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Well-Being - Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:30 - 0 Comments
SUCCESS Quotes: Stay in the Race
“If everything is under control, you are going too slow.”
- Mario Andretti, world champion racing legend.
Is your life moving along too slowly?
Share with us three things on your ‘Bucket List’ that you’d like to accomplish, now that you have the time.
- Selfishness in Service: A Paradox
I moved to Texas at the beginning of 2013 to start my first full-time job post-college. After a 6-month paid internship directly after graduation (THREE CHEERS FOR THAT!), the stress of the unknown had ended. And with three cross-country moves in less than one year under my belt, I could finally think about settling. Yikes. [...]
- Meeting Pete Cashmore, or, How to Prepare for Meeting Your Hero
To many, founder and CEO of Mashable Pete Cashmore is, as Contributing Editor Chris Raymond calls him, a “rare bird.” To me, “rare bird” doesn’t even begin to describe someone of his stature who started out as a 19-year-old blogger living in rural Scotland. Rare bird? More like pterodactyl. As someone who has been blogging [...]
- Worried That You’re Boring Your Audience? Demand Interesting Questions!
During the Australian Open Tennis Championships in 2011, when she was ranked No. 1 in the world, Caroline Wozniacki got wind of the fact that the media found her press conferences boring because she always gave the same answers. “I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions,” she told the press [...]
- Where Credit Is Due
Kudos to my esteemed fellow editor Lisa Ocker for an important note in the Business 101 section of our May issue of SUCCESS, all about the pitfalls of obtaining a credit report online. (Read “Costly Consequences” on SUCCESS.com.) But when I saw what she wrote, I had to ask Lisa, Where was this story last [...]
- Why We Are Like Earworms, and What to Do About It.
Earworms are the songs you can’t get out of your head. They crawl in when you hear them, or when you see a word or hear a phrase that makes you think of them, or in a moment of stress, or when you’re happy. The threat is constant. For me it’s Everybody Dance Now by [...]
- Spring Clean Your Health
Just like the first of the year, a blank page in your journal or day planner, and the start of a new day, spring is filled with new possibilities and potential. With a new idea and the desire to put it into action, you can begin spring—the season of growth and renewal—by spring cleaning your [...]
- Make Time for Gratitude in Business
The other day someone asked me how to best stay in touch with people while getting my day-to-day work done. Two answers immediately come to mind: 1) Always be ready. 2) Always look for opportunities to be appreciative. We all have 1,440 minutes in each day. This comes out to 96 periods of 15 minutes [...]
- The Golden Rule of Presenting
I was giving a technology industry analyst some feedback on his presentation, and recommended that he smile at the point where he’d been delivering some good news. I think he’d even said, “Here’s the good news.” He didn’t like the idea. “I’m not really a smiley guy,” he told me. People push back like this [...]
- SUCCESS Quotes: Unlikely Teachers
“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers.” – Khalil Gibran, Lebanese poet and artist Who or what was one unlikely teacher you’ve had? Share your teachable moments with SUCCESS.
- Salesman of the Year: Why Old School is Good Business
At the final sales meeting of their 2012 calendar year, a company CEO got up in front of his sales staff and announced that he was offering £500 (about US$800) of his own money to the salesman who could catch up with and surpass Brian by the end of the fiscal year, three months away. [...]
- Difficult Conversation? Try It Again, This Time with Feeling
There’s an assertiveness technique that’s known by many names, but I know it as The Three F’s. The letters stand for Fact, Feeling and Future, and the technique is useful when you’re feeling too anxious to deal with someone about a subject that’s bothering you. Let’s say it’s the boss you need to deal with. [...]
- SUCCESS Quotes: Mark Victor Hansen ‘Wake Up Excited’
“When you know clearly what you want, you’ll wake up every morning excited about life.” — Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Did you wake up excited about life? Share why with SUCCESS.
- Meeting Zig Ziglar
by Michael Levin The next-to-last time I saw Zig Ziglar, I was one of 17,000 in attendance at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, where he was speaking as part of a program of superstars, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Joe Montana. He was onstage accompanied by his daughter, Julie Ziglar Norman. On April [...]
- Self-Promoters Are the Devil. So How Do I Get Attention?
“Can I ask you about how to become more visible?” my coaching client asked me, when we were supposed to be talking about her presentation skills. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for her to present, in fact, so we switched to this topic of greater concern. Because she was very concerned. She really needed [...]
- Take My Mantra, Please!
By the time my taxi reached the portico of the elegant colonial mansion where I’d be running an executive communication workshop with 40 international bankers, I’d chosen my mantra. I repeated it to myself as I bumped my drag bag up the broad front stairs. Inside the bag were 40 copies of my book on [...]
- SUCCESS Thoughts: Alice in Wonderland
- A Night Dive with Sharks
by Sam Watson SUCCESS.com Web Designer Daymond John, creator of FUBU clothing and celebrity investor on ABC’s Shark Tank, says looking back, he now sees the roots of his entrepreneurship. Speaking to a Dallas consumer banking audience recently, Daymond shared how at a young age he was shoveling snow for money and getting paid in [...]
- SUCCESS Quotes: Napoleon Hill on ‘Impossible’
“A great many years ago I purchased a fine dictionary. The first thing I did with it was to turn to the word ‘impossible,’ and neatly clip it out of the book. That would not be an unwise thing for you to do.” –Napoleon Hill, motivational business author
- What Do You Do for the Non-Monetary Rewards?
In a study of 250,000 small business owners, Wave Accounting asked entrepreneurs what the non-monetary rewards for starting their own businesses were. They answered: But these new entrepreneurs are well aware of the trade-offs: variable income, long hours and strained work/life balance. Yet, for all the stresses of running a business, the study found 86 [...]
- On the Road with Tory Johnson
Recently I told a group of wide-eyed friends about my travel schedule as I tour the country for my Spark & Hustle conferences. Monday: Fly to Tampa and prep for our event there. Tuesday: Lead hundreds of women in our Tampa event, then fly to Los Angeles. Wednesday: Tape a segment about Spark & Hustle [...]
- Success Through the Eyes of a 90-Year-Old
Helen Johnson was a big success, though you’ve never heard her name. She was my mother-in-law and the beloved matriarch of a large, close Texas family. Like Nora Ephron, who we just lost, Helen believed in “being your own heroine.” Helen passed away unexpectedly at 90 years old last week. You may ask how this [...]
- Have You Thanked Your Competition Today?
I had a speech last week in Nebraska and before I caught my flight home, I made my way over to the US Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha to catch up with two of the greatest competitors on the planet. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have established in the pool what Jack Nicklaus and Arnold [...]
- The Problem with Children
I was asked by my esteemed online editors to write a blog about the experience of moving, one of those off-the-stress chart experiences I am currently in the middle of. As in, I have been living in an apartment in Texas and “commuting” home to New York every other weekend to see my husband and [...]
- Exercise and Happiness: Finding Flow
Do you ever go out jogging and feel completely in a groove? You are in a zone and feel like you could run forever. Or you get so enthralled with your yoga class that your stressful day melts away, time disappears and you are surprised when class is over? While that feeling may not happen [...]
- Five People You Need On Your Dream Team
The NBA Finals are some of the highest-rated games yet. The young, fast Thunder, led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, take on superstars Dwyane Wade & Lebron James from the Miami Heat. While these stars get the media attention, basketball is a team sport and the winning team will get a big contribution from [...]
- My Dad’s Unwritten Letter to My Children
While celebrating with my two little ones on Sunday, I read a dozen or so wonderful Father’s Day tributes on the Internet. Many of you probably did the same. A couple were from famous men writing notes to their grandchildren. That afternoon I sat down and imagined what my father, who passed away in 1999, would [...]
- What Shaq and Warrick Dunn Have in Common
Warrick Dunn is one of the most exceptional people I’ve ever met. Warrick played 13 years in the NFL, becoming the smallest player in the league’s history to carry the football more than 10,000 yards. While in high school, his mother, a police officer, was killed during a robbery at a bank. When Warrick made [...]
- Changing the World, One Pencil at a Time
One of the greatest parts of my work as a speaker is getting to watch other presenters at events share their amazing stories. A couple of weeks ago, at a celebration of one company’s top performers, I met Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun and it was a jaw-dropper. I couldn’t wait to join in the standing [...]
- 7 Ways to Have Kid-Like Energy
Remember when you were a kid and your energy was boundless? Days seemed long and you could run around all day—literally! As an adult, you have probably experienced a time when you have lacked energy. If you have lost the pep you used to possess, you can refuel with these tips. 1. Remember, junk in. [...]
- Coach Jimmy V: Find ‘Happy’ and Stay There
Last weekend in Sarasota, Fla., the most recognized voice in college basketball, Dick Vitale, gathered 900 of his closest friends to make a difference. The gala was to raise money to cure pediatric cancers, and the night was a celebration of Vitale’s one-time broadcasting partner, Jim Valvano, affectionately nicknamed Coach Jimmy V. Valvano was the [...]
- Tory Johnson: Find Your Spark
Music boomed, hands swayed to the beat and headliners rocked the stage. This wasn’t a concert. It was my small business master class Spark & Hustle that kicked off the nationwide, 20-city tour in New York last week. 500 current and aspiring women entrepreneurs took tips from some of my favorite business rockstars, including Vera [...]
- 7 Ways to Ruin Your Meeting
Meetings really have a bad image. It’s not surprising since often they are too long, there’s no clear plan, too many people are invited and they dominate our work schedules. “Too many meetings” was the No. 1 time-waster at the office, cited by 47% of 3,164 workers in a recent Salary.com study. Research shows that [...]
- High-Fiving Your Way to a Championship
With the NBA playoffs in full bloom, I’m looking for something a little different as I try to assess who might win this year’s title. I’m looking for high fives, butt pats and chest bumps. During last year’s championships, The Wall Street Journal wrote about a study done by researchers at Cal-Berkeley. The VERY academic [...]
- Joseph McClendon: Get Happy Now
Consider this: There are some 43 muscles in the human face, most of which are controlled by the seventh cranial nerve (also known as the facial nerve). This nerve exits the cerebral cortex and emerges from your skull just in front of your ears. With each expression comes a chain reaction of moving parts that [...]
- Leadership Lessons from Summer Camp
It’s time again to sign the kids up for summer camp. It’s the highlight of most kids’ summers—no mom or dad, wearing the same clothes three days in a row and candy every night before bed. What could be better? Last summer when we were at parent pickup, I realized that they are doing some [...]
- What A Presidential Campaign Teaches Us About Leading Change
Let’s set aside politics for whom you support in the 2012 presidential election. You can learn a lot from presidential campaigns about how to lead change in your team or organization. A presidential campaign is designed to convince voters that their candidate is the one you should choose on Election Day. Likewise, in organizational change [...]
- Check Your Ego at the Door
Every Saturday during the college football season, millions of fans tune in to ESPN’s College Football GameDay. On the set are four of the most well-known faces in all of college football. Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, former Heisman Trophy Winner Desmond Howard and Lee Corso entertain fans from their traveling desk—usually at the best game [...]
- Conference Confidence: No Wallflowers (or Gossips) Allowed
I have a confession: For years, I attended countless conferences and industry functions. Only after dozens and dozens of events did I start to wonder why I wasn’t getting anything out of them. I did a little analysis and realized I’d always bring someone with me—a crutch—and we’d stand in a corner talking about everyone, [...]
- Start Small Win Big Challenge 2012 Call for Essays
Don’t forget this Monday, April 30 Monday, May 7 is the final deadline to submit your essay form for the Start Small Win Big entrepreneurial challenge. Visit SUCCESS.com/winbig for the essay submission form. You could win lunch and personal coaching sessions with Good Morning America’s Tory Johnson and SUCCESS Publisher Darren Hardy! Plus, you could be featured in SUCCESS magazine, [...]
- Baseball Opening Day… Who Starts the Wave?
It’s time for hot dogs, fresh cut grass and the sound of the ball on the bat. Opening Day is finally here, baseball fans! And as a Texas Rangers fan, the sting still lingers from last year’s World Series. We were one strike away from winning… twice. Yes, twice. Thankfully, there is always next year [...]
- Extreme Arm Wrestling?
It seems anything can be made into an extreme sport. Just pair an over-amped announcer with a speed metal soundtrack, then slap an X on it and add superlatives of danger (meanest, bloodiest, ‘x-tremist’). That doesn’t mean it’ll always work. Remember WCW Founder Vince McMahon’s foray into extreme football, the XFL? Teams such as the New [...]
- How a Homeless Man Reminded Me of My Why
In the discussion about chasing greatness, there really is a starting point. Anyone who is in the pursuit of a champion’s life has to know their “Why.” No one has ever sustained Greatness without a strong sense of why they were driven to it. Week in and week out, I will tell you some great [...]
- Things My Dad Taught Me
My dad is on my mind again. The last three nights, I’ve had dreams about him. One night, I was Karate-chopping my stepmother. Another night, I ran into his arms sobbing. The third I have a hard time remembering, but I understand why my dad’s been on my mind. His birthday is coming up on February [...]
- The Step-By-Step Guide to Amping Up Your Business in 2012
It’s time to take your small business to the next level. SUCCESS magazine has teamed up with Good Morning America‘s Tory Johnson to host the Start Small Win Big Entrepreneurial Challenge–a free 12-week, 12-step program to help your small business grow and win prizes for entering. Why you should enter: Is your small business where [...]
