Chris Carosa, Author at Chris Carosa

5 Reasons You May Be On The Cusp Of Success (And Not Even Know It)

By Chris Carosa on August 11, 2020

Look around you. Now, more than ever, the world teems with constant change.

Some succumb, consumed by the cascading chaos.

Winners smile broadly, delighted by the array of percolating opportunities.

“Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?”

This is the question every budding entrepreneur asks. It is the wrong question.

Imagine

Wouldn’t you benefit more if, before beginning on your entrepreneurial journey, you knew Continue Reading “5 Reasons You May Be On The Cusp Of Success (And Not Even Know It)”

Posted in Business Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Achievement, Agreeableness, Autonomy, axiom, chaos, Constantine I, control, creative, entrepreneur, Extroversion, Julie Bee, locus of control, Neuroticism, openness, opportunity, Ratna Singh, return, risk, risk-taking, Sally Caird, success, winning

In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the (Summer) Evening

By Chris Carosa on August 4, 2020

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It was about thirty years ago that I threw in the towel. After a little more than three decades of roughing it without central air conditioning, I broke down.

I have to admit. There’s something sweet about swimming in the hot muggy midsummer air. Like the reassuring aroma from your mother’s kitchen, you can smell it. Like the snuggling comfort of your favorite blanket, you can feel it. Like the glittering neon signs of the exciting night, you can see it in the twinkling above.

Yes. All the radiating vapor creates waves of transparent turbulence, only visible through Continue Reading “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the (Summer) Evening”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged air conditioning, Ben Franklin, heat, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Jupiter, Rosemary Clooney, Saturn, scintillation, summer

Yes, Your Community Matters, Too

By Chris Carosa on July 28, 2020

If this were a Saturday matinee cartoon, we’ve come to the point where Popeye, upset at his inability to escape from the suffocating arms of the evil bully Bluto (a.k.a., “Brutus” in later versions), exclaims to the cheers of his admiring and sympathetic audience, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”

Yes, we’ve reached our “Popeye Point,” as Karl Albrecht called it in his 2011 article in Psychology Today. Albrecht describes this as the moment when we reach that “primal, visceral, life-changing decision.” Here’s his explanation of the metaphor:

“Popeye (the sailor man) [is] a good-natured, easy-going guy who tries to get through life as peacefully and cheerfully as possible. In the animated cartoon episodes, his emotional fortitude is always being tested by mean, nasty, abusive people around him, some of whom like to whale on him physically. At a certain point in each episode, he Continue Reading “Yes, Your Community Matters, Too”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Andrew Burr, Andrew Cuomo, Bluto, bowling, Brutus, chicken wings, community, coronavirus, Fanatics, Karl Albrecht, Miller Lanes, Olean Times, Popeye, Popeye Point, Psychology Today

‘The Coming Thing…’ Thoughts on Turning 60

By Chris Carosa on July 21, 2020

OK, OK, so I admit it. This is a vanity post. I’ll be writing to you this week (and, it turns out, next week, too) in an unusually personal fashion.

Next week’s column (which was bumped a week for this week’s column) will make more sense. It’s written in a true “drama in real life” fashion. Oh, you needn’t worry. There’s very little real drama in it. But it will hold together in a way the following potpourri of random thoughts won’t.

Don’t mistake me, though. There will be portions of this mishmash very alluring. Some of it may even elicit the thought, “I’m glad someone finally said that.”

And with that, here we go…Continue Reading “‘The Coming Thing…’ Thoughts on Turning 60”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Brian Keith, Brisco County, Bruce Campbell, Catarina, Cesidia, coronavirus, COVID-19, Dean Martin, Evil Dead, Goldfinger, Holy Grail, Honor Blackman, Jr., mom, Peter, Sam Raimi, something big, Star Trek, syndication, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, the coming thing

It Can’t Be Both: It’s Either Science or Marketing

By Chris Carosa on July 14, 2020

This is going to sound like it’s coming out of left field, but it isn’t.

It is somewhat related to this day in history (July 16^th).

No, it’s not that it’s the day after my birthday. It’s the anniversary of the liftoff of Apollo 11. Man’s landing on the moon should be the greatest case study of inspiration, project management, and engineering. It already stands as the greatest achievement in the history of mankind.

Think about the above paragraph as you read this column.

Now, on to the real story.

Again, it’s going to sound like I’m coming out of left field, but don’t give up. Keep reading and the dots will coalesce into a constellation that makes it all clear.Continue Reading “It Can’t Be Both: It’s Either Science or Marketing”

Posted in Business Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Apollo 11, Aristotle, Einstein, Galileo, marketing, Millennial, NASA, Newton, science, stock, Zoom

Yes, I Was Wearing Pants

By Chris Carosa on July 7, 2020

I admit it. I’ve been itching to write this column for more than two months. But other things needed to be said first.

There’s a time to be serious. There’s a time to be funny. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, much like the sudden nature of the coronavirus crisis, everything shut down abruptly. Serious people took over doing serious things. It offered a calming confidence.

