What is the Helping People UP blog?

“The Helping People UP blog will be an “Irregular Dose of Humor and Common Sense Stuff”.  It will focus on the common sense things that make life great. Having great marriage and business relationships.  Building great marriages and thriving, spectacularly profitable businesses. Learning to help others constantly and why it is so vital to having a great life.   It will be entertaining and it will make you think.  Stop by often, as together we attempt to do our part to change the world, one common sense blog comment at a time.

Help someone up today!

Rodney www.HelpingPeopleUP.com

The Good Old Black and White Days

Black and White TV?
(Under age 40? You won’t understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
“Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.”

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs
and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no
bleach, but we didn’t seem to get food
poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on
the counter AND I used to eat it raw
sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches
were wrapped in wax paper in a brown
paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I
can’t remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone
swimming in the lake instead of a
pristine pool (talk about boring), no
beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have
conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a
pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE .. and risked
permanent injury with a pair of high top
Ked’s (only worn in gym) instead of
having cross-training athletic shoes with
air cushion soles and built in light
reflectors. I can’t recall any injuries but
they must have happened because they
tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option even for
stupid kids! I guess PE must be much
harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers
and sang the national anthem, and
staying in detention after school caught
all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged
psyches. What an archaic health system
we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to
accomplish something before I was
allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can’t recall how bored we were
without computers, Play Station,
Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV
cable stations.

Oh yeah .. and where was the Benadryl
and sterilization kit when I got that bee
sting? I could have been killed!

We played ‘king of the hill’ on piles of
gravel left on vacant construction sites,
and when we got hurt, Mom pulled ou t
the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome
(kids liked it better because it didn’t
sting like iodine did) and then we got
our butt spanked.

Now it’s a trip to the emergency room,
followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle
of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the
attorney to sue the contractor for
leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel
where it was such a threat.

We didn’t act up at the neighbor’s house
either because if we did, we got our butt
spanked there and then we got butt
spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door
coming over and doing his tricks on the
front stoop, just before he fell off. Little
did his Mom know that she could have
owned our house. Instead, she picked
him up and swatted him for being such a
goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew
had ever been told that they were from a
dysfunctional family. How could we
possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and
anger management classes? We were
obviously so duped by so many societal
ills that we didn’t even notice that the
entire country wasn’t taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED
THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN’T;
SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I
WOULDN’T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.

– Exact Author Unknown

Financial Christmas Tips: Don’t Make These Mistakes

Christmas is the time to loosen up the purse strings and give, give, give.  Right?

We’ll it might be the time for giving, but I believe if we look at the root of Christmas, it is not about giving “stuff”.  It is about giving of yourself to help others.  It is about giving yourself to your family so that everyone can share in the Lord’s birthday party.

Unfortunately our society has turned Christmas into the time when everyone seems to lose track of the true meaning and ends up deeper in debt than they were before Christmas.

Just thought I’d share these super tips with you from the great financial coach, Dave Ramsey.  Put them to use and your Christmas season and the post holiday season will be happy.  Enjoy

Dave Ramsey’s Ten Christmas Spending Tips

Help Someone UP Today!

Rodney

Book Review: Achievement IQ Moments

I recently had the pleasure of reading the advance reading copy of Stanley Bronstein’s latest success inspiring book.

Achievement IQ Moments: 50 Extraordinary Stories About People Who Transformed Vision, Attraction, Readiness, and Action Into Massive Success.

As many of you know, one of my alltime favorites sayings is “Experience is the best teacher…especially if it is someone else’s experience.”

Stanley F. Bronstein uses his latest book in the Achievement IQ series to give you the experiences of 50 high achieving individuals.

Each of the 50 chapters introduces you to a new person who at some point in their life has that light bulb shining moment where they make a decision that propels them to great success.  Mr. Bronstein appropriately refers to these as AIQ moments.

Some of his subjects have overcome great odds in order to build their lives, while others will show you how the pure power of a vision will help you succeed.

In each of Bronstein’s  interviews, he not only shares the individual’s inspirational story, but he also shares their personal advice for success as well as their contact information and websites.

If you believe, like me, in keeping yourself in an environment of success, then this is a great way to meet and surround yourself with, and learn from, new motivational people.

If you are looking for an easy, yet success-environment impacting read, then Achievement IQ Moments is for you.

Law of Attraction? Nope, Just Helping People The Way You Should

Call it the Law of Attraction.  Call it the Law of Reciprocation.

Call it what you want.  I simply call it God’s blessing.

It is that “magic” thing that happens when you take your eyes off of yourself and put them on others.

Helping others is one of the key foundations to building a great life.
It is not a matter of keeping score (I helped two people today therefore I should be rewarded twice tomorrow).

It is a matter of putting your heart out there and helping people in all kinds of situations without thinking about how it will affect you. That is when the blessings flow your way.

One of the best examples of helping without thinking is our volunteer firemen. These are people who answer the bell on a daily basis and never think twice about running into a burning house to save a life.

