Get Tougher, by Jock Willink

When people think of the words "mind control," they think of people controlling the minds of other people.

Not me. I think about controlling my own mind.

I control it.

How do I do something? DO IT!

How do I get up earlier? GET UP EARLIER!

How do I stop eating sugar? STOP EATING SUGAR!!

How do I work out every day? WORK OUT EVERYDAY!!

It's all about controlling my mind.

It's all about being tougher.

How do I get tougher? BE TOUGHER!!!

I have to have control over my mind. I have to assert it.

I have to decide that I am going to be in control, that I am gone Ng to do what I want to do.

Weakness doesn't get a vote. Laziness doesn't get a vote. Sadness doesn't get a vote. Frustration doesn't get a vote.

Negativity-doesn't-get-a-vote."

- Jock Willink

“Whining and bitching about traffic, weather and slow computer? STOP WHINING AND BITCHING

Traffic a problem? LEAVE EARLIER 

Don’t like the cold weather? MOVE FARTHER SOUTH. 

Weather too hot? MOVE NORTH 

Computer or internet slow? BUY A MORE POWERFUL COMPUTER or GET MORE BAND-WIDTH.

Take ownership of your life.

Someone didn't do something they were supposed to do for you? TAKE OWNERSHIP, LOOK INSIDE YOU. WHAT WORDS WERE YOU SAYING TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS?

STOP LOOKING FOR WAYS TO BE OFFENDED"

- Danny L. Smith

The 3 Most Important Things in Networking

Follow-Thru

Follow-Thru

Follow-Thru

Entrepreneurs of Life, by Os Guinness

As Entrepreneurs of Life, we respond to the call of our great Creator,
By seeing all life as an enterprise transformed by his call to “Follow Me.”
We therefore count the cost, consider the risks,
And set out on each day as a venture to multiply our gifts and opportunities
In order to bring glory to God and add value to this world.
In so living, we find the fullest meaning of our lives in answering the call,
We seek our identity solely in our naming by the Caller,
We pursue excellence defined as “My utmost for the His highest,”
We count our deepest companionship among our fellow-followers of the Way,
We look for final approval only from one audience – the Audience of One,
We break down every false barrier between eh sacred and the secular, weaving all life into a seamless
web of faith and love in action,
And we work for no other accomplishment or legacy than the Caller’s own “Well done,”
The menial and humdrum we elevate because of the one for whom it’s ultimately done,
The dangerous and sacrificial we bear as the privilege of high calling,
The siren sounds of ease, success and popularity we shun for a trusthworthier voice,
And the temptations of conceit coming from being so chosen we answer with a gratitude humbled by
graced because we have been chosen at all.
Thus we are fully engaged in the world on realistic terms, but empowered by vision and energies from a world that is unseen but even more real and realistic.
In all things, and in all the vicissitudes and seasons of life,
We know that, primarily, we are called not to somewhere or something but to Someone,
That there is no true calling without the Caller,          
That calling is not only being who we are but becoming what we are to be,
That no self-made goal can ever rival the Ultimate Why of the mystery of the Creator’s purpose for
each of us as his creatures,
That we will never rise higher than when we follow the call not knowing where the path may lead –
so long as the Caller is God,
And that while we may lose our jobs and our health, or retire from a career, we will never retire from our calling – until that Final Call, which is death, leads each of us to the climax and consummation
of all calling.
For on that day, for the first time, we will not need to listen only a word; we will see the Caller face to face and find ourselves in our Father’s home forever.
In the meantime that is our journey until our life’s last day, the passion of our lives is to go further, higher, deeper, always closer to the One who called us once and calls us still – to Himself, and to all the joys that knowing him can mean.

– Os Guinness

Productive and Creative

Matt Perman points out in his book "What's Best Next" that

- God wants us to be productive 

- God created us to be creative

Thoughts led to to 'Water From a Deep Well'

I enjoy where my journaling leads me. This morning it was to Gerald Sittzers' book Water From A Deep Well.  

These are Sittzers' words....

Introduction 

Page 18: Every generation of believers faces the risk of becoming a prisoner to its own myopic vision of the Christian faith, assuming that how it understands and practices faith is always the best. C.S. Lewis cited this problem as a reason for reading old books. "None of us," he wrote, "can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books," for modern books (as well as the ideas and practices they convey) only tell us what we already know and thus reinforce our blind spots and prejudices.

History will show us that there is more to the Christian faith than what we think and have experienced.

