doug smith training

Do problems make you tense? Some problems really get me going. The space of no solution is a tough one to navigate. There probably IS a solution, it's just not evident yet. In the mean time, it's tense. Why not use that tension? The tension that problems cause us is energy: use it. -- Doug Smith

I remember when my kids were little, every once in a while we'd tell them "don't be scared." Because, of course, they were. We're all scared sometimes. Big problems can scare us. What on earth will we do? How will we ever solve such a tough problem? That's our sign. Solve that thing. Get working on it. Don't be scared. Fear of a problem is all the more reason to solve it. Centered problem solvers don't internalize the fear of a problem - they energize around it. You're not afraid of that little problem are you? Me, either. -- Doug Smith

Problems resist easy answers. That's why we need to ask the tough questions. Why are things the way they are? What is the deeper cause? On the surface, we may think we understand a problem. Digging deeper, asking probing and open ended questions, we can get at the heart of what is really going on. Are people being rewarded for incorrect behavior? Is someone benefitting from the problem situation? If so, who? Is it too easy to ignore the problem? Is the source of the problem aware that there is even a problem? For example, those who most resist a fair distribution of work are those who may not be working too hard. Why change?  Executives making juicy bonuses may not even be aware of how hard it is to live paycheck to paycheck. Creative problem solvers ask the tough questions with curiosity. Not to judge. Not to punish. But to know. What's really going on? Centered problem solvers use their creativity to separate people from the problem. They use their compassion to f

Which goal are you working on today? Oh, I know. You could be working on fifty goals today. Fifty? How many goals are too many? Where does your focus need to be to make a real impact? I'll ask you again, in a slightly different way. What major, noble goal are you working on today? What goal will change you, change your team, maybe even change some part of the world? Today will pass. You'll be busy. Stuff will get done. How much time will you spend today achieving your goals? How does all of your time sound? Too much? OK. I understand. How about twice as much as you planned? Your goals need your attention. Are you ready? -- Doug Smith

Do you tell people about your goals? When you do, great surprises can happen. You might get more help than you expected. You'll find more clarity around your goal. And your enthusiasm will grow. If you're not sharing your goals with others it could be telling you something about your goals. They should be exciting. They should be noble. And, they should be easy to tell other people. Easy because they are important. Easy because they are on your mind. The best goals are easy to share. Which goal are you talking about the most these days? -- Doug Smith

Do you know anyone who is a little bit, umm, odd? Since I've worked in entertainment as well as business, and played in bands and made movies, I've known my share of odd people. People who have interesting habits that make them just a little different. Like collecting nail clippings in a jar (yes, someone I once lived with actually did that) or alphabetizing their yogurt in the refrigerator (yes, someone I'm quite sweet on does that). Odd can be good (except that same person with the yogurt does not like odd numbers) and extremely helpful when it comes to problem solving. Problems need new ideas, new ways of doing things. When we are solving problems, we need all the creativity that we can get. What greater source of creative ideas than a problem solving team member who is a bit eccentric? Who else would think of that game-changing idea? Who else could be more fun? An eccentric problem solver is still a problem solver. And that's what high performance leader

"Constant and determined effort breaks down all resistance and sweeps away all obstacles." -- Claude M. Bristol I enjoy designing a plan to achieve a goal. Listing the tasks, estimating the times, scheduling them - that all appeals to my analytical side. Then comes the hard part: getting it done. But it's not really hard. It's one step at a time. One movement, one action, one call, one  thing . At - a - time. Design a cool, appealing plan. And then, most importantly, act relentlessly on your plan. As Larry the Cable Guy says, "get -er done!" -- Doug Smith

"Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker." -- Zig Zigler You know that we can learn from our mistakes. You might also know that failure carries many valuable lessons. I like the expression that comes from NLP (Neurolistic Programing) "there is no failure, only feedback." There's always something to learn. Any effort that results in learning is not a complete failure. So it's up to us. While we would never choose to fail at anything (oh horrors!) sometimes we will. Whether we learn or not is completely up to us. Find the learning. Find the success. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

"The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen." -- Roy Moody How would your work and your life be different if everyone you encountered listened carefully, compassionately, and attentively to each other? It seems so simple, yet it's not. Listening takes focus. Listening takes attention. Listening positively takes curiosity. How curious are you when you listen? Here's what I'm working on: listening without judging. I remember a time when I had an answer to every question, an opinion to every view, and something to say in any situation. I wasn't wise enough to know that smart wasn't always enough. We need to listen. Listening is a gift as profound as any you might give today. Who will you give that free yet awesome gift? -- Doug Smith

