Keeping the Luster in Your Life by Earl Nightingale

Photo by Krissia Cruz on Unsplash

Have you ever thought much about newness? You know, it’s the quality people talk about when they say, “A new broom sweeps clean,” or “Turn over a new leaf.” Well newness, like most things, has its good side and its bad, depending on how we look at it.  

A person in a new job, for instance, may feel he’s at a disadvantage. He may be nervous, uncertain of just what he’s supposed to do and just how to do it. Sometimes he’s bewildered by all that’s going on around him. Maybe he’s even a little scared. Even so, the person who’s new to a business has a unique advantage over some of the other, more seasoned women or men in the company. His job has a sparkle about it. There’s a luster, a challenge in a new job that isn’t always present once that position becomes familiar. 

A rut is little more than a grave with both ends knocked out. 

 Do you remember your first day at work? I do. I can remember the first time I sat down in front of a microphone as though it were yesterday, instead of a good many years ago. Even though it was a radio station so small they used an old walk-in refrigerator for a studio, to me it was one of the most exciting days of my life. I was scared and nervous, and I sounded like a man with his neck caught in a car door, but I was thrilled, too. 

How about your job? Does it still hold the excitement it did that first day? It should and it can, but does it? One of the most common mistakes we make is to let the luster fade from our lives. As it does, we gradually lose our enthusiasm, and if we’re not careful we’ll settle down into a worn, tired groove of boring habits. We become like oxen yoked to a mill, going around in circles with our eyes fixed only on the worn path of our feet. 

People who allow themselves to get in a rut usually don’t realize that a rut is little more than a grave with both ends knocked out. Now how can we stay out of this deadly rut? How can we keep our enthusiasm and maintain the luster in our lives instead of allowing it to fade with time and familiarity? The answer lies in reminding ourselves of things we already know but sometimes tend to forget.  

A Chicago executive once told me how he maintained the luster in his job, how he charged his batteries during the early days of his career. Whenever over-familiarity with his product and service or the negativity of some of his prospects or associates began to undermine his enthusiasm for what he was selling, he’d simply make a service call on one of his best customers. There he could reassure himself of the excellent results being realized through the use of his company’s products. Then my friend would head out again with renewed confidence in himself, in his ability to be of service, and in the benefits he could deliver to every new prospect.  

You see, even though the everyday details of our work may seem old hat to us, we should remember that those we serve look forward eagerly to the product or service. A person may be indifferent about many things, but the things he spends his money on aren’t among them.  

We shouldn’t be indifferent either, and we won’t be if we look at our product or service through the eyes of a happy customer.  

People are on stage every day. Like the actors in a Broadway play, they’re sometimes required to say the same words and go through the same basic actions day after day and week after week. The professional actor learns his lines and movements and then performs the part every day, often twice a day, for as long as the play will run. He can never allow himself to become bored with the role any more than we can afford to become bored with our work. The actor knows his audience is a new one for every performance. What he is doing isn’t boring to them. 

What does the actor do to main enthusiasm, to keep excitement in his acting? He studies and works. He continues to improve his role. He lives his part, constantly refining his timing and movements, forever finding ways to put even greater meaning into the words he must say. 

All of us are in the people business. Each day we have the opportunity to learn firsthand one of life’s most valuable lessons: how to get along well with people, how to make friends with those with whom we work, and how to persuade them to make decisions that will benefit both them and ourselves. Our success in most any type of activity will always be in exact ratio to our ability to influence people. 

And the best way I know to influence people is to care enough, to know enough, to serve them well. Sometimes we lose sight of the value of our work and when we do, we lose the luster—not just from our work, but from our lives. So here are some more luster-restoring ideas you can use right now and every day from now on. 

1. Understand that anything, no matter how exciting in the beginning, will grow—not may grow, but will grow—stale in time if we’re not careful.  

