Bryan Dear’s Blog

If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes. I would relax. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would pick more daisies. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.  - Don Herold, 1889 – 1966

I love this quotation because it reminds me it’s okay to take risks…and fail. It’s okay to leave the housework to another day. It’s okay to reduce the worry factor because many of the things we worry about will never happen. It’s okay to play.

I recently took a seven day raft trip on the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument with friends. It was a trip with long slow floats followed by some wake-up-and-take-notice rapids. There were meals to prepare, camps to put up and and camps to take down each day. There were games to play, frisbees to throw and so many moments to savor. There were no cell phones, computers or other distractions of our daily life at home.

None of the rapids seem overly dangerous and yet our trip found us passing by another private group which had just experienced a death by drowning. They were being assisted by another commerical group and we were merely a spectator to their aftermath. We grieved for them and their victim and all that they had gone through and would have to go through the remainder of their trip. As one friend put it, this will be a milestone the rest of their lives.

Taking risks is not about whether to take the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland where all is secure. It’s about stepping out into an unknown where there can be large stones in the path. Death is a rarity in most of these outdoor activities, but it’s always there and when it shows up, it is messy and awkward. We all will go through this door; it’s yet another reminder of the preciousness of life.

Celebrate life.

Your truly,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. Helen Keller, 1880 – 1968

Out here in our wild west of Durango, rainy days are a rare commodity. I treasure the ones we receive although they mess with all the schedules that assume rainy days don’t happen. Rainy days here tend to be cooler with temps in the 50s. They are great days for a book, a movie or just sitting under a roof listening to the rain. In a place where the sun shines so much, staying inside when there’s rain, relieves any guilt associated with being out in the sunshine instead.

Perhaps it’s because I grew up in Kentucky and rainy days were much more common or maybe it’s because the air becomes alive with the fragrance of sage, flowers and the pines that the extra humidty brings. I know rainy days can be a drag when they go on and on. That’s so rare here, that we welcome the moisture, the quiet and the peace a rainy day brings.

Our office pace slows, the phones seem to go a little quieter, and the conversations seem to have a different feel. It’s almost always a welcomed event.

Here’s hoping you have a few, but not too many, rainy days this year.

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Some people drift along like a cork on a river, feeling that they cannot do anything except drift, moment to moment. This is an attitude of mind. Everyone can be constructive even in tiny ways.     - Edward de Bono

As does happen in our community, company came to town this week. These are old friends – the husband is one of my best friends going all the way back to high school. He, his wife and their three children were here for three nights and days.

Do you remember the weather for the week of June 8, 2009? It’s was a fairly cool and wet week. The hiking and rafting were not seen as motivating events so we took to our town – our special town.

We took them downtown for window shopping and real shopping. We stopped for hot coffees and hot teas. We visited art galleries. We took them to the recreation center for climbing and basketball. And through it all, I was so darn proud of everything that Durango is and can be.

People were friendly, even (or maybe because) it was rainy. It was easy to drive in our town compared to the metro areas our friends were from. The beauty with clouds and rain and even snow as seen on the mountaintops were special.

It’s a great place to live. It’s a great place to share. I hope you have a chance to experience it.

From Durango, Colorado,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.     - Adlai Ewing Stevenson, 1900 – 1965

I’m at that age where my son is passing me in terms of ability on the athletic front, but he isn’t equal to those very important skills of craftiness and cunning. This becomes very apparent in our head-to-head basketball games. Because of these, ahem, additional skills I’m able to win about the same number of games that I lose. A fake here, a bump there and I’m able to steal a win – much to his frustration.

Of course that frustration doesn’t make him play any better. It might make him more determined. It might make him play with a clearer sense of mission. It does change his focus. The focus becomes winning instead of playing well. It would be like saying our mission is to make a profit without focusing on those areas which contribute to profit (people, service, marketing).  When we lose or feel disappointment or we feel that we have been wronged, we respond in a way that may not be the most effective response.

Revenge is a dish, best served cold. Whether it’s revenge or a renewed focus to better the service,  the energy or the response, remember to inhale, remember to ask, “What’s my goal and what’s the best way to accomplish this?” As soon as my son realizes this, I’m going to have to come up with some new foul calls just to break even.

Cheers,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Don Miguel Ruiz

The flu, the economy, the war, the drought, the floods, the next impending danger is coming at us in full force and in full color and complete with logo and 3D graphics. Do our worries escalate along with the media frenzy? What will be our crisis a year from now? Why do we worry so?

Do you wear a facemask? Do you fret the whole day long? Do we increase our stress, lessen our well being while worrying about something that may not even occur?

I’m not suggesting putting your head in the sand. I would put up sand bags too if my house were threatened by flood. There’s a difference between exercising prudence such as taking a few precautions in the event of a disaster versus running around with our head cut off.

I can’t live a life in fear. I have lost faith in those who may serve as a lookout for our invading enemies whether they be a meteor, a flu, or a terrorist. We all die. Living in a state of fear is just not a place to reside.

Here’s hoping that life finds you facing outward towards the sun.

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz

Habits are safer than rules; you don’t have to watch them. And you don’t have to keep them either. They keep you.   - Frank Crane, 1861 – 1928  

It may only reside in me -that wonderful feeling of “look how good I am.” This glow may come from providing an answer correctly when others were stumped. It may come from just a few days on a different diet. It may come from getting up early to go for a long run before coming to work. Regardless of how this feeling arrives, I become full of myself and therein lies the rub. For no sooner have I gained that feeling than I destine myself for the great fall.

 Which is why I’m working on changing some of my habits. I like this quotation because it explains how we can change and once we have focused on it, we become the change. It’s not new age. It doesn’t even fall under inspirational. It’s just true. So as I begin my quest  to stretch more – such an easy thing for such a little investment of time – I’ll keep this thought in mind. I can change through habits and by staying on course, I’ll become the change. Voila!

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Sincerely,

Bryan Dear

www.payrolldept.biz