The Frustration Factor Society International (FFSI) advances the art and science of driving people up the wall throughout the world. The committee on methods is meeting in Chicago a week late. They were to meet in San Francisco, but the location subcommittee neglected to reserve a hotel. Only a few of the sixty-three members are present because of a little snag with the meeting notices. Even with this glitch, the committee is now meeting.

 

Mark Brown, a charter member, is trying to make a motion to raise "Not Me" to a recognized method for driving people up the wall. "It may be that we might want possibly to consider Not Me as a method."

 

Another member asks, "Are you making that as a motion?"

 

Mark says, "Well, not exactly. Maybe we can talk about it and see what everyone thinks."

 

Steve clears his throat and starts the discussion. "It's the kind of thing where it is easy to see both sides." Steve squirms a little in his chair. Seeing that no one else wants to talk, he says, "I could come down on either side of this one. If Mark is solid with this one, I am not saying I could not be persuaded."

 

Sharon Lewis, from Texas, hesitatingly joins into the discussion. She says, "I thought, well, I have been at a few meetings where the person who brings up an idea makes the motion. I would like to suggest Mark puts his idea in the form of a motion."

 

Mark nervously jumps in. "Oh, no. I don't think I should be the one to head this up. It should be someone with more experience or specific interest."

 

Brad, from Philadelphia, thoughtfully enters the debate. "I want to hear some ideas from the rest of you before coming to closure on this one. Whenever we decide to break, it might be well to chew on this one a little over lunch."

 

Sharon is quick to agree. "I'm going to hang with Brad on this one, unless someone has a better idea."

 

Tim, from Maine, feels like it is a moment tailor-made for an apple polisher like him to say a few words. "I believe in consensus and think we can all agree on one thing. The members who are here today have struggled with this important decision. We have to tread lightly in sensitive areas like this. It's people we are talking about here. The extent to which any decision might offend someone has to be considered each time."

 

Jami from Oklahoma sees his chance to contribute. He says, "I have been thinking about the issues we have before us. I wonder if it might be a good idea to call a few of the members who are not here to get their thoughts on things."

 

Jami's idea stimulates instant, positive expressions and the project is under way. Because no one has a committee membership list, Jami makes a list of the members those present can remember. The committee manages to divide the list; and as Jami gives Ted, from Ohio, his names to call, Ted says, "Not me. I would like to help but I have some stuff here I had to bring along to work on. I can't step away from it. Either I'm going to whip it, or it's going to kill me first. The pressure is too much sometimes. You know how it goes."

 

Let it suffice to say that looking in on more of the meeting would be redundant.

 

●He who hesitates is lost

 

●Strike while the iron is hot

 

●Victory belongs to the swift

 

These statements represent the thoughts of a moron from the committee player's point of view. Any second rate player knows that the truth lies in a different set of wise sayings.

 

●Follow the leader

 

Your baby starts her journey into adulthood with very little going for her other than an inborn potential to grow and become. Within the first few weeks of life, she begins the lifelong process of experiencing, exploring, and expressing herself. This is a very physical/doing time of life for baby. She spends most of her waking hours looking, making noises, learning to hold up her head and turn over, squirming and moving around, trying and then learning to pick things up, usually putting them in her mouth, and gradually organizing her life around the major goals of getting to things and getting into them. As your baby becomes a toddler (around the age of eighteen months), the circle of her world starts to expand. There are myriad things to get into and to learn to stay out of, to climb on and around, to explore and experiment with, to take apart and throw around. There is a long list of things to do, such as learning to talk, to use the bathroom, and to feed herself, figuring out new ways to get others to pay attention, finding out about rules and restrictions, getting better at moving around without falling down - generally discovering the physical world.

As your toddler becomes a preschooler, her world continues to expand geometrically with things to do or to avoid, experiences to have or to refrain from, with more complicated toys, more elaborate opportunities, and with those ever-present but changing rules and restrictions. The world of puzzles and coloring books, bicycles and roller skates, games and good manners also begins to come into focus.

As your preschooler becomes a grade schooler, the circle of her world expands yet further and rules and restrictions begin to decrease, even if only slightly. Not only is she able to do more things, but she is allowed to, even encouraged to do more. Somewhat suddenly, it may seem to your grade schooler, you and other adults expect her to learn how to do things that are sometimes difficult or tedious. Fun and work are becoming interacting and interrelated parts of life.

