FRIED or FIRED?

Howard Beale (Peter Finch) delivering his "mad as hell" speech (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Anyone who has ever watched the movie, Network, will remember Peter Finch in the role of  Howard Beale, an aging network executive who is about to be put out to pasture but not without sharing his epic rant with his viewers. Although Beale might be considered a madman by his employer's estimate, a competitor sees this diamond in the rough and the story shares what happens when those who matter(the viewers)learn the truth.

It's a moment perhaps most people have felt in their lifetime. You know those days when you want to run out in the parking lot and scream like Finch. Days when you realize the person who gives you your paycheck is so far removed from all the responsibilities you handle it's like trying to talk to someone who absolutely has no comprehension of your native language. 

Maybe you have had days when you feel trapped in a bad situation, stuck without many options in a dead end career or simply frustrated with the red tape you encounter to perform a simply task.

That's when you need to get Fired! You can spend all your time moaning and complaining or you can develop an alternative strategy. If you really can't take it anymore, then you have to decide what you could do and go do it. 

Yes, It's that simple!

For some people this means, working at their job while working on their next career. For others it means moving beyond their networth and developing their network. For many it means taking a leap of faith when health, relationships and a better future have been compromised by staying far too long in a toxic environment.

But for others, it means simply more talking and more of the same. Some people can't move beyond the exasperation to real action and they burn out a little more week after week, year after year until they simply feel FRIED.

If you recognize yourself in any of these scenarios you must make a decision as to whether you are Fried or Fired. The words might have the same letters but where they are placed means light years in terms of how you feel.

Fried people are burned out and have little hope in their ability to change their circumstances. They wallow in despair and helplessness, feeling defeated at every turn.

Fired people are just as incensed but they stop talking. The fire in their belly propels them into putting together an action plan. They recognize the one thing they can do to change the outcome is to change how they choose to participate in the situation and they become active planners in creating a new role and a new direction for their lives.

Fried people burn out and give up. Fired people feel the burn inside and rise up.

Arrange the letters and they mean something different.

Arrange your life and you will be something different.

No one can make you burn out if you fuel your own fire.

Next time you are "mad as hell" make sure you don't take it anymore, unless you enjoy being, FRIED.

photo courtesy of doug fisher

How do you feel right now in terms of your current situation?
What suggestions would you give to someone who is about to burn out?   

Kathy Brunner is an Author, Speaker and Branding Specialist. If you would like to have her speak at one of your events, contact her HERE.Interested in a FREE 1/2 hr. consult to have Kathy help you uniquely brand a service or product? Contact Kathy HERE Sign up for her FREE newsletter  

THE BEST ADVICE YOU DIDN'T TAKE

Colleges across the country are participating in that annual sheepskin and handshake ritural known as graduation. Maybe you recall your college graduation. I certainly remember mine and those of my children as well.

There never seems to be a shortage of advice when it comes to wanting to give some to the graduate. It's an exciting time and perhaps the last time for many, that the dreams they dream seem to be able to become reality. 

Advice is a two edge sword. Learned too late by some and given too early to others. There was  advice I am glad I never took as well as advice I took that I am sorry I did. 

Here is what I learned from both.

1) Make mistakes that make you proud. You are going to make many mistakes in your lifetime. Learn from them and turn your errors into efforts. 

2) Success is overrated. Regardless of how much fame or fortune you have, you will be remembered and admired more for your integrity at keeping your word and your promises.

3) Potential and Opportunity don't always run on the same path so don't let others create the road to your destination.

4) Be indebted to people rather than things.

5) Don't confuse cocky with confidence or tasteless with tactful. Learn the difference.

6) You may know what you want, but it always helps to ask God to show you His plan as well.

7) Take yourself seriously enough to  be taken seriously by someone else.

8)  Live in the moment but not for the moment.

9) A narrow mind can't see the bigger picture. Clarity comes from adjusting your focus.

10) Your degree isn't the ticket to your success, your determination is. Jimmy Buffett and Bill Gates are both wildly successful and neither had a degree.

11) Get fired up about what matters instead of burning out because of what doesn't. It truly will change your life and your perspective.

12) A sense of humor is one sense that never fails as you grow older.

13) Leave the world a better place even if it's only in your little part of someone's life.


What's the Best Advice you Never Took?                       
What Advice Do You Have To The Next Generation?

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Kathy Brunner is an Author, Speaker and Branding Specialist. If you would like to have her speak at one of your events, contact her HERE.

