GET YOUR GLOVE.

GET IN THE GAME!

We’ve all read inspirational quotes from the likes of Einstein, Edison, Disney, Ford, Mother Theresa, Jobs, Gates, Gloria Steinem, Lincoln, Knute Rockne, Billy Graham, Reagan, Oprah, Churchill, Mary Kay, Dyer, Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Fritz Perls, Zig Ziglar, Vince Lombardi, JFK, John Glenn, Mr. Rogers, Helen Keller . . .

We’ve read hundreds (thousands?) of different interpretations of “THE” 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 “WAYS” “METHODS” “STEPS” “KEYS TO” “RULES” “COMMANDMENTS” “TIPS” or “BEHAVIORS” we must follow, or “SINS” “MISTAKES” “ERRORS” or “TRAPS” we must avoid “TO SUCCEED.” They headline endless online posts, each proclaiming more author-self-anointed-authority that the next.

We know from our observations of friends, family, and associates that “10 or 20 years of career experience” is often simply one year of do-nothing actions repeated over and over for 10 or 20 years.

And from all of this—and more—we’ve learned to smile and sit up straight, to not “make waves,” to “hold our tongues,” and to “accept the life (and struggles) that have been given to us,” to “be patient and wait out the storms,” and—when in doubt—put together a committee to study the question. Sure, you may feel like you have to play the hand that’s been dealt to you, but you chose to get in the game, and you can choose to get out!

It’s worth remembering that every sunrise—yes, including today and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next—is a wakeup call to action, a new opportunity for each of us to do the best we can do, be the best we can be . . . make a difference with our lives.

And since all humans have imperfections, it’s hard (and probably impossible) to even try to do and be better every day without a daily assessment of where we are at the moment and how (what was the process we used) to get where we are right now.

How can we change what we don’t know exists? Or when we don’t know how it got that way to begin with? How can we get where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been? How many of us can take apart a faulty machine-engineered appliance we have no working knowledge of, repair it and put it back together?

How can we change (Yeah, I know, a link to “10 Steps.” Sorry ;>) something without thinking through the steps of how we got there in the first place (i.e., what are the how-to’s, NOT what are the reasons)? Taking a quick daily personal inventory is one answer. Even heavily-experienced, well-trained pilots review checklists prior to takeoff.

The practice of daily checkups is the foundation for the attitude that drives every entrepreneurial mindset . . . that every problem is an opportunity! Trust yourself!

“Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’. . .
If you’re not moving forward,
you’re moving backward.”

– Reid Hoffman, Cofounder/Chairman- LinkedIn (From the 2012 bestselling business book, the start-up of YOU, by Hoffman and Casnocha)

SO GET YOUR GLOVE,

AND GET IN THE GAME!

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

When it’s time to eat grass,

get out of the mud and weeds!

You’ve been bustin’ butt to get where you are, and you can’t even find the tunnel, never mind light at the end of it! That’s the nice way to say you’re feeling spent and discouraged. But the truth is — guess what?– you are CHOOSING to feel spent and discouraged! “Spent” and “discouraged” are behaviors, right? And since all humans are born with free will (although some undoubtedly approach dubiousness), humans (yes, even entrepreneurs) all CHOOSE their behaviors.

So now you think you’re going to get lectured? Don’t choose to think that. Choose instead to enlighten yourself. The choice is just as easy, and it’s light-years  more productive. We make choices every minute of every day — from when to wake up to when to go to sleep, and everything in between. HA! And you thought it was just a matter of eggs or cereal for breakfast . . . or whether to sneer, snort, scowl or smile at someone else who chose to be bitchy.

Nope. No lecture here. Just shared awareness based on being an entrepreneur, and working with 2020 entrepreneurs. The bottom line is that the vast majority of entrepreneurs I’ve experienced haven’t a clue about the right time to make their move out of the weeds and into the sunshine-filled pasture, where healthy grazing beats hanging around in mud and weeds infested with mosquitoes. And I won’t even mention the malaria word here. OMG! So many choices!

So, seriously, where does your business live? When will you choose to move it? Where? How?

