Too Much Spice In

Your Business

Can Cause It

To Drown.

Those who use lots of salt get thirsty. The solution of course is water. A glass or two is fine, but a tsunami inside your body or your business can be even worse that one that ravages the outside.

At least crashing waves and a flood outside your body or business allows the remote possibility of escape by swimming or clinging to a floatation device. Other than the limits of an Intensive Care Unit, there is no controlling an implosion! 

Every day, small businesses and entrepreneurial business leaders across America struggle to keep afloat — victims of government indifference, government interference, corporate giant market dominance, and aggressive competition– external tsunamis.

Internal storms are marked by under-capitalization, poor management, unproductive marketing, and over-stress. As insurmountable as these may seem to some, reality is that these at least offer the consolation that they can be controlled by choice.

Business failures

are often the result

of poor decisions

to add too much salt

Spicing up a product or service message or method of presentation instead of adding genuine value spawns ineffective, low-trust levels of reception.

The addition of meaningless razzmatazz threatens existing employee, customer, supplier, referrer and investor relations at a point where increased levels of high-trust transparency are what the marketplace is calling for.

Successful businesses and entrepreneurial leaders never sacrifice integrity for a spice rack full of new flavors and meaningless window dressing.

“Instant” hair care products that are simply water-added (and incrementally-more-expensive) versions of the original basic product, don’t even deserve retail store shelf facings. They are packaged lies aimed at prompting naive young women to spend money!

Oh, and how many fewer screaming automotive dealerships can we do without? Surely, you have many examples of your own you can add. Hopefully, your business is not one of them. 

 FREE Blog Subscription Posts RSS Feed

# # #

302.933.0116   Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Shakin’ in your boots?

In business, we often (sometimes even every hour –or minute– or two) find ourselves in a position of needing to deliver something under duress . . . a product, service, idea, proposal, message, estimate, document, presentation, bank balance, operational failure, employee or customer or supplier problem. And delivery is always in Eastern, Central, Rocky Mountain or La-La Land Crunch Time.

Anxiety, says Webster, is the painful or apprehensive uneasiness of mind over an impending or anticipated ill, or concern or interest . . . abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by psychological signs (such as sweating, tension, and increased pulse) . . . and by self doubt. Not the stuff of entrepreneurs, you say?  Contraire mon fraire!

Sure entrepreneurs are self-confident and self-motivated and filled with burning desire, but they are also basket cases when it comes time for delivery of the goods — a business plan to investors, a loan app to the bank, a new operating system.

Why is that”?

Entrepreneurs are uniquely suited to have more at stake with every decision than any corporate or government manager.

Period.

Not very unlike the mindsets of our military heroes, entrepreneurs put their very (life, home, and family) existences on the line with virtually every decision every day.

Although no one in our present top level of American government has yet to acknowledge this truth or taken steps to capitalize on it: entrepreneurs are, when all is said and done, the movers and shakers of society.

Entrepreneurs are the catalysts of job market creation and employment opportunities — they are the only viable resource to tap for reversing and strengthening America’s economy. That’s a lot of angst to carry around.

Okay, so the conquering part:

•  Take some deep breaths.

• Recognize that anxiousness is a behavior and that behaviors are choices so why choose agita when you can just as easily make up your mind to instead choose calm self-control?

• Focus on the here-and-now present moment as much as possible because everything else (since it’s not here, now) is pure fantasy!

• Learn as much as you possibly can about your SELF and the things that make you come together as a person, as a leader, as an innovator.

• Surround yourself with positive people, positive events, positive pursuits, and a positive environment as often as possible.

• Don’t be afraid to seek out professional reality or Gestalt therapy or group guidance if you feel yourself drifting too far into the past or future too often. It doesn’t mean you’re losing it; it means you’re smart enough to recognize your shortcomings and to do something about them. It puts you in the top percent of enlightened human beings on this planet (which you clearly are if you’re reading this! Thanks for being here. Come again.).

# # #

FREE Blog Subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Are you making money

or providing healthcare?

