CEO's can only do so much

In early October, NRG Energy capitulated to investor craving for short term gain.  NRG has successfully been leading the charge amongst traditional fossil fuel companies in implementing green energy portfolios'.  They have lead by example.  As CEO David Crane said to New York Times columnist Joe Nocera almost a year ago “It’s like Wayne Gretzky said,” he told me before hanging up the phone. “We are skating where the puck is going, rather than where it is now.”" Which is in fact the last time NRG was written about in the Times.

Investors being dissatisfied with NRGs stock price has put pressure on the company to divest its focus on the alternative energy and go back to what works now.  Coal powered plants.

In a time when polls and meta-analysis of news and opinion show that the majority of Americans are concerned about climate change, if not for the impact on our lives then definitely for our children's.  With the exception of some of the most conservative of republicans.  I doubt the latter constitute the majority of investors in NRG stock.  Which begs the question, why are we punishing a company for working so hard for the health of our future(thats us and the planet), even with promise of sustainable long term profit?  Based on the business trajectory of NRGs wind, solar and home solar business's it seems like a sure bet for a long term investment, as sure as any other business, including fossil fuels.

Alternative energy works now, just like Fords first assembly line car did when it drove out of the factory.

We need start putting our money where our principles are.  We need to start investing in our future not just talking about it.  Companies like NRG should be rewarded, not punished for working for our well being.

Let's pay attention to where the puck is going, and head in that direction!!!!

It pays to care!

"The most conscious companies give more, and they get more in return. The inescapable conclusion: it pays to care, widely and deeply"

https://hbr.org/2013/04/companies-that-practice-conscious-capitalism-perform.html

It's not difficult, gentlemen, making the consumer enjoy their products

"Investing in product, investing in comfortable seats - it's not difficult, gentlemen, making the consumer enjoy their products."

Said by Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark to the major american airlines in response to their pressure on government to stifle Persian Gulf airlines.

This comment exemplifies the link between opportunity and compassion.  "Make the consumer enjoy their products".  "Comfortable seats"!!  

What do companies do with all their profit?
  
They recognize the profit only 4 times a year...when they release earnings.  The rest of the time out of  fear of not being able to meet those profit expectations, they say to themselves money is tight, and investments like employee benefits, and upgrading the subtleties of their consumers experience, don't seem necessary.

And in this case, they find ways to stifle their competition...a shortcut...an unsustainable strategy.  

Common gentlepeople - its not difficult! Just use the golden rule, when you goto sit in the proverbial seat wouldn't you be much happier if it was comfortable.  

Built it and they will come!

Lets widen our net of Empathy

"It is not tolerable, it is not possible, that from so much death, so much sacrifice and ruin, so much heroism, a greater and better humanity shall not emerge." - Charles de Gaulle

I start with that quote because it's the first time since Friday that I've heard something that has made sense to me. I am left confused and with a lot of questions.

October 2 – 18 dead – suicide bomb – Nigeria

October 5 – 57 dead – car bomb - Bagdad, Iraq

October 10 – 102 dead – suicide bombs – Turkey

October 10 – 38 dead –suicide bombs –Chad

October 14 – 42 dead – suicide bomb – Nigeria

October 23 – 27 dead – bomb – Nigeria

October 23 – 22 dead – suicide bomb – Pakistan

October 31 – 224 dead – suspected airplane bomb – Egypt

November 12 – 43 dead – suicide bomb – Lebanon

November 13 – 19 dead – bomb – Bagdad, Iraq

November 13 – 137 dead – bomb/shooting – Paris

These are the attacks I could find in the last month and half where more then 15 civilians died – I left out the 100s that were injured.  It includes an attack the same day as Paris.

What's been niggling my mind is why Paris has taken center stage. Why haven’t we shown as much empathy, concern and solidarity with all the other civilians as they went about their daily life?

As I set up for a yoga class on Sunday, I heard someone behind me tell someone he had two friends killed at the concert. So is it that there are less degrees of separation between us and people in Paris?  Or is it that Paris is systematically closer to us? Or geographically closer (but not much)? 

Or is it that Parisians represent a similar ratio of race, religion and culture to us? Is our empathy racist?

Or maybe our empathy just has limitations. Maybe we only have a certain amount of empathy and save if for certain circumstances?

