by Scott Howard | Jan 1, 2016 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
About a month ago, I was having a conversation with my friend Randy Clark via Twitter about how this year has just flown by. Randy is a few years older than me and he put his elder wisdom to work and explained a couple of things and inspired me to write this for the new year…
It’s true that time is a predictable and consistent measurement, 2015 had 365 days, divided up into 12 months, or 52 weeks with an extra day left over. Just like 2014 and 2013. (2016 is a leap year with 366 days.)
We can measure a week as 7 days. Each day has 24 hours. Each hour has 60 minutes and each minute has 60 seconds. All of this is accepted and predictable. 
But why does time seem to zip by the older we get? Maybe it’s because we are having more fun, but I doubt it. Maybe it is because we are busier, but that’s not applicable to all of us.
Think back on when you were 10 years old. Time seemed to last longer than now that we’re older. What Randy pointed out is that the longer we live, each day is a smaller percentage of our total life. Randy and I are both over 50 so I’ll use the comparison of being 10 years old versus 50 years old.
One month in a 10 year olds life is 1/120 of his life. One month in a 50 year olds life is 1/600 of his life. If you do the math using days, the difference is even bigger, proportionally speaking.
What I haven’t figured out is how when you are in an auto accident, everything seems to move in slow motion. If you know that answer, let me know.
In the meantime, Happy New Year and welcome to 2016 already!
by Scott Howard | Dec 31, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
As we say goodbye to 2015, many folks will ring in the new year with resolutions to:
- start something
- stop something
- do better at something
My protest against New Years Resolutions isn’t about resolving, it’s about the timing.
If you really want to change something in your life, don’t wait for the calendar.
Resolve to do it and then do it. If you slip up, then acknowledge it and start again. And again.
Unless we’re talking about writing the wrong year on your checks, then that would be an appropriate resolution to start next year. But seriously, does anyone hand write checks anymore?
See ya next year.
by Scott Howard | Dec 27, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
I publish a new article 5 days a week on this website and some weeks an extra article on the weekends.
Nearly every article is composed days or even weeks before they are published. I take time to write often in a coffee shop or comfortable chair at home. 
I encourage others to write and post often too. Even once a week is better than never. I have been doing this non-stop since 2011 on this website and other sites since 2005.
But in the last couple of weeks, I have forgotten to change the year on the “Scheduled Date” tab when writing these articles and articles that are supposed to show up in January and February 2016, have been published with a 2015 date. Subscribers may get an email that shows a new article but, when then click to read the rest on this website, it’s gone.
Sorry ’bout that but as soon as I noticed my mistake, I fixed it. You just got a preview of what’s coming next year.
Now going back to your holiday relaxing or whatever you were doing today.
by Scott Howard | Dec 25, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
In this digital age, I’m not surprised anymore that you might be reading this on Christmas day. I do recall a few years ago sitting in church and thinking how inappropriate that the guy sitting in the pew in front of me was on his smart phone during the service. 
But this a different world now. Instead of having something new to share with you today, I have links to Christmas articles I wrote the past few years.
Read them if you want but spend time connecting with those that matter and the real reason we have the day off… Christmas.
From 2012, All I Want For Christmas.
2013, The Christmas Story and Then Some.
Last year, 2014, The Christmas Thing.
And this year 2015, What’s Your Christmas Story?
by Scott Howard | Dec 24, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
It was 18 days ago, sitting in a coffee shop that I wrote this. Conversations surround me as I type.
The Sunday regulars are here, talking about the Christmas parties they’ve already been to or ones coming up. Talk about diets and blowing them are going on by the obese and the skinny. Some folks stop in and grab a drink before heading off to worship at their church, others on their way to the mall and shopping centers.
For some, Christmas is about the gifts, giving or getting. For others it is about an extra day or two off from work. For many, there is about the birth of Jesus, the namesake of Christianity.
Christmas was observed every one of my 50 years, and depending on who I was with, it took on a different look.
Before I go into my Christmas Story, I invite you to share yours too. You can leave a comment on this site, or on Facebook, where this will be shared or Twitter too. I will be busy with family but, I’ll read and respond when I can.
