Today is National Rush Day!

No, that does not mean that today we celebrate Rush Limbaugh, or that we go out and join a sorority or fraternity.

No, what it means is that today we honor and celebrate the music of the greatest rock band ever: RUSH!! 

I don’ know who decided it, but I am glad they did. Today makes sense because the album that made Rush’s career was called “2112,” and today is February 1^st, 2012 (2-1-12. Get it?).

I could spend this entire post just talking about how awesome Rush is, but rather than do that, I will pass along some Motivational Smart Ass wisdom I have gleaned from the greatness that is Rush.

Here are 5 MORE Great Motivational Lines from Rush Songs (You can read the first five here)

1) Freewill

Album: Permanent Waves

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

This song has quite a few lines around the idea of pre-destination and whether there are higher powers that guide our lives. Rather than open up the door (and my comments) to a huge religious debate, I want to simply focus on the most powerful line in the song: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”

How awesome is that? And so appropriate. Many live their lives avoiding making decisions, putting things off until:

1. The decision no longer matters
2. Someone else decides
3. Time (or some other factor) makes the decision for them

It’s tempting to avoid tough decisions until they go away on their own. Just remember that you’re still making a decision when you choose to put things off.

Also, keep in mind that great leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists are the ones who make strong, tough choices (maybe not in every area of their lives, but certainly in the areas they excel in). If you want to be great at something, if you want to build your business or further your career, then get better at making real choices.

Rush Wants to Know: Are you making a real choice, or are you choosing not to decide? Even if you believe in fate, are you still taking actions, making decisions, and doing things to move you forward? Exert your freewill!

2) The Pass

Album: Presto

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars

Let me get this out right now: this song is about the tragedy of teenage suicide.  I would never profess to offer advice to someone thinking about killing themselves (I’ll leave that to the professionals) but the message in the song is terrific for anyone who ever feels down, lost, or like giving up.

The difference between people who continue to work towards their goals and dreams when things get down and those who pack it in is perspective.  The dreamers, the ones who keep progressing, take on two perspectives that others don’t:

1. They look at whatever good they can find. Stars in the darkness, cars in the gutter, etc. You can focus on what’s awful, or look for the silver lining. Dreamers look at the good.
2. They realize they are not alone. When things aren’t going right, it’s easy to say, “Woe is me,” and wonder why everyone else is doing so well but you suck so hard. It helps to remember that everyone you are comparing yourself to, at some point, was down and faced the darkness sometime.  If they got out of it, you can too.

Life is full of ups and downs. Learn to ride out the downs and stay on track, and your ups will be even higher.

Rush Wants to Know: How do you respond (or how have you responded) to your down times? Do you have a tendency to give up, or do you dig in, make the best of your situation, and realize that this happens to everyone?

3) Carve Away the Stone

Album: Test for Echo

You can roll that stone
To the top of the hill
Drag your ball and chain
Behind you
You can carry that weight
With an iron will
Or let the pain remain
Behind you

Chip away the stone
Chip away the stone
Make the burden lighter
If you must roll that rock alone

This was something of a forgotten song for me, as it’s at the end of one of Rush’s less great albums (notice I said, “less great,” and not “bad.” Don’t even think it…) However, I started re-listening to it and have found it really resonating with me, in great part due to the lyrics.

The premise of the song is simple: you can either hold-on to the burden of whatever is weighing you down or you can let it go, little by little, to make your life a whole lot easier.

Too many of us carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. It could be guilt from the past, anxiety about the future, an overly developed sense of responsibility, or whatever.

While some pressure and stress can help spur you to action, too much will weight you down and prevent you from achieving all that you want and deserve.

Rush Wants to Know: What are you holding on to that is weighing you down? What do you need to let go of? What can you do to “carve away the stone” and make the burden lighter?

4) Roll the Bones

Album: Roll the Bones

Well, you can stake that claim
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
…
Why are we here?
Because we’re here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones

Back when Roll the Bones came out, my non-Rush fan friends (yes, I had some, though for the life of me I can’t imagine why) took great joy in making fun of me by mocking these lyrics. I suppose the chorus, “Why are we here? Because we’re here / Roll the bones” could sound a little trite.

To me, however, it’s a powerful line and a reminder that sometimes, Ding Happens!  It helps if you know that the phrase, “Roll the Bones” means “roll the dice.”

When things go wrong through no fault of our own, it’s easy to throw your hands up and scream, “why me?? Why did this happen to me??” The answer in this song is that sometimes it’s just blind luck (good or bad).

On the one hand, this may sound depressing and not motivational at all. “You mean that I could not succeed, just due to random chance?” Well, yeah.

But, the motivational part comes in when you use the “Roll the Bones” approach to dealing with the unexpected when it does occur.  Many people waste a ton of time and energy lamenting their fate, trying to assign blame, and wondering why the universe has it in for them.

A much more powerful approach is to simply accept that hey, something things go wrong. Pick up the pieces, fix it, and move on. This is not to say that you shouldn’t learn from mistakes and try to find out what went wrong. But sometimes you just have to let it go.

