Don't Forget the Wide Lens

Some days I can feel so out of touch, as both a business and a person, so mired in the every day little items that it becomes daunting to even look up. But when I do, I realize I'm working through a microscope.

Working the small ends of things is not a bad practice - it's how it keeps many of us detail-oriented. But if we dig too far into it, we can also lose perspective. We need to sometimes remember the wide lens.

My realization of this came from reading an article on science fiction everyone should read. It mentioned Azimov's Foundation series and I started digging into the synopses and it was spanning hundreds of years and generation after generation and the galaxy itself and I thought to myself: why do I not entertain my role in the world - on occasion - just like this?

I'm not saying visit your life in reference to the next ten thousand years of the Human Race in the Milky Way Galaxy, but in the larger picture of what are you doing this year or this decade in your field? How are you affecting others? How are you playing your part in both life and business and what exactly is the long game?

This plays hand-in-hand with being over and on top of life; get buried and it's difficult to dig out, but imagine you're addressing things while flying above the clouds and you take the control.

So while the phone calls and emails and tiny detail does matter, don't get entirely lost within it or you will one day be looking up and wondering what happened last week, trying to get a grip on what's going on "outside."

Finally, don't be intimidated by the feeling that everyone else has everything running perfectly; for the most part, everyone struggles to find a balance. Find yours. And welcome.

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!

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."

Love. Every. Day.

Monday

Why love Monday? It's your reset button, your hit-the-ground-running, your New Years Day of the week. Mondays are when we get a chance to look at what we can do better from the previous week and make that a focus.

Many people look at Monday as a plague - "a case of the Mondays" - but this is the day that owns the rest of the week, the day to wake with Success! in your head, to put on the conductor's cap and drive that train. Because if you don't, you're nothing but a passenger.

Takeaway: Monday is your engine!


Tuesday

Why love Tuesday? I've found that most people poo-poo away Mondays, so Tuesday is the busiest day of the week. We're getting things done, helping clients, taking calls, making calls, building new business and existing relationships.

Beside that, it's the "release" day of the week: movies on DVD, video games, new CDs, and - for the most part - books. This Tuesday, make business happen and find something new to love.

Takeaway: Tuesday is your genesis!


Wednesday

Why love Wednesday? Most people call it "Hump Day" while they slog through the week, the mid-point of a dismal outlook. NO! Wednesday is the first sign the business week is soon coming to a close, that there is a limit to what can happen in a business week. Get moving!

Send out your reminders, contact your clients, make sure something is happening before Friday.

Plus: New comics are released.

Takeaway: Wednesday is your lifesource!


Thursday

Why love Thursday? Based on the past few days, Thursday should be relatively quiet, so catch up on some things. Make Thursday the day you knock out your absurd inbox or make a weekly trip to your local networking group or just put on the headphones, hit the driving music (me: techno), block out the distractions and get it done.

As you may have heard, the weekend's on its way.

Takeaway: Thursday is your catch-up!


Friday

Why love Friday? What's not to love about Friday? It's the last "work day" of the week!

Most people fluff off on a Friday even more than a Monday. For some it's even more stressful because you've got to find some closure to the week, need to get X number of things done before the weekend.

But it's Friday! Make sure you spend some moments in the morning planning your day. Get what you can done and be okay with putting off the rest to next week. Close the deals, pause the conversations.

Plus: New movies are released in theatres every Friday. Popcorn time!

Takeaway: Friday is your closure!


Saturday

Why love Saturday? If you're like me, Saturdays are sometimes work overflow. But whether you work for yourself or someone else, Saturdays NEED to be yours! Do what you must - absolutely must - and nothing more business-wise. Get out there and fix that thing with the door or put a nail in that creaky step and retire in the evening with friends or family (and if you have neither nearby, call me) because you've been knocking it down hard for the last few days and if you work hard the general wisdom is that you must play hard - or at least play somewhat.

Takeaway: Saturday is your leisure!


Sunday

Why love Sunday? Football!

