A Few Motivational Reminders

Breathe
Deeply.

Walk
With every step a testament of intent, a way down your path.

Work
With organized purpose, and be able to stop.

Rest
As you've earned it. Relax, sleep, but never stop dreaming.
And ...breathe.

The Future Doesn't Come to the Couch

I was actually think about the future, mulling over my plans for my business, how to better serve my clients when I came across this quote:

When people indulge a little too much in their fantasies about the future, daydreaming rather than thinking about the obstacles that stand in the way of making their desired future actually happen, it saps their motivation and energy. So it's important to not spend too much of your time thinking ONLY about how great the future will be - you've got to couple that with thoughts about how the work will get done.

- social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson

Wow! Yes, no only are your thoughts just as important as actions, but the type of thoughts you're having will either help or hinder. Pie-in-the-sky is fine, if you're dedicating time to how to bake and fly. In other words: See the goal, plan the path, take action. If you're continually doing nothing but staring at the goal, the smallest pebbles will become stumbling blocks.

Make it a great week!

April 1: Get Your Internet Game Face On

If you're internet savvy (or if you're not and getting there), you know already that not everything you read online is valid. You need to check sources, hoaxes, and any other reason to tear silliness to ribbons.

Get your internet game face on.

Today is April Fool's Day.

While you should always check backgrounds and sources, April 1 is notorious for being a source of bedlam for the internet world: anyone who has a computer can post anything on the internet. And while most of these April Fool's bits of humor are not remotely malicious, they will make you look like a fool if you read something and say OMG! I have to pass this on to everyone I know!

Credible sources - including Google - have been party to such tomfoolery.

The lesson on April 1 is: Do your research and wait until tomorrow. Then, if still credible, do your email forwarding then.

Save the servers! No April 1st email forwards!

The One You Feed

An old Cherokee Chief was teaching his grandson about life.

"There is a great fight going on inside of all of us", he told him, "and it's a fight between two wolves.

"One is evil. He is anger, envy, guilt, sorrow and ego.

"And the other is good. He is joy, love, hope, truth and faith."

Grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win?"

The Chief replied,

"The one you feed."

Inspiration: Paradise - There's Nothing to It

Another quote this week for your inspiration joys, from the song "Pure Imagination" from the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory:

If you want to view paradise,
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it

Okay, so it's the silliness of Willy Wonka, right? Wrong.



The quote tells us that if you want to view "paradise," if you want to view a heavenly realm of existence, all you need to do is look around yourself, look at where you are.

You're already here.

I know this wraps back into last week's post, but it's of a different flavor.

If you "truly wish to be" where you envision yourself, if you want to be there, you "simply" must craft it. You create your own reality, your own paradise. Reality has no weight but that which we add. Shakespeare may have been indulging in ethical relativism when he wrote in Hamlet "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," but that ties into our daily lives.

Every morning can be painful, every day a chore. And it will all be stress and misery.

Or every morning a seed of success, a chance to help others, a winning proposal to get important things done.

Thinking makes it so.

And if your thinking is not on par? If your thinking is a cause of poison in your life? That's on your shoulders.

Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it


A great debt of thanks to William Shakespeare and Leslie Bricusse (writer of "Pure Imagination") for my inspiration today.

There Is No Try

Even in "Empire," Luke was a whining mess. "OMG No! We'll Never get it out!"

And Yoda smacked him down: "No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."



When I was an entering freshman at Valley Forge High School in Parma Heights, OH in 1990, I recall our principal giving us a speech at which the crux was: Try. I thought then that that speech was BS and it wasn't until I remembered Yoda's quip from "Empire" that I got philosophical about it.

"Try" means half-assed. "Try" means "I'll give it a shot." "Try" is a non-commitment that ends in "Well, I tried!"

Wrong.

As Yoda says, you either do or you do not. When it comes down to success, when it comes down to achieving, you either do or you don't. "Try" is a cop-out. So stop making excuses and get out there and put yourself out there and succeed - or fail. Either way, you've learned something so you can make even more out of it next time.

But don't "Try." If you do, you set yourself up for easy failure. If you fail, make sure you failed because you "did not," you didn't accomplish your goal. Fail is okay. Making excuses is not.

I wish our principal had gone all Yoda on us. I was fine. But I think it may have made a difference in other lives.

