November 18, 2009

Tom has a T-shirt he picked up in Fiji a couple of years ago while on his quest to dive with hammerhead sharks. It says, “You can run out of air and die. You can get bitten by a shark and die or you can fall off the couch and die. Get off the couch and into the water!”

I love the pithiness of T-shirt philosophy – even when it seems that the same twisted mind writes them all. The slogans distill our thoughts, humor and fears into easy-to-laugh at sound-bites. “No matter where you go there you are” is an insightful reminder that external factors don’t control our happiness. I once saw a T-shirt with a seated Buddha, making a mudra with the same hand that was holding a hot dog, the caption – “Make me one with everything.” Cracked me up right on the spot. “Your mother was right about me” is one that always makes me nostalgic about the fact that Tom never got to meet my mom.

If I were to put my personal favorites on a T-shirt to wear for fun, they’d read, “Put down the phone and drive,” “Life is good all the time” and “Happiness is a choice.” The T-shirts I’d wear to work would say, “Today is the first day of the rest of the work-week” or “Just do it – NOW!”

What nurse, or legal nurse consultant, won’t crack up over a T-shirt that says, “Great veins,” “My catheter bag’s on the other leg,” “Rehab is for quitters,” “DNR (by popular request)” or “Nursing, it can make strong men weep.” Belly laughs all around.

I’m even thinking of creating my own line of CLNC^® wear for my future Camp Buck-Up. They’ll have all sorts of catchy phrases like, “Lead, follow or get out of the way!,” “We were all born crying – time to outgrow it” and “Whining and complaining are NOT competitive sports.” If I get contemplative about business, perhaps I’d offer the Zen-like shirt “After the marketing, the marketing.”

T-shirt philosophy captures not only pop culture but also our 140 character Twitter/texting culture too. At the same time, it reflects our fears, our prejudices and sometimes our beliefs, all on a pre-shrunk cotton billboard that we can change as quickly, and as often, as we change our minds.

Tomorrow when you start working on your legal nurse consulting business, what T-shirt will you put on? What will be the first thought in your day, the one you’d want or wouldn’t want others to see and judge you by? Will it be positive or negative? Will it be something irreverent? That thought on your T-shirt tells you everything you need to know about the success of your day and the success of your CLNC^® business.

Success Is Inside!