Monthly Archives: February 2013

Lower Expectations

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Yesterday, a friend said something I just couldn’t believe. He told me the best advice he’d ever given his daughter was that she should lower her expectations.  Lower expectations?

Graduation

Graduation

“I sent Lynne to the best private high school in town. I wanted only the best. It cost me a quarter-million dollars. After graduation, she went to one of those elite eastern colleges. I vividly remember the day we took her to enroll. The look. The atmosphere. The way people “were.” It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t her. She seemed excited, but I was concerned. However, I bit my lip; didn’t say a word. What did I know? I was only her dad.
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Dads’ Good Hearts Give Kids Great Starts

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Some make it in life. Many don’t. Rita Davenport did.

Reese, Rita’s grandaughter

Reese, Rita’s grandaughter

Best selling author. Hall of Fame speaker. Arizona Woman of the Year. Arbonne International President for 20 years. Wife. Mom. “Nana” to granddaughters Reese & Claire Ray. A treasured friend.

Who started her right? Who shaped her life? Many dads talk. Her dad taught by example. He walked the talk.

From Rita’s own pen, a fond memory:

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“Tomorrow: Perfect and Right”

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It’s painful to recall that icy-cold night when Mimi so hopelessly cried. And, a father who acted so badly.

It was the winter of ’63. I was 15. Chubby asked if I’d like to sit in on one of his new agent real estate training sessions. He held them three nights a week in the conference room at the office.

What “boss’s son” wouldn’t? This would be totally fun. Soon I would learn, actually not.

Every new agent attended. A doctor’s note was your only excuse.

A young cowboy

A young cowboy…

Chubby started the evening by calling on a sweet, middle aged, soft spoken lady named Mimi. He asked her to stand. “Mimi,” he said, “Give us the definition of real estate.” She did. It was totally right, just not word-for-word perfect, what I came to call “Chubby-Right.”
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Spend Another Day with Dad

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The Savvy Dad is about how fathers impact our lives. Today is an exception. It’s about how we impact theirs.

The young graduate

The young graduate

It was 1966. I was a senior at Cincinnati Country Day High School. The family was proud. No one – not Chubby, my dad, not my mom, not my sister, not one of my grandparents or a parent of theirs had ever attended one day of college. I would be first.

This meant so much to my dad. It was an unfilled dream realized through me.
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Controlling Your Concentration

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According to a British study, your IQ drops by 5 points when stoned, 10 points when distracted. In other words, you are 2X dumber when phoned than when stoned. Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS magazine, referred me to the study and mentioned that:

On average, we are distracted every 11 minutes.
It takes up to 25 minutes to fully regain concentration.   READ MORE 

Mistakes Define You

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Brandon Steiner is one of my multi-millionaire, check bouncing good buddies. His New York-based, Steiner Sports is the largest distributor of specialty sports memorabilia in the world. Brandon works with the big time athletes.

You wouldn’t hesitate to accept a measly $1500 check from a big hitter like Brandon, would you? Me neither.   READ MORE