RULES OF THUMB

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. -Dale Carnegie

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst. -Dale Carnegie

“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” -Christopher Columbus


The Hills

Sadly, and by sadly I mean one of those moments where you lay in bed and really start evaluating your life and how you are approaching it, I watched the season premiere of the Hills early Wednesday morning. I caught the 1:30am repeat and was hooked immediately within the first 2 minutes of the show. And during this show, 2 major things came to mind. Number one, Kristen Cavallari is SMOKING hot and during this 22 minute show was probably one of the top 5 hottest girls walking around this Earth. The second thing I thought of is I could have thought of and written this show over the last X amount of years and still had time to do other projects. Are the creators of this show swimming in a pool of money in their mansions in Malibu or do they just have a hot tub filed with 100's as opposed to a pool? It's easy to see why so many people are addicted to this show. It's aestetically beautiful. There is something in the way they shoot it that just draws you to it. And what a simple concept. You take one of the hottest chicks in the game right now, and you just write her a character and is freaking hot and nuts. Within 5 minutes of the show starting, Kristen had to be physically separated from a verbal altercation with Audrina (smokeshow). It was edge of your seat theater. I am gonna try my best and hardest not to get into this absolute waste of time and life series, but I gotta say it's gonna be tough. Kristen is gonna go after Audrina's old dude. It's gonna be quite the season with Kristen back as the alpha dog of that fabricated creation that they try to sell as real life drama. Sit back and enjoy!

Delonte

Delonte West in training camp today on day 3. Nice to see. Like my buddy Josh said the other day--that guy has to be on a basketball court. That's the only place he can ever be. The Cavs will have their hands full again this year trying to keep that guy on an even keel.

Tim Tebow

I made a huge omission on Monday with my review of the football weekend not mentioning the Tim Tebow hit. I cannot believe I didn't cover that as I proclaimed it "the biggest moment in college football of the last 5 years" when it happened. You got a steady dose of the sappy Florida fans in the house looking very concerned. Coeds were crying. Mothers were crying. I think new born babies in Gainesville were crying. But that was a seminal moment in what has been a shitty college football year. My immediate reaction, and I am still holding onto this belief is that he is not going to be ready for at least 2-3 games. I think this is the kinda thing that is gonna linger longer than they anticipate and Tim Tebow is not going to be himself for at least a month maybe more. It seems like he kind of dodged a bullet and is recovering nicely. Urban Meyer has been pretty mum on the issue. He has said a couple positive things, but even if he knew he was in trouble he would be saying the same things. Meyer is very Belichick-ian, and he's not letting anything get outta his camp. But this definitely creates a nice little wrinkle. It will be interesting to see where the top teams go from here. I hope he can come back and play at a high level with no cobwebs or rust. But quick side note here: let's go ahead and make this guy from Kentucky pee in a cup this week right? Is it just me? I know he had a free crack at a guy looking downfield. But we're talking about Tim Tebow here. A 6'5, 260 pound mountain. The greatest college player of his generation. One of the strongest guys in college football, who was in a balanced drop back position. And this guy hit him high and put him horizontal like he was some guy from intramural flag football. Maybe it's just me. Obviously his adrenaline was running high, but even he had to be surprised at that pop.

Tyler Thigpen

I wrote a hand written letter to Bill Parcells yesterday discussing that I had championed Tyler Thigpen as a guy who can play quarterback in the NFL at a high level in my blog before the draft and once during the summer. I told him I urged the Browns to trade for him. I told him I think he's a good prospect who needs someone like Bill Parcells to believe in him and put him in the right system. He has shown flashes of spinning it all over the field at a high level. I told him since I was on the same page with you, and you're the frickkin Tuna, that you should offer me a job in your scouting department as soon as possible and pay me a lotta money to make personnel decisions for the Fins. I will keep you updated on his decision.

Rules of Thumb

I really enjoyed making my way through this book called RULES OF THUMB by Alan Webber. Instead of giving you his background, I am just gonna say this: go check it out of your library. It's setup so you don't have to read it all, you can just take bits and pieces from it. Here's a few couple quick hits with my analysis.

Rule #36--Message to entreprenuers: managing your emotional flow is more critical than managing your cash flow.

-The biggest threat to starting your own shop in something isn't running out of cash, it's going out of your mind! The emotional ups and downs of starting your own business are like The Magnum circa 1996. Every day matters. Every decision matters. Your first job is staying sane. Your second job is making money. There is nothing more difficult than trying to create something that doesn't exist yet. Think team, team, team, and always remember that nothing is so serious that you can't laugh, especially at yourself.

Rule #41--If you want to be a real leader, first get real about leadership.

-Amazon offers 284, 928 titles in its leadership library. Let's not get confused about leadership here. It's not men in high places. It's not the 3 shmucks at some investment bank. It's not the guy who ran GM into the ground. It's people who are demonstrating real leadership qualities. People who don't know all the answers, but are asking all the right questions. The company with the most leaders at all levels wins. Check your ego at the door. Be authentic. Listen. Lead by example. Knowing it ain't the same as doing it.

Rule #43--Don't confuse credentials with talent.

The paradigm right now, at least to me, is everyone is going after and recruiting the same guy or girl. This person has an MBA from Harvard or Wharton. It doesn't make much sense. The hungriest people usually don't go to those business schools. Same way with hoops or college football if you wanna think about that way. Not everyone can be USC football or North Carolina hoops. It's the coaches that have staffs and assistants with good eyes for talent that are having great success. Hire for attitude. Talent matters. Reward grit. Reward character.