I was called up by Fox 25 in Oklahoma City again – this time to talk about apps that trying to make the socially awkward not so much so. Sorry folks – the app is not going to help.
Everything is amazing and nobody is happy
May 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment
This is one my posts that speaks for itself. Or rather there is a video that spoke to me and I hope it speaks to you. It concerns our attitudes and our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are even though we live in amazing times. My goal with this video is simple: Let’s alter our attitudes. You remind, I’ll remind you, and we can both remind other people that we have it pretty good. Enjoy the video.
Getting to where I want to be
March 13, 2011 By 2 Comments
2011 has been a banner year so far. And I want more of it. And by more of it I mean more productivity. More happiness. More metime. More public speaking and presenting my story. More time to do what I want when I want with who I want and how I want.
So what has happened in 2011 to make me feel this way:
I became a member of the National Speakers Association. This is the premier nationally recognized organization that helps speaking professionals learn about and grow their business of coaching/public speaking. It take certain qualifications to enter, namely a lot of public speaking and presenting. I didn’t think I had the qualifications over the past 12 months but after reviewing my calendar I was pleasantly surprised. And the the huge push from my wife didn’t hurt. This is something I’ve thought about for about 5 years and this past week it came true. Mark that off the bucket list.
My speaking engagements are getting larger. It is one thing to speak to a group of 5 people. But when it grows to 20. And then 200. And then you are being hired to join conferences and being paid to be a breakout session leader. This is ‘get real’ time. And I ready to put my game face on.
I am getting recommended by others for speaking business. There is no better business than recommendation business. When people sell you before you ever walk in the room or get on the phone it makes your job easier. You are already sold. It also makes the ego feel good to know that others think you are good enough to recommend.
I’ve figured how to replicate myself. I know that sounds weird, but it is very true. Every day my eyes are being opened to the power of online video, to private paid membership sites, to charging for the valuable content that I provide and to the value of writing books. All of these are items that I need to add to my marketing arsenal. The planning and execution of these items is exciting – almost as much as the actual execution.
Have you ever had a time when you got excited to future possibilities once your eyes were opened? If so please share it below.
Where I Am Going This Year. Where Are You Going?
January 10, 2011 By 3 Comments
These are not New Year’s Resolutions.
If you have seen my master goals list then you know I do have an aim in life. I do have direction that guides me every day. I do believe deep down in my heart in the power of setting achievement milestones (aka goals) for oneself. You don’t get from New York to L.A. in one big giant step. You get there by putting one foot in front of the other, and counting your successes for each mile of progress you make.
Recently a good friend of mine challenged me to layout my milestones for 2011. Let’s call him RB Bruce. RB and I met for lunch and decided to each make a blog post about what we were going to accomplish in 2011. A friendly wager of sorts (at least that is what I think we said. I can’t remember because I was in food heaven with the bacon cheeseburger). I am not sure what the winner gets, or what to do if we tie. That may even be up to you – the reader of this blog post.
What I do know is that this list will keep me in check for 2011. RB will keep me in check. And you, the StopDoingNothing reader will keep me in check.
Here goes:
Health: Lower my cholesterol measurement from 180 back down to 133. I give blood on a regular basis. The cool part about that is they check to see if I’m still alive. After that they check to see how healthy I am. I’ve been keep track of the critical numbers since 11/2007. The lowest measurement of my cholesterol level was on 3/25/2008 at 133. In 8/2010 it was 152. In 12/2010 it was 180. That is ridiculous. I am scared of having health related issues as I get older – especially any related to obesity or poor body maintenance. I used to be obsessed about what I ate and drank. I need to get there again.
Business: Grow my profit % and profit $ for 9 out of 12 months. 2009 was horrible for business. 2010 was better. 2011 is start off with a bang. I am planning a lot more bangs with the start of an AM/FM/Web radio show and a new client about every week. If I can keep that momentum this goal will not be difficult.
Pleasure: Log 20 hours of flying time this year. Right now I am out of currency. And I am very disappointed in myself. I love to fly. Let me repeat that. I LOVE TO FLY. My pilot’s license is something I am very proud of. I trained for it. I studied hard for it and I earned it. Right now it is a wasted piece of paper gathering dust in my wallet. I am going to fix that.