These are people who just help. They don’t think about the consequences or the rewards. They just help. They live their lives being a blessing to others.

That mentality can be applied to many everyday situations.

It might be the young mother with a grocery cart full of food and a child in each arm, trying to make it to her car in the parking lot. How easy is it to take a few seconds and give her a hand.

It might be anonymously giving a bit of money to someone who seems to be struggling. Don’t expect them to repay you. Don’t expect to gain anything from your kind act. But trust me you will benefit. Just in ways you probably will not even realize.

How about buying breakfast or lunch for someone you don’t even know.
Sounds a little weird doesn’t it. It will feel a bit out of your comfort zone, but try this sometime. The next time you are in a restaurant and see someone sitting at a counter who looks a bit rough around the edges, when you are finished with your meal, slip your waitress some money to anonymously pay for their meal. THEN LEAVE. Don’t wait for them to find out or acknowledge your act.

Just go about your day with the newfound warm feeling that automatically comes when you help someone else in such a manner.

I could make this into a very long article, actually I could do a book on helping ideas. It is so easy once you get going.

If you have a minute, please leave me a comment and tell me your helping story or idea. I hope to compile a bunch of “how people help people” ideas for publishing down the road.

Help Someone Up Today

Drinking Water Secrets Revealed

Many of us already know that our bodies are made up of over 70% water and many of us already know that our brains (with some exceptions who you probably can name) are made up of almost 90% water.

Water hydrates our muscles, regulates our body temperature, promotes good kidney function, promotes good brain function, and much, much more. So it would seem to be good common sense that we should try to know a little more about the water we drink. But, most of us probably don’t bother.

Most of us have heard that bottled drinking water has now surpassed, milk, tea and yes my friends, even beer as the beverage of choice. Only soft drinks remain ahead of bottled water.

So what I want to share with you today is this — not all bottled water is the same. As a matter of fact, far from it.

Diligent research (ok, I used Google) uncovered over 670 current brands of bottled water in the world. And a recent ABC News report found a huge variation in water quality.

The gamut ranged from some bottlers merely filling their bottles with tap water, all the way up to the “about to be launched” Perfect Empowered Drinking Water which is purified 15 times, then remineralized, ionized, microstructured and pumped full of oxygen using a proprietary process (that means they wouldn’t tell me how they do it) called Molecular Bound Oxygen or MBO for short. The word is, this water will give you better strength, better balance and better flexibility and oh yes, they say it tastes really good too.

I’m curiously waiting for the launch to try it myself. I’ll keep you up-to-date here at the blog or you can leave your email here to get automatic notification when it is launched.

The lesson today is, if water is such an important part of our healthy bodies, let’s make sure we know what we are drinking and what is in our water. Read some labels, do some research and make sure you are fueling your body properly.

Drink up and here’s to a long, healthy life.

Help Someone Up Today!

The Power of Simple Acts of Service

Sometimes we spend a lot of time trying to come up with a great customer promotion or advertising campaign. Sometimes the best way to the biggest impact is the simplest.

Authors Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz have come up with the greatest example I have ever seen. This short movie shows the impact that a sincere, simple act of service can have.

Have a look and enjoy!

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Bring Back My Old Drug Problems

This one has been around the internet a few times, but thanks Heather G for bringing it back again. It is a great message.The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a
Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question.

“Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”

I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.

I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.

I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad’s field.

I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for
this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, would be a better place.

God bless the parents who drugged us. Amen to that!!

A GOOD Example of BAD Customer Service

In today’s world of email, instant messaging and online blogs, one unhappy customer can be devastating.

How many times have you had the need to call your cell phone company or cable television company or any other service oriented company, only to make contact with a “customer service” (I use this term loosely) rep who gives you just the opposite of good customer service. The link below is to a story from a marketing friend of mine, Joel Comm. It is about a recent encounter he had with a lack of common sense in the customer service department. Click here to read Joel’s customer service nightmare

Hopefully this story will help you with some of your future airline planning and be an inspiration to you in the way you and your company take care of your number one priority.
If you have had a similar experience in any industry, please help our readers by clicking on the comment link and posting it below.

Help Someone UP Today!

Rodney

Attitude is Everything in 2008

If you have heard the following story before, then forgive me. It had such a positive impact on me the first time I heard it, that I now traditionally send it to all my friends on the first day of each new year. I hope it helps everyone get the attitude right and ready for a super 2008.  If you are not on my email list for my regular weekly motivational quotes and success stories, feel free to sign up for them at www.RodneyGrubbs.com .  Please read this with my hopes and prayers for your good health, success and prosperity in the new year. Rodney www.HelpingPeopleUP.com ————————————————————————— Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” He was a natural motivator. On a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Mike, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,”Michael said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.” I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Towe Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,” Michael replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.” Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Michael continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read he’s a dead man.” “I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked. “Well there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. “Yes, I replied.” The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity.” Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.” Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. And in life, attitude is everything!