Making Good Decisions

Too often people don’t make the time and they are not in the habit of asking powerful questions that evoke emotion to and create hope in a better way of working and living.

You cannot go through life on auto-pilot – there needs to be a high commitment to managing decisions that you make and before that can happen, you probably need to make some new decisions. Most decisions that need to be made will begin with and spring forth from an internal, intuitive perspective but without asking new questions, often this internal emotion lies dormant.

Questions that are both heart and head provoking can begin to move an individual to a position of having to make new decisions. I teach a process called Life Planning and here are some examples of questions I use each year as I review my annual Life Plan :

What if…? (I could go home on time. I could save more. I could spend more time with my family. I could get that promotion. I could become self-employeed.) Whatever are my dreams or desires and what if I could achieve these?

How would the person I see myself being in the future be handling the issues of today?

What would need to happen to take my life to a whole new level? My business?

What decision could be made in the next 5-minutes and what action could be taken in the next 60-minutes to create fulfillment and happiness in the (state area) of my life?

What am I not willing to settle for any longer in my life? My business? My finances? My health? My relationships?

Which areas of my life are most stressful for me these days? Why? What hope lies ahead in helping reduce the stress in that environment?

What could I say “no” to today?

New questions serve one key purpose – to make our intuition come alive. They also hit hard in the area of common sense. We all have a “gut” instinct to what decisions we should be making. We all know in our “heart of hearts” the key areas of our business and our life that need new or different choices.

Intuition is always first when it comes to decision-making – the reasoning always comes second. What new questions do is cause those emotions to come to the surface on the important issues that need to be dealt with. Balance is a result of acting on those emotions and reasoning is the process through which the best decision is made. All of our key decisions require facts. And if the facts were understood, we would see how many of our decisions could be altered or fixed. But it all starts with the gut! And because of this, balance is always in flux, a constant process of decision making and managing the decisions made; a process of intuition and integrity. So when we arrive a point where our gut is telling us something, we MUST move on it, balance the emotion of this with facts, the making of new decisions, and then the management those decisions consistently.

In my own personal journey of making and managing decisions, I have learned two very important truths:

1. Intuition is most effective when it is educated
2. Analysis is most effective when it is isn’t over done

Spend the rest of this year asking new questions and coming up with new solutions that will change your life forever.

Purpose: The Driving Force

Purpose is often absent in the lives of most mortgage originators. As I travel across America, I am constantly impressed by the dramatic differences in performance between mortgage originators who have a Compelling Purpose and those who do not.
I want to share with you the gems that I gleaned recently from two very powerful and life-changing books. The On Purpose Person, by Kevin McCarthy is a book that, in less than one hour, takes you step-by-step through a process that will shape your life forever in distinct and enlightening ways. The Art of Virtue, edited by George Rogers, articulates the life-management strategies of Benjamin Franklin. This book also offers incredible new insights and skills for designing a Compelling Purpose into your business and personal lives.

Let’s take a look at the words, Compelling and Purpose. Compelling is the adjective form of the verb, compel, which is from the Latin com — together + pellere — to get or bring about by force. Purpose is something one intends to get or do; intention; a desired result. Putting these two words together creates a very strong concept that is full of empowerment. Compelling Purpose is the use of determination and resolve to focus your efforts to create intended results. With this definition in mind, let’s look at how to develop a Compelling Purpose.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. I find it fascinating that he experienced the same challenges then as you and I are experiencing now. His frustration while pursuing his dreams caused him much confusion and led him to search for the meaning of life. He created a personal system that helped him accomplish many great things, including a place in history as one of the most revered and ingenious men ever.

Benjamin Franklin created a formal game plan for creating outcomes that emanated from a specific purpose. He developed a picture or image of his life that began with his youth and ended with his life’s completion. In effect, he visualized what he wanted his life to be, and then worked to live that life precisely.

While still very young, Ben Franklin developed a “Ladder of Success.” This ladder was a sequence of rungs that he believed people must climb if they are to create fulfilling lives. Each rung is a cornerstone or a launching pad — backed by a compelling purpose from which success would be created predictably.

Benjamin Franklin has 13 rungs to his Ladder of Success. We have highlighted his first right. Think about each one and ask yourself how you are doing in that area of your life.

Rung One: All human achievement rests on the establishment of clearly defined objectives.
Rung Two: The achievement of one’s objectives requires a good plan and consistent effort.
Rung Three: Religion is a powerful regulator of human conduct.
Rung Four: Correct action is dependent on correct opinion.
Rung Five: Motives of personal gain tend to be opposite of one’s true self-interest.
Rung Six: Without honesty, there can be no happiness.
Rung Seven: The proper acquisition and use of money may be a blessing, but the opposite is always
a curse.
Rung Eight: The possession of health makes all things easier. In its absence, everything is more difficult.

The rungs provide an excellent road map for success and for developing a compelling purpose. Let’s explore the development of a compelling purpose as it relates to what you want in the highest priority aspects of your life.

Rung One: All human achievement rests on the establishment of clearly defined
objectives.

Mortgage originators can learn a great deal from Franklin’s philosophy. Without knowing your destination, there is no purpose for the trip. You must see the end from the beginning. As Steven Covey said in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “You begin with the end in mind.”
You cannot expect to get results without specific objectives. You must have a target at which to shoot. Use this article (later) as an exercise to help you determine what you are trying to accomplish in the core areas of your life. Once you have them clearly defined, back them up with a plan and a compelling purpose.

Rung Two: The achievement of one’s objectives requires a good plan and consistent effort.

Most mortgage originators — and most people — operate without a plan. Planning is indispensable to the success of every business. You are a business; plan accordingly. In addition, when you develop lifetime plans, you add even more depth and meaning to your compelling purpose.

This second rung of Franklin’s ladder is a major one for most people. It requires you to become honest and vulnerable. Yet, taking yourself through the process will make you fulfilled and purposeful. Thomas Carlyle said, “The man without a purpose in life is like a ship without a rudder; a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.”

McCarthy suggests, to be “On-Purpose,” you must articulate what you want in life in the areas that are important to you. He called these areas, “life accounts.” Ben Franklin called them virtues. As you go through life, you deposit or withdraw from your accounts. The simple metaphor enables you to see that, when withdrawals exceed deposit, deficits are created in those accounts. When you become overdrawn, you go out of balance or “Off-Purpose.” (Instead of “On Purpose”.) Part of creating a compelling purpose in life is to create life accounts (or virtues) and work at filling them.

This metaphor is useful for helping you create balance in your life. Adding too much to one account can cause a deficit in another. Many mortgage originators work hard to produce “acceptable results,” but in that pursuit, they neglect other areas of their lives. In the long run, this causes an imbalance and causes them to be out of touch with a larger, more meaningful compelling purpose.

Examples of Life Accounts:
• Spiritual
• Physical /Health/Recreational
• Financial/Material
• Family
• Vocational/Career
• Social/Community
• Mental/Intellectual
• Virtues (As Franklin wrote in 1728 — he was only 22 years old)


McCarthy suggests that the first step in becoming an “On-Purpose Person” is to write each of your life accounts at the top of a piece of paper. (You may have five to ten sheets, depending on the number of accounts that are important to you.) Then, under each account, fill in what you “want.” All of your “wants” and “needs” are “deposits” that you will work toward accruing in each account during your lifetime. These are what I call your Core Values and Highest Priority Needs (HPN’s).