Financial: Save $5000 in emergency funds. Self-explanatory.
Business: Save money to attend the Affiliate Summit West 2012 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is where the more brilliant minds of online marketing converge every year. As a stretch goal I’d also like to attend Blogworld.
Health: Reduce bodyfat down to my personal best of 19% (measured 4/24/2008). As of 12/2010 this was at 35%. Forget that noise.
Business: Hire an assistant. This will allow me to grow my business by focusing on shaking hands and kissing babies (but not babies hands – that’s just gross). The assistant will help me maintain a clean work mind and a focused business growth calendar. (That sounds pretty cool – I just made it up). An assistant will also help me organized. I am not the best person to organize my desk. I need to find somebody smarter than me to help me in this area.
Business: Start Focus University. I’ve recently learned that I have a lot of knowledge, but not a lot of time to share it with people that want it. I’ve been planning a new business venture (more like an extension of Focus Consulting) called Focus University. It will be a completely online paid membership education area. It will contain private videos, private forums, and private coaching opportunities with me.
Personal: Pay down debt. I am personally leaving this goal non-quantifiable for now. I will come back and update it later. But I’ve already started making small dent in this goal.
Update:
Personal: Commit to Remember the Milk. One of the things that RB teases me about is the time I lose/waste finding systems to help me manage my time. I am a walking irony. He is right – damnit. In January of this year I met a brilliant gentleman named Jake Fisher at the radio station where I have my show. He is 100% committed to the Remember the Milk system. Mainly for it’s speed and simplicity. After talking to him I decided to commit also. Is it the best system for me? That is what I am hoping to find out. I have a feeling that it will be great as long as I commit to it. My personal pledge is to give it the 12 month college try. I’ll reevaluate in January of 2012 whether it is working out. Check it out.
More to come. Ack – I just checked RB’s goal list. He has a big year ahead of him. I’d better try and keep up.
Watch this video about goal setting, then ignore it
November 8, 2010 By 2 Comments
I am a huge TED fan – I enjoy just about every speaker that hits the stage – even the ones I wholeheartedly disagree with. Here is one for your viewing pleasure that you should ignore the advice in: Not telling people your goals.
Don’t ever do this. Shout your goals on the rooftop to the world and beyond. Write them on your bathroom mirror. Tell someone to check on you all of the time to see where you are. Publish them on your blog. Keep people updated about them. I still believe that sharing what you want to do with other climbers like you helps keep everybody accountable.
Making the climb: Rock by Rock, Step by Step
November 3, 2010 By 2 Comments
StopDoingNothing.com is the project that I am the most proud of. It is a shame that it is the site I update the least. I love the concept. I love the site name. Yet recently I have been cursed by a lot of work. Work as a result of the StopDoingNothing mindset.
Where to begin:
1. As I may have pointed out in the past 2009 was a terrible year for my main business Focus Consulting. Nobody should have to go through as much stress as my family has gone through in the past 18 months. Some people have it better and some people have it worse. But we had ours. And I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I just did our P&L & Balance Sheet for October and was pleasantly surprised. The numbers were almost all in the positive. I hope that your business is seeing the same if not better revenue than you did in 2009. I hope to be turning down some of the lower paying work. I’ve heard that when you are too busy you need to raise your prices or start turning down what you don’t want to do. I’ll do the latter if I have to, but I would not mind raising my prices either.
2. I am starting to do more of what I want: Teaching and speaking. I am still heads down several hours a week in technical work because that is what pays the bills. But about every other week I have a speaking engagement. Some times two. This weekend I am crossing one of many milestones in my goals to do this professionally – I am giving my first keynote speech. Admittedly it is for Toastmasters – a group that trains others to speak better. But it is still my first keynote. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I prepared? I believe so. Toastmasters is a great group to speak to. And it is even better that I am not speaking about anything technical. The presentation is titled “Climber or Coaster: Which one are you”. In the presentation I am going to review some of the earlier mistakes I made when I was younger about apathy and associating with the wrong kind of people.