Just kidding. Yes, there's football, but from a business perspective, Sunday is the recharge day, the visualization day. If you want to preempt your Monday, knock through some emails. Follow-up on the Saturday gutter-cleaning or basement-organizing you didn't quite finish.

But relax. Please. Relax. Play some video games, catch up on your DVR shows, rent a movie, but spend your best parts of this day the way you want to spend it: in quiet peace alone, with family or other loved ones. Decompress.

And as you end the day, prepare for tomorrow, even if it's just mentally saying to yourself "Success!" as you fall asleep. Because Monday's coming and Monday's exciting because Monday's your reset button, your hit-the-ground-running...

Takeaway: Sunday is your recharge!


Every Day

Why love Every Day?

Because you're here. You're alive. You're doing what you do and you're going to be better at it every single day you do it.

You're going to Love Every Day because if you don't, you will lose. You will fail, as a business and as a human being. Yes, you are allowed some bad days, some idontwannas, but your motivation is your own, your conductor-ship of the train or bus is yours to hold or drop.

Drive your bus. Conduct your train. Make it count in both business and in life. Work your ass off and spend serious time with those you care about. And don't - ever - forget yourself. Quiet- beer- video game- movie- meditation- time is probably the most important part of the equation.

So love yourself, love others, love what you do. In that order.

Love. Every day.

As my father coined: "Love is the bond."

Make it happen in your life. Make it happen for you. And never forget to love every day.

Kill the Idontwannas

You've been there before: getting out of bed, waking up, answering the phone, checking your voicemail because you didn't answer the phone, running your business, making that meeting that you can skip...

I don't wanna...

I've mentioned this before about your thoughts defining who and what you are. When you hear that coming from inside your head, you need to snuff it. You need to step up and do what you know you need to do.

The Idontwannas will break you, and spill poison into your business and your life.

So get up, get a move-on. Make action your success, make motivation your mission. Live like you know you need to, even if - some days - you don't want to.

And if you can change that switch, even if you have to flip it every day or even every few hours, do it.

Make your life as beautiful as you think it can be. You're driving the bus. You're the one in charge. So do it. As Captain Picard said: Make it so.

Don't Let the Alarm Clock Drive

Here's a little motivational psychological tip to help you get every last bit of kick out in the morning: Don't let the alarm clock drive.

In other words, instead of getting up when you hear the blaring of the clock or the ring of your phone alarm, hit that snooze button (you know you're doing that already, anyway). Take a few deep breaths, run through your first steps of the morning, and get moving under your own power.

It's a small mind trick, but when you let the alarm clock drive the first act of your day, you're being pushed by an "outside" force. However, when you move on your own, get up between beeps, YOU are taking charge of the first moments of your day, you are grabbing ownership at the get-go. And that can make all the difference the whole day through.

Restarting the Flow

Sometimes life interrupts.

And that's not an excuse. Life always interrupts. But people who try to blog on a regular basis, try to keep their social networks going, sometimes falter. That's me right now.

It usually comes out as "Oh, the holidays!" or "we had a death in the family" or "business got too busy" or "everyone in the house is sick" or they're lazy or tired or depressed or "there just wasn't time." Please, don't think I'm criticizing anyone but myself. Count me in on all of them.

How do you fix it?

You get back on the bus; you restart the flow, and you keep that flow going.

My best advice?

Plan well. Set your week's blogging subjects on Sunday or Monday. Even all you do is create a blog and give it a title and save it for later, you've already got your week primed for a quick interjection.

Set a schedule like it's part of your job. If you are even remotely related to social marketing, it is. "I'll blog at 10am every day." If you can pin down a time, you have no other thing to be doing. Blog.

So go ahead and plan and set and we'll be seeing more of you and your business.

And you'll be seeing more of me.

That will be all :)

Inspiration: Rebirth

I was out on my back deck this evening and noticed the tree in our neighbor's back yard had gone completely gold. Not yellowed out, not drained, but enriched with a fantastic and beautiful color that brought a boldness and majesty to the scene.

I know that that tree - and Autumn specifically - means that those leaves are dying and will eventually fall off (mostly in my yard) and eventually decay, but I was in awe of it for just a moment as I realized it was the hallmark of rebirth.

