Don't you DARE make any New Year's Resolutions...

...until you figure out "What's your WHY?"

WHY is that resolution so important?
WHY do you want to lose weight or stop smoking or learn a new language?
WHY would you set an insignificant short-term goal when you could be creating a significant legacy?
WHY is it that we spend so much energy acquiring and holding on to replaceable things when our careers, our relationships, our lives should be focused on the irreplaceable?!?

If you want to create long-term success, you need to create a vision that's bigger than this month or even this year—look at the big picture and decide what changes in your daily routines will bring significance to your life!

Cleansing Technique

Boy, do I feel light!

A little over a month ago, I was suffering through all the symptoms of overworking, overeating, and overindulging. It seemed a little counter-intuitive that I was struggling with a book that had to do with long-term success and value statements when my own values were losing a grip on my long-term vision. That's when the cleanse happened.

My wife and I went on a master cleanse program known as the "Lemonade Diet." Basically, all you "eat" for 10 days is a drink made up of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, grade B organic maple syrup, purified water and cayenne pepper. Couple that with a morning saline flush and a cup of herbal laxative tea before bed every day and Roto Rooter couldn't do a better job of getting rid of the goop. (Check the diet out for yourself HERE.)

But I didn't stop there. I decided to do a master cleanse on my life. Cleaned out the bookshelves, the garage and the closet. Wiped out all the old email and purged my laptop of unnecessary files. Got rid of everything that was clogging up my chances for success.

Lesson learned. You can't talk about a life-changing theory when you're breaking all the advice you want others to follow.

Now, I'm ready to roll. I've lost 20 pounds, have all kinds of room in my house, and best of all, I feel totally prepared to work on my long-overdue projects. Wish me luck.

The Parable of the Treadmill

Funny thing happened at the health club this morning...the power went out. Everything was humming along, people straining through workouts, TV monitors glowing, treadmills and Stairmasters and ellipticals keeping a steady, muscular beat.

And then, suddenly, BLIP. Power gone.

I was just starting my 20 minute struggle with an elliptical machine when the club went dark. Suddenly, everyone who was running on the treadmills came to a screeching, violent stop. One woman who was tearing up her treadmill at an elite distance runner's pace fell down. The belts were silent.

Over on the ellipticals, though, it was business as usual. In the darkness before dawn, everyone who was relying on their own power was still working out, LED's still glowing, charting our progress while the rest of the health club was standing around.

It struck me that there's a lesson here. Not that you should avoid treadmills...but that if you're counting on someone or something else to provide your momentum, you run the risk of unexpected failure. When you're providing your own momentum, if you stop it's because you choose to stop.

Just Another Maxim Monday

Lots of pithy sayings and quotable quotes to pass along today...

Don't give up the thing you want the most for the thing you want right now.

There's a big difference between "success" and "significance." Ask yourself--do you rather be successful or significant?

You can't be a success at what you do if you're a failure at who you are.

There's never a time limit for any problem worth solving.

Motivation is the art of getting people to do things they already SHOULD do. Inspiration is the art of getting people to do things they didn't know they COULD do.

TBIF

Saw this post on Marc Orchant's blog on the website ZDNet and couldn't wait to share it with all the other positive people I know:

There's never been a better, more succinct statement of a fulfilling week of work that this morning's acronym form Doc Searls: TBIF - Too Bad It's Friday. Love it.

This is my last day of a busy and fruitful week at the Berkman Center. (I fly home early tomorrow.) There's progress and fun with every meeting, phone call and IM session. I'm here early this morning, freshly fueled by a double cappuccino from Peet's, to prep for a 9am meeting that will pick up where our Wednesday VRM & Public Media workshop left off.

Like Doc, I'm fortunate to have gotten my life to a place where I genuinely enjoy most everything I'm engaged in doing. That's not to say there aren't days that suck because of course there are. But when you can get to Friday and say "TBIF", you know you have gotten into a true flow state.

(I agree with Marc...that's one of the best descriptions of a fulfilling career I've ever read!)

What's Your Time Worth?

So...you never have enough time to work out. The house is a mess because you're rushing from appointment to appointment. You can't finish that book you've always wanted to write because there's so much going on in your life. You're just. Too. Busy. Right?

Wrong. You'd be surprised to find out how much time you really have to do the things you really want. I found a terrific site on FineLiving.com called Take Back Your Time that actually lets you calculate where you spend all that time every week. Then go to What's Your Time Worth? for lots of practical (and maybe a little pricey) personal services that help you find that extra time you've been dreaming about.

Now. You'll have time to lose weight--20 minutes x 4 days a week = 5 pounds a month. Hiring a cleaning service wipes away the guilt and gives you 9 hours a week to organize that hectic schedule. And about that book? Zig Ziglar writes a book a year, just by writing about a page and a half a day. Takes him around 45 minutes.

You can do all that. It just takes a little time.