Christmas for me these days is a combination of solemn reflection and thankfulness and a bit of crazy fun. The crazy fun began several years ago when my wife decided to have a theme to our family Christmas party with a variation on a snowflake theme. Each year it’s a little different and this year it involves Nutcracker videos. The fun will be this afternoon as family gathers, and then this evening after nearly everyone has left, Kathy and I will walk to a church at the end of the block and join the regulars for their Christmas Eve service.
Growing up I considered myself a Christian and was raised by Christian parents. But after high school the only time I visited church was on Christmas for a few years. That changed the summer I was 22, when my girlfriend shared with me her Christian faith. I was either re-awakened, or some might say born-again that day. I really don’t know and don’t care what you call it except as a young adult, I took the scary step to ask God for forgiveness an
d to come into my heart and change me.
He did. This transformation is continuous. Sometimes I listen and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I follow, other times I run the other way. Being a Christian is like running a zig-zag race. God uses it all to shape me.
And he uses the world around us too. In my lifetime we have gone from Christmas Carols mentioning Jesus being sung loud and proud in public school Christmas programs, to the shunning and prohibition of mentioning anything about our Christian faith in some of those same buildings.
But Christianity isn’t what I thought it was as a kid. For me it is faith in God that is not limited to Christmas, Easter, or any other date on a church calendar. It is faith in action, every day, not just special days.
My Christmas story is simple. Christmas time is the days we remember that Jesus was really born, just as is recorded in the Gospels. It set the stage for a new agreement with God, instead of offering burnt animal offerings that the Jews were supposed to do, Jesus ushered in a new version that we celebrate at Easter time. Some 30+ years later, when Jesus was crucified and the repentance and forgiveness transaction was changed for those who accept this free gift of grace.
Being a Christian is a daily act, some days involve being very purposeful, most days simply by living an honest and loving lifestyle. Purposeful days are when you decide to do something specific such as feed the homeless, volunteer your time, or even offer a listening ear or encouraging word.
What guides me versus those who also do acts of kindness and love but claim no relationship with Jesus? I cannot answer for them, but for me, I know the Holy Spirit that lives within me will speak to my heart and it’s up to me as a human being to decide to follow His voice or my own in each thing I do.
That’s my Christmas Story, a daily journey made possible by the birth of Jesus over 2000 years ago. What’s yours?
by Scott Howard | Dec 23, 2015 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo
There’s the saying that you should step out of your comfort zone and see what else is out there.
There’s also another saying that once you have reached your destination, enjoy it.
Both are appropriate but in different circumstances.
In the business and marketing world I live in, I see businesses that stagnate because they are not keeping up with the times. I also see them flounder because they are chasing all the bright and shiny new marketing platforms without a way to determine which they should consider.
I can help with that, and you are probably too close to your business to determine this solo.
Now step over to the comfort levels in your personal life.
Relationships are the heart of these comfort levels and we’d be foolish to pretend that our work relationships are not part of our personal life. After all, we spend the majority of our awake hours working. Or at least that is at the top of the list of activities we do each week. 
Are you working in a comfort level or is there an uncomfort level you need to change in the year ahead?
I can honestly say without hesitation that my position with Federated Media in Fort Wayne is one of the best fits ever for me. I get to work with a guy who I helped get started in the radio business 10 years ago. Ben Saurer is the WOWO Radio General Sales Manager and the reason I decided to join WOWO back in 2013.
For the previous 2 1/2 years, I was in 3 different positions with 3 different companies. Something I had absolutely no intention of doing. I walked away from Summit City Radio after 8 1/2 years to work for a website development company and by this time of the year in 2011, I knew I had to find something else. That something else was a return to radio but again around Christmas time 2012, I began looking again. When I left those stations for a full time position in Social Media, I was in it for the long haul, but the position changed and I decided to leave. Within a year, all of my coworkers left too.
I stayed for 10 months at each of those 3 companies and I could have stayed forever at any of them if I wanted to, but it comes back to comfort levels.
I’ll wrap this up with a little wisdom I learned: No matter where you work, the one constant is you. So take the time to discover you and what makes you comfortable. The change you need may be internal or external but you should try and find out before you make any changes.
Don’t be afraid to prepare and make changes and may you one day discover a really good fit in your comfort zone like I have.
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