YOU’RE 60-70 YEARS OLD?

There goes your past. Here comes your future. But
it’s only this very minute —this very split second
as you read this sentence— that counts!

Popular observations about your age:

YOU’RE 60-70 YEARS OLD
Ah, now you’re cookin’, Baby! True smartness sets in and you learn to appreciate the idea that life is too short to be hanging around with time-wasting junk. That includes other people who are hell-bent on draining your brain and emotional storage bank with their tales of physical ailments, surgical procedures, and drug regimens.

Business life begins at 60! Go get busy! Invent something! Write a book! Play senior softball! Coach something. Find a local youth organization you can work with. And there’s nothing like moving to or visiting a college town to keep you feeling young! Pull up stakes and git outta Dodge! If you’re married, do another honeymoon. If you’re single, and still searching for love in all the wrong places (like bars!), gussy yourself up and check out stuff like www.NeedTaGetMeARedHotSeniorLover.com (Just kidding. Sorry, it’s not a real site!)

One good thing that’s predictable once you hit into the 60-70 age group: You say “screw it!” more.

Oh, and—after trying endless formulas, products, and treatments to no avail—you let your hair and wrinkles grow wherever the hell they want to. You look lovingly at grandchildren, but have a keenly developed zero-tolerance for temper tantrums and the soiled diapers that you once handled with aplomb, finesse, dedication and necessity.

Reluctantly, you look for the bright side of facing the eventual need to downsize your living quarters and aspirations. Your kids talk with you like they think you’re seven years old. You are either attending church services more or less. You are paying too much attention to politics, the news, and nail fungus!

Here’s the whole enchilada: Be thankful to be who you are and to be headed forward on your path. You’ve made it this far and you ain’t gonna quit nohow!

REALITY IN LIFE AND BUSINESS:
Now is the only time!
How thankful are you to be who you are,
headed where you’re headed?

WATCH THIS BLOG NEXT WEDNESDAY

FOR HAL’s 70+ AGE COMMENTARY

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Hal@BusinessWorks.US  or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

YOU’RE 40-50 YEARS OLD?

There goes your past. Here comes your future. But
it’s only this minute—this very split second as you
read this sentence—that counts!

Popular observations about your age:

YOU’RE 40-50 YEARS’ OLD

Now you’re getting serious about life. You cut your hair and consider the economies of a wig vs. hair transplants vs. shaving your head. You buy your first wrinkle cream and think about Botox. It doesn’t take more than a backache or two to realize you’re no longer the superwoman / superman you thought you were, but you will no doubt continue trying to prove otherwise—switching perhaps to “softer athletics” like pinball, slot machine pulls, darts, bathtub backstroke, and computer solitaire.

You’re still haunted by being covered with lettuce, smothered in mayonnaise and stuck like a pickle in the middle of the parents/kids sandwich . . . trying to break through the crust and please the whole world as you get chewed first on one side and then on the other. You probably thought you were over the hill when you were thirty, but now, well, “It’s the real thing!” . . . You worry more.

When you lose a close friend or family member, it gives you cause to pause. You rethink your job, church, life, love, yourself as well as where the hell you’re going, and how long it’s taking to get there. Retirement planning? Nah! That’s a long way off.

Earning a decent living has turned out to be harder than you ever imagined. Maybe you should do that year-with-a-yogi-mountaintop-meditation deal? Marriage or roommate relations get rocky. Your own or parent health issues command the stage center spotlight.  Healthcare insurance options suck! You sleep less. You start eating more yogurt and granola, but struggle with the booze, coffee, anything chocolate, bread and butter. Sometimes you feel like you’re playing football on a chess board. Try answering this: “What Sport Is Your Business?”

Having your own small business is looking more attractive. You decide to test the waters with a weekend garage-based product business or bedroom-based consulting service. The startup costs are staggering. You consider seeking investors or a rich partner. Somewhere you learn that when two partners agree on everything, one is not needed. Two investors you speak with want 65% of your business. No way! Way! No way! Way! No way! You go it alone and sweat it out. Welcome to entrepreneurship! Are you spontaneous enough?

REALITY IN LIFE AND BUSINESS:
Now is the only time!
How thankful are you to be who you are,
headed where you’re headed?

WATCH THIS BLOG  FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS
FOR YOUR AGE COMMENTARY~~~ NEXT WEEK: 50-60
# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US   or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

YOU’RE 30-40 YEARS’ OLD?