2. Keep in mind that fighting off staleness in our lives is a daily job. There’s something you can—something you must do—every day in order to keep vitality in your performance. It is simply the actor’s technique: live the part. 

3. Realize that there’s no such thing as a job without a future. Every job has a future just as every person has. Whether or not that future is great or small depends entirely upon the person holding it.  

4. See the big picture. See your work in relation to the whole scheme of things. Your work is important to those you serve. Your success will depend on how well you provide that service. 

5. Finally, keep developing your ability to see yourself and your work through the eyes of that most important person, the recipient. And remember, don’t ever lose the luster. 

This is an excerpt from Earl Nightingale’s Transformational Living: Positivity, Mindset, and Persistence, an official Nightingale-Conant publication. Known as the “Dean of Personal Development,” Earl Nightingale grew up in California during the Great Depression. Because his family was very poor, Nightingale educated himself in his local library. His main focus: what makes people turn out the way they do in terms of their wealth, their career achievements, and their happiness. After beginning his career in the US Marines during World War II, he was hired as a radio announcer. He eventually became a popular daily broadcaster for CBS. Through his interest in both personal development and audio, he partnered with Lloyd Conant to form the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the world’s largest producer of audio programs.

How to Build a More Inclusive Workplace by Jennifer Janechek

Photo by New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer Dick DeMarsico

Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us that the American dream is possible only insofar as every human being has an equal opportunity to find meaningful work. In his lesser-known speech to the Fourth Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO, given in December 1961, King says: 

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one, with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians, or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into realization the American Dream—a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed…. The dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality—that is the dream. 

While many companies today tout diversity as a hiring value, not all organizations support their diversity efforts by cultivating an inclusive workplace. Below are six important strategies for creating a more positive, equitable experience for employees. 

1. Make inclusivity a core value. 
   Incorporate inclusivity into your organization’s core values. As Sam Silverstein writes in The Accountability Circle, “Your Values embody your principles and your standards of behavior.… Values determine how we see, connect to, and treat other people. They are the foundation for the relationships we build with the people in our world.” Inclusivity should be your standard of behavior—your “House Rules” that apply everywhere, at all times. By integrating inclusivity into your organization’s core values, you ensure that all team members understand that equity, accessibility, and mutual respect must characterize all interactions—for employees, clients, and everyone in between. 

2. Create safe spaces. 
   Offer clear venues for expressing concerns, wants, and needs without fear of retaliation or discrimination. Designate certain areas of the office for personal needs (e.g., lactation rooms).   

3. Practice inclusive communication. 
   Avoid ableist, sexist, racist, and otherwise discriminatory language; off-color jokes; and identity-based stereotypes. Create opportunities for people to share their identification preferences. Send content in an accessible manner as a rule, not just for those who request it. 

4. Amplify underrepresented voices. 
   Ensure that underrepresented groups are not marginalized within your organization by giving them the platform to share their ideas and never speaking on their behalf. Amplify these voices by listening attentively, confirming and reiterating the points made, and creating opportunities for follow-up.  

5. Invite regular feedback. 
   Provide different forums for employees to share feedback on their experience within the organization. Ideally, there should be one-on-one, small-group, and anonymous (digital) feedback mechanisms. Welcoming and fostering dialogue about team members’ experiences will help strengthen the organizational culture and ensure that everyone feels valued and able to contribute equally. 

6. Encourage education in DEI.  
   Prioritize training in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Host diversity training workshops. Organize employee study groups around DEI-focused books, such as Jess Pettitt’s Good Enough Now. When you provide concrete means for employees to educate themselves in diversity and inclusion, you will shift the culture of your entire organization in powerful ways. 

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom and the founder of Work–Home–Life, an online magazine and virtual community for remote and hybrid workers, freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs with home offices. She is also the host of The Sound Wisdom Podcast, which you can watch on the Sound Wisdom YouTube channel or listen to on Anchor or wherever you listen to podcasts! 