The mission of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and all affiliated healthcare-related and therapeutic professions is to provide healthcare services. Emotional-based businesses and professions trying to sell rational doses of reassurance

The mission of all for-profit and (surprise) not-for-profit entities is to provide products, services, and ideas in exchange for money or other dollar-value products and services. Rationally-reassuring-based businesses and organizations trying to sell emotional triggers.  

And rarely if ever do “the twains” seem to meet.

Yet, each side of that two-edged coin has much to learn from the other.

They can protest ’til they’re blue in the face and spitting wooden nickles, but truth is there is barely a doctor, nurse, hospital or affiliated healthcare-related or therapeutic profession that knows the first thing about the realities of marketing.

It’s as rare as finding an 1861 three-cent piece in your pocket change that businesses have as much customer care savvy as an ICU nurse or front line physical therapist.

Oh, you say, but that’s not a fair comparison because business is business is business, and who can be worried about a customer problem after she or he has left the store, office, showroom, or work site. After all, we’re not in business to hold hands and pat heads.

Ah, but business is in business to cater to customers before, during and after (and long after) purchase because it’s the only way to grow the future. Boast all you want about your databases and efforts to serve the customer after the sale is made, but reality is that if you’re not doing something dramatically positive with past customers –and especially long after the sale– you’re missing the message!

What can you learn now from your past customers?

How? What’s holding you back?

(You had better be “holding hands”!) 

Hospitals have the whole lifelong loop covered. They are tenacious about providing fall-over services at every level, to present and past patients and families. They haven’t a clue about how to attract attention, create interest, stimulate desire, and bring about action, but they sure do know how to ensure satisfaction (maybe not with the bills and insurance tangles, but definitely one-on-one!)

Businesses need to take a page from that and appreciate that today’s customer should NEVER have  a reason for not also being tomorrow’s customer.

As the world gets smaller by time and communication transmission, we face enormously bigger and better opportunities to learn from one another.

And -yes– even hospitals and healthcare professionals with no business skills have an instinctive sense of customer momentum. Almost all of us could stand a booster shot of customer momentum as we troop through the daily grand rounds of our work sites and work stations, our staffr and employee meetings, and our customer encounters at every level. Think it. Try it. Do it. STOP studying things so much! Surprise yourself! 

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Dear family, friends,

neighbors, associates,

clients, Twitterers,

and blog visitors:

Thank you one and all for the outpouring of generosity, well wishes and prayers for my wife Kathy, and our family, during this difficult past week.

The bottom line is that Kathy is now -I am happy to report– back home getting some much needed R&R. Both of our work schedules were severely sidetracked, and I have missed connecting with all of you here on my blog for more than a week… our longest posting interruption in four years.

If you thought I might come roaring back, filled with fire, you may be disappointed to learn that I am only —still— filled with fire.

The “roar” part has dulled a little with the awareness that I nearly lost my bride of 24 years,  with the gratefulness I have for her survival, and with the seemingly endless reminders of love and friendship from so many of you, and with what clearly have been God’s blessings.

I will soon (starting tomorrow!) address some spectacular business and personal growth-related enlightenments that charged across my path during this week’s emotional roller coaster. 

Some topics I drafted during down-time waits in the Intensive Care Unit include new perspectives on leadership, customer service, communications, and marketing, among others. You won’t want to miss these. 

I also have a thought-provoking post to share on the music of business that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. It stood half-drafted for the last eight days, so I’ll be delivering that very shortly as well.

You can of course count on my continued irreverence for government, corporate giants, and business naysayers just because, hey, somebody’s gotta do it!.

I’m working my way back to you. Please visit here as the week rolls along, and please urge others to join us. Thank you again for your loyalty, patience and support.

My continued best wishes to each of you for unprecedented great success in 2011. Hal

CLICK Posts RSS Feed NOW FOR YOUR

  FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS BLOG

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Self-Motivation?

I heard you

stayed up all night

talking to yourself?

Couldn’t wait to see

Part 2? Here it is:

(Oh, and be sure to check out the P.S. at the end!)

What are some other ways to motivate yourself besides talking to yourself?

When you’re feeling negative and you surround yourself with yourself, you set yourself up to lose. When you surround yourself with positive people, who are productive, achievement-oriented, and generally cheerful, you are setting yourself up to cultivate positive thoughts and positive attitudes.

