The Rarest and Most Highly Prized of all Human Virtues...

Good Morning!

I know that you have been successful in your endeavors this week!  Congratulations on a job well-done!

Whether you starting a new phase in your career or going on to next week's challenges within your current position...it is an opportunity to show what you are really made of...

Too many people go with the flow and miss the opportunities afforded them...I have yet to see someone swim without making waves!  If you are not swimming...you are sinking!

It is all about defining success and achieving it!

What is Success?

Success has as much to do with differentiation and that it has to do with results!

The vast majority of people go through life without a claim to fame!

This means that what they have accomplished is the same as everyone else...why notice?

VERY few have chiseled a legend...one that time can not remove from the hearts of those who know it!

Some legends are built upon a single epic accomplishment...others over a lifetime...

Whether a single event...or a long journey...there is one common element...

There was a difference made...a difference in the life of another or others...

Sometimes it was permanent...other times a fleeting but noticeable difference (a blip)!

But people felt it and recognized "the where and why" from which it came...it was because of you!

To become a legend...you must see it then be it! You must know what you need to do and then find the courage to do it...we all lack the confidence to be a legendary hero...ignore the thoughts of inadequacy!

Fight the odds...face them head-on...

Refusing to listen to the "Nay-sayers..."

Yet if we stick to theory...statistics tell us that we should not push extremes...

The probability of success lessens as we push the limits...

Then...tell me...how can anyone become a legend?  (You ask)

Are legends a matter of pure randomness?

Not at all...

Many of those, who have legendary status, have a virtue that almost assures that they would go into human history...

That virtue is called common sense!

It still boggles my mind that the rarest and most highly prized of all human virtues is called common sense!

That is a perfect example of an oxymoron!

(I have noticed that those who use this symantic combination are themselves morons! Perhaps that is the derivation of that word! LOL!)

OK...The humor break is over...and none to soon I gather!

I held for a long time that people born with Common Sense were VERY rare. Most of those who possessed it were experienced and often in the class of "elders." I had a hard time believing that a person could be taught common sense...until I looked a bit deeper into human behavior.

In the "olden days" story telling was a common practice. People gathered around the campfire or the dinner table and told stories. Hunters came in after a long day in the woods...and told their hunting stories...fishermen had their fishing stories...farmers had their farming stories...and everyone intently listened.

It was often written off as the "entertainment of the time"...but I have found that this tradition is much deeper!

Although what I am talking about is much more obvious...it goes back to the Greek culture and Aesop. Yes the fabled man of fables!

Aesop had stories that lead to a moral! "...and the moral of the story is..."

Shifting gears!

Common Sense is not simply the ability to identify what is needed...(cause/effect) it is deeper than that!

Common sense is the ability to identify the cause...the effect...AND... IMPACTS...ALL of the impacts!

To that end I built the Cause/Effect/Impact (C,E & I) analysis.

It is my way to teach people Common Sense...

I believe that Common Sense can be taught!

People who possess it and use it to create legendary performance know the causes...the effects...and most importantly...the IMPACTS!

Those who can warn the world around them of the impacts of actions...are tagged with Common Sense and become the heroes!

Many miss the "magic" that I was trying to produce in that simple technique!

Down Shifting...

Let's go back to the story telling...

People shared stories to share experiences and the subsequent impacts...

People who listened and really heard the stories...learned without experiencing!

Many heeded the morals of the stories and did not repeat the mistakes (impacts)...those lacking Common Sense did not and repeated history!

It is an interesting theory...but I believe that those who we say are born with common sense are really good listeners!

I have found that those people who I have termed as possessing Common Sense were also great listeners...I used to attribute their listening skills to the Common Sense that they possessed...but as I think deeper on this...I believe that their Common Sense is a result of their listening.

Listen to the "war stories"

Look for the morals and use them to your advantage!

Wrap-up (on this subject)

Let's tie everything that I have been rambling about into one consistent thought...

Common Sense can be an acquired skill...

It can come to an individual after years of success and failure (lessons learned from experience) (Lessons Learned is another tool set that I promote!)

It can come through listening to others...their stories and fables...and learning from them...(A subset of the Lessons Learned expecise)

It can come through an intense analytical tool set (the Cause/Effect/Impact)

It is not a single track...but if one wishes to acquire it in a relatively short period of time...all of this must be done...

All of the common sense in the world is of no use to anyone...unless you possess the courage to speak up and make a difference!

The legendary performance of epic heros is more about the courage that they had to make the difference than the difference that they made...

Join that select group and gather the courage to make the difference that you know is possible!

Enough Said on this topic!

Have a great weekend!