The Root Cause of Burnout: Letting Other People Set Your Purpose by Sam Silverstein

Photo by Abbie Bernet on Unsplash

Do you sometimes feel stressed out, off track, spread too thin, or simply lost in a vast maze of urgent priorities? Do you ever wonder where you are headed, personally or professionally…and then find yourself wondering whether maybe, just maybe, you may be drifting toward a destination you never chose, a destination called “burnout”? 

Guess what? Those feelings and wonderings are all symptoms. So: What are they symptoms of? 

You might be tempted to say that they are symptoms of inadequate or poorly implemented “stress management” techniques. But I have a different answer to suggest: Those feelings and wonderings are symptoms of a lack of clarity about something that truly accountable people are always crystal clear on: their own unique, deeply personal sense of Purpose. 

I believe that each of us has our own big Why—our own unique Purpose. The challenge is that at any given moment, we may not have recognized that Purpose. We may not have or released ourselves to it. We may have lost sight of it momentarily…or we may even have bought into an excuse that prevents us from making decisions that align with that Purpose. Yet I believe that, as long as we are above ground and breathing, that unique Purpose is always there, waiting for us to internalize it and take action on it. 

This Purpose can drive everything we do as we move through our day, and through our life. We can seek to live it and act in alignment with it. We cannot “burn ourselves out” when we are acting in alignment with our unique Purpose. Our priorities become clear. Our work becomes play. Our path becomes joyous, not “stressed,” because we know who we really are and what we really need to do right now. 

Being present in the moment and identifying and acting on our unique Purpose is the antidote to so-called “burnout.” 

And here is even better news: Each of us has the opportunity to articulate that Purpose in such a way that it inspires us constantly and moves us into a realm of joyous engagement, a realm where it is easy and natural to move beyond “stress.”  

Beating burnout is really a matter of deciding “NO MORE EXCUSES,” releasing ourselves to our true Purpose, and then taking the actions and the decisions we were born to take. 

It helps to have a single, powerful statement that instantly reminds us of who we really are and (by extension) what we need to be doing right now. Solely by way of example, my Purpose is: 

To help people be better, discover their potential, and be the best they can possibly be. 

This proclamation is like a compass. It always points in the same direction. It always tells me where I need to go. 

Once we get clear on our unique Purpose, we have a compass, a self-correcting mechanism we can take advantage of in a heartbeat. Using it, we can move past excuses like “I am just too tired” or “I do not have the experience I need” or “I do not get the support I deserve.” Hanging on to those excuses creates so-called “stress” and “burnout.” Excuses take us Off Purpose. 

Let me explain what I mean by that. At any given moment, we are either On Purpose or Off Purpose. When we are Off Purpose, we feel this thing called “stress,” and we experience our decisions as difficult. When we are On Purpose, though we have a clear sense of direction that makes “stress” vanish into insignificance, and “burnout” an irrelevance. 

When we are On Purpose—even when what we are doing takes effort or involves making a sacrifice of some kind—we experience a special kind of joy, a sense of accomplishment, a flow that we can incorporate into our lives with astonishing ease. Good things seem to happen when we are in that flow. We may not even realize that we are “working” or “solving problems.” We are just releasing ourselves from our excuses and to our unique Purpose. We are fulfilling the possibility of our very best self, the person we were born to become. 

 Most of the people I work with who say they are suffering from “burnout” are actually suffering from something very different: a lack of clarity about their own unique Purpose! All too often, they have let someone else set their purpose for them. 

Here is how you can tell when you have allowed another person, or society at large, to set your purpose for you: Your stated purpose is all about things, and not about people. 

When I ask people suffering from “stress” and “burnout” to tell me their unique Purpose, their reason for being here on this earth, I sometimes hear answers like this: 

• To make a million dollars. 

• To drive a Ferrari. 

• To become a famous (whatever). 

