It’s About Today, Right Now

Stoic Quote of the Week

The struggle is great, the task divine? to gain mastery, freedom, happiness, and tranquility.

-Epictetus

What I learned this week:

Life is an interesting thing. It is finite because we all die. We live like it is infinite and rarely realize it is until we are dead or something traumatic happens to us. That trauma comes in many forms, and cancer is one of them. I'll say here early on, FUCK cancer. It is a thing that can happen to a toddler, someone in the prime of their life, or someone at the end of life. This isn't much of a Christmas note, but in truth, it is. What if this is your last Christmas? Would you change the way you celebrated or who you celebrated with? I have a few friends who are dealing with different forms of cancer, some with a positive prognosis and others not so good. One thing that holds true for all of them is that they are looking at life differently now. Each of them knows that life is no longer infinite for them. It is finite. When we realize that something is finite, there is no more of it, which makes it that much more special—everything from bottles of bourbon to signed and numbered paintings. What I saw this week when I was with a couple of my friends who are dealing with cancer is that they see life differently. They now see life as it is, in the moment and special. I'm challenging you to take this week and look at your life. Are you living like it will always be here, and there will be more time? Or do you choose to live in the moment? To cherish the time that we have. No one ever said life is easy. But we can choose to make our lives enjoyable and fulfilling by being present in the moment. Don't wait for something traumatic in your life to cause you to change how you live and look at life. Live life now, not tomorrow or in the past. Merry Christmas.

Planning thought of the week:

When you develop your plan, one of the things to make sure it is successful is a clearly defined outcome. In order to know whether we are making progress or not, we have to establish means of measurement. It could be distance. It could be items assembled, people trained, etc. Without a means of tracking and seeing how you and your team are making progress, you won't know what to adjust and change in the plan to achieve the outcome.

Business idea I heard about or thought of:

Graffiti is a strange thing. Some of it is art, some trash, and gang tagging is one example. Either way, it must be removed if it isn't supposed to be on that structure. I spent some time in Portland this week. The majority of it around St. John's bridge, which is an amazing suspension bridge that is beautiful and has just as beautiful a park under one side of the bridge. Someone decided their message was more important than the park's beauty and spray-painted crap on some artwork. This problem will never go away. In larger cities, it's all over. Time for sandblaster and other tools for removal. That's the business. Your business would be re-beautifying the parks and other areas. Until a coating prevents that, there will always be some sort of tagging—time to clean it up and make some money.

Veteran opportunity of the week:

You need to check out the PACT Act. This congressional-approved program will help us vets who have been exposed to all the toxins during our deployments. Don't sit around and wait until it is too late. Register now. Here's a link to Jon Stewart's YouTube video. It is an additive disability that you already have.

Someone I met this week:

I spent some time on the road the last couple of weeks, and whenever I do, I always get to meet some new and interesting people. One of the many that I met was Romeo. Romeo is the founder of a very successful small business in a very specialized area of a niche market, sailing. Romeo's company makes a certain kind of part that you buy and implement in your sailing systems if you are at the top of your game in sailing. I paid a visit to Romeo's factory one afternoon this week to talk with him about using some of his products in a different project I am doing (Pocket Litter). Something about Romeo that I really liked was the fact that he pursued a business in a field that he loved and crushed it. Now, I show up, someone whom he has never met that wants to talk about something he has nothing to do with, and he walks me right out onto the factory floor and interrupts his team, which was all busy assembling parts, to help me. Pretty amazing in my book. Romeo had plenty of other things to do besides show me around his shop, answer my questions, and respond to my theories and hypothesis. If you are into sailing, then you already know who RBS Battens, LLC is, and I can vouch for the leadership of that business to that of someone I want to work with. If you buy their products for your sailing systems, you know you're getting the best.

Link to current The Cam & Otis Show podcast episode, Ep. 221 Camden & Otis- What steps are you gonna take to move forward. Please note that we updated our show's webpage to camandotisshow.com.

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