There goes your past. Here comes your future. But
it’s only this minute—this very split second as you
read this sentence—that counts!

Popular observations about your age:

YOU’RE 30-40 YEARS’ OLD

It’s inconceivable that those under 30 consider you older than dirt, so you do everything mentally and physically possible to prove yourself otherwise. You get a little achy-breaky once in awhile, but–after all–you still feel invincible enough to beat yourself to a pulp on the athletic field, go cliff-climbing, hang-gliding, whitewater rafting, buy a horse, and race jet skis. Maybe you’re a late bloomer, but you fall in and out of love 15 more times, then soul-mate with one of your original 25, from when you were (aaaaah!) in your twenties.

You gloat at being able to buy your first house, then quickly realize—as nasty things go wrong that require hiring contractors—that you’re in over your head. But now, for the first time, you at least have your own neighbors and your own on-the-job friends (and a soul-mate) to commiserate with. You try a couple of churches. You drink a lot of fancy-brand beer.

If you weren’t having young children and old parents when you were 20-30, you’ve probably got both now, and you feel like you’re in the middle of a sandwich, ready to be eaten up by stress and time pressures, especially with so fewer opportunities for self-indulgence. Getting your fingers burned and knuckles rapped as you learn the politics of career pursuit, you think about starting your own business. You Google a lot.

Approaching 40, you own up to the fact that maybe you don’t actually know as much as you thought you did when you were ten years younger. You trade your Camaro for a minivan to get the kids to baseball, soccer, dance lessons, Cub Scouts, Brownies, fast-food spots. You love your spouse, but the minivan . . . Your smartphone keeps you connected to the world, but you somehow still feel disconnected. The kids anchor you to living in the present. These years are all about making and spending money, getting promoted, researching startups.

In your heart, you know there’s hope for you yet. It’s true. Just choose it. Oh, and hang in there, Kiddo! Time Heals.

Business Life Reality: Now is the only time!
How thankful are you to be who you are,
headed where you’re headed?

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WATCH THIS BLOG THE NEXT 4 WEDNESDAYS FOR

YOUR AGE COMMENTARY~~~ NEXT WEEK: 40-50
# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

YOU’RE 20-30 YEARS’ OLD?

There goes your past. Here comes your future. But

it’s only this minute—this very split second as you

 read this sentence—that counts!

Popular observations about your age:

YOU’RE 20-30 YEARS’ OLD

Likelihood is that you think you know it all, and shrug off what you don’t as if it didn’t matter. Physically, you act like you’re invincible and indestructible because somewhere deep inside, you actually believe you are. Your wiseguy/smartass attitude gets you in trouble more often than you care to admit.

When things go wrong, you slink off and sulk or get angry, or high, and pretend to be beyond reproach even when you know you’re at fault. You grow lots of hair, work at keeping in shape, and give up church.

You are excessively self-indulgent when it comes to pleasure or idleness, and probably only think of others when others think of others. You are obsessed with your smartphone and all gadgets techie, but regard talking on the phone or acknowledging voicemails (if you even listen to them) as a fate worse than death. You got the car you always wanted, but it makes you broke… so maybe you settle for a junk heap.

Old people—over 30(!)—are constantly in your way, in your space, in your face, and challenge your skills to get around or over or through or past them. You think they’re all dumb, obnoxious and weak-willed. Rules and laws are made to be broken… until you join (Thank you for your service!) or toy with the idea of joining the military, which puts rules and laws in clearer perspective. You fall in and out of love 25 times. Somehow, you live to see yourself as 30-something. Congratulations on making it over the hill!

Business Life Reality: Now is the only time!

How thankful are you to be who you are,

headed where you’re headed?

WATCH THIS BLOG EVERY WEDNESDAY FOR 6 WEEKS

 FOR YOUR AGE COMMENTARY~~~ NEXT WEEK: 30-40

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

STOP THE NEWS!

                                    
I want to get off!

You deserve a break today, and not because

of some hamburger company! You just do.

CONSIDER:

If it isn’t bad enough dealing with your boss, your in-laws, your whining friend, your outta-control kids (or dog!), your popped button, indigestion, and scraping what you stepped in today—off your shoes, in front of smirking passerby, with your (never-used-anymore-for-writing anyway) ballpoint pen . . . If all that’s not bad enough, you got news media!

