Yesterday morning, Mike S. showed us a story of not obstacles, but determination.

Mike S: “Rohan Murphy is a motivation to everyone around him or to anyone who knows about him. Growing up with no legs, sports was never in his cards but he didn’t care. He was determined to prove to himself and everyone else around him that he could be just as good of an athlete as anyone else. In 8th grade a wrestling coach approached him about giving the sport a try. He not only tried it out but was so successful he made it to the NY State tournament by the time he was a Senior. In college he went out for the Penn State wrestling team and not only made it but had a VERY successful collegiate career. Now he is a Motivational speaker trying to help other people with disabilities realize that there is no one standing in their way from doing anything they want to do except for themselves…”

FYI – Mike S. actually meet Rohan in person after his friend lost a match to him. Even though Mike was there to support his friend, Rohan just amazed Mike so much that he had to share his story.

Check out Rohan’s Nike Commercial

Culture of Discipline

Many think a great idea can turn into millions. This is true, kind of. An idea is only a piece of a larger puzzle which can create something great.

A large part of that puzzle is the structure of an organization. Within that structure is one characteristic which creates solitude: discipline.

Imagine, as an owner, trying to start your morning off with a meeting involving the entire company, in which everyone plays an intricate part in the meeting. Now imagine if only 25% of your organization showed up on time for the meeting, with the rest coming in a few minutes apart, until finally at the conclusion of the meeting everyone has arrived. Think of the same example, except only 50% or 75% show up on time.

If only 25% of the organization is on time, those in the meeting probably feel like outcasts for being the few in the office. At 50% the company is split between those who are there and those who are not. At 75% the outcasts become those who are not on time.

Now imagine if every morning 95% of the company was on time to the morning meeting. Maybe that 95% makes up 1, 3, or 5 people not on time. Those people are going to feel mighty awkward walking into that meeting late. They will also make sure if they are late, they will make sure it will be the last time.

Having everyone buy into this type of culture of discipline is a very important part of the Lawline Team Culture. Unless you get buy-in from employees, this is not possible. Leaders in the organization are expected to lead by example, and with that, followers are necessary to enforce these examples.

No one enjoys waking up to an alarm clock (or at least not many!), but discipline is all about doing what you don’t want to do, when you don’t want to do it. At the very least, enjoy where you work and what you do to put yourself in a position to succeed!

On Wednesday, I presented the video below about starting a movement.

It is easier for people to look from the sidelines and watch a lone person make a fool of him/herself or do an act that is not within the norm. However, it should be all about jumping in and getting rallied up. That is the environment here at Lawline.com. A lot of accomplished goals here started with one of us saying what could be viewed as a silly or impossible goal. When Dave, our Presidente, tilts his head to the side and starts saying “Hmmm, why don’t we….” I know something great will result.

So whether it is to get people to dance at a party (or our Idea Room as Frank did one morning), begin a Cosplay Tuesday, or overthrow a dictator, take chances, jump head first and start something! That might sound cliche but it is a cliche for a reason. History has proved that. People are inspired and things get done. Enjoy the video!

Last Thursday morning, Julie picked this video as a source of inspiration. It is regarding a firefighter’s comeback from a very terrible incident.

Julie: There are always points in people’s lives where they feel like they can’t accomplish something or get frustrated with a situation.  Watching this video and hearing this story just motivates you that nothing is THAT BAD in life where it should hold you back from really accomplishing what you want to do.

Every new year it is tradition that we make personal resolutions to drive ourselves to be better. So last Tuesday morning, Kyle had everyone here make a Lawline-related resolution for the year. We accomplished a lot of things for 2011 but we still have more goals we want to achieve.

So after writing down resolutions, here are what some of us shared:

• Gamal wants to increase annual sales by 25%.
• By the middle of the year, Chris will have a tiered CS schedule.
• In Web Development, Todd is working on having 100% deployment.
• Trisha is going to do more for the Production Department.

It is very exciting to see how everyone’s major goals will be accomplished this year.
However, why wait for just one day? Here are Lawline’s core values:

Everyday I am…

• Actively Learning
• Seeking Creative Solutions
• Taking time to Help Others
• Excuding Optimism
• Driven to Find a Better Way

So I encourage everyone to strive to make and achieve resolutions for the other 364 days! Take these core values and apply them to your daily life.

