100th post - Treat Every Day Like New Year's Day

The new year is upon us once again. This is the time when the average person wishes everyone around them, including strangers, a happy new year. It is also the time when many people set resolutions for themselves in order to have a happier and healthier year ahead. What follows for a lot of us, of course, is the failure to live up to the goals we've set and with it, the failure to wish everyone around us happiness on a daily basis. The new year is indeed once again upon us, but with degrees of failure built in.

As the first couple of months of a new year unfold, many will lose the will to sustain their resolutions and go back to treating people the way they did during the previous year. Gym memberships will be left in the cold, cold turkey quitters will have relapses and warm sentiments will ultimately cool down as the new year unfolds.

Wait a second! What??

When I was a kid, I began to understand irony when I watched the Bugs Bunny show with the coyote and dog fighting it out only to refrain from violence as they punched their time cards out for the day and said good night. I understood hypocrisy when I witnessed weekly acts of violence absolved every Sunday with a prayer service. Then, every year, I see people giving each other the warmest of holiday greetings, sometimes in sincerity and sometimes just to be polite, only to go back to treating them less than favorably.

I can't be the only one who sees the problem here. 

Everybody should avoid a New Year's resolution. Quit smoking and lose weight without the pressure of a promise and if you fall off the bandwagon, give it another shot. Eat better during the year 'just because' and treat people, on a daily basis, like you would during the holiday season (except replace 'happy holidays' with a better suited phrase, or you'll sound crazy).

Thought for the new year: sport a holiday expression all year 'round and encourage others to do so as well. Don't let the negative people take your positive countenance away; maintain it and try to eventually turn them. Better yet, remind them that they should try a holiday smile.

New years challenges:

- give a homeless person some change, a coffee or a sandwich

- greet the grocery store checkout person like they were your sibling

- thank the coffee shop server for getting your coffee

- treat the janitor like a CEO

- hold the door open for both men and women

Happy New Year!!!

- Buck Moore

The Organic OS - Why We Need Idiots

Nobody likes to work with a complete idiot every day.  Although we put up with each others occasional idiotic moment, a complete, every day idiot can make things intolerable at work. But, we can only learn to deal with idiots if we are exposed to them from time to time. Therefore, we should look forward to those times when we find ourselves face to face with idiotic behavior.

Idiots are like germs - we need to be exposed to them so we cab build up a resistance and deal with them more effectively. We can't simply wipe them all away with a clean sweep, because they tend to evolve over time rather than just being born into idiot-hood. In fact, good people can turn idiotic and sometimes it never wears off. Idiots crop up, fade out and sometimes sustain themselves; or worse, we sometimes sustain them.

Idiots can be influential and, under the right circumstances, can attract and convert co-workers to side with them. This can happen when a new person either doesn't know any better, is outnumbered or is just paranoid about making waves at a new workplace.

Overt time, common sense must prevail and we need to turn idiots around without hurting their feelings because an argument can never be won. Therefore, learning how to convert a person from idiot-hood to relative normalcy is an essential skill we must all strive to possess in order to create a better workplace.

Everybody is allowed to do something idiotic from time to time and we should accept that, because we are all human and nobody is pereftc. However, idiotic behavior should be the exception, not the norm. If it is the norm at a place of work, efforts must be put into place to turn the situation around.

So, let's accept the fact that idiots are out there, but learn how to deal with them; and, as we practice dealing with them, we will be much better at creating and sustaining positive works environments.

The Organic OS - A Fulfilling Career Path through Gradualism

I began recording sounds when I was 11 and making short films well into my teen years. I started to learn how to play electric guitar so I could write my own music for my films (which took a lot longer than I thought). Since I could draw and had an idea about how to make movies, I enrolled and got accepted into the classical animated film making course at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, in 1985, where I completed one year, then decided to pursue other interests.

When I started working in Toronto around 1986, my sister told me that there was a need for security guards and that she would cut mine and my friend's hair so we could get jobs. My friend and I both ended up getting jobs as security guards and that meant we had to do shift work - five days in a row, five afternoons and five midnight shifts over the course of a month. The lifestyle was very draining and not conducive to social butterflies like us.

As I got moved from location to location, I finally found myself working at a large site with a large crew and worked my way up from the lowest rung to the third highest on site, but the shift work was killing me. I then accepted an offer from a former supervisor, who went on to become director of another large account and I became one of his supervisors, but for a smaller on-site crew.

