“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”
Spring
April 2019
“You’ve been tested a lot recently. Try to temper your self-criticism with a softer and more gracious attitude toward yourself.”
4/5/19. The Holiday Tau for Steve Zahn, Henry Winkler, Emma the Baroness and Me has been so lackluster lately — as I pointed out last week — that at first I only included ours giving it a low score.
I could have easily skipped it again until I re-read the last line and “long-term” caught my imagination. Taxes. Filing taxes to be more exact.
“2” Steve Zahn, 51: “There will be small ups and downs. Stay cool. It’s the long-term that matters.” Scorpio
Up until this tax year I’d been practicing a year’s old strategy of minimizing the amount we’d have to pay while salting away as much as was allowed for retirement sometime in the future.
With good fortune my 401K and IRA contributions grew. I could predict my income, but the wild card — which I’m too fortunate to complain about — was finding out how much we earned from our Schwab and Edward Jones accounts almost after the deadline they were supposed to honor.
Filing 2018 Federal and State income taxes surprised me again, the small ups and downs I suppose. So we stayed cool realizing we fit in extra vacation time I had banked at the University to enjoy on our anniversary trip to Italy.
Random ones that make me want change my sign.
Was I tested? I guess you could say I felt angry during the last twelve months working in what I call a Systematic-Professional, Organization Type — a university.
“3” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “You’ve been tested a lot recently. Try to temper your self-criticism with a softer and more gracious attitude toward yourself.” Aries
What started as a long-term consulting assignment defining and building out a curriculum for Executive MBA students — which I did beginning with the Great Recession and ending 6 months ago — had been my baby.
I enjoyed the autonomy and the sand box to field test a new, more effective advisory service and mentoring program based on my work with C-Level leaders. Then as all things must come to an end, a new boss took over with a management style that brought out the worst in me.
The darkness lifted and over the past 6 months I’ve found time I couldn’t spend before for creating digital magazines, re-structuring my 6 blogs by 
building websites “around” them and defining a process for self-publishing an up and coming 5-book series.
Am I flying blind, you bet. So thank you three Steves for allowing me to swipe your Holiday Tau.
“4” Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’re getting excited about something new, and you’re not sure how it makes sense for your life. Just trust yourself. Reasons will emerge.”Leo
Scheduling my own time translates into being my own boss who, if truth be told, isn’t always the best example of one. So, yes this one is for me. I should return to earlier times when I forced my self time blocks for meditation.
“4” Steve Aoki, 41: “Modern living can feel relentless. Take a break from the pace and complexity. Stop. Relax. Find peace.” Sagittarius
I have to guess I’m not the only one who becomes frustrated with the challenges of learning newer technologies precisely at the time you expect to pump out results.
I’m my own tech department.
Mastering WordPress nearly did me in. As did the my early experience with Flipboard — the platform for my 37 digital magazines delivered Fresh from the Labs. Literally bottled and set adrift from KnowWhere Atoll.
“4” Steve Nash, 45: “Concentration on the same task over time will yield deep and substantial results.” Aquarius
What have I learned?
Publishing to WordPress felt so overwhelming that I forced my self to just start and work line-by-line until I was satisfied with the result.
Each iteration defined a process which then became an efficient habit.
So, yes and thank you Steve Nash for letting me creatively swipe your Holiday Tau.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate