OK, I don’t watch much TV. Maybe a half hour, an hour and a half MAX depending on the day. Of course, movie night with Jamie, when we get a DVD from Redbox or we stream something on Netflix is not counted here.

My TV viewing consists of a little bit of the Fox Local News & The Fox News Channel in the morning. I’ve been a guest so many times on Fox Local that I feel like I know the morning crew and I at least have to check in and say hi. For national news in the morning the crew of Fox & Friends and Fox & Friends weekend resonate with me. Plus, I’d like to one day be a guest on Fox & Friends.

Some nights I tune into Bill O’Reilly in the evening. It depends on how much reading I’ve already done on the particular day. I like O’Reilly because if his No Nonsense and “ No Spin” approach to things. The truth is anyone who makes a living with their opinion (and we all do in some way) can learn from Bill O’Reilly. So I watch him more for my own “education” than just entertainment.

After that, it’s the occasional Everybody Loves Raymond re-run, All In The Family re-runs and if I can find them anymore, Seinfeld re-runs. Lastly, there’s the shows on Investigation Discovery that come with the “Viewer Discretion is Advised” before they start.

I watch a few different reality crime shows on Investigation Discovery. Truly un-settling stuff. But I’ll be honest, once I turn them on (most of the time) I find it hard to look away. And I know I gotta be careful because even though, seeing and hearing about horrific crimes will make you more vigilant – I make sure all doors and windows are locked before bed – I gently teach my girls how to spot danger. There’s still a possible effect and threat to my mind if I watch too much of it.

Think about why they say… “May not be suitable for young children, viewer discretion is advised.” Beyond some piece of legislation it really is because kids are very impressionable. And, I’m no child psychologist but I would guess a kid would have a harder time processing what they were seeing. So it would be better they did not see it all.

You’re Like a Kid… You’re very Impressionable…

Whether it’s too much news or too many true crime shows. Too much “passive information” is bad for you. What I mean by passive information is information you don’t have much control over. Yea sure, you turned the TV on, you chose the station, but that’s about it. You just let it run. When you actively choose what information you wanta take in – that’s not passive. You choose to read a book, you choose to listen to an audio in your car or while working out. You choose to read this blog post.

The take away is to be more pro-active when it comes to the information that reaches your mind on both a conscious and subconscious level.

Develop a plan of information in-take. Read part of a good book for twenty minutes a day. Listen to an inspirational or information audio in your car or while you work out.

Do something to get “pro-active” about your information flow.

Onward!

Now here’s a start for you…

 Get “Motion Before Motivation on CD Right Here

Janet Smith Warfield practiced law in New Jersey for more than 25 years.

She’s the author of the book…

“Shift: Change Your Words -Change Your World”

Janet’s mission is to help you understand the power that words have over your life and your parenting experience.

She relates some extremely important principles we can all use in every area of life.

This is really a wonderful interview and I hope you’ll tune in.

As I’m sitting down to write this article the fog is still pretty thick. Not as thick as it was a couple of hours ago, but still pretty thick. The fog this morning reminded me of an old success principle that I know to be true. It’s about accepting the fact that no matter how hard you work at creating your vision and setting your goals you’re still at the mercy of the fog. You could plan, you could prepare and you could do your best to create the reality you want but the fog will still be there.

Planning…

Planning is a valuable tool for sure. Strategically knowing your next move will give you an advantage. Basing your decisions, actions and behaviors on reality and not fantasy will help you deal with the inevitable setbacks that are bound to show up.. But still  - the fog will be there.

Preparation…

Being prepared is a quality all successful people have. And even if you don’t thoroughly prepare you can still do well if you know your subject mater, know your facts and are passionate about what you’re doing. Who knows if Steve Jobs of Apple  prepares a lot or a little before he takes the stage to talk about a new product. He certainly looks prepared because he knows his topic and is passionate about his products.  Whether you like to prepare a lot or little depends on your needs. But even with laborious preparation the fog will still be there.

The Timeless Principle of The Fog Goes Like This…

Your life in many ways is like walking in a thick fog. As much as you try to see far ahead you’re still going to have some natural limitations imposed on you. It makes sense to make the best of each little step as you navigate the haze. With each careful step and action you enable yourself to see just a little bit further ahead. As the fog begins to clear a little and things come into focus your vision improves. You must still pay attention to each step along the way and make the best of it.

