Stay with me for one more paragraph, because there’s a point here.  We all work hard and we all have days when we’re frustrated. The one thing we tend to forget so often is that life is about friendships – not work. We get so wrapped up in the day-in day-out challenges that we forget we need to step away from business and hang out the old “Gone Fishing” sign on the door and leave Mayberry!   (Let’s see how many of you are old enough to understand that one!)

So, my suggestion for today is close up early and catch up with friends. Remember that texting and e-mailing and Twittering aren’t substitutes for looking someone in the eye. And while work is important, the friendships in our lives are more important. And the networking that comes with those friendships will be more than enough “work” to justify taking the time away from the office to brighten someone else’s day.

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.  Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Do good anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.  Be honest and frank anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for some underdogs anyway.

What you spend a year building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you help them.  Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you’ve got ANYWAY

This almost sounds like it was written by a troll who in a weak moment decided to come over to the side of optimism!  I’ll gladly give the author credit if anyone knows who wrote it.  For now, it’s simply a great thought condensed to one concept – positive actions trump the trolls!   Have a great Sunday…anyway!

Everything changed the day he figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in his life.

Think about that statement for just a second and now think about everything you’re trying to accomplish this week.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking about everything I want to do today and was already worrying about whether or not I had enough time to get it all done!  Time isn’t our enemy, we are.   We spend so much time worrying about things we need to get done that we lose sight of the fun of the process.

We live in a world of deadlines.  The clock is always ticking – and I actually have an old analog clock in my office and I hear it ticking all day long, reminding me that I’m running out of time in the race to the finish line!  Finish line of what? My self-imposed pressure cooker to get everything done – but I’m the one creating the challenges.

The truth is, like many of you, I have a lot to do today.  The truth also is, there’s time to get it all done and whatever I don’t get done is still going to be there tomorrow.  My good buddy Julieanne Kost at Adobe has a great line when somebody asks her to take on a project.  If her plate’s full the response is simply, “Sorry, I’m out of bandwidth!”

So, it’s “First Tuesday” and I’m going to focus on the most important things first.  Then I’m moving to the things I just love doing.   We all know how to focus our cameras, but why’s it so hard to focus on projects and our own lives!  Time to go read that illustration one more time…

Everything changed the day he figured out there was exactly enough time for the important things in his life.

It’s just a quick thought for a Saturday morning, but for a weekend blog, it just makes so much sense to ponder a little  and think about how you can explore, dream and discover.  Many of you are headed to WPPI and some of you are there already.  WPPI is an incredible arena for stimulating creativity and new ideas.

And, if you’re not there, it doesn’t matter – everyone has the same opportunity in the race to explore new ways to photograph, dream about exciting accomplishments to add to your “bucket list” and discover better ways to stay in touch with friends and family while still pursuing your passions in photography.

Just my two cents on a Saturday morning – sweet dreams!

It’s time to quote another one, but more important, I’m adding a category on the blog, “Kitchen Magnet Wisdom”.   The truth is there’s a lot of great information on refrigerator doors around the world and it’s time I took a shot at capturing some of  it.   This is a call to action – send me a picture of your refrigerator door along with your favorite words of wisdom posted there.    Whenever I get enough to publish, I’ll make a blog out of it!

“For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.  This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.  So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination…

It’s signed by “Souza”…and comes from a company called Quotable Magnets.

And a big thanks to my daughter who bought the magnet for me!   And just to demonstrate how much better her priorities are in line than mine, I bought one around the same time that simply said, “Life is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine”.  She’s definitely the deeper thinker in the family!