Friday, July 25, 2014

Trying

Trying


My kids gave me a Fitbit for my last birthday: it's one of those devices you wear on your wrist that measures your daily steps. It’s pretty cool, and it’s also a little intimidating when notice that you walk more than a mile each day just around the house. Since getting it I’ve walked more than 1600 miles: while that’s almost unbelievable, this story is not about the Fitbit.

This gadget motivates me to walk 5 miles each morning around my neighborhood here in downtown Las Vegas. This older section of town has streets and alleys that make walking easy and fun: every morning I see an older gentleman out walking too, and when I ask how he is, his reply is always: “trying”; now that’s a good attitude.   

Some of the houses have been here more than 40 years and are naturally starting to get rundown. There’s an old retired couple that did not have the money to keep their home and lot up to standards and this week I noticed a sign in front of their home saying  “Heroes at Home”, a local non-profit group that’s a partnership between Sears and Air Force veterans.  They were putting on a new roof, fixing the air-conditioners, repairing the plumbing, replacing sheet rock and redoing the landscaping: a wonderful example of neighbors helping neighbors.

Recently Zappos re-located its headquarters to downtown Las Vegas and its owner, Tony Hsieh, has taken the lead in the redevelopment of our city. He is now leading a communitywide effort to reverse the flight of people away from downtown.  This is something that most people don’t know and never see about Las Vegas:  I guess this town is like that fellow I see walking: it’s trying.

It's pretty interesting to see what happens when individuals try to stay healthy, or groups get together to help one another and keep a neighborhood alive and beautiful, or companies give back to a community that’s trying to come back. All too often people, neighborhoods and entire towns get run down to the point of no return: we each need to get involved at some level to try to make sure that point is never reached.

Seeing people, neighborhoods and companies ‘trying’ is inspiring.  This fitbit is all about motivating people to walk and get healthier: what they probably didn’t anticipate was that it also created opportunities to slow down and notice all that’s going happening at ground level. At this rate I’ll soon have walked 2000 miles this year: I’ll probably then need a new pair of sneakers (from Zappos, of course).

My message this week is about doing something:

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” Mahatma Gandhi

How professionally we act determines how effective we are: focusing on improving the first will have a positive impact on the second. We’re continually faced with challenges that test our skills and abilities: doing what it takes to be prepared for those challenges is imperative; practicing and perfecting those skills keeps your mind sharp; being active mentally and physically keeps you on your toes; having lots of other interests helps maintain your balance in life; and remaining alert and on-point makes you ready when called. And when called, you must act; and even though you may never know the results of your actions, you can be assured that if you do nothing there will be no result.  Professional are always ready to act: that’s how to be effective today! 


Stay well!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Looks for common ground...

L isten to the news and you’d think the world couldn’t get any more polarized. People talking at people rather than with them, all the while...