Permission is Not Required For Happiness You do not need permission to live life according to your terms. Researching your direction and path is smart. It’s okay to ask for advice and guidance. It’s even okay to persuade others to take the journey with you. You don’t need permission to be yourself and live your life. You don’t need a big storyline. You don’t need approval from anyone else. You can start whenever you choose. Here’s a secret that will help you adjust your mindset - Most folks don’...
Mar 10, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4508
Setting Boundaries and Expectations Imagine how your life would improve if everybody understood what to expect. Expectations are powerful. You get to decide how you approach the world. Pay attention to these three questions: 1) What do you expect of yourself? 2) What do you expect of others? Clearly, understand what you expect of others. That allows you to avoid surprises - and toxic relationships. 3) What do others expect of you? When you let others know what they can expect of you - and walk y...
Mar 09, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4524
Unavoidable Stages of Competence When I was young, stupid, and wondering when I would understand life, I often turned to Zig Ziglar for a road map. Zig's Stages of Competence was what I needed: 1) Stage One is where we begin. We are "Unconscious Incompetent." We don't know what we don't know. 2) Stage Two is called "Conscious Incompetent." I spent a lot of time there. I used to say, "I have no idea what I'm doing - but at least I admit it." 3) Stage Three is "Unconscious Competent." People who h...
Mar 08, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4523
Purpose Based Goals Are you a goal-setter? Goals are the heartbeat of your life. Without Goals, life tends a meander with no real direction. Goals are GOOD. But what happens when you miss your Goal? Yes, you might want to give up, but it’s not the end of the world. Missing a deadline doesn't always mean you missed your Goal. Missing a Goal only means that you are using a particular result to define achievement. You might consider using outcome-based goal setting when your Goal doesn't need a spe...
Mar 07, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4522
Life Changing Questions I'll keep it quick today. Besides, you'll be busy thinking after you read these questions. (Now would be a good time to pull out your journal and make a few notes.) 1) What do I want to do? 2) What do I want to have? 3) Where do I want to go? 4) What contribution do I want to make? 5) What do I want to become? 6) What do I want to learn? 7) Who do I want to spend my time with? 8) How much money do I want to earn, save, and invest? 9) How much time do I want off? 10) What ...
Mar 06, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4521
How To Create More Time in Your Day How would you like more time in your day - or at least to feel that way? I hope to enjoy a fantastic weekend that will feel like a month. Like a vacation as a child that seemed to last forever. Wouldn't it be cool to capture that feeling every day? It is possible to enjoy your own time machine when you understand that time is relative. Your perception of time will determine how you experience your day. Try this: 1) Embrace anticipation. Focus your excitement o...
Mar 03, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4520
Behavior Hacks That Change Everything Your mind is the most powerful super-computer ever created. Here are a few ways to hack it and transform your life. 1) Start using a "Good Enough" approach. Perfectionism is doing nothing to move you forward. 2) Use your ONE mind to do ONE thing. Multitasking is splitting your focus and energy. It's also delaying your success. 3) Let go of control. Some things are not up to you. Figure out what they are and move on. 4) Say NO to anything that does not direct...
Mar 02, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4519
Mindset Shifts for a Better Life "On your last day on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become." — Anonymous You're smart. You're not going to let that happen to you - right? Here are seven mindset shifts to make sure you are living on purpose right now - 1) Live a good lifestyle. Eat good stuff and exercise. 2) Think long-term. Find your groove and stick with it. 3) Play BIG. Small thinking is not why you were born. 4) Be responsible. No more excuses. That’s the o...
Mar 01, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4518
You Don't Need Failure For Success Have you ever wondered how to succeed in a long-term Goal? Without endless nights of crying yourself to sleep? It won't help to remind you that everything is hard before it gets easy. Or that if it were easy, everybody would do it - right? Try this: 1) Know what you want. Easy peasy. 2) Find a Coach and train, train, train. Get a real Coach. Counting on Google to help you master your new skill is not a good plan. 3) Trust your training while you practice, pract...
Feb 28, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4417
How Big Do You Dream? How big do you dream? I hope it's not tiny. That would be a bummer. Dreaming big is not really what you think. Please don't feel like you must save the world or be a Rock Star. Making millions of dollars doesn't always fit into that category, either. Don't believe me? Why are so few folks unable to do that? Living a stress-free life, spending time with family, or doing an excellent job for your employer is pretty big - right? Dreaming big is about imagining something import...
