#2023 – Page 5 – The Corrigan Encore

Where are we at?

July 6, 2023 John Corrigan

There is this great video on youtube that I cannot stop watching. The drummer of the band.

The action in the video starts at 4 minutes 46 seconds. At 4 minutes 46 seconds the band named Sharp Dressed Band starts playing, yes they are a ZZ TOP cover band. What I love about this video is that the drummer, whose name is Steve Moore and is called the mad drummer, just goes off on the drums. The guy is mad good at being a drummer and is showing off his skills filliping his sticks and playing like he is performing in front of thousands of screaming fans, This guy brings it as a drummer. When you get the chance you should visit Steve’s website . Yes his website is www.the maddrummer.com. This guy can play and when he gets the chance he does!

We should always do the best we can no matter where we are and who we are doing it for. This can be hard but the benefits are tremendous. If you had the chance to see Steve’s website you can see that, Steve has done some pretty big gigs,and that is because Steve is an amazing drummer no matter where he is or who he is performing for Steve brings it.

Today at work whatever you are doing you should bring it. Do the best you can.

Do they smell like yesterday?

June 28, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

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Bart Simpson has worn a red shirt and blue shorts every day for 32 seasons. I often wonder about this. does Bart have a closet full of clothes that are all the same? Does Bart have a pair of clothes that never fall apart in the wash? Is part a cartoon character and live by a different set of rules?

I was once in the US Army and every day I wore the same uniform to work. I got into the corporate world and switched my clothes and shoes every day. I once wore a different pair of shoes to work every day for two months straight. I am a big fan of change. I like to consistently change things up as long as I can keep some basic things the same.

Change everything except your wife and kids
Lee Kun-hee

That quote comes from one of the heads of Samsung. The leader was worried about the lack of innovation at the company and wanted to shake things up. I honestly do not think I would be able to wear the same thing for the rest of my life over and over again, if I had to though I guess I would wear an outfit that could reflect my family, like a tunic with my family crest.

Are you in or are you out??

June 27, 2023 John Corrigan

My dad loves cars. I think that my dad loves driving fast in cars I mean who doesn’t. I have memories from growing, up of my dad working on cars and talking about cars. I remember my dad telling me that it was said that man could not go faster than 40 miles per hour. “People were afraid to go faster than 40, they wore goggles and they just knew that if they went faster than forty bad things would happen. then they went faster than forty and have broken the speed of sound. ” my dad.

So much has been accomplished and remains to be accomplished by humans and life throughout history that, I am inclined to believe nothing is impossible.

When someone tells you what they are going to do and it is big you can do a few things You can support that endeavor. You can ridicule the endeavor or you can watch the endeavor. Of the three options the first one provides the highest risk and teh most reward. The second is just mean and does nothing to make the world better and the third is literally nothing.

If you interact with anyone today try to remember that anything is possible.

So what is it going to be are you in? are you out? Are you just nothing?

“People who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those who are doing it”
George Bernard Shaw

What stuff do you want to deal with

June 14, 2023 John Corrigan

So I just finished watching the last season of the TV show Ted Lasso. The show as a hit and I will not insult you with a recap of the shows plot or episodes. There is one scene in the the last season that really resonated with me and even inspired me. Ted the soccer coach asks his team if they want to deal with what he calls junk in their lives and if they don’t what do they want to deal with?

I love this idea because life can be this amazing wonderful ride. A ride that is truly fun or it can be a never ending Sisyphean endeavor we are praying will end mercifully or it can be a broiler room or vice cooking us and pressuring us till we have a nervous break down and sometimes we can feel like life is all of this at the same time. How do we deal with this? We have to understand the issues and problems and junk. Because at its core life is awesome! It really is. Spend one day out doors in the sunshine and you will understand how amazing life is.

I hope you can get past all the junk in your life and sometimes you may need help to do this and that is fine and normal and you should get that help. The help of a friend or family member is great but when life is especially hard there is nothing wrong with the help of a professional. Find a good therapist and use them.

It’s more than half

June 12, 2023 John Corrigan

There is this awesome podcast called How I Built This. On HIBT the podcast interviewer interviews founders of companies and lets the founders tell their stories about how the company started and is or isn’t functioning right now. I like the show because it gives insight that can really only be gleaned from the founders. At the end of each interview the interviewer asks how much of the companies success was luck and how much was hard work. Almost always the answer is more than half good luck.

The answer is of course layered by the founders and not just a straight forward one. Most founders acknowledge the good luck they received in life through opportunities they were afforded at all stages so far of their lives. The answers got me to thinking about how these opportunities manifest themselves for us and others.

We as a group have a rare opportunity to generate good luck for others through charity and education. By giving our time and talent we can actually give people luck. It has been said before that successful folks make their own luck but I think that statement needs to be changed to ” successful people make other peoples luck.

Photo by Djalma Paiva Armelin on Pexels.com

Everyone does it

June 8, 2023 John Corrigan

During the height of the Covid pandemic the United States Supreme Court held many of their oral arguments from home using Zoom software. The Supreme court of the United States is a kind of weird organization. The judges wear these robes and sit on a diesis made of mahogany and literally their decision is law enforced by one of the biggest strong arm organizations in the world. All of that decorum and seriousness was undermined or flushed away when one of the justices failed to mute their microphone while they were flushing a toilet.