So now all you masochists seeking pleasure from having your butts dragged through global gutters, can add yet another layer of daily upsets and aggravations to your personal shoulders —the whole damn rest of the world! Go ahead: BE ATLAS! See if anybody cares.

You think it doesn’t matter how much news you see or hear every day? (That was a short question.) Now you no doubt think I’m going to beat up on your psyche for all the reasons you fidget at work and don’t sleep at night. But, no. There’s just another question coming.

This one’s a long, take-a-breath-in-the-middle question: Does a minute (a second even) ever pass without seeing or hearing some modelesque-looking or vocabularied-up (no ers, ahs, ums, or duhs) nudnick with an earpiece who’s being told what to say, how fast to say it and where to stand . . . you know, someone who’s somberly rattling out (or yelling, as in the case of higher-paid, more famous nudnicks) every minutia of detail about world and neighborhood threats to life, limb, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Whew! That was long, wasn’t it?

You better believe this: If it’s not terrorism glaring through ski-masks, or paying the price for cavalier attitudes about the seriousness of Ebola, or the ineptness of the VA , the CDC, the WH and Congress, or war zone updates on bombings and surprise WMD cache findings, it’s body counts, student demonstrations, racially-charged bullet exchanges, the stock market, Shark Tank, some athlete run-a muck, or insufferable Hollywood-type feigning make-believe insults.

If it’s not any of those things, it’s fictitious global-warming and severe weather (the great standby for upsetting news), the neighbor’s trash blowing across your yard, or your empty wallet, refrigerator, or gas tank.

Don’t let it be your empty HEAD!

Feel like you’re juggling seagulls?

Want to lighten yourself up?

Do the following for one week

(if you dare!)

I absolutely guarantee it will change your life for the better. But you have to be willing to take the risk. What’s to lose, stress?

1. JUST BREATHE— Take some nice deep ones—as often as you can remember to each day.

2. TURN OFF THE WACKO (TV, RADIO, AND ONLINE) NEWS REPORTS – If something major happens that will engulf your life, you’ll know it; someone will come running to pound on your door and give you the scoop!

3. THROW AWAY ALL THOSE NUT-CASE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES YOU READ— Toss ‘em under the bus! Better yet, let them pile up somewhere (not at your door!) for the week and when you get back to them, you’ll be startled to see that nothing has changed . . . just names, places, amounts, severity, intentions.

4. TURN OFF YOUR TEXT AND EMAIL BOMBARDMENT— “Smokeless tobacco,” “Death-by-milk class action lawsuits,” and “37 ways to paint your garage floor” will all still be clogging up your in-boxes a week from now anyway. Besides it’s rejuvenating to delete hundreds at a time!

5. TAKE A HOT SHOWER. SIT. TALK TO YOURSELF. READ A BOOK— Comedy or love stories beat news-related drama.

6. PICK OR BUY YOURSELF FLOWERS. PAY MORE ATTENTION TO NATURE.

7. TAKE MORE WALKS. SMILE MORE. CURSE LESS. SPEND MORE “FAMILY TIME.”

8. BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE. AND MAYBE EVEN TRY CHURCH AGAIN.

And no, it’s not irresponsible,

or global withdrawal, or pretending all’s well.

It’s a break. You need one. It’s a choice.

Do something about it.

You won’t believe the difference in just one week!

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 Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

The definition of a consultant: someone from over 100 miles away who jumps hurdles and carries a briefcase—but it’s, oh, so much more!

The Way to Get Consulting

  Clients is to BE a Consultant!

• Ask any sales pro! It’s the truth! You want to be a great baseball player? Stop thinking contracts and play baseball! You want to be a great consultant? Stop thinking contracts and BE a consultant!

• Oh, and don’t bust a gut trying to be a lawyer. (Great lawyers are great actors, not great thinkers!) You’ll grow old fast trying to draft a contract for every prospect. Besides, odds are that even if you make the sale, the contract will be broken, which creates the need for lawyers!. [Save contracts for major corporate and airhead government clients.]

• Smart rule of thumb: If a handshake’s not acceptable to a prospect, the prospect’s not acceptable as a client, even (and probably “especially”) when you’re broke!

• Pull-ease: STOP WRITING PROPOSALS! Don’t be a proposalaholic! It NEVER pays! You’ll waste a gazillion hours. Everyone wants a proposal so she or he can decide if you’re worth it, and to use as a guideline for hiring someone else who’s closer or less expensive. Some will take it and follow it and do the work themselves, or hand it off to a staff person to do it in-house. “BAM” (with thanks to Emeril!)…screwed again!