- The Fine Line Between Confidence and Delusion
In the Sept. 2011 issue of SUCCESS magazine, we explored comeback stories of businesses from across the United States. In Vermont, the family-owned Darn Tough sock company couldn’t compete with wholesale, overseas operations. A heartbeat away from filing Chapter 11, Darn Tough changed their strategy and turned their company around. Selling their new, upscale socks for $15 to $26 a [...]
- 8 Secret Time-Wasters and How to Overcome Them
There’s a reason we send Seeds of SUCCESS at 2 p.m., CT, and not first thing in the morning. We follow the mantra of time management: Tackle your most important or difficult task first thing in the morning. So if you’re reading this newsletter to avoid doing something else more important on your to-do list, [...]
- A CEO’s Take on Daily Deals
Although my companyisn’t in the daily deal business, we live in an adjacent neighborhood. It’s a less crowded place, and the neighbors aren’t as likely to be in foreclosure on their houses or dodging collection phone calls. And because we only sell tickets to live entertainment, the block parties are a lot more fun. They’re less about oil changes, laser hair removal, 2 hot dogs for $4, and Botox. More likely someone’s singing show tunes, playing basketball, or balancing on top of a wheel of death. It’s a good group.
Anyway, that and a decade of e-commerce experiences means I can be helpful to merchants who are evaluating whether or not to work with one of the many daily deal providers. Done right, it can be a very strong marketing tool, and done wrong, it can break a small business. You’ve probably heard the stories.
Think of it this way. Daily deal sites are like a band composed of one instrument: a great big bass drum. It plays one note: loud. Big email, big discount, potentially big volume sales, for a single day. Impressive. Powerful. Strong.
But most bands aren’t limited to a single instrument. And if you’re marketing a business, you probably want different instruments for different moments. Perhaps it’s a “bass drum” moment for you, but maybe it’s not. Here are some thoughts on both how to figure it out and what to do about it.
First, figure out if the program is going to make you money now, later or never. In fact, you might lose money in the short term, but you make it up by increased awareness.
Keep it simple and estimate what a customer is worth to you in a single year. If your analysis told you that you needed 10,000 new customers to break even, I can tell you from here that that’s not going to happen. In other cases, the deals might make you money now, if you don’t lose any money on the sale.
Either way, you should know if the daily deal is going to make you money now, later or never.
Now and later are both OK. Never is not.
Second, control the number and timing of the sales. Selling an unlimited number is not usually a good idea because the promotional value of doing one of these doesn’t change all that much whether you sell 300 or 600, but your costs sure do. The daily deal site may… Click here to read more.
- What’s the Most Precious Resource You Waste?
Tick, tock, tick, tock. Think fast! Here’s a riddle: What resource is scarce—yet easily taken for granted, squandered or rationalized? It’s not money—because everyone could use more money no matter how much we have. And I’m not talking about good health or clean water or fossil fuels, although these could be plausible answers. Give up [...]
- #MonsterinLaw Live Tweetchat
Movies, sitcoms, and horror stories are written on the subject —terrible in-laws. SUCCESS’s own Mel Robbins tackles this controversial subject with her new show on A&E TV, Monster-In-Laws. Airing Mondays at 10/9pm central, Mel attempts to open lines of communication, understanding and a deeper sense of love for the families involved. Want an insider’s take of [...]
- Shed Your Uniform and Show Some Personality
For roughly 325 days a year, we look exactly the same—basic slacks and dress shirts in standard colors of black, grey and muted tones. You might show your personality with a fun print or colored tie, but for the most part, your clothes are the same daily. That is, until October 31st, Halloween… and the [...]
- If Art Imitates Life, How Does Life Inspire You?
Listening to Pandora internet radio just now, this song came on.
- SUCCESS Favorite Quotes for Inspiration
Everyone has a favorite quote. Whether it’s something elegant from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow or something more cryptic from Edgar Allen Poe, we identify with particular quotes during different trying times in our lives. Last week, we asked you, our SUCCESS readers, to pass along our favorite quotes and add your own. As always, you never [...]
- Is Boss a Four-Letter Word?
Sunday, Oct. 16 marks an important holiday. Surely, you didn’t forget? Father’s Day, Mother’s Day? No, it’s National Boss Day. For entrepreneurs and small-business owners, Boss Day could be any day, really. And be thankful for that; as you can probably attest, there’s some pretty bad bosses out there. Celebrated on Oct. 16, or the [...]
- Is Occupy Wall Street an Awakening of Organized Protest?
The New York protesters are using social media to send their message in real time—but will they impact the business world? by John H. Ostdick The New York street protests against Wall Street’s financial practices that began last month and are spreading across the world seem to be organic, genuine expressions of anger and frustration. [...]
- The Compound Effect and A Healthy Life
“People are either motivated by something they want, or something they don’t want.” – Darren Hardy Profound success is the result of small, smart choices completed consistently over time—and it applies to every area of your life, whether it’s your work, relationships, finances or your health. That’s the theory behind The Compound Effect, a book [...]
- Reporter’s Notebook: Mark Cuban
In the November 2011 issue of SUCCESS magazine, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban talks about what worked—and what didn’t—as he built his championship franchise. One of the most innovative professional sports team owners in recent years, Cuban’s perspective is
- Documenting Jobs’ Life and Legacy
The December issue of SUCCESS magazine was already at press when the news broke of Steve Jobs’ death on Oct. 5. A quick call to the printer gave editors 24 hours to update the December cover and an interview with Carmine Gallo, author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great [...]
- Songs of SUCCESS: Top songs voted to get you pumped!
Top Songs to Celebrate Your SUCCESS! According to our facebook community, here are the top songs blaring from their radio after a huge success. Any songs you think are missing from the list?
- The Poltergeist Effect: How Allowing Mistakes to ‘Haunt’ You Can Derail Creativity and Success
by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz Ask most people to tell you—in a single word—what they want most from life, and they’ll answer with one of the following: happiness, love, health or… success. What’s interesting, however, is that so few people make a serious run at achieving success for fear of making a mistake. It’s [...]
- SUCCESS Book Club Ch. 5: Prioritization
SUCCESS Book Club Selection: Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary by Frank I. Luntz. SUCCESS editors and staff will read and dissect select chapters and offer key points and discussion questions. Just joining us? Read notes from Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three and Chapter Four. “The key is [...]
- Winning People Over: Persuasion & Influence (2 of 4)
"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness." —Aristotle
No discussion on the topic of influence and persuasion is complete without a few words on Aristotle's famous dialectic on what he calls the three levels of persuasion: LOGOS, PATHOS and ETHOS.
In each installment I will boil it down to a single action item for you to walk away with in order to make this new knowledge have power in your own ability to persuade and influence others.
Let's start with LOGOS—which can be understood as simply logic.
So the first form of persuasion has to do with convincing others through the use of logic. I interviewed Dave Lakhani recently (grew up in a cult, now best-selling author of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want). Here is how he put it: "Persuasion is helping people come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be one we share." He goes on to say, "Persuasion is about being a more effective communicator and getting the best outcome for everyone involved."
"Persuasion is helping people come to their own most logical conclusion which happens to be one we share."
So, in LOGOS, we use logic and reasoning to persuade others to see things in a new way.
Let me give you an example; this is how I lay out the argument for why someone should… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- You’ve Got 16 Weeks
I was on the phone yesterday discussing sales projections and strategy with one of my coaching clients, and he said something that startled me, “but Mel, there’s only 16 weeks left in the year.” 16 weeks?! The kids just went back to school! How is that possible? That’s not a lot of time. I have [...]
- Winning People Over: Persuasion & Influence (1 of 4)
Eat or be eaten. Influence or be influenced. Someone is always selling and someone is always buying (consciously or not).
If you open up your medicine cabinet, or your dresser drawers, your pantry or your garage… or just look around the room you are standing in right now, each item you see is a war trophy, representing somebody’s or some company’s victory—who got you to trade your hard-earned money for their product.
How did they do that? What tools did they use?
That is what I will teach you in this four-part blog series—the all-important skill of influence and persuasion.
Make no mistake. There are legions of influence agents operating around you everywhere, all day. Sometimes it’s in the form of a TV commercial, or a phone solicitation, or grocery store announcement, bus bench or billboard, and other times it’s in the form of a solicitation or request by a child, spouse, employer, priest, friend or co-worker.
A friend of mine once tried to count the number of direct attempts to control his thoughts and behavior that he encountered in a single day. This included people requesting him to do things, forcing him to do things, asking him to buy things, telling him to pay for things, showing him where to stop and when to go, suggesting how he should think about things, offering him slogans to repeat, songs to remember, attitudes to change, and ideologies to believe. He doesn’t even read the newspaper, listen to radio or watch TV! He gave up by 10:30 a.m., as he lost count somewhere around 500. Research calculates that the average person receives more than… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- The Story Behind the Comebacks: What We Learned from Our Business Recovery Stories
Everyone likes a good comeback story. We root for the underdog and we cheer when David slays Goliath. Today, as the economy teeters with uncertainty, comebacks are harder to come by. No problem finding failures. And there are plenty of survival stories, too. But Survival is not the title of this magazine.
- Reporter’s Notebook: Steve Jobs
‘His health battles made it problematic to continue as Apple’s hands-on brilliant micromanager from hell.’ by John H. Ostdick Steve Jobs’ resignation last week as Apple CEO occurred, as most everything else, on his own terms. The man who has maintained an iron grip on how his company’s story is told exited gracefully, solemnly, with [...]
- Behind the Scenes on The Today Show
Life moves fast when you are busy. Each new day is an opportunity. When you are on TV, your opportunity may come in the form of three-minute segments. For the first day of summer, I was on The Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, demonstrating some circuit moves from my 10lb Slimdown on Exercise TV and how to get a beach body fast by combining strength training and cardio.
To help set the scene, The Today Show has multiple studios in its stacked, vertical offices. Kathie Lee and Hoda have frequent wardrobe changes. Assistants help them as they go up and down stairs between studios—taking off their jewelry for one segment and putting on lab coats for another.
People were everywhere. While on set, I saw LaToya Jackson, Donny Deutsch and Natalie Morales amid the staff and producers, who were prepping me for my upcoming segment. After they whisked me away to the Green Room, I thought about these takeaways from behind the scenes:
Be prepared to get creative. Producers of the show told me ahead of time they wanted some original moves—not exercises everyone knows. I showed them some unique moves—like shoulder flies where you lift hand weights like you are opening a newspaper, and a move where you look like you are stirring a pot with hand weights while doing a ballerina plié.
Be organized. Producers, camera men, featured guests and show hosts, are all in studios not much bigger than an average… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Mining the Millennials
Millennials, also known as Gen Y-ers (80 million, born between 1980 and 1995), were raised by overly doting parents who coddled their self-esteem like fragile Fabergé eggs. They played in little leagues where the score wasn't kept and where everyone was a winner and everyone got a trophy for just showing up.
Having hired, worked with and trained many, I had concluded that millennials were simply lazy, undisciplined, unmotivated, over-entitled and disengaged, with the attention span of goldfish.
Then I joined the Board of Directors of an organization called Invisible Children, founded by and made up entirely of millennials. I was quickly humbled to the fact that it is not that they are unmotivated, inattentive or disengaged—they were just unmotivated, inattentive and disengaged in working for ME!… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Persuade People with These Three Tips
“Persuasion is the cornerstone of great execution,” says Tony Jeary, productivity coach and author of Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life. The most successful people effectively persuade others to take action on their behalf by using three principles, Jeary says. Communicate at the belief level. “Communicating at the level of belief involves a [...]
- The American Dream Attained
Imagine movie stars, business magnates, decorated military leaders, bankers, media moguls, recording artists and members of the judiciary in one room—a very big room. What kind of event would draw such a diverse group?
The only thing these people share is that they’ve overcome early financial hardships through their own diligence and hard work, and created their own success stories. They’re members and supporters of the Horatio Alger Association and, while their career paths are varied, their experiences offer proof that the American dream is attainable.
SUCCESS magazine has profiled many of them, most recently Leonardo DiCaprio, who was among the new members inducted in a ceremony in April. Others we have profiled include astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Famous Amos’ Wally Amos, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, energy titan T. Boone Pickens, music producer Quincy Jones, boxer and businessman George Foreman, and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi.
Two years ago, I wrote to Horatio Alger Association officials to ask about media credentials. There are no media credentials, I was told; this is not a media event. I wrote back to explain that… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Are You Building SUSTAINABLE Success?
This past week my wife Georgia and I spent some time touring the 116-year-old Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. This 175,000-square-foot home on 8,000 acres still emanates its founder's–George Washington Vanderbilt's–illustrious grandeur… and it remains (remarkably) privately owned.
Of course my inquiring SUCCESS mind wanted to figure out how. Although much of the robber-baron wealth of his grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt (earned through shipping and railroads in early 1800s) has dissipated through his heirs, Biltmore Estate continues to thrive because it was founded on a vision of sustainability. While many of the Gilded Age estates have been reduced to rubble, taken over by the state or sold to nonprofit entities, Biltmore remains a privately owned, for-profit working estate.
