The best people in any field
constantly learn.
This applies to writing,
to business, to bartending.
Paul McGee*,
one of the best cocktail bartenders
in the world,
shares
“I read a lot:
old cocktail books,
new cocktail books, blogs.
I try to carve out
a couple hours
every day for reading.”
Are you devoting
a couple of hours every day
to become the best in YOUR field?
*December Southwest magazine
Simplicity is damn difficult.
I spend more time
on these 100 word posts
than many bloggers spend
on 3,000 word posts.
It isn’t easy to make
the complex simple,
the long short.
This is a skill,
a skill that can make you
very successful.
Tony Robbins*
shares
“The key to converting
what I learn into something useful
to others is simplicity.
Early on in my career,
I realized that complexity
is the enemy of execution.
If I can distill an idea down,
people know the game is winnable.”
Donald J. Trump,
in Why We Want You To Be Rich,
adds
“I also believe that
simple is better.
Not that simple is easy.
Distilling something down
to its essence
can take time
and a great deal of thought.”
Strive for simplicity.
*December Southwest magazine
According to a recent study
by Leadership IQ*,
employees who spend
a minimum of six hours a week
with their bosses
are more inspired, engaged
and motivated
than employees who spend
less time with their bosses.
These doesn’t have to be
working hours.
It could be lunches, golf,
other non-work activities.
This applies to other relationships also.
One of my buddies landed
a major sales deal with a customer
because he spent more time
than the competition with them.
Their products were similar.
Their relationships weren’t.
Invest time
in your important relationships.
*December Southwest magazine
A buddy is considering
starting his own business.
I asked him why.
His reason?
It’s one of the best ways
to become wealthy.
Yeah, that might be true
but money isn’t enough.
There might be years, decades
of little earnings
before a founder sees any return
on his or her investment.
We need a reason to continue
during these lean years.
What are the questions
prospective entrepreneurs
should ask themselves?
In the December
Southwest magazine,
Eric Little,
senior vice president
of franchise development
at Right At Home,
shares
“‘Why are you going
to do this to yourself?’
Owning your own business
is as difficult as it is rewarding,
so it’s important
to have a compelling reason.
Another question to ask:
‘How great is the need
for this product or service?’
You want a franchise
that has customers now
and will continue to have them
in the future.”
What is your compelling reason?
If you think the world
is against you,
you’re likely right.
Andy Andrews
in The Noticer
shares
“When a person is negative,
complaining, and disagreeable,
other people stay away.
And that person receives
less encouragement
and fewer opportunities
—because no one
wants to be around him.”
I know I do this.
I stay far away from complainers
as I find that attitude is contagious.
Complainers attract complainers.
Successful people normally don’t complain.
I prefer to be around successful people.
Think twice about being negative.
One of the things
I’ve loved about my working life
is the variety.
I’ve worked in many different industries
doing many different things.
I’ve always been learning.
Actor and comedian
Martin Short,
in the November/December 2014
The Costco Connection,
shares
“The main verdict
involving a career is,
at a certain age,
are you bored by it,
anxious for it to end or
wish it would never end?
I’m in the latter category.
One of the reasons
it’s been that way for me
is that it’s always been
so amazingly varied.
As long as you keep varying it up,
you keep growing
and you keep being fascinated,
because it’s always new.”
Are you varying it up?
I’m a fixer.
When I hear a complaint,
I feel like
I have to solve
the complainer’s problem.
Often,
the complainer doesn’t want
or need
her or his problem to be solved.
The ‘solution’
is merely to listen.
As Christy Whitman,
founder of
Quantum Success Coaching Academy,
shares
in the November/December 2014
The Costco Connection
“8 out of 10 times,
someone doesn’t really need
something different to happen
— they just want to feel heard.”
Listen to customers’ complaints.
That’s 80% of the solution.
Some of my relatives
come from a culture
where saying
anything that pops into their heads
is considered okay.
They claim
they’re being ‘honest.’
Being brutally honest
is answering “yes”
when someone asks us
if we think her product packaging is ugly.
If the person doesn’t ask,
there’s no reason
to tell her
the product packaging is ugly.
Of all of the random comments
to share,
choosing to insult someone’s work
is rude, not honest.
Especially if we have no other context
for the comment.
Do we know her target market,
that target market’s perception of beauty,
what she wants the package to do?
If we’re being completely honest,
we should also add
that we don’t know
what the f*ck we’re talking about.
Being rude
isn’t the same as
being honest.
Most of a writer’s time
is spent revising.
The first draft is usually very fast.
Then we revise and revise and revise.
The trick to revising well
is to look at the big picture
and gradually hone down to the nitty gritty.
I look at the entire story as a whole.
Then I look at acts.
Then chapters.
Then scenes.
Then sentences.
Then words.
It makes no sense revising a sentence
to perfection
if I don’t know whether or not
I’ll keep the chapter.
This applies to business also.
It doesn’t make sense
to perfect a line of copy
if we don’t know
if we should be running the ad.
It doesn’t make sense
to argue about the color of a package
if we don’t know
if we should be launching the product.
Revise from big picture
down to small details,
not the other way around.
If I hear another business guru
say that “Failure is a great thing”,
I’m going to punch him in the nose.
Failure isn’t a great thing.
Failure sucks
great big hairy donkey balls.
It is a kick to the pelvis,
a knife in the gut,
a killer of dreams.
Failure, however, IS part of life
and especially part
of building a business.
There’s no avoiding it.
You WILL fail
and it will hurt like a son of a b*tch.
To make failure hurt less
and to ensure the same failure
doesn’t happen again,
we should learn from it.
But don’t tell me
failure is great
’cause it sure the hell isn’t.