Vince Poscente's Speed Blog

An Immigrant's Perspective - When and How the Economy Will Turn

I emigrated from Canada to the USA in 1995. (You could say you’re protecting the wrong border.) Yet with my good fortune to speak to organizations across the land I often get asked what’s in store over the next while. With my Green Card in one hand and my iPhone in another I have a perspective on how united we stand.

But I can’t say we started off on the right foot. I used to be a tad cynical.

Growing up as USA’s northern neighbor it felt like being the little brother of a star football player who gets all the girls and can chug a keg for the sport of it. On top of that, regularly hearing Americans say they live in “the greatest country in the world,” referring to the President as “the leader of the free world” and calling the Super Bowl winners the “World Champions” coupled with baseball’s “World Series” smacked of braggadocio.

But hey, ask anyone in most countries where they’d emigrate to; the United States of America tops the list.

I have spent 14 years getting to know my American neighbors as brothers and sisters. Here’s what I’ve learned and predict:

• Americans don't tolerate boredom. Bad news gets boring after a while. I think that magic shift from fear to confidence with the flow of cash will come from American’s who get tired of the pause button.  This mode of not building, buying or creating something will get old sooner than later. American’s are far too ambitious to wait around for too long.

• Awareness breeds clarity. After 9/11 I heard a phrase repeated in many circles. “Why don’t they like us?” This lead to another question. “Who are they?” Gradually but perceptibly American’s generally looked beyond their border to better understand the outside world. This global recession was kick-started by unchecked greed on Wall Street but will recover by Main Street’s curiosity about how we fix this globally with the greatest capital of all – human capital.

• Adversity begets growth. The recession has inflicted a good deal of pain. It’s not all Wall Street’s fault.  We nurtured a debt culture and embraced it like a two year old covets his bankie. Our recessionary wake up call has us all rethinking what is really necessary. Delayed gratification is back folks. A healthier set of values and priorities are settling in. The USA has always grown stronger from adversity.

A friend and fellow entrepreneur, Bruce visited the other night and he noticed I was feeling down. Without diving into the reasons, Bruce just repeated a quote he’d heard. “Know the difference between being preoccupied and occupied. Preoccupied is thinking the same thing over and over. Occupied is doing something about it.”

The United States of America won’t be preoccupied for too long. It’s time to do something about this mess we’re in. Otherwise we’ll be bored silly.

Necessary Adjustments

When you feel out of sorts it’s difficult to focus on moving forward. Mild discomfort can make it hard to concentrate. Major discomfort makes it nearly impossible. Yet, alter, adjust or reposition and you’re golden.

You are probably sitting as you read this. Before long, staying in a given pose gets uncomfortable and you’ll eventually make a little cheek shift. Although this is an unconscious act, it would be quite conscious before long. Most of us are experiencing a fair bit of discomfort nowadays. It’s tough to ignore. Yet a simple alteration, adjustment or repositioning would allow you to clear your mind and carry on with amazing ease.

Men will readily identify with this next story but I imagine any woman with under-wire discomfort can relate – kinda sorta.

It was the year before the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville. The 1991 World Cup in Les Arc was buzzing with host broadcasters eager to prepare. Even our team was gearing up with brand new, tight rubber speed skiing suits. When I say tight, I mean, no-secrets tight.

A brand new speed suit is 2/3rds your body size. It becomes a new Olympic event trying to get it rolled onto the body. After 45 minutes of GynastiCatortionism the suit was on and I hurried out to the first qualifying run on the speed skiing track.

In my new, ultra tight rubber suit and smooth leather racing gloves donned I found myself struggling for a pinch hold. “Vince Poscente in the start area,” announced the starter. Ugh. I couldn’t concentrate but I had to get to the gate. Time had run out.

For the record; all men do this, not just skiers in tight rubber. Some are subtle (Pianists and Talk Show guests) and others are not (Baseball players and Hip Hop singers). In everyday life it takes a deft little tug on the pleats and it’s back to where a guy can concentrate.

Up against the start banner I had to resort to an all out, two-handed assault on the region in question. I looked like a cross between Beyonce and Steve Martin doing an interpretive dance to Bohemian Rhapsody. At last I gathered up a two-hand fold of speed suit and turned distraction into transcendence. Now I could give attention to the race.

I looked up and was surprised to see a French cameraman and sound guy, openmouthed, looking around their equipment as I adjusted mine. Ooops.

