If you have ever read this blog you will know that this is an unusual post for me. However, I wanted to share with you a recent experience I had on United Airlines.  If you are someone who cares about the environment and going green you should not fly United.  Recently I was traveling from New York City to Chicago. As I was stepping onto the plane I was handed a postcard like item by the captain. The note card had a description of the 757 aircraft. It mentioned the wingspan, the size, the weight, maximum speed, etc. Quite frankly, a bunch of useless facts that I highly doubt anyone cares about. Toward the end of the flight, someone announced over the PA system that we should all look at the card we received when we boarded to see if we were the lucky person to have the card with the captain’s signature on it.  If you were two of the lucky winners then ring your call button so the flight attendant could give you a bottle of wine. 

Now, my first problem with this is that there were these note cards were all over the plane.  They were on the floor, on seats, in the trash, so clearly no one cared about the facts of the plane on which we were flying.  What a waste, and I mean that literally.  What a waste of paper that is going to pollute the earth and add to the already overflowing landfills and global warming.

My second problem is with the thousands of dollars United Airlines had to have spent to produce these cards and then give away a bottle of wine.  Is that what the $15 bag check fee is for?  I personally don’t like that I have to pay $300 for a plane ticket and then pay another $15 each way to check my bag so that United can print useless cards and help to destroy our planet.

My last problem was with the flight attendant.  I rang my call button to ask if these cards were being passed out on every United Flight.  She said the cards were given to the captain, and they could pass them out if they chose to.  I replied that I wanted her to know that I found it to be environmentally irresponsible for a company to pass out cards that are clearly going to go to waste and continue to pollute the Earth.  She answered me with “Well ma’am, some people just don’t care about that.”  Well I have to take from that comment that she meant that United Airlines and its employees don’t care about that because United is who chose to create this waste.  If they wanted to give away a bottle of wine why didn’t they just hand a random person a bottle of wine? They didn’t need to print up God knows how many hundreds of thousands of note cards that will be thrown away and add to our already environmentally troubled planet.

I for one can say, I won’t be flying United again anytime soon.

A  farmer had some puppies he needed to sell.   He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups and  set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard.  As he was driving the last nail into the
post, he felt a tug on his overalls.  He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

"Well," said  the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of  money."

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.

"I’ve got  thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a  look?"

"Sure," said the farmer.  And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he  called.

Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.

The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence.  His eyes danced with delight.  As the dogs made their way to the fence,  the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.

Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably  smaller.   Down the ramp it slid.  Then in a  somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up…

"I want that one,"  the little boy said, pointing to the runt.  The farmer knelt down at the boy’s side and said, "Son, you don’t want that puppy…  He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."

With that  the little boy stepped back from the fence,  reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially  made shoe.

Looking back up at the  farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don’t run  too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."

With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.


Holding it carefully he handed it to the little  boy. "How much?" asked the little boy.  "No charge," answered the farmer,  There’s  no charge for love."

The world is full of  people who need someone who understands. It’s National Friendship  Week. Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a  FRIEND as well as those who WERE!!!
If it  comes back to you, then you’ll know you  have a circle of friends.

by Sales and Success Speaker Sharmen Lane

I know more people today than ever before that are looking for that special someone.  Well if you want to meet the man or woman of your dreams then you need to put yourself out there. You need to take that NO FEAR approach to dating. 

Motivational Minute- Once your choose hope, anything is possible. Christopher Reeve

If you fly by the seat of your pants, you better expect turbulence. Author unknown

Motivational Minute- Communication, the human connection, is the key to personal and career success.” Paul J. Meyer

motivational minute- In order to get what you want you have to know what you want. Find your passion and set your goals!

Motivational Minute- Blowing out someone’s candle doesn’t make your’s shine any brighter.

Motivational Minute of the day! A goal without a plan is just a wish~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Successful people understand the difference between can’t and won’t.  There is a lot of power in words.  They can strengthen and empower us.  They can build an army or start a war.  Think about the words you use to describe yourself, and what you are capable of.  Do your words say victim or victor?

Think about the words can’t and won’t.  How often do you say I can’t when you really mean won’t?  Can’t means that you are physically not capable while won’t means that you are choosing not to. 

I can’t go up to a perfect stranger and introduce myself.  Yes you can. You are physically capable of walking up to someone, sticking out your hand and saying “Hi, I’m Sharmen Lane, what’s your name?”  Many will say, “I can’t do that.”  Yes you can.  You may have to dig deep and find the courage in you, but you are physically capable of it.

In business or your personal life the words you use can make a powerful statement.  I once had a woman in sales tell me she couldn’t walk in to potential client offices and ask them for business.  That’s when it dawned on me that there is a tremendous difference between can’t and won’t.  I responded to this woman with “You can’t. So you are telling me that you are not physically capable of walking to the door, sticking out your hand, grabbing the knob, turning it, pulling the door open and walking through the opening?’ Of course with resistance she replied with “Well, yes I can do THAT”.  That is the difference between can’t and won’t.

This isn’t to say it will be easy.  It may be difficult.  It may require some extreme mental discipline, or having a talk with yourself to make you do something you previously “couldn’t”.  I never said it was easy, and sometimes you will have to psych your self up and literally force yourself do it. But you can. As soon as you take responsibility and the empowering position you will be amazed at the things you can and will do.

The next time you hear yourself saying "I can’t…” stop for a moment and ask yourself, it is really that I can’t, that I’m physically not capable, or is it that I won’t?  If you determine that you could but you choose not too then it’s wont.  At that point you can choose to change your way of thinking, step up to the plate and do it!