What Matters Now

Seth Godin, one of the greatest marketing experts in the world, asked a group of people, all of whom consistently generate thought-provoking ideas, to provide a page on what they're thinking about as the new year rolls in. He's turned that into a pdf called What Matters Now.

Feel free to download it--and share it. It's a wake up/shake up call for anyone who never wants to go through a year like the last one again. Remember, if it ain't broke...break it!

Resolutions Are Just Goals With Party Hats On

Experts say that 75% of people who make New Year's resolutions break them by the end of the first week. WHY? Those same experts say it's because most resolutions aren't specific enough. I say it's because most resolutions made in the afterglow of New Year's celebrations are just goals with party hats on them. Meaning they have no meaning behind them.

Do you set goals and achieve them? Regularly? If you do you're in the minority. Most people don't even try and those that do often find the same big goals festering on their list for a long time without ever being accomplished.

How is it that successful people seem to be able to set and achieve big goals routinely? What do the 1% do differently? Here's a clue. Do you have a "to-do" list? Do you have any problems with getting the items on that list accomplished? Maybe not as fast as you'd like, but they all get done, right?

Now think about the way your mind views a goal (or a New Year's resolution) versus a "to-do" item. The big difference is confidence - no matter what the "to-do" item is, you know it has to get done and you can figure out how to do it, even if it means that you have to get help. So you mentally make a plan and start work. And it gets done.

You can have stuff on your "to-do" list that you don't have all the information you need to accomplish. Getting the information just becomes part of the task. This is exactly how successful people deal with goals. Instead of seeing them as overwhelming "pie-in-the-sky" visions, they simply become an item on the "to-do" list. They make a plan and get to work, because they believe they can get it done. And they generally do.

Why Ask Why?

Everyone needs to ask “Why?” more often...for instance:

• Why do they make bald guys choose a hair color on their driver's licenses?
  
• Why is the guy who invests all your money called a broker?
  
• Why is that when you're driving around looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
  
• Why do people ask for the time and point to their wrist but when they ask where the bathroom is, they...(wait for it)...don't point to their bottoms?

Just a few mind-blowing questions to start out the New Year...:-)

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!

Forget Auld Acquaintances? Never!

I'm not surprised at the number of people who are glad that 2009 is over--in fact, many of my Facebook friends are giving an upright single digit to the passing year in hopes of better days ahead. Me? I got no complaints.

Don't get me wrong--I have plenty of reasons to curse the past 12 months and wish them good riddance. The financial crisis alone gave me fits in 2009. I had to step down from the last job I ever thought I'd have and was laid off from the next job 7 months later. I've been unemployed for three months and have been forced to take extreme legal measures to save my house and my sanity. On the surface, 2009 was a suckfest.

However, the suffering also provided opportunity. My faith took a substantial boost and my spiritual relationships are stronger than ever. I cleared out the cobwebs of complacency and started focusing on substance rather than success. Thoughts and actions are clear and precise with the wisdom that can only be obtained from a kneeling position. Forget this past year? Never! I'd rather remember 2009 for the necessary process of forging me into a stronger man, a better friend, and a more patient servant.

For everyone who can't wait for this past year to be over and done with...just remember that, in the midst of all the chaos, there were moments of beauty, grace and profound reason that planted the seeds of future success. Be grateful for the challenges in 2009 that made you smarter and more resolute--and be mindful of what memories of this past year that may someday strike a happier chord.

Bless the old and welcome the new. Happy 2010 to all!!!

Lesson from today's big news...

Success is 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration.

That's the lesson one might take away from the announcement that President Obama has been given the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, just 9 months after taking office. Even some of his most ardent supporters are calling the honor "premature."

I don't begrudge the President his award...but in the humbling moment when the news was delivered to him, I hope that his first thought was, "Man, I hope can accomplish enough to really deserve this."

Despite the best efforts of those around us to provide encouragement and affirmation, the "secret" of real success, lasting success, the kind of success that leaves a legacy instead of a track record, is that there's no "secret." Under every day circumstances, awards come from effort and accomplishment not hope and potential, no matter how great the possibility those last two words might hold.

It helps if you're talented or smart or handsome or funny or strong or even lucky, but in the end success can only truly be quantified in the amount of effort it took you to get there.

New year, new coach, new attitude

Wow.

Has it been a year since I blogged last? Funny, in my blog of October 7, 2008 I had just finished the Cowtown Half-Marathon and claimed to know more kinds of pain than Eskimos have words for "snow."

One year later, I just finished the Cowtown again (more on that story tomorrow--very motivational) and the pain now compares to the Eskimo word for "MANmythighshurt!"

But the 13.1 mile run didn't hurt my fingers so I have no excuse for the lack of blogging. I'm back in the saddle now, thanks to a great new coach who figures to have me on target for a speaking career more successful than I ever imagined.

I'm glad to be back. Thanks for being so patient.