I gave the international sign for a guy’s gotta do, what a guy’s gotta do (a slight shrug, smirk and raised eyebrow) then blasted down the mountain. Of note; I completed the race with a new national record and my highest world cup ranking ever.

Remember this: when things aren’t right, you gotta do what you gotta do. It’s faster to readjust, realign and reposition. Get your mind on track and break some records of your own.

Meetings Make the Economy Go Round

Recently a host of meetings across our land have been cancelled or postponed. A reason that is popping up more and more is, “We don’t want to look bad.” According to one speakers bureau owner, “All of a sudden, holding a meeting is unfashionable.” But there is a HUGE economic disadvantage to canceling meetings.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. Of course we don’t want taxpayer’s bailout funds to go towards self-serving executives wanting to add to their vacation plans. But economic stimulus is not about bonuses for underperforming executives.

Hard working employees are losing the chance to grow their companies and celebrate their success at a time when the media is intent on beating home a message of doom and gloom. Sales conferences are being cancelled at a time when they are needed the most. Remember, “Nothing happens until somebody sells something.”

Cancel a meeting and you stop the flow of funds to other industries such as travel, hospitality, food service, printing, production, entertainment, training and development. Bailout funds are intended to get the economy moving yet any effort to spend a dollar is held with suspicion and even contempt.

Please take a moment to read below.  There are jobs at stake! 

Stop Congress from banning companies from hosting events and conferences! 

Senator Kerry has introduced legislation that would ban all 421 firms including the nation's largest banks that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events. Click on this URL to take action now! 

There are 10,000 of you that get this Full Speed Ahead eBrief. It takes you 70 seconds to read it each week. It would take you 70 seconds to oppose this proposed legislation. Your name will add momentum to money that needs to start flowing again.

Thank you for your consideration.

Leaving One Side in the Cold

One-sided stories are like a painting half done, one-legged pants or hockey with only one skate.  Finding the complete picture can slow things down at first but ultimately will speed things up.

You might have read about the executive excesses, junkets and boondoggles that have underscored the greed on Wall Street. The hue and cry: In a time where individuals and companies need to spend responsibly, the atrocity of things like a $35,000 commode must stop. Wait, before you raise your pitchforks and garden hoes with the rest of the mob it’s important to note - the “commode on legs” ex-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain bought for his office was actually an early 18th century French chest of drawers originally intended for a chamber pot.

I’m not defending the poor timing of Thain’s excessive purchases (or Wall Street bonuses for that matter) but it’s curious Thain's instant turnaround to personally pay the corner office redo was buried. Lazy media only seemed interested in one side of the story. Combine this with a consumer’s desire for sensationalism and the mob assembles with torches raised.

The other side of the story: Thain popped a few million dollars in the companies he hired and services that in-turn fed this money back into our economy. In the end it was a good thing where the money went. “But what about the workers?” yells the guy with the bullhorn at the front of the mob.

Good question! Consider Wells Fargo and the one sided story of a boondoggle to Las Vegas. It turns out the media didn’t seem to care it was an employee recognition event for high performing Tellers, Personal Bankers, Financial Advisors, Credit Analysts and the like. Here we have profits made by hard working employees converted into an event that would have circulated money into convention and hospitality services. Instead, the good people at Wells Fargo are forced to cancel all employee recognition events for the balance of the year. This will only serve to demotivate a dedicated workforce and slow down an already hobbled economy.

Think back three years ago when 60 Minutes featured skier Bode Miller, gold medal favorite in the Turin Games as being “wasted” during a race. Never mind that it was a statement taken out of context. It was a hangover after winning the overall world cup title in 2005. The media distraction was so intense for Miller his reflex for pushing back at anyone telling him what to do contributed to his lackluster performance in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. No gold medal and a nationwide uproar.

Our economic (and gold medal count) salvation will be in our collective desire to seek a big-picture solution where everyone can win. This abundance mentality can be difficult when financial ruin stands at your door. But let’s step back and make an informed decision for everyone involved. Put down the pitchfork and put one-sided stories in the chamber pot where they belong.

Let’s mutually look for ways to have money and goodwill circulate for a speedy recovery.

Respond - Win. React - Lose.

I first noticed the respond vs. react juxtaposition in an Aikido class. Lynn Sensei kept saying, you must respond, not react.

When you flinch, recoil or push back you’ve reacted. Do this and you’ve lost control. Yet if you step off the line, keep your extension and blend with the energy you’ve responded and maintained control.

