In the Vancouver Sun Newspaper Saturday April 28th there was an article that comfirms the research I have done on this generation. More and more Gen X’s who are 28 to 43 and Gen Y’s who are 27 and younger are demanding flexibility in order to do their jobs. An example is a 40 year old technician who when interviewed asked for the flexibility to be able to drop off and pick up his son at daycare. Years ago this would never have been a question we boomers would have asked and in fact the prospective employer would have scoffed at us. The tables have turned and the employees now hold the upper hand in requesting what they need in order to work well with their employer. I was just in Dallas Fort Worth where I delivered a session on generations in the workplace and the majority of business owners and leaders in the audience were boomers. Many boomers are resisting the request for flexibility and work options and it is costing them high performing employees. The whole point is that employers main goal should be to operate as a performance driven workplace and one of the rewards of performance is flexibility. In regards to attraction and retention employees today are expecting flexible work options. I predict that the continued skills shortage will result in more favorable working conditions and it will also push the shared job feature as more and more boomers want quality of life now rather than wait until retirement. With BC legislating no more mandatory retirement at 65 more and more boomers will want to work part-time rather than retire. Business owners need to look at this when planning their work force strategy. Although boomers are resisting the request for flexibility from Gen X and Y we also know it benefits our generation as well because we too want a life.

Okay so many of you saw my post about The Secret a few weeks back. Did you know that there is a story about Jim Carrey who followed the principles of the law of attraction which he had heard about when he was a teenager. He wrote himself a check for a million dollars and carried it in his wallet for years. When he became famous after the movie The Mask and Ace Ventura Pet Detective he found the check and realized he had made his goal of being able to cash the million dollar check.

I purchased a Canadian million dollar bill about ten years ago and have it hanging on my file cabinet in my office. Every time I look at it I remember that making a million dollars is available not only to me but to everyone who wants to create it. So in the spirit of sharing you can purchase your very own million dollar bill in American funds no less since we both know the Canadian one I have is work about $800,000.00.

Go to http://www.millbill.com/ to get your very own million dollar bill to inspire you to create more wealth and prosperity. Once you have the visualization piece you can begin to look for ideas, methods and people who will steer you towards your goal.

When you think about it a million dollars a year works out to $2739.73 dollars a day. What product could you offer or service that would equate to that amount. I am not quite there yet myself but I can tell you I am more open to receiving it now more than ever. I believe the more money I personally attract the more I can give to others, support other businesses, give to my children, give to charity and share it with friends.

Money is not the rooth of evil that is an old wives tale. I personally know many millionaires and they are all hard working, down to earth, real and connected people.

Have you ever noticed that when you need to know how things are going in your life you just need to check in with what’s happening around you?

Last Sunday I was minding my own business at the grocery store and all of a sudden a renegade shopper veered in front of me and was ready to cut me off at the produce stand! I managed to give her eye contact and at the very last moment she decided to let me proceed ahead. It was the battle of two shopping carts. Then under her breath the woman said, “you’re welcome”.

Interesting, faschinating and cause for pondering. I found myself wanting to react and say something to her but I caught myself and instead proceeded on to mind my own business while squeezing the lemons. I did think about this encounter throughout the rest of my shopping and realized that what the shopper was challenging me to do was to simply say, ‘thank-you’.

I am guessing that in her life she rarely gets anyone to give her credit, to make way for her or to simply say ‘thank-you’. Her under the breath comment was really her venting her frustration not at me particularly but at the world in general who just was not responding to her desires.

I found this all very fascinating because I often tell my audiences that someone else’s bad day is rarely about us personally and it usually about other things they have going on. This encounter simply validated this for me and tested me to see how I would react to her projection.

The synergistic part of this encounter was that I had affirmed the day before that I was going to pay more attention for opportunities to be grateful. Well she certainly put an opportunity right in front of me to think about saying ‘thank you’. The reason I didn’t say thank you to her in the moment was because I felt I was in the right of way and no thank you was needed. From her perspective though, she went OUT of her way to make way for me and so I owed her a thank you.

Interesting and fascinating, every day we have small moments to choose how we will behave in our interactions. When I translate this to a leadership lesson it boils down to watching carefully how others behave around us because there are hidden messages in every interaction we have. As a leader if I am having an ‘off’ day and I react to others letting me down I need to look at where I myself might be letting the team down or even myself down.

In my CD and DVD titled, The Illuminated Leader I cover off the importance of being hyper aware of what others are reflecting back to us and then use the reflections to learn and grow.

Bottom line, an unknown grocery store shopper caused me stop and think to say, Thank You.