“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas." ~Steve Jobs
Wow!! Do you get the wisdom in that? As small business owners, it seems that we are always looking for the next whiz-bang thing that can take our company to greater heights...SQUIRREL!!! But Jobs is telling us to let them go. He is telling you to stop chasing the squirrel.
Did you know that Apple had the IPad ready for production 5 years ago? But Jobs kept it on the shelf until the IPhone was solid and all the apps built for it would then work on the IPad. Talk about saying no to a good idea. It really wasn't a no, but a not yet. Let go of the hundred good ideas and concentrate on only a few.
When Michelangelo was asked about his sculpture of "David" he said "He was there already, I just had to take away everything that didn't belong there." Think about your business. Have you taken away everything that doesn't belong there or do you have some chiseling to do? I would bet that you have some chiseling to do. What are you waiting for? Get chiseling!!
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas."
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
What Are Your Dreams?
"The moment of enlightenment is when a person's dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities"~Vic Braden
What are your dreams? Do you allow them to grow or do you stomp them down so you don't really have to think about them? Do you think about them hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? Do you do more than think about them? Do you take action that brings them one step closer to probability?
Most people will say, "Sure, I have dreams. They are over there, in the 3rd drawer of my desk." That's not having a dream, that's really not even having a wish, because you aren't working towards it at all. That's just having one to say that you have one...
What is keeping you from going after your dream? Fear? Money? Family? Why are you not going after your dream? If you think about all the reasons you are not going after your dream, are any of those excuses valid, true? You may be convincing yourself that that they are valid but isn't that just another story you're telling yourself...so that you don't have to really reach for them???
Forget 'enlightenment.' When your dreams of possibilities become images of possibilities, how do you feel? I'm sure you've felt that way before. It feels GREAT! It makes you feel that you can do anything. Remember that feeling. And keep chasing your dreams!
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"The moment of enlightenment is when a person's dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities"
What are your dreams? Do you allow them to grow or do you stomp them down so you don't really have to think about them? Do you think about them hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? Do you do more than think about them? Do you take action that brings them one step closer to probability?
Most people will say, "Sure, I have dreams. They are over there, in the 3rd drawer of my desk." That's not having a dream, that's really not even having a wish, because you aren't working towards it at all. That's just having one to say that you have one...
What is keeping you from going after your dream? Fear? Money? Family? Why are you not going after your dream? If you think about all the reasons you are not going after your dream, are any of those excuses valid, true? You may be convincing yourself that that they are valid but isn't that just another story you're telling yourself...so that you don't have to really reach for them???
Forget 'enlightenment.' When your dreams of possibilities become images of possibilities, how do you feel? I'm sure you've felt that way before. It feels GREAT! It makes you feel that you can do anything. Remember that feeling. And keep chasing your dreams!
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"The moment of enlightenment is when a person's dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities"
Thursday, January 27, 2011
What's the Secret to Your Future?
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."~Mike Murdoch
How does your routine change? Or does it always go a certain way and you are just hoping for different results? Einstein called that insanity.
If our future is hidden in our daily routine, how would you change yours? What would you stop doing and what would you do instead? Why? Oh, you realize that what you're doing isn't working, but just haven't changed it yet...hmmm. Why?
You know that you want to achieve more but you just can't put your finger on what to do...
Start with analyzing your daily routine. See what you are doing that no longer serves any purpose for you and replace it with something that does serve you. The more things you do that serve you, the better chance you will have of creating the future that you want.
Maybe it's something as simple as making coffee at home instead of paying $5 bucks for Starbucks, or maybe it something as difficult as getting up an hour earlier to work out or take a walk. Maybe it's something as difficult as not eating those donuts or maybe it's something as easy as spending an hour reading more about how to improve your networking...(maybe those should be turned around...).
Analyze your daily routine and make sure that everything you do is serving you. Not anyone else, but you.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."
How does your routine change? Or does it always go a certain way and you are just hoping for different results? Einstein called that insanity.
If our future is hidden in our daily routine, how would you change yours? What would you stop doing and what would you do instead? Why? Oh, you realize that what you're doing isn't working, but just haven't changed it yet...hmmm. Why?
You know that you want to achieve more but you just can't put your finger on what to do...
Start with analyzing your daily routine. See what you are doing that no longer serves any purpose for you and replace it with something that does serve you. The more things you do that serve you, the better chance you will have of creating the future that you want.
Maybe it's something as simple as making coffee at home instead of paying $5 bucks for Starbucks, or maybe it something as difficult as getting up an hour earlier to work out or take a walk. Maybe it's something as difficult as not eating those donuts or maybe it's something as easy as spending an hour reading more about how to improve your networking...(maybe those should be turned around...).
Analyze your daily routine and make sure that everything you do is serving you. Not anyone else, but you.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Have You Learned Optimism?
“Learned optimism is not a rediscovery of the ‘power of positive thinking.’...Changing the destructive thing you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism.”~Martin Seligman
Have you learned optimism or are you just faking it. Learned optimism is the best thing that you could do for yourself and your self-talk. It is not just the power of positive thinking, it is much deeper than that.
Would you like to change the destructive things you say to yourself? Would you hang around a friend/person who talked to you the way you talk to yourself? Think about that for a minute...Would you? I used to until I realized that I didn't need that kind of self talk and I could change my habits of thinking.
The central skill of optimism (not polly-anna ish thoughts) is changing the destructive things we say to ourselves when things go wrong. Try it sometime and see the difference that it makes.
You can change the habit of your thinking, right now. Do it.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“Learned optimism is not a rediscovery of the ‘power of positive thinking.’...Changing the destructive thing you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism.”
Have you learned optimism or are you just faking it. Learned optimism is the best thing that you could do for yourself and your self-talk. It is not just the power of positive thinking, it is much deeper than that.
Would you like to change the destructive things you say to yourself? Would you hang around a friend/person who talked to you the way you talk to yourself? Think about that for a minute...Would you? I used to until I realized that I didn't need that kind of self talk and I could change my habits of thinking.
The central skill of optimism (not polly-anna ish thoughts) is changing the destructive things we say to ourselves when things go wrong. Try it sometime and see the difference that it makes.
You can change the habit of your thinking, right now. Do it.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“Learned optimism is not a rediscovery of the ‘power of positive thinking.’...Changing the destructive thing you say to yourself when you experience the setbacks that life deals all of us is the central skill of optimism.”
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Choice and Passion
“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice and passion.” ~ Nadia Boulange
The essential conditions of everything you do must be...choice. Do you realize that you are now where you are because of your choices? No one elses, no outside interference, no other reason that your choices. Here's the great news though, you can right now choose to make new choices, better choices, the ones that will bring you to where you want to be!
The essential conditions of everything you do must be...passion. Mason Cooley said “Passion crashes into obstacles; Reason peers around them.” Are you so passionate about what you do that you crash into obstacles as opposed to avoiding them? I wish I was that passionate. Some people are that passionate. It comes down to "How you do anything will be how you do everything." Will you do the little things with as much passion as the big things? The great thing is that right now, I can choose to be more passionate. I can start to crash into obstacles...and so can you. Are you ready to join me???
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice and passion.”
The essential conditions of everything you do must be...choice. Do you realize that you are now where you are because of your choices? No one elses, no outside interference, no other reason that your choices. Here's the great news though, you can right now choose to make new choices, better choices, the ones that will bring you to where you want to be!
The essential conditions of everything you do must be...passion. Mason Cooley said “Passion crashes into obstacles; Reason peers around them.” Are you so passionate about what you do that you crash into obstacles as opposed to avoiding them? I wish I was that passionate. Some people are that passionate. It comes down to "How you do anything will be how you do everything." Will you do the little things with as much passion as the big things? The great thing is that right now, I can choose to be more passionate. I can start to crash into obstacles...and so can you. Are you ready to join me???
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“The essential conditions of everything you do must be choice and passion.”
Monday, January 24, 2011
Developing the Human Spirit
"You can view (running a business) as not just a job but as an honorable livelihood where you can, by using your imagination, develop the human spirit."~ Anita Roddick
How do you view what you do for business? Is it just a way to "pay the bills?" Is it just something that you fell into and stayed there? Is it what someone told you that you would be good at so you did it? Or do you view it as a way to "develop the human spirit?" What a great way to look at the work that you do. Keep on developing the human spirit.
Sir Richard Steele said "People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives." Think about that...spending your life in service to your passions as opposed to employing those passion in the service of others. In any business, if you are not serving your customers, they won't be staying around.
What is your passion and how do you use it in the service of others?
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"You can view (running a business) as not just a job but as an honorable livelihood where you can, by using your imagination, develop the human spirit."
How do you view what you do for business? Is it just a way to "pay the bills?" Is it just something that you fell into and stayed there? Is it what someone told you that you would be good at so you did it? Or do you view it as a way to "develop the human spirit?" What a great way to look at the work that you do. Keep on developing the human spirit.
Sir Richard Steele said "People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives." Think about that...spending your life in service to your passions as opposed to employing those passion in the service of others. In any business, if you are not serving your customers, they won't be staying around.
What is your passion and how do you use it in the service of others?
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"You can view (running a business) as not just a job but as an honorable livelihood where you can, by using your imagination, develop the human spirit."
Friday, January 21, 2011
Choices,Choices
"You may not be able to control the events that occur during the day, especially those events that are unexpected and challenging. But, you definitely have a choice whether you are going to allow these events to ruin your day, and how you are going to face these challenges." ~Barry Gottlieb
Do you ever get up "on the wrong side of the bed?" Ever had a "bad hair day?" How do you handle them? Do you let them ruin your day or do you change your mindset before leaving the house? You do have a choice in how you respond to those events. Be sure to exercise that choice. Don't stay stuck in that negativity.
Stephen Covey said "If you start to think the problem is 'out there,' stop yourself. That thought is the problem." Too often we get caught up in thinking the problem is 'out there' when it is really with us. Realize that you are in control of your life, no one else is. It will be your choice to either react or respond. Reaction is without thought. Response requires thought. Always respond, never react.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"You may not be able to control the events that occur during the day, especially those events that are unexpected and challenging. But, you definitely have a choice whether you are going to allow these events to ruin your day, and how you are going to face these challenges."
Do you ever get up "on the wrong side of the bed?" Ever had a "bad hair day?" How do you handle them? Do you let them ruin your day or do you change your mindset before leaving the house? You do have a choice in how you respond to those events. Be sure to exercise that choice. Don't stay stuck in that negativity.
Stephen Covey said "If you start to think the problem is 'out there,' stop yourself. That thought is the problem." Too often we get caught up in thinking the problem is 'out there' when it is really with us. Realize that you are in control of your life, no one else is. It will be your choice to either react or respond. Reaction is without thought. Response requires thought. Always respond, never react.
Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
"You may not be able to control the events that occur during the day, especially those events that are unexpected and challenging. But, you definitely have a choice whether you are going to allow these events to ruin your day, and how you are going to face these challenges."
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