Kiss that Frog

Eighteen years ago I was working for the Department of Defense as a contractor. I had an illustrious title and impossible responsibility to manage the morale, welfare and recreational opportunities of the military men and women and contract personnel assigned to a remote and isolated coral atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It was my thinking that the better the recreation, the more we could find fun and rewarding ways to play and exercise, the easier it would be to manage the nebulous and difficult to quantify areas of morale and welfare. I was taking a page from the Happiness is 99% Good Health playbook. And for a while it worked. Funny how a war can change things.

During that same period I was also piecing together some philosophical concepts that seemed to fit. Trying to make the means justify the ends. Trying to define quality. Trying to accept what was, and then suddenly what wasn't. And vice versa. They were interesting times on many fronts and on many levels.

One of the precepts that I came up with in sharing some of these ideas in a classroom setting, or to anyone who cared to listen, was what I called The Big Four, TBF because it was a Navy Support Facility and everything was accronyminated (look THAT one up).

I bring this up because today I got another promo e-mail from renowned cyclist Graeme Street and while the Kona 2009 Expo video is rendering, clips not the final render mind you, I listened to his daily podcast, linked here. And I liked it a lot as it reminded my of my TBF days and all the good memories that surrounded them.

Here, then is the Tale of Two Roadies. TBF by RCVman (well before he was RCVman) and Graeme Street. See if you can detect any similarities and/or constants.

The Big Four (RCVman):

1) Be only here 'cause it's right Now.
2) Think positive thoughts.
3) Be Happy.
4) Live, Love, Learn.

Pump it (Graeme Street):

1) Remove negatives.
2) Simplify, focus, organize.
3) Absorb the goodness around you.
4) Share the good.
5) Breathe.

A most interesting reflection. Thank you Graeme for the reminder.

As a special magical sharing note, Graeme's wife has a cool site that picks up on his item number 4. It is here.

Kiss that frog.