Strategy

Funny how sometimes goofing off leads to an “aha” moment. Case in point…

Today, my article was planned around giving away a book that has had a huge impact on my life: The Accidental Millionaire by Stephanie Frank. It beautifully combines her very personal story with rock solid business advice.

Then this morning, before getting to work, I (not without a little guilt) read the last few chapters of the latest book by my favorite chick-lit author, Jennifer Weiner. Imagine my surprise as I finished Jennifer’s book and found themes strikingly similar to those in Stephanie’s book.

Stephanie’s book gives so many tools to live life on purpose, and Jennifer’s, well; it’s just plain fun inspiration. Both hit on themes that resonate deeply with me.

Work for what you want, and be smart about it. Don’t compromise who you are. Build on your strengths. Surround yourself with the best people. Keep your priorities straight. Never compare other people’s outsides with your insides. Succeed through boldness.

Most importantly: be yourself.

Now this may sound strange, but to be yourself, sometimes you actually have to take time to know yourself. Know what you love, what you value, what you’re good at, and how that all fits together so that your life feels on purpose. Or, as Jennifer Weiner shares in the Q&A at the back of her book, “…write the story [you] were born to tell.”

So post and share here what you really want. Not what someone else wants to hear, but what YOU really want. It’s ok to say you want to make a lot of money. Or go into a monastery. Or serve orphans. Or join Barnum and Bailey Circus. And if you don’t know what you really want, you can post that, too.

Everyone who posts will go into a drawing for BOTH books. And because I got to visit with her recently, Stephanie’s book is signed!

Speak up and be independent!

Business first: for those of you who asked how I’ve booked so many speaking opportunities, I scheduled a tell-all teleclass – “Speaking Gigs: Find them, Book them, Make them Pay!”

If there is one thing I know about entrepreneurs, it’s that we LOVE our independence. Let’s celebrate our independence with gratitude for the opportunities this country affords us. And don’t be afraid to show your true colors like this guy – what a character!

The other day, I found myself stressed to the max because my email inbox kept piling up. I was checking it all the time, and fearing the overwhelming build-up of messages.

Then I stopped myself, because I realized the urgency was entirely in my head. In order to reality check the situation, I asked myself five questions. I’ve shared the questions and my answers below.

1.    How many emails do I receive per day? Approximately 100.
2.    Out of 50 emails you receive, how many do I actually need to read? Approximately 15.
3.    Out of 50 emails you receive, how many do I need to respond to? Approximately five.
4.    How often does an urgent request come through email? One per month, tops.
5.    How quickly do I need to respond to an urgent email? Within one business day.

So, with a little discipline, I could choose to look at my email once every 24 hours and my activity would consist of deleting 70 emails, reading 30, and responding to 10. Probably a total of 25 minutes of activity.

Can these questions help you, too?

Living in Northern AZ and driving to the Phoenix metro area on a consistent basis makes me very reluctant to clean my car. You see, it’s dusty here and then it will sprinkle a little, turning that dust to a caked on layer of crud. And don’t get me started on the bugs you encounter on the two-hour drive to Phoenix!

So, this is embarrassing, but my car generally looks a bit sad and dejected. Cruddy and buggy. But I just can’t see the point of getting it washed all the time, because it will just get cruddy and buggy within two days anyway.

When I finally broke down and got my car cleaned, I was shocked by how clear everything looked through the windshield! I had gotten accustomed to everything looking grainy and fuzzy, but since it accumulated gradually, I didn’t even realize it was something I could easily fix. In fact, before I got the car cleaned, I started thinking I should get to the eye doctor!

Instantly I thought about how we get used to cruddy little things in our lives, and they diminish our clarity, our vision, and our results. Cruddy habits are easy to ignore, especially since they tend to accumulate so slowly over time we don’t even notice them. Eventually they obscure our vision and we judge ourselves, thinking there is something fundamentally wrong with us.

If you’re feeling unclear, take a step back. Evaluate what you’re doing, adjust your habits, and – most importantly – make a clean sweep of what’s really clouding your vision.

I was in my favorite thinking place (the shower) today, musing about goal-setting. I hear a lot of positive-thinking teachers preach, “Just create the perfect vision of your goal, and the “how” will take care of itself.”

Well… not exactly.

My delightful imagination helped along this line of thinking by providing me with scenarios of two people achieving the same goal of getting a brand new Mercedes:

1.    A woman wrestles herself out of a brand new black Mercedes. She is on the phone, frowning, juggling her keys and purse and at the same time trying to look at something on her iPad. She is disheveled, tired, anxious, and she’s running late. In other words – a hot mess.

2.    A woman swings herself out of a brand new black Mercedes. She grabs her purse with a smile on her face and heads off with a spring in her step. She looks put-together and comfortable, she’s happy, satisfied, and well-rested.

Both women got the Mercedes, but only one is thoroughly enjoying it (and life in general). The difference between being refreshed or exhausted when we reach our goals is how we get there. Do you struggle, worry, avoid, get distracted, and overwork? Or do you plan, implement, evaluate, and enjoy?

The “how” matters, and with a little attention, can be just as fulfilling as the goal.

This video made me cry and feel hopeful.

To see a corporation do something so powerful, so good, so unifying – it left me speechless.

My questions are:

Is transformational marketing limited to big corporations with big budgets, or can small businesses with small budgets do it also?

And how?