Keeping it simple

Feeling Helpless or Feeling Powerful

With our stock market tumbling, congress in weekend sessions to create a rescue plan for the financial market fiasco, and regularly hearing news another bank being closed down with the oversight of FDIC, it hard to not be concerned. Few of us have ever been through these "crazy" times, with maybe some of older parents and friends who lived through the Great Depression or WWII. In any case, I have found myself feeling anxious and deeply concerned over the past few days.

Since I am a big believer that we can create much of what we image, I'd like to issue a challenge to all my readers to answer this question: What is the positive response(s) that we would like to make happen in the next 6 months?

Since worrying has been compared to sitting in a rocking chair and all that worrying energy just does not get you anywhere. Let's set our minds in a positive direction to create the type of results we desire.

Here's my simple list for the next 6 months:

1. Continue thinking long term about financial investments (home, retirement, and savings) and continue to invest/ plan in a consistent controlled manner.
2. Look at how I can help my customers accomplish their goals
3. Look at reaching out to 4 people who are "hurting" (i.e. health issues, loss of job, loss of marriage etc) and see how I might support them.
4. Practice becoming a better listener, especially to my family.

Since I can control how I spend my time, thoughts, and energy, I think taking these 4 steps will help me regain the belief that I am gaining power on a regular basis. Maybe we can all start thinking about controlling the things that matter the most. One small step forward at a time is a great motto for the next 6 months.

 

Jeff Cozens

 

 

A Budgeting we will go

I was talking with Chuck Snider, CFO at Asepco, today. Chuck was bragging because he resurrected some old notes from a training class I had given on how to create and import a budget into Dynamics SL. Chuck said the notes were dated five years ago, but he found them and they still worked. Chuck was excited because for years, literally, he had been exporting the financials to excel where he manually entered the budget each month. Now that entire actual vs. budget report is coming directly out of Dynamics SL. I have always believed that if I could only remember 1 or 2 worthwhile ideas from any training or seminar I attend, then the time was worthwhile. It was exciting to hear that one of the training tricks I gave 5 years ago, actually got implemented.

How do you keep your "good ideas" from getting lost? Have you created a place to store there "future" to be implemented ideas? Now that I think about it, I am going to create a folder on our server to be the storage place for all my "to be implemented" ideas….. I think I'll name the folder "Chuck says to do"

Regards,

Jeff Cozens