Personal Responsibility – Page 11

December 10, 2014

Categories

Turning Conflict Into Personal Growth

I want to share with you a very powerful technique for changing the way you respond to offensive or critical comments. This technique has the potential of turning what is usually a very painful and unpleasant experience into an opportunity for personal growth and wisdom.

November 15, 2014

Categories

The Way Things Are Done At Disney

November 9, 2014

Categories

Stretching Your Way To New Capabilities

Last month, a 22-year-old man scheduled an appointment with my office to discuss the possibility of filing a bankruptcy. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “Jim.” When Jim and I met, he explained to me that he had been terminated from his job earlier in the year and was drowning in debt. He told me that he currently lives with his girlfriend in the basement of her parents’ home.

June 14, 2014

Categories

The Real Enemy

A couple of weeks ago one of my clients started talking about one of his favorite pastimes — reading comic books. My mind immediately flashed back to when I was a boy in the 1960s. Back then, I hated reading assignments from school, but I loved reading comic books. The first product that I ever ordered through the mail was a product that I discovered by reading an advertisement in a comic book.

May 31, 2014

Categories

The Life of an Entrepreneur

If you’re like me, you probably never heard of Saint Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444). I learned about him a couple of weeks ago when I read a summary of his life. His feast day is on May 20, the same day as my birthday. This year, when I turned 57, I decided that it was time for me to learn about the saint who is honored by the Catholic Church every year on my birthday.

May 25, 2014

Categories

A Corrupt System of Dependency

Last summer while my wife and I were having dinner at a local restaurant, the waitress who was serving our table asked me how everything was going with my law practice. I looked at her, hesitated, and answered, “It’s going pretty well.” Since I didn’t recognize her, I asked, “Do you work for a law firm?” She answered that she had worked at the courthouse for several years before quitting her job.

May 3, 2014

Categories

A Client Who Thought He Was Invincible

Last month while I was at a party, I ran into a man that I had assisted with some legal problems in the mid-1980s. (For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “Mark.”) When I saw Mark at the party he didn’t look very well to me. In addition to being extremely thin, his skin looked dull and pasty.

December 14, 2013

Categories

The Language of Money

During my first year of practicing law (1983), I got a call from a young man who had received a speeding ticket. He was employed by Domino’s Pizza as a deliveryman, and he wanted me to help him keep the ticket off his driving record. For purposes of discussion, I’m going to call him Jim.

December 7, 2013

Categories

Rich Enough To Have An Indoor Bathroom

In March 1990, I interviewed my grandmother, Cecilia LaHood (Grandma Ceil), for an article I was going to write and distribute at an upcoming 80th birthday party her children were planning for her. Grandma Ceil’s date of birth was April 15, 1910. During the interview, Grandma told me that her family lived in three different houses during the first six years of her life. None of those houses had electricity or hot water. I recorded the interview and later transcribed what Grandma said. Here’s what she told me about their fourth home: