Matthew’s Blog

So I got really miffed when I could no longer download my favorite SciFi shows through ITunes. I sunk a bit below the line on that one. How dare they? Those idiots! What greedy . . . .!
Then I went and checked out Amazon Unbox. And got all pissed off again. What!? I’ve got to download another piece of software? I’ll only be able to view it through them?! Great, another proprietary copy restricted format that I’ve got to keep track of! And last but not least, what do you mean these files are 20% larger?!

You can see where this was going fast.

Well my need for good SciFi busted my resistance, you see I don’t have or want cable and I don’t watch regular tv. SciFi is my vice - good, philosophical, well written plots and character development that causes people to think and relate to current, past, and future events - the great “What Ifs?” I love’m. My top choices these days all happen to reside on the SciFi Network which was pulled from ITunes and put on Amazon Unbox: Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, and a non-SciFi - Heroes.

Much to my great surprise and pleasure - I like Unbox! I like the ease it is to play my videos. I am not restricted to the Unbox viewer. I can actually click on the file and open it directly with Windows Media Player (Sorry, Apple people). That file size thing - Not a problem - the images are clear and clean compared to the occasional artifacting of Itunes. No more out of sync voice/video issues because ITunes decided to revamp their player and not test it out thoroughly on non-apple machines. It’s been seamless. The only problem I had was when I was trying to run too many things at once and it couldn’t find the files. Easy fix - close down those other programs and clean out the cache (you’re going to be watching a video - why do have all those other things running anyway) and restart unbox - viola - fixed.

So if you wanna kick the cable thing and get all the episodes when they air instead of waiting for DVDs check out Unbox.

This week’s Itunes Single of the Week is a rendition of my favorite holiday song

Carol of the Bells

This is sung by a new artist to me The Bird and the Bee

A female sound like the male duo Kings of Convenience.

Download your free song before it goes away on Tuesday

These elephants don’t just live in Minnesota, they exist anywhere the temperature drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and precipitated. This elephant has a more common name - SNOW shoveling. As I write this we are having our first winter snow storm. They expect anywhere from 6-12 inches today and tonight.

Now as I look out my front window, it appears that most people are saving up the snow and tucking themselves away in doors, nary a sidewalk or driveway cleared. Inch upon inch of snow keeps coming down. I on the other hand have been out twice already and have removed about 4 inches of snow. Many of my neighbors and perhaps even you might think I am crazy. Why not wait until its all done? What does this California native know about snow shoveling? Doesn’t everyone know that you are suppose to wait until it finishes snowing otherwise its “wasted effort”?

Well, yes I am a California native, and for the first 10 years that I lived in the Midwest I followed suit with the “common wisdom.” After every snowfall you’d see people emerge from their homes to tackle the elephant that awaited them. MN White Elephants are a lot of work. People sprain their backs, dehydrate, and bitch about it for a week. Being the perpetual entrepreneur I kept thinking there has to be a better way.

Then about 3 years ago I read this article in the local paper pining away over the lost art of snow shoveling His argument was that we have forgotten how to shovel snow properly. We’ve gotten lazy with our handy dandy snow blowers (that always break down) and our ergonomically correct snow shovels. He looked at the big orange elephants (snow plows) roaming the streets for guidance.

The art of shoveling snow is like eating elephants - one bite at a time. Don’t try to tackle the whole thing at once. Do it while it is easy. One layer at a time, as it comes down.

1. Go out immediately after the first inch has fallen. We all know one inch is easier than six inches of snow. So take your first bite. Do it before the snow gets stepped on, driven on, or turns to ice. Do it while the snow is light and not heavy with moisture. Also, if the first layer is sleet or ice - take care of it now before it gets compounded with six inches of snow on top.
2. Push don’t lift. All those fancy dancy new ergonomically correct shovels are built to LIFT heavy snow. Do you see the orange elephants lift? No, they push. Pushing is a lot easier, especially when you’ve only got one inch to move. Push a path in front of you. Let it all pile up near where you are going to end up putting it. (saves your back, less energy exerted, and more fun)
3. When you do lift: Lift in bites not chunks. Tackle the pile in layers. Take your time. Be easy on your back. Alternate sides. Lift only an inch or so, not 4-6. Snow gets heavier when packed. One inch at a time will quickly disappear a pile (try it).
4. Go in for some warm cocoa and repeat in two hours or in 1-2 inches. If you are lucky and the snow stops you are ahead of the game because the thinner layer of snow will melt when the sun comes out.

Copyright 2007 Matthew Rochte, Eat Your Elephant, LLC
Will appear on http://www.EatYourElephant.com when the new website is launched next week.

I just stumbled upon this unusual site called http://www.freerice.com/

The site provides an opportunity to help the hungry and covertly to expand your vocabulary.  For every word you correctly identify 10 grains of rice are donated.  Each time you get a word wrong it tells you the correct answer and lowers the difficulty.  As you get more write the difficulty goes up.

So for all those wordsmith social activists this is the site for you.

I had a fantastic opportunity this weekend to share with people the work I have been noodling for about 10 years now about what is going on in the world and what is emerging. Its comes from a place of what I do best - integrating complex ideas and weave the common thread amongst them.