Sustainability is the capacity to endure; to be diverse and productive over time; exhibiting the potential for long-term maintenance and well-being.
George Vanderbilt's vision wasn't only to build the largest private home in America (which it is still today 100+ years later) but to also have it be self-supporting.
In addition to the grand estate, George also had built… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Now You’re Speaking My Language
In his best-selling book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts, Gary Chapman defines love languages as the “five ways people speak and understand emotional love.” Take a look at the abbreviated definitions, and see if you can identify your love language. Words of Affirmation: Words matter. This person treasures hearing, “I [...]
- The Biggest Kid-Problem: Entitlement
Many SUCCESS readers answered our poll asking what is the biggest problem or challenge faced by kids (and their parents) in today’s world. (click here if you missed it).
The results were quite remarkable! Of all the parents who participated in the poll, the clear majority were most worried about the sense of entitlement that kids seem to have today. Take a look at the top six vote getters:
- A Sense of Entitlement (53%)
- Excessive Technology and Gadgets (16%)
- Peer Pressure (14%)
- Drugs and Substance Abuse (8%)
- Bullying (7%)
Readers could only vote for one problem and yet “Entitlement” still gets 53% and wins as the biggest problem by a landslide. And the second-place finisher (with about 16%), “Excessive Technology and Gadgets,” is really about entitlement too—kids who think they are entitled to all things electronic.
Combine those top two answers and we have…Click Here to Read More.
- Sometimes You Have to Unplug to Find Your Outlet
I never knew my dad’s outlet until just now. Driving into work this morning, I felt blank. Void. I didn’t have any words to say outwardly, but I needed to express myself inwardly.
“I need to write,” I thought, making a mental note to post that as my Facebook status. “That’s my outlet, my thing—writing.” Already I was feeling better.
That got me thinking about other people’s escapes. My husband’s outlet is sleeping. When things overwhelm him and he feels stuck, he sleeps. A lot. Then he wakes up, literally and figuratively, and feels better.
My best friend’s outlet is music. Loud, house music of the club persuasion. He’s this big, beefy Englishman and yet he loves a poppy electronic tune to get his day going.
My late father-in-law’s outlet was us. His new wife and child were demanding, but laughing and going out with his sons and me was the escape he needed, although he had hell to pay when he got home.
What about my father? He was a… Click Here to Read More
- Gershbein: What’s Your Next Move on LinkedIn?
The LinkedIn IPO on May 19, 2011, put the globe on notice that the business of social networking is alive and well. LinkedIn has broken the plane and has boldly gone where no other social media website has gone before. No longer viewed as a passing fad, LinkedIn has clawed its way into the collective awareness of the professional community.
Only one issue remains: What’s next?
As an independent LinkedIn business consultant, I am being asked this question with more frequency. My greatest challenge is keeping current with an ever-changing medium and communicating those changes to others in usable, relevant pieces of information. This is a responsibility that I embrace and carry out with due diligence and great reverence. I’m as excited to see what comes down the pike as anyone.
Those who operate on LinkedIn daily have undoubtedly noticed the company’s commitment to an enriching, empowering user experience. Despite the occasional glitch, the site has come a long way since its inception in 2002, regularly introducing new features for content management, and offering time-strapped professionals unprecedented opportunities to build brand. Click Here to Read More…
- Why Your ‘Why Nots’ Are Lame
Most people only live a fraction of their potential. You do what you CAN do… but are you doing what you COULD do? I know that sounds like a tongue twister but read over it again, slowly. Most people do what they CAN do, but not what they COULD do. Most people accomplish what they can accomplish and are usually satisfied with that. But there is a whole other world of possibilities out there that most of us don’t even let ourselves think about.
The larger question we need to ask ourselves is: Can we reach a greater potential than we have ever imagined?
In fact, if you stop and think about it, What could you do? I mean if you weren’t afraid to fail, or if you decided to quit coming up with reasons to not do something, what COULD you actually accomplish?
As a psychotherapist I was always intrigued by the stories that people told about themselves. These stories often detailed where and why they were stuck in life. We ALL tell ourselves stories to legitimize our fears. Listen to your stories (excuses) about why you didn’t do something. Not to be rude, but odds are good that your stories about the “why nots” of your life are lame at best. We can do so much more if we just choose to do it.
Your potential, your possibilities, are far bigger than you can imagine.
Joey Boring, a stockbroker with Edward Jones, was an average performer until he got a vision of WHAT he COULD do. Within two years Joey became one of their top performers, winning vacations and bonuses for his performance. In fact, during the global financial crisis, his performance was up 43%. Why? Joey decided not to limit himself. He said, “I realized that I could do more than I ever thought I could do” and he did! During a time that could have easily been the worst financial period in his career, he chose to view it as an opportunity and began to focus his efforts on ways to better serve his existing clients. And the really great part is that this new attitude that was developed during a time of crisis continues to make Joey even more successful in the good times.
A young friend of mine, Ashtyn VanVooren, sprained her knee pretty badly. As a 14-year old she had a gymnastics event and decided that she could tell herself that it was too much, too hard and too painful—or she could tell herself that she was strong enough and good enough to do it. That day, she received the highest all around scores at the State Level Competition. She COULD do more than she WAS doing. Did it hurt? I am sure that it did. But often our greatest achievements come out of our greatest challenges.
I wonder what limits you are putting on yourself today. Perhaps we are only held back by our own limited thinking.
I was visiting last week with a friend of mine, Mike Mullane, an astronaut with NASA who has the name “Rocket-Rider” embroidered on his space suit. I loved something that he said: “When I was a kid, the sky was the limit. Then I became an astronaut. I don’t really know where the limits are anymore.” I certainly don’t want my thinking to set the limits.
Maybe if we let ourselves do what we COULD do, like Mike, we COULD be living a life without limitation and may even become “rocket-riders!”
- The Industrial REVELATION: A New Kind of Revolution
The revelation is this: The way we were… is over.
As you know, we are living through an era of unprecedented change. Over the last decade, we began hearing the death rattle of a bygone era. The corporate structure and system has begun to crumble. The global marketplace has been flattened. Innovative, fast-moving and nimble competition has risen from nearly all corners of the planet. Technology has wired us all directly to each other. Now every manufacturer or marketer has immediate and direct access to everyone, everywhere, destroying heavily controlled and highly valued distribution channels.
All this deconstruction and loss of control by the few, the behemoths, the entrenched, spells freedom… and opportunity for the rest of us.
As entrepreneurs and individual achievers, it is our time to thrive!
But you also have to adapt. The traditional yellow brick road to success and financial security has been… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- What Harry Truman Taught Author Andy Andrews
At age 19, author Andy Andrews lost his mother to cancer, his father died in a car accident and he dropped out of college, penniless. He began living on the street. But one day, another homeless man gave Andrews a library card. It was the turning point in his life. He began reading the biographies [...]
- Magic Johnson’s Tough Retail Lesson
NBA veteran and business owner Magic Johnson’s first foray into retail taught him what happens to entrepreneurs who don’t listen to their customers. In 1990, he launched a chain of retail sporting goods stores called Magic 32. In anticipation of the launch, he attended a major sporting goods convention to negotiate for products he’d sell [...]
- You Can Be Right or Happy…
…Usually not both (particularly in your marriage).
It was Friday night (Date Night!) and I was flying home after a long exhausting week on the road. My wife, Georgia was picking me up from the airport and she had made reservations for us at this new restaurant in downtown San Diego we were excited to try.
To make it special, earlier in the week I called ahead to see if they stocked our favorite French champagne. They did not, so I arranged to have a bottle shipped to the sommelier at the restaurant to be presented at the table as a surprise (along with another small gift I picked up on the road).
Georgia had arranged a surprise as well, knowing I would be coming off a long flight she had bought me a new shirt, had it pressed and waiting in the car when she picked me up. Oh boy, this was going to…
- This Ain’t Your Parents’ Marriage
I have to admit, I am that little girl who adored her parents. While my friends’ parents were all getting divorced, my parents were still together and happy about it. I held them up as the standard for marriage. But after a year of marriage I can tell you with certainty, this ain’t my parents’ marriage. I have come to realize being a newlywed in the 21st century is significantly different than it was for my parents.
First, you should know that my husband and I met online, MySpace to be exact. Now, granted, we had a previous connection, having gone to the same high school, he graduated a year before me, but still our relationship was born from technology. And technology has since been a staple of our relationship, as it is for so many younger couples. Text, instant messenger and sites like Facebook or Twitter are often the main means of communication—certainly not the case for people like my parents. So how do you establish a meaningful, fulfilling and, most important, stable marriage, when texting is your primary means of communicating with your spouse?Honestly, it’s not easy, and I can’t say that I have completely succeeded. But with my husband working twelve-hour days, and me working five days a week at an office I drive an hour each way to get to, we have to “make it work” (as Tim Gunn would say).
First I think ground rules should be established. For example, you should both agree
- The No. 2 Instrument of Death
What do you think causes more deaths in the United States each year?
- Car crashes
- Drug overdoses
- Alcoholism
- Firearm accidents
All of those combined don't total a third of this insidious instrument of death: food.
We are literally eating our way into the grave.
Obesity (caused by bad diet and lack of exercise) kills some 400,000 people in this country every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Only smoking-related diseases account for more deaths, with a total of 435,000 annually, the CDC reports.
A staggering 129.6 million Americans are overweight or obese—that's two out of every three people in this country. Think about it. While our ancestors battled disease, famine and other deprivations, we are killing ourselves—with excess.
On top of that, we no longer have to chase down and kill our own food. Instead, we chase the world while sitting in front of a computer screen all day, every day, often neglecting to schedule in some form of physical activity.
A recent article in The New York Times cited several studies showing that sitting for extended periods—at a desk, in front of the TV, etc.—leads to weight gain and increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, a variety of cancers and early death.
Author Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist, detailed how the body shuts down following prolonged periods of sitting, causing a metabolic disaster of such proportions that even getting a full hour of exercise each day can't offset the impact.
We DO have a healthcare problem, and most of it is SELF-inflicted. We aren't taking proper care of our own health. We need a new healthcare policy, and I don't mean one enacted by Washington—but one enacted by you. You are the only one responsible for what you put into your mouth and how often you move your body.
The June issue of SUCCESS is focused around the theme of… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Are You Connecting or Just Communicating?
It seems the networking series really seemed to connect with many of you. To continue the discussion and to introduce you to our May issue of SUCCESS with the social network star Mark Zuckerberg on the cover, below is my Publisher's Letter from the issue. They key point is, you don't need 1,000 'friends' or even 100… see how many below…
I communicate a lot—on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. I also process around 300-400 emails a day and who knows how many text messages.
But recently I spent some time sorting and categorizing my database of more than 10,000 "contacts," and I had a startling realization. While I might be communicating with tens of thousands of people every day, outside of encounters with my immediate family and business team, I am not really connecting or fostering very many real relationships at all. I'm what's called a mile wide and an inch deep, and that's not how you strike oil! I've been mistaking communication for connection.
Since having this epiphany, I've noticed how many other people suffer from this same affliction, mistaking the time they spend transmitting and receiving information with time spent making meaningful connections. Don't get me wrong—both communication and connection are essential today, but one simply does not equate to the other.
With the pace of business and life today, it's so easy to fall victim to this way of thinking; we must move quickly and convey as much information as quickly as possible to stay competitive, or so we think. With all the opportunities technology provides—enabling us to work from just about anywhere and to expand our reach, quite literally, around the globe—it also has become a crutch in some ways. I think true connection happens… CLICK HERE TO READ REST OF POST
- Gershbein: Take Control of Your LinkedIn Profile
Your LinkedIn profile content drives your actions on LinkedIn; your actions on LinkedIn drive your real-world outcomes. You can be an absolute master in navigating the site, exemplary in your approach to connect with others, and a sparkling conversationalist in the groups, but if you have poor, inaccurate, irrelevant, or underdeveloped content in your LinkedIn profile, it’s a deal-breaker. The highly professional environment of LinkedIn provides you with unique opportunities for name recognition and targeting specific audiences for the selling and marketing of products, services and enterprises. A LinkedIn profile that frames you as the subject matter expert (SME), broadcasts an openness to collaborate, and inspires others to take action relative to your service offering is your absolute best marketing in today’s digital world.
Success Secret No. 3: Construct a Remarkable LinkedIn Profile
- Gershbein: Are You a LION or a Lamb on LinkedIn?
Everything that we do in business today is predicated on our ability to establish a set of ground rules and operate within them. When we fail to set boundaries, we open ourselves up to confusion, indecisiveness and self-doubt that can paralyze us. What governs your activities on LinkedIn? LinkedIn achievers draft a blueprint for success and carry it out to the letter. By adhering to a personal code of ethics and setting realistic limits in using the site, you will stay on course in reaching your objectives.