Page 20: Augustine once wrote that the only way to understand something is to love it first, that is, to study it with sympathy, patience and appreciation.

Page 23: The purpose of this book, after all, is to explore the diversity of Christian spirituality. Still, however diverse these various traditions are, there is an underlying truth that unites them. From the apostolic age to the present, the vast majority of Christians have believed that God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is both divine and human, and that God is therefore one in community. My goal is to explore how these various spiritual traditions - ascetic, monastic, sacramental, evangelical and the like - reveal who God is, how we can know him intimately, and what we can become in and through him.

------

Back to me, Danny. 

Good stuff!! Reading these 9 year old notes is a great reflection. I can see how it's shaped some of my thoughts today. 

My coach, Dave Moore, assigned this book. I listened this morning to Matt Perman talk about roles and routines (in What's Best Next) and that shaped thoughts for my journaling which led to looking for another book Moore assigned to me about routines. 

That search led to Sittzers. 

It's a journey!

Has God Given You A Vision? by Tim Hetzner

Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. Habakkuk 2:2 When God gives you a vision for your life, write it down, keep it before you at all times and run with it. You say, ‘But I see no way for it to come to pass.’ The Bible says, ‘The vision is yet for an appointed time ... wait for it; because it will surely come’ (v. 3). You may not know how to get from where you are right now to where the vision will ultimately take you - but God does. So ask Him to reveal the next step to you. Whether you’re in prison like Joseph, in a soup kitchen in the inner city, or at home taking care of small children, God will fulfil the vision He placed in your heart. The more you see yourself leading in the boardroom, launching your own business, serving in ministry, writing your first book, or helping others through your gifts, the sooner it’ll become a reality. Before a vision becomes clear, God gives us glimpses of it - like a picture developing from a soft hue into sharp resolution. So take your vision and run with it. Let it motivate you to perform to the best of your ability in your present position, while staying in communication with the One who knows and loves you best. Today pray ... Prayer Lord, I know that where I am right now, isn’t where You’re taking me. Give me glimpses of Your vision for my future, so that my understanding may grow in accordance with Your timing. Give me patience along the way and faith to trust that You’re always working for my good. Amen. The above devotion was written/compiled from multiple sources by Tim Hetzner, President of Lutheran Church

5 Productivity Questions to Ask Yourself Each Morning

I spend a bit of time of time each morning praying, journaling  and thinking into my day; how do I want it to go, what are my intentions and goals for the day, and I ask myself a few questions.

A training call I was on this week gave me a new way to look into my productivity. In the spirit of "What's Best Next" (the book), here are some questions I've started asking myself -

1. Where is my time being best invested?

2. Where is my time being mostly wasted?

3. What do I need to spend more time doing?

4. What do I need to spend less time doing?

5. If I invested my time more wisely, what would it mean to me?

Thanks to Caliber Home Loans for the training and www.DougSmithOnline.com for the information.

Treating everyone fairly and justly...

Traditional marketing focuses on the masses, treating everyone the same. 

Guerrilla marketing treats everyone fairly and justly by treating everyone differently. 

Guerrilla marketers come to understand and practice win/win relationships.  

Guerrilla marketers think about their prospect's behavior and how to best relate with them. If you, the marketer, have a High D temperament, but your  prospect is a High C, your marketing "output" is naturally different that your prospects "input." You tend to be direct, to the point. You want to move through the process and get it finished so you can move on. Your High C prospect wants details, details and more details. The High C wants time to think through the details, ask questions and insure he gets good answers. 

If haven't taken a DISC assessment in the past year and would like to learn more about your temperament, email me at Danny@DannyLSmith.com for a link to a free online DISC.  

Danny L. Smith

512-773-6528

"The top 1% of successful entrepreneurs build themselves ahead of their business."

BookPoints - "Give and Take," by Adam Grant - intro comments

Who Flourishes the Most, givers or takers?

If you insist on a quid pro quo every time you help others, 

you will have a much narrower network.

- Adam Grant

Motivation and opportunity are two things highly successful people have in common with each other.

But what about what-we-give-to and what-we-take-from others?

In his book "Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success," Adam Grant (Wharton School prof) lays out how he's identified and accessed what causes people to be most, and least successful.

According to his years of research, the top 3rd most successful people (across many industries; doctors, engineers, sales, attorneys, teachers...) are GIVERS.

That's right, the top 3rd are GIVERS.