Granted that ubiquitous coverage of the Paris attacks leaves us little option but to pay attention, but I do think the scale of coverage represents something we ask for, not a pro-active decision by the media.

Perhaps our net of empathy is growing and in time it will find its way to the further corners and cultures of this planet. I mean not long ago, it would have taken days for the Paris news to get to us, and without the detail we might have cared less. There was also a time not long ago when this would have been a blip on the radar of death by humans. In fact in some of those far away places, violence is still taken for granted.  Do we take it for granted in those places just like the people who live there?

Im with De Gaulle! And I'll add, over half a century later that better humanity has emerged. As our net of empathy grows, the violence will continue to subside. 

And then one day as Carlos Santana sings “One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no countries and the only passport will be the heart.”

Aggregating Consciousness

This morning NPR had a piece centered around carbon offsets – http://www.npr.org/2015/11/12/455717415/npr-amazon-reporting-team-tries-to-offset-its-carbon-footprint– with the rhetorical question – Isn’t paying $50 to plant 18 trees to offset the carbon footprint of the flight you just took, like putting a bandaid on a bullet wound.

I listened as I drove north on the 101 toward Santa Barbara, with a clear view of 7-10 offshore oil rigs. My thoughts drifted to distaste as I thought of all the animals that are effected by the leakage, and then to the bigger picture of the eventual burning into the atmosphere of all that oil. Who do these people think they are? Don’t they know about climate change? Don’t they have compassion? Don’t they care about our future?

I always seem to have those same thoughts about the rigs while Im driving. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t drive places each day. I take it for granted, I depend on it, its convenient, its kind of great. This is why those rigs are in the channel. I can’t imagine the conversation about climate change changing, until I/we are willing to “Be the change”

We are not going to stop driving cars anytime soon, probably not until, cars have been replaced by something that hovers and is fueled by a flux capacitor.  But until that time we can at least be more attentive to SOURCE! Who makes the car?  Who drills for our fuel?  Do these companies have our best interests in mind, are they the ones trying to invent the flux capacitor?  Are they willing to forgo some revenue for the mission improving our well being and considering our future.

This morning I filled up at Sunoco, rather the Exxon across the road. It seemed like the lesser of two evils.  I need a new car, and not surprisingly there are some great deals on VW.  Im going to consider a Ford or a Toyota hybrid.  

Its this constant attention to source that will change the climate change conversation into climate change action.  

The power lies in the aggregation of regular marginal conscious decisions by billions of people!!!

By gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs

Said by an Intuit hunter in response to being thanked for giving meat to a friend.

"Rather than seeing himself as human because he could make economic calculations, the hunter insisted that being truly hu­man meant refusing to make such calculations, refusing to measure or remember who had given what to whom..."

I am reminded of a blog post by a friend which talks about the different levels of giving.  Imagine ordering a coffee at your favorite coffee shop.  And when the barista turns away and no-one is looking you stuff $10 in the tip jar and walk away.  Thats the ultimate giving, anonymous, and you don't need to tell your friends how big of a tip you left.  At the other end of the spectrum is giving out of obligation like taxes and doing the dishes as Ronen writes.

How do we do business?  How do we conduct our personal relationships? How do we earn our money?  How do we give?

If it feels like a string of IOU's, think for a minute about all these questions from the perspective of an Inuit hunter or a level 4 giver....might we feel more human? might we be more prosperous?

Does the feeling of IOU or UOM hold us back from a more fluid business mission and life experience?

A lesson from VW

“By 2018, we want to take our group to the very top of the global car industry,” said the Volkswagen CEO four years ago.

 For social and environmental investors or for that matter for all investors that should have been a red flag. A month ago it was discovered that VW knowingly rigged their emissions control system. So they lied and they were environmentally irresponsible. Their intention of being the number one car -maker prevailed, and so then did short cuts and cover-ups. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of investors, customers and employees have been negatively impacted. The fall-out is still uncertain, there is talk that the German economy may suffer as well

 The intended goal of “building the best possible product for our customers, and working toward the most efficient fuel efficient technology” an admirable goal in itself, became just glossy presentation on the road to number one. Sustainable profit requires sustainable practices and fostering sustainable resources.

 “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” – says Warren Buffet.