Success Secret No. 2: Define Your Rules of Engagement on LinkedIn
How we circulate, connect and communicate on LinkedIn is a matter of personal preference. These are the core activities on the site and those for which LinkedIn achievers have defined their rules of engagement (ROE)…
- The Divine 9 Success Secrets of LinkedIn Achievers
Like anything else in the success realm, achieving on LinkedIn finds its point of origin with mindset training. By embracing a positive attitude and conditioning your mind for success, you can achieve anything you seek in business and in life. Such is the gospel of many great business leaders and sales trainers and the hallmark of the SUCCESS enterprise. These principles translate beautifully to LinkedIn. Once you take the leap of faith and begin to work LinkedIn with purpose and conviction, things will quickly gel and you can expect positive outcomes. You somehow—almost magically—gain the insight you need and, slowly but surely, you advance out of your comfort zone. You will develop a sixth sense for how people interact and communicate on LinkedIn and your own social networking style will emerge.
Success Secret No. 1: Develop an Empowering LinkedIn MindsetTo understand the role of mindset training, consider the barriers (whether real or perceived) that inhibit or prohibit many people from even getting started on LinkedIn—let alone using it productively—and how LinkedIn achievers break them down.
1). Fear of Technology. Well, you don’t have to be a Ph.D. from M.I.T. to maneuver around LinkedIn. You do, however, have to be comfortable at the computer and commit a few basic skills to memory. LinkedIn is very well laid-out and extremely easy to navigate. Any aversions to today’s technology that a LinkedIn achiever may have had prior to creating an account are quickly dispatched…
- Hardy: Get IN Your Game
Now that the Super Bowl is over, it’s time to get out of the stands and into the game of YOUR life. Now I’m all for the spirit, entertainment and release that goes along with cheering on a sports team. At the same time, I do find it odd that many people spend time following and studying the lives of other people more than they do their own.
Again, catching a sporting event when it is on is all good fun; I watched the Super Bowl too (cost me money too – lost a bet with my cheese head editor in chief). What I’m talking about is the investment some people give to the sports and careers other people are playing and living.
Think about it: What if the time you spend…
* reading the sports page, you read a self-improvement book?
* listening to sports talk radio, you listen to an instructional CD?
* watching ESPN or Sports Center, you watch a seminar DVD or read a book?
* talking about sports scores and players, you talk about your goals and plans to achieve them?
* playing fantasy sports, you role-play your key skills training?How would the trade of that time investment change your life scores and statistics? I’m certain it would make YOU victorious… and far happier.
- Gershbein: Ask Yourself, Why Are You on LinkedIn?
At every speaking engagement, I usually ask the question of my audience, “Why are you on LinkedIn?” After a brief period of silent contemplation, I stroll about the room, meet their innocent stares and, after a bit of gentle prodding, they begin to shout out their answers:
“To connect with other people”
“To research companies in my target market”
“To share information in my industry”
“To become known in my field of expertise”These are all valid reasons. Invariably, there is one response I’m looking for that is never offered (or is held back) until I drop a few hints. Ultimately, someone blurts it out: “To make money!”
Why are we so reluctant to admit that—on a social networking site devoted to business—we are looking for business? This is what Reid Hoffman and the founding fathers of LinkedIn envisioned when they spent their first venture capital dollars in 2002 and built the site. Since its launch in May 2003, an entire cottage industry has sprung up around LinkedIn training and consulting (as with all social media). The Internet is swollen with LinkedIn tutorials and blogs that take you through the how-to of social networking. There is so much content out there it will make your head spin. Everyone is quick to tell you what you should be doing and how to do it without shooting yourself in the foot. The key is to not get bogged down in minutiae…
- Hardy: Sales Is the Other Four-Letter Word
Whether or not the title on your business card labels you as a “salesperson,” I bet you have had several sales conversations already today. Maybe you sold a friend on seeing the great movie you just saw or trying a new restaurant you recently enjoyed. If you’re a parent, you may have sold your kids on the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast or doing well in school today. Or perhaps you sold your boss on why you need a day off, promotion or raise. The list goes on and on. All day, every day we are selling someone on something.If you aren’t good at sales, life will be more difficult for you. It’s that simple. Selling is not just a business skill; it’s an essential life skill. But selling really isn’t as complicated or mysterious as we make it out to be. Selling is simply about influencing an outcome.
If you’re stuck in the mindset that you’re not good at selling, it’s time to shift your perspective.
Start by stopping selling. Cross out the word sell and replace it with…
- How Well Are You Using LinkedIn?
There is a resounding difference between saying, ‘I want to be successful’ and declaring with fist-thumping conviction, ‘I will do whatever it takes to become successful!’Success in navigating the popular business networking site, LinkedIn, and using it to meet business objectives operates under the same premise. The road to becoming a LinkedIn achiever is paved with ongoing learning, constant observation, practice and application.
Since 2006, I have worked with thousands of top executives, entrepreneurs, salespeople, and job seekers to help create branded content for their LinkedIn profiles, designing customized LinkedIn sales and marketing strategies, and translating their efforts on the site into positive results. My greatest joy is taking someone new to LinkedIn under my wing and watching them grow and develop into a poised, confident communicator and social networker – in other words, a LinkedIn achiever.
Who is the LinkedIn achiever? What does he/she do that is different from the casual user? I can tell you that the LinkedIn achiever doesn’t log in sporadically. He/she has an action plan.
I define the LinkedIn achiever as one who attaches value to the time and energy spent on LinkedIn, presents well on the site, respects best practices in using it, and considers this work to be an integral component of daily business prospecting.
In my humble opinion, people who are on LinkedIn but claim they don’t have time to work on it, have not made the conscious decision to explore its possibilities. Perhaps there’s something else holding them back (e.g., fear of technology, lack of faith in the medium). The LinkedIn achiever has overcome these psychological barriers to success, sees the potential and is empowered by a positive mindset.
- Stuck? Slow down to accomplish more.
We all suffer the mid-afternoon slump: that lethargic, lack-of-motivation apathy that sets in and kicks our internal engine to idle. Instead of willing yourself to sludge through it slowly and painfully, do the opposite. Embrace it. Give yourself permission to take a 5- or 10- minute mental break.
Still frustrated with yourself and your productivity? Consider slowing down instead of speeding up, author Loretta LaRoche says. Our brain functions better and is more productive when it focuses on one particular task at a time. So, instead of beating yourself up to speed up and get more accomplished, focus on one goal, complete it and go on to another.
“Frustration stems from your inner critic and only serves to make us crazed,” LaRoche says. “Have fun. There are no tombstones that say, ‘Did everything, died anyway.’”
This is a post from Seeds of SUCCESS, a free weekly newsletter written by the editors of SUCCESS. Subscribe now to get Seeds planted in your inbox every week.
- Eyre: Bursting “The Bubble”
For years, we had the stress of trying to fulfill the holiday and birthday wish lists of nine children. I remember one particularly stressful Christmas was spent standing in a long line for the desire of our 7-year-old daughter Shawni’s heart: A Baby Alive doll. Just as I got to the front of the line, much to my chagrin, the woman in front of me got the very last doll. I was devastated trying to figure out how to tell Shawni that Baby Alive was dead!
Then there was the time when we discovered at about 2 a.m. on early Christmas morning that the “Santa gift” for our little 6-year-old Jonah was gone. The gift, which was a little robot that could sweep the floor (six inches at a time), had been stored in the garage in a black garbage bag for several weeks, and had somehow apparently been inadvertently thrown away. Great idea to put it in a garbage bag… in the garage, right?
One year when our house was full of teenagers and kids down to age 10, we decided that enough was enough. The last thing we needed was a bunch more “stuff.” We knew that our kids were living in a bubble with no realization of the real world or the situation that many living in poverty faced every day of their lives.
After careful deliberation we took a deep breath and told the kids that what they would be getting for Christmas that year, in lieu of all the gifts and paraphernalia that previously permeated Christmas, was a ticket to Bolivia, for a project sponsored by a great humanitarian group in Salt Lake City called CHOICE Humanitarian.
On Christmas morning…
- Now Explode Off the Starting Line
Last week I discussed the half-dozen ways people stumble on their New Year’s resolutions and goals right at the starting line. It generated a healthy discussion and I appreciate everyone’s contribution.
This week I’d like to offer you the half-dozen ways you can explode off the starting blocks and set yourself up to not only stay in the race (this time), but actually finish victorious!
1. Big 3
If you are using Living Your Best Year Ever, it guides you through making several goals in all 8 key areas of life. It then helps you reduce your plethora of goals down to your Big 3. I know you will want to accomplish ALL your goals, but it is critical you reduce it down to just 3 to supremely focus on.
Pick the 3 goals that are most important to you and would have the most dramatic impact on your life and lifestyle. Resist the urge to chase after other shiny objects that come into your field of vision.
2. One Thing
As Curly in City Slickers said, “Find your ‘One Thing’.” In this case, it is the one key behavior that is most important to you accomplishing each of your Big 3 goals…
- Don’t Stumble at the Starting Line
Have you made New Year’s resolutions or set goals before and failed?Have you entered a new year beating your chest and proclaiming your magnificent transformation from every mountaintop only to have it dwindle to a whimper by the time January gets torn off the calendar?
What went wrong?
In my experience, there are about a half a dozen ways you can trip yourself up right at the start. Let me help you avoid these common trip-ups:
1. Too Many, Too Much
You try to tackle too many goals, change too many ingrained behaviors and attempt too much too quickly. Look, you have probably been building, developing and reinforcing a poor habit for 10, 20, 30, maybe even 40-plus years. Breaking one poor habit and trying to install a single new success habit is tough enough (and worth it). If you try to do too many, you won’t do any.
2. Too Tough, Too Soon
Remember Richard from The Compound Effect? He had never worked out in his life, but then started working out 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. I told him to back it down to 45 minutes, 3 days a week—something he could maintain for the next 50 years. He swore up and down he could maintain this and was committed to his new plan. By the time the book went to press, he had just started this program. Guess how long he works out, and how many days a week today? Zero and zero. He set himself up to fail and he did. Don’t be a Richard. (Suggestion: refer to “Ease In” section, page 80 of TCE).
- Eyre: No One Ever Said Raising a Family Was Easy
We have been writing about families all over this country; now let us introduce you to our family. I (Linda) remember days when I rolled over at 6 a.m. with a groan wondering how in the world I was going to survive the day. There were mouths to feed, music lessons to practice, homework to finish, myriads of sports events to cheer for and the never-ending orthodontist appointments. (I think our funds to correct those genetic buckteeth built our orthodontist a very nice house.)
But the family traditions made life so fun! Days like burying Richard in a ton of leaves on his birthday every year at Liberty Park and writing on adding machine tape a list of things we were thankful for on Thanksgiving morning made all the hard stuff a blur in the background. Our life was full of mayhem and a lot of minutiae, along with some moments of pure magic…
- Hardy: Our Love-Hate Relationship with Money
Money, Money, Money… We want more of it; we love it and all that it affords. Yet it can be the root of some of life’s most devastating experiences—divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure and destitution.However, money isn’t the problem.
Just like guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people, the same misplaced blame is applied to money. Money isn’t your problem; your relationship with money and what you do (or don’t do) with it is the problem.- Make the First Week the Best Week
Tuesday afternoon, productivity check: What are you doing right now to further your highest-priority goals? In the January 2011 issue of SUCCESS, the editors share their tips for making your resolutions a reality:
Write it down. You’ve heard it before, but the truth is writing down your goals forces you to get clear about what you want. Use a pen and paper (you can transfer it to your computer later). That simple physical act helps cement the desire in your brain.
Find a replacement…
- 2011: How to Live Your Best Year Ever
Are you feeling a little bummed or even disappointed in where you are in life right now? Did you think you would be doing a little bit better and be a little further along in life by now? Are you a little down on yourself about how you have let your body go… or your [...]
- Hardy: How Goal Achieving REALLY Works
I promised you in the last video I would explain the process of how goal setting, and far more important, goal ACHIEVING actually works. This is the mystery of the ‘secret’ REVEALED.
This is how the Law of Attraction really works. It is not some mysterious, esoteric voodoo, as it sometimes sounds like, as it is being described. It’s far simpler and more practical than that.
By the end you will say… “Ah, I get it.” And, “Now… I know how to make it work.”
More good stuff to discover in this video:
- What 3 boys out hiking can teach you about kicking butt in a competition.
- 5 BIG reasons why most goal setting attempts fail, miserably. Don’t make these mistakes. Ouch! And costly.
- Oh, and what Reggie Hammond (as played by Eddie Murphy) can teach you about proclaiming your goals.
- Hardy: The Head Games of Happiness
That’s a serious question… maybe one of the most important questions of your life. But did you know most people can’t answer it correctly?In his book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard professor Dan Gilbert explains that most of us think we know what makes us happy, but typically we are wrong.I have found there are three major traps in which you might be unknowingly making yourself unhappy.
The first unhappiness trap is postponing happiness. The “when I (fill in the blank), I will be happy” syndrome. The reality is happiness, isn’t something to be acquired in the future. You are either happy now or not; “then” never arrives. Living and striving for “then” results in a constant state of unhappiness. Now is the only time you have to be happy. If you can’t be happy now, you most certainly will not be happy later.- Eyres: The Beauty of “Just Enough”
One day each year, preferably in early November, we ride horses down the incomparable Kolob Canyon of Zion National Park in southern Utah. We enter at the park station close to the wonderful little town of New Harmony, and ride along the base of the Five Fingers—massive, sheer, monolithic red cliffs that jut up straight and impossibly high from the golden cottonwoods that grow along the clear, babbling La Verkin Creek.