For example:

Life Account: Spiritual Fulfillment
Wants:
• Prayer and devotion daily
• Church and Study weekly
• Study one chapter from the Bible monthly
• Model Jesus

Life Account: Health
Wants:
• Maintain 195 lbs
• Aerobic exercise 30 minutes, 4 days per week.
• 25% max fat diet
• 50% water rich foods
• Moderate Alcohol

Life Account: Family Balance
• Monthly partnership meetings for constant growth
• 1 quality time per child, per week
• 3 quality vacations per year
• “I love you” daily
• Phone every extended family member at least once a month
• Vibrancy and fun, supportive and contributing.

Life Account: Financial Security
• Pursue a debt free lifestyle
• Delay gratification Embrace frugality
• Invest to develop $10,000/month income by age 65
• Purchase two vacation homes in locations desirable for renewal

Life accounts are not your Compelling Purpose, per se. They are a vehicle to use to bring clarity and focus to your life. The life accounts exercise empowers you to develop a compelling purpose; one that was developed with a high level of intention.

Franklin summarized this process with: “...but on the whole, though I never reached perfection, I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavor, a better and happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it.”

Now that you understand the concept of life accounts, let me add a little twist. To maximize the impact of your compelling purpose, create a hierarchy of your life accounts. To do this, McCarthy suggests that you “play them against one another.” Here is how to do it: Take a model of a progressive elimination tournament. (See diagram.) It starts off with a wide field. Players compete and, as some are eliminated, the field narrows until there is a winner.

Creating a hierarchy by prioritizing your life accounts can follow the same process. To prioritize your life accounts, number them 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. for as many as you have. Then “play” 1 against 2, and 3 against 4. In that “round” you will only have two winners. Continue this process with all of your numbered life accounts: 5 against 6; 7 against 8, and so on. Eight life accounts will narrow to four; four will narrow to two; and two will narrow to one. You now have a prioritized list of your life accounts. Next, under each life account, prioritize your wants using the same process.


This system creates focus and allows you to be a much better time manager. You will respond to your day’s activities with a renewed purpose; a compelling purpose. Combining Franklin’s first two rungs creates my first Purpose Strategy:

PURPOSE STRATEGY #1
To develop a compelling purpose, you must intentionally decide what you want in life and resolve to adhere to those wants every day of your life.

Rung Three: Religion is a powerful regulator of human conduct.

One strategy that Franklin used to shape his life was the spiritual truth of Christianity. To quote from The Art of Virtue: “In the process of establishing our life objectives (compelling purpose), and planning how to achieve them, we are forced to examine the underlying values that govern our thoughts and actions. It is these values, the estimates of worth we attach to things, that enable us to determine the importance of any given objective, and to establish the price we are willing to pay for it. Inherently religious in nature, all value systems encompass some concept of the divine essence, the purpose of life, and the laws that govern human existence.” Faith in your future creates power in your present. If you don’t have faith in your future, you will be powerless in the present. Spiritual congruency helps you develop the passion necessary to fulfill your compelling purpose.

Rung Four: Correct action is dependent upon correct opinion.

Poor judgment and poor decisions impede human excellence. Most of the problems in life are the result of poor decisions, made by ourselves or others. Bad decisions can generally be tied to misinformation or a lack of information, both of which form wrong opinions. The fact is, correct action is largely impossible without correct opinion and, correct opinion may only be obtained through the acquisition of correct information. The process for gaining accurate and correct knowledge is:

• Possess the desire to know
• Seek out the best information available
• Examine the information thoroughly
• Form an opinion
• Test your opinion
• Compare the resulting actions with your past experience and the experience of others


Benjamin Franklin believed that, in the quest for knowledge, you should not put too much trust in human reason. Too many times, reason is a tool for justification rather than for discovery. To be thought right is sometimes a more compelling ambition than to actually think right. Reason, he discovered, was as easily led by pride and passion as it was by a hunger for truth.

Franklin believed the best alternative is to “think rightly.” He said:

1) Place more value on understanding truth than on what others think of you.
2) Do not invest so much of yourself in an idea that you cannot give it up or be made to see another idea more clearly.
3) Be straightforward in your admission of error when called for.
4) Be the first to admit you do not know and the last to commit to what you cannot deliver.
5) Be honest with yourself. Do not rationalize your actions with unwise or untrue justification.

PURPOSE STRATEGY #2
Knowledge is power! Be an accumulator of information and be careful when forming opinions to immerse yourself into the information without bias or prejudgment.

Rung Five: Motives of personal gain tend to be opposite of one’s true interest.
One of the greatest elements of developing a compelling purpose can be found in Franklin’s fifth rung. If you are motivated by self-interest, you will lose more than you will gain. This is especially true in loan origination. I have talked repeatedly about the law of reciprocity. It states that you should, without condition, give to others freely and willingly; and what you give will come back to you. The inverse is the law of scarcity: if you focus on personal gain, you will end up with less.

As a mortgage originator, ask yourself, “Am I a Giver or a Taker?” Be honest with yourself. What is your focus? Is it getting transactions, making money, and doing deals? Or is it helping prospects succeed by giving them ideas and strategies that will increase their business?

Over 3000 years ago, King Solomon wrote: “It is possible to give away and become wealthy. It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall become rich. By watering others, he waters himself.”

PURPOSE STRATEGY #3:
To develop a compelling purpose, you design your life to give, not take.

Rung Six: Without honesty there can be no happiness.

Part of having a Compelling Purpose is integrity. The loan origination business is too short to live on the line. You must possess honesty that is beyond reproach. Franklin had some profound ideas on this: “The very nature of dishonesty is that we must first practice it on ourselves before we can practice it on anyone else. If we do not discover some ‘good reasons’ to justify our wicked deeds, we will be overcome by pangs of conscience. Being reasonable creatures unwilling to suffer the discomforts of guilt, we often find it easier to lie to ourselves than to be honest with others. Unfortunately, as with other forms of misguided self-interest, the consequences of dishonesty are tragically different than those anticipated.”

PURPOSE STRATEGY #4:
A good reputation is hard to get and with the slip of the tongue can be lost forever. To develop a compelling purpose, live with integrity.

Rung Seven: The proper acquisition of money may be a blessing, but its opposite is always a curse.

Happiness is not rooted in the accumulation of money. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Rungs five and seven have some close parallels, but there are some distinctions.

The major concept in rung seven is that your life must not revolve around the accumulation of wealth. Innumerable men have fallen in the pursuit of riches. Far fewer have been able to stay balanced and centered once they gained wealth. Stay focused on business and frugality and you are assured of wealth, if you want it. Franklin believed that is was better to live usefully than to die rich.
The question arises, “What’s your primary focus as a mortgage originator? Is it to make money or to help others succeed and, in the process, become wealthy yourself?” There is a big difference between the two.

When Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanac, he used it as a vehicle to promote inventions, virtues of industry, and frugality. He had hundreds of inventions and solutions for the men of commerce in his day; all of which he gave away for free in his almanac. He never patented his ideas; instead, he allowed others to gain and no one took advantage of him. He died very fulfilled.

Some sound advice is delivered in a quaint story by Franklin: “I have heard that nothing gives an author so great pleasure as to find his works respectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident I’m going to relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number of people collected at an auction of merchant’s goods. The hour of the sale not having come, they were conversing about the badness of the times, and one of them called to a plain, clean, old man with white locks: “Pray, Father Abraham, what do you think of the times? Will not these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever be able to pay them? What would you advise us to do?” “Friends,” said he, “The taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them, but we have many others and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly. Let us hear the good advice of Poor Richard: God helps those who help themselves.” Franklin said there are three ways to accumulate wealth: Industriousness, Prudence, and Frugality. How are you in each of those areas?