Take a moment and ponder, are you thanking the right person or saying thanks enough?

This morning I showed a video with Laura Trice where she suggests we all say thank you.
It is nice to feel appreciated so share that feeling with others.
Amid the shopping sprees during the holiday season, take the time to thank those for the little and big things.

Thank you for taking the time to watch the video.

I just finished reading two books that opened up my eyes to the fact our bodies can be pushed much farther then our current mindset believes is the limit.  The two books are Ultra Marathon Man, “Confession of an All-Night Runner” and Lone Survivor, “The Eyewitness Account of the Operations Redwing & The Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10.” Both available on our Kindle account.

Ultra Marathon Man is written by Dean Karnazes where he describes how at age 30 after being fed up after an office party he went home and could not go inside. Instead he went into the garage found some old tennis sneakers and starting running in his boxers and t-shirt.  What started as a hour turned into an all night run where after 30 miles he had to call his wife to pick him up.  This run rekindled something inside of him where through the pain of running he all of sudden once again felt alive.  The running became an obsession and soon enough he was running a 100 mile race through the mountains in a 24 hour time period.  It went as far as him running a 11 person 199 mile relay all by himself. Not once but several times. He would run for a full weekend straight with barely any rest.

Lone Survivor was written by Marcus Luttrell who was the only survivor on an ambush by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He survived for almost a week after the attack until he was rescued.  The first half of the book describes his experience at BUDs training course that all Navy Seals must pass before they start their actually skills training. The goal of BUDs is to weed at the weak. They only want those who want to be a Seal down to their core. Those who will do anything to make their dream become a reality. In this environment you are kept up for days on end and required to do some of the most demanding tasks that are painful to the core.  Netflix has a great 20 minute video on it to get a sense of some of the things they go through called Navy Seals: Class 234. As you can imagine most people dropped out.

What both of these books showed me if you have the right mindset you are capable of doing what initially seems impossible.  As Dean says in his book, mile 60 is not any easier then mile 30, in fact it is more then twice as painful.  However, for him it is that pain the let’s him know he is alive. It is that pain that knows he is pushing himself. While the pain never got easier his ability to deal with it and use it to push him further is what made him successful.  What became clear in Lone Survivor, the experience during the BUDs training  allowed him to survive out in the mountains severely injured, with gun shot wounds and little or no sleep.  It was exactly what he done in BUDs and he was prepared to do it again.

Both of these individuals are amazing examples of human endurance at it’s best and they are at the extreme end.  However, this is a message we can all apply to our daily lives. Too often as soon as many of us encounter some sort of pain or resistance we stop.  We think ok that is the limit we can take.  I promise you after reading these books you will NEVER feel that way  again.  In fact you will be inspired to keep pushing through the pain and hardship to see how much you can take and realize you are not even close to 10% of your limit.

On a more personal note, I am 4 days away from my first marathon.  Am I nervous? Sure.  However, I know I have done the proper training, I have run almost 400 miles, I did my max run at 20 miles and regardless of any setbacks I will finish even if slower then I want.  Most importantly I know that what 4 months ago seemed to be beyond my limit is now in my dead center aim.

In today’s AM Huddle, Mike showed that a person shouldn’t blamed others if they can’t reach their goals.

Mike F: “I chose this clip because I have always been a long time fan of Michael Jordan. Besides the fact that he is considered by most to be the best basketball player of all time, his work ethic is something to be admired. His drive and determination is legendary. There has never been a basketball player that wanted to be the greatest as badly as he did. I think the video is a great representation of his ideals and how one has to work hard to achieve his goals. There are visual references throughout the video that lead from his childhood all the way to his post-playing career. The overall message in the video though is that he got to where he is with extreme dedication and drive and not just god given talent. This video inspires me to be better. It makes me feel like I have control of my own destiny and the more amount of effort I put in the more I will achieve.”

Lawline does not promote or support Nike. Although, Mike F. does own 6 pairs.