Take a second to participate in this project- you’ll be glad you did!  The tinyGIGANTIC blog shows us how to have fun with the five and a half project:

The project is called The Postcard Says. This super simple, easy cheesy project will make you feel great. C’mon- feel great!

According to tinyGigantic:
E-mail us@fiveandahalf.netwith “postcard please” in the subject header

and your mailing address in the message.

In a week or two, you’ll find a postcard from us in your mailbox, with a fun little task to do. When you’re done (and this is all we ask of you), take a photo of your completed activity and e-mail it back to us so we can post it online (anonymously if you wish).

What do we hope you’ll get from this? A cool postcard, a laugh when you see the task we thought up for you, and the act of doing a not-so-ordinary task that gets your mind thinking in a different way.

Let us know in the comments that you’re participating- you know I am!

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photo credit: tsallam

Inspired by Slideshare’s World’s Best Presentation Contest winner “Meet Henry,”  I’ve decided to give you a glimpse into who I am.

Click here to view “Meet Lani”

I would be most interested in seeing next “Meet April,” “Meet Liz,” “Meet Terry,” “Meet Jay” and “Meet Vicki.”

I don’t usually read email forwards, but this one from my friend Megan Dyson was short enough to skim.  It caught my attention and I read it two, three, then four times.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, what a blessing!

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups – porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite — telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: “Notice that all the nice looking expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you’re drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly… and enjoy your hot chocolate.

How will YOU enjoy the hot chocolate?

As our oldest approaches his 17th birthday, we have to cross our fingers and hope we’ve taught him about money, business, faith, integrity, etc. well. Our other kiddo is only 10, so we still have time to teach her the fundamentals.

In addition to Lifehacker’s great find on educating your children about business, I would like to share with you some of the theories we’ve taught our children:

1. The quarter rule. All income is split four ways- (1) charity (2) savings (3) needs (4) wants. Our oldest only understands the fourth income hole while our youngest only understands the first and second. No child or parent is perfect!

2. It’s not just hard work that gets you ahead. It’s also networking, learning integrity, being empathetic, generous and sincere. But, mainly networking.

3.It was never yours to begin with. We’ve taught our children to be charitable with time and money because God gave you that time and money. Be smart, but never forget what’s really important.

4. Take risks. In business, if you always follow and never innovate, you’ll always have a boss. Be creative, have hope and never be satisfied (meaning always know that you can do better and better).

5. Don’t be scared to ask. If you don’t ask for help, ask for a mentor, ask for an iPod for Christmas, but most importantly for help, you will never know what you don’t know (to steal a line from Jeff that he surely “borrowed” from someone smarter than both of us combined).

In addition to the 14 games Lifehacker shared with us to teach the kids about business, how do you teach your children about business?

I need your help!  A Realtor posted a simple black and white viral marketing video this morning.  I uploaded it to a site I write for.  Now, it has stirred controversy.

Since many of you guys aren’t related to the real estate industry, I would love love love if you would head over to Agent Genius and take a minute to get caught up.  Then, I would really love love love if you would opine in the comments there.   So far, it’s all Realtors yarping over the affects of the viral marketing video and we could all use your insight!

I’m not in the “Power Level” of influence in the industry in Mark Cuban’s eyes- he must not know who I am.  I’m just not sure what to think about being fired from Mark Cuban’s Facebook Friends list… I might just buy into O’Reilley’s Cuban bashing!

On the other hand, I took a page from Cuban and peeked at my FB friends list.  I decided I need to delete some contacts I don’t know (and can’t name their city or profession) and add some new *more useful* contacts for networking.  Consider THIS your invitation to be my friend (I already like you if you’re reading Beautiful Chaos!).  If you’re not on Facebook yet, get going- there is great business success in disarming your audience!