Notice that these kinds of answers are focused on money, possessions, and status, respectively. That is an instant tipoff to me that the individual in question has let society set his or her individual purpose. That is a ticket to the destination called “burnout.” 

Understand: There is nothing inherently wrong with possessions, money, and status. But if those things are what are motivating your actions and guiding your decisions, you have bought into an aspiration that does not support you. You are Off Purpose. 

Things can be a goal…but things can never be a Purpose. 

A truly accountable person has a unique sense of Purpose that is rooted in service to others. 

A truly accountable person makes commitments that align with that unique Purpose. 

That unique Purpose is what motivates them, sets their priorities, and guides them through their day! 

Notice: Society often puts things in front of us that we mistake for our purpose, things like popularity or sensory gratification or cash or recognition. These are things, not people. 

If you are focusing on things, and not on people, you have not yet released yourself to your Purpose—and you are headed, sooner or later, for trouble! 

We have to discover for ourselves, concretely, what our own unique Purpose is — and then we have to stay On Purpose. If we do not do that, we are subject to the manipulations of others, and of society at large, when it comes to identifying and acting on our true Purpose in life. Once we have identified our own unique Purpose, and we make decisions and take actions that align with that Purpose, burnout is literally an impossibility! 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, will be released on January 19, 2021, and is available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.

Predicting the Future by Jim Stovall

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

We go to school to learn history and become conversant in things that happened in the past. We read newspapers and get online newscasts that inform us about everything going on in the present. Potentially, the most valuable time-sensitive information would be what is going to happen in the future. Each year, as the calendar turns over, pundits make their predications for the coming twelve months. It is fascinating to look back in retrospect to see what these self-proclaimed experts predicted a year ago and how badly they missed the mark. Abraham Lincoln said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”  

Things in the past seem to be set in concrete, while events unfolding now seem to be fluid, but the future would appear to be totally random. However, this is not the case. You and I control our destiny, and therefore, we control our portion of the history that is being created. People who are victorious happen to history. People who are victims have history happen to them. I realize that you may have lived through a natural disaster, an economic downturn, or a violent war, but in every case, we can change the perspective of history as we change what the facts mean to us. 

Napoleon Hill taught us that every adversity, every heartache, and every difficulty is endowed with the seeds of a greater good. This means we can look for the silver lining in the midst of any storm cloud. As a novelist and movie producer, I tell human stories. These stories involve people who face unique life circumstances and show how they are impacted by the circumstances or how they impact the circumstances.   

Anytime something happens—whether it seems initially to be good or bad—we are faced with a series of questions including: What is happening? What does it mean? What can be done about it? Where are the opportunities? 

In the midst of the greatest human turmoil, the people we revere as heroes have emerged. Abraham Lincoln himself became, arguably, one of the world’s greatest leaders because he was faced with leading our country through a civil war. Challenges always create opportunities. And opportunities, in turn, create more challenges. All problems may eventually will be solved, but these solutions create more problems. 

The future is a blank slate that comes with a set of circumstances much like a hand of cards we are being dealt. Experts will tell you that any hand of cards can be played well or played poorly. There are no winning hands or losing hands as the cards are being shuffled and dealt. Only the outcomes that we produce make us winners or losers.  

As you go through your day today, realize that you are writing history and you are the hero. 

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including The Gift of Giving, co-authored with Don Green, the executive director of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

The Year 2020 by Jason Hewlett

“Worst year ever!”  

“Can’t wait until this one’s over!”  

“The dumpster fire that is 2020.” 

 Plenty of lines and ways to describe a most indescribable year. 

We’ve heard them all, and said most of them, in an effort to put into words what has been experienced. 

I believe it is justified, so don’t think I’m not on the bandwagon as well, since I’ve shared my version of all of these, too. 