Remember, “Winners take the praise,” that “good work is the key to good fortune.”

Rush Wants to Know: When things go wrong, do you spend energy blaming some unseen force, or do you waste time feeling sorry for yourself? Be a winner, and take responsibility for your own success.

(You’re going to want to watch this video, because at one point there is a rapping skeleton…)

5) Everyday Glory

Album: Counterparts

If the future’s looking dark
We’re the ones who have to shine
If there’s no one in control
We’re the ones who draw the line
Though we live in trying times
We’re the ones who have to try
Though we know that time has wings
We’re the ones who have to fly…

This is a simple song about the importance of everyday people taking action to make things better, regardless of how bad things may be around them.

Ultimately, you’re the one responsible for you. In fact, most major changes start with an individual saying, “I have to do something.” That could be righting a wrong, fighting an injustice, or simply taking control of your own life.

Remember, all great people started out as simple people making the decision to take action. There’s no reason that can’t be you.

Rush Wants to Know:  Are you sitting around, waiting for someone or something to come along that makes everything better?  Or are you taking action, however small, to “be the one has to shine”?

(Shockingly, I could not find a version of this song on Youtube. Go find it on Spotify and give it a listen…)

There you have it: 5 more awesomely motivational lines from awesomely great Rush songs. Go, listen to Rush, and be motivated.

And for those of you who have no idea what 2112 is, sit back, relax, and enjoy the next 20 minutes of your life:

Happy National Rush Day!

P.S. Why not let all the Rush-o-philes in your life (you know there are some!) know about this post? Click the Facebook “Like” button at the top of this page and share the love

***
Do you want help making better long term decisions? How about help figuring out what exactly it is that you want? Or maybe you know, but your problem is that you don’t know how to put together a plan to get you there?  Or perhaps you have a plan, but never feel motivated to follow it? Or you jyst get easily derailed when things go wrong? If so, than the Smart Ass Success! Learn the 7 Steps to Getting What You Really Want – Even If You Have No Idea What That Is! FREE E-Book is for you! It addresses those questions (and more) to help you get on the path towards figuring out what you really want – and then getting it! Don’t let another year pass you by. Click here to download your free copy now!

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If you’ve ever looked at my internet products and offerings and thought, “Hey, I’d like to be able to do that,” this book is a great way to learn how.

Plus, Fred has secured over $2,000 in bonuses from experts (including me!) that you can get, but only if you buy the book today, January 31st.

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Here’s the description from Amazon:

Want to make money selling information products? Then this is the book for you!

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Know a lot about skiing or gardening or quilting? Why not sell what you know about that topic to others? Help make their lives easier and get paid for doing it.

This book is a no-nonsense, step by step, guided tour to show you how to make money selling info products.

My name is Fred Gleeck. If you Google the term “Information Marketing” I come up #1! I’ve been working in this field for almost 30 years.

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Remember, the bonuses are good only if you buy it today, January 31st!

Don’t be a time manager, be a priority manager. 

- Denis Waitley

Yesterday, I wrote a post titled, “6 Reasons Why Your Priorities Get all Screwed Up”

If you read that article, then you may have thought, “Hey that’s great, but what do I DO about it?”

This post answers that question for you.

Here are five techniques you can use to keep yourself on-track and focused on your highest priority tasks:

1) Identify and Commit

In order to do high priority work, you need to first identify what that high priority work is!

Ask yourself:

• Where do I want to go/what do I want to achieve?
• What is the best, fastest way for me to achieve that?
• Am I willing to do that, with the energy and consistency required?

If the answer is “yes,” then you have identified your highest priority activity. If “no,” ask the questions again, starting with, “What is the next best way for me to achieve my goal?”

You don’t have to always commit to the number one best way, but if you find yourself repeatedly, saying, “no, I’m not willing to do that,” you may want to look at how committed you are to your goal.

This doesn’t have to be a one time thing. Feel free to revisit once a month, quarter, year, etc.

2) Change How You Measure “Success”

We live in a results-oriented world. I have nothing against results – in fact, I appreciate how much results matter. However, if you base your day-to-day success only on results, you can encounter two problems:

1. You may get discouraged when implementing long term strategies that don’t pay-off immediately.
2. You may be fooled into believing that you are doing well, when in fact you have just been lucky.

By all means, monitor, measure, and analyze your results. However, when it comes to day-to-activities, measure your success by how well you accomplished the tasks you have determined to be high-priority.

If you do what you planned to then you had a successful day, even if you didn’t get an immediate result. If after a few weeks or months you still have no results, then it’s time to revisit your plan.

3) Block Out Distractions

Emails, phone calls, conversations with co-workers and family members. These are all interruptions that can shift your attention onto lower priority activities.

You don’t have to isolate yourself in a pod all day (but if you can, go for it!), but when you are working on higher priority items, limit your distractions and keep working until you are done.

Close your email and web browser, shut off your phone, close your office door, etc. Do whatever you must to stay focused and get things done.

4) High Priority Work First, Shiny New Sexy Stuff Later

Work first, chair races second...

