Greetings from Orlando...Home of The Show!
I spoke here on Friday and stuck around for a few days with the family to "practice slowing."
We had to take a day for some MAGIC at the kingdom of Disney and it reminded me of a story about Walt from Warren Bennis' book Organizing Genius...

"Walt Disney had no formal musical training. But he had PERFECT musical appreciation! The reason he was a steward of great groups is he didn't micro-manage. He intervened only after his "experts" had solved most of their own problems, not while they were struggling with them.
The wisdom of this...not only frees up the leader's time to do the things he or she can do best--inspire, communicate, and choose...it also gives staffers the sense of being autonomous. That quality that most gifted people require to flourish.

Walt had this way of keeping everyone's aspirations sky high..."
And that remains evident in the work of his many "cast members" every day in "The Show."
How's your "appreciation" for the work of your team?
See you in the show.
Michael

Last year I was on around 40 flights.
The rest of my 60 or so speaking engagements I arrived by car.
I like driving when I can and flying when I can't.
Just as the pitchers and catchers are arriving for spring training, my season is about to begin.

Early in the season it's Orlando and Florida's Space Coast. Soon to follow: Galveston, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Memphis, Florida again, Vegas again (as a speaker, if you're not in Vegas and Orlando every year, you're not trying...or not very good. Just my observation),
and that's just the beginning.

Most of my games are played on the road. Which is cool, and one of the reasons I love what I do.
The travel is a part of "The Show." And I do love the show.
Hope I see you in your town soon.
Play ball.

It has been a "writing season" for me.
Seasons change. Over the past couple of months I've enjoyed a respite from the road. A nice change from the travel and speaking schedule that I keep for much of the year. And I love it...the travel, the speaking, and the season away from it that allows me to recharge and write. Books and columns and journal entries and hand-written notes.

I love Julia Cameron's little book The Writer's Life which is excerpted from a bigger book called The Right to Write. Julia says, "Higher forces speak to us through writing. Call them inspiration, muses, God, Guidance...whatever you call them they connect us to something loarger than ourselves that allows us to live with greater vigor and optimism."

Wow. Want life with greater vigor and optomism? Me too.
Keep writing. The seasons are changing...