Halloween is the holiday for me that I have the most fun. One of my fond childhood memories is the Halloween Carnivals that my elementary school would have each year. Cakewalks, Hayrides, haunted houses, games, it was so much fun.

Everyone dressed up in various characters from cartoon to super hero to ghoulish. I think the zombie is the easiest to create. It can be as simple as you like or it can be detailed.

And as far as movies go, Zombie movies are usually my favorite. The main character battles against the droves of mindless dead people to survive. And usually he is faced with overcoming impossible odds.

The main character is trying to survive, looking for other survivors, trying to rescue those that he can, simply trying to survive himself and find the cure to help his fellow mankind.

And all the while the zombies are trying eating his brain, or eating him so he will become, as they are, “ZOMBIES”. He must be careful in their presence because they can sense that he is different, not like them.

I relate this to everyday life. As a leader I’m trying to rescue those that I can from their zombie-like life where everyday is the same, “Alarm Clock, Eat, Commute, Time Clock, Work, Time Clock, Eat, Time Clock, Work, Time Clock, Commute, Eat, Sleep”, change name of day and repeat.

The “zombies”, I mean co-workers, family, friends, who do not think like I do, want me to be like them. They cannot understand the books that I read. They sense the change that I have made in life.

They do not understand why I seek the mentorship of other leaders. They want to eat my brain and fill it with the latest gossip, TV show, or mindless trivia that erodes and stifles my creative thoughts. Sometimes they do not realize the harm; hey it’s what everybody else does.

Resist the Zombies, Fight the Zombies, Battle on and find the others, they are alive. We may not be able to save them all but we can try.

I can see it quite clearly in my head. It was a summer day, I was responding to ad in the newspaper. I had driven about 15 miles from the house see this car that had been advertised.

There she sat in this man's yard, a little Austin Healey. She showed a little it of age, but overall looked pretty good. Over time the neglectful owners have decided to throw their beer cans into the car.

That was such a sad sight for such a majestic car.

Being a convertible she was missing the ragtop, which lent for well for them tossing in their beer cans. There wasn’t any body damage. There wasn’t any rust. It was only missing one chrome wing center cap for the wheels. Other than that it was in perfect condition, well except for the beer cans.

I looked her over fairly well.

The owner said $125 and she's yours.

I was just 18. And although the deal was great I passed on it. But since then I kick myself for not taking up that incredible deal. So essentially this is a story of missed opportunity. One of regret, only $125.

Recently I pulled into the parking lot and a beautiful little Austin Healey was parked right next to me. I shared with this old gentleman my story of the Austin Healey that could have been.

This one instance stands out the most to me, one that I wish I could go back and rectify. I could still be driving along the Colorado mountainside in my little Austin Healey.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but missed opportunities happen to all of us everyday. The kind word not said. The apology not made. Take the extra second to rethink the situation so you are not someday in the future thinking about what could have been.

ac·count·abil·i·ty : the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.

I recently had to confront someone about some actions that they had taken.  And I was in complete awe to the point that I had to shake my head of their inability to see how their actions had resulted in additional costs to the company and additional work hours to other staff.  I was dumbfounded.

The trouble that I was having that this person was of an equal age.  Had this person been younger, then the fatherly mentor part of myself could have stepped forward and tended to the task at hand.  But that was not the situation.  So the mistake on my part was to come at the situation that this person had the same life's knowledge that I had.

I had learned long ago that you "Man Up", take responsibility for the decisions that you make and learn from the right or wrong of those decisions.  That the fault is not in making the wrong decision but in not taking ownership of it.

If you own up to the decisions that you make i.e. Be Accountable, then you are taking steps to learning from the process.

Okay here's the story,  I was 21 and far from home, working as a assistant store manager.  Due to the economy and turn down in available work, my position was phased out.  That was many moons ago, but a familiar story that many are facing today.

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down
Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

Now Mondays on the other hand are another thing. What Mondays mean to me are the end of my weekend. The end getting to see my boys every second and being with the beautiful blonde woman.

The day job takes that precious rest of the week that I'd rather spend with them. So come Monday morning I stomp back off and do what men are supposed to do to take care of their families. Say the yes sir's and no ma'ams till the time clock says I get to return home to my family.

Sometimes I'd like to quit....but I don't.  It's not really what I do, I keep going.

So unfortunately for my family, sometimes Sunday evenings, those feelings start creeping in that I didn't spend enough time with them that weekend. Or that maybe I didn't get to that one project that I wanted to didn't get done.

It's a vicious circle.

But my family does love me, can't get enough me and it's those moments that I do get to share with them that are the times that I truly live for.

Now go enjoy your family, I'm going to go enjoy mine.