 The lesson we learn is that setting goals that are not directly correlated to the greater good is not productive. The greater good will always prevail; it’s in our nature.

 P.S. The science of this can be found all over the internet. Firms of Endearment (click on the “performance tab”) is one example.

Its all about the Team!

“Coming together is beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” —Henry Ford

This week I heard someone saying that they are struggling with employee satisfaction/engagement, and then they changed the subject and talked about how they are trying to decide whether or not to buy another company for $100million. The two situations seemed to be unrelated in their mind.

I can't say that I can relate to the pressures and nuances of the c-suite although at one point in my life I was responsible for 60 employees, and a $2 million budget, which pales in comparison to what most of the influential corporate decision makers have on their hands. But, if I remember correctly the emphasis on spending money outside of salary is marketing and product development. Mostly,  salaries are seen as a financial burden, while money for developing new products and selling them is a bottomless well.

Isn't a company not very different from a sports team. Aren't the players the most important component? Without productive, fulfilled players, spectators don't show up.  

Companies that have figured this out are thriving. The old school style of management, which treats employees like a commodity, is going the way of the Dodo, and so will leaders who don’t shift their priority to building and fostering a strong team.

Does it really make sense to consider a multi million acquisition, when your team is not fulfilled and thriving? Why not spend that money to built an elite team. Not necessarily an increase in salary, but specialized training, career path enhancement, services and reduced work load.  Think improving employee well-being. It's not until the employees are fully engaged and on board with the mission, will the mission succeed. Only then should client interests and shareholder demands be considered. It should be a corporate leader's job to make the clients and shareholders realize that it's in their best interest to have engaged employees. Is that not an executive’s fiduciary responsibility?

“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better” – Jim Rohn

The Porcupine

We came across a porcupine last week walking through the Maine woods.  He (as his gender assumed) in our dinner conversation later that night, walked away from us as fast as he could with his quills at attention.  Porcupines can't move very fast.    He walked up a rock gentle face and we followed and then he stopped and we stopped.  I sat down and put my hand down on the rock making a soft clicking noise.  After a while he put down his quills and I could see his eyes relax.  Then he lifted up on to his hind legs and turned to face us.  He was about four feet away from us and slightly up hill. He stood there and watched.  Long claws and short arms at his front like a T-Rex, but with the demeanor of Albert Einstein.  His yellowish rodent front teeth, front and center - giving me pause about whether to reach my hand closer.  He moved slightly closer and continued to watch us.  After a few minutes passed he lowered himself, turned and slowly walk off into the brush.

I was left feeling invigorated from what felt like a deep connection with nature.  It was a Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi moment.  All thoughts, inhibitions, fears fell away and what was left was feeling not too different from getting into a hot shower on a cold day, or drinking a glass of cold water after a long summer run.

Egoless connection = Bliss!

I wonder what the Porcupine wrote in his blog?

CEO's can only do so much

This week saw NRG Energy capitulate to investor craving for short term gain.  NRG has successfully been leading the charge amongst traditional fossil fuel companies in implementing green energy portfolios'.  They have lead by example.  As CEO David Crane said to New York Times columnist Joe Nocera almost a year ago “It’s like Wayne Gretzky said,” he told me before hanging up the phone. “We are skating where the puck is going, rather than where it is now.”" Which is in fact the last time NRG was written about in the Times.
Investors being dissatisfied with NRGs stock price has put pressure on the company to divest its focus on the alternative energy and go back to what works now.  Coal powered plants.

In a time when polls and meta-analysis of news and opinion show that the majority of Americans are concerned about climate change, if not for the impact on our lives then definitely for our children's.  With the exception of some of the most conservative of republicans.  I doubt the latter constitute the majority of investors in NRG stock.  Which begs the question, why are we punishing a company for working so hard for the health of our future(thats us and the planet), even with promise of sustainable long term profit?  Based on the business trajectory of NRGs wind, solar and home solar business's it seems like a sure bet for a long term investment, as sure as any other business, including fossil fuels.
Alternative energy works now, just like Fords first assembly line car did when it drove out of the factory.
We need start putting our money where our principles are.  We need to start investing in our future not just talking about it.  Companies like NRG should be rewarded, not punished for working for our well being.

Let's pay attention to where the puck is going, and head in that direction!!!!