So are the bottom 3rd.

In the middle are the Takers and Matchers.

You can learn the difference in the top and bottom thirds in this podcast, click here for Podcast: https://youtu.be/Dcfk89LKfjo

The Eight-Word Mission Statement

Venture capitalist Kevin Starr insists that companies he funds can express their mission statement in under eight words. They also must follow this format: "Verb, target, outcome." Some examples: "Save endangered species from extinction" and "Improve African children's health."

The mission statement is a key part of  Star's approach, but it's not the only part. Once the mission statement is establish, Starr insists that companies that get investment "measure the right thing" and "measure it well.

It takes that kind of clarity and brevity to attract investors and to keep your own team's eyes on the prize, he explains. read more at Harvard Business Review online.

Everyone Sells...Unlock the Salesperson In YOU!!!

Everyone sells. EVERYONE.

The dad telling everyone how cute the new baby is...he's selling.

The applicant in an interview....she's selling.

The daughter begging dad to drive his car...selling.

Did you tell someone about a movie and say "you've got to go see..".....selling.

How good of a sales person are you?

The young man walking his date up to her door for a goodbye kiss....selling. The lady shopping and asking for a discount, for whatever reason...she's selling.

How many times did you ask for something today? You were selling everytime. Did you talk about a candidate and why you like one over another? You were selling.

Call it what you want, you were trying to get someone to do what you wanted. I t  i s  c a l l e d  S.E.L.L.I.N.G....period-the-end...selling.

Do you work with others in an office, or talk to customers about ANYTHING? selling.

Stop lying.

To another place

Someone posted recently about how quick they can “go to another place” when reading a book.

Me too. Or listening to certain music, a video on Facebook about running the slalom course (water)…there a real triggers that take me to other places.

John Maxwell talked about it in his “Law of Environment.” In a sense, Zig referred to it when he said “we’d be the same 5 years from today as we are today except for what we read, listen to and who we associate with.”

I just finished the book “Living with a Seal” by Jesse Itzler and I’m running more and doing push-ups. I also realize how much of a wimp I am! Good grief. Even before hiring Seal to live with him for 30 days, Itzler was close to insane.

Another place…….to reach my goals, I know I can’t get to these things I’ve never done before without changing. I need to get to another place.

It starts with what I think about that other place, first getting there.

#OnwardToUpward

John Maxwell's "Characteristics of a Positive Growth Environment"

1. Others Are ahead of You

2. You Are Continually Challenged

3. Your Focus Is Forward

4. The Atmosphere Is Affirming

5. You Are out of Your Comfort Zone

6. You Wake Up Excited

7. Failure Is Not Your Enemy

8. Others Are Growing

9. People Desire Change

10. Growth Is Modeled and Expected

Procrastination. Just that.

We all do it. We put off starting a project, dealing with an unresolved conflict, fulfilling an obligation,
improving our health, or taking a class to improve our job skills. Fundamentally,
procrastination is a decision one makes, consciously or unconsciously, to delay
getting into action due to some underlying fear or concern.

Some people are naturally starters while others are finishers. In either case,
procrastination can cause problems. Can. It can not also, but that's a different subject.

Persistent procrastination can drain one’s energy and result in nagging feelings of
guilt, diminished self-confidence, missed opportunities and anxiety.

Procrastination is common reason for performance problems in the workplace,
and persistent procrastination can restrict one’s career progression or even pay
raises. Moreover, the cumulative effect of procrastination on an organization can
negatively impact the bottom line, considering today’s fast paced business
climate and the need to continually improve the organization’s products and
services.

So, why Do People Procrastinate?

There are a number of reasons people procrastinate, and a person who
procrastinate may do so for more than one reason. A few of the most common
reasons are:

- Task Complexity – the task seems daunting, and one doesn’t know where to begin.

- Under-Developed Organizational Skills – the skills required to plan and
orchestrate the sequence of activities’ needed are absent.

- Resentment about complying with the wishes of others – if it’s not one’s own
idea or if the task is not a result of willing participation.

- Perfectionism – hold unreasonably high standards, and being fearful they might not
be met.

- Time Crunch - the task will require the commitment of large blocks of time, and these
are not easy to arrange.

- Fear of Failure, or Fear of Success – either way, fear gets in the way of getting
started, and often.

- Task Saturation - there are simply too many things on the agenda to do, so it’s hard
to get started on any one of them.

- Diversions and Distractions – focus and attention are difficult to sustain because
the environment is not controlled.