When you find yourself feeling like you’re drowning in a sea of negativity, or overwhelmed by negative people or circumstances, remember you control your own brain and your own behavior . . . it is a choice, your choice. Choose to “change the station in your brain to best fit the circumstances. Dial in HAPPY-FM because “happy” works. 

Ask yourself what’s the worst thing could happen if you get up to the plate and swing instead of cower in the dugout corner?

You might strike out? Babe Ruth’s record number of hume runs ran in tandem with his record number of strikeouts.

Thomas Edison made 10,000 attempts before succeeding at inventing the lightbulb.

All logical rational stuff, you might be thinking, but negative feelings are not always logical or rational. True, but your ability to rise above them can be.

Learn what triggers your “throw in the towel” attitude and the feelings you typically experience just before that happens, then use that trigger instead to remind yourself to take some deep breaths. Use the couple of seconds worth of deep breathing as a focal point that allows you to shut down the upsets, crank up the positive side of what’s happening, and turn the situation around by simply choosing to turn it around.

Here’s what’s worth remembering (besides talking to yourself with conviction, three times a day, for 21 days): Use these tools (deep breathing and self-talk and awareness of choosing behavior) to force yourself to concentrate on the present, here-and-now moments in your life, as each moment passes, as much and as often as you possibly can.

Just in case of some disconnect as to why one would want to do this in the first place: The past is over and cannot be changed. The future has not yet come (and may never). Now is the only time. Or, as the now famous quote goes from B. Olatunji:

“Yesterday is history.

 Tomorrow is mystery.

Today is a gift.

That’s why it’s called the present.”

It may not be possible for us to live in the present moment 100% of the time, but odds are pretty good that most of us aren’t even doing that 20%-30% of the time, so there’s lots of room to grow and improve. And improving just this one single thing about yourself will improve your daily existence measurably. Again, give it 21 days. You will astound yourself with all you can accomplish and enjoy.

You doubt it? Then you’re proving the point that you become what you think about. The choices –happy and healthy or upset and ill– are 100% your choices. Make yourself a happy camper, and watch your business perform as never before. Surely your business is worth a 21-day trial?

Need a boost? Give me a call and we’ll talk. No fee to talk. No sales pitch. Anyone who wants more will ask for it and maybe then, we can discuss some terms, but this post isn’t about money. It’s about helping you to strengthen your SELF, in order to strengthen your business.

By the way, the very short video at the “P.S.” link below should give you a jump start, maybe even launch your rocket!

P.S. Click HERE: Could you possibly have

a bad day after starting off like this?

# # #

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!

Giddy-up Gone?

Talking to yourself

too little too late?

Have you been secretly worried about talking to (and even with) yourself? Has it crossed your mind that you were becoming one of those “men-with-the-white-jacket-are-coming” basket cases? Take heart! Yes-sir-reebob!

You are, instead, probably (notice I leave a little squeeze room for those of you on the cusp) about as normal as blueberry pie. Actually, the worrying part is what hangs your mind in the balance. In other words, if you have to worry, worry about your worrying!

Bottom line is that all of us talk to and with ourselves (no,I am not referring to those who spend hours a day at it). We do this because verbal expression (like a pilot reciting her or his checklist out loud before taxiing onto the runway) serves to clarify and enhance, and prompt focus. I never knew a good writer who didn’t speak out loud what she or he had written before calling it “a wrap.”

“So, self, here we go. It’s time to share one of life’s great secrets.”

“Okay, I’m game. Let’s hear what your J.K.Rawling/Dan Brown tangled web of mysticism can reveal for all us normal folk who chatter away at ourselves in cars, closets, beds, and walking down the street.”

Hey, I don’t know much about

Harry Potter’s chambers or DiVinci’s codes,

but I discovered 35 years ago that “self-talk“

motivates, heals, humors, and strengthens.

Not sure? I’ll give you a quickie to try –improvise as you see fit to adapt it for yourself. I’ll also offer you a pack-on promise that if you say and repeat what’s below (or your own version) out loud, to yourself, like you truly mean it (even when you don’t feel up to it) three times a day, every day, for 21 days, you will be happier, healthier and more productive.