A Few Great Thoughts

"Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities."
--Norman Vincent Peale

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
--Winston Churchill

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."
--Elbert Hubbard

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act but a habit."
--Aristotle

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing-that's why we recommend it daily."
--Zig Ziglar

Fat Chance

I am fat.

It's worse than that. I'm old and fat. Fat, bald, and flirting with 50. Yippie skippie.

Not a great way to start out a Monday. Especially when you get out of the shower and suddenly realize you can't fit your gut in the mirror frame anymore. I'm so out of shape, I get winded brushing my teeth!

The funny thing is...I'm also excited. Excited and encouraged. Filled with hope and making grand plans because I just hit that magic "tipping point" where the future doesn't look flabby anymore.

(Do you ever get those moments where the big picture suddenly comes into focus and all your worries immediately crystallize into a light bulb of inspiration? I did. This morning. Naked and fat and unveiled in a foggy bathroom mirror, the answer became clear.)

I have to get middle-aged fit. Not cut-like-a-jack-bull fit. Not Men's-Health-Magazine-abs-like-a-washboard fit. I'm talking just fit enough to fit into the jeans I wore ten years ago. Fit enough to run a couple of miles with my ten-year-old. Fit enough to live long enough to really enjoy my family and friends.

When your values finally outweigh your desires, you can accomplish anything. That's why I'm telling you this--because I want you to have a defining moment, too. One that grabs you by the heart and shows you the right path toward personal and professional success.

Let's share our stories. And our progress. I'm really looking forward to the journey.

Faith Speaks Out

Did you see Tony Dungy's comments when he was interviewed after the Colts' victory in Super Bowl XLI? Rarely do you see someone able to say the right thing without trying, effortlessly handling the emotion and chaos of the moment with civility and grace.

I was especially encouraged to see him display his spiritual side, freely talking about his faith with a candor that's both refreshing and desperately necessary these days. Here's what CBS Sportsline columnist Mike Freeman had to say about Dungy:

Notice he spoke of God. When he does, no one rolls their eyes. Because it is Tony Dungy. Because there is nothing but sincerity there and you know he will not talk of religion and several hours later go chase a few skirts as many people in his profession tend to do.

Faith is a very powerful thing. But it's not just believing in something that you can't see--it's trusting in that power to provide success, especially when events threaten to defeat you and your purpose. It's like putting a piece of lumber across a deep ditch--you believe that the wood can hold you, but it isn't until you actually walk across it that you show faith. Dungy walks the walk as well as any man I've ever seen. It's a leadership style that everyone should learn.

Dungy is the epitome of class in a business filled with screamers and look-at-me's. Let's hope everyone who watched him during all those press conferences learned a valuable lesson in character and leadership.

Same Stuff, Different Day

Every year on this day, I make a kind of pilgrimage to Punxatawny, Pennsylvania as I curl up on the couch to watch Groundhog Day, a brilliant moral fable featuring Bill Murray as a jaded weatherman who has to relive the same day over and over. (I counted 34 times, but I'm sure the implied number has to be in the thousands.) Bill's character finally breaks free from his eternal cycle when he slowly realizes that what makes life worth living is not what you get from it, but what you put into it.

How many lives are wasted because of self-indulgence and ego-centric choice? Almost every successful leader I've ever met or interviewed has told me that they didn't achieve true wealth until they started focusing outward and made a conscious effort to give more than they got.

Don't let another day go by doing the same ol' same old. Break free from the commonplace. Find ways to make each day better, to add something instead of grabbing away. The lesson from Groundhog Day is that loving life includes loving the fact that it moves on--whether you do or not.

The Puzzle Principle

Later this week, I'll be officially announcing my new platform, The Puzzle Principle: How To Create Long-Term Success in a Short-Term World, in the next issue of my MARKtalks newsletter. (If you'd like a free monthly subscription, send me a note at Mark@MARKtalks.com!)

Pick A Lane This Year

Happy New Year! I hope the past 12 months were filled with opportunity and inspiration.

You're going to see some changes soon on my web site, MARKtalks.com. I'm trying to focus my energies (not to mention my expertise) in order to become a more powerful connection for people who are struggling with presentation skills. Some changes will be subtle, some very dramatic, but ALL of them will be centered on helping you Act Like A Winner and Talk Like A Pro!

These changes come from some advice I got off a teleseminar with Jane Atkinson, one of the top professional speaker coaches in the world. She says the secret to starting a successful speaker career is to "pick a lane," and it struck me as something I should've done years ago. I've been blessed with a large range of abilities and have always strived to find success in ALL of them! (Too bad I didn't "pick a lane" and focus my attention on just one talent--who knows how far I could've gone by now!)

The point is that it's never too late. No matter where you are in your career, a laser-like focus on your top talent can't help but improve your results in the coming year. I'm looking forward to sharpening my skills with Ms. Atkinson this winter...and if you haven't decided what your best path to success is yet, pick a lane!