As your grade schooler moves into adolescence, the circle of her life continues to expand, and the rules and restrictions change and lessen. Your child by then has developed a fairly well-established pattern of discovery, experimentation, and mastery; she has developed an amazingly complex array of skills, abilities, and behaviors to be consciously used or not, depending on the circumstances. And still more skills and behaviors are yet to be learned - how to participate in team sports and group activities, what is the proper behavior in a multitude of situations, how to do geometry, how to drive a car, how to behave on dates and in other social situations. Gradually, the developing individual comes to do and act less like your child and more like an adult.

Your baby starts her journey into adulthood with very little going for her other than an inborn potential to grow and become. Within the first few weeks of life, she begins the lifelong process of experiencing, exploring, and expressing herself. This is a very physical/doing time of life for baby. She spends most of her waking hours looking, making noises, learning to hold up her head and turn over, squirming and moving around, trying and then learning to pick things up, usually putting them in her mouth, and gradually organizing her life around the major goals of getting to things and getting into them. As your baby becomes a toddler (around the age of eighteen months), the circle of her world starts to expand. There are myriad things to get into and to learn to stay out of, to climb on and around, to explore and experiment with, to take apart and throw around. There is a long list of things to do, such as learning to talk, to use the bathroom, and to feed herself, figuring out new ways to get others to pay attention, finding out about rules and restrictions, getting better at moving around without falling down - generally discovering the physical world.

As your toddler becomes a preschooler, her world continues to expand geometrically with things to do or to avoid, experiences to have or to refrain from, with more complicated toys, more elaborate opportunities, and with those ever-present but changing rules and restrictions. The world of puzzles and coloring books, bicycles and roller skates, games and good manners also begins to come into focus.

As your preschooler becomes a grade schooler, the circle of her world expands yet further and rules and restrictions begin to decrease, even if only slightly. Not only is she able to do more things, but she is allowed to, even encouraged to do more. Somewhat suddenly, it may seem to your grade schooler, you and other adults expect her to learn how to do things that are sometimes difficult or tedious. Fun and work are becoming interacting and interrelated parts of life.

As your grade schooler moves into adolescence, the circle of her life continues to expand, and the rules and restrictions change and lessen. Your child by then has developed a fairly well-established pattern of discovery, experimentation, and mastery; she has developed an amazingly complex array of skills, abilities, and behaviors to be consciously used or not, depending on the circumstances. And still more skills and behaviors are yet to be learned - how to participate in team sports and group activities, what is the proper behavior in a multitude of situations, how to do geometry, how to drive a car, how to behave on dates and in other social situations. Gradually, the developing individual comes to do and act less like your child and more like an adult.

Understanding the Leadership Perspective starts with re-focusing on the Helping Triangle, as shown in Figure 2A. There is point "A" Potential Clients, point "B" The

Authorizers, and point "C" the agency. As we consider the Helping Triangle as seen in Figure 2-A, we see the focal point is at the center of the triangle at point "0". It is not at any of the three corners or on any of the three sides.

 

As Figure 2B illustrates, draw a straight line from point "A" passing through point "0" to the mid point of the line connecting "B" and "C".

 

Next, as Figure 2C shows, Draw a straight line from point "B" passing through point "0" to the mid point of the line connecting "A" and "C".

 

Now, as Figure 2D shows, draw a straight line from point "C" passing through point "0" to the mid point of the line connecting "A" and "B".

 

Finally, as Figure 2E shows, label the mid point between "A" and "B" as "1", the mid point between "B" and "C" as "2", and the mid point between "A" and "C" as "3".

 

As we go clockwise around the outside edge of the Expanded Helping Triangle as seen in Figure 2E, we have "A", "1", "B", "2", "C", "3", and back to "A". "0"is inside the Helping Triangle where the internal lines cross.

Imagine we are at point "0" inside the Triangle as shown in Figure 2E. There are six lines radiating out from our location at point "0". They connect us to potential clients and the First Mover "A", the Initiators "1", the Authorizers "B", the Implementers "2", the agency "C",to the Providers "3". – I refer to the Helping Triangle as illustrated in Figure 2E as the Local Helping Triangle.