Then, one day – one night actually – the time for non-stop seriousness ended. On Saturday night, September 29, 2001, nearly three weeks after the September 11^th terrorist attacks, Reese Witherspoon stepped onto the stage at NBC Studios in New York City’s GE Building for the airing of the season’s first episode of Saturday Night Live.

Only she wasn’t the first one on the stage. In lieu of the standard cold opening, Mayor Rudy Giuliani appears on stage with members of the New York City Fire Department, the New York City Police Department, and the Port Authority Police Department. In a quiet and Continue Reading “Yes, I Was Wearing Pants”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 911, Fox News, Lorne Michaels, New York City, Paul Simon, Reese Witherspoon, Rudy Giuliani, Saturday Night Live, The Boxer, Trace Gallagher

No, Freedom Doesn’t Come In The Mail

By Chris Carosa on June 30, 2020

Do you know the same tactic used by Democrat candidates to oust several long-time Republican Congressmen in 2018 was also used successfully by a North Carolina Republican to win his congressional election that same year?

It’s called “ballot harvesting” or “ballot collecting.” In a nutshell, it allows campaigns to organize staff who then gather mail-in ballots from legitimate voters and submit them on behalf of those voters.

Sounds efficient, right?

It is. Both for the voter and for the campaign.

The voter avoids the long lines on election day. The campaign gets to target constituencies more likely to vote for their candidate. In effect, it cuts out the “O” in GOTV (“Get Out The Vote”) strategies by transforming it simply to a GTV (“Get The Vote”) effort.

Here’s the odd thing, though. Ballot harvesting (or collecting) is legal in some states (like California) and illegal in other states (like North Carolina).

The winning California Democrats went on to serve in Congress. The winning Republican’s election was invalidated and he opted against running in the subsequent election re-do. All used some form of ballot harvesting/collecting to gain their electoral victories.

The inequity of this treatment has caused quite a debate. While it may seem like a partisan Continue Reading “No, Freedom Doesn’t Come In The Mail”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged ballot collecting, ballot harvesting, coronavirus, GOTV, mail-in ballot, vote, voting

To The Class of 2020

By Chris Carosa on June 23, 2020

You live in strange times.

You dream of greatness, of achievement, of success. Others have captured their dreams. You’re no different from them. You can earn your desires. You either have a plan or you know you can make a plan, by yourself or through the aid of helpful allies.

But now, at this very moment, your life has been disturbed, uprooted by forces you cannot control. Your carefully crafted plans, your jubilant expectations, your equitable share, all have been stripped from you. Together, they represent a loss you can never regain.

You are not alone.

Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a question long asked by theologians, pondered by philosophers, and analyzed by psychiatrists. Yet, for all the mental, physical, Continue Reading “To The Class of 2020”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged bold, carpe diem, graduation, inspiration, opportunity, saints, sinners, Sun Tzu, The Art of War

You’ll Turn to Stone Once You Realize Your Sales Pitch Inadvertently Contains this Common Mistake

By Chris Carosa on June 16, 2020

You’re always selling. You may not consider it as “selling,” but you’re always trying to convince someone to do something.

It doesn’t have to be about trying to get someone to buy something from you or your company. It could be anything. Maybe it’s what to have for dinner. Maybe it’s what movie to watch? Maybe it’s swaying your boss to give you a raise.

Do you find your pitch is less persuasive than you hoped for? You could be making a common mistake without knowing it. What is that common mistake and how can you avoid it? Perhaps we should start with a metaphor.

Have you ever been to the Petrified Forest?

No, I’m not referring to the 1936 movie The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis, which also featured Humphrey Bogart when he was still cutting his chops playing the villain. Such was Bogey’s performance on the undercard that the American Film Continue Reading “You’ll Turn to Stone Once You Realize Your Sales Pitch Inadvertently Contains this Common Mistake”

Posted in Business Tips, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged American Film Institute, Arizona, Bette Davis, Duke Mantee, fossil, Humphrey Bogart, Leslie Howard, magnetic middle, National Monument, National Park, Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, social proof, The Petrified Forest, Theodore Roosevelt

A Bothersome Burden Has Just Been Lifted From My Shoulders, Did You Just Get the Same Feeling?

By Chris Carosa on June 9, 2020

barbers hair cut tools

A terrible bothersome burden has just been removed from my shoulders. Did you just get the same feeling?

The last time I felt this weighed down was, well, maybe a half century ago. For those of you who think “half century ago” must refer to ancient times, do the math. I’m talking about the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It’s a very uncomfortable feeling. It’s a drag. And I don’t mean “drag” in the sense that was used in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but “drag” in the sense of physics, specifically as engineers use it in automotive design and aeronautics. It a gnawing downward pressure that prevents you from moving faster or soaring higher.

Like so many others, I am free of that burden now. I didn’t do it alone. I have Hal to thank. Continue Reading “A Bothersome Burden Has Just Been Lifted From My Shoulders, Did You Just Get the Same Feeling?”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged barber, coronavirus, COVID-19, haircut, Hal, thankful, thanks