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By Alan Oakes

Are you listening... to yourself?

AVE you EVER HAD A GUr FEELTNG that something good or bad was about to happen? Then the phone rings and...

Sometimes I am driving to work, and I see idiots zoom by me at 90 mphweaving in and out of lanes-and I suddenly think to myself that it's time for me to slow down or there will be an accident. It seems that most of my gut feelings or instincts are about bad things that are about to happen rather than good things (particularly as my inner voice tells me to go and play the Lotto, and I have never won a dime yet). But over the years, I have come to conclude that I have pretty good intuition about what's going on around me. So much so that I typically trust my gut feelings in dealing with people and business situations. If I override my concerns, generally there's a price to pay later.

The trouble is many of us don't listen to our inner voice. Perhaps it is because we often do not want something to be true and hope ignoring it will make it go away. Throughout each and every day we receive signals to our subconscious, but to hear them or react to them we have to learn to recognize them and act on them.

Intuition comes from not only our gut but also our head and our heart. When all three collide, warning bells go off. When something is weighing heavy on me, I can feel the pain in my stomach and heart, and it doesn't go away until I make a decision-usually one in line with what my gut is telling me. And strangely, it's rarely wrong. But it takes time and experience to learn to trust your instincts. Maybe the older and (hopefully) wiser you get, the messages trying to attract your attention actually get through to you. Perhaps it takes some bad things to happen until you rcalize what the messages were trying to tell you, so next time you become more aware of the signs and at least weigh them.

In business, it is much the same. Opportunities come and go, and it is the brave who listen to their gut. Yes, you can have committees or consultants concoct business plans. But sometimes when your inner voice is telling you to do something and do it NOW, if you have come to the point of trusting your instincts, then don't delay, just do it. I think over the years when something has gone wrong in my business life, I wasn't strong enough to stand up for my instincts. I think the people I have been most impressed with in business are those who have gone against general thinking because they had an instinct that what seemed wrong to others was, in fact, right. The term "stroke of genius" comes about when someone was willing to gamble and make a call that was seen by others as too bold or risky.

At the end of the day, it is instinct rather than processes and formulas that make the really best people stand out. And that is the problem too many times in corporate life today, when you must go round and round getting a consensus for every move instead of someone saying this is how something should be done, acting on it, and moving on. There is so much pussyfooting around people's feelings that decisions often get watered down and the end results are failure.

It is not only your instinct that you must learn to trust: vou need to seek out others who can be trusted to make the right decisions over time. In some cases you might trust their judgment over your own if they have proven that their judgment might be better than your own.

While we listen to our kids and our spouses (well some of us), perhaps we should listen more to ourselves !

Bpii

Building Ploducts lf igest

www. bu ldi ng-products. com

A publication of Cutler Publishing 4500 Campus Dr., Ste.480, Newport Beach, CA 92660

Publisher Alan 0akes ajoakes@aol.com

Publisher Emeritus David Cutler

Director of Editorial & Production David Koenig dkoenig@building-products.com

Editor Karen Debats kdebats@building-products.com

Contributing Editors

Carla Waldemar, James Olsen, Jay Tompt

Advertising Sales Manager Chuck Casey ccasey@building-products,com

Administration Director/Secretary

Marie Oakes mfpoakes@aol.com

Circulation Manager Heather Kelly hkelly@building-products.com

How to Advertise

SOUTH, MIDWEST & WEST Chuck Casey Phone (949) 852-1990 Fax 949-852-0231 ccasey@building-products.com

NORTHEAST Paul Mummolo 404 Princeton Ave., Brick, N.J. 08724 Phone (732) 899-8102 Fax 732-899-2758 mummolop@comcast.net

ONLINE Alan Oakes www.building-products.com

Phone (949) 852-1990 Fax 949-852-0231 ajoakes@aol.com.

CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE David Koenig

Phone (949) 852-1 990 Fax 949-852-0231 dkoenig@building-products.com

How to Subscribe

SUBSCRIPTIONS Heather Kelly Phone (949) 852-1990 Fax 949-852-0231 hkelly@building-products.com or send a check lo 4500 Campus Dr., Ste. 480, Newport Beach, CA 92660

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SINGLE COPIES $4 + s6;Op,nn BACK TSSUES $5 + shipping

BUILDING PRODUCTS DIGEST is published monthly at 4500 Campus Dr., Ste. 480, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660-1872, (949) 852-1990, Fax 949-852-023'1, www.buildingproducts.com, by Cutler Publishing, Inc. (a California Corporation). lt is an independently owned publication for building products retailers and wholesale distributors in 37 states East of the Rockies. Copyright@200g by Cutler Publishing, Inc. Cover and entire contents are fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without written permission. All Rights Reserved. BPD reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising matter, and www. g reatsouthernwood. com

Great Southern Wood has been around for forly years now. And in that time, we've become the largest producer of pressure treated pine in the country - while consumers have made our product their brand of choice for outdoor building. Folks know YellaWood brand pressure treated pine stands for quality and that it provides the best long-term protection against rot, fungal decay and termite attack. They also like its lighter, more natural appearance which makes it easier to paint or stain. Yes, quality is what we're all about at Great Southern. lt s found not only in our products, but also in the way we treat our customers. That's whats going to take us into the future. You see, to us, customer satisfaction is the only true path to success. lf we've learned anvthino over the vears. it's that.

ABBEVILLE, AL . M0B|LE, AL . MUSCLE SHOALS, AL . SUMTER C0., FL C0NYERS, GA . C0LUMBUS, TX JESUB GA . BUCKNER, M0 . GLENW00D, AR MT. PLEASANI TX and our newest plant in BRO0KHAVEN, MS

Yellawoodr'r brand pressure treated products are treated with micronized copper azole us ng the MicroPro r' copper preseruative process. Ask dealer for warranty details. Great Solrthern Wood Preserving. lncorporated. its affiliates, subsidiaries and TSO provders. use Osmose. Inc. wood preseruing products. methods, systems and technology in the tre€ttfnent of YellaWood(l) brand products. For more information visit www.osmosewood.com For impodant handlinq and other information concerning our products or for a copy of the Yellawoocl(r! brand Material Safetv Data Sheet (MSDS). please visit us at www.greatsouthernwood.com or write us at P.O. Box 61O. Abbeville. AL 36310. YellaWood r and thc yellow tag are federally regrsiered trademarks of Greal Southern Woo-d- Pre_serving. lncorporaled. Tlre Great Southem Wood Preseru ng. Incorporated logo is a trademark of Great Southern Wood Preserv ng. lncorporated. M croPJor is a federally registerecl trademairk of Osmose. Ino. The MrcroPro,' Wood Treatment Process is certified under SCS s Envtronmenta ly Preferable Product (EPP) program based on Li{e-Cycle Assessment. The NAHB Research Center Green Approvecl mark is your assurance that ar product s eligible lor points toward National Green Buildinq Certification.

By Loren Krebs