Tag: Holidays

Happy New Year 2022 Image to illustrate blog

Happy New Year 2022 Goals

Keith Klein Leave a comment

Our goal, first and foremost, is to wish all of our visitors a Happy New Year 2022!

Just as importantly, we share proven techniques to make your resolutions for a Happy New Year 2022 reality for you.  We share three steps to achieving your goals: SMART Goals, Zig Ziglar, and Becoming Your Best when you Do What Matters Most.

SMART GOALS

The November 1981 issue of Management Review contained a paper by George T. Doran called There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.[1][4] It discussed the importance of objectives and the difficulty of setting them.

Ideally speaking, each corporate, department, and section objective should be:

  • Specific – target a specific area for improvement.
  • Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
  • Assignable – specify who will do it.
  • Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
  • Time-related – specify when the result(s) can be achieved.

Notice that these criteria don’t say that all objectives must be quantified on all levels of management. In certain situations, it is not realistic to attempt quantification, particularly in staff middle-management positions. Practicing managers and corporations can lose the benefit of a more abstract objective in order to gain quantification. It is the combination of the objective and its action plan that is really important. Therefore serious management should focus on these twins and not just the objective.

— George T. Doran, There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives[1][4]
MOTIVATION
 
Zig Ziglar, a favorite of mine for decades, offers insight and motivation.  I found his voice grating at first (after purchasing audio of him on cassette tapes back in the 70s or 80s).  That bit of irritation quickly subsided when I relaxed and enjoyed the sincerity and wisdom and folksy rhythm of his words.
 

 
Zig Ziglar has 7 Steps to goal setting, outlined here (a 2-3 minute read).
 
Google (search terms: smart goals zig ziglar) listed them succinctly:
Zig Ziglar, an American motivational speaker, pulled together a list of seven steps associated with goal setting (or goal achievement). They are: Identification, Benefits, Obstacles, Skills, People, Plan and Timelines.
Jul 27, 2021
 

Do What Matters Most

That subheading is also a favorite book of 2021, Do What Matters Most.  
 
I’m big on goal setting, list making, and reading.  Do What Matters Most pleasantly combined all of them.  Google (search term: do what matters most) gave this description:
Do What Matters Most is a practical book on how to identify what matters most in your life then focusing on making it happen and increasing your productivity. The big 3 high performance habits of leading with a vision, setting your roles and goals, and pre-week planning are the basis for this book.
 
This book presents you with an approach summed up in the title: Do What Matters Most is a great at reminding you that, in addition to professional achievement, what really matters most is usually family and other loved ones.  Helping clients is great, helping family members and friends is just as important. Recognizing and planning for both the personal and professional matters.  This book, discussed at BecomingYourBest.com, can help you balance the personal and professional missions of your life.
 

Happy New Year 2022!

Our sincere best wishes to you and yours ~ may health, happiness and prosperity be yours in the New Year!

Regards,

Keith Klein
Organizer, Wisconsin Business Owners
Founder & CEO, OnYourMark, LLC

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.  Please contact us with questions.  Best to call, email or visit our site for the best response.  We do invite you to engage with us on social media (just not for immediate needs).

As always, if you like, you will find us on the following social media sites, among many others:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

 

 

Photo: Happy New Year 2022 by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0

A Visit from St. Nicholas ~ Happy Christmas!

Keith Klein Leave a comment

A Visit from St. Nicholas

A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” the first phrase of the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore.

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

Twas the Night Before Christmas - 1912 edition of the poem, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

A Visit from St. Nicholas

 
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
 

Text from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43171/a-visit-from-st-nicholas

Images credit: https://picryl.com/collections/twas-the-night-before-christmas

 

Thank you for the opportunity to share the classic, A Visit from St. Nicholas, with you.  Happy Christmas!

Regards,

Keith Klein
Organizer, Wisconsin Business Owners
Founder & CEO, OnYourMark, LLC

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.  Please contact us with questions.  Best to call, email or visit our site for the best response.  We do invite you to engage with us on social media (just not for immediate needs).

