I’m here on a Saturday morning sitting in my office (sipping my green tea) at work contemplating ‘Why am I here today’. Since a fellow manager (and good friend) got ‘let go’ a few weeks back, my responsibilities have gone from 16 people to 21. I’m here today because some of my reps want to get ahead quicker than others and we only allow them access to the office on Saturdays if a manager is present…so here I am.

Earlier this week I was fortunate to attend a seminar…Shut up, Stop Wining, and Get A Life, by Larry Winget. Larry’s style is very confrontational and he doesn’t hold anything back in his style of speaking. I found myself laughing a lot at the many stories of people who failed to take responsibility for the lives and their results. I was really laughing at myself and at the many moments in my life where I felt that I was getting a ‘raw deal’ and didn’t feel I could do anything about my ‘bad’ situation at the time. Some of his philosophies are:

"If you don’t have much going wrong in your life, then you don’t have much going on in your life."

"When you work, work! When you play, play! Don’t mix the two."

"What you think about, talk about, and do something about is what comes about."

"When it quits being fun--quit."

"Time management is a joke”

I can’t say that I agreed with all that he said yet the most interesting (under his tough stance lies a very warm heart) part of his talk is Winget’s emphasis on the importance of love and service to others. He explains that these two factors are the key to all success, happiness, and prosperity in both your personal and professional life…this I do agree with whole heartily. Many have wrote and preached about this through the ages…some have mastered it, some have tasted it and many have been deaf to its message.

We all have had bad life situations. For me to this present moment, my failed marriage and my alopecia have to be the two biggies so far (may seem very mild in comparison to others). These were two occurrences that forced me to change (another theme of Winget’s talk was that people hate to change). My theory is if you do not constantly try to re-create yourself, life and it natural forces will force you to.

So to answer my question ‘Why am I here today” As a manager in my job, it is my duty (more like passion…I love what I do) to provide leadership and to be of service to employees so that they can grow professionally and personally. I’m blogging because writing up until earlier this year was something I never did (unless I was forced to). I’m on the BTD diet because it works for me on many levels and allows me to take responsibility for my own health.

There might be a little ‘wine’ in my question but mostly my wining these days comes in the form of an occasional red with dinner.