A man was walking in the street when he heard a voice: “Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step, a brick will fall down on your head and kill you.”

The man stopped and a big brick fell right in front of him. The man was astonished. He went on, and after awhile he was going to cross the road.

Once again the voice shouted: “Stop! Stand still! If you take one more step a car will run over you and you will die.”

The man did as he was instructed, just as a car came careening around the corner, barely missing him.

“Where are you?” the man asked. “Who are you?”

“I am your guardian angel,” the voice answered.

“Oh yeah?” the man asked… “And where were you when I got married?”

According to Hallmark, Oct 16 was National Boss Day. 

Here is what Hallmark says:

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 14 million individuals are employed in management occupations, and about 37 percent of them are women. (2005)

• Workplace surveys confirm that one of the most important elements of job satisfaction is a positive relationship between a supervisor and employee.

• Hallmark first made National Boss Day cards in 1979.

• Began in 1958 when Patricia Bays Haroski, then an employee at State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Ill., registered the holiday with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

To all of us, let us not forget to appreciate our bosses — whether they are our children, our spouses, our parents, or the one who gives your paycheck (grin)…  and also our Supreme Boss, the one who created us all.

So thank you boss!

- thank you boss for the raise, and also the raise you still have not been giving us but is considering.

- thank you boss, for not making us work when we’re sick unless absolutely necessary.

- thank you boss.  Without you, we would not have had the patience and endurance, and suffering does give you wisdom.

Pls use your imagination on what you want to thank your boss for !!! 

According to a report by ZDNet, total mergers and acquisitions by the technology industry has already totaled $186.3 billion on the first three quarters of 2006, which already surpassed the 2005 total of $164.6 billion.  It is projected that it will reach almost $250 billion by the end of the year, with close to 4,000 deals.

There are many reasons given for such activities.  Some often cited reasons would be:

a.)     Economies of Scale. Merging companies would allow increased market share, while probably reducing redundancy and duplicate departments, thus insuring lower costs overall, and therefore increasing profit.

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More often than not, I have colleagues who get sidetracked with hobbies, or personal problems and they cannot focus on the work.  Immediately, this shows up in decrease of performance levels.  The good ones get sidetracked temporarily, and is able to refocus.   Some others don’t recover well, and ultimately falls over.

How important is focus in getting peak or even decent performance?

I would say a lot.  The other day, I almost figured in a vehicle accident.  I was still inside our home subdivision which is almost deserted most of the time. I was going at 5 miles per hour turning a corner, and momentarily distracted while fiddling with my cell phone, I almost hit a car.

I thought.  If I focus on driving, I could go 70 miles per hour and still be safe.  But getting distracted even at 5 miles per hour seemed to be a recipe for disaster.

I think with all the good people out there competing for their own space, we are not good enough to accomplish worhtwhile things unless we give it our all, or our 100% focus.

I remember a quote from the movie, Citizen Kane which goes like, ” If all you want to be is to be rich, that is easy.”  And I guess people who are willing to put all their focus on just one objective ( and make the necessary sacrifices) normally would succeed. 

Of course, the reason we are having so much difficult in coping or even hitting our objectives is that we have so many of them — maintaining your health, maintaining life + work balance, family time, not getting too stressed, investing in our marriage,  looking good and maintaining a lifestyle at par with the Joneses, indulging in hobbies and interests etc.

And in the space of it all, we lose focus, and score marginal in all our objectives. 

At the end, it depends on what you really want, and how much focus you can bear on it.

Related Posts:

-Too much Focus on the Topline, not the Bottomline
-MultiTasking for Productivity
- Going for What’s Important
-
Focusing on Exceptions
-
Focus is the Key
- Focus on Core Competence