As always, if you like, you will find us on the following social media sites, among many others:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

This post first appeared on OnYourMark.com at https://www.onyourmark.com/a-visit-from-st-nicholas-happy-christmas/  Thanks for sharing, so we may share it with our viewers.

Happy Thanksgiving Thought Experiment

Happy Thanksgiving Thought Experiment

Keith Klein Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving posts are usually about counting our blessings and giving thanks.  Steven Johnson compels us to consider this thought experiment:  If your daily newspaper were published once-in-a-century, and it came out today, what would the banner headline read?

This is, indeed, something to be truly grateful for: Human life expectancy at birth doubled, worldwide, over the last hundred years.

Here’s a video Steven Johnson referred to in his TED Talk; under two minutes:

I plan to listen to the Audible Book.  I recommend Audible Books.

Happy Thanksgiving post image of Extra Life book cover

Extra Life
A Short History of Living Longer

By: Steven Johnson
Narrated by: Steven Johnson
Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 05-11-21
Language: English
Publisher: Penguin Audio
4.7 out of 5 stars(91 ratings)

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Poems

I’ll likely do a more traditional Happy Thanksgiving Holiday Greeting for some client sites, and I’ll share a couple of thoughts along that line here.

Here’s a great poem, among many at https://www.weareteachers.com/thanksgiving-poems-for-kids/ (that’s for kids of all ages!).

Happy Thanksgiving Poem Image

I was pleased to find this little gem among many via https://www.google.com/search?q=thanksgiving+poems

You’ll find more fun Thanksgiving Day poems for kids at https://gatheredagain.com/thanksgiving-poems-kids/

With all best wishes for you and yours to enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving!

Regards,

Keith Klein
Organizer, Wisconsin Business Owners
Founder & CEO, OnYourMark, LLC

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.  Please contact us with questions.  Best to call, email or visit our site for the best response.  We do invite you to engage with us on social media (just not for immediate needs).

As always, if you like, you will find us on the following social media sites, among many others:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

This post first appeared in the personal site of Keith Klein at https://www.keithklein.me/happy-thanksgiving-thought-experiment/  Thanks for sharing, so we may share it with our viewers.

Wisconsin Veterans

Wishing Wisconsin Veterans – and All Vets – Happy Veterans Day!

Dean Hall Leave a comment

Wisconsin Veterans enjoy recognition in the We Energies 2021 Cookie Book, Celebrating military service.

My wife kicks off the holiday season every year with a trip to the ball park in Milwaukee for the We Energies Cookie Book.  Every year we get multiple copies of a well-produced set of dozens of Christmas Cookie recipes.  Limit 2 to a customer.  Every year I get dragged along, because that means a couple more cookie books.  If you knew how passionate my wife is about Christmas, you’d know this is a BIG DEAL – her annual kickoff to the holiday season.

This year our youngest daughter joined us to get cookie books.  Home from a year working in Spain, and staying with us, we shared stories of many prior trips to the ball park, including Santa and reindeer sightings, a cookie and hot chocolate, and other sights and treats – all curtailed because of the pandemic.  What we found this trip was an even bigger treat.  As we slowed to a brief stop to be handed our books, the lady who handed us six books excitedly proclaimed, “Check out the recipe at the top of page 23!  My mom sent those when I was deployed to Desert Storm ~ they’re great!”  We all exclaimed “Thanks!” and “Merry Christmas!” and drove off.

As my wife drove and our daughter held our new puppy, I was struck by the great slices of life in the Cookie Book.  On page 23, next to the recipe for Mom’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and under a mouth-watering picture of the cookie was this caption:

Wisconsin VeteransChristy Schultz Veteran
Specialist, U.S. Army
New Berlin
While deployed to Desert Storm, my
mom would send care packages
with tins of homemade cookies.
A squad favorite was this peanut
butter chocolate chip cookie.

