Its a New Year

New Years Resolutions. I do not make them because they rarely work. Without accountability to someone they almost always get lost somewhere in life. I found something that works for me very well. Previous year reviews. Try it. Remove the negative and soar.

1.    Grab a notepad and create two columns: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.

2.    Go through your calendar from the last year, looking at every week.

3.    For each week, jot down on the pad any people and activities that triggered peak positive or negative emotions for that month.

4.    Once you’ve gone through the past year, look at your notepad list and ask “What 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?”

5.    Based on the answers, take your “positive” leaders and schedule more of them in 2018. Get them on the calendar now! Book things with friends and prepay for shit now! That’s step one. Step two is to take your “negative” leaders, put “NOT-TO-DO LIST” at the top, and put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of 2018. These are the people and things you *know* make you miserable, so don’t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.

Try it, be vocal about how it goes.

Remember you are always in the right place at the right time, if you have the right attitude.

Thanks to Timothy Ferris for PYR. It can change your outlook and life.

If I can do it, any ordinary Joe can, (no offense to any Joes).

Earlier in my life, I was foreman of a door and roof truss plant. We made pre-hung doors and manufactured wood trusses for houses. A large saw was used to cut the wood for the trusses. Very dangerous. One of the fellows running the machine took a shortcut one day and replaced a bolt with something he should not have. Unfortunately, he got caught in the device. His arm was forcibly removed from the socket and his body. Giant clamps cut off his airway. Thanks to quick reactions by a couple of coworkers he was given CPR until EMTs arrived. They saved his life. However, his arm could not be saved. The story does not have a happy ending. He spent his whole life bitter about the accident, blamed everyone but himself. Sued everybody he could. He was a mean and angry man. I am not judging him. I do not know how I would react to the same situation. Some people deal very badly with adversity. Others tell stories that inspire us all. We hear and see stories of overcoming hardship and trouble every day.

Ted talks are wildly popular. Most have a theme, if I can do it, any ordinary joe can. (no offense to any joes). It is easy, just do this and this.  We search every day for people overcoming tremendous adversity. We listen to their stories and think, wow, that is amazing. Yes, it is. It inspires us for a day or two then we go back to our life.

On the other hand, Success stories from people who have not suffered don’t inspire us so much. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time relating to Warren Buffet. His background is not much different than mine, yet he is unbelievably wealthy. Bill Gates, Ray Kroc, the list is endless.

Why then do we not do the same? What thoughts stop us. Where you are in life is a direct result of the views that prevent us from success as well as propel us forward. How difficult is it to think about this when all you are focused on is paying rent, or buying food?

Why do some succeed, some fail, some just living enough to breathe.

Without a catastrophic event to help you change, how do you do it?

One small change at a time. Do not look at the whole picture and expect it to change. Find the discipline to change one little thing at a time. Your focus can still be on paying the rent or buying food. Perhaps you should let the small stuff that bothers you go. Stop yelling at drivers on the road. Quit worrying about that which you have no control.

We all have it in is to be whatever we choose to be. Decide what that is. It is ok. Break it down into small items and begin. As simple as, I will start every morning with a pep talk to myself, or perhaps no sugar in my coffee. Small disciplines add up to massive changes. A good friend gave me this advice.

It is up to me.

Remember, you are always in the right place at the right time if you have the right attitude

Do you know these leaders?

There are two kinds of leaders:

1. There are leaders who put themselves and their purpose, mission, agenda, belief system in front of everything else — and their brilliance, if they are in fact brilliant, is enough to carry the whole culture forward. And those employees in a culture with a self-driven leader are either willing to drink the punch and follow, because there’s a lot of money to be made or some other prize. And that’s how we get toxic workplaces.

2.  The other kind of leader is the antidote. A leader who makes strategic decisions based on people and the product or service they’re responsible for. That puts the well-being and engagement (and engagement is a key concept here) of others first. Is this selfless? Not exactly. Is it socialist? Not at all. It’s the essence of being responsive to the market — using the workforce as the microcosm. If they’re happy, if they’re performing, the theory goes, so will the company.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for more of these.

Do you know these leaders?

Remember, you are always in the right place, at the right time if you have the right attitude

Talent Culture Community

VOB Break all the rules

What if you are not a Navy Seal?

Should you just give up? Most motivational training makes us feel inadequate. It is no wonder we do not keep at it every day. Don't you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe? Some of us just want to breathe.