Interested in a FREE 1/2 hr. consult to have Kathy help you uniquely brand a service or product? Contact Kathy HERE

 Sign up for her FREE newsletter

THE DIFFERENCE

I hear it all the time and say it quite frequently, “I really want to make a difference.” This often means different things to different people.  We want to make a difference in the lives of our families, our colleagues, our churches, our communities and even in the world. Just how we do that often depends on the time, resources and energy we have available to make a commitment. Don’t assume making a difference is the hardest thing you will ever do. It may actually be one of the easiest and most definitely will be one of the most rewarding.

What does making a difference mean to you? Does it mean by your intervention, influence and/or presence you help shape someone’s future? Does it mean you contribute to a cause you are passionate about with money or time? Does it mean you rally support for issues that touch your soul? Maybe it means what you do serves to impact someone in a positive way even if it is with a kind word or positive outlook?

There is no single way to make a difference, but many many ways to be a firestarter and light the match to create the change.Each of us regardless of our education, economic status, gender, culture, age or job description have the ability to make small ripples as well as large waves of difference by the choices we make.

I made a choice to become an advocate for helping to support victims of human trafficking in ways I believed was both possible and sincere by using whatever talents God has given me to raise awareness and offer support. One of these ways is to blog for Exodus Road, an organization that goes beyond simply sharing the information about human trafficking but actually supports and mobilizes forces on the ground to help rescue those caught in the web of this horrific crime.

Recently Exodus Road was able to partner with Indian Rescue Mission and enter a locked brothel searching for evidence for prosecution and attempts to rescue minors. The 2 minute video is here.

The amazing part is that over 30 of the more than 89 girls rescued at this brothel were minors!

Can you imagine how you would feel if you were instrumental in rescuing someone from somewhere like this?

YOU CAN BE!  I blog so others can learn about the work at Exodus Road and how they can make a difference.  Perhaps you should as well. Or maybe you can share this info with someone you know and ask them to share as well.

Even if all you can do is spread the word about what they are doing at Indian Rescue Mission and Exodus Road, you ARE making a difference.

We all wonder how we can be influential in creating change and establishing a legacy. This is YOUR chance as well. Visit Exodus Road on Facebook. Like their page. See if this is the difference you were meant to make.

It was for me and no matter what you do or how you do it, it won’t matter unless you can positively affect a life because of it.

Doesn’t matter if we are butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, lawyers, barbers, mothers or grandmothers. Whatever you dream to do, dream to change a life doing something in a way you can best serve and then whatever you do, you will always be making a difference.

English: Called To Rescue Icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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MOM'S THE BOMB

Mother holding girl. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Few mothers realize when they are in the midst of raising their children what an amazing Firestarter they are. I think we become so absorbed in doing whatever we have to in order to make things work, we seldom stop and see the impact we have had on others, even those who weren't our own children.

I know mothers who have had to hold down two or more jobs to make ends meet but still are there for their children's needs. I know moms who gave up a lucrative career to devote all their energies to their children. I know mothers who not only were involved in raising their children but who also were handling the responsibility of taking care of their own parents with failing health and resources. And, I know mothers who have devoted exceptional energy to helping life be all that it can be for an exceptional child despite the drain on time, money and sometimes anything close to a normal life.

Mothers have a resume no one job desription in any single career could ever imagine to have. They must be strong in the face of sometimes unbearably difficult circumstances. They must be able to be a fair negotiator with sometimes unruly participants. A circus juggler has an easier time as mothers must be able to multi-task whether they are in the shower or trying to sleep and most definitely they must not get sick at inopportune times (ever). Mothers are required to be on call 24/7 and be willing to be paid in hugs, sloppy kisses and sometimes even pouting. Mothers must demonstrate the ultimate in love and patience to those who claim to hate her realizing somewhere in her soul she too has passed this way before.

Mothers must possess the ability to be superwoman, magicians, angels, pyschologists, and event planner, often simultaneously. 

No, it's not impossible. I know mothers who did that. My own mom rose above obstacles and often circumstances others would run from to impart a spirit and strength in each of her children to be all they could be.

No one sends that little baby home with an instruction booklet. Oh, they can give you classes on how to feed the little one or change the diaper but no one tells you what to do when you have to fix not just a broken toy, but a broken heart or worse a broken spirit. No where is there a recipe for turning out an amazing child like an amazing cake. Most things about motherhood are learned by the seat of your pants and trail and error.