The point of this article is not that you should never deviate from your plan. That would show a distinct lack of creativity and flexibility (pretty silly advice for an improviser to give, no?).

However, few opportunities are so fleeting that they must be pursued “right now!” As such, make sure that when you chase a bright, shiny, sexy, new opportunity that you do so after completing your high priority work.

“After” can mean later in the day (high priority work in the morning, fun new stuff later), later in the week (Monday and Tuesday are for sales calls, Wednesday through Friday are for fun creative work), or days or weeks later (let me finish this project first, and then, once it is complete, I will try this new thing)

Smart producers will use the appeal of trying something new and fun as motivation to get the high priority stuff done…

5) Get an Accountability Buddy

One way to stay on track is to have an “accountability buddy.” This is someone who you check in with regularly (daily or weekly) and discuss two things:

1. What your highest priority activities are for the next day or week
2. How successful you were at finishing your highest priority activities for the previous day or week.

Your buddy doesn’t have to be a business partner, employee, or supervisor. The best accountability buddies are often friends and colleagues who understand what you do, understand what you need, and will do a good job of not letting you off the hook when you skip your high priority activities.

Knowing that you are going to have to report on and take accountability for your success or failure in completing your highest priority activities can be a great motivator.

Of course, the accountability is mutual, so you need to keep your partner on-track too. That way it’s win-win for you both!

Stop Reading and Get to Work!

Look, I’m very happy that you are choosing to read my blog. I want you to keep reading it, keep coming back to it, and keep spreading the word about it.

However, let me ask you a question: Have you already completed your highest priority activities for today!

If the answer is “no,” then bookmark this page and get back to work!

Unless, of course, you have identified “reading this blog” as one of your highest priority activities, which would be very awesome indeed. In that case, carry on…

P.S. Hey, if you like this post, why don’t you share the love and click the Facebook “Like” button at the top of this page…?

***
Do you want help making better long term decisions? How about help figuring out what exactly it is that you want? Or maybe you know, but your problem is that you don’t know how to put together a plan to get you there?  Or perhaps you have a plan, but never feel motivated to follow it? Or you jyst get easily derailed when things go wrong? If so, than the Smart Ass Success! Learn the 7 Steps to Getting What You Really Want – Even If You Have No Idea What That Is! FREE E-Book is for you! It addresses those questions (and more) to help you get on the path towards figuring out what you really want – and then getting it! Don’t let another year pass you by. Click here to download your free copy now!

On this blog, and in my speeches, I use the phrase, “Ding! Happens.” If you have seen me speak, then you know exactly what I am talking about. If not, you may be confused. Here then is the explanation of “Ding! Happens.”

“Ding! Happens” means the same thing as, “Stuff Happens,” of more correctly, “[Insert your favorite expletive"] Happens.”

The “Ding!” comes from an improv comedy game that I play to start off my speaking programs. In it, I give an audience volunteer a bell, and then I begin telling a story. The volunteer can ring the bell (“Ding!”) anytime they want. When they do, I have to roll my story back, start repeating what I said, but change it to something different. For example:

“Once upon a time there was a girl who had a pet dog”
Ding!
“Once upon a time there was a girl who had a pet cat”
Ding!
“Once upon a time there was a girl who had a pet mouse”
Ding!
“Once upon a time there was a girl who had a pet llama”

Whatever. I can say anything I want, as long as it is different. If the volunteer doesn’t ring I just keep telling the story but only as if the last thing was said. So in this example the dog, cat, and mouse would all be gone, and we would have a story about a girl and her pet llama.

To see examples of this game inaction, visit the videos page

The game is fast, high-energy, and funny. The lesson from the game is that the universe acts in just the same way. You are moving nicely down one path and everything is coming along fine and then all of a sudden, “Ding!” the universe throws you a curve-ball and says, “here, deal with this.”

Anyone can do well when everything goes well. What separates people who succeed in the long run from those who fail or give up is how they respond to the unexpected when it happens – because it will!

So how do you respond when Ding Happens? I’m glad you asked…

The Step By Step Process to Improvising With Anything

When Ding! Happens the people who excel, succeed, and thrive, are the ones who react quickly and take powerful action. This is true for improv comedians performing for an audience or for non-performers going about their lives. The thing that allows great improviser to improvise effectively, on stage or off, is that they have conditioned themselves to react to the unexpected automatically in a way that keeps them out of paralysis and gets them moving forward. They may not even consciously know that they do this, but they do.

In my work as a performer and instructor of improv comedy, as well as my work speaking and training for organizations on how to apply improv comedy to their businesses, I have developed a simple but powerful step by step process that will allow anyone to improvise with anything that life throws at them. The process consists of two underlying mentalities followed by the three simple steps.

The process can be applied consciously at first, but over time the goal is to be so well versed in the process that it happens automatically, in every scenario. That is the key to being a fantastic improvisor.

The Process:

The Two Mentalities

1) Have Fun

You can not perform improv comedy if you are not willing to have fun (believe me, I have seen people try!) You can go through life without having fun, but why would you want to? Life is too short…

Having fun Is more than just a quality of life issue though. When you are having fun, you free up your creative power, you are more open to taking (calculated) risks, and you have more energy. Your ability to have fun directly impacts your performance.