Years ago, I was sitting in a training class, the instructor was very well-known. Rumor had it he was the number one sales man in the US of A. He sold 70-80 cars a month.  He had his own staff to make calls, send out his mail and make appointments. I was listening to every word he said. I am as good as this guy, I kept thinking, I should be able to do it as well. Why wasn’t I? Every thought was negative. I was lazy, a procrastinator, if I really wanted to it would happen.

He gave us all some advice, I never took it. Almost all the training was based on scenarios we never encountered or if you followed it made you very uncomfortable.

 At the time, I kept this to myself. I did not voice this opinion for fear it would make me look weak. I knew if I say that to a customer they will walk away. There is no way he followed his own training and was successful in building the trust he needed. As you can guess, the rest of the day was wasted. Could I have sold 70 cars a month? Sure. Did I want to? Not really.

The seeds of my passion were planted that day in Scottsdale.

There is no training for the average person out there.

What happened. The little guy gets left in the dust. What if your goals are average, you don’t care about being the top dog in the country.

Real world training and understanding. How does that filter down to the average person? On a team of 20 people, 4 will make all the money. 16 will be average or less. You want to be successful, focus on the 16. 4 want to succeed as bad as they want to breathe, 16 just want to breathe and maybe laugh now and then.

One of the lies we all believe is there are no good people out there. We buy into the illusion that millennials are lazy, Gen X wants everything for nothing, and baby boomers think the young generation do not know how to work. If we only focus on the top dog of course there are no good people out there.

The focus for all. Not just the few. We all cannot be Navy seals. To the amazing few, salute. For the rest of us, we can learn. Focus, Believe, Understand. Be happy, its okay to be who we are. Do not be disappointed if you are not the top dog. Quit comparing yourself to others. Your competition is you. Better today than yesterday. Focus on you. Believe in you. Set your goals about you. Be better every day.

Remember you are always in the right place at the right time if you have the right attitude.

tapestry of self deception

Sometimes I think the urge to believe in our own worldview is our

most powerful intellectual imperative, the mind's equivalent of

feeding, fighting, and fornicating. People will eagerly twist facts

into wholly unrecognizable shapes to fit them into existing

suppositions. They'll ignore the obvious, select the irrelevant, and

spin it all into a tapestry of self-deception, solely to justify an idea,

no matter how impoverished or self-destructive.

That is all

Credit to Barry Eisler

Way too often we just stop

Way too often we just stop, stop trying, stop caring, stop moving. By doing so, all we’re doing is sending a message to our body and mind that we’ve given up. Keep at it whatever it is, stay in motion, one day at a time, one small insignificant action at a time.

To get what we have never had, we must do what we have never done. Belief fuels enthusiasm and explodes into passion. It ignites our minds and hearts and makes us act. It fires our heart and soul. It will help us to achieve that one extra degree in business and life. It separates the good from the great.

If you did one push up right now, could you do one more? One more after that? One more? At the point of exhaustion, could you get one more?

What is your one extra degree? Find it, stay in motion. One step, one little bit at a time.

Way too often we just stop, stop trying, stop caring, stop moving.

It’s your life and your business. Do you have one more degree? One more stroke, one last turn.

Keep looking up my friends, stay loyal to yourself and carry on.

Loyalty

Loyalty can be defined as a strong feeling of support or allegiance.

It seems to be a lost art. Two very good friends were fired in the past few months. Both have been with the same company for over ten years. In the sales world, more than ten years with the same company is an anomaly.

They struggled thru the lean years when the economy crashed. Stuck it out when higher paying jobs were available. Loyal to a fault. Both were repaid with pink slips.

Some would say business is not about loyalty from your employees. If that is the case, I will show you a company destined to fail.

We live in a what have you done for me lately environment. My hat is off to any company who values long-term employees, not in words but actions as well.

Keep looking up my friends, stay loyal to yourself and carry on.

What would you like written on your tombstone

Years ago, I took one of those useless personality profiles that permeate the sales world. It was easy to skew my answers, so the profile fits what the employer wanted. Not meant as a critique of those senseless tests. However, at the end was a question I have never forgotten. “What would you like written on your tombstone.” Most people will joke about it. Sell your beer stock; he was a jackass and proud of it, etc. I took the question seriously, for some reason, and tried to live my life by my answer.

