Have Fun With Your E-mail Auto-Reply

Recently I was on vacation and before leaving had to set up my e-mail auto-responder.  I've always struggled with the auto-responder because it seems like mine, and all the other ones I get, are too formal and lacking in the humour category.  Don't get me wrong, I think they're important for letting people know that you might not get back to them right away, but they need to be more fun.  So, rather than creating my same old boring auto-responder I set up the one below.

I will be on vacation from August ___ to the ___.  During my vacation, I will not be able to get to most of my incoming emails right away. Why? Because being on vacation, I'm likely to be frolicking on a beach, playing horse balls (seriously, Google it), or something, and reading emails is incompatible with frolicking. 

In case of an absolute emergency that requires my immediate attention, please call our office at ____________ where our amazing team members can help you, or will know how to contact me. Bribe them. Tell them they look beautiful. Examples of "absolute emergency" include: You are the Prime Minister, you are Elvis, you urgently want to give me a billion dollars,  you discovered that I'm "The One" and you must find me before the Agents to give me that "blue pill, red pill" speech.

Smile, and make it a GREAT day!
Mike

If you can't think of something on your own, don't worry, that's what the internet is for.  Where do you think I found this one?  I just made a few changes so it worked better for me.

Have some fun, be different, life is too short.

My Learnings From Golf

I recently played a round of golf with a group of friends, which turned into a round like all the others I've played as of late...  A good time with friends but a higher-than-it-needs-to-be stoke count.  You can learn a lot about yourself and others on the golf course, from people's knowledge/view of etiquette to how we deal with challenging situations and/or mistakes.  I remember when I was young I got my dad a hat for father's day that said "I hate golf, I hate golf, nice shot, I love golf."  At the time I had no idea the significance of what that hat said but for all the once/twice a month golfers out there, like myself, it couldn't ring more true.  


I don't know if there's another sport in the world that teaches patience, reflection, focus, hand eye coordination, strategy and the ability to move on (when things don't go well) better than golf.

Confidence - I find that when I stand over the ball with any club other than my driver I have a feeling of confidence that I can make the shot.  With my driver, I worry and wonder where the shot is going to go.  It's no surprise that I'm very inconsistent with my driver and the opposite with every other club.  Off the course this tells me that if you go into a situation with a positive mindset and confidence them you will have a better chance for success after mentally creating the success first.

Focus - When you have a friend chattering at you in the hopes that you won't win the hole, can you block that out?  When you're putting and the people on the next tee box are talking loudly, can you block that out? When you're faced with a pressure putt or drive can you overcome the pressure?  This is all about focus to me, and off the course your ability to focus through the distractions is a great skill to have.

Reflection - After I hit a bad shot I always try to think about what I did that lead to the bad shot.  In golf there are many small things in my swing that can lead to a bad shot, but trying to understand what went wrong helps me to attempt to correct it on my next shot.  On the flip side, when I have a good shot I use that to build my confidence.  Off the course, reflection drives learning and growth.  At the end of each day you should set aside some time to reflect on the day and ask yourself, what went well and what didn't go well?

Get over it - This is the toughest one for most people, definitely myself included.  Take that bad shot and simply move on, get it out of your head and don't let it ruin your next shot.  Off the course, it's hard to let go sometimes, but if you can master that skill then you will find yourself getting to success faster and more often.

Patience - You've got 4-5 hours to work on your game.  If one shot goes bad, there's going to be many more chances to make up for it.  Enjoy the time your spending with friends/family.

I love to golf and will do so as long as I can.  One day, by remembering to focus on the things above and much more practice I will be able to enjoy the game at a level that I'm not at today.  My goal is to be a scratch golfer.

The Ideon Difference

Since joining Ideon back in 2002, I have been witness to, and part of, many scenarios that put Ideon in a category of one, where I know that we are untouchable.  Where our Team Members go above and beyond to selflessly help our customers.  Over this past weekend another one of these outstanding customer service scenarios happened again.

Late on Friday night, one of our sales team members received a panicked call from his customer asking for a delivery of boxes the next day.  We don't normally make deliveries on the weekend and as a result did not have any drivers working that day.  However, I phoned one of our drivers and he offered to come in and make the delivery.  I should point out that he did not have to come in, we have a third party freight company who could have made the delivery for us, but our driver wanted to come in and help.

The production crew that was in that day were great!  They jumped all over getting the order ready for shipment, which is something that is not a part of their regular weekend duties.  Moreover, they stayed in touch with me throughout the day to let me know where everything was at so I could keep the Sales Team Member and customer informed.

Next I got in touch with our head Shipper to ask where the product was located, so the production crew who was in that day could pull the order for the driver), but without me asking he volunteered to come in to work and help the Production Team organize the shipment.

All of this was made easier by the fact the Ideon has embraced technology and I was able to access our production and shipping schedules remotely, enter an order from my iPhone and stay in touch with everyone mentioned above through text messaging.

In the end, the customer got their order well before they needed on Saturday and gave me yet another reason I'm proud to work with the Ideon Team.  I am WOWed!