Our choices are conscious or unconscious. Sometimes the consequences pop up years later. Goal-setting can spare us a lot of “choice” surprises! Are your goals legitimate? They meet all five essential criteria? They are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and in writing? If they are not all five, you don’t have goals; you have a meaningless, nonproductive wishlist. Why would you choose fantasy when choosing (meaningful, productive) reality is just as easy?

Choosing when and how to get your business out of the mud and weeds is not a matter of betting the farm. Entrepreneurs take only reasonable risks. It is a matter of what I call “Opportunity Vigilance.” When you keep focused on making your idea work and on taking advantage of opportunities that represent growth, you are choosing to put yourself and your business in a position of readiness to head for the sunshine-filled pasture where work becomes fun again.

Unless, of course, you’re a FAKE Entrepreneur?

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

SHARK TANK: Entertainment

(But NOT Entrepreneurship)

It’s entertaining. It’s helped popularize the word entrepreneur and expose the hind flanks of what entrepreneurial pursuits are all about.  But TV’s “Shark Tank” is an entertainment product of pure fantasy. It bares almost no resemblance to the day-to-day real-world inhabited by zillions of struggling ideologists trying to piece their brainstorm ideas together with some magical business glue, and create success.

There’s really nothing “wrong” with the show or its (rather engaging) celebrity sharks. And “Shark Tank” is often amusing, provocative, comical, and at times even heart-rendering, but real entrepreneurs need to dismiss the show’s odds for funding success as akin to winning the lottery. And the occasional investment “loser” who ends up a winner –just from being on the show and gaining favorable PR exposure– is highly unusual.

Yes, there are some big-time “winners” plucked from the many thousands of applicants and auditions. But for the vast majority of contenders, time and energy expenditures alone can cost a fortune in opportunity losses.

So take Shark Tank for what it is: A source of amusement at seeing SO many people work SO hard to get to the point of not having the answers to questions they knew they’d be asked before they ever even set foot on the stage. If anything, the show is a rude awakening for those who think they can simply stroll into a bank, finance company or venture capital firm, talk about how great their ideas are, and leave with bulging wallets.

First of all, it is with rare exception that a business startup (or even a successful ongoing venture) cannot be more successful by focusing on making the creator’s idea work, instead of on seeking funding support. Ask anyone you know who’s made it, and they are likely to tell you that when they made their idea work, money simply came to them from out of nowhere – customer sales and investment offers. If your idea is great, money will find you!

Remember, ANY one can have a creative idea. It’s the ability to be innovative and internally driven to take that idea and run with it–all the way through to completion–that makes entrepreneurs and entrepreneurially-minded product and service developers stand uniquely apart from all other business careers and lifestyles.

Entrepreneurs are not just saying, “Hey! Look at this!” They are saying: this is how this works, this is what it costs. This is the market. This is how we can sell it. This is the profit margin. This is the next step, etc. etc. Unlike the fake version, Entrepreneurs, REAL entrepreneurs, don’t sit on an idea, or analyze it to death, or form a month’s- or year-long study committee. They just do it! Then they adjust it. Then they do it again. Then they adjust it again. Then they do it again and adjust it again, and keep going . . . until it works!

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Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

If you’re

IN business, get OUT of Facebook.

Like every other niche in life, undoubtedly, there are those dwelling in and passing through the halls of business who will be quick to dismiss this post (especially Facebook employees). But as Shakespeare once said: “The truth will out!”

And the truth is: If you own and/or manage any** business, and you’re actively involved with Facebook:  you are wasting your time and energy. And lost opportunities are probably costing you more money than you would want to believe. [**any except perhaps retail]

Facebook does appear to serve as a meaningful distraction for government, corporate and academic employees. And given the boredom of that typically committee-cluttered, no-sense-of-urgency career existence, the attraction/diversion is understandable. But for entrepreneurs, Facebook is an unproductive addiction. It is simply not worthy of your attention, or even your interest, never mind your active indulgence. It literally eats up your clock!

“Yes, but,” I hear some say, “it’s the only way I can find out what my kids/grandkids are up to!” Then settle for it being a weekend addiction. Going to Facebook ANYtime between rise-and-shine Monday and nighty-night Friday is like a visit to the dentist for business owner/ manager Facebook fanatics. They too often end up holding their numb jaws while the Novocaine wears off when the reality comes home that time and energy and money has gone a-wasting.