It is a speech about hope for business and all of us. I am looking for continued opportunities to present this material to a wider audience. Click on the title to go to the speech’s website.
Making the World Round Again
Speech/Presentation by Matthew Egan Rochte
While pessimism rules and hope appears scarce, a recent convergence of business, science, and spirituality is creating conscious capitalism and restoring hope to the future.

Presented at the Northland Bioneers Conference on Oct 21st 2006
Resource Sheet handed out at the Northland Bioneers Conference (pdf)
http://www.makingtheworldroundagain.com

Book Review – The Anatomy of Peace

What if conflicts in the world, personal, and work life all source from the same root cause? What if we systematically blind ourselves to that cause? And what if, as a result, we are unwittingly perpetuating the very problems that we believe we are trying to solve?

These are the questions that the Arbinger Institute answers in The Anatomy of Peace

I have been a raving fan of the Arbinger Institute’s work going on three three years now since I was shaken to the core by the work as I experienced my family, my brother in particular in a whole new light. A light I could no longer ignor. My work with the Arbinger material has been transformational for me, my clients, and their companies. So much so that Leadership & Self Deception (L&SD) became required reading for all of my clients.

This has created a slight dilemma since not all of my clients are business people. While those that are don’t always want to read “another” business book. Heck, even I put off reading the thing for nearly a year because I was a “leadership” coach, what did I need to learn about “leadership”? The short answer – EVERYTHING, anew.

So I was overjoyed when I learned that they released a new book last month. The Anatomy of Peace is a book that I can recommend to anyone. The language is different, the intended audience is different, but the heart of the matter is still solid as ever. This is a book for everyone & business people too. It takes the work much deeper than L&SD and applies it to life circumstances from family relationships to international conflicts. It is all based on true events and a real executive and the experiences at the Anasazi Foundation Arbinger’s partner in intervention.

The Anatomy of Peace is a prequel to Leadership & Self Deception. It is the story of Lou Herbert, the founder of Zagrum (the company in L&SD) and his journey to Camp Moriah (Anasazi) where he & his wife have taken their troubled son for an outdoors survival program to straighten him out and attend a two day seminar for the parents. We get to find out about what Lou’s transformation process was that began the journey of L&SD. The camp is lead by two unlikely leaders: Yusuf-al-Falah, an Arab, and Avi Rozen, a Jew, each of whom lost their fathers at the hands of the other’s ethnic cousins. The Anatomy of Peace is about how they came together and now work at bringing peace to children and parents who are at war with each other.

This is a powerful book. In many respects it is like being a fly on the wall during part of an Arbinger program. Fans of L&SD will not be disappointed as there is a great deal of new material here. All the juicy stuff they’ve been learning since L&SD was released has been added to the mix. I love the new terminology of the heart at peace & the heart at war. This really puts a firm grip on the issue and takes it out of the logical mind. We can all relate to it. “In the box” and “out of the box” never really worked for me, it seems sterile. This wording touches my soul. The box analogy hasn’t been jettisoned though. It still has a place, especially when mapping out collusion and diagramming the process. They introduce a startling and powerful concept of boxes that we carry with us and how we all in one degree or another carry one or more of these: the I am better than box, the I must to be seen as box, the I am worse than box, and the I deserve box. I think I have visited all four of these in the past four years. How about you? This work applies to all of us. Who are you in relationship with your client? The world? Your spouse?

Matthew Rochte – Seasoned Coaches Coach, Executive Coach, & Coaching Pundit.
Matthew is about helping people be GREAT! To help is coach clients be great
they dive deep to explore the human functioning model, perceptions, business
practices, Arbinger work, SQ Spiritual Intelligence, & Coaching From Within.
He helps his business clients be great by applying the above and working
with their Spiritual Capital & relationships so they can be great.
Matthew is a 15year coaching veteran, serves on the ICF Ethics &
Standards Committee & is MCA’s 2005 Past President
http://www.coachingintentionally.com http://www.workingintentionally.com

© Copyright 2006 Matthew Rochte, used with permission

So the theme of the week seems to be Strengths. Everywhere I have been since the first of the month people have been talking in this sort of code. No, not the DaVinci Code. They were all talking excitedly about what were their 5 top strengths as identified by StrengthFinder, a tool that the book Now, Discover Your Strengths: the revolutionary program that shows you how to develop your unique talents and strengths and those of the people you manage. http://snipurl.com/strengthsfinder

The idea is that instead of focusing on what is wrong with people and making them mediocre at best in those areas and diminishing what they do great. Focus instead on what people are great at and encourage those traits, thereby allowing for the weaker to either be outsourced or trained leveraging the use of your core strengths.

My core strengths:

• Ideation
• Maximizer
• Relator
• Individualization
• Connectedness

It means that I am well suited to be a coach, teacher, leader, entrepreneur, spiritual advisor, motivational speaker, inspirational speaker, community leader, sales person, etc.

Its a good thing that I have found work that I love. I have the best job in the world. I help people be GREAT! Through inspiration, observation, connection, engagement, and maximizing their latent talents.

This book is now becoming one of my core books to use with clients. This and Leadership & Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute

What are you GREAT at?

Lets get you working those and get out of the trenches of your weaknesses.
Currently Priced at $18.90 on Amazon.com You need to purchase a NEW copy if you wish to do your strengthsfinder because each book is individually coded.