Many times, I have said, about leaving my job, “Give it a few months, and it will be like I was never here.”

No one wants to be forgotten. No one wants to think that the time they’ve spent with someone meant nothing. No one wants to feel like they aren’t important.

Don’t forget where you’re from and it won’t forget about you.

Realize everything you do makes some difference. Pat yourself on the proverbial back now and then. You have tremendous effect on those around you. Look at your friends and you will see you.

Oh, my response to the question. “Today the world is a smaller place.”

Remember you are always in the right place, at the right time if you have the right attitude.

Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe.

Do winners never quit and quitters never win? I am not a fan of this saying. It implies that if I quit I am a “loser”.

The right to fail is every bit as important as the right to succeed. Give yourself permission to quit. The grind can be a liability if you do not quit that which is not working. Our lives are full of secondary things that we refuse to give up. Give yourself permission to quit. If you have not found a passion, try lots of things, knowing that you will quit most of them.

Great success is built on failure, frustration, even catastrophe.

I am not saying a you should not dream great possibilities. We can become whatever we choose, and invariably we do become that. We are the sum of our choices. I am ever amazed at how many salespeople I meet who have huge dreams. They all can quote, if you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you got. Most keep doing the same thing over and over, If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goal, give yourself permission to quit.

I could give examples that none of us relate to. Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates. Do you think they never gave up? My examples are much more personal and real. Find yours.

After you have given yourself permission.

Find your passion and give yourself the gift of done.

Paul Ryan, you got it wrong

I purposely stay out of political discussion on social media. The last few days have compelled me to turn that aside. I must comment, and let the Great Congressman from Wisconsin know that he is wrong. We do care. When did it become okay to be a bully? When did we decide it is okay to make fun of people and call them derogatory names? When did we decide that to get our point across we demean and yell. When did we decide it was ok to elect a lying, smug, sexual predator because we agreed with some of his policy?

Jeff Flake gave a blistering speech on the Senate Floor the other day to announce his retirement. It was inspiring and said the things most of America is thinking. I am proud to call him a Senator. I wish our two Utah Senators, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, had the backbone to stand up to all this hate. Not one of our elected officials stood by him. Paul Ryan’s response was, "I don't think the American people care about that,"

I have voted Republican, I have voted Democrat. I am embarrassed to be called American if what Paul Ryan says is true.

This rant is not about which side is right. It is to let Paul Ryan know, He is wrong. We do care. For too long our politicians, on both sides, have catered to special interests and minority opinions. We voice our discontentment, nothing happens. We do care, unfortunately many of us have given up. Our President was the beneficiary of this. In any other year he would have and should have been laughed and shrugged off the stage.

Paul Ryan, we do care, unfortunately many of us have given up. We have lost hope that there can be any meaningful dialogue. Look at all the vitriol spewed on Facebook and Twitter. Bitching, with absolutely no solutions. Democrats wringing their hands, Republicans looking the other way because anything is better than Obama or Hillary.

I am sure most of us have seen the Burger King Bully video. So many people looked the other way. You could see it made them uncomfortable. Still they did nothing. It had no effect on their lives. Politics in our country seems to be the same.  We say, “Well, it does not really have an effect on me.” “It is refreshing to hear someone speak their mind.” “I can overlook the issues on both sides because it won’t change my life.” “I can complain about it on Facebook, it makes me feel involved.” I am here to tell you that is not the case. If you watch as a child gets bullied and do nothing. You are a bully. Putting it on Facebook will not help, except ease your conscious perhaps. Our Senator from Utah is incensed that a few people might have to pay $70 to get into a couple of national parks. He calls it extortion. Oh my. Yet, he is quiet on Medicare expansion in Utah for the disabled. Something that could have a huge effect on thousands of Utahans.

Paul Ryan, we do care, unfortunately many of us have given up. When will the time come for us to take back the hope politicians stole from us. We are a silent majority.

It is not okay to be a bully, it is not okay to yell and demean to get your point across. It is not okay to lie, it is not okay to accept a sexual predator because his policies are better than the alternative.

Let’s stand up for Jeff Flake, for Bob Corker and John McCain. They got it right.

Paul Ryan, you are wrong. We do care.

How do you respond to adversity, uncertainty, and pain?

How do you respond to adversity, uncertainty, and pain?

Does fear drive your actions?