You will feel better!

( . . .and it’s free; in fact, you’ve nothing to lose but stress and upsets; how hard is that to argue with?)

Recite/Chant it exercising, or laying down, or standing on your head while spitting wooden nickles. Do it any time or place (except driving or operating heavy equipment, or with drugs or alcohol in your system). Concentrate on each word as you say it. It works. Period. Free. No charge. Me to you. Make it happen:

Healing energy into my body.

Healing energy into my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

Stress and pain and tension out of my body.

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am my body — left, right, center. (and think it!)

I am relaxed, happy, alert, and weigh the weight I want to weigh.

I am healthy, wealthy, painfree, safe and sound, and physically fit.

Today (“Tomorrow” when reciting at night) is the first day of my new life and I’m going to make (“am making” when reciting midday) it count.

I will make today (tomorrow) special for someone!   

All the great motivational and self-development gurus who ever lived share and practice similar methods. . . from Brian Tracy to Napoleon Hill and Wayne Dyer.

Try Zig Ziglar’s prescribed daily morning ritual recitation which starts with two hand claps as soon as you open your eyes in the morning:

(Clap, Clap) “Oh, boy, what a GREAT day to wake up and get going! I believe something wonderful is going to happen to me today!” 

Saying it like you mean it, from your heart, and concentrating on each word is –again– the key to success. Doing it consistently even when you would rather sleep or eat or play games on your computer, is your insurance policy that it will indeed produce results.

I am assuming of course that you ARE interested in producing results?

TOMORROW: Self-Motivation (Part 2 of 2)

– Same time, same channel.

# # # 

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

TEN  SECONDS !

Front burner food for thought

for every sales and

leadership encounter!

First, recognize that every form of leadership gets its salt and pepper from the world of professional sales, and particularly for spicing up the first ten seconds of every encounter, which is the amount of time used to “size up” a leader or a sales pro.

Second, since everybody seems to love acronyms (especially all those tax-dollar-paycheck-justification head-cases in government and big corporations), here’s another acronym to write on the palm of your hand . . . or on your knee, perhaps, if you wear skirts:

TEN SECONDS

(I hear your brain ticking away as we speak.)

T

TONE— Set the TONE by being on time with your neat, clean appearance (from clean shoes and clothes, to deodorized skin, clean nails and teeth, and neat hair — briefcases and pocketbooks count too!). YOUR VISUAL APPEARANCE consumes second #1 of being “sized up.” The same dynamics apply to email and text messages that appear crisp and friendly, that don’t assume too much with abbreviations and attitude.

E

EVERY — EVERY smile :<) is a free gift you can give to others. Make it genuine (people can tell, even by phone, when it’s not). It consumes second #2. And E is also for EYE CONTACT (neither probing or riveting stares, nor sideways glances). Keep in mind that people can also tell when a phone call connection is distracted. Ask if you’re interrupting. Offer to call back.

N

NUANCE — Your handshake (neither bone-crusher nor fish fillet) takes up second #3 and either confirms and reinforces the first two seconds, OR raises a mental-red-flag cause for doubt about you and the products/services/ideas you represent.

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-T. . .

S

START — START with a friendly clear greeting and question.

E

EACH — Remember that EACH of the first ten seconds that passes will make or break your sale or degree of leadership acceptance.

C

CONVERSATION— Begin with a brief (“elevator speech”) summary that “BILLBOARDS” what you have to sell: Use emotional triggers. Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and an end, and that’s persuasive . . . all in seven words or less, then ask for the sale (since it takes 5-6 attempts to close a sale, you can’t start asking too soon).

O

OPEN — OPEN your ears and listen with care. Ideally, you’ll listen 80% of the time after these first ten seconds, and speak 20%.

N

NOTE — NOTE what’s said (and what’s not said) right from the git-go. Actually write it down. Ask the speaker to slow down so you can jot a couple of reminder notes of what she/he says. Ask for examples. Nothing flatters like an attentive listener and note taker.

D

DECIDE — DECIDE if the prospect is worth your time and energy (especially on a trade or professional show or showroom floor) and politely dismiss yourself from window-shoppers and tire-kickers when you’re busy. When you’re not, get engaged and practice!