Anyone blessed with a child, knows the influence you have helping them develop a sense of worth, a spirit of individuality and an energy for being their best. The impact a mother has on helping a child find personal potential and satisfaction never ends with them graduating or leaving home. Mothers have the ability to keep that sense of wonder and encourage their children to develop their fires and passions more than most realize. Regardless of how many others tell your children they are amazing or possess incredible potential, hearing that from your mother is critical to believing you can be more than you even dream.

Henry Ward Beecher said, "The mother's heart is a child's schoolroom." and Marion Garretty said, "Mother love is the fuel that enables normal people to do the impossible."

So regardless of whether biological or not, mom has the potential to be the spark that starts it all.

If you know someone today who has helped you be all you could be, say "thank-you" and if you ARE someone today who is doing that for someone else. YOU ARE THE BOMB!


What is your fondest memory of how your mom made a difference in your life?



Kathy Brunner is an Author, Speaker and Branding Specialist AND AN MOM of THREE If you would like to have her speak at one of your events, contact her HERE.

Interested in a FREE 1/2 hr. consult to have Kathy help you uniquely brand a service or product? Contact Kathy HERE

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TAKE OFF THE CAPE

Yesterday a good friend of mine shared that her week was more than overwhelming. On top of having to help one child with a project, she was trying to get a few things started to break into a new career and still manage to "make life work" by doing what she always expected of herself: taking care of the shopping, cleaning the house, kids, and of course her full time job. This meant making cookies at 3:00 a.m. for another child's school activity and then hitting the bed, 2 hours before she had to do it all over again. And she's one of the lucky ones because she has a husband who helps!

Superwoman (Kristin Wells) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This scenario is played out daily in countless homes by women trying to hold down the fort at home and address the responsiblities in one career while beginning another. Women especially harbor enormous guilt when attempting to work at their place of employment and still run a household. That's two full time jobs. Throw in trying to get another career started and it's like throwing a match into a can of gasoline. 

Most people have to work at their jobs while starting their dreams and yet the juggling act of trying to work at what you want to do while continuing to do what you have to do and acting like you don't do either so your family doesn't notice anything is different is a recipe for disaster. The one who usually suffers the most is the one with the cape...you know, the one with the words, "SUPER WOMAN" on that most of us  pretend  we really WANT to wear and yet dread donning every day.

Women have a history of taking care of themselves last. We often tend to our needs so late in the game we are no longer even playing the one we started. With a growing list of activities which add to our stress and the pretension we are too busy or too necessary to get sick or need assistance.  We often sabotage our plans for success by imagining we are bionic and can fit 35 hours into a 24 hour day and smile while we do it.

It's time to take off the cape. You don't need to give up your dream but you might need to prioritze and perhaps give up your desire for an immaculate house, 5 course dinners, watching every little league game, reading the latest news, throwing a birthday party for your best friend or volunteering for another task instead of exercising, eating, sleeping, getting to the doctor, or remembering to breathe. It's not really a shame we can't do it all...it's normal, but what woman wants to be normal?


Starting your dreams is important. It may be the best thing you ever do but if you don't shift some priorities in your life so you can get them started, you will make a grave mistake and assume you will just need to be a better juggler and put on yet another cape and start the circus all over again. Not only will this defeat your dreams from getting off the ground it could actually cause you to miss the joys you once appreciated in your life.

Juggler, Juggling, Illusion, illusionist, TRT, TRTÇOCUK, circus, circus eurasia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Turning any dream into a reality is work enough.It need not be added to an already enormous load. Learn to prioritize and ask for help and accept it when it is given without guilt. Houses can be cleaned anytime but sleep can't be stored up and used at a later date. Give up the notion for a healthy dinner sometime and enjoy peanut butter and jelly at the park with the kids. Skip the dog bath and get yourself a massage. Buy the cookies instead of baking them. Remember that done is sometimes preferable over perfect.


 And do yourself and  every woman you know a favor and Take Off The Cape.


What was the craziest thing you did when wearing your SUPER WOMAN CAPE?


Kathy Brunner is an Author, Speaker and Branding Specialist. If you would like to have her speak at one of your events, contact her HERE.

Interested in a FREE 1/2 hr. consult to have Kathy help you uniquely brand a service or product? Contact Kathy HERE

 Sign up for her FREE newsletter