Have you ever watched a sporting event on TV and heard the commentators say about the team that was winning, “they look like they are having fun out there?” Sometimes we think that they have fun because they are winning; the opposite is actually true. The more fun they have the more likely they are to win.

This is not to say that bad things won’t happen. They key is to realize that a) No matter how bad things are, your bad mood won’t change them and b) by relaxing and heaving fun you increase your chances of turning things around.

Great improvisers know how to focus on the fun even in tough times.

2) Be Willing to Fail

Improv is inherently a risky type of performance. You can’t pre-write and rehearse the lines you will say – after all, you are making it up on the spot! Every time you step out to do a show, you have no idea what will happen.

That level of risk makes many people terribly afraid of improvising. Sadly, the more afraid you are, the more likely you are to fail.

While great improvisers have trained in a way to reduce risk, that risk never completely goes away. The best improvisers accept that failure is a very real possibility, and then take action (and have fun) anyway. That willingness to mess it up actually decreases the likeliness of failure.

The same thing applies in the “real world.” If you approach a task with the fear of failure, you will get tense, stressed, and be unnatural. All of these things hamper your ability to perform well. Only when you let go of that fear can you do your best. And only by accepting that the worst may happen and if it does you will be fine can you let go of that fear.

Note: I am not saying that failure is ok. Failing can be very bad and can carry sever consequences. They key is to realize that while you are taking action you must accept the possibility of failure so it no longer has power over you. That is what great improvisers do.

Think of something you excel at. I am going to bet that you a)have fun doing it and b) aren’t afraid of messing it up. On the flip side, think of an area in your life where you feel weak at or you feel could use improvement. I will bet that you a) don’t have fun doing and probably get tense or down just thinking about it and b) put so much importance on it that you are terribly afraid of messing it up.

These two mentalities are universal. Develop them and you will be better at everything you do, even if you don’t learn or apply the three steps.

The Three Steps:

1) Know Your Outcomes

When ding happens, many people respond by working harder on what they were already doing. While hard work is admirable, this is a bad strategy. You see, when the unexpected occurs, our previous plans and tasks may become completely invalid. If we focus immediately on details or process, we may miss the big picture and end up wasting lots of time and energy. Great improvisers know that as soon as ding happens, they need to focus and evaluate their outcomes.

I learned this from my performing days. I have seen improv comedians who are technically proficient. They do everything right. But for some reason, they are just not that much fun to watch. On the flip side, I have seen improvisers who aren’t technically perfect. They make some mistakes. But they are ridiculously entertaining. Guess who I want in my group? I learned that the goal of a comedy show is to entertain and make the audience laugh. The improv games and skills were tools to accomplish that. This doesn’t mean that I would want to work with someone who was technically awful (I think great skills are the key to great entertainment). But if I have to choose between technically sound and amazingly entertaining vs. technically amazing and just “sound” in terms of entertainment, I am going with the first choice because that fits the outcome!

When the unexpected occurs (and it will) your first response should be to immediately focus on your outcome. What do you want to accomplish? What is your goal? Quite often, the unexpected event will have changed the outcome. Sometimes the unexpected event will actually open a new and better path to your outcome. By re-focusing immediately you ensure that you will always be taking the right action at the right time.

2) Focus on What You Can Control, Let Go of the Rest

The second step is to focus on what you can control and let go of the rest. So many people waste so much time focusing on things they have no control over. This includes:

• Stressing over what someone else will say or do
• Worrying about what might happen in the future
• Complaining about something that happened in the past
• Hoping a situation will turn out a certain way
• Blaming others for mistakes they made

All of these are examples of putting your attention on things you can not control.

The only thing you can control is what you do, right now. That’s it.

When ding happens, great improvisers put their attention immediately and exclusively on what they can do right now in this moment. That is the key to quickly and powerfully dealing with the unexpected. There is a time and place to lay accountability, examine past mistakes, think about the future. That time is not immediately when ding happens. That time is later, once the crisis is resolved.

Great improvisers know and apply this. People who don’t get this waste precious time and energy focusing on all the wrong things.

3) Say “Yes, And,” Instead of “Yes, But”

One of the core principles to great improv comedy is to say, “yes, and” to your partners. This means that when a fellow performer says something you say, “yes,” to accept their idea and then say, “and’ to add your own input and build off of it.

Sadly, many people say, “yes, but” instead of “yes, and.” “Yes, but” is basically a semi-polite way of saying “no.” Saying “yes but” leads to bad improvisation, on stage or in life.

Here’s why: “yes, but” keeps you stuck exactly where you are. There is no progress, no movement, and no growth. Along those lines, “yes, but” keeps you fixated on the problem.

“Yes, and” is the way to move forward, grow, and progress. When you say “yes, and” you are taking action and switching your attention on to the solution.

Think about a time when someone “yes, butted” you. It probably felt pretty bad, like they were disrespecting you or arguing with you. That’s what “yes, but is,” a negative argument. “Yes, and” is positive and collaborative.