Inspiration Monday: The Muddy Road

In collecting my thoughts and gaining a handle on what is often a busy day, I sometimes use some of the readings of Zen Buddhism to refresh my memory of what is important and what is calm and what is flow. One of my favorites (I even used it in a piece of inspiration to a family member recently) is an old koan entitled "The Muddy Road:"

Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was falling. As they came around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross at an intersection.

"Come on, girl," said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak until that night when they reached a lodging temple. Then he could no longer restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"

"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?"

Simple yet brilliant. Dwelling and ruminating and worrying get you nowhere. Something either is or isn't. As Mark Twain once said, "Worrying about something is like paying interest on a debt you don't even know if you owe."

But at the same time this koan makes me remember that all is change, all is in flux, and that focusing on one aspect of something for too longs adds nothing but stagnation to your river, for lack of a better analogy.

Take things as they come. Say "Thank you" for blessings. Overcome obstacles (then say "Thank you" again). You'll come out a better person, and others will see you as geniously anticipatory when all you were was flexible and mindful.

Smile! 30 Seconds to a Positive Outlook

One of the most important aspects of having a powerful, productive day is first generating that positive attitude that will carry you through your tasks and experiences.


How can you do that in 30 seconds? It's a basic psychological trick.

Action --> Emotion

If you're groggy, apathetic, or downright negative first thing in the morning, you can turn that right around. Because actions can change your emotional state. Why do you think that actors and actresses who act as lovers so often end up as lovers in real life?

Action --> Emotion

So here's your trick: Stand in front of the mirror and smile. Hard. And by hard I mean contort your face into the most exaggerated smile you can contrive. And hold it for 30 seconds. You may begin laughing. That's fine. Don't fight it.

And when you're done, your outlook on the day should be much brighter.

Why does it work?

Your brain has a very strong link already built in concerning smiling and the neurochemistry associated with it. Like Pavlov's dog salivating to the bell, the simple activation of the smiling muscles elicits the activation of some of those chemicals that - under normal circumstances - trigger the smile. The psychological component is an internal justification for smiling; your brain says: I smile when I'm happy, so if I'm smiling, I must be happy. And the final piece is the mirror. You recognize yourself in the mirror, smiling, and reinforce the psychological component of the justification loop.

Action --> Emotion

If it didn't work well enough, do it longer. If you need a refresher, do it often. But be warned: it works negatively for frowning. And if you're dead set on being melancholic, it probably won't do much good.

So smile in the mirror every morning, smile at people all day, and keep that positive attitude and drive. You'd be amazed how it can change your outlook.

Really?: In Memoriam

Having been born of its cousin decades ago, Really? had been used as a one-word, sarcastic commentary as a foreshortening and akin to such phrases as "Are you really going to wear that?" and "Is that really your answer to this situation?" for over a decade but had received an injection of sarcasm in fringe popular culture that recently bled into mainstream popular culture.

It is uncertain whether the filming of the Lowe's commercial featuring massive abuse of Really? or Eric Marschall's mother's use happened first, but it is suspected that both occurred in a single, monumental synchronistic moment that stretched its little heart too far. Too far indeed.

Really? passed away quietly in its home sometime last week. Overexertion is the suspected cause of death.

Really? is survived by its cousin, really, a modifier that - despite constant and extreme overuse - has survived throughout the ages and even increased itself in exposure.

It could be said that Really? would be missed, but we'd be lying. Any future attempts to resurrect the single-word phrase from this point forward is considered a foolish attempt at both wit and humor and should be put down immediately. A moratorium has been called for in respect for this loss.

Really?, we wish you well.

Don't Think Small and Push; Think Big and Pull.

Don't think small and push; think big and pull.

I came up with that in a previous post. Here, I think we need to dissect and look at the deeper meaning behind it.

Thinking Small

If you are a small business, you may be dealing with the moniker itself. Worse yet, you may be embodying that nomenclature, taking the word "small" and making it a part of the subconscious identity of your business: You're struggling with growth; You're worried you won't be taken seriously; You don't have an office with 30+ employees.

It's all state of mind. And you need to have a vision.

Can you see your business bigger? Do you have a plan - or even a thought of what you might do - when things really get going? Do you have a solid belief that things will really get going?

If so, then you're on the right track. You just need perspective.

On the other hand, if you are drawing on that word "small," even subconsciously, and making excuses that you're not big because you don't have the time or don't have the resources or don't know why, you need to regroup.

You are as big as you think you are. You are as successful as you know you will be.

Thinking Big

You don't have to be big to think big. It's actually the basis of any successful vision: you start thinking big and get it going from that direction. In other words, you must mentally position yourself as "big" and pull the reality of the business in that direction. Towards you. You as "The Big."