McMansions, Leftovers, Stuff and Time

Taking a leisurely cycle through a flurry of McMansions in beautiful Southern Chester county, it occurred to me how much free and available room there is.  How many houses have spare rooms or space that is not used and is never or rarely even passed through. With that thought fresh in my mind I pulled into a cafe for a coffee to see someone dumping their unfinished breakfast into the garbage.

We live in a world where there is so much discussion and talk about the lack of resources, especially for those people in the lower tax bracket, the really low tax bracket.  Many people who live under the poverty level, or for that matter earn $2 a day or around that amount, struggled for food, shelter, clothing and clean water each day.

Running in parallel each day are millions of homes around the world who have spare rooms, a lot of stuff that is never used, a never ending waste of running water in the form of baths, showers, toilets, gardens, pools etc.  And then millions of people go grocery shopping or go out to eat and a percentage of each purchase makes its way into the garbage, or compost heap.

There is a stark imbalance of resource usage, NOT a stark imbalance of resources, neither is there a shortage of resources.  The latter is even more true because of the resources we use to to get the stuff that we don't use or waste.

And then there is our time.  How do we really spend it, and does the way we spend it really contribute to the well being of all those around the world we have empathy for?

The Yoga of Profit

"Every investment we make is a statement of intention, a statement of purpose, a speculation about the future of humanity and our role in the scheme of things, not merely a financial speculation" - Woody Tasch, Slow Money

Do you have a few hundred, a few thousand or maybe 10’s or 100’s of thousands of dollars in a savings or retirement account? What is that money doing? What is your intention for that money?

Money has power. More power then a vote. More power then a protest. More power then a war.

Don’t judge something…do something!

The only way to enjoy the long term annualized growth of the companies (which we fund) who have the biggest effect on our lives… invest in them. The best way to influence their intention…invest in the right ones!

For the longest time I wondered how my deepening yoga practice, how this inward journey, translated into the capitalist world I enjoyed and depended on, and the financial industry where I had worked for 15 years. Besides, as aware of my own footprint on the environment and my influence on others, I still drive a car, fly on airplanes, purchase packaged goods, eat food from far away and am totally addicted to a never ending flow of water and electricity. And how much do I really do to improve the lives of others in the community around me. I’m inclined to donate to charities or hand money to a homeless person, but I certainly don’t take 30 minutes of my time and sit with that person and talk over a cup of coffee. Sure I try hard to temper my consumption and consider the providers’ footprint, but whether I'm flying on the most environmentally responsible airline or whether I’m careful about which gas station I use, I am still taking. How much taking is OK? Where is the line?

Then it occurred to me. How our contemplative practice translates into capitalism is very much the same as how it manifests within us. Corporations are living organisms, the sum of all their employees who are like their cells. As our practice transforms us, then surely a corporation that practices mindfulness must transform into a being that feels better and is more compassionate. I had a hard time believing that business people had not figured this out and used it to their competitive advantage or more so that there were high level executives or decision makers whose contemplative practice drove a successful management style.

After two years of research I am happy to report that there are publicly traded companies, household brand names that are humble, that are compassionate and that embody social and environmental responsibility. This small but growing list is companies who put the community and environment ahead of profit. They are driven by building sustainable business’s with the manifesto of increasing our well being and preserving the environment. As Aetna CEO, Mark Bertolini said at Wisdom 2.0, “Profit is not the goal, profit is the output of a mission driven organization who delivers consistent products to its customers”

What are the indicators? A combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation including financial strength, products that are unequivocally good for us, the lowest possible use of natural resources, happy employees, women make up twenty percent of the board, low CEO pay - relatively, company wide offering of yoga/mindfulness, humble CEOs and a C-suite who have a personal contemplation practice, and compassionate intention written into their Form 10-K annual report. That's the quantitative. Qualitative is reading between the lines, by scanning the news and blogs for indications of embodied social and environmental responsibility, by hearing feedback from users of their products and services. Looking for indications of yogic decision-making. Checking off the yamas and niyamas, the eight-fold path, the middle way, the golden rule.