In an unstable economy companies make decision to either react or respond. Reacting by canceling a meeting might seem like control but it sends the exact opposite message. The organization’s shift to panic mode with sweeping budget cuts leaves a damaging effect. Companies canceling meetings is a huge mistake!

It’s better to respond. Economize the budget but maintain control. Bring your team together under more austere terms and motivate them to rally around the challenge. Lead by example. Prove that you are in control and responding to the situation.

We face choices of reacting or responding everyday.

Look at leaders, teachers, customer service representatives, parents, teenagers, spouses, newspaper editors - anyone with a pulse. Evidence of reacting versus responding is quickly evident.

One time I was speaking to a group and there was an interpreter for the handful of hearing impaired people in the hall. If you’re hearing impaired… FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED. (sorry, couldn’t help it…) She was lower and off to my right, yet still visible to all 1,000 people in the room.

For some speakers this might be distracting. A reaction would be to move further away on the platform or comment on how distracted you are.

As you know, my filterless dorkiness is always waiting for a chance to jump in and play. In mid sentence I turned to the interpreter and said, “Shmur, shmur, shmur.” The interpreter stared straight ahead and made a rubbing action with her hands.

I jumped in and said, “Cool, this means shmur.” Then I said, “Oogada boogada.”

All eyes shifted to the interpreter who continued to stare straight. She then proceeded to hold her index finger towards the right side of her head and rotate said finger in a clockwise fashion (a.k.a. the international sign for cuckoo). She glanced sideways with a knowing grin.

The place erupted in laughter. The playful interchange was a dance of responding as opposed to a reactionary tussle. She stepped off the line, blended with the energy and continued on with her job.

What stuff in your organization or personal life is pushing you to react? Take a moment to think of a response that keeps you in control of the situation.

Response keeps the pace up. Reaction grinds things down to an agonizing stop.

When you respond you win. When you react you lose.

This blog is posted for those of you who want to react or respond.

Inter - ruption

There’s a reasonable chance that before you finish this article (in 70 seconds from now) you will be interrupted. Although we have found our way to tolerate interruptions, I believe…

Hold on.

My text message just dinged. It’s my buddy with Cowboys tickets for next Sunday.

I’m back.

A recent study found; people get interrupted every eight minutes. In another study specific to task interruptions, people were interrupted on average 11 minutes into a task. They were able to get back on task 30 minutes later, if at all. Translation: you and I are interrupted about 50 times per day. That means that you…

Hold on, it’s the home phone.

It’s Nordstrom’s make-up counter calling to tell my wife the new Lancôme night cream is in. FABULOUS!

I’m yours again. Where was I?

Oh yeah, interruptions are slowing us down. This is not news but it seems to be largely ignored in our world today. We allow the interruptions and somehow, at the end of a day, wonder why we are so exhausted while feeling like we accomplished less than we should have.

Interruptions last five minutes in a typical day. If you do the math, that’s up to four hours or 50% of every workday. But get this, researchers found that 80% of interruptions were rated as “little or no value.” We’re being sucked into the black hole of interruptions and we don’t even know it.

If there’s one thing that…

Hold on. My daughter needs help on scanning a photo.

I’m back.

I forget the “one thing” I was going to say, but I bet it was good.

Anyway, if you add up all the little or no value interruptions, we have about three hours of every workday wasted. (The phone just rang, I’m ignoring it).

This means that every person wastes about 744 hours every year on interruptions.

Multiply this by the number of people that you work in your company.

10 employees = 7,440 hours wasted.
100 employees = 74,400 hours down the drain.
1,000 employees = 744,000 hours in the “little or no value” abyss.
10,000 employees = 7,440,000 hours of a major corporate disease.

Interruptions are a drag. They are a drag on execution, efficiency, productivity and even mental health. Get this; frequent email interruptions cause a drop in IQ two and a half times greater than the drop in IQ from smoking marijuana. You know it’s bad when HR breaks out the bong.

Listen; before I get interrupted again, the point is to take control of your time. Happiness in the Age of Speed has a lot to do with how you manage interruptions. Turn the email dinger off your PDA and computer. Turn off your cell phone while you are supposed to be present with that person sitting across from you or talking with in your car. Improve one thing each day until I visit your email box next week.

Whew, we made it without one last interrup… RING, RING.