To that end....

Results. Making an I.M.P.A.C.T - a series of things I do...out-in-front

Results, targets, goals, intentions....what is it I want to get done in the future.....this morning, today, next month, the rest of the year?

The most important thing I know I can do is the "Think into those results, with I.M.P.A.C.T" -

What IDEAS do I have about getting those results?

I MEDITATE (pray) on my ideas and the results I want.

I PROPOSE QUESTIONS to myself about the choices, behaviors, actions, causes and circumstances that could bring about those results.

I ANALYZE & ACT - how it’s work for me in the past. What did I do right? Wrong? What needs to change? I do something even if it’s wrong (anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until I can learn to do it right!).

Continuously Create the Right Environment / CONQUER the gremlins! We all have them. My environment includes everything around me at all times. It can't always be right, but I can control the majority through what I read, listen to, watch and the people I hang-out with. I pour positive self-talk into my head (to drown out the gremlins). I try to be conscious of what I'm saying when I talk to myself and what I'm saying to others. And what I'm hearing others say. Fight the demons..!

TRANSCRIBE (journal) my thoughts…my ideas…the results I want. I'm not sure the rest of this makes any difference without a discipline of writing down what's in your head.

13 Choices to Achieve Sustainable Results

 If you limit your choices to only what seems possible 

and reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you

 truly want , and all that is left is compromise - Robert Fritz

1.     I’ve got to choose to have the right mindset

2.     I’ve got to choose to have the right support and higher expertise

3.     I’ve got to choose to have a robust evaluation and correction system

7 Reasons to Stop Being a Perfectionist

Krista Jezek shared this with me a few years. She got it off a discussion on LinkedIn and I've Googled looking for the original source but it seems the list has been around for some time and lot's of credits.

Here's the list (and please let me know if you know who originally came up with it)..

1. Perfectionism causes procrastination
2. You get caught up in the details
3. Perfectionism doesn't allow you to be yourself
4. Perfectionism set you up to need others' approval
5. Perfectionism causes you to be in a constant state of stress, because you’re always trying to meet your perfect standards
6. Perfectionism stops you from taking a risk
7. Perfectionism stops you from picking up the phone
   
   To that end..........#BuildItOutInFront

Failure Has Benefits....

One of the best books I've even "not" read is Maxwell's Failing Forward. 

I haven't read it, know I should, but have it and I have reviewed it. I've also read numerous quotes John's made about it. (I'm pulling it out to put in my 'need to read soon' stack)

My friend John Griffin told me our mutual mentor Paul Martinelli hit him with the Success Cycle recently: Test, Fail, Learn, Improve, Re-Enter. (I have that written on a post-it note inside my daily planner and look at it numerous times a day)

Personally, I think action around "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can learn to do it well" will propel one towards an incredible amount of getting things done. Add the Success Cycle and the possibilities are endless. 

Ha! Failure! It's an event, not a person. Most of us just don't get that. We don't know how to make failure work for us.

Friend and colleague Hurdie Burk were talking about his Business Warrior initiative and I was drilling him on his intentions for the group and whether I was willing to invest the time and money. Hurdie knows success isn't just about moving forward, it's about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and trying it again.

Needless to say, he nailed it because I can't wait for his new group to start.

And to add value, he then sent me the Google post...The Surprising Benefits of Failure. 

To that end.............#BuildItOutInFront

The Flea Trainer, by Zig Ziglar

DLS note. Zig continues to so greatly influenced my life, long after his death. One of my favorite of his many stories is this one.....

"Your experience influences how high you think you can go. If you have been told (or told yourself) that you can only expect so much out of life, you may have conditioned yourself to mediocrity.

One of my favorite stories is about flea training. It is the perfect illustration of how your experience can limit what you are able to accomplish. If you put a bunch of fleas in a jar and put a lid on the jar, the fleas will jump up and collide with the jar lid. They quickly adjust how high they jump so they won't hit the lid. After they adjust their jumping power to avoid the lid, you can take the lid off of the jar and the fleas will not jump out! They will have trained themselves to jump so high and no higher. The fleas actually become slaves to their experience and imprison themselves inside the jar—even though they could jump out at any time after the lid is removed.

People do the same thing to themselves. Somewhere in most people's experience, they develop the idea that they can (or should) do only so much and no more. They adjust their expectations of themselves accordingly, and they get what they expect: less than what they are capable of!

