A Season Of Good Cheer - Or At Least An Attempt

Yesterday morning I was headed to an appointment when it happened. I had noticed an aggressive driver pull up on my six and he was clearly impatient with the pace at which I was traveling. It was raining so traffic was backed up with people being cautious, as they should be. However Mr. Big Truck was having none of it.

He rode my butt for a little while and when the lane next to us opened up he saw his opportunity to advance himself at least as equal to where I was. I simply laughed at his purely unproductive forward progress. As he got along the side of me I saw his face. The guy was cussing, complaining and making all sorts of wild gestures towards the car in front of him and I suddenly felt sorry for him.

As luck would have it my lane sped up and I was now equal with the car he was trailing, something that I am sure just incensed the little fella. The woman in that car probably left her house in a good mood looking forward to a peaceful drive to work and now this turd wrangler was messing with her. Her face told the entire story. She had no where to go. She was in a lane that had dozens of cars moving at a moderate but not fast space. She was stuck so what did captain hot foot expect her to do about it. She was stressed and to be honest it made me a little mad that this guy had created such a negative Ripple for what seemed like such a nice woman.

As we meandered down the road she looked over at me and gave me those "what should I do looks" and I just smiled back at her. The instant connection we had with our eyes clearly indicated to her that I understood her predicament and I sort of threw my hands up in a gesture of what are you going to do? I then mouthed happy holidays and gave her a thumbs up. She seemed to understand and I am pretty sure she returned the favor.

A few minutes later her lane advanced just enough to bring the impatient idiot equal with me. Boy the guy was really steaming and now had decided to show his advanced level of IQ by flipping off the woman in front of him. As he ranted, raved and beat on his steering wheel he glanced over at me as I had decided to stare at him (while maintaining a cautious eye on my driving mind you) until he realized someone was watching his borish behavior. He looked at me and for a moment I thought he may have been related to The Grinch That Stole Christmas but clearly I can't be sure without DNA. I smiled and cheerfully mouthed happy holidays to him. He clearly thought I was trying to say something to him so so he rolled down his window. I repeated what I had mouthed teethy smile and all!

His response. He smiled. His face got a little less tense. He seemed to calm down. I started thinking alright Steve you made a connection with this dude. See he's not a bad guy.

Just then....he yelled at me, "Hey Buddy Merry F'ning Christmas yourself" and flipped me off. At first I thought maybe he's not from here and that's how they extend their heartfelt greetings in whatever backwoods banjo playing pig chasing mountain community the dude comes from then I realized no, the guy's probably just a regular kind of jerk. I rolled my window back up and laughed to myself. Glad that my life isn't nearly as stressed or rushed as bubba's apparently is.

Hey I tried. But hey Santa if you happen to read this please put the guy down for a double on that load of coal okay?

Ripple On!!!

Don't Follow The Poser

Let's say you are a little overweight and you want get yourself back into shape. You decide you are going to bite the bullet and get a trainer. You ultimately find one online. Impressed with the pictures of healthy ripped bodies on the guy's website you make arrangements to meet them at your local gym for an introductory session.

As visions of sculpted abs and a firmer butt dance around your imagination you notice an oddly dressed, overweight imitation of Richard Simmons walk in. You think to yourself at least I'm not that guy when suddenly he starts heading your way. With jelly dripping from his chin from the poor defenseless doughnut clutched between his chubby digits he greets you heartily and says, "I'm your new trainer are you ready to get to work?"

There are a lot of posers out there in the world.

Coaches that want to tell you how screwed up your life is when they haven't made their mortgage payment in three months.

Business consultants that want to give you the latest business advice in between their jaunts to look for a "real job."

Those "thought leaders" that want to create a communities around themselves to pray on the start-up wannabes or those who are desperate to network for their job.

Subject matter experts like social media gurus that have all the answers one web 2.0/3.0/4.0 because they know how to Tweet you and add you as a friend to their Facebook.

Posers...yep every single one of them.

Bottom line you wouldn't stick with a trainer that looks like he needs a forklift to get out of bed any more than you would take advice from a marriage counselor that has been married seven times. Yet every day so many us take our beat from these exact types of people. We follow them like sheep just because they have a good line, a sharp website or a well marketed program on audio CD.

Here's the deal, you should be questioning everything! Who you read. What you watch. Who you allow to influence your thinking. And whether the information that you are feeding your brain at the end of the day is benefiting you at all.

And the real question that you should be asking is does the person have my best interest at heart and if so, do they have the experience, the knowledge, the chutzpah to get me off my ass to accomplish more, learn more or achieve more? Or are they an overinflated, ego driven bullshit artist that talks a good game but when push really comes to shove and the fight is on, they'll jump on their three legged horse and head for the hills.

I can think of dozens of posers that have followings that simply amaze me. I don't begrudge these people because they have a bigger following than I do, actually I am sort of amazed by them and a bit sad for their followers. You see in the end I would rather influence one or two people along the way, with good stuff, good material and with a heartfelt intention to make a difference, than to sucker people in with gimmicks, overinflated promises and in the end deliver nothing of value.

We all have a finite time on this planet. I submit that your time is your most valuable asset. Be careful how and with whom you invest it in because as we both know you can never get it back.

Don't squander it following the expert poser that is all hat and no cattle!

Ripple On!!!