Coach Corby’s ‘Unconventional Approach’ to Life

By CORBY CARLIN WINTERS, Co-owner of Winters Media & Publishing

Just Flip the Dog came about one day while Winters was publisher of the Juneau Empire in Alaska more than 26 years ago. His graphics team came up against an issue they just could not solve.

It was coming up on deadline to print the newspaper and they still couldn’t fix the problem, which involved printing out all the ads. The issue was that every time they hit ‘print,’ the ads would come out backwards.

So Winters came down and everyone explained how you are supposed to do “X” with the computer. And Winters said, well, why don’t you try doing “Y? And everyone freaked out because you are supposed to do “X” with the computer (literally hitting a specific button).

“Is doing X working” he asked.

“No,” everyone said.

“Then do Y (Y being the exact opposite of X in this case). Total silence because no one was going to go “but X makes it …”

So they did Y, which was literally flipping an icon of a dog upside down on the computer … and the ads came out the way they should have. (Check out justflipthedog.com for the full story).

In one of his first posts on justflipthedog.com, Winters explained the concept: “sometimes what is supposed to work doesn’t, for whatever reason. Instead of beating your head against a wall, try attacking the problem in a completely different way.”

I loved this concept and wanted Winters to write a book about this philosophy. Unfortunately, Winters was, as he put it, “writing a book every day putting out a newspaper”

So, being the wonderful wife that I am, I started writing chapters myself. All these years later I still believe Just Flip the Dog is far bigger than just a motto or a catch phrase. Just Flip The Dog is a personal and professional mindset. It is a transformative and unconventional approach to work, marriage, family and the meaning of Life; I began incorporating what I wrote in my professional counseling, coaching and speaking. In what Winters calls, my jump starter book, I wrote about all kinds of ways we can improve our professional and personal life. From my perspective, regardless of what you come up against, I want you to have the tools you need to be successful and perform at your best as well as in your passion and purpose.

And one of my favorite chapters is: Anticipating Trains.

None of us wake up in the morning thinking we need to worry about trains. But the reality is trains can make us stop or change direction. When we moved to Grand Island, Neb., I had never seen so many trains – trains that went right through the middle of town at all hours. Trains make you late for work, an important meeting or a special family event.

Real trains or metaphorical trains, can have a long-term impact on the direction of your life. There is a reason those red lights are flashing and sometimes we are so busy we overlook them.

Trains or problems can pop up out of nowhere. Sometimes we totally miss the warning signs in our workplace or marriage. Some people panic, some seek help, some put their head in the sand and some rally in the midst of a crisis.

My hope is you will dig into your tool box of life skills and pull out whatever tools you need to face those life issues. I hope the tools I share will help you be the kind of person that can face problems or set backs head-on with a successful outcome.

Learning to be intuitive, discerning, and sensitive to the world around us are critical skills. Being willing to do something that looks totally incongruent and wrong to others and being willing to do a complete 180 just may be the best thing you ever do.

Some business trends are timeless and others just need to be tossed out. You are never too old to learn new skills, to change and learn to do life differently and better. Learning to implement new ways to do life will keep you from being left behind in this fast paced ever changing world.

It often takes courage. Doing it differently than everyone expects isn’t always the easy road. Anticipating trains I believe is a great place to start.

I hope you will join the journey of Just Flip The Dog.