This is not to say that you simply say, “yes,” with everything presented to you, even if you don’t agree. The idea of “yes, and” is a mental technique, not a literal one. The key to “yes, anding” is to think “yes, and” first. Hear someone out. be open to new ideas. Take some chances. You can then later on say, “no,” or “but,” after you have given things a chance. Most people start with “yes, but” and then need to be convinced otherwise. To be a great improviser, you need to start with “yes, and” and then, after thinking things through, later on you can decide to say no.

There you have it. The simple but powerful step by step process to improvising with anything. The next time Ding! Happens try these steps and watch yourself deal with things quickly, powerfully, and with a sense of humor.

***
For information on how to make your next event unforgettable, visit Avish’s Conference Speaker page now!
 

 “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least”

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Last week I felt I had a very productive week. At least, it seemed like a productive week. I did a lot of work, after all…

Even though I was “productive,” I had a bit of a weird feeling about it. It took me a while to realize that while I did a lot or work and got a lot done, I didn’t make much progress towards my overall goals.

“Why is that,” you ask? It comes down to one word:

PRIORITIZATION

I looked back over all the work I did, and after just a cursory analysis I realized I had spent a lot of times on lower priority tasks.

Keep in mind, I said, “lowER” not “low” priority. The stuff I did was still important. In fact, a lot of what I worked on fit into my top five priorities.

However, a great deal of it did not fall into my top three priorities.

As a result, I did a lot, but didn’t accomplish much.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever put in a lot of time and effort, and yet still felt you hadn’t accomplished much?

If so, you may be making the same mistake I did: putting too much attention on lower priority work.

Why do we do this?? It seems so logical, doesn’t it? If Task A is the most important, highest priority task on my list, then I will obviously make sure I do it, right?

Wrong. Our highest priority activities are often the ones that get procrastinated, eliminated, and forgotten.

Here are six reasons why this may happen to you:

1) The Lower Priority Work May be More Urgent

Urgent. Not necessarily important

This is time management 101, and many others have written about it, so I won’t rehash it here. In one sentence, this means that you are letting things that demand your attention “right now” take precedence over things that matter most in the long run. If you want to learn more on this, do a Google search on “important vs. urgent.”

2) The Higher Priority Stuff May Suck

Yes, sometimes this is what your highest priority items make you feel like

I’m guessing this is a far more common reason than we’d like to admit. If the most important work you need to do sucks (i.e. you hate it), then you may very well find yourself procrastinating and filling your time with lower priority activities that are more pleasant.

3) The Lower Priority Stuff May be “Shiny and New”

Oooooh, bright and shiny...

For those of you (us) with a short attention span, grinding out high priority work week after week can be a drag. When a new option enters our lives, it may seem excitingto drop everything and pursue it. This is an easy way to get off task.

4) The Lower Priority Stuff May be Sexier

Yes, the sexy stuff can steal your attention.

One of the lower priority items I worked on was creating and posting short Kindle books. That was sexy to me because

• I could quickly have a finished product
• I could quickly start making sales.

Guess what? Each Kindle book sold earns me $0.35 to $3.00. Yes, getting more stuff on Amazon is cool and exciting, and we all love passive income. But the time spent putting together a Kindle book would be far better spent finding and booking speaking gigs. One speaking gig is worth 1,800 to 15,000+ times more than selling a Kindle book. Yes, there is value in creating and posting those books. But that work should come after the highest priority work.

(Note: you can see the three books I have up on Kindle by clicking here…)

5) You May be Getting Pushed to Do Lower Priority Work

Don't be pushed, cajoled, or threatened into low priority work. Even if it's from a ridiculous looking woman.

There is no shortage of people willing to give you advice and opinions on what you can and should be doing. Depending on your opinion of the person and the voracity of their opinion, you may find yourself doubting your plans and switching focus. There’s nothing wrong with re-evaluating; just don’t be so easily swayed that every time an “expert” gives you a dissenting idea that you suddenly change everything.

6) The Low Priority Work Gives You a Sense of Accomplishment

Congratulations Ace, you just accomplished something not at all important

Quite often, the stuff that we believe to have the highest priority doesn’t give us immediate, tangible results. The lower priority stuff often does. Returning to the Kindle example, once I finish a short Kindle book and get it on Amazon, I can pat myself on the back. I can see the result. However, sending 50 emails off to potential clients often feels like spinning my wheels. Yes, those can result in work, but when they do, it is a low percentage return and can often take months to close.

As you can see, there are many reasons we get sucked into doing lower priority work. It is a never ending battle you must, day-after-day, week-after-week, continue to fight if you want to make your life something truly special.

Sometimes the decision gets taken out of your hands. A great boss, mentor, or coach can keep you on high priority tasks at all times (and a bad boss can waste your time with low priority items). A school curriculum defines your priorities. Government regulations can force you to submit certain paperwork at specific times.

However, more often, it is up to you to make sure you stay focused on the tasks that maximize your chances of achieving all those wonderful things we want to achieve.

