Jason Womack

Looking through the "lens of improvement"

I have heard Les Brown speak a few times over the past several years; and, this year I have had the opportunity to use his advice.

• One of the things he said when I saw him speak in Las Vegas (after I presented from the same stage the day before!) was, “If you get knocked down, fall down on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up!”

The crowd went wild!

Helping raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Hello all,

If you click here, you'll find the website I've joined to do what I can to raise another $350 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I am going to ride the ENTIRE two-day course (175 miles) in honor of this fund-raising effort...

My interest in finding out more about MS really peaked when I went to dinner with a friend in London, Giles Abbott. The more I have learned about this dis-ease that more people than I can imagine face, the more I knew I wanted to do something.

So, if you're interested, and want to spread the word, please pass this website around! Thanks a million... (at least that's the goal for this fundraising effort... $1,000,000 - every little bit helps!)

Pocketbook, Paperback Inspiration: Three Cups of Tea

I re-read a page I highlighted while enjoying a latte this morning...

Page 19:
“All summer, I’d looked at these mountains as goals, totally focused on the biggest one, K2. I’d thought about their elevation and the technical challenges they presented to me as a climber. But that morning, for the first time, I simply saw them. It was overwhelming.” Greg Mortenson, from Three Cups of Tea

About three weeks ago, a mentor of mine (thank you Harry Wong!) recommended I read this book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

I must admit, that over the past decade or so, I have learned to pick up the books that other people I respect recommend to me; it makes the “next” conversation with the person that much more interesting Generally, weeks or even months later, they will say something like, “So, did you ever get a chance to read that book?”

I bought a copy of Three Cups of Tea while I was in Manhattan on February 8th. Within three days, I was hooked (it must have been the long flight from JFK to LAX where I got to get about 100 pages in to the book before landing at home). I’ll let you read any of the information you can find out there...
Wikipedia, click here.
Website, click here.
Amazon, click here.

The quote that got me started was on the back cover: “Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools...”

Grand Central (in New York) frozen for 5 minutes!

Have you ever been to Grand Central Station? If so, you may enjoy this (thanks, Joe, for sending it my way):

Just ordered my "Amazon Kindle" - digital book reader

Well, I'll have some reports in the next month or so...but, so far I'm enthusiastic about the possibilities here...If you are thinking of ordering one, here's a link!

Does anyone print their Outlook calendar each day?

If so, can you let me know what the "lower-right-hand-corner" area that is titled NOTES is for?

I can't seem to figure out how to populate that with information. (That is, if I type notes in the appointments OR the tasks, I don't see them there...)

Here's a picture of what I'm looking at:

Visiting North Los Angeles anytime?

I received this note from a fellow runner and work colleague and thought I'd pass it on here. Since I travel a bit, and am always learning more about the different cities I visit, I wanted anyone traveling to this side of the world to have access to this information. I have already learned a whole bunch about my "own back yard!" (Thanks, Dan!)

Enjoy...

Hi all –

Last September I put together a website for my local homeowner group and started noticing that most of the traffic came from search engines and the local community.  So this weekend I changed the site around and renamed it www.ConejoValleyGuide.com to reflect the broader audience.

This is just a hobby but I take the site seriously, adding content such as local events, activities, advice and other personal ramblings every week.  The site may come in handy for you and anyone you forward the link to.  It can be particularly useful to those with kids (like me) as we are always looking for new things to do with them.

Thanks for checking it out!

-Dan

If you're a parent, and live anywhere near Santa Barbara...

...please consider attending this powerful, one-hour presentation, "Thriving is easier than surviving." Scheduled for Wednesday, 20 FEBRUARY, you can call ahead and reserve a spot...just visit his site for the info.

I've known Joe for several years now, and know that this event will be well-presented, and well worth your time. From a perspective that is sound in research AND in practice, Joe is the go-to guy...

I took this photo last year when his family came in to meet us during one of our meetings in Santa Barbara!

If you haven't downloaded a copy of his newest eBook (for FREE!), visit his site today.

Remembering my Córdoba, Argentina days...

I lived in Argentina back in 1997, long before my interest in biking started. Yesterday, Juan Jose Hurtado (from Argentina) finished first in stage one of the Tour of California.

I am planning to see the time trials in Solvang, and then the sprint and climb later this week when they come through Ojai (yes, our little Ojai will see the racers for a few minutes as they pass through "super fast!").

What are you looking to...?

I have been presenting custom-designed seminars inside of corporate and not-for-profit conference rooms for a long, long time now. (Just in the past 8 weeks, I have been to New York three times, London twice, and up and down the state of California. In the next month, I'll get to Denver New York City, and San Francisco!)

When I first start coordinating these one and two-day sessions, I interview a few of the people who will both be involved in the planning of the event as well as some of the participants-to-be. In that process, I'm asking:

What are you looking to increase as a result of a seminar on Maximizing Workplace Performance?

and

What are you looking to decrease as result of this seminar?

The answers have been interesting thus far. Here are some of the ones I've heard: