Mark's Monthly Mentoring is coming in January 2008. Stay tuned for details.

Tis the season to be jolly. There is so much happening in December:

Hanukkah is December 5 -12

Boston Tea Party was December 16, 1773

Wright Brother's first flight was December 17, 1903

Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock on December 21 (some say the December 11th)

Christmas Eve December 24th (..and all through the house, not a creature...)

Christmas Day December 25th

Boxing Day December 26th

 

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 Road Improvements  

Lesson of History (Why I devour Biographies)
By Mark Matteson

As the story goes, a wise, seasoned history professor was out in the hallway of the Military Academy recruiting the freshman plebes to sign up for his class. One brash young man asked, “Why should I sign up for your class?” The professor smiled, paused, leaned forward said in a warm but confident tone, “Ever burn your hand?” A little surprised by the question the youngster said in a tone a little louder than necessary, “Yes, who hasn’t?” Lowering his tone again, the professor all but whispered, “Did it hurt?” Incredulous, the plebe replied, “Of course!” Now, in complete command of the conversation, the professor added, “Would you ever do it again on purpose?” Still on the defensive, the freshman replied, “No!” Smiling, the professor concluded, “That is why we must study history!”

Winston Churchill was considered by many historians the greatest man of the 20th Century. According to William Manchester’s biographical masterpiece: He was a genius without judgment. His views, once formed, were immutable. He had a hundred horsepower brain. He wrote 56 books, half of them on War and Warriors. As a writer he was a reporter, a biographer, a novelist, a critic, essayist and historian. When asked why he read so much history, he quoted McCauley, “The greater the distance back you go in history, the farther you may see into the future.”

Churchill loved books and wrote of them:

• “If you cannot read all your books, at the very least handle them, peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you will at least know where they are. Let them be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances.”

• A forty five minute speech takes eight hours to prepare. However, if you want me to talk all day I can begin now!”

• “So little time, so much to achieve.”

• “It is my only ambition to be the master of the spoken word.”

A terrible student at some of the finest schools in England, considered a dud in the classroom and did even worse in examinations, he was top of the class in the areas he loved, History, English and all things military. An autodidactic pattern formed in these most difficult times of his youth, in his own time and on his own terms, he became the most learned statesman of the century. He began reading five papers a day at 13 years of age and continued that commitment his entire life.

Jim Carrey is said to be passionate about the History Channel’s famous biographies and watches them as he runs on the treadmill. Jerry Seinfeld in the documentary “Comedian” went to the NY Public Library’s video archives to study old Richard Pryor concert films to understand his unique style and pioneering content.

Why study history? You might be asking, fair enough. Here are three good reasons to study History:

• Inspiration. I never fail to get jazzed after reading a good biography. As Anthony Hopkins said to Alec Baldwin’s sleazy character in the suspenseful and enlightening movie, “The Edge,” “What one man can, another can!” How true.

• Education. It will shift your awareness and paradigms about what is possible for you.

• It will provide sign posts to achieving your goals. Models and Mentors to follow.

Will and Ariel Durant were a history writing team. For 50 years they dedicated their marriage and work lives to studying and writing about history; Jesus, Napoleon, Caesar (the Roman ruler, not the salad). On their 75th birthday, they asked themselves what a lifetime of research had taught them and wrote an amazing little book entitled “Lessons of History.”
I need to buy a copy for my boys. It’s a must read for any serious student of the human condition, and the best part about their crowning achievement? It’s a bathroom book, only 120 pages!

Below you will find my Short List Top Ten Favorite Biographies or books on or about History:

• “Lessons of History” by Will and Ariel Durant

• “7 Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence (aka, Lawrence of Arabia, an advisor to Churchill)

• “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” by Edmund Morris

• “Fantastic” (Unauthorized Biography on Arnold Schwarzenegger)

• “Grinding it Out” by Ray Kroc (founder of McDonalds)

• “Pour Your Heart Into It” by Howard Schulz, Starbucks founder

• “700 Sundays” by Billy Crystal (It’s how many Sundays he had with his father and a bittersweet biography)

• “A Lotus Grows in the Mud” by Goldie Hawn

• “Dutch” by Edmund Morris (a detailed Ronald Reagan biography)

• “The Last Lion” 1874-1932 by William Manchester (the definitive biography on Sir Winston Spencer Churchill)

Maybe this plebe needs to sign up for a history class? Nah! However, I do know what I want for Christmas; Manchester’s other book on Churchill. Hand me a cigar.

*************************************************************
Bits and Pieces from my Journal

While in Fairbanks, AK, sitting in the lobby of the Princess Hotel, working away on my laptop, I met a fascinating man. He is a retired electrical parts rep, and former trainer and consultant. His name is Duane Olberg. He lives in my hometown and as it turns out, I went to high school with his daughters. He was in town to watch Portland State’s coach, Ken Bone, do his magic. He was explaining to me in detail his magnificent mission trips to Africa. Then he handed me his card:

He is still a rep. He just has a different boss now!

*************************************************************

November 19th, on the flight back from AK, it was my 50th birthday. I received the best present yet...the University of Alaska at Fairbanks Men’s Basketball team upset Pac-10 team Oregon State 62-60. The significance lies in the fact that UAF is a Division 2 School, OSU is Division 1. The boys played their hearts out for new coach Clemon Johnson. They left nothing on the floor. Colin was a force on the boards and the anchor on defense, playing 37 minutes of a 40 minute game. He was exhausted with a Cheshire Cat grin.
Watching him sign autographs and receiving pats on the back from the hometown crowd, I thought of the Teddy Roosevelt speech:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

As I reflected upon the long weekend and the ups and downs of college basketball (UAF went 1-2), gazing out the window at the snow capped peaks of the Alaskan landscape, it was the best birthday weekend I could recall.

Shifting gears, I asked myself what I had learned in 50 years. The pen began to move on its own. Here are seven lessons from a long list of over 100 hard learned lessons:

1. Don’t cry when you lose, don’t crow when you win. Why? Well it’s sportsmanship but it’s deeper than that. Winning and losing? It’s temporary. Lose a sale? Next! Sports prepare us for business if we are mindful of the lessons.

2. Send a handwritten note or a birthday card to a friend or client. Recently the California Closet Company sales rep sent me a nice thank you card. I referred her to my friend Joel Hadfield. As a thank you she sent a hand written note on company stationary and a $30 gift certificate to Applebee’s. That is soooo smart!

3. Say something nice behind people’s back. It’s bound to get back to them. Colin, at an early age (16), learned to “Give the credit away to the guard that got him the ball” when speaking to the reporter that interviewed him when he was the leading scorer. When they lost, he always took the blame. Jim Collins calls this “The Window and the Mirror” in his best selling leadership book, “Good to Great.”

4. Never stop learning. Read good books, attend seminars, find mentors and ask their opinion, ask questions and dominate the listening. The more I learn, the more humble I become. I am constantly amazed how stupid I was two years ago. That cycle keeps repeating and, like Moore’s Law, keeps getting shorter.

5. Challenge your cherished assumptions and beliefs. Never stop asking the question, “What if I bought the wrong plan?” What is holding you back from achieving your objectives? Who are you listening to?

6. No matter what you do for a living (CPA, Engineer, Contractor, ET all) make a lifetime study of Leadership, Sales, Marketing, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. The more I study the less I know.

7. Now back to where this e-zine started. Study History. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “The further you go back in history, the easier the future is to see.” Read biographies of great men and women.

 So that's where that came from!

"Christmas Lights"

 One for the road

This months best reads are:

1. “The Cluetrain Manifesto” (The end of business as usual) by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger – Thanks to Matt Michel for suggesting I read it. It will indeed challenge, provoke and forever change your outlook on the digital economy.

2. “How to Make Big Money in Your Own Small Business” by Jeffrey Fox – Unexpected rules every small business owner needs to know. I love the simple, uncommon sense this guys dispenses. At 141 pages, it’s a bathroom book you can’t put down.

  Watch "The Road" Buddy!

Check out my movie list to make you Laugh, Cry and Think

Matteson Avenue has an archive of all the ezines of past.

Launch new goals this year

Laugh more this year.

Learn more this year by reading a book a month on the Reading List

Leave a legacy this year - Freedom From Fear Forever has a great message!

 The Wire's Conduit

This months Wire Conduit is about Christmas lights. I got the bug two years ago after seeing the infamous video by Carson Williams. This is my story.

 End Construction  

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