In order for you to have REbirth, there must first be a death. And perhaps this post will be reposted in Spring, but for now let's take a look at those leaves.

As a tree grows, as it passes from Spring to Summer, those leaves are its tools: they are the sole engines of photosynthesis that turn CO2 and sunlight into overall growth for the lifeform that is that tree. And that tree grows. This time of year, those tools wary and fall to the ground to be replaced in a few months in that cycle that never ends until the death of that tree.

We can take a lesson from that tree, both in business and in life.

We find life in our personal interactions, using the tools we have gained since childhood. We find business growth in the tools we have learned and fostered and those have helped us grow. But every once in a while, we need to purge.

So this Autumn, as you see the wonders of nature change into modes of color you could only imagine, take a look at your own tools, your own conventions. Drop them all and start a list: what worked for you this last year? What didn't? What do you need to change?

Discard those things that soured your growth, that stunted it. Pick up new tools and ideas and theories on sustenance. Start fostering your new ideas, take the ones that worked with a fresh insight, and GROW!

You can wait until Spring, but why put it off that long? After all, you're not a tree :)

Inspiration: Life!

It's been a while since I've been able to push some serious inspiration your way, and I was outside this weekend doing some yardwork and I just had to pause. Focused on mowing and stripping my deck and my tunnel vision on those aspects of "get it done," something told me to listen.

At first I heard the neighborhood: kids playing, laughing, cars moving, airplanes overhead. Then the insects and birds and squirrels: chirping, humming, running. And then the wind through the trees, blowing the leaves; in a way, they were speaking.

I opened my other senses and saw the squirrels and the clouds and the trees swaying in the breeze. I smelled barbeque on the grill, wood burning in someone's outside pit, the freshness of cut grass. And I wanted to touch it all.

It was a rare lesson - but more, a reminder - to keep it all open. And I never want to forget.

So if you're stuck in the box of a cube or your office all day, if you've got your eye on the prize of goal fulfillment: STOP.

All around you there is life. All around you, something else is happening. Take a moment to appreciate that wonder that exists all the time, that wonder we often block out because it's not the focus of our day or our task. Never forget that there is "awesome" all around us and we need only to pause to appreciate it, take it in, and see the magic of which we're all a part.

Take joy in life!

Smile!

A couple weeks ago I had the wonderful experience of seeing Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with my wife from ten rows back at the Riverbend Arena. It was amazing.

But as I was standing there in awe of the sound and talent, of the music coming from the stage, I saw many, many people looking around and even straight at the stage with a blank or even guarded look on their faces.

And the only thing I thought was "Why aren't you smiling?"

I had a giant grin on my face from the moment we walked through the gates - and got to hang in the VIP area - to when we drove out of the parking lot. It was a stunning performance, even if they ran a little short of expectation.

And I wondered about those people who had things on their mind other than the experience, other than just focusing on the moment itself. And I felt bad for them.

So for your own sake and the sake of those around you, express yourself! If you're having a great time at a concert, smile. If you're having a good day, smile. If you're enjoying that sandwich: SMILE! You will not only brighten your own experience, but you'll pass it on. And what a gift that can be.

Some Inspiration From LOST: Define Yourself!

(No, no spoilers folks)

It's been a few weeks since the finale of LOST and I'm still stewing in the philosophical and metaphysical implications of how it all ended, but something came to me today about the overall character plot of the show that gave me inspiration to write this post.

As the plot went, a plane crashes and the survivors of that mess must survive on a mysterious island. For 6 years, we're shepherded (no pun intended) through the lives of these characters. And one of the more subtle themes that emerges is that many of these characters have allowed others and their surroundings in the "normal" world to define them; they have not worked to write that script themselves.

This goes for politics to branding to you and me in our personal lives: Are you writing the story of your life or are you letting everyone else do it as you passively float through? Are you driving your own bus?

If you are, chances are some focus and push and you could be doing it more efficiently. If you're not? Well, get on the stick! It only takes a little introspection to see who's in charge here. Take that charge. Take it seriously. Define yourself!