One reaction is to get angry and quit. We see this every day. In our offices and schools, With our friends and neighbors. It is an acidic attitude that will consume you like fire. It will lead to crossed arms, closed minds, and destroyed possibility.

Most of the fear that grips us in these times is not based on what is happening but what we fear might happen next.

So, I ask again. How do you respond to fear, adversity and uncertainty?

This life is simple if you worry only about that which you have control. Let go of everything else. Love life, enjoy life. Do not be a hostage to unwelcome fear and what you do not have. When adversity comes, and we all know it will. Focus on what you can do. Control what you can and let go of the rest. Keep anger at bay. When the fear about yesterday or what may happen tomorrow, creeps in, take a deep breath and laugh. Remember to love life, enjoy life.

Control what you can and let go of the rest.

Fallacy of Training

Greeting customers

Welcome to just like everybody else motors.

High achieving salespeople do not do this.

We can all agree training is vital to our success. We may disagree about the kind of training. We all needed necessary steps to the sale when we first started in this business. Some need it every year; they still do not understand.

If you question salespeople on the steps to a sale, 95% will get them right. It might be eight steps, ten steps, or twelve steps. Almost all would understand the basic concepts, and many could train your new people on the steps.

The question for me stems from the selling process our high performers use. Several years ago, we had six salespeople averaging 25+ per month. We trained them consistently, or we thought we did. I could cut and paste the greeting from almost all training.

“Welcome to I sound like every other dealer motors. Extending my hand, I ask My name is Bob and yours is? How may I be of assistance?”

I have never, not one time heard my high performers use this line. I guess that is not true. I have heard them use it during “training.” None of the six salespeople used the line welcome. It is just not part of our vocabulary. It sounds insincere. Is it better than, “can I help ya?”. I think the verdict is out on that.

We all train our salespeople to treat a customer like they are welcoming them into their home. We tell them to use a line they would not say any other time. Using our training to make a customer feel uncomfortable is not a wise use of that time. Look at yourself. Have you ever responded well to welcome and what is your name? I know I have not

Listen to your top people. They have the art of making a great first impression down to a science. You will hear lines like, “Hello, are you looking for anyone in particular?” “How may I help you today?” Many other variations. What you will not hear is Welcome to I sound very insincere Ford.

Basic training is a necessity. We must teach and give our salespeople a solid foundation of understanding.

Why teach them the processes we would not use. Allow them some freedom to move. Making a good first impression is essential.

Live long and Prosper

Everything we do outwardly is only an expression of what we are inward. To ask for anything else is as absurd as looking for apples on an oak tree. Today is the future of yesterday.

We don’t realize we are thinkers of our thoughts. We can decide what to do with them. Are they just a passing thought or are they our reality. We are stuck on these ideas so much our mind tells us that is the way it is. We lose our identity to these thoughts. The good news is, we can change them just as quickly. It is up to us to make them a passing thought or our reality.
Every thought we have had will pass if we leave it alone. Off into deep space, it goes. The choice to act or not is ours entirely.

You see, we indeed are what we think we are. 

Look well to this one day,
for it, and it alone is life.
In the brief course of this one day lie
all the verities and realities of your existence:
the pride of growth,
the glory of action,
the splendor of beauty.
Yesterday is only a dream, and tomorrow is but a vision.
Each day, well lived,
makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
and each tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this one day,
for it, and it alone is life.

Wise words from Sanskrit, written 4500 years ago and translated.

As Spock so eloquently put it. Live long and Prosper.

Remember you are always in the right place if you have the right attitude.

in the midst of a world of chaos

I remember reading one of Dale Carnegie’s books many years ago in which he encourages his readers to live in day-tight-compartments. What he means is that we should some how close our minds to the past and future, so that we can be entirely focused upon today. Great advice…but it’s hard to focus upon today.!

Let’s face it, we carry our past with us and it serves as a weight holding us down. You can forget all about running with the wind, because you’re carrying too much weight.  If that wasn’t enough, we also have a grave fear about the future. Sure things might be good right now, but it could all change tomorrow.  How can we focus on today with all that is going on?

I know it’s tough to be focused and stay focused.  I struggle with it myself, but all of us can make some progress in this area and it will make a big difference in our lives.  The distractions are sure to come, but determine that you will focus your mind on today and what lies before you.  Give yourself fully to today and see what happens.