Eyre blogIt occurred to me (Richard) this year that one reason I love it so much down in that canyon is that it is the desert. The dry, crisp, still warm air is part of it, but it’s also the sparseness of the desert. There aren’t that many trees, so you can spend a moment just focusing on one single tree, standing starkly in its autumn glory, with a huge red cliff as its backdrop.
It was back in college when I first started to appreciate the desert. I read Edward Abbey’s Deseret Solitaire and loved his descriptions of a single flower, or a cactus with one bloom, or a few blades of grass emerging from the sand—appreciated because they were so sparse and so stark and so unique.
- Eyres: Do Your Kids Live Too Far Away, or Too Close?
If you’re an empty-nester now, or if you will become one soon, do you want your grown children to live right next to you? Or would you like some space?
One of the results of traveling so much with our children when they were young is that they now think they can live anywhere they want in the world.
When our second son Jonah and his wife Aja moved to New Zealand, we complained about taking our grandkids so far away. “Just fall asleep on the plane Dad,” Jonah told me, “and when you wake up, you will be here.” (Yeah, sure, if flights were only free!) Aja added, “Besides, you will probably Skype us more often now.”
- Entitlement: The Biggest Parenting Problem of This Generation
We are sending in this post from Mexico City, where we are meeting with a wonderful group of parents. Over the last couple of years, we have spoken to parents in 50 countries on five continents, and wherever we go, the common concern is the sense of ENTITLEMENT that our children are growing up with.
It is a problem of major proportions, because feeling entitled to whatever they want, whatever their friends have, and all without conditions or consequences or any price to pay or effort on their part is robbing our children of the joy of work and of delayed gratification, and of the chance to develop initiative, motivation and a sense of personal responsibility…
- There Comes a Moment When You Know: It’s Time.
What are you waiting for? Last week, almost 30,000 women and men in Long Beach, Calif., and countless more via the Web, have heard the call: It’s time. It’s time to take action on your dream, or against the dissatisfaction you feel. It’s time to move forward… to stop waiting.
I’ve attended The Women’s Conference for the past three years. Each time I leave with renewed hope, inspired to take another step toward the life I desire. As I write this on the flight home, my mind is buzzing with excitement and energy (and exhaustion). I’m overwhelmed with the ideas and inspiration Maria Shriver, the conference team and the speakers generously pour into this forum for women.
Attending a conference is only worth the time and expense if you actually do something with what you’ve learned, and follow up with the people you’ve met. So, as I review my 30-plus pages of notes, gather my thoughts, and make my personal action plan, I thought I’d share just a few of the comments and moments that resonated with me. I hope they’ll inspire you, and that you’ll hear the call to action. It’s time.
Grow and give despite (or because of) pain…
- Eyres: Help Your Children “Own” Their Money
“Chosen and earned ownership” is the antidote to entitlement. When one chooses to earn and own something, it can bring a kind of pride, independence and initiative that overcomes the laziness and boredom of entitlement. To rescue our children from entitlement we must give them opportunities for true ownership.
Last blog, we discussed the profound problem of indulgence and laziness among our children (click here to read that post).
And, predictably, the question that came in over and over from readers like you was: How do I overcome their sense of entitlement?
The answer almost sounds too simple: We must find a way to replace entitlement with a sense of chosen and earned ownership.
- Overcoming Children’s Sense of Entitlement with Responsibility
Never before has there been a generation with such a sense of entitlement as our kids today. Their tendency to think they should have whatever they want and do whatever they want whenever they want lies at the root of most of their problems (and most of our parenting problems).
As we travel the world, speaking to parents in audiences large and small, the questions and concerns we get from them are always the same:
Why do my kids sometimes make such obviously bad and foolish choices?
Why don’t they put in the effort at school to reach their full potential?
Why won’t they pick up their clothes or put away their toys?
Why do they think they need to have everything their friends have?
Why is it so hard for me to influence my kids… and so easy for their friends to influence them?
Why can’t I get them to set some goals and to start feeling responsible for their lives?
Why can’t I get them to work and why won’t they follow through on their tasks?The cause for each of these problems—for every one of them—is one word… and the word is entitlement…
- Getting Rid of the ‘Gimmes’: How to Establish a Family Economy
It is a day I remember well, because it was the first day that I realized that “allowances” were working against us and that money was helping me spoil my kids much more than it was helping me teach them anything. It was a Saturday morning, and I was trying to catch up a little on sleep. I was awakened by loud knocking on the locked bedroom door. Groggily, I got up and opened it to find three little kids with their hands out saying “Gimme my money, gimme my money, its allowance day.” To my sleepy eyes, it all looked a bit like a welfare line. I had just opened the window, and here were the people with their hands out, collecting the dole!
We had created an economy in our house all right, but it was an entitlement economy! My kids, I realized in that brief epiphany, saw no connection between performance and reward, they perceived no real ownership in the money we gave them or the things they bought with it, and they were learning the antithesis of initiative and responsibility rather than the essence of it.
Over the next several months, we worked with some other parents who had some of the same concerns, and developed…
- Eyres: Family Laws and the Development of Discipline
All great and lasting institutions have a legal system, and a good family is no exception. When there are clear and simple laws in a family, parents can be less emotional and more matter-of-fact, and obedience becomes more about keeping laws and less about a power struggle and parents trying to get kids to obey them rather than laws. Give your children the chance to have inputs as to what your family laws are and what punishment goes with the violation of each law.
With hindsight, we can see that our own first effort to set up family laws was rather comical. As young parents with our three young children, we tried to create a list of family rules by nomination. (I think, back then, we still thought a family was a democracy!) The kids chimed in with everything from “Don’t hit anyone,” to “Never plug in plugs—you could get shocked.” We dutifully listed every one on a big chart and we soon had 37 “family laws.” No one really remembered them or paid much attention to them, and one day our 7-year-old complained, “Dad, even in the Bible there’s only ten rules!”
Over the years we figured it out. We needed…
- Family Traditions: Why They’re the Glue of Great Families
Everyone, particularly every child, needs an identity larger than himself—something he or she belongs to, feels part of, and gains security and protection from. It is kids who do not get this identity from their families who are drawn to the rituals, “colors,” and traditions of gangs or other identity substitutes for families.
Strong traditions exist in every lasting institution—in schools, in fraternities, and certainly in families. Traditions are the glue that holds families together. Kids love and cling to family traditions because they are predictable and stable in an unpredictable world.
Almost all families have traditions, at least subconscious ones, often centering on holidays or the special occasions. But some parents come to realize the importance of traditions and the ability of good traditions to teach values to improve communication, to give security to kids, and to hold families together. Such parents can refine and redefine their family traditions and give them true and lasting bonding power.
Review and Re-evaluate Your Traditions
Start by assessing and analyzing your own family traditions. What do you do on each holiday? Each family birthday?
- Eyres: How to Create a Strong Family Culture
Hello and welcome to our blog! Over the next six weeks, we have the opportunity to think together about our families, our children, and our marriages—the most important and lasting parts of success! We hope, in a cyberspace sort of way, that we get to know each other and trust each other.
Family Culture and Infrastructure
To begin, let’s realize and acknowledge that our families exist and our kids are growing up in the midst of some strong and often negative cultures—the Media culture, the Peer culture, the Techno/computer/gadget culture, the Celebrity culture…. If we want our kids to survive and thrive amongst all the noise, we have to create a family culture that is stronger than all of the competing cultures—a family culture with our values and our standards that can supersede all the others!
A family culture involves turning our homes into solid, predictable, lasting institutions that give confidence and identity to its members. Like any institution that is intended to last and to give esteem, a family must have a…
- Set Your Relationship Goals with Richard and Linda Eyre
Richard and Linda Eyre have focused on families as the key unit of society, marriage as the key commitment of life, children as the key element of happiness, parenting as the key skill of personal growth, family-prioritizing as the key to life-balance, and family relationships as the key component of success. The Eyres are thrilled to share some of their “keys” in this blog series which will run twice a week for six weeks.
So that you can anticipate and implement, here is the line up…
- Flip Flippen: The Gift of Presence
I recently attended a meeting and only half the people who were there were really there. What’s worse is that it was an important strategy planning meeting.
Then I thought about my wife, Susan. I had recently had a discussion with her about the same thing… except that she was sharing about how much it means to her when I am “present” with her. I have come to learn that it’s important to her for me to focus on her. I have also come to understand what it means when I am not really there.
The connection between the two meetings could not have been clearer to me. The problem is that we aren’t there when we are there. How many times have you had a discussion with someone who wasn’t there? I remember a politician who was running for office and, even before he shook my hand he had already moved on to the next person—he wasn’t there.
What does it mean to be present…- Brogan: Your First Moves in Social Media
Okay, so you’ve decided I’m not crazy, and you’re going to try out some of this social media stuff. Where should you start? I’ve got some advice.
Grow Bigger EarsFirst and foremost, read this post about how to grow bigger ears. By that, I mean, create a free listening station. If you don’t start with listening, you’ll miss all the very best parts of social media: the serendipity and moments of “listening at the point of need,” as Radian6 CEO Marcel Lebrun calls it.
By that, I mean that people are talking about you, your brand, your company, or mentioning something they need help with that you can solve. Set up some listening tools to monitor for certain phrases and terms, and you’re on your way to finding opportunities that your competitors don’t even know exist…
- Brogan: Why Social Media Aids Success
You’re hearing about social media everywhere. First it was blogs. Now, you’re being told that you have to be on Facebook and Twitter and a whole bunch of other services that don’t exactly make immediate sense. Wasn’t LinkedIn supposed to be the one-stop business site of choice? What’s the answer? How can you use social media to improve your success?
- Assaraf: Every Winner Has a Coach… Do You?
Have you ever noticed the incredible influence that a coach has upon the performance of athletes? It’s no different in business.
If you take a close look at any successful business owner, there is a good chance they’ve had a great mentor somewhere along the way. I can attribute a large part of my business success to the many mentors and coaches I have had in my life. My personal journey is one of countless examples of how mentoring is an integral part of the growth and development of any business.
Here are some ways having a mentor or a business coach can help you…
- The Stuff of Legends: What sports greats are truly made of
As I sit down to write, I imagine our contributing editor Don Yaeger on assignment: Deep in South Louisiana, he’s swatting mosquitoes in the swelter of this July afternoon. He’s sweating. Every once in a while, he has to stomp a foot to keep a fire ant from climbing up his sock. And he’s loving every minute.
- Flip Flippen: Integrity Is the Leadership Advantage
What if there was a competitive advantage that you and many others often overlook? It’s not related to a certain degree or training, nor is it about time management or managerial skills.
It’s a trait we’re familiar with, but few of us have truly mastered: integrity. Do you think that integrity and honesty are a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace? Last week, I sat with many of the leaders of Wall Street as this was discussed in a very candid format. The answer was a resounding YES! Every person on the panel agreed that integrity and honesty were an advantage.
- John Assaraf Has the Answer
Starting June 28, John Assaraf will team with SUCCESS magazine for the six-week Entrepreneur Challenge to help would-be business owners take the next step and guide existing entrepreneurs in finding renewed inspiration. Assaraf will write twice-weekly blog posts to share the secrets of success as a business owner.
- Freytag: Be Fearless
We’re more than halfway through the SUCCESS magazine 30-Day Get Fit Challenge. In my first blog post, I said, “It’s your physical being, it’s your diet, and it’s your emotional state that intertwine together to create a healthy lifestyle.” I can suggest exercises all day, but until you break through your barriers, lose your excuses and rid yourself of your fears about exercise, you won’t be able to put the puzzle completely together.
- Happy Healthy Monday to You
I LOVE MONDAY. I have been doing a local Monday morning TV segment on NBC KARE 11 in Minneapolis for 6 years and I email my free monthly fit-tips on Monday. Even my coffee shop, Caribou Coffee, started offering a cup of coffee for $1 on Mondays…. So why Monday?
- Freytag: When’s the Best Time to Work Out and Why It’s OK to Break the Rules
One of the most common questions I receive when it comes to an exercise routine is, “Is there a BEST time to work out?” I know many swear by starting their day with exercise and many others use physical activity as a way to wind down from the stress of a hectic workday.
- Sharma: The 8 Forms of Wealth
In my mind, wealth and leadership aren’t just about making money. There are actually eight elements that you want to make sure are at world-class levels before you call yourself rich (and truly successful).
- Chris Freytag: Call to Action
Starting May 3, 2010, Freytag will share her motivational strategies with SUCCESS readers in her 30-day fitness challenge. “I don’t want people to just read it; I want them to take action and engage in change.”
- Chris Guerriero: Measure Your Progress
An extremely important part of your health program is being able to measure your progress. Body-fat testing is not painful, nor is it expensive. In fact, you can get it done at most any gym or fitness center. Simply ask if they have an expert who can measure body composition.
It’s also a good idea to take before and after photos and post them somewhere you’ll see them every day. But, most important, don’t stop there! Measure five to 10 different aspects of your progress.- The Deeper Your Relationships, The Stronger Your Leadership
Leadership is a people sport. The best of the best understand that people do business with people they like. People do business with people they trust, and people do business with those who make them feel special.
- Give Bad Habits the Boot!