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." -- Vincent Van Gogh A big project can seem overwhelming. Our aspirations can seem too big. Our expectations are frequently recalibrate by what seems like a tough reality. Instead of looking at the big, big, too-big-to-achieve goal, what if we looked at what David Allen calls "the next actionable step"? What if we, as Brian Tracy advised, "chunk it down"? Do one thing. Do the next thing. And keep going. I find it useful to project from when I need to finish something and then spread the little tasks out on a plan to accomplish the big thing. The Big Thing is just a series of little things. And little things don't scare me a bit. How about you? -- Doug Smith

Are you struggling to solve a problem? Does it seem evasive, difficult, unsolvable? Start with a goal. Determine what you want in a situation, rather than focusing on the pain you feel. What do you want? What's your goal? There are thousands of ways to reach a goal. Reach that goal and your problem will have melted away. Yes, we do need to solve problems. It's a key role of a true leader. Sometimes we solve them best by achieving our goals. Got a tough problem? That problem's solution starts with a goal. What's your goal? -- Doug Smith

What is the typical reaction to courage? Often, people respond to true courage with resistance. They push back. They run away. They refuse to change. That should not surprise us. We should expect it. I've worked on projects where the biggest part of the goal achievement involved working through the resistance. People didn't want to change software. People didn't want to print less. People didn't want to move from Chicago to Trevose, PA. But in each case the change was inevitable, and embracing that change was necessary. For those of us driving those projects, we had to maintain our courage and conviction even when people were unhappy and rebellious. Courage is more often resisted than appreciated. You won't always get an award. In fact, you will seldom get an award for your courage. But, your courage is still required. Of course it's not easy. It wouldn't take courage if it was. How courageous are you prepared to be to achieve your goals? -- Do

Have you seen the movie "Yes Man"? The premise is that the main character goes to a seminar where he learns to say yes. To everything. Yes to fun. Yes to adventure. Yes to romance. It gets him delightful surprises, and it gets him into trouble. There are real risks in saying yes to everything. Somethings need a solid, firm, NO. I do like how the movie points out that we are open to many more possibilities when we do say yes. So often we say no much too quickly. So often our reluctance and our fear get in the way. We have a better chance of achieving our goals and solving our problems when we get into the habit of saying yes to possibilities. When we figure out a larger list of choices, we dramatically improve our ability to succeed. Letting more creativity into our life by acting more creative requires yes, yes, and more yes. Creativity means saying yes to possibilities. How's your yes today? -- Doug Smith

How do you feel about your goals? If they are big, noble, ambitious, and fun you probably feel good about them. If they are small, inconsequential, and discordant with your mission or values, you might not feel so great about them. We get to choose. Our feelings will tell us all about our goals and their importance. When we feel unhappy with our goals, it's not our feelings that are out of whack - it's our goals. Our goals should make us feel good about ourselves. Our goals should tell us that we are working on important things and making a positive difference. Our goals should show us that we are growing. Our goals should bring a smile to our faces. Maybe not all of your goals will set the world aglow or keep you grinning. But, shouldn't some of them? -- Doug Smith

Do you get a lingering sense of emptiness from an unachieved goal? When the goal is important, I really need to achieve it. Otherwise, there's a nagging sense of the incomplete. It tugs, it pulls, it drags me down. Why set a goal if not to achieve it? A goal unachieved leaves an empty spot to fill. Fill that spot. Achieve that goal. Then move on to the next noble and exciting goal. Not happening? Maybe the problem is in the design of your plan. When our goal is compelling we need a plan carefully designed to get done what needs to get done to achieve that goal. Design that plan, then work it. Act relentlessly on your plan, and your goal is yours to achieve. What lingering goal needs your attention? Maybe it's the plan. -- Doug Smith

Some things that annoy us the most grow us the most. I never asked for some of my biggest lessons. I probably didn't ask for any of them. They hurt. They bruised. They provoked anxiety. They made me sweat. But I learned. I learned that people need lots of attention. That sending an email isn't enough. That a handshake (and even a kiss) doesn't mean that a deal won't ever be broken. That broken promises (especially when a kiss IS involved) are the hardest lessons to take. We go on. We strive forward. We learn. We forgive. I am annoyed by big lessons. My ex-wife once gave me a little present that was a miniature traffic cone with the words "Oh no, not another learning opportunity!" on it. That about sums it up: not right now please, I'd rather not get that lesson. We don't always get to pick the timing, but we do get to decide whether or not we learn from those things that annoy us. Things like the team member who isn't finishing the importa