PURPOSE STRATEGY #5:
Pursue true wealth, not monetary wealth.

Rung Eight: The possession of health makes all things easier. In its absence, everything is more difficult.

Energy is the cornerstone of longevity in life and of passion in business. Energy springs from a lifestyle of exercise and eating the right foods. Mortgage originators need massive amounts of energy, but how many of you eat well and exercise regularly? Perhaps no other aspect of life is appreciated more in its absence and less in its presence than health. Franklin believed proper nutrition, adequate exercise, and sufficient rest were paramount to the blessing of good health. Over 200 years ago, he preached and recited the principles of a healthy lifestyle: avoid over-eating and heavy meals, eat vegetables, water-rich foods, and lighter meats; recognize the danger of heavy alcohol consumption; get adequate rest; breathe lots of fresh air; and exercise.

Without your commitment to the preservation of health, you will not be able to be a compelling person or have a compelling purpose. It’s a tough business. The superstars always have more physical and emotional stamina. Commit yourself to a healthy lifestyle. Eat to live, don’t live to eat. Keep your base metabolic rate (BMR) high so that you burn fat, which produces energy. Do this by working out aerobically three to four days per week. Get your heart rate up to 130 to 160 beats per minute, for 30 to 40 minutes each time. This lifestyle will increase your energy by 30 to 40 percent. You will not only feel better, you will feel great!


PURPOSE STRATEGY #6:
Your body is a temple, created by God. Treat it with reverence. I hope these thoughts have been interesting and will be beneficial to you. I believe that as we go through life, we should look for catalysts to help us with our transformations.

Make Failure Your Friend

Principle #6: Self-leadership means learning from your mistakes.

Make failure your friend.

Self-evaluation means nothing if you cannot learn from your mistakes. By confronting your mistakes you take one step closer to becoming the person you are supposed to be. None of us would be anywhere without self-evaluation.

I once heard a coach compare the athlete who can self-evaluate with the one who can’t think past the current play. An athlete who is self-evaluating is usually your captain. He or she is the athlete who understands how mistakes (especially his or hers) affect the momentum and outcome of the game. If an athlete cannot make adjustments during a game, then chances are they will lose. It is the same outside of the game.

In business or in personal life, it’s easy to spot someone who keeps running into the same brick wall. They make the same mistakes because they refuse to learn from their mistakes. In sports it’s the athlete who can make adjustments during play or at halftime or between holes who will typically rise above the competition. Too often when people face defeat, they respond either by never trying again or by continuing their faulty strategy or action.

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said, “When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal,” great advice! Learn from your mistake. Your plan is not sound, so make corrections and get back in the game.

Love that thought!

How To Succeed in LIfe

As a young 22-year old, I came accross this essay published in 1903 in the Pittsburgh Bulletin by Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie is regarded as the second richest man in the history of the US behind John D. Rockefeller. And besides the great rules for living found below, he had the smartest wealth and legacy buidling strategy ever. I give that to you at the end of this BLOG.

Everybody wants to preach to the young, and tell them to be good and they will be happy. I shall not enter far upon that field, but confine myself to presenting from a business man's standpoint of view, a few rules, which, I believe, lie at the root of business success.

First--Never enter a bar-room. Do not drink liquor as a beverage. I will not paint the evil of drunkenness, or the moral crime; but I suggest to you that it is low and common to enter a bar-room, unworthy of any self-respecting man, and sure to fasten upon you a taint which will operate to your disadvantage in life, whether you ever become a drunkard or not.

Second--I wish young men would not use tobacco--not that it is morally wrong, except in so far as it is used in excess and injures health, which the medical faculty declares it does. But the use of tobacco requires young men to withdraw themselves from the society of women to indulge the habit. I think the absence of women from any assembly tends to lower the tone of that assembly. The habit of smoking tends to carry young men into the society of men whom it is not desirable that they should choose as their intimate associates. The practice of chewing tobacco was once common. Now it is considered offensive. I believe the race is soon to take another step forward, and that the coming man is to consider smoking as offensive as chewing was formally considered. As it is practically abandoned now, so I believe smoking will be.

Third--Having entered upon work, continue in that line of work. Fight it out on that line (except in extreme cases), for it matters little what avenue a young man finds first. Success can be attained in any branch of human labor. There is always room at the top in every pursuit. Concentrate all your thought and energy upon the performance of your duties. Put all your eggs into one basket and then watch that basket, do not scatter your shot. The man who is director in a half dozen railroads and three or four manufacturing companies, or who tries at one and the same time to work a farm, a factory, a line of street cars, a political party and a store, rarely amounts to much. He may be concerned in the management of more than one business enterprise, but they should all be of the one kind, which he understands. The great successes of life are made by concentration.

Fourth--Do not think a man has done his full duty when he has performed the work assigned him. A man will never rise if he does only this. Promotion comes from exceptional work. A man must discover where his employer's interests can be served beyond the range of the special work allotted to him; and whenever he sees his employer's interests suffer, or wherever the latter's interests can be promoted, tell him so. Differ from your employers upon what you think his mistakes. You will never make much of a success if you do not learn the needs and opportunities of your own branch much better than your employer can possibly do. You have been told to "obey orders if you break owners." Do no such foolish thing. If your employer starts upon a course which you think will prove injurious, tell him so, protest, give your reasons, and stand to them unless convinced you are wrong. It is the young man who does this, that capital wants for a partner or for a son-in-law.

Fifth--Whatever your wages are, save a little. Live within your means. The heads of stores, farms, banks, lawyers' offices, physicians' offices, insurance companies, mills and factories are not seeking capital; they are seeking brains and business habits. The man who saves a little from his income has given the surest indication of the qualities which every employer is seeking for.

Sixth--Never speculate. Never buy or sell grain or stocks upon a margin. If you have savings, invest them in solid securities, lands or property. The man who gambles upon the exchanges is in the condition of the man who gambles at the gaming table. He rarely, if ever, makes a permanent success. His judgment goes; his faculties are snapped; and his end, as a rule, is nervous prostration after an unworthy and useless life.

Seventh--If you ever enter business for yourself, never indorse for others. It is dishonest. All your resources and all your credit are the sacred property of the men who have trusted you; and until you have surplus cash and owe no man, it is dishonest to give your name as an indorser to others. Give the cash you can spare, if you wish, to help a friend. Your name is too sacred to give.
Do not make riches, but usefulness, your first aim; and let your chief pride be that your daily occupation is in the line of progress and development; that your work, in whatever capacity it may be, is useful work, honestly conducted, and as such ennobling to your life.

To sum up, do not drink, do not smoke, do not indorse, do not speculate. Concentrate, perform more than your prescribed duties; be strictly honest in word and deed. And may all who read these words be just as happy and prosperous and long lived as I wish them all to be. And let this great fact always cheer them: It is impossible for any one to be cheated out of an honorable career unless he cheats himself.

Wealth Building:

Carnegie believed in using his fortune for others and doing more than making money. He wrote:

I propose to take an income no greater than $50,000 per annum! Beyond this I need ever earn, make no effort to increase my fortune, but spend the surplus each year for benevolent purposes! Let us cast aside business forever, except for others. Let us settle in Oxford and I shall get a thorough education, making the acquaintance of literary men. I figure that this will take three years active work. I shall pay especial attention to speaking in public. We can settle in London and I can purchase a controlling interest in some newspaper or live review and give the general management of it attention, taking part in public matters, especially those connected with education and improvement of the poorer classes. Man must have an idol and the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry! No idol is more debasing than the worship of money! Whatever I engage in I must push inordinately; therefore should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in its character. To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly upon the way to make more money in the shortest time, must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery. I will resign business at thirty-five, but during these ensuing two years I wish to spend the afternoons in receiving instruction and in reading systematically!