Question: How easily are you seduced into putting your attention on lower priority work?

Check out part 2! Understanding why you may work on lower priority stuff is only half the battle. Once you realize it’ happening, you need strategies to get yourself back on track.

Read tomorrow’s follow up post to get learn “5 Ways to Stay Focused on High Priority Work!”

P.S. Hey, if you like this post, why don’t you share the love and click the Facebook “Like” button at the top of this page…?

***
Do you want help making better long term decisions? How about help figuring out what exactly it is that you want? Or maybe you know, but your problem is that you don’t know how to put together a plan to get you there?  Or perhaps you have a plan, but never feel motivated to follow it? Or you jyst get easily derailed when things go wrong? If so, than the Smart Ass Success! Learn the 7 Steps to Getting What You Really Want – Even If You Have No Idea What That Is! FREE E-Book is for you! It addresses those questions (and more) to help you get on the path towards figuring out what you really want – and then getting it! Don’t let another year pass you by. Click here to download your free copy now!

Did you miss out on last November and December’s Smart Ass Success Teleseminar Series? If so, don’t worry! You can still download the recordings and transcripts of all seven calls (plus get a few great bonuses)!

As a special offer, if you buy the audio recordings this week (by the end of Friday, January 27th), you can save $25!

Just enter coupon code MSA0127 at checkout and the discount will be applied

Having been on all 7 calls, I can honestly say that the information in this series is AMAZING. Even though I was the interviewer, I myself walked away from each call with a list of ideas, techniques, and exercises to try right away. I have actually changed the way I operate on a day-to-day basis based on what I learned from these calls.

If you want to make 2012 (and every year beyond) great then you should definitely pick up the recordings of this teleseminar series before Friday, January 27th!

The Smart Ass Success Teleseminar Series

"Origin" by J.A. Konrath. At this moment, it's FREE in Kindle format.

Do you ever wonder why some people are successful while you struggle? Do you ever get pissed, jealous, or downright confused by the situation?

If so, then this post by J.A. Konrath on his self-publishing blog may interest you. He recently posted a story of how he made over $100,000 from three weeks of sales of his Kindle books. The post garnered a variety of responses, so he posted a follow up, titled “Reality Check.”

I encourage you to check it out, even if you have no interest in writing novels or self-publishing. He dispels myths about how he achieved his “overnight” success, and shares his story of what it took to get him there.

Here’s an excerpt:

To me, the most important bit comes at the end:

Click here to read the full post…

24 years of hard, barely rewarded work, doing what he loved and dreamed, until finally he found the right system and, in his own words, “got lucky.”

What does this mean to you?

I am not going to sit here and tell you to suck it up for 24 years. There’s a time to evaluate your progress, dreams, life, and goals. Sometimes the result of that evaluation is that you decide to move on.

However, I am posting this because I want you to take 3 things away:

1) Set Proper Expectations.

Can you succeed at anything you want? I believe that in 99% of the cases the answer is “yes.” (Whenever I say something like that some yahoo likes to pipe up with, “oh yeah? I’m 52 years old, out of shape, and only 5’3″ tall. Can I play professional basketball???” Hence the “99 %”). The question, in Konrath’s own words, is “How hard are you willing to work, and how long are you willing to wait, before success happens?” Work hard for a short period or work lazy for a long period, and your chances of success go down. Work hard, and be willing to work hard for a long time, and your chances of success go up. Don’t expect to half-ass it and achieve your dreams in just a few months…

2) Try Different Approaches.

 One of my favorite lines from the post is, “Right now I’m making a lot of money because I’m paying close attention to what Amazon is doing, experimenting a lot, and getting lucky.” He experimented a lot. He tried many different approaches to reach publishing success, until he came upon the one that worked for him. Don’t assume that the first approach you try is the only one; if it’s not working, experiment a lot until you find the one that works for you.

3) Stop Shooting for a “One-Shot Homerun.”

I know too many people who are waiting for that “one-big thing” to catapult them to success. It might happen, but the more hope you put into that, the more depressed you’ll be. Build up a monstrous body of work, a huge network of contacts, a giant stack of testimonials, and a wealth of experience. Your “one-shot homerun” may happen when you least expect, but only if you keep at it.

I hope you feel inspired and not depressed by Konrath’s post. Yes, it took him two-and-a-half decades to reach “success.” But it inspires me to think that if you just keep at it, and keep trying new things, and keep working hard, you can achieve whatever level of success you aspire to as well.

To summarize Konrath’s approach, the formula for success is simple, but not at all easy:

• Pay Attention
• Work Hard
• Experiment a Lot,
• Keep at it Until You Get Lucky

How are you at dong all four of those things…?

P.S. Hey, if you like this post, why don’t you share the love and click the Facebook “Like” button at the top of this page…?

***
Do you want help making better long term decisions? How about help figuring out what exactly it is that you want? Or maybe you know, but your problem is that you don’t know how to put together a plan to get you there?  Or perhaps you have a plan, but never feel motivated to follow it? Or you jyst get easily derailed when things go wrong? If so, than the Smart Ass Success! Learn the 7 Steps to Getting What You Really Want – Even If You Have No Idea What That Is! FREE E-Book is for you! It addresses those questions (and more) to help you get on the path towards figuring out what you really want – and then getting it! Don’t let another year pass you by. Click here to download your free copy now!