Creative performance keeps the performer AND the performance fresh and fascinating. Stay creative! -- Doug Smith

What have you done lately to encourage someone else' creativity? Is that up to you? Maybe. What if there were someone in your life who was stuck and needed just enough encouragement to get creative enough to become unstuck? I'm sure that person exists. Someone, somewhere, needs just a little nudge from you to be more creative. Maybe it's seeing you draw. Maybe it's hearing about a creative project you're working on. Maybe you could sing together. Supporting someone else's creativity will boost your own. When we share creatively, our creativity grows. And that's a wonderful thing. Who do you know who needs some positive feedback on staying creative? Why not elevate their day? -- Doug Smith

Do you think about creativity everyday? When we think about creativity everyday it spurs us into action, it develops a sense of wonder, it prods us into moving out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. We can even reach a state that is so creative we forget that we're thinking about being creative, we simply create. New things, better things, wonderful things. Better leadership, better communication, better problem solving. Better living. Stay creative and you won't ever regret it. It makes us brighter, makes us smarter, makes us more alive. What are you doing to develop your creativity today? -- Doug Smith

What have you do creative today? Did you try a new breakfast? Did you draw something wild and beautiful? Did you write in your journal? Creativity thrives when we practice our creativity. We must stay busy in our creative world to keep our creative edge sharp. Any musician knows this. Any writer knows that when we write everyday we stand a much better chance of creating something remarkable. There is no substitute for practice. Your creative muse expects you to practice every day. Inspiration must be fed. Inspiration must be nurtured. Do you want to do amazingly creative things? Then do something creative every day. What's your next creative step today? -- Doug Smith

Are you looking for more balance in your life? I facilitate some workshops that include people who are desperately looking for ways to balance their work and their life. Sometimes they are looking for a magic wand, and that's not available. There are ways to find this balance. There are things that each of us can do to keep our focus. One essential ingredient is to keep in touch with our creative center. Our creative center is that part of us that simply knows when we need to move from the ordinary and find creative ways to move forward. Our creative center stores up our creative experiences and makes them available when they are needed (and, they are needed often!) Our creative center is that place where we can balance our flexibility with our urgency in order to see more possibilities. Anxiety, worry, and tension are often generated by the failure to see more possibilities.  But we do have the tools to overcome that - the creativity that we develop can supply the focus an

photo of Rusty by Judi Madigan How curious are you? In my workshops on communication and achieving your goals I point out how important it is to listen with curiosity. We are most attentive when we are most curious. Instead of jumping to conclusions or judging before it's necessary, high performance leaders center their listening around staying curious. How do you do that? One way is by asking relevant questions. One of my mentors, Lester T. Shapiro (who wrote the book The Training Effectiveness Handbook ) once said that the primary role of leaders is to ask relevant questions. Here are some questions that I've found extremely relevant and that help me to remain curious: What is your case? We are always building a case and not always aware of the case that we're building or why. It might not even serve our best interests, and yet we can talk ourselves into anything. Stay curious about what you really want, what you think you want and (most importantly) is w

Send your inner judge out for milk and cookies.  Is your inner judge constantly working? Do you hear your inner critic finding fault with things? We need to be able to analyze. It's useful to be able to differentiate, evaluate, and decide. But, our inner judge is such a strong voice that it sometimes drowns out everything else. When that happens, nothing looks right. When that happens, our creativity suffers. Your creative muse is not in love with your inner judge. Your creative muse would like a break, now and then, from an endless stream of criticism. Some ideas are going to be wild. Some musings will be suspicious in usefulness. Some creations might fall apart eventually. But they all need time to percolate, time to brew, time to stew, and time to form legs enough of their own to survive the inner critic in us. So give your creativity a break from your inner judge. Your ideas will thank you for it. -- Doug Smith

How energized is the team that is working on your biggest goal? No team? What will it take to interest others in your goal? Isn't it worth the time, the effort, the energy to get as many people involved as it will take to achieve your biggest and most noble goal? It starts with focus. Keeping your focus on that wonderful outcome. Identifying your true mission. Aligning your efforts with all of your work. Give people focus, and the energy to drive that focus appears. A brilliant idea is irresistible. Let people know your brilliant ideas. We create energy with our focus.  And energizing your team is a critical part of achieving your goals. -- Doug Smith