You have to believe. You have to have faith. Sometimes faith is all you have. You have to believe that things will get better. And you have to believe you are good enough to do what you want to do. You also have to realize that nobody is going to make you grow but you. Nobody is going to cheer louder for you than you are. I’ve learned to love and embrace the phrase “Shameless Self-Promotion”. I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Leave a comment below and let me know how your life is going. It is going in the direction that you want it to ? If not what are you doing to steer your ship the right direction?
xo – p
Is your body getting better or getting worse?
August 25, 2010 By 1 Comment
Over the past two months I’ve taken up jogging, ran my first 5k, and started taking better care of myself physically. If you are interested you can see my log and progress over at DailyMile. Create an account and friend me there if you’d like an occasional motivational kick in the butt.
It is hard. Life makes it hard. The pace of life and the easy choices that are thrown at us make it so easy to just sit on our butt and let them grow. But I feel so good when eat healthy and when I exercise that I am going to keep at it. All that being said I did give blood today and was running behind and on an empty stomach. So I did stop at McDonald’s at get an Angus Mushroom Swiss Burger. I am not going to lie – it was good. Oh it was amazing, and I washed it down with two milks. But that red meat (or red meat like substance) will probably be on my bones for weeks to come. And who knows – I might have shortened by life by a few minutes or days. It is the price I am going to pay for my lack of planning to ensure I had the right food choices available to me.
I am of the belief that every moment you are alive you are getting stronger and healthier, or you are getting weaker and more unhealthy. Which mode are you in right now with your life? Which mode makes you more happy? The answer is pretty easy: If you are doing any kind of regular exercise program then you are taking care of your body and making yourself stronger. No exercise? Hello heart disease, poor health, cellulite, and doctor’s visits. Health eating is not good enough. You have to combine that with some kind of regular rigorous physical activity. You need to take your body outside of it’s comfort zone and make it work. Enough of this talking BS. Move something.
This weekend there is a 500m/5k event down at our new Oklahoma City Riversport complex. If you are local please consider dropping the $35 to join us. It is a small price to pay for the benefits you will gain. If you are not local to Oklahoma City find something this weekend in your city that will challenge you. Start simple – walk a mile in the park or around your neighborhood. Then come back to your DailyMile account and log it for me to see. If you don’t like to run then please – just do something. Stop doing nothing!
It’s amazing what people can do with confidence
August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
1. I’ve been remiss in my duties when it comes to posting my thoughts and the things I like to share. For that please forgive me.
2. I played the video below 3 times and it gave me goose bumps all three times. This is something to save and bookmark when you need a little pick me up. Enjoy and come back soon.
Having trouble writing down your goals? Look at mine
April 20, 2010 By 2 Comments
I am sure you have heard it time and time again ; the absolute best way in the world to achieve what you want is to write it down. That is why I have page dedicated on this site to my goals. I just recently updated it and numbered it. The numbering will allow me to have conversations make improvements “by the numbers”, and also provide a common point of reference when I discuss my goals with you and other people.
If you are having any trouble writing down your goals look at mine for a starting point. In the version I have online right I have broken them down into some high-level categories. I don’t have action plans for most of them yet, and I don’t have them broken down into big rocks and little rocks yet. But I have a start.
My challenge to you: Write down your goals someplace online. Come back to the comments below or in my forum and share a link to your goal list. First of all – you will get some link love back from me. I even create a special new forum (follow the link) just for you to post your goal lists. Since it is a new forum area it is empty. Be the first to get in there and post. Make sure you update your forum signature so people can come read about your goals in detail over at your site.
The Next Post: Prioritizing the Goals
Do something this week that scares the crap out of you
April 12, 2010 By 4 Comments
When was the last time you did something so scary that you got the shakes and started sweating profusely? If you can’t remember that is the answer right there. It has been way too long.
If you are not regularly doing something that scares you a little or a lot then you are not really loving on the edge of life. Living on the edge is where the fun is. It is the middle of the candy bar. It is the pancakes with the syrup. It is the cold shower at 6am. It is the thing that will wake you up, and will make you smile when you are done.
Do both of us a favor? Do something scary and spontaneous. Today. In the next 5 minutes. This week. Go ahead. Just stand up and take off and go do it. It could be something as tame as a run around your neighbor, or something huge like skydiving. But make the committment to do something. I double-dog dare you. And the come back here and tell us all about it.
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