“Okay, so Twitter is better, right?” Is there any difference in being obsessed with Twitter for any reason other than to promote your business interests (which is likely to be far better accomplished, btw, on LinkedIn) . . . or with being obsessed with the news (unless you’re in the news business)?

Bottom line: If you’re a genuine entrepreneur, you’re not spending spare time with anything other than your health and spiritual well-being–whatever that may be for you–and loving and growing your family and a few select friendships–whatever that takes.

Slice your pie the way you see fit. It’s your pie. It can be big, small, flat, mountainous, firm, gloppy, round, square, multilevel, whatever works for you . . . but don’t pretend it’s not a pie! We choose our pie. We choose our behavior. We choose our stress by choosing to set ourselves up for it. Think hard about the last time you didn’t feel 100%. What were you doing/thinking/saying shortly before you lost sleep/felt edgy/got sick?

When the stress becomes DIStress–with never enough time in the day for your pie, your family, your health–don’t react. Respond. Ask yourself HOW you choose or chose your stress? Then make a different choice. Maybe it’s time to change the way you see or slice your pie . . . or the way you breathe?

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Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Thank You to FEARLESS, the musical [www.fearlessthemusical.com] for the last three words and some of the clout of this post!

While some political leaders may doubt that FEARLESS Strategic Planning (FSP) is what the U.S. Government needs to be doing more of right now, it is certainly what every professional salesperson needs to be focused on at least once a week—and more likely, every morning!

FSP is partly back to that old adage for success that we can only ever get to where we’re going when we have a map or, as present day technology dictates, a GPS or mobile map app. But the difference is in the name. It must be a FEARLESS map and we must follow it fearlessly.

Sales professionals have a tendency toward squeamishness, avoidance, nay-saying, and self-doubt when they head off into what constitutes new or uncultivated territory . . . or when they need to circle around and come back to the doorstep they once left feeling inadequate, defeated or threatened.

The solution to these mental roadblocks is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, take a deep breath, smile like you mean it, and get back on the horse that threw you (or whose clomping, stomping, snorting, glaring, and big teeth have kept you jittering at a cautious distance).

First off, no customer or prospect knows more about you, or your product or service or concept . . . than you! Secondly, anyone (or group) putting out defensive arm-folding or “I think I know more than you” pyramiding of fingers, is simply afraid of making a bad buying decision, so take these as signals that your job is to help them feel more secure about where you’re leading them. Back out of your pitch long enough to break down some of these resistant postures. Tasteful humor helps.

Thirdly, and most important: you got to where you are because you have a gift for knowing the right things to say in any sales situation. Rely on that. Trust yourself. Reach inside and appreciate what the real you is all about. Then, put it to work. Being FEARLESS means being authentic.

When you plan your weekly and daily strategies, plan them with a positive attitude and an air of authenticity. When you dig into your areas of strength and build energy and genuineness (vs. boredom and phoniness) into your words and actions, you are being authentic . . . FEARLESS!

How to get to that point? Work at it. Stop giving up on yourself. Cultivate everything you can think of that builds and rebuilds your sense of determination, gumption, fire. Never stop learning. Every problem is an opportunity. Strategize from your mind, but act and speak fearlessly from your heart!

Every day you begin with FEARLESS Strategic Planning will bring you increased health and happiness and success. Your words and behaviors are always your choice. Choose to be FEARLESS. Choose to make it easy!

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Hal@Businessworks.US          931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Pretty good job… for a woman!“

“Thanks for nothing” types of “mixed” messages pervade today’s society– in meetings, phone calls, emails, texting, even music! “Don’t smoke, don’t drink, and don’t curse,” he warns his new employee. Then the boss frantically pats down his pockets and exclaims with frustration: “Sh*t! I must have left my pipe at the bar!”

“All the world’s a stage…” proclaimed Shakespeare. At one time or another, we all play roles and mask ourselves in some way. If we become aware of ourselves when we are putting on a performance, that awareness gives us the freedom to reject unproductive (unless you’re “on stage”) playacting in favor of authenticity.

