FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VIC

April 2007

   Hello everyone, how are you? Well, it was a real downer for me on Sunday, April 1. No one was around for me to play any April Fool's jokes on. Jon had gone back to school at The Citadel, Lynne and Vicki had not yet come back from a fitness convention in San Francisco and because it was Sunday, no one was at work. No setting the clocks ahead one hour so Lynne would be an hour early running out of the house for an appointment. No calling a staff meeting and having a performer in a gorilla suit show up to entertain the troops. No moving Jon's car at school so he thought someone had stolen it. Oh well, I'll get 'em next year!

   Speaking of getting 'em, I got a lot of you guys with that urban legend about George Washington's dentures. Of what were George Washington's dentures made? Certainly not wood! Ivory. That's right, ivory. Makes more sense than wood, don't you think? Those that got it right were: Phil VanderHeyden, Sharon Eckloff, Kristen Lucas, John Sharpe, Gary Lenz, Regan Duguid, Paula Sanders, Andrew Gendron, Linda Curran, LaKeisha Hicks, Lynne Johnson, Ron Everett, Monique Yates and Steve Steinberg.

   This month's fitness quiz: Who was the first one to make it fashionable to wear your hat sideways? Again, please email your answers to Lisa at Lisa.Hemovich@BrickBodies.com.

   Getting back to Lynne and Vicki being at a fitness convention in San Francisco, the convention was the annual fitness industry convention for IHRSA (The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclubs Association). We took our entire management team and I was there until Friday when I came home to be with my son, Jon, for the last few days of his spring break. (Great father-son bonding but I missed the great Friday night party at the convention!) As usual, the speakers and sessions were great. We heard Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can fame speak, got our picture taken with 5-time World Boxing Champion Sugar Ray Leonard, a good old Maryland boy from Palmer Park in the D.C. suburbs, Lynne presented the new LMI program she is helping to choreograph, BodyViveTM, geared to the baby boomers, we checked out all the latest equipment at the tradeshow and our very own Brick Bodies Director of Corporate Wellness Jess Sheffield did a well-received presentation on Bridging the Gap Between Public Health Initiatives and Traditional Health Clubs.

   Perhaps the highlight of the convention for me was hearing ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner speak on how to create service excellence. After his speech, selected VIPs were invited to a question and answer session with him. As Lynne is a member of the Board of Directors of IHRSA and as I am a legend in my own mind, we attended the session. During the Q and A (that is corporate talk for Question and Answer!) someone asked Eisner what his training was and what skills were required to make it in business. (I thought that was a pretty good question as I was going to ask him if Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse were actually married. Are they?) Eisner said he had no formal training. His degree is in English. But he did say he always followed his instincts. If he had a good gut feeling about it, he did it. If it didn't feel right, he didn't do it. It was that simple.

   He said we all have the same instincts. The difference is some of us go with our gut and some of us don't. And there are a lot more people that don't. How many times do you see a movie or read a book or see an invention and say "Hey, I had that idea."? The difference is the other person acted on it and you didn't. (And don't talk to me about needing money to make your idea a reality. J.K. Rowling was a single mother on welfare before she wrote her first Harry Potter book!)

   So, what stops us from going with our gut? Sometimes it is fear. We are afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, afraid of the risk, afraid of change. Sometimes it is greed. We know it is risky or too good to be true but we go ahead anyway because we can't resist the get-rich quick possibility, no matter how remote! Sometimes it is insecurity. We don't think we are worthy; we listen too much to other people; we don't think great accomplishments come from people like us; we wonder what our friends and family will think if we fail. Sometimes it is ego. We think we know more than anyone else; we think we are smarter than everyone else; we think we are luckier than anyone else. We start something and are too stubborn to cut our losses and quit even when our gut says it is a dead end proposition.

   In other words, what stops us from listening to our gut? Ourselves!

   So, does this mean that when making important decisions, whether they be personal or professional, we should just go with our gut? Not exactly. First you need to get all the facts. Gather as much information about the situation as you can. You can't go with your gut if the circumstances of the situation are unknown. Then you should seek the counsel of qualified people you admire and trust. This should be different people for different situations. In one situation it might be your mother, in another it might be your lawyer. Then you should be still and listen. Listen to what? Listen to your gut. Get away. Clear your mind. Consider all the facts and the counsel of your confidants. And then go with your gut. Ask yourself this critical question: Does it feel good? If it does, do it. If it doesn't, don't.

   Keep in mind that your gut is not infallible. You will make mistakes. You will make a bad investment. You will hire the wrong person. You will misjudge people. You may even choose the wrong career or, heaven forbid, the wrong partner. But you will make the right decision a lot more of the time, and when you do make the wrong decision, you will at least make it for the right reasons, and it will be a lot easier to live with your decision. Remember, if you make the wrong decision but continue to listen to your gut, sooner or later it will tell you the right decision to make. You may not like what it has to say, but it will tell you.

   So, get all the facts, get the counsel of people you trust and admire, and then go with your gut! Not your fears, not your greed, not your insecurities, not your ego. Go with your gut!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY