Inside a Telephone Answering Service

These First Few Chapters

I am 80% through with writing this book. The process started last April and I have been routinely getting up early and knocking off a few hours of work before the morning news on TV, Linda's emergence from the bedroom and the dawn. It's these hours that I love the most; the luxury and the reward of this life I lead.

I took October off from writing while Linda and I traveled to Azad Kashmir for relief work. The details are on the Kashmir Family Aid website.

Last night, we snarffed a couple of hotdogs at Costco (our occasional and silly/fun routine) and then saw the movie Stranger than Fiction with Will Ferrell, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllengenhal. I think it could become  a cult hit, with some profound undertones about the reality of things. Joe and the Vocano (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan) was like that. Light but important.

Here is more from the book, from the first chapter. I will keep pounding away and look forward to being finished while at the same time relishing the process. -sc

These First Few Chapters…

The first few chapters of this book are about two things.

First, they are preparation for the rest of the book. This engrossment with  preparation is exactly congruent with the overall message. The Work the System methodology is about preparation: preparation to ensure efficiency and to circumvent potential negative events.

And second, these first chapters are a bit subversive in that they are designed to convince you to perceive your world from a different angle: This is the “fundamental perception change” I’ve already mentioned. Once you “get it” the rest of the book will come easy. Learning new techniques and adding to your personal knowledge base are secondary. This is primarily about acquiring a new perspective on the mechanics of how things operate in the real, mechanical world. Once that perspective is internalized, the details of how to go about things comes naturally from within.

So this is all very simple but, yes, there is some work to do beyond reading these pages. Eliminating confusion and gaining control requires more than swallowing a pill or flipping a switch. That’s OK because my guess is that in your life the problem hasn’t been that you have been unwilling to work hard. But could it be that your dawn to dusk energies have been dissipated as you’ve coped with chaos? Could it be that there has been too much inefficiency in your life; that you have been spinning your wheels?

Ultimately, Work the System is about action, not reaction. Reaction is what one does when faced with chaos. Action is the root of gaining control; of reaching serenity, getting what you want and eliminating chaos altogether.

It’s time to drop the load, get some serious focus and begin to actively direct yourself toward the things that you really want in life.  Are you ready?

Book Excerpt: Quiet Courage

When Centratel was just a hair-breadth away from collapse, finding the resources to summon up quiet and not-so-quiet courage was not a problem. Figuratively, I had a gun to my head. The loss of everything was just in front of my face and I exhibited the same visceral protective reaction that I would have had if someone was physically pushing me toward a cliff edge (and for the record, and unrelated to this argument for quiet courage, note that personal desperation can be a highly effective motivator. Comer Cotrell said “The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation.” )

But without a gun-at-the-head motivator and when excuses flit enticingly in front of me, I can see that quiet courage’s number one nemesis, procrastination, is at work once more. The antidote? For me, there’s two: First, I consider that so often it’s just momentary laziness overtaking me – and that I must immediately take action. I see the laziness as something tangible. Once I detect my simple mechanical laziness – most often temporary indolence cloaked by some lame excuse such as “I’m too busy right now” or “I am too tired,” –  I simply get moving without a second thought. It’s worth repeating: simply get moving without a second thought.

Here’s my second ploy for when I am leaning toward loitering: As the excuses start to line themselves up, I ask myself why I am lacking courage. In a bit of a twisted way this inspires me and I react with fervor (it’s my guess that cowardice is the universally abhorred personality flaw).

Whatever. Just know that procrastination – the lack of quiet courage – will ruin your prospects if you let it in.