This little video clip I stumbled across on Reddit brilliantly displays some elements of successful association management.

An elegant and fun solution to get people to use stairs instead of escalators from r/Damnthatsinteresting

They wanted more people to take the stairs. They did not install a sign with statistics on the positive health benefits of taking more steps each day.

They made it fun.

They also did not mount an information campaign with volunteers and leaflets at the top and bottom of the stairs to educate as many people as possible before they chose the stairs or escalator.

They just made it fun.

And separately, they counted a 66% increase in the number of people taking the stairs as a success.

Because when you are incentivizing for humans, even with your most fun plan, you will never get 100%. So pick a realistic goal, and go have fun with it!

Ted Urban's TED Talk on procrastination is a brilliant and hilarious journey into the mind of a long-term procrastinator. The star of the show **spoiler alert** is clearly the Procrastination Monkey, but the line I find myself recalling of the most is "It has always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk, in the past.".  

While most of us don't aspire to stand on the TED stage, the line is so relatable because we all know the feeling of unhappily measuring the distance between how we feel about tasks or projects not completed and how much better we would feel if they were just done.

For me, it is all of the things. I am such a captive of my to-do lists, that I have a notebook that if opened from one side is work items and if opened from the other is everything not work. And the problem of course is, it is much easier to add items to a list than the time it takes to actually get them all done. So both lists always seem to grow and never ends with the final item, "Now go have a nice day!".

Recently I was thinking about the infinite nature of my to-do lists and thinking that they should more accurately be called "Things I don't particularly want to, but have to-do lists" which of course made me think of the Ted Urban quote about the good part being to "have done a Ted Talk, in the past." since I also wanted to have my to-do list done.

I have previously written about the underestimated power of words and their ability to shape our thoughts and how we perceive the world, so I didn't care for the negative way my proposed list title sounded in my head. So I considered what a positive spin on it might be. 

The answer for me has been a new title and a whole new approach to my daily lists. Instead of feeling like a litany of things still to be accomplished when I look at them, my new lists help remind me of the satisfaction of being done. 

Rig your life for the results you want!

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On Tuesday I have the opportunity to speak at a Rotary Club in the Raleigh area.  As a former member of #30, I have experienced the similarity of the Four-Way Test and the REALTOR Code of Ethics and created this presentation from one strong community group to another.

Click on the title slide below to take a peek.

In this week's episode of the StarTalk podcast, one of Neil deGrasse Tyson's guests is Sir Martin Rees, a long time legend in the field of astrophysics.  Neil tells the story of a time they had met before that contains powerful leadership lesson.Neil was attending a society conference as a graduate student, too young in his career to be given a speaking opportunity.  Instead, he and others stand next to their scientific papers, published on poster board and hope a conference attendee will stop to read their work.Neil says "You came up to my paper!  And you looked at it and you asked me questions about it.  And you didn't have to do that. I felt that my future as a participating scientist was blessed, if you, will by your presence.  So I just want to thank you.  I don't know how often you do that, but I just want to thank you because what may have been little for you was big for me at the time."Neil reminds leaders so eloquently that although the gift of your notice or thanks may seem small to you, it could mean something much greater to the person you gift it to.This wonderful story is from 3:35 to 4:50 on the episode link above.

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My computer is moonlighting at XTeam@Rosetta, a small group of computers donating otherwise idle CPU time to the Rosetta@Home project.The Rosetta@Home group out of the University of Washington is doing important work in the field of protein structures.  Specifically, they are attempting to get better at predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences which could have implications in the future treatment of Alzheimer's, HIV and Malaria.As one of their volunteers, instead of a normal screensaver, my computer gets to work folding and refolding proteins.These distributed computing projects are an important way for researchers to process much more data (i.e. get further in their research) than they actually have computers (i.e. funding) to accomplish, moving science and medicine further than it could ever go without volunteers.  At the same time, by asking for help, they are providing the public the unprecedented opportunity to participate in cutting edge research.The 7 minute video below does a great job of explaining the project itself and this quote does an equally great job of explaining the impact of the volunteers, "Before BOINC we had around 400 computers that we could run our calculations on locally, but now with BOINC, we have thousands of computers that we can run our jobs on located all around the globe.".  Currently there are around 60,000 active users.#CollaborationForTheWin

I had the opportunity to spend some time last week visiting our Nation's Capital and stood at the feet of some of the greatest minds to grace this Republic.Their vision, wisdom and words, meant to unify a people during times of great upheaval continue to resonate and inspire across the years.Below the Jefferson Memorial is a small gift shop and learning center.  I was delighted to find Jefferson quotes stenciled over each of the door ways and made my way around the small, crowded space to note each one.This one in particular caught my eye because it instantly reminded me of something the brilliant Brian N. Larson said about our industry a few years ago, "We are an industry driven too often by our fears and not enough by our dreams.", a perspective I think Mr. Jefferson would appreciate.And it made me wonder, what would someone see in our industry if they were intent on viewing changes as either merely new inventions which may or may not prove useful over time, or potentially as improvements that can create new opportunities?  Looking at the quote above, I think there is much to be excited about.

Don't let tired be the end of the story...

While you are out there serving the Realtors, serving the association, serving the staff and serving the public, there is one group you can't forget to serve if you want to be truly considered Top Level AEing - that's other AEs.There are many ways to serve the AE community (peer mentoring, committees and workgroups, submitting samples to RARE, etc.) but if you want to really raise the bar on AEing, help your peers' leadership understand AE accomplishments and recognitions.Do not assume that a President or other leader really understands or even knows when the AE for their organization has earned the RCE designation, has been recognized with a peer award (YPN Leaders of Tomorrow, the Magel achievement award, inducted into the Smith Society, etc) or has been otherwise distinguished within the AE community.AEs themselves can be reluctant to emphasize these accomplishments so it is incumbent on other AEs to pull aside the leadership, educate them and help them understand what it is and what it means for their organization.Designations and awards have great descriptions on Realtor.org that can be easily copied and pasted into an email with a suggestion like "It would be great to recognize your AE at your next Board meeting!", the same as you would tell your own President about a member who had achieved distinction.Leadership cannot appreciate what they do not know.  By making sure AE accomplishments are understood and recognized by leadership, you are serving the Realtors, the association and the AE community.

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The start of a New Year means new Officers and Directors joining the Board and that means Board Orientation!  If you are looking for a great resource to educate and explain the Fiduciary Duties of Directors, this video starring Katie Johnson, NAR's General Counsel is just what you are looking for.  Thorough but concise, Katie covers all the duties owed to the Association by it's Directors in just 5 minutes.

Even if you don't think you need a little inspiration or perspective, I highly recommend spending a little time on a regular basis trolling the #LeadFromWithin tweets:#leadfromwithin Tweets Actual leaders from various types of industries come together on Twitter under the hashtag #LeadFromWithin to share their 140 character thoughts on different aspects of passionate leadership that frequently translate very well into lessons for a life well lived in general.