Take The Center or Step Aside

With an oncoming force or an attack, instinct has us fight back or defend. Instead of deflecting, sometimes it’s best to take the center.

In Aikido, there is a technique called irimi. It is a powerful move where you enter a challenging situation instead of stepping aside. It is the quintessential, proactive move. Yet irimi’s are counter intuitive. Moving forward into an attack seems to be contrary to our nature.

Do you remember when Governor, Bill Clinton was asked if he ever smoked ganja? He was on the Arsenio Hall show and had just finished jamming on his sax with the band. Bill was so cool. He lounged in the interviewee’s chair and they were chatting about his younger years in the band.

Blind-sided by the doozy doobie question, “Did you ever smoke marijuana?” Bill Clinton said, “Yes.” He was just being authentic and engaging. Then he froze for a millisecond and followed with, “But I didn’t inhale.” Neither did anyone else in the studio when it came to the oxygen in the studio. An awkward moment hung in the air, then the interview continued.

Immediately after, every single politician across the land was fair game for the same question. Even in Canada. The answer was universal and comical. Every politician scrambled for higher ground. “I would never. No. Absolutely not. I refuse to answer that demeaning question. Why don’t we address the real issues on the voters minds?”

The best answer I heard was by the fun loving Premier of Alberta. Ralph Klein was never known for mincing words. He was direct, unapologetic and a character. When asked if he smoked the wacky tabacky he said, “Yes, but I got so paranoid that I didn’t like it.”

Using irimi in our lives is challenging but essential in those critical defining moments. Irimi-type moves in everyday life are something you can do. If you are attacked at a meeting, blindsided by moody acquaintance or challenged by a situation do not react. Instead, respond.

Immediately decide whether you will take the center or step aside. If you use irimi and take the center, do it with authenticity and truth. Keep judgment and assumptions out of the equation. Then step off the line with humor or harmonious response.

I’ll get plenty of chances to choose irimi or step aside in the next few weeks. When The Age of Speed was launched last year it stirred up a polarized response. The odd review was flat out mean spirited. With a new and improved The Age of Speed being launched in paperback next week, there will be more reviews.

If there happens to be a bad one I’ll either step aside, use irimi or react with a mature and clever quip:

“Oh yeah smarty pants? Well, I know you are. So what am I?” Followed by blowing a raspberry, of course.

Maybe there won’t be any bad reviews and I’m just being paranoid…

Beating the Busy Blues

I’ve found myself cringing every time I say to my kids, you’ll have to hurry. And I seem to be saying this all the time. “C’mon, we have to hurry. Quick, brush your teeth. You have to go potty? Well go fast.”

I marvel at people that can gracefully float from one task to the next. Actually, I don’t know anyone who does that but if I did, I would marvel. With this assumption that these superhuman task-to-task floaters exist, I silently berate myself as I stack one “hurry up kids” after the next.

 

In two weeks The Age of Speed will be launched by Random House in paperback. The media tour will begin and interviewers will want a sneak peek at time saving tips in the book. And here I am, the guru of speed and find that I keep having to explain myself. In the Age of Speed it’s not about being perfect, fast and uber-efficient. It’s about doing the best you can with the time you have.

I heard a story that I was unable to verify. It was about a radio interview with Stephen Covey (author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People). When asked by a reporter what percentage of his day he practiced the Seven Habits he supposedly said, “Oh, about 60%.” What a great, honest answer. He knows what works and does what he can to live a rich life.

Enriching our lives is what most of us want. An enriched life is what we want for our kids.

Recently I came across a new application that speeds up video so that you can view YouTube, Flash or other online video at your own pace. It’s in beta form at the moment. It is supported by Enounce and has a “speed slider” where you control the speed with patented signal processing that prevents “chipmunking” of the audio. Sounds cool. As we launch into another piece of technology that will save us time, let’s never forget the importance of savoring the experience.

My pre-teen kids love YouTube. I immediately wondered if the Enounce app would be a benefit or a curse? Would they use it to save time or would they miss important nuance? But ultimately this is not my choice. How they use their time is their choice. Just the way a BlackBerry is a great tool or a horrible distraction. You choose how to use technology to save time. Hopefully without compromising the richness that life and connection with others has to offer.

My promise to you is that these newsletters never take more than 70 seconds to read. I know you’re busy. You might be in a hurry. Besides, I’ve got to run too. My son needs to get to his guitar lessons. It takes us 17 minutes to drive there if we hit green lights all the way.

