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The Most Important People of 2008

Written on December 31, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Relationships

new_year Michael Bailey recently wrote a post about an e-mail you may have received before. It was very timely and got us thinking about events of 2008. Let’s test your memory …

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Who won the World Series? We know it was NOT the Chicago Cubs. Will that ever happen? The Philadelphia Phillies won it this year. Maybe baseball’s not your thing, so let’s try this one …

Who won the Super Bowl last year? The New York Giants.

What movie won the Oscar for best film? No Country for Old Men.

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george I have to admit that I haven’t seen this movie. On the other hand, I don’t have a country either!

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marylynn
You aren't an old man either…yet!

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Who topped the Forbes 400 this year? Warren Buffett overtook Bill Gates to be named the richest person in the world. Of course, this was long before the recent financial turmoil. We’ll see how he rates this next year.

Who was the American Idol? You may say, “Who cares?” You may not, but millions do. It was David Cook.

So how did you do? We found it interesting that we didn’t really remember many of these events without some prodding.

The surprising list of the most important people of 2008

We had to look many of these up. For example, as soon as we realized the Giants won the Super Bowl, we could picture in our minds the pass from Eli Manning, escaping the nearby defenders, to David Tyree, who caught the ball on top of his helmet. That catch allowed the Giants to keep the drive going that ultimately lead to the winning touchdown.

As we discussed it, we realized there are people who you remember without having to really think about it. So here are a few questions for you to think about to help discover the most important people of 2008:

Name a friend who helped you through a difficult time in 2008.
They deserve a toast!

Name a person who taught you something worthwhile in 2008.
Roll out the red carpet for them!

Name someone who made you feel special in 2008.
Give them a bigg party horn toot!

Name a person who you particularly enjoyed spending time with in 2008.
Reach out and touch them – figuratively, not literally!

This list is not exhaustive. Feel free to add categories. But you get the point – in spite of the fact that there are people who accomplish bigg things, who excel in their chosen field, we often don’t remember it.

It’s the people who affect us individually that we remember. We recall those little acts of kindness, that one-to-one help, individual caring and sharing. These things may seem small and inconsequential, but they’re not because they affect us personally.

So here’s one more question: Who would put you on their list?

We do! You’re on our list of the most important people of 2008 because you take time to check in on us. We thank you so much and wish you a peaceful, prosperous, and happy New Year! Here’s to your bigg success in 2009!

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How to Know if You’re Persistent or Stubborn

Written on August 6, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Personal Growth

balancing Today’s discussion was inspired by a great post on the pitfalls of persistence, written by Michael Bailey of Mobasoft.

Hear us debate today's topic on The Bigg Success Show. Just click the purple play button.: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

george When Mary-Lynn first started brought this post up, I thought she was asking me if she was persistent … or stubborn. Now I do have an opinion on that!

marylynn I have an opinion on George, too … so we decided to keep our opinions to ourselves.

Michael asks if there is a difference between persistence and perseverance.

marylynn I think there is – if things are working the way that you want them to, you have to be persistent with what’s making things work to persevere. Now, if things aren’t working out the way you want them to, then you have to change your course to persevere. So you can’t be persistent in the wrong thing.

george I think it’s a matter of semantics. As a matter of fact, they are synonyms. I can respect the fine line that Mary-Lynn is drawing. But I’m going to be stubborn and stick with my original comment – they are one and the same.

marylynn See, George just admitted that he’s stubborn! I agree that if you look it up, they are synonyms. But I equate persistence with action and perseverance with a destination.

george See how stubborn Mary-Lynn can be! And I was being persistent before. Mary-Lynn’s last comment is consistent with Seth Godin’s definition. Only he uses the word “persistence” instead of “perseverance.” He said, “Persistence isn’t using the same tactics over and over. That’s just annoying. Persistence is having the same goal over and over.”

marylynn That’s interesting. Here’s an example – when I was in radio, I was very persistent about doing whatever I could to grow as a broadcaster.

george Some might call it stubborn.

marylynn But I got to the point, with my job, where I knew I couldn’t persevere. I had gone as far as it could take me. So I decided to walk away and start Bigg Success with George – I can still persist, grow, and learn more things, plus I can persevere on my own terms.

One of the definitions of persistence, straight from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, is stubbornness. If you keep running into a wall, you have to ask yourself if you’re being persistent or stubborn. Michael refers to it as “blind persistence.”

2 questions to ask with your end goal in mind

Am I doing the wrong thing?
If this is the case, persisting is just plain stubbornness. Of course, it’s not always that clear-cut. You may have invested a lot of time and money into a project, a direction, or a business. But it’s not working. You don’t want to give up so you just keep trying. Try to determine if it can work by honestly assessing why it’s not working.

Am I doing the right thing in the wrong way?
You may be doing the right things to reach your end goal, but you haven’t mastered the right techniques to advance toward your goal. In this case, you must persist … but change your methods.What do you think?

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Abandon Ship!

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