Here’s a simple fact: anyone can seem like a great leader when everything goes perfectly right.

If you have a great team of people, and everyone does what they are supposed to, and the market conditions stay favorable, and all of your customers are happy, and all of your vendors do what they are supposed to, then being a good leader is a no-brainer.

That’s a whole heck of a lot of “ifs.” If you’re willing to take those odds, remind me never to go to Vegas with you…

The real test of your leadership skills comes when things go wrong. And trust me, they will go wrong. Ding! will happen (hence the title of this post).

This is not me being pessimistic; it’s just the way the world works. There are too many variables out there for everything to stay perfect forever (if you’re even lucky enough to get that situation in the first place…)

How well you lead when things go wrong is not only a test of your leadership skills, but it’s also the reason you have your job in the first place. Your organization didn’t hire you to babysit a bunch of high-achievers and stay out of their way.

You were hired to get the most out of your team, prevent problems before they happen, and deal with problems when they do happen.

Sadly, many managers never give a second thought to what they’ll do when times get tough. As a result, not only do they not fix the bad situations, but they often make it even worse.

To help you avoid falling into that trap, here is a five-step plan you can use to lead your team (and yourself) through the unexpected crises that are bound to occur:

Step 1: Pause and Think

The simplest and most important step you should take when the unexpected happens is also the one that is most often missed.

Don’t jump in with a knee-jerk emotional reaction! It’s easy to calm down when you have time (say, you receive notice that your company is reorganizing your department). It’s much harder to do when you are confronted with an immediate problem (an angry customer is complaining about the service he received from one of our employees).

In either case, the best thing you can do before opening your mouth or springing into action is to pause, take a few breaths, and think about both the problem and your possible solutions.

Problems get quickly exacerbated when we let our emotions control our responses. Don’t fall into this trap. Just…don’t…

Step 2: Take a Look at the Big Picture

Now that you have controlled yourself and paused before responding, you may be wondering, “What do I think about?”

The first thing you should think about is the big picture. When a problem happens, it’s easy to focus on the short term and then do whatever it takes to make the problem go away (for now). The problem with this approach is that often our short-term solutions just end up making things far, far worse in the long-run.

Before you take any action, be very clear on what your long term goals are, for your organization, your team, and for yourself.

Be open and honest in this stage. Sometimes we have clear goals, but then an unexpected event actually changes the entire picture. If you cling to your old goals even after the change, you can end up wasting a lot of time and effort.

For example, let’s say you have a promising employee who happens to be a little insecure. One day he makes a mistake that makes everyone’s lives harder. The mistake was not due to negligence; it was just an honest mistake. Your initial emotional response might be to berate and yell at the employee. That would make you feel better in the short run, and might make you feel like you addressed the problem.

However, if your long-term goal is to see this employee grow and flourish, then berating him may completely undermine your goal. Especially if he is already insecure. A better approach would be to reassure the employee that you understand and then work to fix the situation.

This is not to say you coddle employees and never address their shortcomings. You do, only you do it later, and in a better way (more on that in a moment).

Step 3: Put Your Attention on What You Can Control

Once you know what your big picture goal is, you need to figure out what you can do to achieve that goal.

The critical element here is that you make sure you only focus on the activities that you and your team can do right here, right now.

When things go wrong, it’s easy to worry about the future, complain about the past, or look for someone to blame. The problem is that none of those things help you a) fix the problem or b) move you towards you big picture goals.

Leaders who lead well in a crisis put their attention only on what they can control, and they let the rest go. This is the “secret” they use to quickly and effectively deal with the unexpected.

The next time something goes wrong, ask yourself, “What can we do right here, right now, with the resources we have, to resolve this situation?”

That should be your primary focus until the crisis has passed.

Step 4: Take Deliberate Action

Of course, simply thinking about and talking about what you should do is meaningless if you don’t take any action.

Sometimes, after going through the first three steps above, your course of action will be crystal clear. In those cases it is very easy to take deliberate action.

Sometimes however, the situation will be a bit murkier. You will have multiple choices, and none of them will seem perfect. It is in these cases where you, as the leader, must step up, choose a course of action, and take it.

It’s not easy, and you won’t always be right. However, the worst thing you can do is allow yourself to be paralyzed by uncertainty. Pick an option and run with it.

This doesn’t mean you have to be chained to an idea forever. If you chose one path and it doesn’t work, you can try something else. In fact, you will learn far more by trying something and getting feedback than you ever will by sitting at a desk thinking and analyzing.

And yes, your action can be to take no action at all! As long as it is a deliberate decision that you feel gives you the best chance of achieving your big picture goals (and not fear-driven paralysis), then sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do.

Step 5: Analyze and Address the Problem

Once the crisis has passed – or at least been addressed – it is time to analyze the situation and figure out why things went wrong in the first place.