Principle #5: Self-leadership means evaluating how you are doing in the areas that are important to you.

Make improvement your initiative.

Self-evaluation is not easy to learn, nor is it easy to do. It takes true humility to admit that things may not be going so well—that you are off course. But self-evaluation is a key asset to sound self-leadership. It is something that never really ends, but that continues to develop over time.

My good friend John Maxwell said, “Success is a continuing thing. It is growth and development. It is achieving one thing and using that as a steppingstone to achieve something else.”

In order to achieve and move on to something else, you must be able to evaluate your progress. The strong leaders are the ones who are always making improvements in their personal and professional lives so that one harmonizes with the other.

Achieving professional success doesn’t mean that you’ve arrived, rather, that you’re always moving toward your next project, your next opportunity for success. As Winston Churchill asserted, “Success is never final.”

What about you? Are you simply living for temporary success? A true self-leader is always striving to better their craft, grow as a person, and find success in whatever avenue presents itself.

Make Finishing Your Focus

Principle #4: Self-leadership means completing what’s important to you.

Make finishing your focus.

If you have ever participated in team sports you have probably heard a coach say, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” This is excellent advice—not just for a game, but for life. We all know the person with the ideas; always spinning their web and starting things but never seeing it to fruition. This is poor self-leadership.

This principle dovetails nicely with Principle #3 in that it takes discipline to do what is important to you, but it also takes discipline to see those things through. It has been said, “We rate ability in men by what they finish, not by what they attempt.” So true. You do not get Brownie points for ideas that sit on your to-do list. And you certainly do not receive accolades for the project you started but then shelved for lack of discipline.

The strong self-leader knows how to finish and finish strong.

He is governed by a confident passion that stems from his clear vision of what matters most to him. She is a person of values. Because she has such a clear vision, she knows how to schedule her life in a way that empowers her to achieve tasks designed around her strengths. His clarity and passion are key to finishing a project.

If you want to be coached by the best, then listen to John Wooden: “It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes.”

Make Action Your Asset

Principle #3: Self-leadership means doing what’s important to you.

Make action your asset.

Don’t be the type of person who goes through life living for someone else. When you perform just to please others you can get caught in a trap that steals away your identity. If I went through life always allowing my priorities and passions to be defined by others, I would cease to be the person I was meant to be. I pursue the things most important to me because I believe they were placed inside of me at birth. Throughout my life they have been refined and honed to be what they are today. I do what is important to me because those things define my purpose.

But you cannot keep your eye on the important things in life without a heavy dose of discipline and positive self-speak. You have to live on purpose, striving after your purpose, believing that your purpose matters and will ultimately give you deep self-worth. The teacher in the book of Proverbs said, “He who neglects discipline despises himself” (15:32 NASB).

The wisdom here is simple: if you are not intentional about pursuing what is important to you, then you lack discipline, which makes you a self-despiser instead of a self-leader. This passage by my friend Og Mandino says it all:

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing; and the action, which follows, becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now.

I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have.

Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

Unlikely Heros

You Would Never Have Guessed

Captain Kangaroo passed away on January 23, 2004 at age 76 , which is odd, because he always looked to be 76. (DOB: 6/27/27 ) His death reminded me of the following story.

Some people have been a bit offended that the actor, Lee Marvin, is buried in a grave alongside 3 and 4-star generals at Arlington National Cemetery His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here's a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys? Well, following is the amazing answer:

I always liked Lee Marvin, but didn't know the extent of his Corps experiences.

In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces often in rear echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima There is only one higher Naval award... the Medal Of Honor!

If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialog from "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson": His guest was Lee Marvin... Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima ..and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."

"Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the bottom and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi. Bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys getting shot hauling you down. But, Johnny, at Iwo , I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. That dumb guy actually stood up on Red beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach.. Bullets flying by, with mortar rounds landing everywhere and he stood there as the main target of gunfire so that he could get his men to safety. He did this on more than one occasion because his men's safety was more important than his own life.

That Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends. When they brought me off Suribachi we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me, lying on my belly on the litter and said, "Where'd they get you Lee?" "Well Bob.... if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse!"

Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew.
The Sergeant's name is Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo."

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat-proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long-sleeved sweater on TV, to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.

After the war Mr. Rogers became an ordained Presbyterian minister and therefore a pacifist. Vowing to never harm another human and also dedicating the rest of his life to trying to help lead children on the right path in life... He hid away the tattoos and his past life and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm..

America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did; they quietly go about their day-to-day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedoms that we all enjoy.
Look around and see if you can find one of those heroes in your midst.
Often, they are the ones you'd least suspect, but would most like to have on your side if anything ever happened.

Take the time to thank anyone that has fought for our freedom. With encouragement they could be the next Captain Kangaroo or Mr. Rogers..




Send this on, please. Nothing will happen if you don't, but you will be awakening others to what a HERO is made of...

Make Prioritization Your Passion

Principle #2: Self-leadership means scheduling what’s important to you.
Make prioritization your passion.

If you do not take control of your schedule, it will take control of you. Stephen Covey put it this way: “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities. In this high-productivity world we often forget that there comes a time when we need to unplug. Work spills over into family. Family gets neglected. Stress builds and relationships—the ones closest to you—become strained.

You must learn to schedule time with your loved ones first and foremost. You must be in the memory making business. I have friends who schedule their lunch breaks so that it shows up busy on their calendars. I have other friends who schedule time with their kids during the workweek; when something work-related comes up, they simply fall back on their calendar that says “Football with Billy” or “Lunch Date with Madison.”

My wife Sheryl was amazing about this concept. Today is a hard day for me because 1-year ago, she slipped into a coma on this day. And a week later, she was gone -safely home and free of pain. But in her life, priorities mattered. Her keys to making memories is good advice for us all.

1. Never say no to a memory making moment. If may never present itself again.

2. Take as many pictures as you can and take one night a week to look at them as a family.

3. Become passionate about creating memories by giving cards that people will keep a lifetime.

4. The smallest phrases are the most powerful, and overtime create the most priceless memories.


If you have a family, they are your first priority. Once they are taken care of, then schedule accordingly. Prioritizing is essential to knowing what gets scheduled and what you say no to. The great German writer and philosopher Goethe said it best: “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”

Make sure today you do what matters most before you do what matters least.

Make Each Day Your Masterpiece

You are in the process of creating a masterpiece. Every day there is an opportunity to improve. The most successful people change their lives because they can see the opportunity to change something today. You are an agent of change, and your life and your business are both your responsibility and your opportunity.

As I looked at the autographed basketball in my office and the Pyramid of Success John Wooden gave me, I was reminded that he constantly instructed his players to make each day their masterpiece:

When I was teaching basketball, I urged my players to try their hardest to improve on that very day, to make that practice a masterpiece. Too often we get distracted by what is outside our control. You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut and the key thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow. It is yet to come. However, tomorrow is in large part determined by what you do today. So make today a masterpiece . . . This rule is even more important in life than in basketball. You have to apply yourself every day to become a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little bit better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. Only then will you be able to approach being the best you can be – John Wooden


Masterpieces are created when you make good decisions and then commit to managing those decisions. Both require you to master the art of self-leadership and embrace the importance of self-discipline. How would the person you see yourself becoming in the future be acting today, in the present? I love this question. I ask it of myself often. It brings immediate perspective to each aspect of life. You will never change your life or your business if you don’t manage yourself every day. As Wooden has his pyramid, one of the most famous pyramids is that of Maslow -


You will never move from the base of Maslow’s pyramid to become a fully engaged human being without self-leadership. We will explore this over the next several days.