Everybody has bad habits. Everybody. Now, granted, some people have less than others and some people’s bad habits are more grating than others, but we all have them. Some we know we possess and others we don’t.
- Sharma: Turbulent Times Build Better Leaders
Victims recite problems. Leaders develop solutions. That might seem like common sense, but common sense is rarely common practice. One of the best moves you can make to “Lead Without a Title” is to train your brain to see every problem as an opportunity. And every setback as a steppingstone to build your skill, access more of your talent and create more exceptional value for your customers.
- Flippen: You Can Learn a Lot While Standing in Sewage
One of the most defining behaviors of consistent high performers that we study such as Gary Kelly, president and CEO of Southwest Airlines, is internal drive. I know that may not surprise you, but let me tell you how critical it is. On our proprietary executive assessment tool, Gary’s self-assessment and his 360-degree assessments were above the 90th percentile, which means he is well above average on his need to accomplish tasks, to go above and beyond, and to spend his time wisely.
- Sharma: How to Do World-Class Work
Leadership no longer has to do with the title on your business card. In this age of deep disruption, the new way to lead has everything to do with how powerfully you influence, how brilliantly you work and how superbly you collaborate. Your position matters less than your passion. Your rank matters less than your willingness to go the extra mile in all you do, and to wow each of the stakeholders lucky enough to cross your path.
- Chris Guerriero: Stop Chasing Weight Loss Fads
‘Great Weight Loss Ideas’ almost ruined my life, so stop information overload from ruining yours.
Great weight loss techniques are completely worthless. That’s a true statement 99.7 percent of the time.
Great weight loss techniques are a scam on oneself. That’s also a true statement 99.7 percent of the time.
Great weight loss techniques NEVER make you thin, lean, healthy or sexy! Also a true statement 99.7 percent of the time.
Great weight loss techniques almost ruined my life and my business.
- How to Change the World
This article could change the life you experience forever. No joke.
I want to show you how to completely change the world… in an instant.
This might be a bit controversial for many, and even more won’t have the stomach to do what I am suggesting…
- Sharma: Leadership 2.0 The New Way to Win
The old model of leadership is obsolete. Businesses that were once admired have crumbled. Leaders who were once revered (in fields ranging from commerce to sports) have lost face. The respect for Wall Street has been replaced by a renewed passion for Main Street. And with it, has come a completely new way to lead.
- Four Core Values that Guarantee Success
At a British Columbia leadership conference at which I recently spoke, former United Nations Ambassador Alan Keyes gave a brilliant speech and challenged the audience with this idea: the only way people, businesses, organizations, and even countries make a lasting impact is by operating from core values and bedrock principles. This got me to thinking [...]
- How to Guarantee a GREAT Day, Every Day
Every Monday morning I have a standing radio interview I enjoy very much. But you can imagine that it can become routine. To prevent this, the host doesn’t tell me the topic before we go live on the air—now that puts some excitement into it!
- Flip Flippen: Separate Great Leaders from Typical Leaders
There I sat, listening to a business friend who had not received the promotion that he had hoped and worked for. He was obviously disappointed and seriously considering a move to a different organization. He made it clear that the person the board had chosen was not qualified to lead. In fact, my friend was [...]
- Getting Over Fear and On with Your Life
Fear is something that cripples people and keeps them from pursuing and reaching their dreams. This does not have to be so! I truly believe that a person does not have to have fear in their life. I can honestly say that I do not have any fear in my life. Now, I am not [...]
- Become the Leader You Were Meant to Be
When it came time for Robin Sharma to carve out a life for himself, becoming a lawyer seemed right. Although he had loving parents, there was never abundance during his childhood, and he was determined to find a way to prosper as an adult. His life as a litigation lawyer provided money, status and all the trappings of the success he envisioned. But Sharma felt something was missing—that a vital part of him was silently starving to death.
- What Exactly Is My Metabolism, and How Can I Control It?
Many of my clients were initially overweight, not all, but most. In fact, more than 60 percent of my clients came to me so I can help them lose weight. The other 40 percent is a mixture of people who want to live longer, who want to look sexier, who want to add muscle to [...]
- Part 16: ACTION!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 “I think there is something more important than believing: action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.” —W. [...]
- Part 15: How to WIN—Every Time!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 As we head into the final stretch of this incredible journey, I want to offer you one final gift. It’s one of my greatest strategies for creating extraordinary success, and now–if you choose– it can [...]
- Happiness Is Yours for the Taking
Happiness. The pursuit of so many. In fact, we are known in America as those who live for “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But so many seem without happiness. Why is this? Is happiness truly elusive, or do we simply not know how to take hold of it? It is my contention that [...]
- The Advantage of Being Quiet
I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t stop talking. I had been in his office for a full 45 minutes, and he had not stopped once to ask anyone else’s thoughts or to even get a response. Finally, the meeting came to a close and I had the fortunate or unfortunate opportunity to meet with him one [...]
- Part 14: S-T-R-E-T-C-H Yourself
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13If you are going to achieve goals you have never achieved before, you must be willing to do what you have never done before.
One of those things is to allow, no actually push, yourself to FAIL. And if you want to succeed big, you have to fail big. There is no way around it.
When I was only 20 years old, I got into residential real estate sales. It was the early ’90s, and the real estate market was as tough as it is right now. I knew nothing about the real estate business; I had no prior experience, clientele or even credibility—I wasn’t even old enough to drink! But in just 90 days, I was outselling (new listings and pending escrows) an entire office of 44 veteran agents—combined!
The strategy I am going to reveal to you made that possible and is one of my personal-achievement secret weapons. I now offer it to you…
When I went to my first real estate seminar, I asked the lecturer to lunch. I asked him for his best tip on being successful in real estate. His answer was, “Go fail—a lot.”
“What?!” I said. “I thought the whole idea of success was to avoid failure.” “Quite the opposite,” he said. Then he told me a quote from Tom Watson of IBM: “The key to success is massive failure.” He said, “Your goal is to out-fail your competition. Whoever can fail the most, the fastest and the biggest wins.”
I was still perplexed. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- Part 13: Success Cycles
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12We are human. We cannot be 100 percent 100 percent of the time. We cannot improve every area of our life simultaneously. We cannot do everything at the same time. When we try is when we fail, burn out or blow up.
Nature works in cycles. As with the seasons, there is a time to learn, a time to produce, a time to harvest and a time to rest. Farmers, schoolchildren, and even professional athletes operate in seasons. That approach to life can help you excel, too.
I want to explain an advanced achievement strategy that will help you make greater progress toward your goals—faster. It’s a concept called: Working in Success Cycles.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say you and I are going to race from Los Angeles to New York City. We both have planes. You have a 747, which travels at a cruising speed of 875 mph. I have a mere Learjet, which travels at 400 mph. Now, if I fly straight through, but you have to land and take off in the 10 states in between—taxiing, parking and going through your preflight checklist before taking off again—who is going to win? CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- The Best Results ALWAYS Occur One Step Past Where Most People Give Up
I just got back from the gym about 30 minutes ago, and I wanted to share an important success “reminder” with you. I’m not sure about you guys, but getting to the gym is a pain in the butt sometimes—but we all have to do things we don’t want to, right? At the gym, I [...]
- Part 12: Your FUEL for Growth
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11In the previous installment, we reassessed and realigned our “reference group,” or the associations that can help or hurt us in achieving our goals. Now we need to talk about the most powerful influence in your life: the information or input you feed your mind.
If we want to produce different results in life, we have to think differently, to nurture a different mindset. As Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
If your thinking stinks, your results will, too. What you think about, you create. This is why all the monumental classic personal-achievement books have focused on how you think: Think and Grow Rich, As a Man Thinketh, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Magic of Thinking Big, etc.
You are not what you think you are, but what you think… you are!
The most constant influence of conditioning that affects our lives, our results and our ability to achieve is the information we feed our mind. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING
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- Part 11: Building Your SUPPORT Systems
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10So you now have your well-designed goals—fantastic!
You also have your plan of action to achieve them—hooray!
You even have your achievement-management system set to keep you on track with that plan—bravo!
What could possibly get in your way now?
Actually, 6,692,030,277 things (the world’s current population), or at least those people whom you circulate with regularly.
This reminds me of the title for one of Connie Podesta’s books: Life Would Be Easy If It Weren’t for Other People. So true, so true.
Your associations are one of the most powerful influences (I will discuss the most powerful influence on Thursday) that determine whether you will stick to your goals or get forever derailed.
Dr. David McClelland of Harvard University concluded after 25 years of research that the choice of a negative “reference group” was in itself enough to condemn a person to failure and underachievement in life. Whoa! Scary, isn’t it?
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- Creating Safety in Your Organization
Did you know that when people feel safe, they perform better? Have you ever stopped to think that if you could help people feel safe with you, they would perform better for you? That does not mean that you lower your expectations or accept sub-par performance or that you start every meeting with Kumbaya. You [...]
- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 5
Here’s a summary of week five in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where Ianswer your questions and give you a course update.I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you.
- Part 10: Remain F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9
Have you ever heard the adage, “I will accomplish this even if it kills me”? Well, in my early years of goal setting and achieving… I came pretty darn close to “crossing over” just to meet the goals I had set for myself! I also missed a lot of other opportunities along the way.I became so focused, so dogmatic about the goals I had set and my specific plans to achieve them that my blinders kept me from 1) seeing easier and faster routes to my destination, and 2) that some of the goals that were important earlier in the year or at the beginning of the decade were less important than I originally believed.
One of the greatest challenges to success is learning how to stay focused on your goals while remaining flexible enough to adapt to needed change.
Even though we have declared S.M.A.R.T. goals and designed a very specific strategic plan to achieve them, it is equally important to remain open and flexible along the way. If you look back at most of your defining moments, or the pivotal events that transformed your life, I bet most were unplanned and happened unexpectedly. Life is a mystery; you never know what might show up and you can’t be so myopic that you miss opportunities and solutions you couldn’t have even fathomed before.
Murphy’s Law and the T-shirt Philosophy
You know ol’ Murph right? The oh-too familiar friend who always seems to show up at your party at the most embarrassing and worst-possible times. Well Murphy lives to teach us this: If something can go wrong, it will. Don’t be too attached to the route you first charted, as you will undoubtedly be reevaluating and readjusting all along the way. Imagine CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Part 9: Your Achievement Management System
You have your ambitious and appropriate goals that are based on your strengths and opportunities and have been whole-life balanced. You know who you want to become, who you want to serve and you have the strategic plan of action to achieve all your worthy goals.
Now it is time to create an execution system to implement your plan in the real world—your world.
Some of the best of intentions and greatest plans have failed because there wasn’t a system of execution to see them through. When it comes down to it, your new plans, your new actions, your new behavior, have to be implemented into your monthly, weekly and ultimately daily routine. A routine is something you do every day without fail… and eventually without thinking about it.
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- Confessions of a Fit Millionaire — Part 2
Take 12-Steps Toward Lifelong Success Last week, we began our discussion about how to be a healthy millionaire. This week, I’m going to give you the exact formula. Enjoy! Here’s the 12-step success formula many of my most successful clients follow faithfully: 1. Write out a top-five list daily, before going to bed. Make sure [...]
- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 4
A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM DARREN HARDY:
Here’s a summary of week four in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where Ianswer your questions and give you a course update.
I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
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- Part 8: Your Strategic Plan of Action
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
The difference between a dream or fantasy and a goal you will achieve is:
1) writing it down (what we have already done) and,
2) outlining a specific plan to achieve the goal (what we will do in this installment).Now it is time to formulate your strategic plan of action.
I explained early on in this series how goals work (you can review here). When you know what you are looking for, it gives your mind a ‘new set of eyes’ to see the world around you. You begin to notice the people, resources and even ideas needed for achieving your goal. But if your goal is defined only by an audacious and distant destination, your mind may be thrown off by elusiveness and ambiguity. It doesn’t know what to look for to help you get there.
The mind operates best with precise instructions. A three-digit lock has 18,333 potential combinations. When you have the specific three numbers in the right sequence, opening the lock is easy. If you don’t have the combination—or precise instructions—opening the lock is almost impossible. Making a specific and strategic plan of action provides the mind with the instructions it needs to get you to your desired destination.
Making a plan to accomplish your goals can be compared to planning a cross-country road trip. If you were going to travel across the country, say, from my hometown in San Diego to Manhattan, you would consider the following: CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Let’s talk money.
Money and time. The two topics most people avoid are the ones we’re tackling head-on in our February issue. Most of us struggle with time and money at some point, whether it’s learning to manage our schedules, setting up a plan for retirement or just trying to get out of debt. We at SUCCESS magazine [...]
- Part 7: GIVE what you WANT
Review:INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
On your journey to achieving your goals, this one shift in your mindset can radically change how the world around you responds to and receives you.
The process of goal-setting can make you very myopic and ME-focused. If we really want to get what we want, we have to remember one of the oldest success principles: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or as Zig Ziglar puts it: “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
What if that is true?
What if you knew for sure that everything you gave you would receive back tenfold? How much would you give? What would you give? How fast would you give it?What do you want? What attributes do you need to accomplish your goals?
Do you need more courage? Who can you encourage?
Do you need more strength? Who can you help strengthen?
Do you need more belief? Who can you believe in?
Do you need more confidence? Who can you instill confidence in?