And as we come into the final month of this year it is ironic, because when I think of years past where I have also thought similar things, including 2019, 2018, 201… (for example, I once wrote a song with opening lyrics, “2009, Oh it wasn’t a pretty year, all I can say is I’m glad it’s no longer here…”), my fear is that this kind of thinking is becoming a trend in our way of looking at the year that has passed…no matter the year…and our hope next year is that much better. 

But especially 2020. 

It will be hard to top the bottoming-out that encompassed 2020. 

Or… 

Or, we could see it for what it’s helped us create of tragedy, suffering, and being backed into a corner. 

Having not been on an airplane and traveling the world, as has been my work for 20 years, 2020 has forced me to regroup, rethink, recreate my entire way of life, making a living, and delivering what I still can for an audience that is starving for connection, engagement, entertainment, and education…but without a budget! 

Yes, my bank account went from one of health and abundance to a storage unit I opened weekly with one eye open, as it dwindled to single digits. 

Yes, my prospects and clients bailed one by one on a year that was set up to be pretty epic, and suddenly wiped clean a calendar filled to the brim to create an empty white board of lost opportunity. 

Yes, my family asked if we were still going on the road trip across America and Canada we have been planning for years, only to see us put the RV on the market for need of selling it or making our house payment, and then putting my car and all else on the chopping block. 

My friends, your stories are as real and painful as mine—perhaps more!—be it in health, wealth, or “simply” inconvenience. It is all relative. And I am so sorry you have been through what you’ve been through! 

But, and this is a BIG BUT: Can we see that MUCH GOOD has come from this necessity to reinvent? 

A dwindling bank account will see you cut expenses like few things can, going only for necessity and finally getting under control what has been perhaps an illusion in the Keeping Up with the Joneses phenomenon. 

A job that is no longer a way to make a living can open up new possibilities to create, serve, give, and offer value in ways you’ve never had time to explore. 

A trip of a lifetime that now doesn’t happen allows for introspection and more time with loved ones in the home, togetherness, reliability on those closest to us, exploring the beauty of the world immediately around us. 

As a family we were still able to go to Moab, Utah, a short four-hour drive from our home, and most beautiful & otherworldly kind of place. Thankful for that! 

I know I’m a person who relies on the comedic side of things, and that’s important as well now more than ever—to laugh—but I also want to point out what good has come of this most interesting year, from the perspective of someone who really acknowledges it has been profoundly impacting. 

Try this little simple exercise— 

List three things (or more if so inclined) that were awesome for you in 2020. 

You could start with phrases like: 

2020 has taught me… 

In 2020 I was forced to… 

I am grateful for 2020 because… 

And then list out a few of the positives. 

Here’s mine— 

2020 has forced me to: 

Be Brave. To watch it all go away (events, cashflow, stability) and believe I could still make it, and then prove that I could. 

Be Fearless. To try things (video, virtual, launching a book with a publisher) I never have before and succeed! 

Act Quick. To be ahead of the curve while watching peers and heroes waiting for things to get better. 

I’d love to see your thoughts, in the comments below, if you’re willing to inspire me as well. 

I know 2020 will always be a year with an asterisk, but perhaps it could be a tipping point for all of us in living our Promise at another level.  I know that’s what it will be for me. 

Jason Hewlett is a leadership expert, author, Hall of Fame speaker, and award-winning entertainer. His book The Promise to The One is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Book Company, Google Play, Apple Books. This article originally appeared here on The Promise blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog. Subscribe for more inspiring content from Sound Wisdom.

Resolve to Read Every Day in 2021 by Jennifer Janechek

Photo by Fabiola Peñalba for Unsplash

Approximately 1 in 4 adults (27%) made it all the way through 2020 without reading a single book—audiobooks included. To be fair, the year came with unprecedented difficulties. But the benefits of reading are too important to be ignored. Consider the following research-backed perks of reading and make a plan to incorporate reading into your daily routine in 2021. 

1. Better Brain Functioning  
   Reading strengthens the synapses in your brain, enabling you to think more coherently and more efficiently. It also forms new cognitive pathways, which improves your memory and aids in self-regulation. 