This is another step that many leaders miss. They feel that once the problem has been fixed, they don’t need to harp on it any longer. They assume the employee learned his lesson, or that the underlying issue in process or systems has been fixed, and then choose to focus on happier things.

This is a big problem, because if you don’t address and fix the original cause of the problem, you are setting yourself up to have to deal with it again and again.

This is the step where you, working alone or with your team, need to identify what went wrong, why it happened, who was responsible, and how you all can ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

By doing this step last, you manage to

1. Keep your initial energy on fixing the crisis
2. Avoid letting undue emotion enter into your analysis and discussion

Now is the time to chat with an employee, or reprimand them, or even dismiss them, if necessary. Now is the time to identify what the root cause of the problem was (yes, this is basically the time where you sort of “assign blame,” just so you can make sure it doesn’t happen again). Now is the time to complain about the antiquated computer system and try to find the money to replace it.

Problems need to be addressed. They just need to be addressed at the right moment.

In Conclusion

If there were never any tough times, there would be no real need for great leaders. However, you know as well as I do how the world works. Those tough times are coming…

Use the five steps above to navigate through those unexpected events as they occur. Not only will you reduce your own stress and deal with them like a champ, but your own bosses and supervisors will appreciate and reward your efforts.

***
Do the above steps sound familiar? That’s because they are the steps Avish talks about in his keynote presentations and training programs. If you have a conference or management training retreat coming up, then consider bringing Avish for an interactive, funny, and content-rich session! Visit his Conference Speaker page now for details!
 

My friend and fellow speaker Scott Ginsberg posted a great article titled, “Let me give that no thought.”

The premise of his article is that his success comes from his willingness to say “yes” to opportunities as a default, automatic response.

From his article:

“We shouldn’t have to talk ourselves into opportunities.
It’s more exciting to just say yes, and then ask what it is.”

Sounds very much like the idea of saying, “Yes, And” instead of “yes, but,” doesn’t it?

Let me ask you: What is your default response to opportunities? Do you say, “Yes, And” or “yes, but”? Do you look for possibilities, or do you need to be talked into things?

(Read the rest of Scott’s article by clicking here)

It’s a new year! If you’re like most people, at some point in the last 30 days you took a brief look at your life, thought about what you wanted to change or improve, and made a commitment that this year you would finally do it.

If so, then you definitely need a motivational kick in the ass!

I just came across a great post titled, “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing”

Though the post is aimed at writers (obviously), most of the advice applies pretty much to everyone. You can read and take value from the post by simply injecting your own passion/dream/goal in place of “writing.”

There is one slight problem though…

The original post is filled with profanity. For example, the full title of the post is “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing (Right F*&^%$g Now).” And they didn’t censor out the “F” word. In fact, it makes frequent appearances throughout the rest of the article.

That doesn’t bother me at all (which is why I am linking to it), but some of you may be offended. Or may be sitting at a computer where you don’t want to bring that up. Consider yourself warned.

Here are my four favorite points from the post, edited for language (the bolding is mine too):

Stop Running Away

Right here is your story. Your manuscript. Your career. So why are you running in the other direction? Your writing will never chase you — you need to chase your writing. If it’s what you want, then pursue it. This isn’t just true of your overall writing career, either. It’s true of individual components. You want one thing but then constantly work to achieve its opposite. You say you want to write a novel but then go and write a bunch of short stories. You say you’re going to write This script but then try to write That script instead. Pick a thing and work toward that thing.

Stop Stopping

Momentum is everything. Cut the brake lines. Careen wildly and unsteadily toward your goal. I hate to bludgeon you about the head and neck with a hammer forged in the volcanic fires of MountObvious, but the only way you can finish something is by not stopping. That story isn’t going to [write] itself.

Stop Thinking It Should Be Easier

It’s not going to get any easier, and why should it? Anything truly worth doing requires hella hard work. If climbing to the top of Kilimanjaro meant packing a light lunch and hopping in a climate-controlled elevator, it wouldn’t really be that big a deal, would it? You want to do This Writing Thing, then don’t just expect hard work — be happy that it’s a hard row to hoe and that you’re just the, er, hoer to hoe it? I dunno. Don’t look at me like that. AVERT YOUR GAZE, SCRUTINIZER. And get back to work.

Stop Playing it Safe

Let 2012 be the year of the risk. Nobody knows what’s going on in the publishing industry, but we can be damn sure that what’s going on with authors is that we’re finding new ways to be empowered in this New Media Future. What that means is, it’s time to forget the old rules. Time to start questioning preconceived notions and established conventions. It’s time to start taking some risks both in your career and in your storytelling. Throw open the doors. Kick down the walls of your uncomfortable box. Carpet bomb the Comfort Zone so that none other may dwell there.

You can read the other 21 points here:

“25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing”

Self-Promotional Plug:

If you want some serious help figuring out and getting what you really want, then check out the Smart Ass Success Audio Series! Seven one-hour audios, each with a different expert sharing a ton of valuable, applicable advice to help you achieve all you ever wanted!

Click here to learn more…