Feb 27, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4512
Get What You Want… FAST! Would you like a shortcut to getting anything you want in life? Would you like to get there quicker, faster, and easier? Since you're a mover and a shaker, you know the value of using goals in your day-to-day life. Goals are those magical gems that give you the power to turn your dreams into reality. Here's the simple secret to achieving massive success with your goals. Commit yourself ONLY to take action that moves you closer to your goal. Period. Stay focused, say "No,...
Feb 24, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4512
Why Others See Your Greatness Whether in business, having a job, going to school, or living your life, your ability to present well will supercharge your success. Here are five tips I use every day: 1) Understand that most folk only expect you to wow them. They are not expecting bad. You shouldn't either. 2) Join the conversation THEY already have inside their head, not the one YOU are having. 3) You'll move faster if you drop the small talk and dig into the meat of your communication. You can f...
Feb 23, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4509
Why Do You Procrastinate? Are you a member of the Procrastination Club? If so, you participate in one of the most popular groups ever devised. Everybody joins eventually. So, what is procrastination? "The intentional and habitual postponement of an important task that you should do now." Is it possible that you are not procrastinating? Maybe you're just forcing yourself to do something you don't need or want to do anyway? Maybe you're getting caught up in the caught up? Making busy, keeping up w...
Feb 22, 2023•11 min•Season 17Ep. 4499
Stop Letting Others Control You This morning I received an email from a member I haven't heard from in years. Many years. He wanted to update me on his life. This kind of thing happens all the time. Folks jump into the Personal Development game and hang out for a while. Eventually, they disappear. I never worry about it because it means they must put what they've learned in place. In his note, he thanked me for giving him a nugget that turned that was the catalyst he needed to begin his journey....
Feb 21, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4510
Primary Morning Focus I love the quiet, peaceful mornings, but I'm not too fond of mornings happening so early. Still, the focus, creativity, and feeling of momentum that comes with getting up before the chickens have such value that I needed getting up a bit easier. My solution is to drop the complicated and establish a simple routine. I begin by deciding the area I'm currently prioritizing and choosing a "first thing" task to move me closer to my goal. Next, I set myself up for success the nig...
Feb 20, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4508
Get Yourself to Take Action People often ask what steps are needed to increase productivity and get more done. That’s easy. It always comes down to understanding how the action moves you forward. Like any good story, life IS a story. All actions have a beginning, middle, and end. Anything else is stumbling along - which is easy to do if you’re not paying attention. Here’s how you sum up actions in three steps: The beginning is “Access Actions,” which determine the steps needed to get your projec...
Feb 17, 2023•15 min•Season 17Ep. 4510
Diagnosing How To Help Others Have you ever felt the desire to help others? Do you want to help them figure things out? Make more money? Recover from a bad experience? Maybe you want to make a difference in the world yourself. I’ve always believed that our power to help others is a side benefit of being ourselves - and having a structure to follow - 1) A person in need desires an outcome. It makes no sense to offer advice until we know what they seek. That puts us on the same page. 2) Next, find...
Feb 16, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4509
Happiness Walks For years, I've built a reputation for being a guy that never misses a chance for a good conversation. Sometimes I head out the door for a good old-fashion "Talkabout" - an ode to Crocodile Dundee's "Walkabout." I'm not sure when it began, but since exploring life's possibilities is a core value, I know why; there is no better way to learn something new than striking up a random conversation with another human. But there are rules: 1) You must be focused on exploring and open to ...
Feb 15, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4508
What's Your Life Vision? Do you have an image of what you would like your life to be - except when life gets in the way? There's no doubt that daily life events have a funny way of distracting us from reaching goals. It's just too easy to put them on the back burner. That's why you need to become the keeper of your vision. Every day thousands of opportunities will arrive on your path and detour you from what you want. That's why it's up to you to guard your vision by asking a simple question - W...
Feb 14, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4507
Living a Curated Life Sometimes I wonder if it’s possible to live an authentic life that looks the same from the inside and outside. In other words, can you walk your talk and have everybody understand what you are saying? My wife and I visited St. Augustine a few weeks ago and spent several hours in the Lightner Museum. On the surface, it was an interesting collection of stuff that didn’t seem to go together - except that it did. Like all good museums and lives, it was well curated. Our day-to-...