“Max. Max? Hurry, we’ve got to go or we’ll be late.” (Or not.)

Flinchlessness - Mental Toughness in Sales and Life

You flinch… you lose.

Imagine skiing at over 130 mph and you catch an edge. One instinctive flinch to catch your balance and you lose any chance at winning the race.  The challenge is overcoming the protective instinct to throw your hands out for balance while maintaining stability and maintaining your line.

In a sale, negotiation or even a debate, flinch and you lose ground.  In a world of incredible speed the lost ground might be too much to recover from.

Imagine you are a sales person selling a high-ticket product and the prospect questions your intentions. Picture negotiating a deal where the other side gets the notion you might settle for less. Suppose you are debating a point and you pause with a wide-eyed blink at a critical point. In any of these three situations a shrewd challenger will likely counter punch with his agenda.

How then do you overcome instinct and not flinch?

Think of something in your job or life where you would benefit from not flinching. There are three approaches that can assist in your quest for flinchlessness:

1. Expand your risk tolerance – When speed skiing it was clear that being mentally tough would translate into better results. Overcoming the instinct to flinch on the racecourse could be prepared for in unconventional ways.

On my non-speed skiing days I would take to the slopes on short, flexible slalom skis at high speed. Skis made for slower finesse turns would become chaotic boards akin to squirrels on crack. I would train my body to relax while the skis drastically shot every which way.

In the summer I would rocket down rocky slopes on my mountain bike. Instead of putting a death grip on my handlebars I would teach my nervous system to relax and let the bike bounce and shimmy underneath me.

Expand your risk tolerance by putting yourself in higher risk situations.

2. Anticipate problems – Before your sale, negotiation or debate, anticipate inflection points, objections or problem areas. By simply being aware of what might happen during real time speed, you can get the feeling “Hot dog, everything is going as planned.” as opposed to “Oh crap, now what do I do?”

3. Breath deeply – Use simple physiology to your advantage.  Oxygenate that five inches between your ears. There’s a part of the brain called the amygdala and it is triggered into fight or flight with shallow breathing. Fight of flight is an instinctual stress response. If you hand over your reactions to instinct, get ready to flinch. Stay calm and flinchlessness is yours. So breath deep before and during your sale, negotiation or debate.

Now get out there and conquer the flinch.

How's the Book Doing?

The one thing they don’t tell you in Bestseller school is how often you’ll hear the question, “How’s the book doing?”

The answer?

“Good.”

After The Age of Speed hung out on the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling lists for a few weeks it dropped off the radar. It has been selling well but not breaking any records.

Books like Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Malcolm Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point had somewhat similar experiences. What you might not know is these books didn’t become mega-bestsellers until they went to paperback.

Enter, the Mac-Daddy of publishers, Random House.

On August 26th, The Age of Speed will be released at their lead business book in paperback form. Included in the book are new tips to help save time in our hectic lives.

Here’s a sneak peak of what is offered in this new, improved version:

Spend Extra Time on Significant Experiences - Make sure you spend your extra time on rewarding experiences.  Frequently, when we reduce the time it takes to do something insignificant, we end up using the saved time on yet another insignificant activity. Use the time saved to reward yourself. Predetermine before work or routine personal tasks to spontaneously reward yourself for finding a faster way to do something.
Example: One of Michelle’s values and key experiences is connection. When she saved herself and hour with online grocery shopping she rewarded herself with a phone call to a friend and a business contact she hadn’t been making time for.

Be Conscious of Bonus Time - If you figure out a way to save time at the bank and the grocery store, for example, do you earmark that time for something rewarding, or do you just fill that time passively with other responsibilities that pop up?

Example: Spencer uses the self-checkout kiosk at the grocery store and saves himself from standing in line for ten minutes. He then takes a moment to think how he will fill that extra time. Spencer decides to hand write a thank-you note to a neighbor who stored his mail and newspapers while he was away last month.

The Age of Speed is about understanding the choices you make in the time you have. To eliminate the feeling of being overwhelmed or to thrive in a fast paced world that demands more, you must first identify all the things that are important to you.

Preorder your copy of The Age of Speed with the complete list of tips and tricks in our time-starved lives. If the book becomes a mega-bestseller like Covey and Gladwell’s paperback then the answer to the question, “How’s the book doing?” will be:

“Gooooooooooooood. Real, real, goooooooood!”

