movies | Bigg Success

We caught the Sergeant Bilko movie recently. There was a quote we loved.

Rita Robbins (played by Glenne Headley) thinks her relationship with Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko (Steve Martin) is over.

Bilko’s archnemesis, Major Colin Thorn (Phil Hartman) is wooing her.

But she still has feelings for Bilko. She is reminiscing when she says something like this:

“It was always so exciting with Ernie. Every day was ‘Anything Can Happen Day.”

Every day. Not just Wednesdays, like on The Mickey Mouse Club Show.

It got us thinking. Not about having an Anything Can Happen Day every day.

Structure helps you reach BIGG success. Routines are important.

But a routine can easily turn into a rut. And there’s a fine line between truly living and living dead.

So we vow to start having an Anything Can Happen Day now and then. Maybe once a quarter. We’re going to plan for it next year.

And that’s as far as the planning will go. Because anything more would lead to less.

We want to start the day with a blank page. Absolutely nothing on the agenda. A day to do whatever we want.

A day to be spontaneous. When’s the last time you were spontaneous?

You know you’re too busy if you don’t ever have time to be spontaneous. And we’ve been too busy.

So we’re going to do it. We’re going to schedule four Anything Can Happen Days into next year.

That’s less than 1% of the days next year. Surely, we can let life flow that much of the time.

Anything Can Happen Day. It’s a great way to get out of a rut. Or just shake things up a bit.

You can’t afford to miss it. But you can be late for it!

When’s the last time you had an Anything Can Happen Day?

Image in this post from stock.xchng

We recently did a show on the tradeoff between work and play. We said that it was important to make time for both productive play and pure play – things you do just for fun. We said it really is true – we do seem to get more done when we’re busy.

Ryan left a great comment on that topic. He’s one of our regulars and he often leaves comments. We love the feedback!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! To listen & read, click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Pre-paying for play plans improves productivity

He said that he’s learned that it’s good to keep busy with his downtime. So he goes to a sporting event or a concert just about every week. Because he’s paid for the ticket in advance, he feels compelled to go. That’s his secret – it forces him to work more efficiently to get his work done.

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george I had never thought of that little trick! We schedule fun activities of course. But I had never thought about purposefully and routinely scheduling an activity that I paid for in advance as a way to ramp up my time at work.

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marylynn It’s a great suggestion. It’s easy to get so busy working that I fail to recharge myself by doing something that gets my mind off of work. By committing my money, I’m more likely to commit my time!

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george I’m one of those people who can go and go and go. But at some point, my body and my mind start saying, “Enough already! What are you doing to us? We need a break!” Ryan’s suggestion helps make sure that doesn’t happen.

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marylynn Fortunately, and maybe unfortunately, George and I are very similar in that respect. I’m a bit of a workaholic myself. So we work very well together. But I agree – it would be helpful to schedule more time for fun knowing that I’ll be more productive at work.

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It’s about living with purpose on purpose. After all, we’re only human. We should live on human time! Plan something fun and pay for it in advance. You’ll be more likely to do it!

Ramp up your downtime

Ryan also said that when he was in college, he got better grades when he took eighteen credit hours than when he only had twelve in a semester. His personal observation sparked a thought for us …

… we should always be a student!

It pays bigg dividends to be curious about everything with which you come in contact, not just your area of expertise.

Since Ryan brought up sporting events, you can learn from studying the players – when they’re warming up, idle, in the middle of a play, or when the game’s on the line.

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george This is something I do. It’s interesting to see the differences among players when the game’s on the line. I’ve learned a lot about operating under pressure by watching sports.

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marylynn At concerts, there are a lot of details. The artist’s stage presence, the lighting, the way musicians play together, and even their hair! If it’s a symphony, study the conductor and how he or she leads. They’re masters of their craft and we can learn lessons that we can apply to our crafts.

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george One of my favorite things to do is to be a student when I’m talking to people in social settings. I can read a book or an article, but there’s nothing like learning about someone’s occupation and interests first-hand. You get to ask questions and go deeper into a subject with a real person who is living it.

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marylynn We have a friend who made a great suggestion that has forever changed how I watch movies. He said to think of yourself as a director. When the movie is over, ask yourself what you would have done differently. It gets my creative juices flowing and makes for great conversation afterwards.

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Always be a student. It helps keep your mind young. It expands your imagination. It will help you reach bigg success even faster!