In some circles there’s a dirty word associated with success and achievement. It’s a word that some are afraid to admit to “using.” It’s a word that some “teachers” of success philosophy brush under the rug and dare not say in public…

Let’s be right up front: The dirty word of success that’s often kept on the hush by the “gurus” is work. Most people are smart enough to know the right kind of work, hard work, smart work, efficient work, work you are good at and work you take pride in will ultimately lead you to where you want to be. The dirty word of success is work.

There are too many books and speakers out there who dance around the issue of work. Funny, there was a guy who worked real hard to make a book called “The Four Hour Work Week” a New York Times bestseller. I give Tim Ferris much respect and “props.” But do you think he eats his own cooking? I’m sure on some weeks it takes him at least six hours just to travel to and from a speaking engagement – makes you wonder huh?

The world where I spend most of my time – the Internet Marketing world – there are so many gurus who take pride in talking about how easy it is to make the green stuff online. Maybe after a few years of hard work and preparation it does get a little easier, but up until then, it takes work.

Onward…

If you want a good marriage what do you have to do? Right, work at it. If you want your teenager to stay off drugs it takes work. If you want to keep your job in our tough economy it takes work. If you want to advance in your career guess what you’ll have to do – work!

My first book, Motion Before Motivation, was about taking action and getting in motion. What do you do when you take action? Right, you work. And to stay in motion you have to keep working.

And then, the facts- go ask anyone (Lottery winners and rich socialites like Paris Hilton aside) who has any sort of financial success and they’ll tell you something like this…

“I worked hard, I worked smart, I worked effectively, I worked with the help of a team and my family for every penny. Most importantly,  I worked hard to keep it. I worked hard to protect it from the two legged meat eating sharks who actually want to destroy me because they think I didn’t work hard for what I’ve earned.” Basically, what they’ll tell you is they worked hard for any career, business, family, personal and financial success they achieved.

Don’t get confused though…

Don’t confuse hard work with the nightmare of doing something you genuinely despise. Finding work you are passionate about and can make a living at is where hard work rewards you even more. If your current situation has you in place where you are working hard and not getting any personal satisfaction only you can work to make changes. Just start working a little a time.

The definition of flaky is whacky, dizzy and eccentric. Of course many of us know the word flaky as a way to describe people that are UN-reliable or change their mind a lot. Or, simply say one thing and do another.

My disclaimer:

I never pontificate when I write. I simply pass on observations and experiences that are filtered through my own knowledge of what’s effective and what’s not effective in achieving ones desired results. I am totally aware of all my short-comings. I am working on some and others are on the back-burner. One thing I’m working on for example, is not double booking myself. Sometimes I’ll agree to a meeting or something and not put it in my calender. Then, something else will demand my attention at that same time and I’ll be forced to shuffle things around. Anyway…

The problem with flakiness is it usually effects more people than just the flaky person. The flaky person’s actions not only sabotage his success, but usually end up holding others back.

We live in this world of interdependence. I depend on you and you depend on me and then there are others who depend on what we produce and the world goes round and round.

A recent flaky episode…(names, situation and identities left out)

I sat in on a meeting recently and the person across from me said: “OK Mike, you send me X right away and then I’ll do Y with it.”  Like any entrepreneur worth his salt, I went back to my office and sent what I needed to send. Then a strange thing happened…. Nothing! No confirmation and more importantly the “Y” never happened. After that, not even a mention of it again. Almost as if the time spent at the meeting talking about this particular item only tool place in my wild imagination.

So how do you deal with flaky people and how do you improve your own flakiness? Since “whacking” flaky people is not always the best option and improving yourself is something you’re into, here goes…

It starts with the understanding the Four Stages of Learning and Awareness. These four stages can also be applied to flakiness.

Unconscious Incompetence- That’s when you are flaky and don’t know you are flaky. This is the most dangerous. If you ever find yourself dealing with someone at this stage – don’t try to fix them, you are wasting your time.

Conscious Incompetence – At this stage the lights are starting to come on. More importantly, the flaky person’s mind is now open and things can be improved.

Conscious Competence – This is when the work to get better starts to pay off. The flakiness is gone. But there’s a small chance of regression if the effort not to be flaky is not kept up.

Unconscious Competence- It’s the place to be. It’s when we are competent all the time and we don’t even have to think about it. In this context we’d be doing everything we needed to do with minimal flakiness  automatically.

We all real busy, some of us working harder than ever. If you end up flaking on a few things here an there, don’t beat yourself up. When it comes to others who flake on you – you just have to know where to draw the line.

A story about a guy (me), a Movado watch a jewelry store and watch-maker in downtown Concord, New Hampshire.