Do you need more love? Who can you love?In the last installment we discovered CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
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- Confessions of a Fit Millionaire – Part 1
It’s a fact that you cannot have true abundance in ANY area of your life without first feeling immensely confident in yourself. The main determining factor in your confidence is how you feel about your body. As many of you know, over the last 17 years, I’ve worked with several of today’s top Hollywood stars [...]
- Are You in It to Win It?
Have you ever heard, “It isn’t whether you win or lose; it is how you play the game”? I’m sure you have. But do you know who said it? Some guy who came in second place! You see, I have a problem with that statement. It presupposes, or at least strongly suggests, that winning and [...]
- Video Update from Darren Hardy–End of Week 3
Here’s a summary of week three in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life where I answer your questions and give you a course update.I’ve also selected some of your questions and observations left in the comments sections along with some of my responses. I hope you find it helpful to peruse through the common questions and insights shared by others experiencing the process along with you.
Please watch the video: CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEOIn case you missed any of the worksheet downloads:- Four Key Questions for Identifying Key Talent
We have some real superstars in our company. As company president, I hope I know who they are! How do you find talent within your organization? We have a few questions we ask each of our success center directors each year. First, we go through each employee in their team and ask, “Would you enthusiastically [...]
- Part 6: The MAGIC Factor to Achieving Your Goals
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Typically, the first thought that comes to mind after writing down a goal is, “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” That, unfortunately, is not the right question to ask.
Let me give you an example—When I was single and ready to find my wife and be married, I made a long list of the qualities of the perfect woman (for me). I filled up more than 40 pages describing my wife to be in great detail—her personality, character, key attributes, attitudes and philosophies about life, tastes, interests, even what kind of family she’d come from, culture, and of course physical makeup down to the texture of her hair, etc. I wrote in depth what our life would be like and what we’d do together.
I then had my goal and it was specific, measureable, attainable (I hoped!), relevant and time-sensitive. If I then asked, ‘What do I have to do to find and get this girl?,’ I might still be on that butterfly chase. Jim Rohn taught me, “Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue eludes you. Success is something you attract by the person you become. If you want to have more, you must become more.” So what I did was CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 6
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 5
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 4
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WORKSHEET 3
- Part 5 — The GRAND DESIGN!
Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4
Ready to write (and right) your future?Ready to be bold, dream big and put it (your aspirations) on the line (literally)?Ready to proclaim your BHAGs (Big, Hairy and Audacious Goals)?
This is it. It’s time for the GRAND DESIGN.This is actually the easy part. You knew about goal-setting before this course—how to make a list of what you want to accomplish in the next one to 10 years.The difficult part has been the process we have gone through to get here—figuring out who you really are, assessing how you’ve done in life so far, and most important, what assets, strengths and opportunities you have to work with going forward. We’ll come to another big challenge later in the series when we work on figuring out how to take the dreams, ambitions and big goals from your Grand Design and develop the plan of action to achieve them. But right now we’re going to focus on developing your Grand Design. And as a result, you’ll identify the person, the accomplishments and the life you have always wanted to have. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE- Part 4: Your BALANCE Sheet
[NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE AT DARRENHARDY.SUCCESS.COM IN ORDER TO RECEIVE LINKS TO THE WORKSHEETS THROUGH YOUR RSS FEED] Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, & 3 In the previous installments, we inventoried your current assets, liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. We also looked at your potential opportunities and threats to your [...]
- Part 3: Finding Your Unique Advantage
[NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR THE CHALLENGE AT DARRENHARDY.SUCCESS.COM IN ORDER TO RECEIVE LINKS TO THE WORKSHEETS THROUGH YOUR RSS FEED] Review: INTRO, WHY & HOW, PART 1 and PART 2 We’ve examined your life thus far and have looked into your future and established what direction you want your life to take from this [...]
- Video Update from Darren Hardy
A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM DARREN HARDY: Here’s a summary of week one in our journey towards Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life. Darren Hardy answers your questions and gives you a course update. Please watch the video below: NOTE:In order to access the worksheets/documents, click on the links at the bottom of the [...]
- Why You Exist — Finding and Defining Your Major Purpose
Review: INTRO, HOW and WHY and INSTALLMENT #1 This is one of the most important installments of the process. Here, we will delve into some of the great questions of our humanity and individual lives: Why are you here? What is your life’s purpose? What difference will you make? How will you be remembered? Who [...]
- Review & Gratitude
Ahhhh, smell that? That is the smell of rarified air. Welcome to the top 3 percent! By choosing to participate in this program and go through this process, you have separated yourself from almost everyone else—or at least from the remaining 97 percent of the population that doesn’t give thoughtful contemplation to their life’s desires [...]
- It’s the last day of 2009. Find out why you didn’t meet the goals you set in January.
Got goals? Millions of words have been written about goals. I’ve personally written thousands of them. Ninety-nine percent focus on “how-to” set and achieve them in one form or another. Books, articles, videos, seminars, online courses, and of course, classic classroom learning. Everyone sets goals. Some people set them on their own, others have them [...]
- We’re giving 2010 a kick-start.
Welcome to the first issue of SUCCESS for the year 2010! We are excited to have you with us as we kick-start a fantastic year of personal growth and achievement. In our editorial planning meeting a few months ago, we started brainstorming ideas for this January issue. What we discovered was that, while we each [...]
- Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life – WHY & HOW…
Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life: Your Personal Strategic Plan for Achieving Lifelong Goals by Darren Hardy Starting January, 5th 2010 Before we get started next week, I wanted to share with you a personal message about WHY I am doing this program… and why for FREE (I always like to know someone’s [...]
- The Life Changing Process of Goal Setting
Next week we start the process of Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life. This program is jam-packed with information to help you unearth your greatest dreams, desires and inner potential. You’ll learn how to accelerate your life faster, go farther and live grander than you ever dared imagine. In fact, we have so [...]
- Be Your Own Santa Claus
In 1972, when I was studying sales and positive attitude, I watched a movie called “Challenge to America,” almost everyday. It was a story told by the great Glenn W. Turner who wrote a letter to Santa Clause every year asking for everything his wealthy cousins received. Glenn was a poor farmer’s son who never [...]
- The Art of Chitchat
I hate chitchat. Hate it. I know I am probably (not probably, definitely am) an overly intense person. I want to be engaged in something that is meaningful and “on purpose” at all times—even when I am “off” and not working. To sit around and shoot-the-(well, you know) and talk about the weather, football scores [...]
- Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life — Introduction
We are entering a brand new decade. Think about where you were 10 years ago, when we began a new millennium, the year 2000. Seems like only yesterday, right? Are you where you’d thought you’d be 10 years later, when you looked forward back then? Are you leading the life you envisioned? Do you have [...]
- Small Stocking-Stuffer Sales Tips (that Can Reap Big Rewards)
Follow-Up Calls that Get You Closer to Closing
- Evolving from Salesperson to Trusted Advisor
When I say the words trusted advisor, what words come to mind? Relationship? Helpful advice? Strategic alliance? Consultant? Two questions: Do you believe you are a trusted advisor? Do your customers perceive you as a trusted advisor? Before you begin this lesson, take a moment to list the accounts where you feel you’re a trusted [...]
- What’s So Funny about Being Professional?
There’s an old sales adage that says, “If you can make em laugh, you can make em buy.” The reason its old and the reason its been around so long is that its true. Humor and laughter are two key ingredients in building and gaining a customer relationship. The challenge with humor is: 1. People [...]
- Go the Extra Mile
When I say “going the extra mile,” what do you think about? Hard work? Doing the unexpected? Other people? Someone special? You? Where does the Extra Mile come from? How are Extra Mile stories created? What do they mean to companies and people?
- Good, Better or Best?
Are you the best at what you do? Everyone wants success, but very few achieve the success they dream about. I’m on my journey just like you. In the process of studying, I came to a realization about personal achievement: “going for the gold” is wrong. Being the best you can be in order to [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (6 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (5 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (4 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (3 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (2 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Golden Gitomer Lessons from San Francisco: Bonus Videos on Image and Brand Building (1 of 6)
Jeffrey Gitomer was in San Francisco speaking at an event a few weeks ago and took the time to shoot some iconic (and just a little comic) footage in the “Golden State” to further illustrate his points on the importance of image and reputation when it comes to building both your personal and your business [...]
- Up Yours! (Your Image That Is) Pt. 2
This is a brand new way to look at (and build) your image, your brand, and your reputation. Everyone wants to have a great image. Very few companies have one. Even fewer people have one. How’s yours? Everyone wants to have a great brand. Very few companies have one. Even fewer people have one. How’s [...]
- You are part of our family.
Ever wonder what it takes to get SUCCESS magazine into your hands each month? Well, welcome to the first edition of the Editor’s Blog, where I’ll be giving you a peek at what goes on behind the scenes and into each issue. Our editors, writers, copy editors, photographers, designers and production artists work hard to [...]
- How to Sell or Why They Buy
People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy is my #1 (trademarked) rule of selling. It is an undeniable rule that on the surface seems relatively simplistic, but when you dig deeper, you’ll find the complexity lies in uncovering the MOTIVE of why people buy. Uncovering buying motives goes against the strategy [...]
- Declaration of Windependence:
The SUCCESS Sales Challenge Begins!Register for the Success Sales Challenge with Jeffrey Gitomer here >>> After is a self-defeating word. It robs you of the present, and resigns you to wait without taking any action. You convince yourself that life will be better after something: After you get a new job, after you get a better job, after you [...]
- What Difference Do You Make?
It’s said you will only be remembered for one of two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create. Abraham Lincoln made a difference that changed the world forever, but so did Hitler. Both men are equally remembered, but for which problems do you want to be remembered? The ones you solved or [...]
- Even the Most Fearsome are Fearful
Ever wonder what drives people to be mean, vicious, violent and cruel? Is it a lack of humanity, “bad genes” or the “the devil” at work? There is a simpler answer: FEAR. I saw the documentary Tyson this weekend. Mike Tyson was once the most feared human being on the planet. What was behind his ferociousness? His own inexorable fear.Tyson grew up on the meanest streets of Brooklyn, where he was robbed, bullied and humiliated by older boys. At the time, he was too scared to fight back, and as he later candidly admitted, “I’m afraid of being that way again.”When a thug gratuitously killed one of his pet pigeons, Tyson went wild and beat the kid up. Once he learned to fight, he was never going to let himself be “bullied” again, “because if anyone tried to humiliate me again, I would kill them.”The director of the film explained in an interview, “Fear was CONTINUED HERE
- The Five Laws of Personal Constraints
by Guest Blogger Flip FlippenThe Five Laws of Personal Constraints by Guest Blogger Flip Flippen
There’s a reason swimming with barbells isn’t an Olympic event.Yet most of us attempt something just as illogical—we strive to reach our potential without first getting rid of the traits that weigh us down.The greatest swimmer in the world couldn’t do much more than tread water unless he or she lets go of the barbells. It wouldn’t be the swimmer’s great abilities that determine the level of success but rather the weights that hold him down. In exactly the same way, things other than our talents, personality or academic achievements play a greater role in determining how far we go in our professional careers and personal relationships. In a recent article I wrote for SUCCESS magazine, I included a quiz for the readers that must be completed in 10 seconds or less. It was a simple question:
- FREE Audio Excerpts — Mark Sanborn
This is a continuation (listen to segment #1 here) to the additional audio experts we are releasing from our Mark Sanborn audio interview, originally recorded for our October issue of SUCCESS.
SEGMENT #2 – In this segment Mark discusses why you need to have passion and process in order to be successful. CLICK HERE
SEGMENT #3 –In this segment Mark explains why you need to think beyond your current experiences and influences if you want to achieve greatness. CLICK HERE
- Pinching from Across the Pond
I just returned from several glorious weeks of travel throughout Europe. Like all experiences, I want to observe and assess what I might learn, share and use to enhance my own life and further my insight. Below are a few lessons I gleaned from our jovial kin across the pond. 1. Service is a profession. [...]
- FREE Audio Excerpts: Dr. Rao & Mark Sanborn
This is a continuation (listen to segment #1 and #2 here) to the additional audio experts we are releasing from our Dr. Rao audio interview, originally recorded for our October issue of SUCCESS. Dr. Rao was featured in our September issue and is the former professor who taught a personal-development course at both the Columbia [...]
- Become a Laughingstock
Have you heard the joke about… the guy who wanted to sell water (the stuff we were used to getting for free!) for more money than sodas or even beer? Or how about the one who wanted to start a new airline, the bloodbath of competition, during the dot-com crash? Then there is the one [...]
- FREE Audio Excerpts – Dr. Srikumar Rao
If you read SUCCESS (I hope you do!), you saw Dr. Rao featured in the pages of our September issue. The response was so great that we were compelled to bring him back and interview him live for everyone to hear on the CD inside of the October issue of SUCCESS. Dr. Rao is the [...]
- Epilogue: Share the Strength
Why is it that some people change their bodies and others transform their lives? What is it that ignites life’s brilliance deep within? Your FIT for SUCCESS journey has helped you cultivate your strength. You’ve come to know your greater capacity as you forged your body and mind strong. Now it’s your turn to share [...]
