I met a man of the cloth at a party. I was struck by the man's charisma, his charm, his wit and his aura of grace. This man gave me courage and hope: if this is what Catholicism as all about, I am proud to be part of it! His name was Cardinal Theodore McCarrick . Mrs. G. met a well-known politician in the lobby of the Loews hotel in New York. The man was charming and attentive. Mrs. G. want didn't to take much of his time because she was not a resident of this great man's home state, but he demurred and joked that he needed friends everywhere. Mrs. G. was quite smitten. I don't know which side of the political aisle you hail from, but the old saw, "With friends like this, who needs enemies?" seems to have been written for Senator John McCain . I know he was a war hero, but in the past several years he made it his business to throw the leadership of his own party under the bus whenever he got the opportunity. Democrats in leadership have the same problem with some of their "colleagues." No one likes a grandstander or an opportunist. These men were heroes to us. To say we are disappointed would be a wild understatement. There are, apparently, no heroes among us anymore, at least not of the flesh-and-blood variety. I guess that leaves it up to us. We will have to be heroes.

In his book, Willpower Doesn't Work , Benjamin Hardy argues that creating environment, not the will to succeed, is the way to create new and positive habits. Let's say that you want to write every day, which is, not coincidentally, a goal of mine. In the past I tried to force myself to write. I left myself notes, set alarms, sent email reminders and calendar items. Yet I did not write consistently. Hardy argues that by creating the proper environment I will achieve my goal with little effort. So what does this look like for me? I decided that one I got caught up in the day creative writing was almost impossible. That left one option, write first thing in the morning. This worked, but not perfectly. I still struggled because I still had not created the proper environment. First Thing in the Morning actually looked like this: turn on the lights, feed the dog, prepare coffee for me, start tea for Miss Karen, wait for tea to steep (maybe do dishes or fold laundry while I wait), bring tea and dog to Miss Karen (not always appreciated, by the way), turn on lights and open shutters in home office, log in to work computer, log in to Dashlane , open Penzu , start music, read notifications, read emails, respond to emails, close open programs, open Blog posts, etc. Clearly there is too much standing between me and my goal. We are selling our house, so long-term my plan is to put my writing station closer to the bed (it is now clear on the other side of the house and the dog's bed is in between). So here is my near term plan: (1) get up earlier, the dog will still be asleep and will not whine to be fed; (2) put off coffee, tea and other morning pleasantries until after writing (I don't really need the caffeine to write) and (3) do not log on to the work computer, there are too many distractions, use the home Chromebook only. I will keep you posted. Thanks for listening.

She can't walk like other people. She has to throw her upper body back, and her gait is rocking, unsteady and tentative. It is awkward. And painful sometimes. Sometimes she is self conscious. But not today. He was a little fussy, but he stopped and stared at the kindly priest, dazzled by the lights and the colors, and calmed by the gentle splash of the warm water. Her family, not very devout, didn't kneel. But she knelt that day. She couldn't help glancing down at the little boy next to her. Her little boy. The boy she carried and delivered, even though no one thought she could.

Path Dependence is a fancy way of saying, "We have always done it this way." It is defined by the Business Dictionary as, "Tendency of a past or traditional practice or preference to continue even if better alternatives are available." Examples of Path Dependence include the QWERTY keyboard, Microsoft Word (if you are going to use another word processor, it better be able to read Word files!) and the width of railroad tracks and the cargo they carry (legend has it that the four-foot eight-and-half inch standard is based on the size of rail used in small coal mines in Britain or the width of Roman chariots). Real estate appraisal is far from immune from these sort of ruts. I mean, are physical inspections always necessary? What exactly is one to learn by inspecting a 5-year-old rectangular industrial building? Oh, and detailed county and city write ups? It is a great way to sell one's work product by the pound, but I am not sure anyone has ever read them. And if someone has taken the time to read them (time, sadly, they will never get back), they heave learned nothing useful or relevant to the appraisal problem. It all hit bottom when the world's largest bureaucracy, the United States Army, lent its charm to the practice of appraisal with the 1971 publication of the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions . Also known as the Yellow Book (because the title was so generic as to render it meaningless, and the book was actually yellow), the guidelines contained in the UASFLA virtually ensure a turgid, unreadable and tedious work product incomprehensible to all but a few Laputan review appraisers. Ironically, the Yellow Book was created specifically for eminent domain matters that could ultimately be decided by a jury of real, live, human beings. Oh, how I pity them.

