Last Update 19 March 2008

Satisfying a need
Why do people love Disney World?

It's not the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. It's not even Space Mountain. Surveys show that what folks like best about Disney World is … its cleanliness. In second place is the friendliness of the employees. THEN come the attractions.

The sparkling sidewalks, immaculate facilities and smiling workers stem from Walt Disney's disastrous visit to a California amusement park in the early '50s.

"Walt was so disgusted by the carelessness he and his children experienced that he made this almost fanatical attention to detail a top priority," says a Disney official.

More than 25 million people spend more than $2 billion at Florida's Disney World each year. It has become the world's leading honeymoon destination, with adults outnumbering children four to one. Every year the lines get longer, and every year the customers' satisfaction rate — as measured by exit polls — gets higher.

Walt Disney's formula for success will work for you too: Identify a need, then satisfy that need.

We can all learn something from Joe DiMaggio. He was the greatest on the baseball field.

It must have been with very great effort that he accomplished his incredible success on the playing field.

A reporter once asked DiMaggio about this, and he said: "I always thought that there was at least one person in the stands who had never seen me play, and I didn't want to let him down."

That's a true role model speaking: thinking of the other guy.

Words (not) to live by
Advertising Age asked its readers for updated aphorisms for the '90s.
Some highlights:

• You can't judge a book by its book tour.
  
• Nothing's sure but death and faxes.
  
• If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing with someone else's money.
  
• For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
  
• The eyes see only what the mind comprehends.
  
• What most parents want for their children: medicine was the first career choice, teaching second, law third, engineering fourth, and politics LAST!
  
• Speak softly and carry a portable phone.

No comments. Perhaps you would like to.

The law we have so much fun with is the inspiration for a new book by Paul Dickson, The Official Rules at Home. Here is a sample of laws, rules, observations and maxims collected by Dickson.

Ballweg's Discovery: Whenever there is a flat surface, someone will find something to put on it.

Rabbe's Rule of the Bedroom: The spouse who snores louder always falls asleep first.

Dickson's Gardening Discovery: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

Dorothy's Dilemma: The heavier the package and the farther you must carry it, the more your nose itches.

Todd's Rule of Bar Code Malfunction: The bar code in the checkout line won't work on items you're embarrassed to be buying.

Rosenbaum's Rule: The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Parent's Law: by the time you're right, you're dead.

Smith's Fourth Law of Inertia: A body at rest tends to watch television.

We can't resist offering two more: Buttered bread always falls face down. A falling object always winds up in the most inaccessible spot.

Do you keep those extra, old and no-longer-useful photos in a shoe box where they benefit no one?

Here's a tip. When you pay your bills, slip one of those photos of your kids, the grandchildren, your pets, any one or anything that brought a smile to your face, into the envelope along with the check.

It's an easy, inexpensive way to bring a smile to someone's face, even though you won't know the recipient. It's the thought that counts.

In patients with coronary artery disease, anger cuts pumping efficiency.

Irony: In healthy hearts, anger actually increases pumping efficiency. But repeated angry episodes also harm healthy hearts by increasing the heart rate and blood pressure.

Helpful: Practice expressing frustration as displeasure rather than anger to train yourself in less negative reactions.

From research led by psychiatrist Gail Ironson, Ph.D., M.D., University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.

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Last Update 19 March 2008