Working It Like The Queen

Some days I feel extremely lazy.
I don’t want to work.
I certainly don’t want to work
until midnight
(as I did last night and the night before).

But then I remember
Queen Elizabeth II,
a freakin’ Queen,

standing in the pouring rain,
waving to her people,
because it was her Diamond Jubilee
and that was what people expected.
She’s 86 years old,
a Queen,
and she was working it.

What is my excuse?
What is your excuse?
(hint: being a Queen
clearly isn’t a legitimate excuse,
and neither is being in your 80’s)

Time to get back to work.

Tracking Productivity

Michael Hyatt has a great post
on becoming more productive.

I find productivity to be
a personal thing.
Michael works in
50 minute blocks of time.
I need ideally
a three hour block of time
for my writing
(it takes me 30 minutes
to immerse myself in the world).

The key thing to becoming
more productive
is tracking your productivity
and the outside factors
that may or may not influence it.

If you have a super productive day,
note the factors.
What was the noise level?
What time of day was it?
Where were you?
Did you have internet access?

If you have a low productivity day,
record the same factors,
and once you have enough data,
look for trends.

Learning to be more productive
WILL change your life.
Track and learn.

Learning To Make Decisions

Many people think
that leaders make all of the decisions.

Yeah, no.

The person who makes the decision
assumes responsibility.
Great leaders want responsible people
working for them
so
they facilitate these people
to make their own decisions.

As Tim Milburn shares

“You empower people
by giving them choices and
letting them decide.
Choice builds commitment.
The creative capabilities of others
are diminished when they feel like
they are micro-managed
every step along the way.
With responsibilities should come the authority
to carry out those responsibilities.
People need to have some space
to make decisions on their own.”

Allow others to make decisions.

Ray Bradbury And A Free Education

My grade 6 teacher
taught my entire class speed reading.
I was always a fast reader
but after that,
I was insatiable.

I read through our small town’s library
from beginning to end,
reading even the texts
on auto mechanics.

It was the best general education
a person could get
and it was absolutely free.

Ray Bradbury had a similar experience.

“I spent three days a week
for 10 years
educating myself in the public library,
and it’s better than college.
People should educate themselves –
you can get a complete education
for no money.
At the end of 10 years,
I had read every book in the library and
I’d written a thousand stories.”

An education doesn’t have to cost anything.

The only limit
to your knowledge
is you.

Being Nice And Sales

If you ask a 100 people
if they’d buy from a nasty person,
just about all of those 100 people
will say ‘no.’

Yeah.
That’s bullshit.

I’ve known some brilliant successful CEO’s
who have been absolutely nasty people.
Their products sold well.
Their companies ran like a dream.
A CEO can inspire and lead
without being nice.

I know some New York Times best selling authors
who are absolute assholes.
Their readers know they’re assholes
but they buy their books
because the books are damn good.

Being nice on its own
is NOT going to increase sales.
Being nice, however,
increases the chances
that other people will work with you,
help promote your products,
and do what they can
to help you become successful.

And being nice feels good
and makes the world a happier place.

Just don’t expect being nice
to be your entire marketing platform.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Saying No Nicely

If you’re competent,
requests for your assistance
will expand exponentially.
Your time is precious and limited.

You have to say no.

But how?
We want to be liked, right?
Knowing how challenging
asking for help is,
we certainly don’t want
to be a bitch about it.

Michael Hyatt uses a simple formula
he lifted from Dr. Ury
The positive no

“This simple formula employs
a “Yes-No-Yes” response.
“In contrast to an ordinary No
which begins with a No
and ends with a No,
a positive No begins with a Yes
and ends with a Yes (p. 16).””

So when I get a request
to critique a story,
I’ll congratulate the writer
on finishing a story (a yes),
say unfortunately
I don’t have the time needed
to give a great critique (a no),
and I’ll suggest a
couple of critique groups
she can contact (a yes).

In other words,
take the time
to suggest another resource.

Say No
but say No nicely.

Just Start Moving

I know eBooks will evolve
to include multi-media.
That isn’t a wild prediction.
All paths are leading to multi-media.

I can see it.
Many others see it.

However, only a rare few
(and I won’t be that rare few
as I’m implementing different innovations)
will implement that innovation.

As Kaihan Krippendorff shares

“The world changes all the time.
It’s easy to see it is going to happen.
What distinguishes innovators
from the rest of us
is not that they see farther
into the future;
it’s that they take action.
While “experts” bring up
complicated logic
to explain why things will not unfold
as the innovator thinks,
the innovator just starts moving.”

You KNOW what innovations
are coming down the pipeline.
Just start moving on them.

Predictable Innovation

As Matthew E. May shares

“Unexpected thunderbolt breakthroughs
have little place in
the strategic scheme of things,
because they’re very often one-offs
or happy accidents,
and not repeatable.
You can’t build a business on
serendipity;
it’s neither predictable
nor reliable.

The constant pursuit of better is.”

The little improvements,
the small competitive advantages,
are often easier to market also
AND
if compounded,
they eventually add up to
a HUGE competitive advantage.

Strive to constantly improve.

George Lucas And Entrepreneurs Retiring

When I ask employees
what they’ll do in retirement,
they usually reply with a wide grin
and an enthusiastic “Nothing!”

When I ask entrepreneurs
what they’ll do in retirement,
they usually outline
some charitable or financially risky project
they’ve always wanted to work on.

George Lucas is a great example
of a retiring entrepreneur.
He is retiring from his Lucasfilm empire
to make experimental movies
in his garage.
He’ll likely be working harder
in retirement
than in his current position.

I ‘retired’ from business
to build an author brand,
a process requiring an even more hectic pace
than my business career.

I LOVE the work though
and I would never choose doing nothing
over writing and selling and promoting stories.

Retirement for entrepreneurs is different.
Remember that when planning for retirement,
when making promises to loved ones,
and
when planning your careers.

Catching The Ball

An associate of mine
was supposed to lead a discussion.
She forgot and didn’t show up.
So I led the discussion for her.
I didn’t announce that she dropped the ball.
I simply caught it for her
before it hit the ground.

Recently, during a live interview,
Kathie Lee Gifford asked Martin Short
how long he has been married.

Martin Short’s much beloved wife
has been dead for a year and a half.

Instead of pointing out Kathie Lee Gifford’s error,
Martin Short responded with a gracious
“We (have been) married for 36 years.”
When asked “But you’re still, like, in love?”,
his reply was “Madly, madly in love.”

Kathie Lee Gifford dropped the ball.
Martin Short caught it.
He didn’t make a big production out of
covering up her error.
He simply did it.

When a buddy/associate/partner drops the ball,
it is an opportunity for you
to build trust
and strengthen relationships.

Quietly catch that dropped ball.
She’ll know you caught it
and she’ll value you for doing so.