I realized that I needed to move on to a 9-5 job in order to be able to perform in the evenings and hopefully work at something related to my role as guitar player in a rock band. I began looking for day work and got hired at a lumber yard as I was finishing shifts for the security company, sometimes working many hours in a row to gradually phase out the security work. The lumber yard was difficult to be a part of as I was a minority and everybody let me know it by completely ignoring me or avoiding me, except for one or two individuals who didn't follow the 'us and them' mentality.

I stayed with day work as I switched to a hardware store, since I now had experience with hardware and building supplies. I would continue to look for more relevant employment and had an interview at a well known musical instrument retailer where I didn't get hired because I said the wrong thing during my interview (actually, it was a trap set up to see what kind of attitude I had toward certain brand names and I fell for it).

I continued at the hardware store until I just couldn't take it anymore, so I applied at another music store. I began to show up to the hardware store later and later and was finally given the choice to quit or to be on time, so I decided right there to quit and take one more chance at getting the music store job, which I did end up getting.

My goal was simple: suffer through the music store routine and do the best job possible in order to get a glowing reference and use that reference for a higher paying job elsewhere. During my days at work, I would continually think of services I could offer companies and start up some sort of business so I could be the boss and not have to listen to bad managers and abusive co-workers anymore. In the meantime, the band was getting better and more popular which inevitably led to us touring across the country and selling CD's across the world. I still had the entrepreneurial spirit, though, which led to developing my skills as a sound mixer when I wasn't at work or on tour.

As my future vision became clearer with each passing day, I made the choice to quit the music store job, take my chances on the road with the band and start planning my business ideas whenever I got the chance. After touring and being unemployed for a while, I made the choice to move forward and learn as much as possible about sound mixing and audio technology through the public library system. I started requesting certain textbooks as presents, or cash to buy textbooks, so I could build my library. I became a member of the Canadian Acoustical Association and bought a book on how to become a consultant, for future reference.

During this time, I had to get a job, so I followed a lead from a friend who was quitting his job driving blueprints and other things around for a printing company. He thought that with a strong recommendation from him and no need for advertising for a driver, I would probably get it, which I did. But, I didn't have a proper license, so I had to fake it for a bit and take a chance until I was able to get the proper license. That job was to be a stepping stone only, so I could develop my business ideas while I drove. I took advantage of the job by purchasing motivational tapes and business development tapes to listen to every day until I reached a boiling point which forced me to quit and move on.

Over the course of driving, I looked for and got part time work on nights and weekends mixing sound for live bands and other events. That was over a a year and a half until I quit driving and took a chance on starting to mix sound full time. Instead of a resume, I made some business cards and set up shop as a freelance sound mixer. I was offered a position as a full time mixer at a downtown club, where I worked for for years.

During that time, I explored the possibility of teaching classes, so I could follow the path of becoming a consultant. I also pitched story ideas to major magazines to build credibility. I also began recording sound effects to hopefully sell to the entertainment industry. After becoming an instructor at a career college teaching sound mixing, selling the sound effects to the largest publisher in the world and having the opportunity to write six articles for two major publications, I asked myself what was next.

What was next was a gradual shift from mixing sound at night and teaching, to working in the corporate world of audiovisual and entertainment, the very business ideas I was thinking of when I was working at the music store, only now I had the right skills and credibility to actually do it. That was 2003. I continued writing, teaching, mixing and recording sound effects over the years. I also picked up a lot of work making and editing short films and videos from my skills as a sound mixer and editor (I learned to edit while I was making my own shorts films with friends whenever we got the chance).

So, where am I now? I still teach (9+ years later), I still mix live music occasionally, I still shoot and edit videos, I have picked up several clients in the corporate sector, I still record and edit sound effects and I am finished writing my first book on work experience. I am gradually getting into the public speaking circuit to talk about positive work environments and I have several blogs and web pages to maintain. Oh, and I still perform several times per year. I am using my writing and video skills to develop marketing materials for my speeches and AV business and am seeking more teaching opportunities.

I am in it for the long run and as I look back, I see that I gradually made it to the work I wanted. Since leaving college, it took approximately 10 years to get on the direct path I have followed since (from ages 19-29). Every new job was preceded by a desire to move toward it and I new it would happen one day. Even though ten years seems like a long time, it really isn't, when you consider the solid foundation of skills needed to succeed in the future. Diversity in employment and life's work is important in today's world.

In closing, I can truly say that if a person goes on a path of their choosing, has a fairly clear objective and has a positive mental attitude (for the most part), they will benefit any company or client they become associated with.