The Human Condition – Gagliano & Company

Some Zzzs

If you are having trouble sleeping, for Pete's Sake, don't worry about it. Study after study points out that the human beings, no matter how sleep deprived, will eventually sleep. If you have one, two or even three days of poor sleep, rest assured [ha!] that it won't be long before you get a nine [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2018-09-12T07:58:59-04:00September 12th, 2018|Rest, Stress, The Human Condition|Comments Off

We Could Be Heroes

I met a man of the cloth at a party. I was struck by the man's charisma, his charm, his wit and his aura of grace. This man gave me courage and hope: if this is what Catholicism as all about, I am proud to be part of it! His name was Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2018-08-26T11:12:13-04:00August 26th, 2018|Catholicism, The Human Condition|Comments Off

You Can’t Force It

In his book, Willpower Doesn't Work, Benjamin Hardy argues that creating environment, not the will to succeed, is the way to create new and positive habits. Let's say that you want to write every day, which is, not coincidentally, a goal of mine. In the past I tried to force myself to write. I left [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2018-07-19T08:01:08-04:00July 19th, 2018|Art, Blog, Change, Creativity, Future, Habit, Personal Development, Planning, Success, The Human Condition|Comments Off

Mirror, Mirror

My golf game improved after a friend (and single digit handicapper) advised me to relax my grip. "On a scale of one to ten, one being the club slides out of your hand and ten being a white knuckle death grip," he said, "you should be at a three." Not only has my game improved, [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2018-07-12T06:41:51-04:00July 12th, 2018|Attitude, Personal Development, Sport, Stress, Success, The Human Condition|Comments Off

Pride (In the Name of Love)

Being a man means you do what has to be done, no matter the cost. Your life is the most you can give, your pride is the least.

By Bob Gagliano|2018-07-11T06:08:59-04:00July 11th, 2018|Grit, Humility, The Human Condition|Comments Off

A Blessing

She can't walk like other people. She has to throw her upper body back, and her gait is rocking, unsteady and tentative. It is awkward. And painful sometimes. Sometimes she is self conscious. But not today. He was a little fussy, but he stopped and stared at the kindly priest, dazzled by the lights and [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2017-12-08T09:27:20-05:00December 8th, 2017|The Human Condition|Comments Off

The Work is Never Done

Unless you do your laundry naked, the wash is never really done. And you will be chilly.

By Bob Gagliano|2017-09-02T12:04:37-04:00September 2nd, 2017|Small Business, The Human Condition|Comments Off

Path Dependence

Path Dependence is a fancy way of saying, "We have always done it this way." It is defined by the Business Dictionary as, "Tendency of a past or traditional practice or preference to continue even if better alternatives are available." Examples of Path Dependence include the QWERTY keyboard, Microsoft Word (if you are going to [...]

By Bob Gagliano|2017-08-30T09:44:45-04:00August 30th, 2017|Books, History, Jargon, Real Estate, The Human Condition|Comments Off

On Time

I am pathologically prompt. Five minutes before meeting time is what I consider on time. I think it is a sign of respect. But it is probably just insecurity.

By Bob Gagliano|2017-08-12T15:27:50-04:00August 12th, 2017|Humility, Humor, The Human Condition, Time Management|Comments Off

A Little Freaked Out?

Feeling overwhelmed? It happens all the time, you are not alone. I suggest you do what is in front of you. Today. Right now. And nothing more. If you feel freaked out, this is not the day for big decisions. Give it time. It will pass. And the big decision will make itself.

By Bob Gagliano|2017-08-07T08:53:28-04:00August 7th, 2017|Stress, Tactics, The Human Condition|Comments Off