Thinking Strong

You're already "big." Even if you want to remain a small business, you need to think big to pull, to get your business to that "I'm okay" level.

But chances are - if you are thinking of or stuck in the "small" - that you're in need of some confidence. I may not be Tony Robbins, but read this with all intensity and seriousness:

You are as strong as you believe you can be. You are much stronger than you think you are. You can and will succeed. Did you hear that? You will succeed.

Plan your business strategy. Seek help in strength from others if you need it. Reassurance if you desire it. But make it solid. Don't try; do. Don't whine; make a plan to fix the problem. And never, never think "small" ever again. You're already a big business. Make it real for you.

Eastern Hills Journal (Community Press) Small Business Spotlight

The Eastern Hills Journal (Community Press for our chunk of the East Side of Cincinnati) printed a great article highlighting EJM Designs Limited in the Small Business Spotlight. Lisa Wakeland did a great job on the piece. Since not everyone in Cinci gets this form of the paper (and those outside of Cinci don't have access to it), I've posted it here.

The article came out in print today (07/08/09), and I'd just link to the web version of the article, but Community Press technically posted the article online - much to my chagrin - June 2nd and their 30 day purge of online articles has passed. But you can still see the electronic version here - article on B1.





For anyone in the area who owns a small business, you may be wondering: "How'd you get that?" Here's the secret: when I saw the feature I contacted the journalist. I find in my dealings with other small businesses that some owners have a tendency to take the word "small" and make it a part of their being, a part of the core of their business. This leads to a subconscious view of self in the diminutive sense.

You never land if you don't jump. You don't sign the contract if you don't make the call. EJM Designs Limited is only "small" right now because it's not "big." But it's moving in that direction. Don't think small and push; think big and pull.

Why Quick Template Websites Are a Bad Idea

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Avatar Rebranding and Facial Recognition

Up until yesterday, my Twitter, blogging, and LinkedIn profile avatar looked like this:



And that's fine enough. It's conducive to my logo, works towards branding in that vein, and is distinctive.

Unfortunately, whenever you are building a brand, while a solid, staid logo or logo-related avatar may be appropriate, when you're talking about the service industry, you're talking about a provider/client relationship. And that is built on trust. And you can't have trust in a digital, "small world" market if you don't have your face out there.

I'm as traditional as I can be when it comes to business relationships on the interwebs. LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook are wonderful tools, but I prefer a smile and a handshake and view social networks as tools to be used to get to that point on the local and regional level. But because that can't always happen with a client in Florida as efficiently as it can in the Tri-State area, a face - that is: the face of the person who is posting/tweeting/potentially selling to you - is hugely important. And I finally got on the boat.

In order to maintain the work I've already done to build a blog and Twitter following, I didn't want anyone to freak out or pause more than 3 seconds when looking at my avatar (except, of course, to admire such a face), so I did something more transitional as opposed to a complete revamp:



And this is not just important in my instance, in my avatar. This should be a consideration for every person working on branding and working on social media on two levels:

A Face Is Important
If you are selling a service or product or ...anything, then you need to put yourself out there as a token of trust, give people the literal face of your business. If a smile and a handshake cannot work right now for a Miami-Cincinnati relationship, working with a face and a phone call can be very beneficial.

Transition is Important
I never wanted to transition from a logo-esque avatar to just my face. That would be confusing and disrupt the basic branding I'd already accomplished with Twitter followers (now quickly nearing 500) being able to identify the "big e" as something valuable. I added my image for the "face" aspect of social media, but maintained the logo bit in the upper right corner.

Never make a sudden break when you are dealing with branding or avatars. If it is a switch from one pic of you to another, then you're probably fine. But if you've been dealing with something non-headshot and want to switch, know that you should transition with grace and preserve your identity.


So are there any other stories out there, any other people who needed to switch avatars or felt the (necessary) need to put a face out there?

Love, thoughts, and suggestions always accepted in the comments.

Selling the Invisible

I'm reading a phenominal book called Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. Quick read with constant nuggets of wisdom for anyone selling a service.

Your prospects feel like the jurors in case after case. Befuddled by the facts and often mistrustful of the parties offering those facts, these jurors look beyond the facts, to things like the shine of the defendant's shoes, the niceness of the defendant's attorney, and a dozen other irrelevant details.

Appeal only to a prospect's reason, and you may have no appeal at all.

Words to live by.