A Fun Look at eMail and Mental Health

If you send excessive emails and texts, you may have a mental illness. According to study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, addiction to texting and emailing could be another form of mental sickness.

Dr Jerald Block, the author of this study, states there are four indicators of this kind of addiction:

1. Withdraw symptoms if a computer cannot be accessed. Which I would think is followed by howling at the moon and delusions of all buttons being “send/recieve” buttons.
2. An increased need for better equipment. No comment.
3. An intense need for more time to text or email. If it feels like your life is similar to the maniacal flurry of a Nascar pit crew, you’ve got a problem.
4. And, experiencing the negative repercussions of your addiction. Repercussions like skipping bathing for a week or two, channeling Bill Gates or phantom vibrations in your pocket every 3.2 seconds.

Instead of expensive medication, hours of psychotherapy or a lifetime of twelve step meetings, (“Hi, I’m Vince and I’m an email-aholic. Hi Vince!”) let’s find the solutions on our own.

First, recognize that the gadgets and computers that you hold so dear are designed to work for you not control you. This may sound simple but rethink the purpose of your Blackberry. It is designed to save you time. Emails were invented to improve connectivity. If you feel a disintegration of your time or the value of connectivity you must take steps to get back to basics.

Second, as the saying goes, Tony Roma’s wasn’t built in a day. Undoing years of disintegration is a process. Reverse your addiction one step at a time. The cornerstone of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is, “One day at a time.” (Not to be confused with the other AA - American Airlines. Theirs is, “One delay at a time.”)

Third, seek an outside perspective. Ask friends and family to keep you accountable. If you slip and need to sneak a gadget peak at a movie, show or child’s play, give them license to remind you of your commitment.

The Age of Speed is about managing our time for the significant things in life.

If you have read this far and don’t feel you have an issue. Remember that denial is the first sign of a problem ;-)

Endless Happiness is Dangerous and Boring - Happiness vs Fullfillment

How’s that for an attention grabber? Dr. Eric Wilson in his book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy concludes “happy types” that run from sorrow are cheating themselves from a richer, more creative life.

Dr. Wilson states, “I really feel strongly that Americans’ addiction to happiness is dangerous. In some ways it’s leading to a kind of superficiality and vapidity that cuts away a lot of creativity.”

Years ago I had the chance to hear Tony Campolo speak in his home city, Philadelphia. As a Caucasian Pastor in a predominantly African American congregation he was a dude that was bound to have a unique perspective. As an aside, he ended up being the “expert” who counseled Bill Clinton in the aftermath of his Monica scandal. (Wouldn’t you have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation? Well Tony I really don’t know why I did what I did. -- Well Bill, I’d say President Johnson doesn’t need to be making any more executive decisions for starters.)

Let’s get back on track. The thing that caught my attention in Campolo’s speech was when he asked everyone, “Parents, what do you want your kids to be?”  In a chorus of agreement, one word was fed back in remarkable unison. “Happy!”

“Happy?” he said. “No, it’s not happy. You can take a pill and be happy. Happy is something of a temporary state. It’s fulfilled. We want our kids to be fulfilled.”

Dr. Wilson’s point is congruent. He feels “standing against happiness” opens the door to for joy. Joy grows out of melancholy whereas happiness is a cursory state. The polarity of joy and sorrow, to Dr. Wilson, is a more complete, authentic human experience. Just as the natural interplay between opposites of day and night and up and down.

Seeking fulfillment in our fast paced world can be challenging. The Age of Speed has us looking for quick fixes. But let’s not be so swift that we vilify instant gratification. If something can improve your experience of life then it can be a good thing.

Consider the BlackBerry for example. The seeming addiction some people have to their PDA can be downright destructive. “Hey, we’re having lunch here. Do you think you could put the CrackBerry away for 30 minutes?’ But, if it’s used in another scenario to allow more time for the significant things in life, it’s a positive tool.

The idea behind pushing against happiness has to do with the broader pursuit of a deeper, richer and more vital life. Being fulfilled truly is the higher order of the human condition.

Zipping past sadness with a pill or the amazingly effective Hagen Daaz coffee ice cream can be a temporary solution. The lure of a beeping email or a frisky intern can be addictive distractions. Dear reader, a full life is not for the timid.

The valuable alternative is to fully engage, embrace and harness those pesky melancholic moments on a path to greater fulfillment and joy.

Which would you rather be? Happy or fulfilled?