And if you've got a brand you want to control then work on that too - write that story too. But step one is self. Just like you can't truly love others without loving yourself, you will have little luck putting a business in order if your house is a mess.

Now get out there and have a great week!

Inspiration: Try Something New!

I wasn't here Monday, so here's your weekly inspiration, completely planted into my head by my recent trip to Los Angeles!

Sometimes, working as most of us do on a day-to-day basis and getting so into what we're doing, we whittle ourselves down into our specialty, we unconsciously have installed blinders to everything except what we're doing right now. We get tunnel vision.

And anyone who's experienced that phenomenon knows the reality of monotony. And monotony is living in a rut. It is drab, slow, and joyless. And who wants to lose the joy in their work, in their life?

(Note: If you're not finding some joy in what you do every day, stop now. Walk out the door. Then DO SOMETHING ELSE!)

So there's the problem: drab, slow, joyless. How exactly do you get away from that? Easy! Do something new.

Now I'm not saying you need to take off to LA for 5 days or even one day, but that's why vacations are so important to the vacationer: you get a breath of fresh air, do something new or different and come back with fresh eyes, a reinvigorated spirit. (European employers genuinely trust the productivity increase which is why you'd start there with 4 to 6 weeks of paid vacation per year. Yum!)

So you don't have the vacation time. So what? You can still do something different! Go for a walk after dinner. Spend your lunch hour in the park. Try writing a short story. Get out that To Do list and actually DO something on it instead of whining about how old some of those goals are. And if you've got a little over a hundred bucks, nerves of steel, and a Saturday afternoon, go skydiving. Seriously. It will change your life.

But all of these suggestions are for one reason: expanding your horizons. By doing something new or different, by changing your patterns, you change the physical chemistry of your brain - you actually alter how it works. So when it is time to go back to the daily grind, you will see it differently, gain new perspective on the day-to-day.

And if not? At least you've got the next new thing to look forward to.

Make it a great weekend!

Wonder and Woe and Humility

After our universe began, it took 385,000 years before the basest of molecules were formed because what we call matter outnumbered anti-matter by one in a billion.

9,000,000,000 years later, our planet Earth was formed.

4,500,000,000 years after that, it's now.

Molecules forming, suns exploding, every piece of you now is a result of cataclysmic events. Every piece of you is more or less from a star.

From the beginning of the universe, energy has turned into matter, matter to energy, to make you and the world around you. Billions of years to form your world, hundreds of millions of years of life transforming for you to read this right now.

So what are you doing today?

That Little Voice Inside Your Head

Everyone has one (or two or three...). It's that little voice inside your head. If you don't pay attention to it, know that you're not driving. Either way, know that you have control over it.

Generally, the Voice represents your inner-most psyche, and it can take many forms.

In a professional environment, the Voice can tell a writer "no, that's not the right word" or "rewrite that last sentence" or "no one is going to read this!" It can tell an entrepreneur anything from "you're on the right track" to "stop trying - you're going to fail!"

Personally, you may hear "you're too fat" or "you can't do this" or "why are you even trying?" But you can hear "you're watching what you eat" or "you have the potential to succeed" or "work for it and win!"

Do you get it yet? The Voice is not some other-worldly being or force. It is you. And if you pay attention to it - yes, all the time - then you can catch it when it dumps anything negative on you. Because that's you questioning yourself. But more than questioning, it's self-defeating.

So today's message is: pay attention to what that inner Voice is saying. It is a part of you. You can manage the message. Not only "can" but "must." If you let a negative attitude run your inner Voice, you will fail. Simple as that. It will feed you nothing but poison and doubt.

And I'm not saying that the process of paying attention and fixing this is one fell swoop; you will notice first the message, the inner-doubt. Fixing it is like training for a marathon. There will be negative messages that come through, but you simply dismiss them with notice and override them with a conscious control: "It may take time, but I will succeed."

Notice your inner Voice, manage your inner Voice to encourage you and point to success and you will have nothing but. Let it go, and that may be the sole reason for failure.

Success! You own it. Take control of it.