It’s been said that practice makes perfect and the message is clear, the more we practice at anything, the more proficient we become.  So make a determined effort to focus your mind, body and spirit on today. The more you practice doing so, the easier it will be for you to focus your attention in the midst of a world of chaos.

Say it out loud – Just for Today, I will focus myself.

We will do little good watering last year’s crops

We will do little good watering last year’s crops or playing with the tragedies of the past like a child in a sandbox.

We have no hope of changing our past, changing things we have done that we should not have, and things left undone that should have been done.

One cannot live adequately in the present nor effectively face the future when one's thoughts are buried in the past.

The only good revenge is no revenge. The moaning of what cannot be changed is a confession of futility and fear.

The best way to break this morbid circle is to do something for someone else.

George Washington gave us great advice concerning our past.

“We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.”

Look to the future, live and love today. Profit from our dearly bought experience. Change your thoughts and change your life.

Remember, you are always in the right place if you have the right attitude.

Most people believe speed limits are for others

_{Random thoughts running thru my mind.}

_{Most people believe speed limits are for others.}

The less people know, the more they yell.

_{It's been said that the creative person is essentially a perpetual child and the tragedy seems to be that most of us grow up.}

_{You go to war with the army you have not the one you might want.}

A man who trusts nobody is apt to be a man nobody trusts.

We enjoy our successes but learn more from setbacks.

Successful people don't take failure too seriously.

_{Failing will build less regret than failing to try.}

_{A career decision is not like a marriage.}

_{Adversity introduces a person to himself.}

_{Every problem becomes smaller if we confront them not dodge them.}

_{The only person who could be called a failure is that person who tries to succeed at nothing.}

_{I never stopped trying to qualify for the job.}

_{Why do we worry that in 9000 billion years the sun will die.}

As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use.

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat

Fortes fortuna adiuvat

One of my least favorite quotes is “Look before you leap.” Look at what? The cliff you are about to jump off. 

Many years ago I failed miserably at marriage. Surprising, I know. I told myself at the time I would look next time before I leaped. Never to marry again. Even told her, don’t get to cozy. I am not taking that leap again. Very risk averse. That is not a phrase most people would use to describe me. I often leap and then look. So, I did with her. 30 risky years later, still crazy after all these years.

Take a chance on yourself. Leap, then look.

As you look back on your career and life to date, where do you wished you’d been a little braver, trusted in yourself more, and been less cautious in the chances you took?

We are innately risk averse. We overestimate the probability of something going wrong. We fear the consequences of it as well. We underestimate our own ability. We do not look at the cost of inaction because we are comfortable.

Leap before you look. You may find a greater purpose, joy, love, fulfillment and money.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat

Fortune favors the bold

Relax and Win.

Relax, enjoy your life. 

Julius Boros was one of the great golfers in history. The easy and relaxed swing was his trademark. Oldest Major winner in history at the age of 48. He would advise any who would listen. I think his greatest advice applies to all of us, not just golfers. He said, “Relax, if you miss a shot or putt, step back, relax and hit it again.”

Relaxed attitude will work like a charm. Our subconscious minds know how to do things.  We will over ride this with a tense consciousness on what we do. This makes our wives wish they had been a little more selective.

The sales person who relaxes is the one who wins. It is the boss who gets along with his team. 

You can enjoy life and your work by taking a relaxed attitude towards everything we do. I am not advocating a lack of intensity. Enjoy.  Remember why. Keep the attitude you came into the job with. Relax.

We get caught up in the little stuff. One of the biggest mistakes we all make is to let the luster fade from our lives. Fighting off staleness is a daily chore.

Laugh and relax. We can be whatever we choose to be.

Never Forget

A Manager Should Never Forget 

 One small change creates amazing benefits.

Never forget how powerful your words are.

          Be blamed for playing favorites.

Find the core motivation for each of your team, as well as for yourself.    

     Did you have any real training to become a manager?

We all—or at least most of us—were given our positions because we were good at selling and letting our managers know it, or we were slaves to them.

How often did you agree with your manager only to do what you thought was right anyway (the opposite of what they said to do)?

You hold the keys to creating a great sales staff.

What makes a great salesperson?

overwhelming knowledge about your product a key to a great sales person?

What are you doing to help them achieve these?

Have daily private one-on-one conversations with each member of your staff. We all say we are doing it, but we are not.

 There are two things that every great salesperson wants more than sex and money: praise and recognition.