Feb 13, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4506
So, What Do You Do? Two people came into a restaurant and walked up to the bar. While it sounds like the setup for a joke, what's about to happen is much more serious. My friend and New York Times Best Selling Author, Joel Comm, has a favorite question for times like these - So, What Do You Do? Asking that simple question can propel hours of conversation - as proven by my client. While attending an event, she was standing at a bar when the gentleman next to her asked, "So what do you do?" Her qu...
Feb 10, 2023•11 min•Season 17Ep. 4505
Practice Makes Greatness It’s been said that Practice makes perfect. That might be true if you were able to practice perfectly. If that were the case, why would you need to practice? Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Practice bad thinking, and you will get all the bad thoughts you could ever want. Practice makes permanent. Practice bad manners and are sure to get better at being rude. Practice makes permanent. Practice bad relationship skills, and you are guaranteed to mi...
Feb 09, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4504
Your Happiness Equation Is there a magic formula for happiness? Yes. It comes down to how you look at the world. Most folks do one of two things: 1) They view everything from an emotional place. When life is good, everything is excellent. When things go wrong, life is terrible. Remaining stuck in the emotional zone is like writing a letter in the sand with a rising tide; it will never stick around long enough to make you happy. 2) Others view the world from a black-and-white and logical perspect...
Feb 08, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4503
Raising Your Self-Confidence I got off the phone with a client who told me I insulted her with a comment on a recent call. I said, “Your self-confidence is low, and that’s okay. Everybody has low self-confidence - even if they walk with a swagger that says otherwise.” It turns out she had spent the entire day thinking about my comment. She didn’t realize that I was only referring to a moment in time along her journey. We had a short conversation and sorted things out. Afterward, I sent this - No...
Feb 07, 2023•11 min•Season 17Ep. 4502
What if everything you did today came with no limitations and good consequences? What could you do with your life? Limitations can be helpful. Staying within speed limits keeps you from getting tickets. That's good. Limiting yourself to a job that doesn't serve you? That's bad. Fear of change usually creates limitations. Or is it the fear of harmful consequences? What would happen if all consequences were good? Asking someone on a date may cause fear and hold you back. That all goes away the ins...
Feb 06, 2023•13 min•Season 17Ep. 4501
There is a simple formula that you can apply to get what you want, enjoy the process, and ensure that it will last for a lifetime. 1) Get clarity. You must clearly define what you want. When you don’t know your path, you will drift with frustration. 2) Accurate Thinking. Assume that you are not getting the correct information. Double-check and confirm. Then move forward. The more accurate your understanding of your plan, the more comfortable and quicker it will be to get there. 3) Leverage. You ...
Feb 03, 2023•15 min•Season 17Ep. 4500
As a child, I remember heading out the door for a day in an endless adventure. It usually concluded with a game of Hide-And-Seek. Those days seemed to last forever. These days, most of us are still running until the sun goes down. But there's so much to do that we rarely have time to ponder the bigger picture. Remember- You will always find time for your most important tasks. You will eat, sleep, pay bills, feed the dog, and take care of your children - no matter how crazy life gets. When life g...
Feb 02, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4499
I'm sure you have a lot to do. If you use a To-Do list, I'd like to pass on advice to make your days much more fun. LOSE your "To-Do List." Replace it with a" Did I Do It List." To-Do Lists make you a slave to the checkmark. They cause more stress the longer they get. A" Did I Do It List" assumes you know what must be done. Instead of chasing, you are checking to make sure you did it. An un-focused path produces additional tasks to fill your day. Using a "Did I Do It List" will focus you on your...
Feb 01, 2023•12 min•Season 17Ep. 4498
Do you remember what it was like to be in 1st grade? It was when everybody lavished you with encouragement for being YOU - and because you finished your art project without eating the glue. Those were beautiful times. But you may have noticed things have changed since you were okay to take a nap in the middle of class. You grew up. Yes, growing into an adult brings many mentors your way. They do their best to motivate and inspire you. But you know in your heart that they can only do so much. It'...
Jan 31, 2023•14 min•Season 17Ep. 4493
Mapping Your Success Wouldn’t it be great if you had a plan to help you get what you want? What you need is M.A.P.S. - a system that gets thinking out of the way and focuses on actions in four areas: Motivation - Everything begins with motivation and knowing ‘WHY’ you set your goals. Stay motivated. Accountability: Being accountable and accepting responsibility for your results will empower your success. Saying, ‘If it’s to be, it’s up to me’ is a great way to get started. Planning: Plan your wo...
Jan 30, 2023•16 min•Season 17Ep. 4494
