During a loud Tallahassee storm today, I decided to stop in at Ace Hardware in Killearn for a flashlight — you know, just in case the lightning struck just right.

Walking to the front door, I noticed the inside of the store was dark. It didn’t occur to me that just moments earlier, the lightning had struck just right at Ace. It looked as though they were closed, but I pulled handle anyway. The door swung open.

“Welcome to Ace!” came a woman’s voice from the register.

Honestly, it scared the crap out of me.

“Come on in. What do you need?”

“Actually, I need a flashlight.”

She laughed, and, almost as if on cue, out from the shadows came a man walking toward me with his own flashlight. He said, “Flashlights? Follow me.”

He led my to the back of the store and asked that I watch my step. The whole way, he pointed the flashlight right in front of my feet so I could actually watch each step. When we got to the flashlight display, he pointed here and there with the light, described some options, and recommended the black Mag-Lite over their own store brand. I said sure.

He grabbed the flashlight and a two-pack of C batteries: “You’re gonna need these too.” Then he pulled out a pad of paper and wrote down the stock number on both items. He led me back to the front of the store where he handed the woman behind the counter the ticket. She proceeded to write out an invoice — get this, with a pen! Knowing there was no power, I would have pulled out cash, but all I had was plastic. I handed her my debit card and she went to a drawer and pulled out the ancient shunk-shunk credit card imprint thingy.

She shunk-shunked the thingy, handed me my card, and I signed the receipt and left.

They never once mentioned the lights.

Refreshing to have an experience like this when the usual response would have been, “Sorry, sir. Can you come back later? Power’s out.” Had she said that to begin with, I would have accepted it and done just that. Now Ace Hardware has spoiled me.

Thanks to the gang at Ace Hardware Killearn. My flashlight’s ON — in your honor.

I may be missing some essential piece of information, but I still don’t understand why you’re writing a book on crushing it — or why your agent(s) even considered it a good idea. I, for one, don’t want to read Gary Vaynerchuk.

I love your passionate physicality — your volume, your mannerisms, the way you put THUNDER into every word and comma (and maybe I’ve even got a man crush on you), but the stuff that makes you you — your DNA, your brand — is not two-dimensional. No matter how much ink you use, I’m betting this kind of thunder won’t show up on the page. Think about it dude: you’d need a second book just to hold all the exclamation points.

Why aren’t you putting out a DVD, or a series of ‘em? Somehow re-inventing the medium? I’d pay for the DVD. I’d even pre-pay for a series. But a book? Maybe I’ll buy, maybe I won’t — but I’ll definitely have to wait for the reviews.

I’ve got nothing but respect and admiration for everything you’ve done and everything you do, Gary. I wish you all the luck in the world with the book, and I’m pretty sure it will crush. With a video though, you wouldn’t need any luck. After all, you’re Gary f*ckin’ Vaynerchuk!!!!!!!!!!

photo credit: theleetgeeks

Every email is not important and urgent.

The same with every phone call and voice mail.

Do you have to do every part of every project yourself? Or can you delegate?

Are you spending too much time on stuff that’s neither urgent or important? Like worrying about things you don’t have any control over? Or making mountain ranges out of mole hills?

In this era of 24 hour connectedness, time-management isn’t what’s needed. It’s you-management. The more the clock ticks and tocks, I sense it’s not about attacking a to-do list but about writing out a want-to-do list, and figuring out how to delegate or spread out the to-do list so that the want-to-do list gets done.

After all, spending more time on the things you want you to do versus the things other people want you to do is way more important. Those are the things re-fuel, energize us, and keep us going. Most importantly, they allow us to give more to the people who count on us.

So, how’s today looking?