Bert’s Blog

Check out Branden, myself and others at a recent Tweetup event in Flower Mound.

I am amazed at the lack of common courtesy today, and wonder what happened to it? Simple things like “please” and “thank you” seem to have drifted from the English language for some people. Maybe it is the way my mother raised me, yet I have found those simple words can often turn things into a more pleasant experience. A better seat at a restaurant, or a glass of wine that is filled just a bit more. My motivation is not what it is going to get me; rather it makes me feels good about me.

Simple courtesies can bring a bit of joy to others as well. Try smiling more and genuinely care when you say, “How are you today?” In fact a neat response to try with this question is almost anything different than “Fine, how about you?” Try “outstanding” or fabulous”; then follow it up with a reason that you feel that way. For those who ride, you will appreciate this one. Peggy and I ride somewhere for coffee most Sunday mornings, and it is pretty cool how the Harleys in the parking lot and the riding clothes take that typical conversation in a different direction. After the traditional “How are you?” greeting, we might say, “It is a beautiful day, and we are out riding to enjoy it.” Then the response to us is something like, “Hey, where you guys riding to today?” One morning at a local Starbucks, the response was, “Man, I love you Harley riders! You are so proud of what you do, and that is so cool.”

Every day is what you make of it. You are in control of so many things that influence the way the day turns out. Try reaching out with that greeting first to someone who might not even make eye contact. I was listening this morning to a talk radio show. The hosts were talking about today being the eighth anniversary of 9/11, and how the entire country was so much more patient and courteous with each other after that horrible day. We were shocked, vulnerable, disheartened; and we started treating our fellow human beings just a bit better.

Let’s not depend on tragedy to make us more human. Take the time to extend yourself today. Shower your fellow human beings with common courtesy and pleasantness. I promise you that you will be smiling more by the end of the day. Life is too short………’Screw it, let’s ride.”

We are all so darn busy these days, that it presents a challenge when balancing all of our priorities. We all have the same 24 hours a day, and we all need to allocate the proper amount of that for sleep, for our career, and into the rest of that precious time we fit everything else into. For those of us who have dual career families, this presents even more of a challenge. We have to fit all of our required household and family duties into the remaining time during the week, and over the two days of our weekend. It gets really easy to try to cram so much into a short amount of time, that we lose that important break for ourselves. We need to fit in time for the “significant others” in our lives, our family and friends, and our overall health.

There is no right or wrong answer to this dilemma. It is a matter of determining what is right for you. What provides you the most joy, outside of all of the other things that we have to do? For some of us, it’s jumping on that Hartley and going for a ride, sometimes with the destination not clear in our head when we roll down the driveway. For others it’s sitting by the water with an interesting book. For still others it’s spending time out in the garden, or doing repainting, repairing, or improvements in our homes. Whatever provides that relaxation for you, you need to plan time for it routinely. I have seen the huge difference that trying to get a little bit better balance in life can afford you. Take the time to smell the coffee, or smell the roses, or smell the wonderful aromas of baking pastries. And for my dear Harley friends, “Screw it, let’s ride”.