Monthly Archives: April 2011

The change we cannot see….

Change is almost never fun, unless you are a Corning, Incorporated employee.  There, change is a lifestyle; it’s expected and its full of excitement and untrodden ground to explore.  That company, where I used to once live in my cubicle, is a place where inventions and new discoveries happen every day.  There, without change, the view would be the backsides of those who raced ahead of you.  There, you’re surrounded by leaders, engineers, scientists, physicists…the best of the best…in that world.  These people expect to change direction on a dime and rush full speed ahead in a new direction…and love it and be successful with whatever fomented the change.  It’s thrilling; it’s a rush; it’s a lifestyle.

I’ve found that in other places than Corning, change is exhausting;  but it’s all in how we approach it.  Change isn’t bad…what matters is how we respond to it.  What we cannot see when we either see change coming or are in the middle of it, is where we will end up, the sights we’ll see along the way, or the people we’ll meet along our new path.  Whether we elect change or not, matters not in the grand scheme of it.  What matters is the journey, the experience, how we respond.  What matters are the seeds we sow, because, after all, what we sow, we will surely reap.  I’ve lived long enough to see that over and over.

When it seems terrible, just hang on.  Just hang on and keep putting one foot in front of the other.  You’ll get through.  You’ll be different, but you’ll be fine, too.

Once you get past the trauma of change, if it is indeed traumatic, it’s almost fun to look back and see how THAT led to THIS.  I sometimes wonder exactly what the heck happened in my life to land me here…and how I could have been so ignorant of what was happening in what I thought was my life… but of this I am sure: Here is much better than there and I wouldn’t trade the people I now have in my life BECAUSE of the change, for the ones I had before the change. I like it like it is now.  Sometimes terrible times make the good ones so much nicer. 

I have met some of the worst people of my life, and I have met some of the best, in the course of this most recent life change.  I have seen both the best and the worst of both myself and others along this journey.  What happens now is that I get to experience the excitement of a new life. I get to get back to being me, to being happy, to laughing again.  I used to laugh a lot; I find myself doing that again.  It feels pretty good!  And  I get to use my experience and the wisdom I gained to help others who find themselves on the same journey.  What better way to go through life than to reach out to others and lend a hand?  I can’t think of one.

Don’t look back unless it’s to take the hand of someone you’re helping along.  Look ahead and embrace the new life.  Have faith that it will be better and that you will have wonderful experiences and new friends with whom to share them.  Throw out the bad  memories with the other junk and look ahead to a better life!

Triangle Real Estate Associates

We are a satellite team of Fonville Morisey Realty.  Our team consists of seven agents, two marketing specialists, and our wonderful Broker-in-Charge.  We work as a team to list and sell homes. Each listing is discussed each week in our meetings and we operate as a team to get our listings sold.  We operate not only as a team, but also as a family.  We genuinely care about one another AND our clients.  If you haven’t had the benefit of a team working to help you with your real estate needs, you should consider giving us a call.  We’d love to be of service!

My first Passover Seder

I attended a Passover Seder last night; it was my first time experiencing this event.  I loved it!  Great fellowship with brand new friends.  And I learned something else about Jewish tradition.  Just a beautiful event, and a great way to get my mind and spirit in the right place for Easter.  If you haven’t attended a Passover Seder, come join us at Richland Creek Community Church next year.  You will love it.  It’s beautiful.

The Influence of Age…

Did you know that there is a thing called “Age Cohort Influence”, which has a HUGE impact on how well your interaction, project, marketing or presentation goes?  If you haven’t studied, it’s worth doing, particularly if you sell, teach, present, market, interact!  People in their twenties sometimes have to interact with people in their fifties, wouldn’t you say?  Guess what: If you’re twenty and you want to communicate effectively, you should know what makes a fifty year old tick, and vise versa.  In other words: Know your audience’s CORE VALUES.  They change pretty closely with each decade of age, partly because of the changes in our psychological makeup as we mature, and partly because of what we’re physically able to do with each decade of age…like bear children or power lift for exercise.  Thirty something…you probably are very into your career and full of vim and vigor about it.  You probably believe that most of what you say is extremely important and should be broadcast to the world AND that everyone is supremely interested in your dissertation.  In your forties?  You’re probably rethinking your spirituality and getting into exercise again.  When you’re sixty…you know what’s important and what’s not…or THINK you do… and furthermore, you kind of pick and choose what you think you need to say out loud.   For marketing purposes, this is of extreme importance, because you may make assumptions about a particular group that can lose your ability to sell to them… before you even tell them what it is you’re selling!   If you’re selling to a seventy year old person, you might want to slow down and visit a while.  If you’re selling to a fifty year old, don’t assume they aren’t tech savvy; they are.  They probably made it possible for the younger generation to enjoy their gadgets. Reference Steve Jobs or even Corning, Incorporated. Corning invented optical fiber, enabling the internet scream into our homes.  The ones who were there when the first fiber was drawn?  Fifty something, or maybe even sixty something by now.  If you’re talking to a twenty year old or a thirty year old, don’t worry about five or ten years down the road.  They typically don’t want to plan that far ahead.  They still love the unknown and want to be flexible and nimble with their lives!  Now obviously there’s more to it than just age cohort. But you get my drift.  Communication goes both ways, or should.  Be aware of your audience.  Core values are called CORE because they are deeply embedded.  Remember that, and use that knowledge to be even better at what you do than you are right now.