My research has resulted in an investment portfolio of companies. Companies I invest in and share with others. I feel more confident investing in humble companies with strong ethics, and I am much less afraid of loosing my investment especially when the market crashes. This portfolio has opened my eyes to companies who really care and I always choose their products. Often I will go without a product or service if a compassionate company does not offer it. I plug these companies on social networks for their intention. I go out of my way to give them feedback; quite often they don’t know what they don’t know. Our guidance is important. My hope that a company’s mission, rather then its earnings and products become what its brand name represents.

Corporations have more influence on our well-being and future than anybody except ourselves. There are companies out there who have transcended the “profit at all cost” approach perfected during the industrial revolution. We can play a bigger role in our evolution by investing in the companies that care, by being more mindful of how we spend our money and by bringing awareness through dialogue to the potential of the corporate world helping us into the next age.

"As long as the way we invest is divorced from how we live and how we consume our befuddlement will worsen" - Woody Tasch, Slow Money

Aetna is hiring a Chief Mindfulness Officer

A title once reserved for a monastery or ashram has found its way into a Fortune 200 company. A healthcare company nonetheless. Shhhh, don’t tell the Senate Health Care committee.

This is a sure signal of the role that mindfulness is playing in the corporate operation. SAP, the software company has a Director of Mindfulness and Google boasts a Chief Happiness Officer.

The role of these positions is to make sure that this practice has a seat at the executive table, to be integral in the growth and sustainability of the company, its employees, and its clients. Executive titles only come about when it is clear that this person’s work has already played the latter role.

Who is your Chief Mindfulness Officer?

Mindless Barista

I write this on the sidewalk outside of a coffee shop in West Chester, PA, soaking up a spring morning in the summer. Sipping on an almond milk latte. With awareness around how many water sucking almonds it takes to make it, I am trying to make sense of its creation...from my order to a cup in my hand.

These days I make a point of drinking coffee in a "to stay cup" at the coffee shop. For me it's important to sit and enjoy the moment, an opportunity to slow down the rat race even for just a for 15 minutes. In ordering a ceramic cup I'm also aware of the reduction in waste. One less paper cup in the "recycling" cycle or pehaps the city dump.

This morning I order the Latte for here. The barista used a plastic cup to decanter the almond milk from the carton. Then he poured that into a paper cup which he used to steam the milk, after which he poured it into the ceramic cup and handed it to me. He threw both the plastic and the paper cup in the garbage. 

My mind wanders to the mindless waste this represents in our society. There is no accountability for how much we waste. We waste food, water and resources in a way that further harms the source of all of these. Take a look around you next time your at a restaurant at all the food that doesn't get eaten. Why do we continue to do this. Why do we continue put our convenience ahead of our future and well-being.

I will appreciate this latte more then ever because it cost much more then the $3.75 I was charged and because it will be the last I ever have from this coffee shop. Starbucks is just around the corner!

Getting on the Bandwagon

The Financial Times reported that a study made by Insead concluded that “coaching programs based on introspection and meditation techniques, without any discussion about CSR [corporate social responsibility] topics, exhibit a significant impact on both the probability to act in a socially responsible way and on the factors that influence the probability to behave that way”.

Last week we heard that Verizon has purchased AOL for $4 billion. Considering that AOL is a holding in the Yoga Capital portfolio, it got me to thinking how this reflects on this portfolio’s purpose. It prompted a soul searching of social and environmental investing. If AOL, is indeed a stalwart of socially and environmentally aware companies, then does that mean that Verizon is also such a leader, or does it mean that AOL is not. Does this purchase by Verizon indicate a move by them toward being more sustainable. I’m not going to pretend to know the answer, but I do think the answer should be more obvious.

Again the question is prompted which companies are socially and environmentally responsible because they truly are compassionate and truly care about the community and environment as opposed to being trendy, or wanting investors and clients to see that they are playing their part.

The Insead study indicates what I believe to be the most important indicator of CSR. Companies whose executives or decision makers who have personal contemplative practices, tend to organically be socially and environmentally compassionate. It is these companies that are the most sustainable. It is these companies that represent a new era in capitalism – a new industrial age. To identify and segment these companies is to create an investment class that represents the future of investment. This is still advanced strategy, so to have a rounded portfolio might require broader exposure, but the tide is turning and to have a portion, if not all of ones money in this investment class is essential.