You know the feeling: you have a brilliant idea! It's the answer to a problem that you've been working on. Or, it's a new way to develop or deliver your product or service. It could even be a new work of art, from your hands to the world. If. If you could only remember it. Here's why I do to remember ideas: I carry paper and pen everywhere. My journal is always nearby. The material on its pages may not always be coherent, but the ideas are there. My morning pages may spill oodles of angst and anger, but the ideas have a place to go. It can still be a hunt to find that idea I remember having a year ago, but it's there. Write it down. Capture it. Take a picture. Draw a diagram. Keep your brain working on your genius of an idea, and help it remember by leaving a map. The creative ideas that have been forgotten are enough to keep us busy for years to come, reinventing. It takes a lot of great ideas to achieve our goals. Let's make sure we build a supply.

I hate hidden agendas. When people have motives that they do not reveal it is the worst kind of lie. That's why I appreciate the truth so much. We can't all, and can't always, handle radical truth. We need a little filtering to keep from walking around with bruised feelings all of the time. We can handle truth delivered with respect. We can handle truth that is useful. And, we can certainly handle the truth about our goals. What do you want? What's your biggest goal? Once we start sharing that level of truth we can genuinely help each other the most. Being honest about our goals is necessary to tell the truth. What do you want, how do you define the success of what you want, and when do you want it. Action word + result you want + time.  That's what I call ART goals and the best way to get the most out of them is to be upfront and honest. Once we know what we want, we can intelligently decide whether to agree or not. Anything less is pretending. Go for

Have you ever had to push a stalled car? When it's not moving, it takes a big push to get it going. Unless you're headed downhill. If you're going to stall, stall headed downhill. Stall only when you're already headed for the finish line. Of course we don't get to pick when our goals will stall. They surprise us. Barriers appear we'd never expected. But we can plan for that. We can support our big goals with a series of smaller goals that keep our momentum going, our team energized, and our plans on track. That big goal might need a few little goals to get your creativity going. Give your big goals all they help they need. Break them into little goals and watch your progress add up. Climb that mountain, but get headed downhill to the finish line as soon as you can -- support your big goals with little goals that matter. -- Doug Smith

How much attention are you giving your team? One of the toughest lessons I learned when I was a beginning supervisor was to give my people enough attention. The struggling performers need attention. The superstars need challenges and support. Everyone on the team needed something, even when (especially when) they didn't make those needs clear. High performance leaders find ways to give each team member the attention needed. Attention is useful. Attention is immediate. Attention is critical. Attention is the sincerest form of energizing your people.  Energize your team. Give them the attention that they need. What's the best and easiest way to do that? Talk about it. Initiate conversations with each team member. Take the talking just a little deeper than usual. Talk about what matters. Ask how they feel. Listen to their hopes, their goals, their motivations. That kind of attention is pure magic. -- Doug Smith

Do you want to bring more creativity to your problem solving? I would guess that the answer is "of course!" More creativity leads to better solutions. Oh, yes and it's more fun. Can problem solving be fun? Absolutely, but only if you bring enough creativity into the process to get past the aggravation and move forward to the fun. Creative problem solving requires creative practice. Find ways to sharpen your creativity. Find ways off line. Go for a walk. Visit a museum. Draw a picture. Make up a joke (that's harder than it might seem). Create! This is your coaches prodding, working on you in this moment: go create something! Practice your creativity the way a great pianist practices their art and craft of playing the piano. You've got you keep your fingers on the keys. Go! -- Doug Smith

Big goals take strength. Ambitious goals take courage. Any goal worth anyone's attention will meet with resistance. Work thru that resistance. Stay the course. Stay patient even when other people, broken processes, and stupid events get in your way. It's not the end of your goal, it's just a moment in a test of your will. Are you certain about your goal? Is it important to you? Is it noble, worthy, and helpful? Then see it thru. When the goal is strong enough, your patience is long enough. See it thru. -- Doug Smith

Have you noticed how much your performance depends on your focus? Whenever I am clear about my focus, and steady in my attention, my performance improves. It can reach the level of flow, where I'm no longer even aware of time passing or skill execution -- but that only comes after mindfully keeping my focus on the here and now, on what I'm doing. How about you? When you start with your focus, do you achieve better results? Are you goals easier to achieve? Even when our mission is clear, we need to keep our focus on identifying that mission and bringing our actions to the front of achieving our goals in service of that mission. Your performance starts with your focus. Do you want to improve your performance? Improve your focus. What's your focus for today? -- Doug Smith