When I was a senior in high-school I became obsessed with Movado watches. The all black face without the second hands, the single dot a twelve representing the sun at high-noon. Only years later did I discover Movado means: “Always in Motion.” Combine the beauty of museum watch” with the fact most Movados are not way over-priced made owning one much more appealing and realistic. 1997 was the year I got my first Movado watch.

It had a black leather band, the signature all black face with gold trim around it. It was about $495 at the time. Lucky for me, my mom, agreed to go half and make it an early graduation gift. It was a classy  time piece for sure. About a year after graduating from high-school and about nine months into being a “wet behind the ears” small business owner I decided I wanted a Movado with a stainless steal band. No going halves with mom on this one though!

I went out one night in November of 1998 and bought one. I ended up wearing the new one with the stainless steal band most of the time. In my secret reveries I dreamed of being a collector of fancy time-pieces one day. But in 2002 my collection was reduced by half when my leather-banded Movado disappeared. My frugality and practicality kicked in and I decided the stainless steal Movado was good enough for me.

In 2008 the Movado stopped (“always in motion, but not all the time). I got the battery replaced and it worked for a short time before it conked out on me again. Then, I sort of forgot about it. But in late 2009 I decided it was time to get it fixed because I wanted to wear it again. So I began my search on Google’s home page. I found a jewelry store in down-town Concord which advertised it was a Movado dealer. I called the store two days after Christmas to verify they were open. Then, I headed south on I-93. When I got there I encountered something I can only describe as pure rudeness!

I tried to explain what I thought was wrong with the watch at which point, I was abruptly cut off and “told” how they handle Movado repairs. Imagine, Scrooge, before he was converted by the three ghosts! “$300 should cover it. That’ll include shipping it to our facility in Massachusetts, taking it apart and repairing all the mechanical.” I chimed in (or at least tried to), “But is there a way for you to tell me what is wrong with it?” Scrooge replied: “You probably got water in it.” Me: “I’m pretty sure I didn’t get water in it.” Scrooge: “Well, that’s just my guess!” Me: “Great, a $300 guess!” I grabbed my Movada and my shattered confidence of getting my watch repaired and headed for their door faster than a jack-rabbit who just drank a Red-Bull.

The search continued .

But this time we weren’t on Google’s home page anymore. I spotted another store so I went in with my fingers crossed. Two pleasant young ladies gave me the name of a watch repair shop across the way. The Bristol Watch Maker in Concord if you’re taking notes. They informed me he kept limited hours so I gathered the info and went back home. The Movado, still not in motion.

Then one day I realized I always pass a local jewelry store right here in Tilton. I went in and picked a nice little sliver bracelet out for Jamie and asked about watch repair. Guess who they mentioned. Right, the same guy that was referred to me in Concord two months earlier, The Bristol Watch Maker

Fast forward about seven months and I finally brought my watch to the only person in Concord, and the entire central part of New Hampshire (at least that I’m aware of), who could fix a Movado. The price range given to me over the phone? About $200 less than our rude friends on Main Street. The final cost or repair? Sit down…. A whole $15! What was wrong with it? The battery leaked inside the watch causing it to stop. No water at all, just as I suspected!

Funny thing is this…

I’m really easily persuaded. If the owner of “Rudes R Us” on Main Street were just a little nice I most-likely would’ve just said “OK, whatever you need to do, I want my watch working again.” But they weren’t. Their excuse for being rude-mongers? The holiday season. I kid you not!

The moral of the story? I don’t know, but maybe this…

I don’t believe being “nice” all the time is always the best policy. Sometimes you have to put your foot down. Plus, there’s that old thing about “nice guys finishing last.” So while being nice doesn’t work all the time – being rude really never works.

Just a quick reminder…

If you don’t have my book: Motion Before Motivation, The Success Secret That Never Fails

Grab it here…

MotionBeforeMotivation.com

One of the many fun aspects of what I do for my clients and subscribers is to interview other authors who have great messages to share. Recently I spoke with Greg Reid. Greg’s newest book is called “Think & Grow Rich, 3 Feet From Gold.” Let me give you a little back drop…

The original “Think & Grow Rich,” was written by Napoleon Hill in the early part of the twentieth century. It’s a personal development classic that has been read by anyone serious about achieving more in their lives. Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in the world at the time. He saw in Napoleon Hill something that Hill didn’t see in himself. Carnegie wanted to document the laws of success. He wanted to share with the world what he and other successful business people knew to be a winning formula. Carnegie wrote letters of introduction to people like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Carnegie opened the doors for Hill to begin his quest to reveal these secrets to the masses.