Sales Mastery 2010!!!!!!!!!

Hi All! Sales Mastery is Back!! I am very excited and I know you will be too!! Check out the following Sales Mastery pages and register ASAP!!



http://www.SalesMastery2010.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sales-Mastery-2010/119664228078744

NEW POST: He's 104

I thought we’d go in a little different direction with this one. You may recall the name Satchel Paige. Today is his 104th birthday, but it doesn’t much matter. He’s a legend. He played professional baseball for 40 years. He finally quit when he was 60, after pitching 3 shut-out innings for the Kansas City Athletics.

I was reading about him in USA Today today and just loved a lot of his musings and quotes, so I thought I’d share them with you.

“Don’t look back. Something might be catching up with you.”

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"

“We don’t stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing.”

“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man that got to be common.”

“Don’t pray when it rains, if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

“You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.”

“I ain’t ever had a job, I just always played baseball.”

“Mother always told me, if you tell a lie, always rehearse it. If it don’t sound good to you, it won’t sound good to no one else.”

Sage advice for us all – except the lie part – but there sure is value in practicing your lines.

Good stuff to think about as you ponder making it to 104 too.

NEW POST: The Cost of Freedom

The 4th of July. This is a good read....

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence ?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants,nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated,but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,
and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many
people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism
is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer,
picnics, and baseball games.

NEW POST: New Beginnings

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, " “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely for it is too dear with hopes and opportunities to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

What Mr. Emerson said is so powerful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


One of my favorite lessons I have wrote was entitled, An Annual Review With You. At the end of the lesson, I included a poem entitled - Beginnings.

Beginnings

Endings are the seeds to beginnings. Tomorrow will come in time.
Even in hopelessness lies a seed of hope,
And even small seeds can climb.

But the little seed has to give up its past
On its voyage to the sprouting tree
Didn’t you ever transcend your life,
Previous visions of who you could be?

Every cloud opens up to the smiling sun,
And the low will soon reach high tide,
Exits and entrances are at the same gate.
Moving through is your ticket to pride.

And two triangles have to surrender themselves to ever become a square.
And every simple discovery in life makes you give up
What you thought was there

Caterpillars will butterfly off the ground. Give up your past to be king.
Horses run best when not looking back. Let go to reach higher things.

You have to give up your discomforts to ever soar in flight.
But isn’t the end of something that’s wrong
The beginning of something that’s right?

So, you stand at the spot where endings begin,
Handcuffed by the past or freed.
One path will take you to where you have been,
The other will set you free.

So pick yourself up like the rising sun, like the wind lifting the silent sea.
Plant a hope in your heart like a seedling in spring
And step forward to your new destiny.

In that spirit - here's a great set of questions to help you do a Mid Year Review With You - consider it a tune-up for excellence.


Introductory Questions:

1. How would you describe the season of life in which you are now? What are its major opportunities and challenges?

2. Looking back over your life, what have been the main chapters in your story so far?

3. Who are the most influential people and what are the defining events of your life?

4. What do you consider your foremost

-satisfactions and accomplishments?

-failures?

-regrets?

-uncompleted projects and dreams?


Actions: Plan a longer “time out” with sufficient opportunity for solitude, reflection, and appraisal.


Faith:

1. How would you identify yourself in terms of your core faith, view of life, moral standards, and believing community?

2. Would you describe your faith as a private part of your life or as decisive for the whole? Something which has stayed much the same or grown and matured with you over the years? Something purely formal or something as emotionally and intellectually deep as you are?

3. Who are the people and what are the resources through which your faith is regularly challenged to deepen and grow?


4. Do you make a practice of taking “time out to review your journey and reorient your life in light of your faith? What does this mean to you?


Action: Consider one single step that would most help to revitalize and deepen your faith.



Giftedness:

1. What do you consider the core of your God-given Talents?

2. How would you describe the moments in our childhood or in later years when you first realized the satisfaction of expressing your own unique gifts?

3. Do you feel your gifts are recognized and fruitfully employed – or neglected, even wasted – at home? At work? In your community? In your faith community?

4. What are the chief goals you would like to serve with your gifts?

Action: From your talents that have not so far come into play as much as others, consider which one you would like to emphasize at this stage of your life.



Relationships:

1. How would you describe the depth, intimacy and richness of your closest relationships – with your family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues?


2. Who are your heroes and mentors in life? What example, inspiration, and challenge do you gain from each? Who are those younger than you for whom you play a mentor/hero role?

3. What regular, practical form do close friends play in your life in terms of fellowship, encouragement, accountability?

4. If your family and friends were asked to describe you in five words, what would those words be? What do you think they would miss?


Action: Put down one thing (for example, an expression of gratitude of an apology) which would most improve one of your closest relationships


Work:

1. Describe how your daily work contributes to a sense of “personal mission” and “life task”. What are the satisfactions and what are the frustrations you experience in your daily activities?

2. What gifts are truly “you” are not brought into play in your job?


3. How much is your sense of identity, status and satisfaction derived from your position and salary? What would be the effect of losing all this tomorrow?

4. What do you see as your sense of calling that links your working life and your life outside work, including retirement, however fare in the future?

Action: Identify one initiative that could improve your work satisfaction, including a possible alternative career track.


Wider Community:


1. What part des the wider community (Neighborhood, city, nation, world) play
in your thinking?

2. Trace the story revealed to you by the ways you spend your time and money. Does this confirm or contradict what you say above?

3. Do you feel a sense of connection and involvement with your faith community and your neighborhood? Why or why not?

4. Describe the part played by your faith community in giving you a sense of the
times in which we live and helping you to participate in wider community affairs.

Action: Consider how you could take your entrepreneurial gifts and use them to contribute to some worthwhile community or nonprofit initiative.


Concluding Questions:

1. What would you say you have accomplished with your life so far?

2. Think back over the dreams, ambitions, and hopes of your youth. How does your present position in life measure up to these?

3. What are the main imbalances in your life that you would like to address?

4. What is the principal legacy you would like to pass on at the end of your life?



Action: Focus on one thing in your like that is missing, wrong, or confused, and decide what to do to improve it.

NEW POST: What I Want My Boys To Say About Me After I'm Gone

I was at the beach last night watching my boys surf. I was thinking about life's magical moments and this was certainly one of those. I was reminded about how important it is to be a parent with purpose. I have made alot of mistakes in my life and learned many lessons about effective parenting. Without question, one of the things that has made the biggest difference is asking my boys to hold me accountable. Weird? Think about it.

We all need accountability, coaching, friendly reminders from time to time, on how we are to live, and honoring comitments we have made. I feel healthy, excited and purposeful in life and yet the other day I went negative in front of my oldest son, Jon. He reminded me of my covenant - "he was a positive man and always looked on the bright side of things." Instantly, my heart and spirit got happy and I smiled. Jon said, "see dad, that wasn't hard".

Here's my point - whether it's a covenant you make with your spouse, kids or your customers, when you go on record saying you will be something or do something, and then share that with key people in your world, they will help you stay on track and stay the course.

Here's what I wrote down when I thought about the legacy my actions would leave for my boys - this is my covenant to them. And by the way, I did the same thing with Sheryl - still too raw to share- but I'm convinced it helped us finish strong and spend 25 years together before she lost her battle to cancer.