S

SELL — Too many salespeople (!) and leaders forget to sell!

# # #

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Yikes! So What? Who Cares? 

Give It Up! Get Back To Work!

VISIT THIS POST  AT iSalesman.com

If I read one more article, website comment, blog post or magazine cover offering to enlighten me on The Ten Best (fill in the blank) of 2010 or The Ten Worst (fill in the blank) of 201o or The Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Have (fill in the blank) in 2010, I’m going to jump out of my skin (and that will not be a pleasant sight)!

STOP with This 10 and That 10! Enough already!

Review it?

Okay, if you’ve nothing else to do.

Dwell on it?

Not okay, unless you’re a stalk of celery waiting for a dip.

Give it up! Get back to work! Unless there was some outstanding, earth-shattering  play, nobody in their right mind sits around watching more after-game replays of the game that they’ve just watched (including the 14,786 replays that they already watched during the game!)

New Year’s always does this. It makes people nuts!

Business and professional practice owners rush to look back at who and what did better and worse than they did in the past year, which is (ahem!) past?

Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that the past is over and nothing can be done to change it . . . so, who cares who was best and worst and in-between?

What’s happening this minute? Ah!

If we could pull together all the collective time we waste looking back at who did what to whom and why B happened when A was supposed to happen, and could apply that to productive forward movement, small business would be in the economy’s driver’s seat, where small business belongs, instead of our inept government “servants” (who do indeed serve themselves admirably).

Wallowing in the past has never –N~E~V~E~R– moved anyone forward. Now, I’m not talking about remembering stuff, nor even occasional reminiscing (which can serve to relax the stressed-out mind that’s overloaded with here-and-now focus).

No, I speak of the guy you went to high school with. You know him. He’s the one who’s still hanging out in the same local bar with his 30-year-old winning touchdown as conversation topic one. 

Okay, so we can put this disastrous 2010 year behind us, right?

Now that’s a good thing, but that doesn’t authorize us to jump ahead to the point of worrying about 2011.

And kill off those empty New Year’s Resolutions that waste even more time deciding on and pursuing.

It simply means it’s time to roll up your sleeves, get your glove and get back into the game . . . get back to work.

Forget those philosophical Tweets you read: It’s time to work harder, not smarter.

You’re already smart enough to succeed or you wouldn’t be here reading this. Working harder doesn’t mean physical labor or adding hours or wearing 20 hats instead of the 18 you’ve had on.

It means working harder to keep your mind in the here-and-now present moment as much of the time as possible — because it’s the only way to make your business and your career succeed.

You thought this was just a modus operandi for surgeons? Wrong! You are, in what you do and the ways you do it, a surgeon in your own right.

You take a history, do an examination, test, interpret results, form a treatment plan, perform the necessary procedures, decide on a prognosis, start therapeutic action to accelerate recovery, re-examine, and set up a maintenance plan.

So the bottom line, Doctor Business Owner and Manager, is to stop wasting time analyzing 2010, and start attacking 2011. Now. One patient’s needs at a time! 

# # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

STOP holding your breath!

Just don’t use these words.

Reported in today’s Marketing VOX/News, are the results of LinkedIn‘s survey of its 85 million member profiles. Among other things, the Top 10 most-overused buzz words (and word pairs) by professionals in the United States are itemized.

I have presented them here for your own personal and business branding edification, and for your editing and deletion pleasure, as you beef up your turn-over-a-new-leaf-for-2011 identity and add some transparency to your camouflaged bio sales spiel.

You know the “identity” and “spiel” I’m talking about . . . it’s that “profile” thing . . . the one you’ve plastered across the Internet with your ten-year-old, hold-your-breath-in photo? That’s the one. 

It’s that sweet, down-home, good-ol’-boy (or, you-go-girl) slick-and-nifty (you remember them?) packaged presentation of you.

How do I know? Because I’ve seen you on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Salesblogcast, BizBrag, NAYMZ, Plaxo, ActiveRain, EConsultancy, Merchant Circle, Technorati, iSalesman, WordPress, and the 37 gazillion other sites you subscribe to, or have an account with.

It’s 2011. It’s time to clean up your act!