• “Well, I charge for proposals,” a consultant once told me. Seriously? Good luck with that. Yeah, seriously.

• Don’t waste time sending out emails trying to schedule in-person appointments. Just get on the damn phone and make the appointment!.

Okay, now that we’re past the preliminaries, consider this: The only efficient and surefire way to get clients is to start from the very first minute of discussion to serve the decision-maker AS IF YOU WERE ALREADY the consultant. In other words, BE a consultant.

Don’t worry about giving away your services on a first/second visit. Worry about not getting the business because you failed to demonstrate how much value you can contribute (which btw, does not translate into overwhelming your prospects). Focus instead on making pinpoint airstrikes.

Ah, and remember there are always three decision-making entities involved (sometimes one person with three different hats): The CEO, the CFO and the COO, or (depending on your expertise) the VP of Sales and/or marketing. A “sold” CEO may yield to the money-manager. And, the purpose of every first sales call is not to make a sale; it’s to get another sales call!

Great consultants (and great salespeople) listen 80% of the time. They suggest with questions–have you considered…? Great consultants call on practical and directly-related examples of experience or knowledge-base. Great consultants ask for examples and diagrams and opinions, and then weigh it all before offering recommendations.

When you demonstrate your thinking approach and knowledge base, and do it in a passionate but gracious and understanding manner, you are clearing a path for a prospect to experience how you’ll work and what you’re all about right from the git-go. Consider it a “test drive.” Consider how different the consultant model was just five years ago!

Instead of asking endless stupid questions, ask enough to find out the biggest surface problem and make simple, straightforward, practical (but not know-it-all attitude) suggestions. Express these as what you BELIEVE (not “think”) might be the most productive or meaningful or rewarding solution direction (What has the prospect suggested as a goal or pursuit direction?)

Here’s the thing. If you can’t sit on the same side of the table physically, sit on the same side of the table mentally. And you may not like hearing this because you may think it’s “old-fart” stuff, but you should know it is the truth: What all of us buy all of the time is TRUST. So put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Period.

Happy Consulting!

# # #

 Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

Birthing Healthcare Business

Until you’ve worked on the front lines of a medical or therapeutic group practice, a private healthcare facility, or on a pharmaceutical or medical device core management team, you’re not likely to ever appreciate that healthcare entrepreneurship is a radically different beast.

Non-healthcare business entrepreneurs—minus the excessive regulatory compliance baggage—can afford to be more freewheeling than their healthcare provider-based counterparts.

Healthcare entrepreneurial ventures can carry astronomical price-tags for R&D. The accompanying array of complicated startup legalities, convoluted tax restrictions, partner negotiations, branding and marketing (Healthcare is NOT about smiling doctor billboards!), recruiting and interviewing, position statements, community relations, and building a referral base is enough to confound many dedicated providers who lack even basic business training or experience.

So what? Who cares? You might ask.

This is not to trivialize the amount of hard work and suffering that accompanies the launch of non-healthcare entrepreneurial enterprises—particularly those ventures giving birth to non-healthcare-related hi-tech products and services. It is simply that healthcare has it harder!

Initial non-healthcare-related business investments are often from friends and family who are happy to just get their initial money back.

But healthcare investors are often professional investor outsiders with no knowledge of your business, who want unrealistic return on investment, who are not interested in your sweat equity, and who want to own controlling interest in exchange for the funding they provide.

These wealthy individuals often seek to be “part of the action” and are willing to pay for it, but who will not let business founders off the hook if things fail — and, curiously, many who fit this description seem always to appear at the moment when you most need it.

The #1 underlying message here is DON’T NEED IT! When you most need money, you can be sure you’ll be communicating it without even a word, and that’s like blowing a game-starting whistle to send in the circling sharks. You think TVs “Shark Tank” name has no basis?

Underlying message #2 is STAY FOCUSED ON MAKING YOUR CORE BUSINESS WORK INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR A QUICK FIX BY EXPANDING OR EXTENDING IT TOO PREMATURELY . . . TRUST YOURSELF AND BE REALISTIC.