Enjoy:

1. He loved God with all of his heart

2. He loved mom and treated her with respect and kindness

3. He always spent time with us – he put us first during his moments at home

4. He was fun to be with and made us laugh

5. He taught us what manhood was all about

6. He prayed with us to ask God into our life

7. He taught us the importance of prayer and scriptures

8. He was a positive man who always looked on the bright side of things

9. He made a difference in our lives

10. We learned from him:

 Honesty
 Gratitude
 Attitude
 Love
 Discipline
 Completion
 Focus
 Honor
 Persistence
 To always be our best


Go ahead! Be bold! Make some promises that will lift you and those you love to a higher level.

NEW POST: Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do

My son Matt was in a weird mood this morning. He seemed a bit overwhelmed. He's twelve. And while life is hard for him having lost him mom to last year to cancer, I couldn't understand his funk. I asked him, "what's up scoreboard?"(his sports nickname which always seems to bring him back) He said, "life feels hard dad". What a statement. So we continued to talk and I found out a bit of what was bugging him and then I said, "You know Matt, tough times never last but tough people do." Then he asked, "how do you be tough?"

As I contemplate my son Matt's situation and reflect on the highs and lows of my own life on and off the job, I forced the question – “How tough am I?” “How tough are you?” And, if tough times never last, then what are you doing to get through whatever tough times you are in. What am I doing?

Here were my thoughts:

Keep your eye on the goal line. Sometimes you have to look beyond the problem to stay inspired and to maintain your hope. There is always a way to get through a situation and I believe it is easier when you stay focused on the end result.

Do less, not more. Don’t overreact in tough times – it’s easy to do. I remember Bob Kriegel who wrote the book, “If it Ain’t Broken, Break It” saying, “A 90 percent passionate effort will always outperform a 110 percent panicked effort.” In the movie, A Bugs Life, the ant coach in the middle of a crisis said, “Relax, we only lost a few inches.” I attached that video file. It's an amazing clip on handling challenges.

When times are tough you have to do the fewest things possible that produce the greatest results. Maybe it’s prospecting the right business partners. Maybe it’s reconnecting with previous customers. Maybe it’s doing business presentations. Whatever your unique circumstance, you must do fewer, but the right high-impact activities.

Measure your progress. Achieving positive momentum is crucial during periods of difficulty. Whatever activities you choose to be involved in during the valleys of your business and your life, measure their impact. Measure them frequently. Measure them daily. Don’t let time go by without having a “reality” check with how the tasks are paying off.

Don’t beat yourself up. We all make mistakes. But tomorrow is a new day too dear with hopes and aspirations to waste a minute focusing on yesterday. Jonathan is my oldest son and yesterday he went 0-3 in his baseball game and missed a fly ball to center in the bottom of the 7th inning, tied 11-11. The other team won. As you can appreciate, he felt dejected. I looked him in the eye and said, “Jonathan, the very best players have good days and bad days. You’ve made great plays. You’ve pitched shut-outs. And you have hit home runs over the fence. You’re a great player and next game you can prove it.” He smiled and said “Thanks Dad.”

Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do

NEW POST: Learning to Surf

Amazing....I told my friends I was learning to surf and asked for advice. Here's the top 10 list. Pretty funny I think.

Top 10 Pieces of Advice for Learning to Surf

1. Don’t fall
2. Protect your nipples
3. If you see a fin coming out of the water, paddle fast
4. Keep your mouth closed
5. Watch out for sharks
6. Advil
7. Make sure you are on water
8. Have fun
9. Pee in your wetsuit for warmth
10. Don’t act like an injured seal

NEW POST: When Real Class Shows Up

The doctor had his TV on in his office when the news of the military base shootings at Ft. Hood , TX came on. The husband of one of his employees was stationed there.

He called her into his office and as he told her what had happened, she got a text message from her husband saying, "I am okay." Her cell phone rang right after she read the message. It was an ER nurse," I'm the one who just sent you a text, not your husband. I thought it would be comforting but I was mistaken in doing so. I am sorry to tell you this, but your husband has been shot 4 times and he is in surgery."

The soldier's wife left Southern Clinic in Dothan , AL and drove all night to Ft.Hood. When she arrived, she found out her husband was out of surgery and would be OK.

She rushed to his room and found that he already had visitors there to comfort him. He was just waking up and found his wife and the visitors by his side. The nurse took this picture.

What? No news crews and cameras? This is how people with class respond and pay respect to those in uniform.

I sent my cousin in Fayetteville , N.C. (Retired from Special Forces) that picture of George W. visiting the wounded at Ft. Hood . I got this reply:

What is even better is the fact George W. Bush heard about Fort Hood, got in his car without any escort, apparently they did not have time to react, and drove to Fort Hood. He was stopped at the gate and the guard could not believe who he had just stopped. Bush only asks for directions to the hospital then drove on. The gate guard called that "The President is on Fort Hood and driving to the hospital."

The base went bananas looking for Obama. When they found it was Bush, they immediately offered escort. Bush simply told them it wasn't necessary; he just wanted to visit the wounded and the dependents of the dead.

He stayed at Fort Hood for over six hours, and was finally asked to leave by a message from the White House.

Obama flew in days later and held a "photo" session in a gym, and did not even go to the hospital.

All this I picked up from two soldiers here who happened to be at Fort Hood when it happened.

This Bush/Obama/Ft.Hood story is something that should be sent to every voter in the US . Those who wanted "change" certainly got it.

NOTE: This is a post and does not necessarily represent all my views, politically or otherwise - but this is how I would define class - Todd Duncan

New Post - What Record Are You Setting?

We all have a record to set! What’s yours?

To be clear, most every record that we would admire didn’t happen overnight. Babe Ruth’s career home run record was a cumulative effort, coming in his 22nd season of play. Hank Aaron’s home run record followed Ruth’s by 39 years and happened in his 21st year of play. Barry Bond’s record of 762 home runs occurred 33 years after Aaron’s and happen in this, his 22nd, year of play.

Hall of Fame Superstar Cal Ripken’s record of most consecutive games played took 15 years to set and followed Lou Gehrig’s record of the same title by over 56 years.

Here’s my point. The big records take time. The big records test our stamina. The big records are the most purposeful. And the big records are the most memorable. And one other very important thing about records is that as soon as they are set, they raise the bar and plant the seed in someone somewhere that they can beat it.

So, what record are you chasing? In the game of life and business, what are the big records you want to set? Is it personal? Is it professional? Is it both? Define it! Describe it! Develop it! Do it!

When I look at people who set records, I see three things:

Passion: Every record set in any endeavor throughout the annuals of history involves a passionate person pursuing a dream. Passion is the fuel that keeps people going when the odds are against them and time is running out. Staying with the sports theme, the best definition of passion is ABC’s slogan in the show Wild World of Sports, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” There are lots of losses in route to the victory of setting a record.

Purpose: Behind every record is a driving force. It’s the one thing the person sees his or her record representing. It’s what we call the “Why”. Why would Danica Patrick want to be an INDY racecar driver? She has set a whole bunch of records already, including the first ever woman to lead the INDY 500. But she has not set the big record yet: She’s not won the INDY 500. She “wants to give women permission to dare to be great”. That’s a driving force; that’s purpose.

Stamina and Resilience: Any record set requires stamina and resilience. Record setters have the energy to keep going. And, when they fail, they have the ability to bounce back. Passion and purpose give you energy and they give you the perspective that there is no such thing as a set-back when going for a record. There is only time, patience and persistence.

We all have records inside us that are waiting to be set. And the big records more often than not are the end of the road of smaller records having been set. Take it one step at a time. Know that every day you get a chance to succeed. With that in mind, what’s your next record?

Spend One Day Single Tasking

I love helping people be productive.