This type of awareness when investing represents our deepest knowledge and beliefs. There is not a sustainably successful investor who does not show attributes of mindfulness and social and environmental awareness.

In order for Yoga Capital to truly represent this strategy, it’s time to take its screening process to the next level. Currently we pick companies that score high on the CSRhub.com rating system, and then we find the companies whose executives have a personal mindfulness practice, and then we take those who have strong financials. But this is not enough. We must now look closer at the companies output and ask the question, “Is this company paving the way to the new era in business, or is it stuck in the old “profit is the goal” way of operation”.

Keurig Green Mountain has also been a holding despite the controversy around the plastic K-cups. My defense has been they have s short-term action plan to overcome barriers to recycling. But I was asking the wrong question. And then I saw someone using a Keurig coffee machine. The K-cup goes in, a pull of the handle and the user hurries off to the chaos of the day. The paradigm of the machine is the problem. I doubt quick coffee will be integral to the new era. Coffee, maybe. And just when Keurig comes into question, it offers up a soda machine.

Deutsche Bank is another one. They made the cut because of a company mindfulness program. A breath of fresh air in a stodgy banking industry. But that’s not enough. Investment banks in their current form have no place in the new era of capitalism. If a bank is going to make the cut, they will have to show extreme proactive signals that profit is not the goal. Goldman Sachs, believe it or not, is on the watch list, but certainly not ready.

Yoga Capital will shortly reallocate, and rebuild with a keener sense of awareness around the real trailblazers. We will find the boardrooms that decide with compassion, that strategize with the future of themselves, and the world around them in mind. As Patagonia does, build companies that will last 100 years. As Google does, do no evil!

Businesses on the mindfulness bandwagon - FT.com

 

What is the American Dream?

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - says nothing about making a lot of money, but somewhere along the line we made that translation.

Recently I heard someone say that successful people consider money a reward for self-actualization.  Said differently, my guess is Warren Buffett would not do much differently if he lost all his money or if he was making the minimum wage. If you happen to cross paths with him please ask and let us know? The American dream is the freedom do do what we are good at, what we enjoy doing, what we look forward to doing, and for most people that does not have to be restricted by net worth. That same "most people", however, now are anxiously chasing pay out, the title and the recognition - constantly managing our identities - and are missing out on doing what we would really enjoy doing. Yes, the latter might mean an adjustment in economic expectations, but the quality of life becomes much higher when one is doing what we love to do then by owning a nice house, nice clothes, a new car and the latest iPhone. If your not convinced look to those who are dying. As they say 20/20 vision is the most acute and perhaps the most objective, and without fail people who are at the end of their life report their regrets of not spending enough time doing what they wanted to do, even at the risk of less money. Let's learn from the wise!

So what about this selfish perspective. This selfish approach turns out to be the most selfless way we can live. When we are doing what we are meant to do, our impact over our lifetime will be much greater on the world then if we conform to spending our time cultivating our image. We will enjoy an optimal experience which will reflect in our work, and our interaction with others, both of which will have unimaginable positive impact on others. There is an expression - "if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, there will be tornado in Texas". In the same way, maybe you love to build rock gardens and after building one for someone, that person everyday will enjoy seeing that rock garden and their interaction with each person they see that day will be positively effected, and those people in turn will be effected and so on. And the joy you might feel after building that rock garden will reduce the chance of any destructive behavior that may come from stress. 

The American Dream is not to make a killing, it is do what we love to do. It doesn't necessarily mean a drastic change of career or job, but simply to find the opportunity to realize our gifted talent within what we ready do. And make no mistake, we all have a gift...an innate talent.

Life, liberty and doing what we enjoy doing...that's the American Dream!

We've got it all wrong!

Many people I know or meet hate their job. They say so. Many others say that they like their job but - you could have fooled me. I say that because the many of those who say they like their job, complain a lot, are clearly stressed about job stuff, and have such a full schedule I'm surprised they can breathe. I say they, but I should say we. Which leaves me thinking that most people don't like their job.

We have it all wrong. We have the opportunity to like our jobs. It's easy to blame our boss, our company, the type of work we do, and thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else or sometime else. But it's not. The grass is green now and here. So eat up!

We think that we need to do more to get ahead but all the most sustainably successful business people I know of are very good at doing less so that they may accomplish more. This seems so counterintuitive to what we think we are taught. But take a minute to read about or think about your role model's road to success.