I believe you have the potential to do and accomplish far more than you believe you are capable of doing and accomplishing! I believe that because history is filled with stories of men and women who have done just that. If you study the lives of great people, you usually discover they came from average families, living average lives, doing very average things. Then, these people have some kind of experience or encounter a turning point that puts them in position to do more than they could even conceive. Or possibly they became sick and tired of living the way they were living and finally said, "Enough is enough!" In every instance they responded to the experience or opportunity and accepted the challenge to grow.

Former United States President Dwight Eisenhower was not a high-ranking officer in the years prior to World War II, but he was passionate about wanting to get out from behind a desk and fight "his war." He was a staff officer to General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines prior to the war and probably thought continuing in that role would be the best thing he could do. Circumstances of the war and his excellent organizational skills eventually resulted in him becoming the Supreme Commander of all the Allied Armies in Europe, and after the war he was elected president of the United States. Eisenhower is actually quoted as saying, "I thought it completely absurd to mention my name in the same breath as the presidency."

The amazing and even startling point of this story is that there was never one big thing Eisenhower did that changed the course of his life. Every small step, every small promotion, every new direction his military life took led to a culmination of events that resulted in his huge lifetime of success. His willingness to accept every new position, regardless of how mundane or challenging it might be, moved Dwight Eisenhower toward his destiny.

What about you? What do you expect of yourself? What is your turning point? You can do more than you think you can do. But you'll never know if you don't try. Go out there and see all the good things life has to offer a flea trainer."

Bless you Zig and I do look forward to seeing you at the Top. 

Danny

 

Changing Values to Win

"Values influence every aspect of our lives: our moral judgments, our responses to others, our commitments to personal and organizational goals." - Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner write in The Leadership Challenge

The essence of how we live are in our values. We do what we value. 

Ex. I might say I value my health but succumb to my desire to eat heavy carbs, thus living out my value of that emotional pleasure. 

Ex. Getting up early to workout with a group of Camp Gladiators is part of the plan to loose weight / improve strength. That plan is part of of the fulfillment my value of being healthy. 

Values are the intangible aspects of life that make you feel in alignment, complete, on track, and functioning at a high level.

At our core, values change over time and a life that recognizes and aligns with one's core values will feel more satisfying. 

We must first recognize 1. the values will living out versus 2. the values we want to live out. 

Then we can start making adjustments to our activities to align with our goals and desires. 

Some examples of values include adventure, fun, service, creativity, connection, etc. When we consciously design our life to align with our values, life gets immeasurably richer — and easier! 

Process. It's a process to gain clarity of your values and and as you do you'll start designing your life 

To discover your values, ponder these questions:

• What is important to me?
• What is important to me about that?
• How does that make me feel?

Then break it down:

• What did I do today that I liked? What value was that connected to?
• What did I do today that I didn't like? What value was that connected to?

The change questions are "what values are winning?" :"What values do I want to win?"

Danny L. Smith, CMPS

512-773-6528

LinkedIn.com/in/DLSmith

Handling a Promotion: Promotions bring privileges...

- the wise leader will use them without abusing them.

- the wise leader will refuse to exploit the privileges entrusted.

"Nehemiah never started Nehemiah Enterprises, Inc."

from "Hand Me Another Brick" by Charles Swindol

Don't Confuse Trust with Hope

We can't confuse Trust with Hope. And I'm not talking about the hope for salvation Christians have in their faith (as I do). What I am talking about is how we trust each other and how "hope (in this context) is not a strategy." Trusting well is a strategy. When we trust well, we can verify that trust, we can hold the other accountable to that trust. When we trust well, we get down to business faster. When we trust well, we have the same motives, the same agendas, and behave well according to that trust we have with each other.

When we don't trust well, we check things out, we display passive-agressive attitudes, we ignore, we just wait for others to "get over it." When we don't trust well, we encumber each other. We slow down the process.

And it cost money, time, and respect.

We have to earn trust. Hoping someone does something doesn't have to be earned, it just kind of happens. Now, remember, I'm not referring to a Christian's hope for salvation, that's a different totally different meaning - though the same root word, different context all together.

Here's an example of what I'm referring to about Trust vs Hope; when you are driving you don't trust that someone will not run a red light because you can't hold them accountable. Oh sure, they can get a ticket, or even pay for your car and hospital bills, but you might be dead!!

Now, what you do do is hope other drivers drive safely, don't run red lights, or cross the line on curves at 70 miles an hour.