One of the traps I outline in Time Traps is The Organization Trap: Wasting Time Juggling Unecessary Tasks. The biggest challenge with productivity is focus. And, multi-tasking actually dilutes performance, rather than improves it. Single tasking is the new strategy of the day. You get more done. You are more focused. You create higher quality. You are more efficient! And, in the commission world, you make more money.

One of my friends is best-selling author Tim Sanders. His newest book, Saving the World at Workhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_10?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=tim+sanders+-+saving+the+world+at+work&sprefix=tim+sander is a great read and he is all about productivity and health in the workplace. This was a post he had recently and I thought I would share it with you.

Today I was almost run over by a distracted driver. She was talking on her cell phone, fiddling with the radio and balancing a cup of Starbucks as she drove. A drunk driver would have been less dangerous.

A few years ago, when working at Yahoo, I saw a distracted manager slowly strangle his group with ineffectiveness. He never did one task at a time, no he was a multi-task master. He grazed on email, surfed the web, hacked away at a spreadsheet and talked on his speakerphone -- all while meeting with his direct reports. He thought he was being super effective, in fact he was hopelessly dilluted (or deluded).

Do you really think that driving is a no-brainer, leaving you excess capacity to spend on a cell phone call? (which is also illegal) Do you really think that your work projects are so easy that you can do them in your sleep? Do you really think you have the mental strength to try and juggle several tasks with freaking out?

Stop multi-tasking. Let it go. For one day, I suggest next Monday, single task everything you do. If you are going to check email, schedule that time and ONLY do that. If you have a meeting, leave all devices and stray thoughts at your desk and fully pour your attention into the meeting. Working on a report? Just do the report and turn off your email client or web browser. Most likely, you'll find that your work is much better when you single task. Try this when you drive too. Just drive. We'd all appreciate it.

New Post - Courage

Hope calls us to confidence.

Courage is available to all.

We must learn and appreciate what matters.

I took the word courage and built an acrostic from it.

Webster says courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. Nelson Mandella once said, "I learned that courage was not the abscence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

Courage is a good thing when you see it this way:

Confidence matters - the more of it you have the easier it is to take action

Optimism matters - the more of it you have the better your outlook on any action

Understanding matters - the more about any action you know, the easier decisions will be

Relationship matters - the right ones help you make better decisions when faced tough choices

Giftedness matters - being in your strength zone helps you to go further in any endeavor

Empowerment matters - you can never do it alone - others can help you through tough times

Stay focused on your purpose and you can get through any challenge.

NEW POST - ADVERSITY

Life on the Wire is about balancing through life's challenges and adversity. My friend Dario Castiglia who is the Regional Director for RE/MAX Italia sent this to me and I like it alot.

In order for us to win in life, we must push through the adversity we face. Without facing it, we are poorly prepared for winning. The truth is most of us don’t welcome adversity like a long-lost friend. We don’t embrace with passion the pain and setbacks that occur.

Alfred Russell Wallace was a famous botanist of the late 1800s. One day, Dr. Wallace was observing an Emperor butterfly struggling through the life and death adversity of escaping its cocoon. He wondered if he assisted the butterfly in its exit, what effect that would have on the butterfly. With a knife, Dr. Wallace made an incision the length of the cocoon that allowed the butterfly to exit the cocoon with ease. The butterfly emerged from its cocoon, spread its wings, and died. The butterfly did not have to encounter adversity in struggling to exit the cocoon. Through the struggle, the butterfly would have grown in strength. Since it failed to struggle and grow, it did not have the strength necessary to survive.

We often try to make incisions in our challenges and take the easy route. We take the quick exit as this butterfly did and fail to acquire the strength to compete. We often take the easy route to improve our sales skills. We never really work to achieve mastery in sales. To study, practice, craft scripts, and build solid presentations around skills is truly what a sales master would do regularly. It’s very easy to take the incision route of websites, virtual tours, more advertising, lower commissions, unlimited access for our clients and prospects, and many other tools when the market becomes more competitive. When we really have to exit the cocoon without the incision, we die in our cocoon. These tools can be very useful to our career, but they do not replace the skills we need to acquire to compete over the long term.

These skills of discipline, practice, study, qualifying, and presentation are only acquired through facing adversity by trial and error, success and failure. We must focus; learning to be the best in these skills will enable us to be sales masters. Going through the motions is not good enough. Michael Jordan, when asked about why he practiced so hard, said, "I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat." He was clearly there for a purpose-to prepare, so he could win. He was there to help his teammates prepare to win. George Allen, head coach for the Washington Redskins in the 70s, said, "Winning can be defined as the science of being totally prepared." The skills you need in order to achieve mastery in sales take practice and preparation. The only way to win is to practice. Most people don't win because of better equipment; they win by facing adversity to gain strength and skill. They win through preparation. Does Tiger Woods win because of his golf clubs or golf ball? Tiger could probably play with a K-Mart special set of clubs and tear up the golf course? It's the skill that sets him apart. Strength comes from struggle, not from taking the path of least resistance. Adversity is not just a lesson for the next time in front of us. Adversity will be the greatest teacher we will ever have in life.

Take a quick look at your skills. Are you investing enough time in the improvement of those skills? Let’s take a quick test. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being very poor and 10 being world-class, rate yourself in these 5 basic sales discipline areas.
1. Prospecting
2. Qualifying
3. Daily practice commitment
4. Lead follow up
5. Managing Objections

How did you do? What area needs the most attention? Make the commitment to spend one hour a day to improve the biggest need areas now! Take out your day timer and write an hour in daily to refine or practice or create what needs to be improved.

We all have areas where we fall short. We all fail at times. Abraham Lincoln said, “My great concern is not whether you have failed but whether you are content with your failure". It’s easy to ignore the failure of our skills and blame it on new technology, the market, other Agents, and our broker. We all have prepared and rehearsed reasons that don’t include us. 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 circumstances or outcome do you want? What do you need to do to make them happen? They will not be achieved without working through adversity. You will have to sweat and struggle. It will be worth it in the end. The skill that you acquire will be permanent.

Ultimately, you will be able to say, “It’s not what happens to me that matters but what happens in me.” – Victor Frankl.

Email Solutions for Business Professionals

Without question, when I do seminars based on the material in my New York Times Best Seller, Time Trapshttp://www.amazon.com/Time-Traps-Strategies-Swamped-Salespeople/dp/B000GYI1GU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272044184&sr=1-3, the number one question I get asked is “How do I deal with email?” The answer is pretty straight forward, “Manage It”.

Mr. Webster tells us that management is handling, controlling, directing. So here are my thoughts on how to do that:

Count the minutes – 100 emails a day @ 3 minutes – that is a whopping 5 hours a day. How much is that costing you?

• Divide your yearly income by 120,000 to get your per minutes wage, which is 250 8-hour days. If you earn $120,000, then your per minute wage is $1.00 per minute. So if you are spending 300 minutes a day on email, that’s $300 per day, or $75,000 a year that being consumed by email is costing you. If you make $240,000 a year, then you can do the math. So how do you manage it?



• Another way to look at this is simply "what would you do with that extra time if it were not consumed by email?"

Check messages at certain times – I check mine at 9:15, 11:15, 1:15 and 2:45. My assistant checks them at 9, 11, 1, and 2:30. By the way, there is no audible sound or a preview pane when a new message arrives because I don’t want to be distracted. She handles everything I can't or don't need to handle.

Make your subject line the message – this forces short and to-the-point communication.
If you need more message content, make the e-mail less than one page – the shorter, the better. Increase your font size to make the message more reader friendly and fill up the page more quickly.