And (yes, apples are great, but) certainly, A is for AUTHENTICITY too! It is Authenticity, after all, that is the overriding human quality which serves us best in both life and work

. . . yet, short of hiring someone to monitor or videotape our daily words and actions, it can be difficult at best to be aware of when we are “putting on airs” or undermining someone else or sabotaging current circumstances. Why? Because playacting is often an unconscious knee- jerk reaction to another person or situation.

So what are we to do to begin eliminating or at least minimizing phoney images and communications?

Awareness of life/career damages from disingenuous behavior is the beginning. So, you’ve already started. Next comes making a conscious effort to strengthen your resistance to assume or take on these self-destruct roles. You need to “catch yourself” by keeping your mind and body in better balance with the real you:  the deep-inside you.

Accept from the outset that–unless you’re another Mother Theresa–you may be unlikely to ever achieve 100% authenticity. But know that even slight improvements will enhance your personal respectability and community standing, and will dramatically increase others’ acceptance of your ideas and trust.

Once you are aware of this thinking and accept that “being more genuine” will rocket-boost your life, work, and play pursuits, begin to take more deep breaths. That alone will help you ground yourself in times of trouble and, ultimately, clarify your here-and-now focus in ways that win you more intrinsic happiness and more extrinsic rewards.

Being more aware paves your path to greater control and spotlights that everything you say and do is a choice that you make or the result of some choice you have made at some point in life. Simply by being more “Choice-Conscious,” you will find yourself better able to illuminate your strengths and free up your uniqueness . . . bring your real self, your authenticity, to the surface in more of what you think and say and do.

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Hal@Businessworks.US          931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

You’re 40-something and trapped!

You’re 40-something and you’re sandwiched in between aging parents and young children. trying to build a career. Even the weekends are starting to suck. The family dog (or cat) is beginning to be your BFF.

What’s next? STEP BACK, that’s what! Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing (except driving, holding a baby, operating heavy equipment, or standing with your back to a cliff or stairway), take one physical step back away from the gum-biting clamor, pinch yourself in the butt and take three deep breaths. Just three, but don’t fake it. Three. Deep. Now. Before reading more. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now pay attention to this: No job is worth losing because your mind gets too busy racing in and out of your neighbors’, relatives’, co-workers’ issues and shortsightedness. They don’t understand your upsets. They never have. They’re not inside YOUR brain and you don’t need them to survive your circumstances. You need your SELF to make adjustments for your SELF — NOT to please others!

You need to “rattle your own cage” and that doesn’t mean a zoo or prison vacation. It means doing some honest soul-searching about who you really are, what you really want out of life, and how you think you’re going to get there.

Rule One: Take Charge of Your SELF! Only YOU know what YOU need to do. Listening to what others have to say is a good thing. Doing what others think you should do is not. So listen all you want, but ACT on your own behalf.

For every idea you have (after the three deep breaths!) about how you need to proceed with your “sandwiched” life, write it down: each idea at the top of its own page (yes, with a real pen or pencil on real paper . . . trust me you’ll get more authentic results than keyboarding it!). Put a minus- sign at the top left and a plus+ sign at the top right, with a vertical line top to bottom down the middle of the page.

Then identify the negative and positive points related to each idea in the appropriate column. Step back again. Yes, and three more deep ones. Then analyze your ideas based on comparing the two columns and on what you honestly feel inside your gut about each point, and each idea.

Maybe you’ve been being too patient and are filled with anxiety? Maybe you’ve not been patient enough and are filled with annoyance or are simply adding fuel to the fire? Where’s the right balance?

What are you doing right this minute to achieve the right balance? You think this is an easy exercise? It’s not if you’re doing it honestly. But is it worth it? Of course it is. YOU’re worth it, aren’t you? Then work at it.

Here’s a Broadway-bound musical: www.FearlessTheMusical.com filled with love, anxiety, humor, annoyance, and resolution to inspire. It’s all about finding balance — Try some of the “song previews” and remember: You’re never alone when you seek balance. Sing. Dance. Hum. Breathe. Think. And along the way, enjoy–and TRUST your SELF! Be FEARLESS! You’ll get through it. You can do it!

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Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!