Th cyclers on the roads here in Austin are HOPING they don't get run over. It's not trust, but hope.

Same thing happens in business; we can hope for some things and trust in others. Those we Trust Well in, we can verify - we hold someone accountable. Otherwise it's Blind Trust and we are hoping someone doesn't have a seperate agenda.

The more we trust, the more profitable we are, and the more we make a good difference.

Play on words? I don't believe so. Maybe a bit simplistic. Test it yourself and see how it works out.

To that end....

Danny

Goal setting and achieving happen at a different level of consciousness

 It's the sign of an educated mind that can

entertain another's ideas without having to own them.

- Goal setting happens in the conscious mind.

- Goal achieving happens in the subconscious mind.

- The subconscious mind is responsible for maintaining our reality. 

- Our reality is made up of beliefs and habits that leads to activities that lead to the results we obtain.

- Results are a direct reflection of beliefs and actions.


Thus, in order to ACHIEVE goals, we perform sustainable actions by changing our beliefs by changing our reality. Our reality is only changing through repetitive thoughts driven by a desire, a purpose, a why.

We can set goals all day long, but they stay in our consciousness, rejected by our unconsciousness, until we change our thinking as it pertains the achievement of those goals.

Goal achieving happens in the subconscious mind and the subconscious is trying to reject any changes. Right now, if this is new to you, it's rejecting it...afraid a change might be coming.

To that end, don't let your subconscious reject something before understanding it.

#ToThatEnd

Thoughts on "Why Change Your Thinking"

I've studied successful people for over forty years and

I've found they are all alike in one way: the way they think.

- John C. Maxwell

That quote is from his book How Successful People Think and right out of the gate, in the introduction, John addresses WHY CHANGE YOUR THINKING?

No doubt John at least pondered the unsuccessful and knew he needed to address this issue quickly;  why one would want to change their thinking?

It's simple, really - if you don't like something in your life, anything; work, home, family, play. If you don't like it, if you want to improve, you must change your thinking. Your thinking controls your actions and 90% of your thoughts are repetitive. Literally. 90% of what you think about today is the same as yesterday and if you want to change, you have to break deep into that 90%. Or else. Or else those habitual thoughts will drive you to........well, they'll drive you to not change.

It's hard to overcome a problem, overcome a situation, overcome where you are right now. You are where you are, I am where I am, WE are were we are because of the journey we've been on, the paths we've taken, the decisions we've made, the happenings that have happened. We could not be where we are without ALL OF THAT.

And when we start applying action to the changed thinking, things start happening to keep us in the old reality. So we have to stay in the change, we have to keep thinking and acting into the changed thinking.

We can't get to a new place with the same thinking that got us HERE.

Back to John's quote, he said "the WAY we think." The WAY we think, and the Way we change our thinking is also the same.

#OnwardAndUpward

Today. Just Today.

Today. A day in 2016.

2016.

Really.? Years fly by. Concerns for years past, I have to search to remember.

Today.

Yesterday? Forget it, drive on. FIDO.

Today. Lord, my daily bread.

Don't think about tomorrow.

Today has enough challenges of its own. Don't make today worse by thinking too much about tomorrow.

Today. It's all about today. Making today the best day.

Today. Putting one foot in front on the other, making every step count.

Scripture tells me to be diligent about every action and God will establish my plans.

Today, I know what to do next, do that. And only then will I know what needs to be done then.

Today.

It's up to me to make it a great day.

Conversations

Masterminding is, in part, not letting predetermined assumptions rule the conversation. If I only agree or disagree with you, I'll never grow, I'll never change, I'll never improve, I'll never get any results different than I'm already getting.

Just because I don't argue with you doesn't mean I agree, nor do I necessarily like what you have to say when I don't disagree.

Considering another's point of view without agreeing or disagreeing is (maybe a bit of conceit here?)....is a sign of an educated mind. At least I'm more educated than I was before and that's my goal. (This is just about me) It's also an exercise that keeps me from judging others' and their words and intentions.

Many times, I'll hear something I totally disagree with and ask myself 'what if I did?'

Or really like something and ask 'what if I didn't?'

And it does make for an interesting discussion between Danny and Smitty.

Points to Ponder - "It's not about the Coffee"

Points I'm pondering this week....It's Not About the Coffee

Book: The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization

Whether you are the head of an entire organization or a department manager, reading and following the simple principles found in this book can help get your thoughts headed in the right direction for 2011.