So how do we get to the bottom of this predicament?

Write down your top 5-15 priorities in your life, including work, family and play. Things that are most important you. If you are not sure how to rank them use this calculator (http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/prioritize/prioritize_101.jsp).

Then, on a separate piece of paper, write down how you spend a typical week. Monday through Sunday. From when you wake up until you goto sleep, what do you do and for how long do you it. Then list each activity and how many hours each week you spend on that activity.

Now compare the priority list to the activity list.

By doing this we can start to understand where we can make changes to across our entire life, and as we start to make these changes, we will start to enjoy our jobs.

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."

Enjoying our jobs is in our hands, not our Boss's.  Making more money and getting promotions happens much faster when we enjoy our work.

Michael Jordan's mindful path to being the best

Michael Jordan, many say, is the best basketball player ever, some say he's the best athlete ever, and often people refer to Jordan when inspiring what might be possible, work ethic and team work.  Which begs the question of  what is responsible for how good he eventually got.  In the beginning he was really good, but not good enough to win 6 championships.  Until two things happened, well Three things.  Mindfulness, team work and Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson encouraged/encourages mindfulness for his players, which is the cornerstone of how he coach's and also how he lives.  Through meditation he prepares his players for the mindfulness that is needed to win championships, to be team players.

Jordan is the best ever and that is burned into my brain.  And mindfulness and meditation are clearly very pivotal factors in that success.  So in addition to inspiring myself and others with stories of how Michael trained the hardest in the off season, and wanted it more then anyone else, I will lead with a moment of silence and stillness, a time to capture and fully experience the knowledge and feeling of that potential, and take a giant step in that direction.

Here is a short interview with Jackson - http://on.aol.com/video/how-legendary-nba-coach-phil-jackson-taught-his-teams-mindfulness-517822986

My CEO told me so...

Many years ago, the CEO of my company sat me down and said - "Tim, its good to do nothing from time to time.  To turn off your computer and phone and close your door. And just do nothing."  It took years for that advice to sink in. In those days the terms "meditation" and "mindfulness" sounded to me (and perhaps also my CEO) like something monks or hippies did.  Little did I know, my CEO was suggesting that I be mindful.  Now days, its not just off hand advice, but a structured practice available to all of us and championed by some of the most successful people in the world.

Meditation and mindfulness is powerful tool to help you get what you want.  How?  For starters, by reducing stress.  The latter gets in the way of clear thinking.  And then by training our brains to perform better.  Just like we can train a muscle to get stronger, we can train our brains to think better.

From CEO's to students, meditation is being used effectively to optimize performance.  Per the article below, the World Economic Forum now has a panel specific to meditation.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/amid-the-chattering-of-the-global-elite-a-silent-interlude/?emc=eta1&_r=0

Optimize our Performance

We all seek or crave performing optimally. It looks good to onlookers and even if no one is around it certainly feels good to do something well. At work we want to do our jobs well, to make good decisions, to be creative, to be efficient. Playing sports or even board games we try to perform well. At home doing chores, efficiency is optimal. Being part of a family and raising children we want to get it right. Being social, we try to be contributors. It's almost as if trying to perform well is one of our basic instincts.

To achieve optimal performance we look to education, training, practice, and in often, good old fashioned hope. "I hope I do well!"

One of the most powerful tools but yet the most underused and under recognized conduits to optimal performance is nutrition. What, how and when we eat has a huge effect on how we perform. Eating and drinking effects our mind, our body and our resolve.

First order of business is eliminate foods that don't provide nutritional value(and there are many of them), and then find nutritional alternatives for food that is inflammatory. Then put down the fork between each bite. Then don't go and get seconds and certainly be aware of eating snacks. Our bodies are master geniuses and will balance themselves perfectly over time. Give them the right food, and even if we miss a meal here and there over overeat every now and again, and they will take care of the rest.

Within two weeks, without fail, we will start to notice we are stronger, faster, smarter. From Einstein to Djokovic, from an employee sitting in a cube to someone training for their first marathon, from parents to lovers...clarity, awareness, endurance, energy, excitement, fulfillment...will prevail.

"Don't live to eat....EAT to LIVE" as Gandhi would say.