How much does your biggest goal matter? What are you willing to do in order to achieve that goal? Big goals require commitment. Big goals can even require sacrifice. In the famous line from "The Untouchables" Sean Connery as Jim Malone said "what are you prepared to do?" What are your limits? Are you all in or partially committe I'm not advocating the kind of all in personal life sacrifice that Malone was requiring, but it is a question worth asking around our goals. What are you prepared to do? Work overtime? Ask for help? A goal doesn't much matter unless you're willing to pay a price. What price are you willing to pay? -- Doug Smith

Does your mission inspire you? Do you move quickly on your goals in order to get closer to fulfilling your mission? A mission must be inspiring or it's not much of a mission. If your mission doesn't give you energy, maybe it's not your mission. It could be someone else's energy (if they're inspired by it) but it's not yours unless it drive you forward. Rewrite it. Review it. Redo it. Your mission is there for a reason: to guide you to success and happiness. Identify your real mission and run with it full speed ahead. Create a better world. Achieve your most noble goals. Walk a life of happiness: grab a mission with energy and live it for all you're worth. -- Doug Smith

Do you work better when you feel good about yourself? Of course! At least, I do. When I'm strong, confident, and prepared my work is much better. It builds my self-esteem and helps me solve problems and achieve my goals. But, it's up to me to find that self-esteem. It's up to me to build that confidence. No one else can give it to me and my work doesn't care. Have you noticed that your work doesn't care about how you feel about yourself? Your work is your work. Your problem doesn't care about your self-esteem. Your problem just needs to be solved. Will it? It depends on what you bring to your problem. Do you want to bring a great sense of self-esteem? That's up to you. Think about your previous successes. Think about problems you've solved before. Draw on your own clarity of purpose, creativity of design, courage of action, and compassion for others and then realize what a cool person that makes you. Yeah, you. Self-esteem is up to you --

How extreme is your creativity? It can be hard to be a little creative. Once the creativity flows we tend to let it fly - full tilt, unhindered, unmasked, extreme. That can cause problems. Still we must remain creative. To achieve our goals, to solve our problems, we must remain creative. Extreme creativity is often misunderstood. "Why did you paint it THAT color?" "What on earth were you thinking?" "Did you know that would happen?" We can create something so new that people do not understand it. We can also create something that is distinctive yet flawed. I have at times created something that I loved so much that I failed to see its flaws. That's one reason I advocate collaborating in our creativity. Get help. Build a team. Work together. Our strengths left unchecked turn into weaknesses. Working creatively with other people frees us up while holding us up as well. We might need help seeing boundaries that are there for a reason. C

We're either developing ourselves or falling behind. What will you do to develop yourself today? -- Doug Smith

Calling something "common sense" doesn't mean that you don't need it. We're never finished learning. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Who wants frustration? Not me. You? Didn't think so. We get frustrated when our needs aren't meant or our expectations are denied. That stinks. People misbehave under frustration. People break things under frustration, like promises and lamps. It's a mess. Don't give in to frustration. Instead, keep it at bay. Keep frustration away. Achieving your goals eliminates frustration. What's the next step on your biggest goal? -- Doug Smith

If it feels like you have too many goals, you probably do. Focus on your mission. -- Doug Smith

Goals are deep responsibilities so choose them carefully. Then go! -- Doug Smith

Whose turn is it to call? Is there someone in your life who is important to you, but who you haven't talked to for a while? Who called who last? It doesn't matter. It's not a score keeping call. Make the call. My closest friend in the world reminded me today that the phone goes both ways. We talk a lot on the phone, and she was wondering when the last time was that I called my son. Too long if it wasn't today. So I called him. And he's fine. And the next time I'm asked when was the last time I've talked to him, the answer will be easy to come up with. Don't wait. Make the call. You'll be glad that you did. Doug Smith

Are you a fan of your inner judge? We all have an inner judge (sometimes called inner critic) who wants to assess everything. To the inner judge, nothing is ever perfect. To the inner judge, there is always fault to find. How annoying. We grow up with this inner judge and let the judge drive us when we're not paying attention. When we lack focus on what is truly most important our inner judge tries to decide for us, and usually makes poor decisions. As Don Miguel Ruiz has said, "our inner judge lies." Judging a creative idea too soon is not fair to you or to the idea. You'll have time to judge. You'll have time to decide. But imagine how many more possibilities you'll have to work with if you first choose to stay curious. I promise to work on that every day from now on. How about you? -- Doug Smith