Book: The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization By Peter Drucker, with Jim Collins, Philip Kotler, James Kouzes, Judith Rodi, V. Kasturi Rangan, and Frances Hesselbein

Any group, team, company or organization should always be aware of what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what you must do to improve the organizations performance;


Drucker tells us to ask -


1. What is your mission?

2. Who is your customer?

3. What does your customer value?

4. What results are you looking to achieve?

5. What is your plan?



He encourages the reader to further explore, analyze, assess, determine and develop in and around those five questions:


Explore….the five simple, yet essential questions


Analyze….your organization’s mission, which should be a short, sharply focused statement that tells
everyone why you do what you do, not how you do it.


Assess….who your target customers are, who and what influences them, what they value, how you can create satisfying experiences for them, and which customers you should stop serving.


Determine….what specific results your organization should be striving to achieve, and where you should focus for future success.


Develop….your organization’s plan, which must define the particular place you want to be as well as the budget and action steps that will enable you to get there.


These notes are from my previous review of this book posted at In-the-Box: Reading Well.


To that end...



Book: "When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan" by Peggy Noonan

What a great book!! I try and read a book about Reagan every two or three years and this has to be the best yet with God and Ronald Reagan in a close second.....ok, almost as good.


This isn't just a good read, but a pleasant read. If the author's intent in writing this book was to show how much she, Ms. Noonan, really cared about Mr. Reagan, she gets an A+.

Obviously, it helped that Ms. Noonan knew the Reagans and those close to them for years, but even so, few people can make words seem so real. This is the first of Ms. Noonan's books I've read and it will be interesting to see if she can accomplish such a feat again.

Read more at In-the-Box: Read Well blog

Teachability

‘When I watch one of my pictures, I pay attention to what the audience doesn’t laugh at. If several audiences don’t laugh at a stunt, I tear it apart and try to discover what’s wrong. On the other hand, if I hear laughter I hadn’t expected, I ask myself why that particular thing rang the bell with the audience.’  - Charlie Chaplin.

Born into poverty, he signed the first million dollar contract as an entertainer. Charlie Chaplin fully believed he was successful because he was teachable. Not because he had an extraordinary gift or talent. Many just as gifted and talented go to their grave never having used their talents nor their gifts.

Chaplin perfected his gift. It was at the height of his career that he was known best for replacing complacency and arrogance with teachability.

If you want God to use you, stay teachable, search out more of the kingdom within.

Maybe the best book, or 2nd best, on the Theology of Work yet

This might be the best book on the Theology of Work I've read yet...here's an insert from the What's Best Next blog -
If You Only take 5 Productivity Practices Away from This Book

Learning and especially implementing productivity practices can be hard. It is easy to forget what we learned or forget how to apply it. One remedy is to keep coming back to this book (of course!). But to make this as simple as possible, if you can only take away 5 things from this book, they should be these: 
 
Foundation: Look to God, in Jesus Christ, for your purpose, security, and guidance in all of life.

Purpose: Give your whole self to God (Romans 12:1-2), and then live for the good of others to his glory to show that he is great in the world.
I've read the book twice and will continue to gain nuggets for a long time to come.

Guiding Principle: Love your neighbor as yourself. Treat others the way you want them to treat you. Be proactive in this and even make plans to do good.

Core Strategy: Know what’s most important and put it first.

Core Tactic: Plan your week, every week! Then, as things come up throughout the day, ask “is this what’s best next?” Then, either do that right away or, if you can’t, slot it in to your calendar or action list that you are confident you will refer back to at the right time.


To that end......

Still staying connected to my frustration

Stay connected to your confusion and discover your why.

Most people let confusion lead to frustration and then they

quit. Move from confusion to discovery and curiosity.

Explore. - Paul Martinelli

Hearing Paul say this three years ago, I asked WHAT? And he said.........

Stay connected to your confusion

and discover your why. Get creative.

Don't let confusion turn to frustration.

If you do, you'll quit.

 

Stay connected to your confusion,

move to discovery and curiosity.

Get creative. Explore. Discover your why.

Still, 3 years later after first learning this lesson from Paul, it's still.......Profound.



To that end........Bless you Paul.

Marketing. What's Love got to do with it?

What is love in business? Love is a matter of sharing
your knowledge, network of relationships, and your
compassion - or any combination of the three

- Tim Sanders, Author

People-Centric Expert!