Salespeople are your most valuable asset.

Make a chart that includes all the traits of a great salesperson. Think outside the box. When interviewing, rate the person in each category from 1–10. Do this with your current staff; it may surprise you.

We all know what to do; do it.

Throw off the yoke of preconceived notions.

We see things regarding what we know.

We see things regarding our personal perceptions.

We manage the way we were managed.

We do not know how to truly motivate our personnel when they are not performing.

All salespeople have the same training. Why do they not perform the same?

Process training, tracking, product knowledge, etc. are all important. But they are not the most important.

We are reactionary.

What does attitude mean? It is the pure science behind selling.

Our current training focus is misplaced at best.

Keep your staff from discussing the things they have no control over.

Create a training calendar that is fluid. Spend an inordinate amount of time on attitude, perception, focus, and belief.

This is not feel-good, kumbaya training. Do not fool yourself. It is vital.

What are the key traits of great managers?

Your attitude is more important than facts.

If you force your system on salespeople without their buy-in, they will go through the motions with no commitment.

We do not like change; it makes us uncomfortable.

We do not like to have crucial conversations.

We do not like confrontation; when it occurs, it spirals out of control.

The bandwagon effect or herd mentality will make you seem like a genius.

Give your team an identity; we all want to belong.

Do not allow senseless complaining.

Is the traditional salesperson dead? How much work is sales the traditional way?

Stay consistent. If it works, it works.

We do not see things as they are; we see them as we are.

First impressions matter; they are hard to change.

Do it with love; it is a four-letter word.

Do you need to be the expert?

Most good salespeople are better at it than we were.

We did not always do it right.

Never forget your roots or how difficult a role salespeople have.

Listen, listen, listen.

Admit your mistakes. The person who is interested in success has to view mistakes as a healthy and inevitable part of the process of getting to the top. If you are not progressing, always look to see if it is a mistake you are making. Telling others about your mistakes and admitting to them frees them to quit worrying about whether you know or don’t. It uplifts you in their eyes.

Ask your team, “What are we missing?”

The Tartar Tribes of Central Asia had a curse they would use on their enemies: “May you stay in one place forever.” Have a personal growth plan.

Invest in yourself, be a continual learner, and create a growth environment for all of your team.

You cannot lead people if you need people.

People quit people, not companies. Sixty-five percent of the people who leave because of a manager.

When a salesperson has a problem with almost everyone, he or she is usually the problem.

Make sure a hammer is not the only tool in your box.

Management is as much relational as it is positional. Knocking down others to keep yourself on top is too much work and too stressful.

---

This is your day

As we journey professionally and personally we will never understand the miracle of life fully. Until we allow the unexpected to happen. Perhaps it’s time to grab the old glove, run back on the field, embrace wholly the life you have and believe again that the best is yet to come.

This is your day. Play ball and Live Inspired.
John O Leary

What if you are the worm?

The early bird gets the worm. The advice we have heard our whole lives. Great advice if you are not the worm. If you are, should you procrastinate to live another day? Do we take the opinion of almost every self-help genius and perpetuate the existence of the bird, at a deep sacrifice for our selves?

Is the worm not significant as well? Eric Thomas tells us we need to out grind our competition. Get up earlier than them and work harder. Adam Grant says the opposite, procrastination can be good.

Martin Luther King wrote his most famous speech at 3 o’clock the morning before he addressed the crowd. Studies have shown that we do better work when the pressure is on. We think of the same old ideas when it is not. Put that pressure on us, and we start thinking out side of our usual box.

Where in the clutter do we find our answer? Out grind our competition. Yes, we do. Procrastinate and come up with better ideas? Yes, we do. Take risks and succeed. Yes we, do. Be careful and succeed.  Yes, we do.

If you are the worm, by all means, procrastinate. If you are the bird, out grind the next bird.

There are times in our lives when we are the bird, other times, we are the worm.

Clear the clutter and live your life. Find a balance. Too much of a good thing is still too much. 

Remember, it’s always the right time and place if you have the right attitude.

What do you plant in your Garden?