- Seasons of Strength
Get in Your Best Shape One Time Each Year, and You’ll Be in Shape for Life The FIT for SUCCESS Challenge has been a finely tuned peak phase for transforming your body—a 90-day training camp providing rhythm, focus and structure, and a chance to get into your best shape of the year. And like all [...]
- Finish Strong, Take 7
It’s almost time to step beyond the FIT for SUCCESS Challenge to discover how to stay strong—for the next 12 months and for life. Next Monday I’ll share with you Seasons of Strength, a beyond-the-Challenge secret to creating an annual plan that will have you reaching new levels of fitness year after year, keeping you [...]
- Dare to Dream Again
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” —Teddy Roosevelt Do you remember when you were a child and [...]
- Don’t Mess With Texas!
Texas is my dog… my other dog. Lucy was such an inspiration to everyone I thought I would introduce you to the teachings of my other dog, Tex (for short), he is our Jack Russell Terrorist (no, not a misspelling). I went to buy a cowboy hat before going into the rodeo in the stockyards [...]
- Feed Your Strength
It’s a common misconception that strength training leads to fuller, stronger muscles. While it’s true that training is the stimulus for growth, it’s actually the recovery and proper nourishment immediately following your training that fuel your muscles, energy and strength. Intense training leaves your muscles screaming for vital nutrients necessary for rebuilding your body stronger. [...]
- I Love Lucy
Lucy is my dog. I want to be more like Lucy. My wife’s friend Marilyn stopped by with her friend Gayle. The visit was intended to be brief as they had been at the hospital nearby all day. Gayle’s husband has had a grueling battle with throat cancer for the past 18 months. Gayle had [...]
- Questions, Answers & an Exclusive New Challenging Exercise
The Final Sprint: Days 64 – 84 It’s the final sprint, the stretch run. You’re in the last 21 days of your FIT for SUCCESS Challenge. Perhaps you’re seeing and feeling results, or maybe you’re waiting for a breakthrough. Either way, it’s not uncommon to produce the most rewarding measurable results in the last few [...]
- MOTIVATION: From Discipline to Mastery In Training, In Life
What gets you to do something, let alone stick with it? How do you move beyond discipline to find the joy of being fit and strong, staying engaged for the year ahead and beyond? More so than any other factor, more than knowledge–even more than the perfect plan–your ability to create, sustain and renew motivation [...]
- Back to Boot Camp
Whenever you are going to make a major change and begin to undergo a different lifestyle, it is probably good to make a massive move in that direction. Think about it. As the old saying goes, “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got!” So [...]
- Pick a Fight
The phrase “life balance” is malarkey. Here is another one: “LOVE is all there is.” Ah, no, there is HATE too. Everyone needs an enemy. Luke had Darth Vader. Batman had the Joker. David had Goliath. Twenty-somethings rage against “The Man.” Rush Limbaugh has the liberals. Lance Armstrong has cancer. Apple has Microsoft. Rocky had [...]
- The Transformation of Cardio Training:
What HIIT Can Do for Your Performance at the Gym, at Work and in Life Whether it’s running the road, spinning in a gym or kicking it up to a rhythmic beat, when doing cardio, the arms and legs are in motion and sweat is pouring, which must mean calories are burning and fat is [...]
- The Space between the Notes: Words of Wisdom for Fitness, Work and Life
Multitasking has become so pervasive in our culture that even when people show up at the gym (or at work or everyday relationships), they bring their mental static with them—their minds are all over the place. Instead of focusing on training (or the task at hand or the conversation taking place), they’re thinking about what [...]
- Don’t Let Conflict Keep You from Success
Anytime you are making ground and moving toward success, there will inevitably be the opportunity for conflict. That is just a fact of life. You put two people or more in a group and there is potential for conflict—and conflict, improperly handled, can destroy your ability to continue on and achieve your goals. This is [...]
- What a Day for Daydreams
In the 1850s, Ernest and Pierre lived their childhoods kicking rocks up and down the cobble stoned streets of Bar-le-Duc, France. Their father, a blacksmith, spent his days hammering away at carriage parts, with the clang against the anvil echoing through the cement walled town. Ernest and Pierre, carrying heavy bags and wooden crates of [...]
- Start Strong: Eating Breakfast Is a Recipe for Success
What if you went 12, 14 or even 16 hours without eating? You’d be starving, cranky, exhausted and unable to think straight, all while your metabolism slowed to conserve energy. To make matters worse, your body would be stockpiling as much fat as possible. More ready for hibernation than battle, the last thing you’d want [...]
- Courage That Changes Your Life
“The scars you acquire while exercising courage will never make you feel inferior.” —D.A. Battista “Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.” —David Ben-Gurion “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” —Dorothy [...]
- Why Train With Weights?
The 7 Wonders of Strength 1. Muscle Is the Engine of Youth Biological aging and the loss of functional strength have less to do with your chronological age than they do with time spent training and engaging the body for physical growth and development. Strength training is the most effective way to build muscle, thereby [...]
- If You Don’t Fall, You Aren’t Getting Better
No Pain, No Gain My dad taught me to snow ski when I was 6 years old. By the time I was 8, I was skiing on my own. At the end of a full ski day, I eagerly announced, “Dad, I didn’t fall once all day!” My dad replied, “If you didn’t fall, you [...]
- How Strict Must You Eat to Lose Weight?
With the Fourth of July holiday almost upon us, many of us will have food on our minds. It’s a great day for sharing delicious—if not necessarily nutritious—food with family and friends. During a radio interview the other day, I received a question that is particularly relevant to this upcoming day of celebration. The question [...]
- Don’t Stop Asking So Many Questions
A few years ago I took my boy on a trip that we make together every year. We left the house at 6 a.m. on Monday and got home at 9 p.m. on Thursday. That is just 87 hours. However, that is 84,293 questions! I mean, 10-year-old kids can ask questions! They are question machines! [...]
- FIT Challenge Exercise Photos
You asked for it and Shawn listened! Exercise photos and more at Shawn’s site MyStrengthForLife.com. You will be able to click on a training day, say Monday, and a pop-up will open. Mouse over the images to go forward through the day’s exercises (two pictures for each exercise: start/finish, and midpoint accompanied by a description). [...]
- The Forgotten “Secrets” to Success
Over the next several posts, I’d like to help clear up some of the very dangerous illusions I think our current culture has created about what it takes to be successful. Hollywood, commercialism and our own decadence has falsified our reality and is leading us into a form of self-destruction. What Ever Happened to HARD [...]
- A Strong Mind for a Strong Body
Can you focus? I mean really focus. Are you able to spend just two minutes without being distracted, free from the noise and constant chatter bouncing around in your head?
For just two minutes sit quietly and clear your mind of all activity—be free from any thought. Go ahead. Close your eyes. I’ll wait. Seriously, give it a try. The clock is ticking.
- Fatherrific!
In honor of this Sunday’s celebration of Father’s Day, I wanted to take a look at three very famous fathers. Joe was a very good basketball player, known on the rugged Philadelphia playgrounds as “Jellybean Joe,” a 6-foot-9-inch forward who possessed the skills of a point guard. At one point in his professional basketball career, [...]
- You Lose One-out-of-Five for Being Too Aggressive
When I was in real estate there was this mega successful mortgage broker named Mari Mahoney. She did more business than any ten “successful” mortgage agents combined.I asked her how she did it; what was her key to success. She rapidly responded with, “I lose one out of five for being too aggressive, but I get the other four!”
This statement, this philosophy, this testimony changed my life.
- THE FAQ POST
I wanted to create a post that will continue to be added to with your questions and our answers! If you don’t see your question answered please check back again! We’re also working to respond individually as well. June 16: Question from Schoenburg Are the nutrition guidelines for the 12 weeks after base camp different [...]
- 5 Circles beats 3 Squares
Americans have, by and large, distorted the golden rule of three square meals a day beyond recognition. We skip breakfast, eat quick lunches, slug down coffee or energy drinks, snack throughout the day to compensate for the poor start, and then consume more than half of our daily calories in one meal: dinner. This is [...]
- The Weekly Training Schedule
This week kick’s-off your Training Camp. For the next 12 weeks you follow the same weekly rhythm.
- Training vs. Exercise
Yet, Americans continue to pack on the pounds, and I believe I may have uncovered the cause. So I have a slightly different message to offer: Stop exercising!
- What to Do When You Don’t Feel Like Doing Anything
In all of my interactions with people, I’ve never found anyone, regardless of their level of success, who doesn’t sometimes find themselves simply not wanting to do the things that they need and want to do. It is a part of human nature that there will be times that, in spite of all that we [...]
- Forging Your Strength for Life
It’s time to begin the noble climb from out of the ordinary to the heights of extra-ordinary—an elevation few choose to pursue in their lifetimes.
Take the next six days to complete your preparation in Base Camp so that you’ll be rested and ready to enter your 12 weeks—only 84 days—of training.
- He’s an Idol, She’s an Idol, I’m an Idol…
This past Tuesday night, there was nothing on television. Typically, my Tuesdays, beginning in January and all through May, are filled with American Idol and the heartbreak, the laughter and the hours of dialing and texting votes for our favorite Idol. But just because a winner was crowned nearly a week ago, it doesn’t mean [...]
- Rest, Renew, Reboot
Would you climb Mount Everest without an acclimation period? Of course not. The same way, you shouldn’t start a training program without a period of time to renew, reset and reboot your body to prepare for a rigorous and challenging transformation. Many people get real geared up when I say the worst time to start [...]
- My Magic 8-Ball
Do you remember that little toy many of us had when we were little that supposedly “answered” questions? It was a black eight ball with a window in it that would display a floating unit inside with pre-scripted answers to your questions. What’s funny is that there was a chance that a pre-scripted answer could be reasonably close to a real answer!
- Your Blueprint for Brilliance: Setting Your Vision and Goals
Together, an inspiring vision and clear goals serve as a blueprint for your lasting success—your choice to live a strong life, however you define it. It’s the life you’re most drawn to live, a brilliant future that pulls you forward each day with great force.
- Accelerate Your Abilities
In today’s fast-paced world, the wins usually go to those with exceptional skills and abilities. The old quote is true, “The race is not always won by the swift and the strong, but that is the way to bet.”
- The Shape of Your Life
Whether you’re tall, short, thin, curvy or stout—whatever shape you see in the mirror—the shape your life will likely take on is much the same as every other. It rises up, arcs over and slides back down. If you were to graph the energy and vitality of your life, it would look like a cross [...]
- The Top Six Ways to Get Motivated
How can I maintain my motivation over the long term? This seems to be quite a common dilemma for many people, so I wanted to address it here. Here are some tips for staying motivated:
- Every Journey Begins with a Single GPS
There I was in California, in a tiny rental car, and every turn seemed more wrong than the last. I was running late. I should’ve called. And, now, calling would seem desperate and rude. I’m an “expert” on things like control, planning and achieving. So what sort of expert ignores the instructions given them on [...]
- Winning the Race of Life
The new issue of SUCCESS hits newsstand today! This issue features our cover story with Lance Armstrong on Winning the Race of Life. This issue also focuses on health, not in terms of diets, practices or plans that give short-term solutions, but on health as a philosophy, as an outlook on life.
Like your finances, health is one of those easy measures of how you are doing. It’s easy to see if you are continually building your savings, growing your wealth and securing your future, or if you are constantly overdrawn and becoming bankrupt from overindulgences and poor decisions and practices.
Just as you can look at your bank account and get a good measure of your financial health, you can also take a look in the mirror and get a good measure of your physical health. If you look at your physical health, you get a refl ection of what is going on in your head. Your mindset, your philosophy and your attitude are most often the forces behind your current state of physical health. Your philosophy and mindset are also what produce the health of your fi nances, your relationships and your business.
Think about this: Why do 95 percent of people who go on a diet end up gaining all the weight back? Here is why: READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE HERE: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2009/05/winning-the-race-of-life
- Your Greatest Resources
When people think about pursuing something, the first thing they normally do is look at their resources to determine whether or not it can be done, which is always a wise thing to do. But where most people fail in this process is, when they’re taking stock of their resources, taking stock of the wrong [...]
- FIT for SUCCESS: 90 Days to a New You
The FIT for SUCCESS Challenge is the gateway to transformation—true and lasting change—from the inside out. This is an opportunity to create a powerful transformation have a performance lifestyle, allowing you to effortlessly enjoy more clarity, more energy, more strength, more success and, ultimately, more freedom. In the next 90 days, we’re going to cover [...]
- 7 Keys for Joyful Living!
If there were one thing I could wish for my family, friends and readers, it would be for them to experience joy in everything they do. Here are some thoughts for finding joy in your life. Know your purpose. Nothing will bring you more joy than knowing why you are here. Not knowing brings sadness, [...]
- Don’t Let Your Kids Inherit Your Bad Financial Habits
Six Financial Mistakes You Don’t Want Your Kids to Repeat It is not the government, Wall Street or the greedy mortgage companies that are to blame for your financial crisis. The responsibility lies only with YOU. Let’s use this experience as a learning opportunity so the “sins of the father (and/or mother)” are not repeated [...]
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- Prescription drugs for additional severe circumstances or perhaps people who are...
- Like most people i am fully integrated - to be fair we have to be if we want t...
- Maeghan, perhaps your parents took their prioritisation for each other a few ste...
- Make the First Week the Best Week
