Does life ever sneak up on you and teach you a lesson? You, too? Glad to know I’m not alone.

Saturday, I had to work at Sparkspace. We don’t do a lot of Saturday meetings because we are primarily a business meeting space and most businesses don’t make their staff go to meetings on the weekend. It’s probably why we have very few revolts in this country.

I’ve put a twist on the KISS acronym we’ve all heard before. In case you haven’t heard of it before, KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

This funny little phrase reminds us that life is much easier if we keep things simple. When we make things too complicated, we freak out worrying how we’ll get things done, or how we’ll ever achieve the level of perfection we desire.

An example of “Drive-By” Communication is when you swing by someone’s desk to ask or tell them something. You say what you wanted to say, then you go on your merry way without a clue what kind of impact your conversation just had on the other person. You have no idea if they understood you clearly or if they’re capable of doing what you requested.

I am smarter than I was yesterday, I have better ideas than I had yesterday, and I am more valuable to my company than I was yesterday.

Did my brain grow overnight? Was I the subject of a new government “smart drug” study? Did aliens kidnap me and inject me with massive amounts of knowledge using their telepathic powers?

Nope. I read a book last night.

It has been 30 years since I last watched “Old Yeller,” the gut-wrenching story of a yellow lab that works his way into the hearts of a frontier family.

You remember what happens, don’t you? That dumb, happy mutt develops rabies and poor Travis, the teenage boy who bonds with the dog the most, has to put him down with a shotgun.

Excuse me while I choke up a little even now. Darn you, Walt Disney!

Man, my grass looks good. I gotta tell you, it’s downright luscious.

I’ve written about my grass before. This is an important tidbit of info because I’ve been writing articles for more than ten years and I don’t remember ever writing about any other single thing more than once. That’s how much I like my grass. I’d go out right now and just roll in it, but I do think there’s a line even a “live out loud” dude like me crosses when you roll around in your own lawn for no apparent reason.

Want to know the secret to having a fantastic Monday? Choosing to have one.

I searched the Internet for an image depicts a happy Monday. I found maybe three images and those looked like greeting cards my grandma would have sent me.

Know how many images there are that show how bad Monday sucks? Thousands. No kidding.

I finally found a reason why my wife should do all the laundry:

I can no longer distinguish between my wife’s and my daughter’s clothes.

If it is pink, red, or girly in any way, there’s a high likelihood that I will sort it into the wrong pile. This results in a kind smile from my wife. It’s the same smile she gives to babies and puppies that are cute but helpless. It also results in a head-cocked, eye-rolling, “how-dumb-are-you?” look from my daughter. She’s eight. Going on sixteen.

Conducting team-building workshops with thousands of people over the past ten years, I’ve learned something very powerful:

The quiet voices almost always have the best ideas. And they have them faster than the rest of us.
Nearly every team-building activity I’ve ever witnessed has a moment when the “quiet” person says, “What if we (insert any brilliant idea here)?” Sadly, that brilliant idea is rarely listened to. Some reasons why include:

I’ve got a confession to make before I begin this article: I almost failed my one and only required science class in college.

I tell you that because in a second I’m going to sound like a complete science nerd and I feel the need to represent myself accurately.

I love new years and new seasons. Even just a new day usually gets me pretty excited.

Even so, I’m a little overwhelmed with how to achieve all the wonderful things I want to achieve this year. I’m also overwhelmed at the volume of self-help information intended to help me set goals and get motivated. So I’m going to keep this simple this week, but I do hope this single spark helps you as much as it is helping me think differently about this new year.

I’m a big fan of Compendium, Inc. They produce the coolest inspirational and motivational books on the planet. We give them away as thank you gifts and always have some laying around sparkspace. You may have also seen them at Starbucks. Last year, Starbucks carried the Five book, which helps you think about what you want to do with the next five years of your life.