Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is Don Ellis.  Please keep this member top of mind this week for referrals. 

Meeting Schedule
We will NOT have meetings on December 23rd or December 30th due to everyone's busy holiday schedule. 

Nick Mawrenko and Dave Lathrop would still like to meet casually with members, possibly the last Friday of the year.  Look out for an email with details.

Board Update
There will be a board meeting today after the regular meeting. 

Joe Burr has stepped down from the board due to his busy work schedule.  We will be looking to fill that position.  It was agreed that we are OK leaving the position open until elections in February. 

Speaker/Topic Ideas
Chris Curran suggested we look back at the goals we made for 2011 (from the MABE archives) and talk about how we did. 

Jeff Sutherlin would like to invite author Sharon Lector to come speak to the group.

Membership
There was discussion on membership.  It was suggested that we have become stagnate although we several categories we could fill.  We need to look for quality members that will attend.  We need to encourage existing members to attend. 

Members are encouraged to reach out to Stacy Hyder and let her know we miss her and want her back at our meetings.

Social Event
Christmas party recap...It was AWESOME!  If you have not already paid, please send your payment to MABE.

Main Program - Identifying Your FLOW
There are many different types of things that FLOW could mean.  If you focused on a particular project you can lose track of time.  Then you have athletes that can completely "zoned out" and get run over.  This is different than being in the FLOW.  Finally, it seems that you need to be excelling at whatever you are doing.  I see flow as acceptance of what you are doing and that it is what you are meant to be doing. 

If FLOW is the key to happiness, then it would stand to reason that you must be excelling at it.

What do you do that puts you in the FLOW?

• My wife was proud of a presentation and the acknowledgement she was receiving.  She was in her FLOW.

• When I can make a loan happen I am in the FLOW.  When I am challenged at work.

• I lead a training on how to help kids.  I knew what to say and how to say it.  I could tell what I was saying was making a difference.

• You definitely have to be in the FLOW to ski in extremely cold water.  I am concentrating so hard on every move, completely in the zone.  In business, I like difficult situations that I am able to figure out. 

• I have a lot of passion when I put together my fitness fest.  When we are there it is a FLOW for me.  You see so many people having fun and working out...I got them there.  It was my vision and it gives me goose bumps.

• I will go out in the backyard to do one little thing, it leads to another...pretty soon hours have gone by.

• I don't look at FLOW as an individual but as a whole business.  When I had the garbage company, I would tell people that it felt like driving a Ferrari at high speeds.  Everybody we had was excellent, you could count on them.  It worked, it clicked.  There was unbelievable FLOW.  We don't have that yet in our current company but we are working towards it.

• The real FLOW part for me is I take everything and analyze it.  I figure out how to make everything more efficient to make the FLOW happen.

• When I am interviewing people for the company we have to connect. 

• When I solve problems, challenges.  Also being on top of a mountain when nobody else is there.  Fixing things. 

• I've had a lot of interesting FLOWs when I was younger.  Skiing was definitely one of them.  Being a gymnast or racquet ball.  Now having a teenager brings me FLOW.

• I know what the feeling is.  I have won cases I should have lost.  And I have lost cases I should have won.  I can't get wrapped up in the results to achieve FLOW. 

• I get into that place where time goes by, you are focusing.  But what I like the most, and it is common, is meeting with people and walking away realizing that hours have gone by.  You don't notice because the conversation was so engaging. 

• I am just happy when I can get out of the flow!

• I think we are all born to be happy but we screw it up.  This concept of flow is hard for me to get a handle on.  There has to be some difference between instant gratification and true happiness.  Happiness is a state of being, not an instant thing.  This involves acceptance with your state.  Our goal-oriented society works against this. 

• I stumbled onto an element of FLOW the other night.  I was faced with a challenge and found it to be incredibly enjoyable.  Sometimes the beauty is in the simplicity of an activity.