Challenge Yourself

No matter what we do, how do we get better?  By challenging ourselves to go beyond our current levels and break into new uncharted territory.

Growth takes time.  Too many people expect results now, which is unrealistic no matter what you're looking to get better at.  If it's your career, fitness, knowledge, skills or anything else, you have to put the time into dedicated practice, practice and more practice.  If there's something that you really want, then your going to have to look at where you spend your time and stop doing the things that rob you of the precious time needed to practice.  I don't watch much TV, there are so many other better things you could be doing to grow yourself.  How much TV do you watch?  Are you at where you want to be in life?

Don't let fear or the negative impressions of others hold you back.  In fact, these two things are great indicators that you're going in the right direction.  Use them to drive you farther and faster to a better you.

You have all the motivation you need inside of you, it just needs to be let out.

 It all starts with a decision, a choice to get better.  Once you make the decision to get better you need to stick with it and focus on it.  You will be successful.

Challenge + Hard Work = Success

Instead of Watching TV, You Can...

Read, ride a bike, go for a hike, jog, see a play, play an instrument, read, meet a friend for coffee, call your parents, learn to play an instrument, go sightseeing, take up a hobby, read, visit a local attraction, go to the gym, go for a walk, rollerblade, go golfing, play with your kids, go to the Aquarium, check out the local zoo, write (journal, article, etc.), read, workout at home, and sooo much more.

How to Change Your Attitude

I love attending the Sales Meetings at Ideon Packaging.  I'm in Operations, not Sales (although I could easily argue we're all in sales at one point or another), but I've been attending the Sales Meetings since joining Ideon over 10 years ago.  Why?  Ideon's Sales Meetings have been the source of great discussions, ideas, innovation, training and have served as the foundation for the company that Ideon has grown into today.  Not to mention continue to grow.

Today's Sales Meeting revolved around a book we're all reading right now called Rainmaking Conversations by Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr.  Chapter two was the focus of our discussion, which is centred around having a conversation with yourself about wanting to achieve more.  Specifically, six questions to ask yourself.  I'm not going to give away what the six questions are, if you want to know then go get the book.

What I am going to share is our round-table discussion we had on what it takes to change your attitude, which stems from one of the six questions.  These answers came from rookie Sales Team Members to others with years of experience and even a couple of us who aren't in sales.  I wanted to share our answers because they're real, from real people who are on the front lines everyday.  

So, how do you change your attitude?

Exercise - Exercise creates energy, energy to accomplish.  If you can stare down that little demon in your head that tells you "it's too hard", "I'm too tired" or "I can't do it" to the point where the demon goes away, then you're setting yourself up to accomplish anything.

Catalyst - For many people (myself included) there's a moment or event that spawns a change in attitude, like getting fired from a job or receiving constructive feedback about your performance.  Just be sure to acknowledge and use it to grow, don't dismiss it.

Glass Half Full - BE POSITIVE!  Positivity is a choice.  Last time I checked negativity and pessimism isn't fun, so why choose to be that way?  I was told many years ago that if it won't matter in 5 years then it's not a big deal.  Read up on Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern, this will help you.

Inner Reflection - Take some time every day to sit down and reflect on how the day went.  Celebrate the wins and treat the challenges as gifts, to help you get better.

Reading & Listening to Positive Stuff - Surround yourself with positive attitude influencers.  Watching and reading the news is NOT POSITIVE, so why do it?  You are what you repeatedly do.

Listening Deeply to People - Practice empathic listening skills with others and show them that you understand their point of view.

Surround Yourself With Positive People - Have you ever fired a friend?  I have.  It's not fun to do, but friends have a HUGE influence on your attitude.

Constantly learning - If you don't know how to be positive of change your attitude then go find a book on the topic.  There is an infinite amount of information in the world on self improvement, development and attitude.  You're not the first person who has wanted to improve their attitude or lifestyle, and chances are someone has already written a book about it.  Read!

Set Goals - Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, career, personal, family, etc...  Write them down and look at them constantly.  Make them stretch.  When a goal is reached set a new one.

Believe What You Do - If you don't believe in what you do it will come shinning through in your attitude.

Attitude is a choice, change is a choice, success is a choice, hard work is a choice...  What do you want out of life?  What's you choice?

Strive Towards One-Piece Flow

Many people have a belief that batch and queue is easier and gets the job done faster. This couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, one piece flow is the ideal way to set up a process. Besides reducing the time it takes to complete a task, there are many other benefits to one piece flow, such as:

- Reduces work in process (WIP)
- Eliminates excess inventory
- Improves floor/space efficiencies
- Heightened morale
- And much more...

To help demonstrate one piece flow vs. batching, here's a video I found on Youtube. Take a look... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQThEIJhhNs

Try it for yourself. Whether your process is entering orders, filing, processing people through a doctors office, manufacturing widgets or stuffing envelopes, if you want to reduce the time it takes to complete the process then move to one piece flow.