Thank you for your service, Christy Schultz, and thank you for an extra-fine start to our holiday season.

Wisconsin Veterans are represented throughout the 2021 Cookie Book. I was struck by the stories shared, as well as the recipes shared.  Here are a couple more examples that I hope you’ll find as moving as I do.

Ribbon Cookies, page 21 top:

Submitted by Janine Sijan in memory of

Wisconsin VeteransCaptain Lance P. Sijan
A Milwaukee native, Captain Lance P. Sijan was a U.S. Air Force officer and Vietnam fighter pilot who posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest military award, in 1976. In addition, the Air Force created the Lance P. Sijan Award, one of the branch’s most prestigious awards, to recognize individuals demonstrating the highest qualities of leadership in their jobs and in their lives.
Submitted by Janine Sijan in memory of Captain Lance P. Sijan
This recipe was my brother Lance’s
favorite. My mom would bake dozens
of cookies and send them to him
when he was attending prep school,
the Air Force Academy, pilot training,
and Vietnam. — Janine Sijan

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, page 21, bottom:

Wisconsin VeteransKyle Zierer Veteran
Sergeant, U.S. Army
Brookfield
While serving in the Army, one of
my civilian co-workers invited me
to his home for Thanksgiving. They
served many great treats like this one.
I will never forget their kindness by
including me during a time when I
would have otherwise been alone.

The Cookie Book is a fine tribute to Wisconsin Veterans from communities all over our state.  Perhaps it is the holiday spirit of sharing that makes their stories all the more poignant.

Without copying the whole book, I’ll just highlight the following from page four:

Hometown heroes: 128th Air Refueling Wing

The 128th Air Refueling Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard, has a long and illustrious record of service to the State of Wisconsin and the United States of America. From natural disasters to service in the Korean War and operations Desert Storm, Restore Hope, Enduring Freedom and Noble Eagle, the 128th Air Refueling Wing has responded to changing world events and tasking requirements with dignity, honor and courage. https://www.128arw.ang.af.mil/

 

Members of the 128th Air Refueling Wing held a contest to choose a recipe to submit for Cookie Book consideration. They couldn’t choose just one and neither could we. We’re featuring all three recipes they submitted.

 

Wisconsin Veterans
Sweet Spotlight:
Organizations Supporting Our Troops

Support for our active and retired military comes in many forms, including organizations committed to providing care for those who serve. It is our honor to share recipes from four of these groups, which you will find on Pages 8 and 9.

 

Blue Star Mothers of Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter 2 — Unites military mothers of all types in supporting our military forces and veterans, as well as each other. https://www.bluestarmomssew.com

 

Fisher House — Provides a home away from home for families of veterans and active military who need temporary housing while their loved one receives care at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. https://www.fisherhousewi.org

 

Operation Home Baked — Sends holiday cheer in the form of cookies to our service members stationed overseas, with more than 300,000 cookies sent to date. https://www.youarespecialwi.org

 

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight Inc. — Honors veterans with a life-changing trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials and experience a day of honor and thanks.  https://www.starsandstripeshonorflight.org

____________________________

Thank you to We Energies, and the staff who produced the Cookie Book!  To download a free copy of this book or find additional recipes, go to https://www.We-Energies.com/recipes

_____________________

Happy Veterans Day, Wisconsin Veterans!

Thank you all for your service.

Keith Klein
Veteran, U.S. Army
Son of Lloyd Klein, a decorated U.S. Army Korean War Veteran
Grand-nephew of Harold Lloyd, a U.S. Army World War I Veteran who gave his all
Organizer, Wisconsin Business Owners
Founder & CEO, OnYourMark, LLC

We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.  Please contact us with questions.  Best to call, email or visit our site for the best response.  We do invite you to engage with us on social media (just not for immediate needs).

As always, if you like, you will find us on the following social media sites, among many others:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter

WaukeshaBusiness.com is a project of OnYourMark, LLC.