The Feel Good Folder

It was for bad days. The flamboyantly bad ones. Black and bloody and bruised purply ones.

Not, I-got-a-spot-of-coffee-on-my-pant-leg bad days. Not even, someone-cut-me-off-in-traffic bad days. We're talking stellar bad. Rock-n-rollin' bad. Days you wished you'd gone into a career of shoveling ditches in the Arabian peninsula. 

Years ago, a beloved editor of mine taught me the virtue of a business compliment. She showed me her "atta girl" stash of cards and emails and letters. Each of them collected over her career. Each thanking her for an excellent job. Each sincere and dogeared.

"This is my Feel Good Folder," she told me one day, one vibrantly punk day, when we were both wondering about switching jobs from journalists to janitors. "Any kind of compliment, anything kind, it goes in here. Then I take it out and read it on days like this."

Though cards age, sentiment is timeless. A heartfelt "thank you" has the eternal shelf life of canned meat. Should nuclear annihilation come, the humans who rise from the ashes centuries later will still be able to fatten themselves on the potato protein and hydrolyzed soy of Vienna Sausages manufactured in the 80s.

Now that's timeless.
That's the Feel Good Folder.

Today, I discovered a lost recommendation from 2009 that is going inside my Feel Good Folder:

"I have a reputation as a 'tough sell' as, more often than not, I decline recommendation letter requests. Tara has never requested a recommendation letter from me. I sought out this opportunity. Tara is, in my opinion, a national treasure: integrity, creativity, humility, decency, personal skills, DIALECTIC INTELLECT!!!! .... Need I say more? I give Tara my HIGHEST recommendation. Call if you have questions (918) *** - ****." 

Booyah. Yummy to my tummy. I needed that. It tasted great and was less filling.

My suggestion? If you don't have a Feel Good Folder, you'll feel good about starting one. You'll feel even gooder about starting one for your employees. Keep it next to their personnel files and yank it out when they've locked themselves in the VIP bathroom. 

Slaps on the back work. Both to motivate and to dislodged processed meat.

VIDEO: Birth of a Book

Never become so dulled with technology that you forget the artistry. 

Quote them: Moonlighting mayhem

I love entertaining/odd/screwball writing wherever I find it. Even if it's in the 80s.

From one of the squiggliest scripts in the big-hair era of TV, I give you....Moonlighting:

Security Officer: I'm sorry, but you're not on the guest list.
David Addison: That's because we're not guests. We're looking for a man with a mole on his nose.
Security Officer: A mole on his nose?
Maddie Hayes: A mole on his nose.
Security Officer: [to Maddie] What kind of clothes?
Maddie Hayes: [to David] What kind of clothes?
David Addison: What kind of clothes do you suppose?
Security Officer: What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows?
David Addison: Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking with the mole on his nose? I'm not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he's Chinese, a big clue by itself.
Maddie Hayes: How do you do that?
David Addison: Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss.
Security Officer: I'm sorry to say, I'm sad to report, I haven't seen anyone at all of that sort. Not a man who's Chinese with a mole on his nose with some kind of clothes that you can't suppose. So get away from this door and get out of this place, or I'll have to hurt you - put my foot in your face. 

I think of this show. Then I think of pretty much anything on the WB. Then I think of this show. Any questions?

ARTICLE: Have obstacles in life? Learn how to overcome anything here.

My new Tulsa People article is up!

It's about Pathways, a place that showed me how very few excuses I have for how very much I complain about how very little I've accomplished.

Go to Pathways.
Meet the truly successful.

"Keith Palmer is a man of many interests. He enjoys discussing current events. He remodels furniture. He sings in a choir. He loves sharing his Christian faith and making friends.
At age 3, Palmer was diagnosed with autism. Now 24, because he was born with glaucoma, he is also legally blind.
But these obstacles are not impeding Palmer’s life, thanks to family support and the Pathways faith-based program for adults with developmental disabilities, through which he participates in these activities and more."

Quote Them: Groucho, wherefore art thou, Groucho

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

Is your business missing this fundamental ingredient?

People, God love 'em, are great. Yes? You know I love 'em. Unless they run into me with their Wal-Mart shopping carts, then I have only lukewarm feelings.

When people have ideas and stamina and passion and gumption and charisma and heavily-gelled hair, gosh darn it if I don't get thrilled to be a part of making them successful. It's what I do. I give them a voice. I craft their words. And I rarely slip a "gosh darn" in the bunch.

I save the hick slang solely for myself.

In my fury to promote them, I forget an existential need that no business can live without, including mine: self promotion! I promote businesses for a living. Yet I fail miserably at promoting myself.

Who me? Why do you need to know about me? Or what I've been doing? Actually, maybe you do. Maybe you - yeah, I'm looking at you, not literally of course, but go with that uncomfortable thought anyway - need me.

Why? Because, like me, it's time for you to promote yourself.

Here's a mini-story to illustrate my point:

The other day, whilest sitting in the midsteth of a brilliant media client, we hit the subject of self-promotion, namely himself. In half an hour, we had brainstormed for a mutual client and he had shared with me creative ideas tipped in gold.
Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea.
When I asked if he shared these ideas through blogging or a newsletter or Facebook posts, he told me a line I hear so very often, "I need to, but when do I have the time?" He went on to explain how his ideas might be stellar (and they are) but communicating them effectively...well, that's a struggle. 
"Ahh," I told him, "if only you knew a great written communicator."

Do I write business copy for his clients? Yes I do! But, just like me, he focuses on them and not on himself. It never occurred to him I could help him, too. That his creative business needed a creative copywriter. That for a fraction of the time it took him, he could farm out the work and get exactly what he wanted without all the strain on his time.

He could focus on what he does best, which makes him money, while I toil away ensnaring new unsuspecting clients for him with words that can weave a spell or a decent bath mat. Partnership in heaven? That might be overselling myself a bit. Let's just say "10,000 feet above sea level" and call it good.

And what does he get? To be promoted! But with style - his. To make a carbon copy of himself, basically, and then upload writing talent into the clone and give the glob a keyboard.

That's not exactly what I am. But I'm close. I'm very, very close.

In a world top heavy with written communication - emails and Facebook statuses and blogs and texts and newsletters and tweets - it's no wonder your typing speed can't keep up.

But I can help.

When the desire for a BB Gun outweighs all else

Oh dear Lord, the birds are back. Must break now and meditate on murder.