Posts by Mike Staver

All of us have roles. We are leaders, agents, employees, parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives etc, etc. We perform numerous tasks based on the roles we identify ourselves in. While these roles are important and help us build our perception of ourselves and our lives, I am wondering if there might be a deeper, more…

Bakersfield is a city in Southern California, near the southern end of the (drought stricken) San Joaquin Valley. I was there for a speaking engagement and was invited to dinner with a large group. I was fortunate to sit next to a gentleman that is a BIG time farmer and sits on the California Water…

There I was sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for a flight when WHAM I got hit with what felt like a bolt of lightening. Screaming kids, inadequate air conditioning, flight delay and two weeks on the road all contributed to the realization that I simply was not happy, and I didn’t want to do…

If it is, stop reading this and begin to write a book. I didn’t ask if you knew something about it or if you attended a seminar on it. I mean, is your life really balanced? The point is, I think life balance is a futile pursuit, and it leads to unnecessary pressure and guilt.…

Over the last few weeks, I have heard several people say they were getting their ducks in a row. I think that is another way of saying they are getting things in order. Nikki is the managing broker of a real estate office in Houston, Texas. She shared an interesting twist on that phrase with…

“Effort is admirable, achievement is essential.” This is what I heard the Fortune 500 CEO, John Chambers of CISCO Systems, say just before I went on to speak. I could have just stood up and said, “Well, that just about sums it up folks. Thanks for coming!” I didn’t, of course, but he did pretty…

I watched the Olympics for the last couple of weeks. Talk about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat! There is nowhere that the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat is any more evident. I was struck by the focus and commitment the athletes have to their sport. Whether it was…

If you have not been able to break away from your interest in the news, then I am certain you are riding the ups and downs of the geopolitical world we are now living in. There was a time when only my real estate clients were actually experiencing the turmoil. Now everyone is feeling it;…

From the time we are very young, we engage in a game of blame. How many times do parents ask their kids why they did something and get the answer, “Everybody does it” or, “Because so-and-so did it”? How often do we hear adults blame themselves, their environment, the market, their significant other, their heredity,…

These days, you have access to mountains of information. You can discover answers to almost any question by simply typing your question into a search engine. You go to seminars, classes, read blogs, books and brochures. You watch videos, listen to podcasts, attend webinars, Twitter, and join braintrusts and any number of other think tank…