According to LinkedIn findings (And I mean, really, how could 85 MILLION people be wrong?) :

You would be well-advised to cease and desist use of any of the following words in resumes, business blog posts, email and website content, media and direct mail advertising (and, yes, in your hot little profile) for fear of being over-buzzed:

1. Extensive Experience

2. Innovative

3. Motivated

4. Results-Oriented

5. Dynamic

6. Proven Track-Record

7. Team Player

8. Fast-Paced

9. Problem Solver

10. Entrepreneurial

In answer to your next question: No, I do not pretend to be immune from the stupidity of the masses in using these descriptive terms. I have used them all (maybe that’s how they got overused?), and –in fact– I am probably among the leaders of all active online Americans in continuing to use them (I know, I know, a visit from the devil is coming!). But I promise to start cleaning house.

And you can take that promise to the bank. You know why? Of course you do. You were waiting for this, right? Well here y’go:

Because my extensive experience in igniting innovative, motivated, results-oriented commitments to change is accompanied by a proven track-record of dynamic proportions. Furthermore, as a team player, I am dedicated to being an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, problem solver who delivers words that sell — online and beyond.

Then again, sometimes “overused” (like with my 20-year-old workboots that are more comfortable and better made than anything sold on this planet) can be a good thing — especially when “entrepreneurial” is in your blog heading!

Tune in tomorrow for a special New Year’s message.

# # # 

www.TheWriterWorks.com

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Seize the moment!

Trying to “Carpe Diem” (grab hold of an entire day) in these relentless times, can breed toxic troubles in your relationships and send chills up the spine of your bankbook. But “moment at a time” works.

The days are history when we all thought we could bite off more than we could chew and get away with it. Carpe Diem–from its humble creation by lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (known primarily as “Horace”) between 65BC and 8BC–has quietly and dormantly stood the test of time, even up to 22 years ago! 1989? What happened then?

Robin Williams’ inspiring performance as a 1959 boys prep school teacher in the classic movie, Dead Poets Society, reinvigorated and redefined the seize the day expression for an entire generation. Most of you who are reading this right this minute were at least around at the time of that screen debut. But guess what?

The breakneck speed of technology has so revolutionized our world so rapidly that even THAT is now ancient history.

Life is moving so fast.

Almost all business is a reflection of the needs and wants of the societies and communities that house each of them.

Business owners and managers are scrambling just to keep pace . . . even as they continue to struggle with the still plummeting economy and job market. 

There’s a steadily emerging new emphasis on immediacy and responsiveness. FOR INDIVIDUALS, this means getting out of and away from that unproductive, hope-based, dreamlike existence so many have chosen to pursue and, instead, start taking action!

Return messages. What are the most productive roles to play with needy friends? Without meddling or trying to commandeer the day, provide here-and-now support where you can.

As with 3-D Leadership, lead by example. Teach yourself to respond instead of react! Pace yourself to match your capabilities, but don’t underestimate what you’re capable of, especially when you don’t need to block out a full day to get ‘er done! Oh, and trust yourself more, will you?!

Don’t just live FOR the moment.

Live IN it!

This translates to having a more pointed sense of urgency. FOR BUSINESS, having a present-moment mindset can’t help but impact the bottom line positively. Let all dealings with employees, customers, investors, referrers, vendors and suppliers, professional services ring with a Do It Now! attitude . . . from finance to operations to marketing.

Responsiveness

is the new transparency

because responsiveness is

    married to responsibility!  

Yes, we all need to be more on top of our lives and our businesses in 2011 than we were in 2010. With a full third of our existences (2,920 hours a year) consumed by needed sleep –or wishing we could– we’re left with 5,840 hours of awake time. This of course hasn’t changed much since the beginning of time, but the rate at which we consume those 5,840 hours has slammed our sensibilities.

Well, the way I see it is that seizing any single day out of 365 is not really within the realm of possibility anymore (unless it means rocking on the nursing home porch), but I sure as hell can seize one minute at a time! And my reward is that it keeps me in touch with the fun and reality of the personal and business lives I lead without leaving much room for upsets, stress, and disappointment. 

How do YOU see it?

# # # 

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make THIS moment a GREAT moment for someone!