Fast forward 100 years…

Greg Reid was sought out by the Napoleon Hill foundation to modern day successes and reveal their formula. But this time would be a little different. Rather than just go right to the “Forbes 400” list Greg sought out people who faced enormous adversity and overcame it. He talked to people who didn’t quit. Which leads me to “Three Feet From Gold.”

The Story…

A young man who went west during the Gold Rush, R. U Darby, was determined to discover his fortune in gold. He staked his claim, and discovered high quality ore very quickly. With funding from family and friends, he started mining his discovery with early success and then one day the gold simply ran out. After weeks of finding no more gold, R. U. Darby grew exceedingly more frustrated and finally gave up. He sold his mine and equipment to a Junk-man in town. He returned east totally defeated and broke.

The Junk-man had nothing. But he had been studying gold-mining for 20 years – waiting for this opportunity. He hired the right adviser. He brought in a gold mining engineer to study the mine. The engineer told him that Darby had simply punched right through the vein of gold. All the Junk-man had to do was to go back to the beginning, to the place of the original discovery of gold, move three feet in the other direction and he would tap back into the vein. That is exactly what the Junk-man did and he discovered a great fortune in gold!

There are so many lessons in the above story. When I spent the time interviewing Greg he shared many of them. But the one that is so important is the fact that the Junk-man understood he didn’t have all the answers. He knew bringing in the right person with the right knowledge was key. Greg and I discussed this during the interview. Then he told me something that is overly simple, yet often overlooked; “Just ask! The only dumb question is the one you don’t ask!”

Two short stories in this week’s article will prove a simple point. Certain answers are not always obvious to us. Maybe it’s the whole “forest for the trees” thing, who knows?

I once heard a marketing guru tell a story of how he arrived in a far-off town for a speaking engagement only to discover that he had his favorite French cuffs, but no French cuffed shirt to put them on. Since wearing his suit and tie with no shirt was not an option he headed out in search of a “french-cuffed shirt.” Every clothing store he found was either closed or did not carry the shirts.

He was getting frustrated and was thinking, “What kind of jerk-water town is this, no French-cuffed shirts anywhere? Unbelievable!” Finally he spotted a Walmart in the distance and figured he’d give it a shot.

He found a clerk wearing one of those big yellow smiles and asked  her if the store carried French-cuffed shirts. The answer came back, “no!” At this point he was angry and muddled something under his breath. The clerk then asked him if everything was OK.  He then explained to the clerk that he needed a French-cuffed shirt to go with his suit because he forgot his back in Arizona. The clerk then said, “Sir, we don’t have French-cuffed shirts, but we have plenty of button-down shirts that will look just fine with your suit. Why don’t you just buy a new shirt?” As you can imagine this was a “duh” moment for this marketing wizard.

My recent “duh” moment…

My wife teaches a Zumba class on Saturday mornings at “C-Steps” in Tilton. She takes Julia with her and Marissa stays with me. After a little lounging around Marissa and I head out and take care of the grocery shopping for the week.

Most weeks I pick up some ground-beef. My careful stats revealed to me that two pounds is plenty. One thing that had been bothering me recently is the fact that I could never find a “two-pound” package so I’d get exactly the amount of meet we need. As I stood there and looked at the packages I saw some that were close to a pound and the others that were a tad over three pounds. Then I saw my chance to rectify this problem.

In front of my eyes was a surely competent meet department employee. So I asked him, “How come no two pound packages?” He very politely explained that based on the process and how the machine worked – two pound packages just did not make sense. Then, being a “master of the obvious,” (which, unfortunately I am not) he said; “Just get two one-pound packages and you’ll have your two pounds.” “I think I’ll do just that, thanks!!” Talk about a “duh” moment!

So what can we draw from these two stories? That “Marketing Wizards” and Authors are stupid? Of, course that conclusion is arguable based on the above facts! But the real lesson here is the simple truth that what is obvious to someone else may not be so obvious to you. What is obvious to you may not be so obvious to me and what is obvious to me may not be so obvious to you.

I see this truth play out every day in my life and business. I seek out answers from people I know have them. And when I work with business owners I constantly help them make obvious (to me) improvements in their businesses.

The Lesson…

Keep your mind open because the minute you think you have all the answers is exactly the time you need to slow down before you get hurt.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit” (Aristotle)
 
We all have the same twenty-four hours.

Let’s reveal five simple strategies to help you achieve more with the twenty-four hours you get everyday. It’s a gift right? That’s why they call it the “present?” Not a bad way to look at it? Here are some ways to get more out of every day.

