discuss these situations with the other party. You will be shocked at what happens. Now this is really hard….I struggle with it all the time but the results are so much more positive then when I would blow up before.

I think you get the drift here. Your reality is what YOU make of it. It ain’t easy. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes risk. However the payoff is ridiculously high.

Go for it. Take it one day at a time. Choose how you react to things. Choose the positive path. Choose to make your reality everything you want it to be.

If you don’t like where you are today….change it.

Too often when these same people are presented the opportunity to apply for a position they make exduses as to why they can’t apply.  “The hours are not right, I don’t like that supervisor, the time is not right, what if I don’t succeed, etc.”

This year I have spoken to several leaders that have afforded their employees the opportunity to learn or participate in projects that will enhance their careers. What we have found as a group that less than 5% of the employees that say they want more actually go for more. Instead they do not manage their careers instead they choose to sit back and wait. They do nothing.

One of my friends gave his team the opportunity to participate in a mentoring program. While several members volunteered only one put any effort into succeeding in the program. The others would make every excuse possible as to why they could not complete assignments.

Another friend gave their team the opportunity to become a ‘manager for a day where they would get an opportunity to be the manager for a day.  They would attend meetings, conference calls, and have the chance to learn quite a bit. Here is the eye opening part; 98% of the team said they wanted to be in management only 2% volunteered for the opportunity to be a manager for a day.

Over the years I have given opportunities to do some of the same but unfortunately very few employees take advantage of what is presented to them. It gets frustrating to see so much talent go to waste but it is encouraging when you see someone without all of the talent but tons of desire succeed.

Bottom line is your actions speak louder than words. You may say you want to be great but if you don’t take steps you will never be great. It is great to hear goals but if people never put actions with the stated goals they will never be met. So I challenge you to stop speaking and start doing.

This year we went to Discover Mills Mall on Sunday the 30th and the Mall of Georgia on the 31st for our trick or treating activity.

It is amazing to me how many stores do not participate in this event. While many stores actively get involved there are as many that do not do anything.   Stores such as Toys R Us Express, Medevial Times, The Lego Store, Lunar Golf, the movie theater, and Game Stop do not seize the opportunity to touch their core audience.

The trick or treating event is a perfect opportunity to promote your business. Each year you have hundreds and many even a thousand people to promote your business to, to place information in a bucket or bag, to hand a parent a coupon. Each kid that comes to your store for a piece of candy has a mom, dad, aunt, grandma, or someone that brought them. Each one of these adults spend money and they could spend money in your store. Instead you sit in your store and do nothing.

If I owned or ran one of these stores I would attach a coupon to every piece of candy I handed out. Each one would be good for the next two weeks.  The coupon would hype up any kid’s items I carry. If i had no kids items i would promote what I did have.  Hello people this is an audience begging to take something from your store and you don’t give them anything? Amazing!

Here are my suggestions:
* cookie store should give out cookies
* Medevial Times should have their knights out there handing out candy and coupons
* the preztel place should give out pretzel bites (or a coupon for free ones)
* Cinnabon should give out their cinnabites (or a coupon for free ones)
* Lunar Golf should give out free rounds of golf
* Lego Store, a small oack of legos
* Disney Store should give out Disney related stuff (oh wait they do, and maybe that is why they are where they are)

It ain’t rocket science people. It is just simple marketing.

Let’s look at why people leave jobs. Many times the reason someone quits has very little to do with the company. It has very little to do with the benefits and many times very little to do with their paycheck. Most of the times a person quits a job due to leadership. In other words they quit their boss.

Most of the time it takes some probing to find this out. They will complain about benefits, pay, etc but at the core it is their boss. A boss or shall we say leadership creates an atmosphere. They create vision. They create morale in the employee.  When the morale goes south the employee starts looking elsewhere and then the lack of pay, benefits, etc rise up. Now I am not saying they quit the CEO, the President, the Vice President, but rather they quit their direct supervisor, no matter the level.

I say the same thing happens to church members. They quit the vision or theybdont see the vision being carried out. That may not be by the pastor but instead by the volunteer leader over a ministry. Or a staff member that is in charge of a ministry.  The leadership in the church is responsible to create an atmosphere, or shall we say member morale. However this starts at the Senior Pastor but does not stop at the Senior Pastor.

The Senior Pastor must cast vision but it must be bought into by the rest of the leadership team.  Then the leadership team must pass it on to their teams who must buy in and pass it along.  If this doesn’t happen then you are looking for disengaged members or volunteers, no different than a disengaged employee at your office.

I believe we too often assume that our teams just buy in for the greater good of spreading the gospel. However we have to look at our members and volunteers as partners in the crusade.  We must communicate to them and LISTEN to them, yes we must LISTEN to our teams and members.  That doesnt mean we have to vote on things but instead that we listen to their concerns and suggestions. No different than what we should do at work. This gives us an opportunity to explain why the music is loud, why we don’t have Sunday school, why we may not have a lot if programs, etc.

See I believe members leave a church due to leadership.  For whatever reason they no longer see the vision or even worse they no longer feel a part of that vision.  They do not feel like anyone listens.  They don’t feel like anyone cares. They become disengaged from the church. 