So, if you have a choice between starting up a decorator windshield wiper blades company and establishing a business that aims to produce anti-bacterial clamps for micro-surgical openings, or starting up an orthopedic group practice, avoid healthcare pros money woes and go for the wiper blades! (But don’t think a year of that qualifies you to be in the windshield business, the windshield washer fluid business, and the rearview mirror business—or to think a 500-unit order means you need to break ground for a monster manufacturing plant!)

Just in case that thought crosses your mind, go back to the #2 message above, and if you do it right, you’ll be accommodating the #1 message without even trying. Because? Because you won’t need money because you’ll be too busy building your business and blowing out the walls of your garage!

If you’re truly “locked in” to a healthcare business startup, step carefully, listen carefully, speak and write carefully, and don’t let any amount of cash infusion take control out of your hands unless you have something else ready to put your hands on, and can (and are willing to) walk away comfortably. And remember–above all else– that Healthcare Leadership can mean only one thing . . . and it’s not Obamacare or “Lean” Management!!

Is Your Star Falling?

Even once you accept and get past the awareness of every behavior being a choice, self-doubt doesn’t simply float away off into the ozone. And similarly, pats on the back, “Go get ‘em, Tiger!” coaching, and double booze drinks can feel like gasoline drips flaring up out of your emotional bed of glowing embers.

Even when you know that every circumstance—regardless of intent or time period involved—is the result of a conscious or unconscious choice, you will not necessarily feel reassured about your own sense of stability. You’re more likely to hibernate, or beat yourself up, or do or say something stupid.

Your concept of yourself as a leader or as a mover and shaker, or as The Wizard of Oz, is bound to crumble to some degree at some point (or points) in your life. You are, after all, human. And emotions, after all, are not logical.

So, did this post’s four-word question headline catch you in time, or have people around you already been suggesting vacation destinations and urging you to “chill,” “get out more,” or “get out of Dodge”?

How can you turn this around?

• First, stop whining, bitching, complaining, blaming, punching walls, and—if you’re a thrower—you may want to consider a temporary switch from glassware and your fine china, to Styrofoam.

• Second, question your intents and motives. Ask yourself what’s at stake? Your survival? Your health? Your ego? Your relationship? Your business? Your career? Your family? All the money you have in the world? (Hint: If any of these were probable, you wouldn’t be reading this now.) How about “HAPPINESS”?

• Third, accept the fact that, considering the odds, it’s not likely your upsets are permanent, never-ending, all-inclusive, irreversible, or literally Earth-shattering. It’s probably just that your brains are scrambled eggs and your musculoskeletal system is JELLO. So, think substance!

Pretend your flight is overbooked and over-cargo’d and you need to toss your baggage off the plane in order to get where you’re going. Go ahead. Toss it! If it’s not life or death, just let go. You’ll be surprised at how liberating that can feel.

Next, decide the three most important things to you in your life and list them in order of importance. Then add the next seven items. There you have it . . . your “TOP 10.” This list alone warrants a brief time-out celebration (Uh, sorry, no shots or drugs — just a few whoop-de-do’s will be fine!)

Now, unless you’re on the edge of a cliff, racetrack, or a quicksand pit, take a step back! Look at where you’ve been these past two minutes. Think about where you need to go and what three different ways there are to get there. Take one. GO! If it doesn’t work, you still have two shots left! And one will work!

Congratulations on catching your falling star and for coming a long way (Baby!) from this blog post headline. You may want to consider one last thought:

“A word to the wise is sufficient.”

(Origin unknown . . . but if you are, it is!)

The longer and more energetically

you look for venture capital, the

quicker the likelihood your new

business will go down the tubes!

The process of seeking startup funding is like trying to put the roof on a new garage that you’ve already rushed to park in… but that has no studs in place or foundation to hold them. Advice: If you’ve gone this far, don’t be sitting in your car, especially if it’s a top-down convertible. After coaching 500 successful launches, I know whereof I speak.

With extremely few exceptions, I have found that the physical, mental, and emotional drain an entrepreneur experiences while chasing money ends up costing so much in time, energy, attention, out-of-pocket expenses, and lost opportunities, that new business ventures are often thrown under the bus before they can even get reach the intersection.

USE your time/money/energy instead to make your ideas work. When you ignore your finances and focus on making your idea work, on the market you’re going into and on the marketability of your product or service, money will come to you, seemingly out of nowhere and from sources you might least expect.