1)Get up earlier – I frequently study happy and successful business people and one thing they all have in common is the habit of getting up early and getting going. You can accomplish this by getting to bed earlier or just conditioning yourself to require less sleep. I can function OK on between six and seven hours sleep. Figure out what works for you.

2)Exercise daily – Someone once told me to make it a rule to only exercise on the days you eat! When you exercise you’ll give yourself more energy and you’ll actually cause yourself to get a deeper night’s sleep. For best results, exercise first thing in the morning. But no more excuses taking care of yourself is really important. Combine activities when possible. In the spring, summer and fall I encourage my girls to come “explore” the neighborhood with me. This way, we’re spending time together and getting our exercise.

3)Take control of your schedule – Regain control of your time by minimizing distractions. Adopt a “closed door” policy for certain hours of the day. Doing so will help you get more out of each day because the time it takes to start and stop a project can add minutes and sometimes hours to the time it would normally take to complete it. If you work for someone who expects you to be “on call”, be sure to discuss this with him or her. Be sure to explain the benefits of your new M.O.

4)Have everything ready to go – Imagine the surgeon saying “scalpel” and the nurse starts searching all over for it. Meanwhile the poor huckleberry is knocked out and on the operating table waiting! Fumbling for your “tools” throughout the day simply sucks your day dry of valuable time and energy you could be using to get more out of it. Have everything ready to go before you begin a task! I’m not afraid to admit that I am guilty of this one on many occasions. I’m workin’ on it though!

5)Get the most from every human interaction – Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, identified a “pleasing personality” as one of the key ingredients for success. Every human interaction you have during the course of the day will help you get a step closer to your goals or a step away from them. Remember to be calm and cool in every interaction with customers and colleagues. After you answer a question or fulfill a request, always ask your customers or colleagues; “Is that all you need?” or, “Is there anything else I can do for you?” You will set yourself so far apart that you’ll get ahead fast, become more influential and get more out of each day! I know this one in particular is not easy because there are so many flaky and just plain whacky people around. But as you continue to move forward and forge productive relationships with people who are “on the same page” many of these flakes and whacks will be less likely to bother you.
Using these five simple secrets will help you accomplish more in less time!
Please stay tuned for a very important email from me this coming Tuesday.

It’s regarding the Amazon dot com party I’m having for one of my new books…

“Motion Before Motivation. The Success Secret That Never Fails”

There are some really awesome gifts that you’ll get when you pick up
the book from amazon on Tuesday.

It would be so so so appreciated if you pick up a copy on Tuesday November 10th.

We are shooting for the best seller rankings.

It’s not easy- so thanks for your support.

Let’s start off with a question; What do we equate formulas with? Math and science, right? What do we know about math and science? They can be exact and you can’t always argue with certain scientific and mathematical facts. When it comes to success in life there are certain formulas that you can follow. Here’s one…

I heard a gentleman by the name of Bill Bartman say the difference between art and science when it comes to success is simple … “Art is when only one person accomplishes something— science is when many people can achieve the same success if they follow the formula. Make sense doesn’t it?

So explore a five step success formula that can work for you…

1)Desire- why do you want to accomplish a goal? Answer that question- then write the goal down a few days a week using the magic of impressing it into your subconscious mind through repetition. It takes self-discipline to do this, but it works like magic to help you focus on your goals and desires.

2)Set yourself in motion toward the goal- even if it is just a little each day. The fact is there’s really no overnight success. The media leads us to believe it- but 99% of the time there was a whole lot that happened behind the scenes – the blood, sweat and sacrifice that no one saw because it wasn’t glamorous. Lottery winners- that’s overnight success— but isn’t it crazy that a bunch of lottery winners end up in financial hot water a few years after their great winnings? Why? They didn’t put the time in- so now they end up with the same financial problems with a few zeros tacked on to the end. Success takes time. And a little everyday is the key!

3)Then comes the how. What are you going to do? What behaviors are you going to add to your daily life? Do you have to make more phone calls? Do you have to make less? Do you have stop tweeting so much? Or do you have to tweet more? The ‘how’ also contains some whats. But the key question to ask is “How am I going to do this?” Ask it in a positive way!

4)The motivation and the drive to succeed will get stronger if you’ve taken steps one, two and three.

5)Remember you will get knocked down. Outside forces, circumstances and people will slow you down. Some of the people will have the same last name as you- crazy thing right? You’ll gain wisdom because of your set backs. If you learn from them, then they are not failures- they are essential ingredients in your success. Keep moving is critical to step five.

Successful people will constantly repeat these steps all the time. It really never stops so be sure to enjoy the ride!