Scott Reese and I were talking recently and the conversation came around to how to work with difficult people. Here's how the conversation went from there...

Patrick Lencioni - THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM

Read a bit from the book..click here

A wasted conversation with Lauren

Phone rings

Me - It's a great day, Danny Smith.

Caller - Danny, my name is Lauren. I'm a financial planner and Chris suggested I give you a call and set an appointment to come by and see you.

Me - Lauren, I'm backed up on some things for the next two weeks. Can you call me then and we'll set a time.

Lauren - thanks Danny, I'll do that.

Two weeks to the day later 

Phone rings

Me - It's a great day, Danny Smith

Caller - Hi Danny, this is Lauren. I called two weeks ago to get an appointment and you suggested I call back today.

Me - Hi Lauren. I remember, when's a good time for you.

This is a normal routine I use. I am usually backed up a bit, but normally, the caller doesn't call back.

Lauren and I set an appointment, we met at my office, she was extremely personable, professional and knowledgeable. I told her I didn't have a need for her services at-that-time but we had a great conversation and I mentioned I might have a couple of people I'd introduce her to at a later date.

She thanked me for my time left me, gave me a few of her business cards and parted.....



Normally, I'd send an email 2 or 3 days later thanking her for coming by, but I didn't in this case.

Now, weeks later........nothing.

Nor did she reach out to me between calls mentioned about. Nor did she make a point of letting me see she looked at my profiles anywhere online.

Lauren wasted our time. She wasted the handshake.

Surely the calls, the effort.........I guess she was only interested in making a sale......right then.

Obviously a very short-term thinker and doer. Commission Breath at its worst!

22 Roadblocks/Blind-Spots to Successful Sales and Marketing

Not in any particular order......

1. Thinking "I don't have any Roadblocks or Blind-Spots" (or...not knowing what they are!)
2. Lack of understanding of the differences between marketing and sales
3. Trying to sell to everyone
4. Failure to have a proper sales conversation that extends past the "what do you do" and lasts for weeks, months and years until the lead either needs your product/service or knows someone that does - difficulty staying engage
5. Commission Breath

"Culture eats vision for lunch"

From "The Heart of John Maxwell" series.....

Culture eats vision for lunch. It's more important than mission, vision or strategy. When people ask me if there is a secret to developing a really good company, my answer is always the same: "Yes, develop a good culture." How the people in your organization behave is your culture, and it reflects the company's values. If you have created an environment conductive to personal growth, wherein people understand how they connect, how each person makes a different in the life of another, well then, you are accomplishing more than a mission, vision or strategy every could" - John C. Maxwell

Who are your Roys?

I love hearing from old friends and one showed up in my inbox a few months ago. Roy Whitlock replied to my blog post about roadblocks and blindspots where I wrote about  “Perfectionism / Getting ready-to-get-ready and anything worth doing was worth doing poorly until you learned to do it right."

Now, to begin with, I can see Roy walking into my office and asking what he wrote in his email -  “I understand getting past roadblocks - but how does one find one's own blind spots? For example, your point #10 - how do you determine the point where "Getting Ready" becomes "Getting Ready to Get Ready"? And if something is worth doing, isn't it worth doing well? Won't doing it poorly start to reflect on your service delivery?” And on he went.....

Roy and I used to have some really good conversations. LOL……As to his plethora of questions (he rarely had just one)….here’s my response  -

Getting ready should be short and sweet. "When opportunities come up, it's too late to prepare."

Interview on "A New Way to Think"

Alert and oriented times........?

I wrote recently about “failing faster” and mentioned a John Eldridge quote. Here’s the whole thing about

“Most people go through life alert and oriented times 2 or 3.”

When a Coast Guard jumper goes into the water he (or she) is miked-up and upon securing the person being rescued, will radio back up to the crew the condition of the person being rescued.

He'll say “Alert and Oriented times 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.” 

If someone is not alive, literally dead, the message will be “alert and oriented times ONE, I repeat, alert and oriented times ONE.”

Times TWO is – alive but unconscious.

Times THREE is – conscious but no awareness.

Times FOUR is – conscious, in and out of awareness.

Times FIVE is – FULLY AWARE, ALIVE AND FULLY AWARE.

John Eldridge in his fabulous read “Waking the Dead” claims most people go through life…

……Alert and Oriented times TWO or THREE.

To that end ….

be alert and oriented today TIMES FIVE. Be ALIVE.

Be FULLY AWARE.