Don’t let others (including TV programs like Shark Tank or websites like Kickstarter) fool you into thinking that formal business plans, for example, are the answer. They’re not.

I’ve written scores of formal business plans, some of which raised many millions of investment dollars. But those winning plans were for established businesses seeking capital to expand. And they took four to six months to write. That’s a big chunk of time to not be head-down-and-charging-forward with birthing your business.

And all formal business plans cost some substantial dollars for professional fees (CPA, attorney, writer, researcher, printer, etc.). Well, what about offering those folks equity? you might ask. Think hard about that one. Even if they love you and your ideas, they got where they are by charging big-time fees, and your credit sheet, charging for telephone time, for example, won’t be any exception.

The best business plans (unless you are truly at the break-out point of needing venture capital or a bank or small business loan, which unfortunately still all call for formality) . . . the best plans are typically scribbled on the back of an envelope, folded into a pocket for a few days, then replaced with another updated version, which is folded into a pocket for a few days, then replaced . . . etc., etc.

These “Envelope Plans” are best because they are real-time happening and they keep your attention on what you need to do today, tomorrow, this week.

Goals are great and highly recommended if they are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and are in writing. But thinking too much about your goal puts your mind into fantasyland and pulls you away from your immediate purpose. Runners who focus on the finish line too much, trip and fall.

If your idea is good and marketable, stay with it. Work it. Make it happen. After it’s working, if you want to expand operations, then consider formal business plans. But don’t distract your commitment and passion at the outset. Would you put a new baby down in the middle of a high-traffic expressway so you could run a few miles to go buy extra diapers?

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 Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

Greetings Business Owners,

Entrepreneurs and CEO’s!

Here’s “what’s in it” for YOU!

” What’s in it for you?”

First, if you’re not answering this question for every one of your customers and investors and supporters –every day, in everything you decide, do and say– you’re either not serious enough about your business interests to continue reading this (Thank you and goodbye!), or you’ve lost touch with reality (Hang in here for a few paragraphs and restore your awareness!). Hopefully, you practice rewarding those who keep you in business with more than they ever bargained for.

Reality Check: You only came here because you thought there was some benefit for you, right? There is. Read on.

Just in case you think I’m being too smartass, realize that none of us are open to new ways of thinking without being jostled. Some require more of a jolt than others depending on one’s state of mind at any given moment. A blog post doesn’t leave a lot of room for niceties when the subject matter revolves around boosting business results and the dynamics of attitude adjustment (and, no, I’m not talking about it being 5 o’clock somewhere!).

That leaves us with a choice between mollycoddling or being in your face. Pampering gets us nowhere. Spirited confrontation without physical or verbal abuse consequences, though, is not always bad. If we respect one another, we can disagree and still respect and learn from one another.

Okay, let’s get to the part about what you get for reading this far. Here–for you to chew on and digest– is some new revelation food for your business brain that I guarantee you will make a positive difference in moving you rapidly closer to your deepest personal goals in life . . . the tasks you want to achieve to make a difference on Earth:

1) There is no such thing as time management.

2) There is no such thing as stress management.

You can manage what you do, but if you’ve learned how to manage time, call me; we can make a fortune together! You can manage how you respond to stressful situations, but if you can manage stress sources, call me; again, we can make a fortune together. Oh, and on either of these pursuits, yes, you may need me. Yes, if you want to call me on that point (my number is below), I’ll be happy to explain.

Here’s the bottom line: You cannot manage time or stress, but you can manage how you choose to deal with time and stress restraints. When you choose to consciously control the ways you behave so that you respond to stress instead of react to it, you will be be happier and healthier and be far better at growing your business. You will be getting more done in less time.You will be choosing to make the most of the time you have left on Earth.

Personal productivity comes from being constantly aware that all behavior is a choice and that you can just as easily choose to make your self more in control of internal and external stressful sources an easy thing to do as you can choose (or continue to choose) to make it a hard thing to do. Be aware that consistently choosing these key ingredients of self-control and self-confidence cannot solve all problems because we are all sometime-victims of bad choices/decisions we intentionally or inadvertently chose in the past. When that happens, don’t compound your struggles by throwing CHOICE out the window. Buckle down instead and restart your meter!

SUCCESS is what’s in it for you, and you will get there by choosing to be in control of how you respond to stress and by choosing how you can best use the time you have available . . . remembering, of course, that SUCCESS is the journey not the destination, and that all of life is an interruption!

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I