I say to you or shall I say I challenge you to communicate regularly to your staff, volunteers, members and such. Consider these people your customers or employees.  Ask yourself this question ‘if I was a customer or employee and treated the way I have been treated would I want to do business there or work there?’  If your question is no then you need to make adjustments.

On my recent trip to Disney World in Florida I had some really cool thoughts. While they are known as one of the top customer service companies in the world I say it is more than that.

Their entire culture breaths serving. Yes I said serving, because that is what they do. They serve you from the time youngetvon their property until you leave. Your experience is one of respect, kindness, helpfulness, and any other fluffy word you can think of.

As you think about Disney you may think ‘I wish my company did that’ or you think ‘my company could learn from them’. While you are right I am going to challenge you in another way…

What if we simply ran our lives like Disney runs Disney World?

What if we applied the same principles to our everyday interactions?

See if we can apply the principles to business and become profitable think how profitable our lives become if we apply them to our personal lives each day. Think about how profitable other lives become.

The world would be different, we would have less stress, man it would be wonderful.

So I challenge you to Disney-ize your life. Make others happy, serve them when you can and watch his your world becomes magical.

OK now lets take a brief look at my trip. As we al, know Disney personifies customer service. They are totally committed to making you as happy as possible. From the moment you enter the Disney area everything is different. I mean everything from the traffic signs, the landscaping, the colors, not to mention the service you get from the hotels to the parks is just different. Dare I say it is all just plain better.

So what did I learn. One thing is that it is an example of how private enterprise is better than government. How you may ask. Well the roads are laid out with a purpose. They make sense. The signage around the grounds makes sense. They are clear, easy to read, and are easy to follow. Contrast that to your city. How easy is it to find things in your city?

The way you are treated is is second to none. It is trained from the top down in the Disney corporation. How were you treated last time you were at the post office? What about those of you that use VA hospitals?  How was that service?

See our government doesn’t really care how you are treated because often they have a monopoly on the service you are using.

How about the bus system at Disney? Yep again very easy to understand and follow. Now I know that bus systems in other cities are much larger but are they really constructed with the customer in mind? I can speak for Marta in Atlanta and promise you the bus system is crazy. The one in Disney is easy to use and understand. Plus they place an attendant there to assist you in busy times. Marta? Yeah right.

Now I don’t mean this as a political soapbox but at the end of the day our government is more about themselves than any of us. The politicians are more about keeping their jobs and their power than caring about anyone thatv voted for them. They could learn a lot from Disney, as could many other companies and organizations.

What would happen if the government ran the post office, bus systems, DOT, and many other areas like Disney? Dare I say we become more efficient? We don’t have the slums that our cities experience? We don’t have the level of crime we have in our society?

See attitude affects each of this areas.  If our government spent time trying to create a happy country, a fun city, an entertaining day everyday I say that it will trickle throughout our society.

Would it be easy? No. Would it be cheap? No. Would it be worth it? YES!!!!

Watch for part two soon…

Please check it out often and keep checking out GregTroxell.com as it evloves into a life enhancement resource.

There are many other example,es of people working crazy hard to get where they want to be while others rely on their talents alone.  Look at recent comments by Jerry Rice the former NFL wide receiver, who was known as one of the hardest working players of all time. He said Randy Moss was one of the most talented players to ever play the game but he did not have the desire nor the work effort to be the greatest.  Wow!

So is desire greater than talent? I say yes. Clearly!

Throughout my over 20 years in leadership I have seen many people have the talent to do whatever they decide too.  I have seen future team leads, managers, leaders, directors, vice presidents, and chairpersons that never achieved crap.  They stayed put for years all due to a lack of desire. 

I have personally tapped people as the ‘next big thing’ only to see them fizzle out. It is sad and frustrating to witness people with so much potential just waste it.  I have seen too many people just waste opportunity.  Instead of listening, they know the answers.  Instead of paying attention to the job at hand they sit around and socialize. Instead of reading books as suggested, they watch tv.  As time goes by they just fade away into the landscape of the office to never fulfill their abilities.

On the flip side I have seen people that test horribly, start out very slowly, and have no natural talent become great.  I have seen people take every piece of advice and apply it. Read every book they can and figure out how they can use the new learnings. I love seeing people ask questions about what they are learning or observing. I have seen these people bust it at the office and outside the office to succeed. It is a great feeling to see others to make it, to overachieve, to go beyond their natural talents.

I ask you this…
* Do you have talents that are being wasted?
* Are you living to your full potential?
* Are you reading books to enhance yourself or are you watching Jersey Shore?
* Are you asking questions or are you downing those that do?
* Do you know who John Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, Jim Collins, Anthony Robbins and Seth Godin are or are you more familiar with the Kardashians?
* Are you more interested in Beyonce’s baby or are you more interested in you and your family?

Desire will always outweigh talent. Talent can only get you so far. Sure you can be successful on talent alone but those that have desire will be successful for the long term. Deion Sandefs nice admitted the first few years of his career he could get by on talent alone but knew that he needed to outwork others to continue to be better and to be the best.

I challenge you to out work, out hustle, out desire everyone else. Can you do it? Yes you can but it is 100% up to YOU!!!