How are people doing at meeting your expectations on your goals? Once people know my expectations, they do a much better job at meeting them. I've learned not to make anyone into a mind reader, because no one is any good at that. Setting expectations is critical. Communicating those expectations is necessary. Acting on those expectations sets the important example for others to follow. The world responds to action more than expectations. Actions make your intent undeniable. Actions show your resolve. Actions get things done. Action propel others into actions. Act relentlessly on your plan, and your plan will achieve your goals. --  Doug Smith

Have you faced many challenges in continuing on your goals lately? I get challenges every day. Things that should be routine go sideways. People need attention. Processes break. Weather happens. It can all add up to what looks like an insurmountable wall, but it's not. Chip away. Work your plan. Even steel walls have cracks in them. The world makes it all too easy to let go of your goals. You've got to work to keep your goals working. Set a solid plan and work it. Focus. Accomplish something on your biggest goal everyday. It's up to you to act relentlessly on your plan. And relentless is needed, because go you can go slow or you can go fast but half-fast will never do. -- Doug Smith

Do you have at least one big goal that is stretching your comfort zone? If you do, good for you. We grow, we learn, we stretch or otherwise we fall behind. Sometimes working on a big goal tests us beyond anything we've endured before. Each time that I've set a goal of relocating (because, after all, moving is so much fun!) I have felt myself pushed to the limits to get all the details right and to move gracefully. Sometimes things get broken. It's reasonable to expect achieving your goals to feel uncomfortable at times as you stretch your boundaries. You might not choose the discomfort, but you have chosen the goal. See it thru. Don't experience the rough spots without the payoff. Set a solid, organized plan and then act relentlessly on your plan to achieve your goal. And then, the price of discomfort will seem very small indeed. -- Doug Smith

How bold is your creative challenge? Do you challenge yourself creatively, to do more, innovate more, surprise more, invent more? When we challenge ourselves first it makes it easier, and more credible, to challenge others. We all need more creative challenge. The world needs our creativity to fix its problems, change its sad story, bring peaceful relationships out and harmonize with more beauty and love. Does that sound too mushy? What world would you create? What would you like to see more of in the world? Create boldly. Challenge boldly. And, do it with peace and love. That's a tall order AND we can do it. It involves choices. Breathe before that next choice and choose peace and love. It's possible. Bold creativity challenges people without harming them. We can stretch. We must grow. Creativity keeps it all going. -- Doug Smith

"You do not merely want to be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do." Was it... A. Jerry Garcia B. Eric Clapton C. Pat Metheny Jerry Garcia said it.

How many strings are on a 12-string guitar? No, it's not a trick question, but if you're in my house on the right day, the answer could be eleven. That's not the right answer, but it is the true answer. Why? It's not intentional. The strings come in various gauges, simplified on the container as Light, Medium, and Extra Light (an interesting logic of its own) and the mediums are hard to find. Using light gauge strings on a 12-string guitar means that the thinnest string is so thin (.08 cm) that it's very easily broken. Sometimes, I can break a string while I'm tuning it, that's how easy they are to break. When that happens, it's eleven-string time until the next trip to the music store. If you don't tell anyone, an eleven-string guitar could go undetected for weeks (I've done it). The sound is pretty much the same and the strings are so close together to begin with that you'd need to really get close to see the gap. It's not ide

What limits your creativity? We could come up with lots of answers here. You might call them excuses. There's really only one thing that limits our creativity: ourselves. You are more or less as creative as you decide to be. No one can stop you. Nothing can stand in your way. You can use your creativity to overcome any barriers TO your creativity. You are your only limitation. I am my only limitation to creativity. Let's not stand in our way! -- Doug Smith

Have you ever realized that a problem was a problem long after it started being a problem? It's easy to get used to some things. They could be minor changes. It might just slow you down. It's that construction zone on the way home that's been taking so long that you've gotten used to it and the extra five minutes it takes to arrive home. But it's there. We can't solve every problem. There's not much you can do about that construction zone. But, many of the problems we encounter can and should be solved. Especially when the problem gets in the way of achieving a goal. It may not be a problem until it gets in the way of your goal. Once it DOES get in the way of a goal, find a way thru it, find a way to get to it, find a way to solve that problem. Because you DO want to achieve that goal, don't you? -- Doug Smith