Our mind is very much like a garden. We have a choice what we may plant in it. We can plant whatever we choose. Our garden does not care what is planted. It is our decision. Our mind like the garden does not care what ideas we plant in it. If we plant two ideas, one poisonous to our well-being, one vital to our growth and attitude, (remember, our mind does not care.) It will cultivate the poisonous thoughts just as well as the vital ones. With this can emerge two attitudes, woe is me or nothing can stop me. Our mind is far more incredible and mysterious than our garden, yet it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant, success or failure. Concrete, worthwhile goals or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. The laws of nature tell us, “What we plant it must return to us.”

Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor, said: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.”

Disraeli said this: “Everything comes if a man will only wait … a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment.”

William James said: “We need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question were real, and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion that our interests in it will be those which characterize belief.” He continues, “only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.”

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale put it this way: “If you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results.”

George Bernard Shaw said: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

What do you plant in your Garden?

Wrong floor elevator

Last Sunday I got off the elevator on the wrong floor. I went to room 326 and tried my key a few times before I realized my room was 15026, not 10026. As Brian Regan said, “I hate getting off the elevator on the wrong floor? Anyone ever do that, and then you have to turn around and face those people. I feel like I owe everyone in there an explanation.”

Subconsciously we go thru life without thinking. Have you ever pulled into work and remembered very little about how you got there?

Imagine the power over our lives we would have if we harnessed the subconscious thought. We could create our own institutional habits and react to our day subconsciously. The power would be incredible. We could accomplish whatever we choose. We would own our reactions to the world. What we have no control over would not control us.

Remember, it is always the right time if we have the right attitude.

Don’t ask yourself what you want out of life

" What do you believe and what are you willing to struggle for?"

I believe I am a great manager and I will avoid situations that could contradict that belief. I believe I am an amazing sales person, I seek out opportunities to prove that to myself over and over again. I believe I am a motivational speaker. Again, I seek out opportunities to prove that to myself over and over. Belief always takes precedence. We seek out every opportunity to prove to ourselves that we are right.  If we think of ourselves as a failure, our curious mind will find proof.  Whatever we believe ourselves to be or circumstances that put us there, we are.

What we want and what we are. It is up to us.

In his book, Mark Manson tells us,  

“Don’t ask yourself what you want out of life. It’s easy to want success and fame and happiness and great sex. Everybody wants those things. A much more interesting question to ask yourself is, “What kind of pain do I want?”

What you are willing to struggle for is a greater determinant of how our lives turn out.”

" What do you believe and what are you willing to struggle for?"

I hope.

From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

Paraphrased from a speech by Chief Justice John Roberts

And then some

"When we have done our best, we can await the results in peace."
~Unknown

I don't know who said this, but I do know that they were right on target. Let’s look at goals for example. We set goals for many aspects of our lives. It keeps us focused on improvement and the important parts of our lives. Small goals or big goals. Personal, career, spiritual, family, or health.

We set our goals with unbridled enthusiasm. Some we meet, some we do not. There is a great feeling of peace when I know in my heart that what I have given to accomplish my goals is my best. Win or lose, sometimes it does not matter because we become even more prepared for life.

Committing to excellence is not an act, it's an attitude. It's an attitude that is captured in this short thought titled:                  And Then Some.

"And then some...
These three little words are the secret to success.
They are the difference between average people and top
people in most companies.
The top people always do what is expected...
and then some.
They are thoughtful of others; they are considerate
and kind...and then some.
They meet their responsibilities fairly and squarely...
and then some.
They are good friends and helpful neighbors...
and then some.
They can be counted on in an emergency...
and then some.
I am thankful for people like this, for they make
The world a better place. Their spirit of service is
summed up in these three little words...
And then some."

If we carry the attitude of "And Then Some"...throughout our life when our time on earth is almost gone, we will wait for the results in peace.

Slow down sometimes.

I’ve come to realize, more and more, that I’m always rushing.

I rush from one task to the next, rush through eating my food, impatient for meditation to be over, rushing through reading something, rushing to get somewhere, anxious to get a task or project finished.

I think it is not just me it is our society.

We see signs of it everywhere.

Parking at the entrance to the store, it saves you ten seconds. A car races around you, saves ten more seconds only to have you pull up next to them at the stoplight. Walk past all the cashiers for the shortest line only to come back to the first one. Save, save, save. Is it greed? Our time is more valuable than anyone else.

Simon and Garfunkel said it best, “Slow down your moving to fast, you have to make the morning last you.”

At the end of the day, how much time did we really save, and what do we do with all those extra seconds.

Smile, slow down sometimes. It is ok to take your time and just enjoy life.