Wayne Gretzky, one of the greatest hockey players ever, said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."  To me that translates to, if you don't try, you're guaranteed you won't succeed.  That saying can be broken down into these points:

• Recognize an opportunity
  
• Take action on that opportunity
  
• Make the most of that opportunity
  
• Find other opportunities to take advantage of

Due to a family tragedy, I had to leave school in 1993, without being able to finish my degree.  Throughout the years, I have dreamed of going back to school and finishing what I started.  Today I am one step closer to achieving my dream.  I just submitted my application to attend Webster University in St. Louis, MO!

When I graduated from High School in the 80's, I actually had a guidance counselor tell me there were too many computer programmers in the work force.  I was extremely disappointed because I loved computer programming.  I excelled in my programming classes (yes they had them back then, based on Apple IIe and BASIC).  Everything about computers was extremely interesting to me.  I even figured out how to hack my TI-99 4a games.  So, I was very disappointed when I was told that I shouldn't go into computer programming, because there were too many programmers in the work force.  That shows how short-sighted and uninformed my guidance counselor was.

Strategy is defined as an elaborate and systematic plan of action.  Strategy also refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.  However, a few weeks ago I heard a definition I like even better, "Strategy is what we need to do to win".

I've recently been seeing a new chiropractor.  The first couple of visits he has given me some instruction about what chiropractors do.  A chiropractor basically adjusts the spines to correct subluxations or misalignments in the vertebrae.  Chiropractors believe in the principle that when the spine is misaligned, we feel discomfort.  This discomfort can be in the form of headaches, neck and back pain, and even pain to our extremities.  They treat the cause, the subluxations, rather than the symptoms, the headache and other discomfort.

In a recent post I spoke about how to pass Tribal Knowledge on to new team members.  It sparked some pretty good comments.  One comment in particular got me thinking about how I felt when I was new to my job, and how I was able to feel that I was a productive member of the team.