 

Now recall the analogy of the eco system. There are numerous other organisms – other agencies, organizations, individuals, and entities outside the local Helping Triangle and many of them have local Helping Triangles of their own. From our position at point "0" we also connect with many of those outside organisms. Conceptually, draw a connecting line between point "0" and each external individual or entity potentially affecting or affected by what happens within the local Helping Triangle. The result is a spider web like figure with multiple dimensions. "Human services is not a single services delivery system but a complex web of helping agencies and organizations whose primary goal is to assist people in need." Woodside & McClam, 2009, page 15 We are located at point "0" within the figure, at the center of the complex web of helping agencies and other important stakeholders. From there, we have what I call the Leadership Perspective. – I reference the multidimensional Helping Triangle with its web of connections as the Expanded Helping Triangle or simply as The Helping Triangle.

It is important for you to actively and thoughtfully Participate on the management team. An important element of your participation is to assure that you Understand your organization's budget, financial reports, and other management data.

"Relationships are a 50/50 proposition," and "Getting along is a two-way-street," are ideas that go around a lot. You may have heard them once or twice yourself. Well, I have heard them too and respectfully disagree. "Relate the best you know how, every chance you get." You do recall that verse of our theme song, do you not? Well, I am singing it again.

You are accountable for and can only be accountable for how you manage your side of your relationship. What's more, your side of the relationship is your exclusive opportunity and responsibility. You and your significant other may share a lot but not this. No one can do it for you; no one can prevent you from doing it.

"I would be different if you were different." Have you ever heard that old excuse for a whiner's less than best effort in a relationship? It takes but a minute's thought to see the logic. "Since you are not the way I think you should be, I am justified in being less than I am capable of being." …

"Relationships are a 50/50 proposition," and "Getting along is a two-way-street," are ideas that go around a lot. You may have heard them once or twice yourself. Well, I have heard them too and respectfully disagree. "Relate the best you know how, every chance you get." You do recall that verse of our theme song, do you not? Well, I am singing it again.

You are accountable for and can only be accountable for how you manage your side of your relationship. What's more, your side of the relationship is your exclusive opportunity and responsibility. You and your significant other may share a lot but not this. No one can do it for you; no one can prevent you from doing it.

"I would be different if you were different." Have you ever heard that old excuse for a whiner's less than best effort in a relationship? It takes but a minute's thought to see the logic. "Since you are not the way I think you should be, I am justified in being less than I am capable of being." …

Greetings my fellow trackers of the Great Mouse. The hunt for the Great Mouse continues. When we last spotted the hunters, they had tracked the Great Mouse to a distant location in outer space. The Great Mouse again alluded the hunters and lived to pursue its conquest of the universe.

I am back to share what is the most strange sighting yet of the Great Mouse. I was attending the Home Show at our local fair grounds when I was shocked to become aware of the hunters and their pursuit of the Great Mouse. I may be hallucinating but I experienced what I experienced. At least I think I did.

Let me simply share the experience with you and let you judge for yourself.

Was it actually the Great Mouse and the intrepid hunters?

Please listen and come to your own conclusion. No one else at the show seemed to notice anything unusual or out of the ordinary. Maybe I am losing it but I don’t think so. At least I hope not.

I leave you to your own perceptions.

Greetings my fellow trackers of the Great Mouse. The hunt for the Great Mouse continues. When we last spotted the hunters, they had tracked the Great Mouse to a distant location in outer space. The Great Mouse again alluded the hunters and lived to pursue its conquest of the universe.

I am back to share what is the most strange sighting yet of the Great Mouse. I was attending the Home Show at our local fair grounds when I was shocked to become aware of the hunters and their pursuit of the Great Mouse. I may be hallucinating but I experienced what I experienced. At least I think I did.

Let me simply share the experience with you and let you judge for yourself.

Was it actually the Great Mouse and the intrepid hunters?

Please listen and come to your own conclusion. No one else at the show seemed to notice anything unusual or out of the ordinary. Maybe I am losing it but I don’t think so. At least I hope not.

I leave you to your own perceptions.

The Aliens Amongst Us are pleased to bring The State of the Home Planet Address recently delivered by their leader on the Home Planet. The address was delivered to the Central Council on the Home Planet and open to all citizens of the Home Planet. This exciting event was held in the Great Hall in the capital city. The address is followed by a selection of authentic Home Planet music during which you are encouraged to carefully consider the wisdom of the Home Planet’s leader. Please enjoy this exceptional broadcast.