You FTW!

Weekly Inspiration: Growth!

It was inevitable. You're looking for inspiration and there it is right in front of you: Spring. Printemps as the French would say. (Sorry, listening to Rock Velours on Sirius right now.)



If you have to ask why Spring is inspirational, you have bigger problems than what I can address in a blog post.

But here is Spring in Cincinnati: green, growth, color, leaves on trees, the odors of the flowers, life!

Yes, life! Everywhere you look: life! Things that have been dormant for months are coming out, returning, energizing.

And in that is this week's lessons:

1. Business building: Whether you're new or been around for awhile, take advantage of the lesson of nature to grow. The tree knows it only has a few months to make the most of the new season; act like it, act like your only growth can happen now. Fire yourself up, energize yourself with the wonder outside your window! And get out there and get it done.
2. And if you're in business now and lagging behind and can't seem to find your place, the message is the same: DO IT! NOW! Nature and energy and growth is all around you; borrow that drive, see it and follow it. You have no excuse except...nothing. Do or do not. Now's your chance.

Spring is the best time of the year to build a business, to grow an existing business, to drive yourself to make it bigger and better, to rein in quantity over quality.

It's yours to use. You can succeed or fail any time of the year. But now's the time to take a good look around and shout to the heavens "Success!" and make it yours.

So make it yours.

Monday Motivation: Don't Forget the Wonder!

This past weekend I was on the back porch watching our dog run around and in an adjoining yard heard some kids playing. One of them said "Hey, look at this!" and they crouched down, I'm guessing to look at a bug crawl around on the grass.

And I was beside myself.

Here I was, outside in some pretty nice weather, taking a break from some programming, my head swimming in code, and I suddenly realized that I wasn't paying attention to any of the things around me.

Prompted by the wonder of the children across the way, I looked around and saw the sky, the floating clouds, the trees, and heard the birds. And I was amazed at how alive I felt.

We so often focus so much on what is immediate, on what is "important" that we often forget that there is wonder and discovery as close as our own back yards. As close as walking outside to our cars. As close as now.

Your motivation this week? Step outside your home or office door and take a minute or two to appreciate the wonder of everything that surrounds you every day. It is alive; feel alive with it! Check the nuances of that tree, listen to the birds, and wonder at the sky, that odd miracle of atmosphere and color and clouds that exists way beyond our reach.

Share it with someone. Wonder is a gift we are given at birth and everyone still has it. Some just need to be reminded.

And if you're really into it, squat down and take a look at that bug. It's really pretty interesting. Just ask the kids.

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.

Monday Inspiration: Always Driving to Now

I can't recall exactly which book it came from by the amazing Richard Bach, but this quote came to mind in the last couple days:


I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it?

-Richard Bach


Every day that passes, every moment we live adds to the total time we've spent on this Earth, and every Now is the result of that time. In essence, you've traded your entire life up to this moment for this moment.

This is a gut check. This is a frozen moment of reality and self-awareness. And no matter what you see, it should not be a moment of panicking.

The best case scenario puts you at a level of contentment: "I'm doing all right." The worst case scenario would be the opposite: "What have I been doing?" And contrary to what you might be thinking, both of these require action. If you do not like what you see, change it. The fact that life has added up to this point specifically means that every moment thereafter can change the equation. If you're content with what you see, remember to not remain content.

We are the constructors, the builders. And only we are to blame for who we are. As Arthur O'Shaughnessy famously wrote: "We are the music makers,/ And we are the dreamers of dreams..."

So assemble your life the way you want it to look. Change if you like. Maintain if you like. Always strive for more and better.

There's not better time than now.

Monday Inspiration: Impress Yourself

Today's a simple idea, a simple message, but hopefully something that will help drive your day.

It's about you. When it comes to the end of the day, when you turn off the lights, when you look in the mirror in the morning, you are the person you have to live with. You are your passion, your brand, your word.

So from now on, realize that you are the only person you have to impress.

Be your own barometer. You'll be a harsher judge and prouder producer than anyone else can be of you.

Now go out there and get 'em!