Stop forwarding – start over. This is one of the most important strategies there is. Hundreds of minutes are wasted every year by forwarding forwards and then having to read the threads. While you are at it, stop Replying to All. Up to 80% of Reply to Alls do not need to be read by the people who were copied in the first place.

If you have to forward, indicate to each person why you have. In the body of the email:
i. KEN: I am forwarding this to you because of the expense issue
ii. JIM: I am forwarding this to you because of the operations issue
iii. AMY: I am forwarding this to you because of the calendar issue

Use a paper and pen for a response list then delete the email. Sometimes the best way to handle technology is not to use it. I have a pad next to my keyboard and when I look at emails, I simply write who, and what then delete the email. If it is complex, I print the email first then delete it. Everyday I want to end the day with less than 5 emails left in my in-box

Print out action emails and file into the appropriate folder. My personal rule is that when I check emails, if I can deal with it in less than 30 seconds, I do it then. If it is more complex, I print it out and I have a folder that is marked “Profit” and a folder that is marked “Process”. The Profit folder helps me make money and the Process folder helps me with knowledge and efficiency. The print outs are filed as I go and then I act on them in accordance with my Time Blocking Schedule. If you want to master the art of filing and create massive order in your life and business pick up a copy of David Allen's book, Getting Things Done.http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272046172&sr=1-1

Make action requests clear: "Please let me know by 12:00 tomorrow what you’d like me to do." "Let’s clear this up by the end of business tomorrow." "If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I will assume we are good to go." If you are not clear on your end what you want you will get exactly what don’t want.

Ignore it – let’s face it – some emails can be safely deleted immediately.

April 15

I love today
by Todd Duncan

OK – maybe that’s not entirely true. But even though I had to write a couple of checks today for my share of taxes, it sure reminded me that things could be worse. I could be unemployed. I could be homeless. I could be dead. No, thankfully, I am none of those things, and I feel blessed. I know it’s not like that for everyone – but one thing is for certain, this life we have been gifted is a journey of the most significant kind, never to be taken lightly and always to be seized for the opportunity it presents.

I am writing a book of Toddisms – just a working title. These are the things I say and that people write down – I guess that means they like the words, and more importantly, the meaning of the words. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. If you don’t know what’s important you will do the things that aren’t.
2. If you want to be great, pick a date.
3. Small steps over time give you big results in time.
4. If you don’t do something differently, you will be then where you are now only later.
5. It is never a matter of if, only when.
6. Go with your strengths; don’t try to put in what God left out.
7. Your direction is more important than your perfection.
8. The best times pull up is when you are on your way down.

Which one is your favorite? Which one gets you thinking a new way?

I have made a decision that I will spend the rest of my life helping people navigate the challenges they have in their life and that is why sharing these quotes with you is important. Since my first book, The Power To Be Your Besthttp://www.amazon.com/Power-Your-Best-Todd-Duncan/dp/1595553347/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271363000&sr=1-6, I have thought that would be my ultimate direction. But arriving at a point today that it is my new life’s purpose is invigorating and defining.

In my new book, Life on the Wire: Avoid Burnout and Succeed in Work and Life,http://www.amazon.com/Life-Wire-Avoid-Burnout-Succeed/dp/078521898X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271363000&sr=1-5 hits the book stores on Monday.

I’m very proud of this book and I hope you will read it. I wrote a press piece for it today and I want to share it with you for the balance of this post.

Falling in an uncontrolled spin seemed like a nightmare. Was I dreaming or was it real? I sold my company, and then I was fired. I had a savings account, and then it was gone. My house had equity, but now it had evaporated. My retirement was around the corner, and then I learned I had to keep working. My wife was healthy, and one year later she was gone – cancer. When I awakened, it was real, not a dream, and I realized I was walking the high wire. This was life on the wire and I was desperately trying to stay balanced in a world out-of-control.

How about you? How are you doing? Is everything going ok? How’s your world? Are both feet firmly planted on the ground with a sense of confidence about tomorrow, next week and next year? Or like many, are you feeling the wire wobble as you try to navigate your next steps in life’s important areas. Odds are that something is out of whack, and that if it’s important to you and to those you love, you are trying to figure out the next step, literally, before you fall.

Choose anything – Unemployment is at 9.5%, the highest since Ronald Reagan was President in 1982. For every 6 American’s looking for a job, one exists. Real Estate values of fallen by as much at 77% in some markets in 24 months. One out of every two-hundred homes will be foreclosed upon. Divorce rates have been steadily climbing and one in two will fail. Personal bankruptcies are up by 34% since 2008. And our children will bear a 900 billion dollar a year tab to pay for the debt service the proposed economy, including health care, will cost by 2020.

Don’t fret – this may sound like a foreign language to you – this is the new normal. The only difference is the people who get through this topsy-turvy moment in time in one piece choose the imbalance as a strategy for balance. They may not have asked for it, but it happened. Now it’s time to harness the positivity of a challenged life to seek a greater level of purposeful imbalance – chaos by design and maybe by default. To ignore the opportunity to grow, change, re-prioritize, fix and focus on the good from the bad is to simultaneously decide to “go down in flames.” And, sadly, too many people are choosing this route.

Famed tightrope walker Tine Walled and his family, the Flying Wallendas, have been walking on high wires without nets for nearly a century. When asked how he maintains balance on a wire with nothing but earth beneath him, Tito gently corrects the assumption: “The reality is that you are never actually balanced; you are constantly making small adjustments—moving back and forth—and it’s those constant movements that keep you on the wire. The truth is, if you stand still, you fall.”

The same is true of harmonizing our personal and professional worlds. You are never actually balanced, nor should you try to be. To ensure a more harmonious existence, you must keep yourself moving—carefully teetering and tottering between work and life activities. Like a tightrope walker, you must regularly make adjustments back and forth to keep yourself standing. The key is being purposeful; having sound reasons for everything you do.
The point is that both big and small adjustments are inevitably necessary to maintain work/life harmony. And you cannot be the victim. You must be your own personal super hero, and then the super hero for the people in your life who matter, maintaining among the most important virtues, a sense of perspective – this too will pass.

Eventually the seasons will change. An inevitably something else will come up. This is the natural flow of harmonious living: giving and taking, back and forth between personal and professional activities. Thus, purposeful imbalance—not perfect balance—is the only way you can achieve a gratifying work life without decimating your personal life, and a gratifying personal life without abandoning your career aspirations.

The strategies for getting through tough times vary. But they exist – here’s a few:

• Slowing down is a good idea before you speed up. Assess where you are at. Don’t panic. Look at all the opportunities that exist and decide the one alternative that will give you relief, and allow you to advance more confidently. The key to turning anything around is to get momentum going on your side.

• Cherish what you have lost and embrace what you still have. Maybe your money is gone, but your health and the gift of your life are not. Maybe your spouse has died but the gift of your children remains and her foundation will benefit millions. Maybe you have been fired, but the gift of your skills is still your great asset and someone will always pay you for your skills

• Simply your life to alleviate your stress. Too much going on is not good for navigating tough times. Reducing spending and debt gives you financial breathing room. Moving from two sports to one per child cuts you effort by 50% per child. Enlisting your spouse and building your creative team will yield new ideas and solutions. Downsizing, rightsizing, and emphasizing a simplified life is often the catalyst for the breakthrough you need. Remember, this is temporary.

Henry David Thoreau once said, "If man advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life he's imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. New and more liberal laws will be his and he will dwell with the licenses of a higher order of being."

I think he had it right. Tomorrow is a new day and one thing is for certain; if you keep moving you will get to the other side!