The culprit has not yet confessed but this slate article does some investigation and does not disappoint (we may know who did it). It really doesn’t matter who flushed the toilet during the zoom call when the microphone was off what I think matters is the fact that it happened. The Supreme Court tries to make themselves and the institution out to be more important than any other institution but at the end of the day they are people and they are really no more or less important than any other people out here.

Men in white coats

June 7, 2023 John Corrigan

There is this funny comedian named Anjelah Johnson, my wife and I really enjoy her shows. In one of her shows she mentions how she takes medical advice from anyone wearing scrubs. Scrubs are a type of overalls doctors and nurses wear however anyone can buy and wear scrubs some daycare teachers wear scrubs to daycare.

In 1916 Nathan Handwerker was looking for a way on Conney Island to sell his hot dogs. Nathan understood the respect that doctors garnered on Conney Island and used this to his company, Nathans Famous Hotdogs”, benefit. Nathan hired folks to eat his hotdogs while wearing white coats. Doctors and lab technicians wear these white lab coats quite often. Nathan never really made a statement that doctors endorsed his hotdogs but allowed everyone to assume it. Like scrubs, lab coats can be purchased by anyone. At a factory I used to work out the employees on the floor wore lab coats when they dealt with insulation.

It can be tempting to trust people that we believe have authority however how we authenticate this is very important. a uniform does not make someone an expert their actions and knowledge does though.

Sometimes it is ok to be like someone from the state of Missouri and ask someone to show you how and why they are an expert.

God is….

June 1, 2023 John Corrigan

Back in 2003, you remember that year right? 2003, Netflix hadn’t started streaming yet, as a matter of fact, Netflix was only 6 years old. I only mention Netflix because in 2003 me and my good friend binge watched a disc set of a tv show called Miracles.

In the show Miracles Skeet Ulrich played an investigator looking for proof of miracles by God. Skeets character witnessed writing in blood, also known as hemography, the message written in blood is God is Now here. Others around the world witnessed the same thing however when they reported what happened they read the message as God is Nowhere. Skeet asked someone why they read it that way and the other character said how it was read said more about the people reading it than the message.

Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will
Zig Ziglar

We are often faced with many things we cannot control however the one thing we can control is our attitude and a positive one goes a long way. A lot of times it can be very hard to be positive but with practice and education it becomes easier.

For example, if we say, “It’s absolutely freezing today! I’ll probably catch a cold before the end of the day!” then our words expose a negative attitude. But if we say, “The temperature is very cold” (a simple statement of fact), then our expressions, and therefore attitude, are not negative. Sustaining an alert state in which self-awareness becomes possible gives us a chance to discover the origins of negativity. In doing so, we also have an opportunity to arrive at a state of positiveness, so that our words and deeds are also positive, making others feel comfortable, cheerful, and inspired
H.E. Davey

It’s Everything

May 31, 2023 John Corrigan

My wife and I have been married for three years now, we dated for 9 years and I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it. It’s true I am very very lucky. I remember early on while we were dating and talking about our lives before we meet each other we realized that we had been at the same concerts and other venues and never ran into each other. That’s when she told me it’s all about timing.

She was right timing is very important.

Timing is everything with relationships.
Rashida Jones

Photo by Andrey Grushnikov on Pexels.com

I have lived through some stretches in life where it has felt like I have had the timing off. Just a little to soon or a tad to late however looking back even those moments where I was “off” were not wasted. I needed to fail and not get the jobs I applied for so that I could learn more and get to where I am now.

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.
Bill Gates

My failures have taught me to understand when the right moments are and that the moment that matters the most is the moment that we are all in right now.

be mindful of the future but not at the expense of the moment
Qui Gon Jinn

Make today the best day you possibly can and if it is not working out just remember… chances are high that your timing could be off.

What does that mean??

May 12, 2023 John Corrigan

Daily writing prompt

Are you a leader or a follower?

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I sat in a meeting with three other managers and the director and read the document twice while the meeting went on. I could hear the Director read through the document but I was stuck on one sentence that I didn’t understand.

The manager will cultivate a leader to leader environment.

“What is a leader to leader environment?” I asked and was answered with, “I don’t know.” I left the meeting on a mission. I needed to know what leader to leader meant. I found out and my mission ended with a book that the Director had all the managers read.

The book is called “Turn the Ship Around” by David Marquet. Basically the writer outlines his experience as a leader of a submarine. He realized that he could not have a crew that would just listen and follow every order that would be dangerous and he had to cultivate leaders at every level.

So I told that story and mentioned a pretty great book (it really is good and worth reading) to say that I am a leader and a follower and everyone should be. There was this quote when I was a kid that always bugged me.

Too many chiefs

Leadership is guidance, inspiration, motivation, and leadership has to come from within. There is this concept of “buy in” that everyone on team needs to have for a project to be completely successful. Buy in is the willingness to participate in an endeavor. No one can force buy in from a team member this has to be inspired and motivated.

Leaders are needed at every level in a team and the top level should be more of a position of service for all other levels that are the leaders.

I have also heard “Lead follow or get out of the way” Lets change this to Lead yourself and help others.