In our last episode.... Good gravy I wish I could get some consistency in the things I want to accomplish. Its been almost a month since my last post and I know every single person who reads this has been sitting on pins and needles wondering what bizarre and amazing thing I'm going to say next. Well, there is no reason to fear for I'm back. Didn't really go anyway, just let my old thinking sink in, but I went to a meeting last night and I'm pretty fired up. So, on my last post I had a response asking me where I was applying this personal revolution and whom was getting the benefits of my budding leadership skills. Well, that is a question that has a large answer. The easiest changes to see would have to be in my living room. The way I treat my wife. The way I have learned to love her by completing simple tasks that bother her. When she walks into our house she sees all the little things(shoes by the door, coat on a chair, dirty cups in the sink) and those bother her. I walk into the house and I see empty couch, lonely computer, refrigerator of unprepared food. We see different things. I can honestly say that most of the time I walk through the kitchen and I don't even notice the counter or sink or dishwasher or floor or any of that because it doesn't matter to me. But, I have begun to revolutionize the way I treat my wife. I haven't stopped saying nice things or holding her hand or kissing her on the cheek or calling her Princess. I've just added on things, like picking up clothes that are lying around, making sure my dishes make it into the dishwasher or at the least are rinsed off in the sink. Little things that she has been asking me to do all along but I haven't been listening to her. The crazy thing is the more I study about personalities and relationships the easier it is to understand both of our needs and I actually understand how/why she reacts to me the way she does. I'm glad I have started studying now. There are so many people I have meet that say "I wish we had read this book 20 years ago when we were first married." Its exciting to be ahead of the curve for once. Outside of my house the leadership skills I am cultivating are helping me with work. Again, it has been amazing how easy it is to work with people when you stop listening to what they are saying and start listening to what they are saying. What I mean, is that by growing my understanding of personalities it becomes easier to listen to what a customer is saying and understand it from their point of view instead of only seeing things from my nice comfy chair in my office. By putting a priority on by-passing my own intentions I am able to better understand my customer and where they are coming from and work towards the goal they actually have in mind, no matter what they are telling me on the phone. Also, I am trying to slowly teach those around me to do likewise and build up actual re pore with the customer so they trust us to have their best interest in mind. Besides home(my relationship with my wife) and work(my relationship with my customers and co-works) I've definitely begun to push myself at church and with my friends. On Sunday mornings during our service we have a time where they have us all stand up and greet the people we don't know around us. It use to be that I dreaded this time. Stand up, turn around, say hello to people who won't even remember you next week and will keep asking you if your a student, blah blah blah. Wow, did I dislike when we had to do that. Well, now its not so bad. I've started to take the mind set of "If its to be, its up to me." I want a better experience, I'm going to make a better experience. So, I've begun working on being the one to introduce myself first. Its uncomfortable, annoying, even painful for me at times, but I'm enjoying the change in the overall meet-n-greet experience. With some of my friends I've started noticing the negative in the conversations I use to participate in freely. Both language and content seem to have taken a rather interesting turn, but when I think about it, I'm pretty sure things have changed more in my life for the positive instead of the other way around. Also, when I'm hanging out with my friends I have started noticing the way I talk, and it is a lot. I have a tendency to repeat thing multiple times while I'm telling a single story. I tell the story and then give an example or continue to elaborate to get all of the finite details in as quickly as possible. See, right there i did it again. This bothers me and I'm working on not talking about myself so much, because honestly people don't find me as interesting as I do. On this front I have made one major change, I don't keep talking if I'm interrupted. If something disturbs the conversation I am taking part of(most likely a monologue at this point) and the other person doesn't ask me to continue I don't, I just let it go. Most of the time I can see this coming, but so far I can't seem to help myself. But I'm working on it. Always working on some part of myself so that I can be better tomorrow then I am today.