Thursday, July 17, 2014
                                      Summer Edition 265
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Russell R. Shippee
Author, Speaker, Navigator
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Quotations  
 



"Lack of opportunity is often nothing more than lack of purpose or direction."
 
 
   
- unknown

 
 
"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."
    

- Jim Rohn  
 
   

 

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the
whole staircase, just take the first step."
 

  

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 


"What gets measured, gets done."     
 

  

Edward Deming

 

  

 


Quick Links

 

 

 

 
Did you take a vacation, are you still on one, or are you just working? Regardless, if you are in New England, I hope you have enjoyed the great summer weather. 

So, if you have taken time off, are you refreshed and ready to start? If so, don't wait.   Don't wait. 

Vacations are to recharge and reinvigorate you.  You should get more done, more effectively, and quicker once you return.  Enjoy it. 

If you have kids or grand kids, maybe work is where you can rest up after the kids! Kids are fun, they are the best, but they can also wear you out.  The challenge is to keep up with the kids.

For those of us that did our best to keep up with the kids and are now nursing pulled muscles and the like, going back to work might be a relief.

We have had some fog this summer, and it got me to thinking. (That is always dangerous.) See the article below on being lost in the fog.

We have some interesting things coming your way. As the fog clears you'll see.



 

BEST,

Russell signature  

 

 

 

Author, Speaker, Navigator 

  

PS:   Our Journey is Our Work is now an ebook - You can save money and have it with you all the time!
Visit Shipp's Locker Bookstore and download a copy. 

 

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Lost in the FOG 



Are you lost in the fog of life?

Some people are lost in the fog of life.

Several years ago, I was racing my boat from Newport, RI to Cuttyhunk Island off the coast of Massachusetts. There was a great deal of fog, and we kept one person on the bow (front of the boat) to watch out for other boats. It was that foggy.

We sailed on towards Cuttyhunk using our GPS navigation system. While we could see nothing but fog, we had the electronics to confirm we were on course.  We were fine, and we raced on in the fog for four hours.

As we approached the island and the buoys around the island, we were slightly concerned when we could not see the first two buoys along our path. Then, when we should have been at the entrance to the harbor, we still saw nothing and became extremely concerned. Immediately, we stopped the boat.

One sailor had an iPhone with a new (at the time) navigation application. He searched and yelled, 'turn 180'. We were heading for the rocks off the southern end of the island!  As the iPhone led us into the harbor we watched the GPS system installed on the boat, and it said we were on land.  Clearly the boat navigation system was wrong.

Once safely in port and tied to a mooring, we started to review the situation. For hours we sailed believing we knew where we were. We didn't! Once we knew our navigation system was wrong, we realized we could be anywhere. We had no idea of where we were and no way, except for that iPhone, to find out where we were. Not knowing where we were, there was no way to get help or be found.  Frightening!

The iPhone was a life saver. Now, we sail with redundant systems. Yet, the memory of thinking we knew where we were, but in reality had no clue, still haunts me.

How about life itself? How many of us are in the fog? How many have no idea where we are heading, where the port is, or how to get there?

Too many people drift along in the fog of life with no plan, no port of call to head for. Others have an idea of where they'd like to go, the port to head for, but have no idea of where they are, nor how to chart the course to navigate to the desired destination.

How about you? Do you know where you are? Do you know where you are going, where your next port of call is? Do you have a plan, a course to follow, to get to your next destination?

First, we need to find out where we are. Then, we need a plan, a real plan of the steps needed to move towards our destination. Without it, we drift in the fog of life.

Look around. If you are lost in the fog, do something about it before you hit the rocks.