2. Stronger Critical-Thinking Skills 
   According to Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa in their book Academically Adrift, 75 percent of employers claim that the students they hire out of high school or college lack essential critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Reading and critical thinking are essentially synonymous. As Florida State University Professor of English Robin Goodman says, “Reading is critical thinking and critical thinking is reading.” Even reading for comprehension forces you to evaluate others’ ideas. As you conceptualize, analyze, and assess the information presented in a book, you become more adept at big-picture thinking and think more deeply about the world in which you live. Reading is so integral to building critical-thinking skills that U.S. News & World Report advises adolescents to partake in book clubs prior to entering college. 

3. Enhanced Focus 
   Ever find yourself struggling to concentrate? The pressure to multitask, combined with the cognitive demands of living in a hypermediated world, has chipped away at our ability to focus. Reading for 15–20 minutes a day draws you into the world of the book, focusing all of your attention on the story or concept being presented. The benefits don’t disappear after you close the book, either. Research has shown that those who read in the morning enjoy enhanced focus (and thus improved productivity) during their workday as well. 

4. Expanded Vocabulary 
   People who read regularly boast a better vocabulary than those who don’t. Think a bigger vocabulary doesn’t matter? Think again. Vocabulary size impacts various life experiences, from standardized test performance to job opportunities. Beyond signifying intelligence, an expanded vocabulary improves your ability to communicate—to find just the right word for a given situation (as well as to know which words to avoid). Reading provides contextual understanding of words for which other forms of language acquisition don’t provide. 

5. Opportunity for Self-Discovery 
   Reading forces you to encounter your true self in a way that no other activity does. When you read, you hear your inner voice process the text as well as the thoughts that emerge from it. You have the time and space to explore your interiority and wrestle with questions that promote personal growth.  

6. Increased Empathy and Appreciation for Diversity 
   Encountering the ideas of others—openly, without judgment—increases your empathy, or your ability not only to understand intellectually what someone else’s experience and perspective might be like (that’s sympathy), but to understand and appreciate it on an emotional level. Reading fiction places you in the shoes of all different types of characters, and reading nonfiction exposes you to ideas and lived experiences that you might not have otherwise considered. The more you read, the more you gain an appreciation for diversity in all its forms. 

7. Reduced Stress and Improved Mental Health 
   Research has shown that reading for 30 minutes “lower[s] blood pressure, heart rate, and feelings of psychological distress.” Another study claims that reading could reduce stress by up to 68 percent. Reading can also combat depression by fostering connection—yes, even with imaginary worlds and characters. As you escape from your own world (while reading fiction) or imagine yourself in conversation with others (as through nonfiction), you feel less isolated. Moreover, you can discover others whose experiences might resonate with your own and, with the case of personal development books, learn strategies for growth in areas with which you might struggle.  

8. Better Sleep 
   According to the Mayo Clinic, reading helps you establish a relaxed state that can make sleep easier to come by. Note that for those struggling with sleep, print books might be preferable to screen reading because the light from electronic devices can disrupt the body’s preparation for sleep. 

9. Prolonged Life Expectancy 
   Reading keeps you mentally stimulated, which can ward off age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Moreover, a study published in Innovation in Aging indicated the presence of other physical benefits as well. According to this study, those who read books live about 2 years longer than non-book readers, and those who read for more than 3.5 hours every week have a 23 percent chance of outliving those who do not read. 

All of these benefits are not tied to specific genres of books; each has its own value, so it’s important to incorporate fiction and nonfiction alike into your reading plan. Check out Sound Wisdom’s full list of titles to motivate your personal growth through reading in 2021, and be sure to sign up to receive exclusive offers and notifications about upcoming publications. 

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom and the founder of Work–Home–Life, an online magazine and virtual community for remote and hybrid workers, freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs with home offices. She is also the host of The Sound Wisdom Podcast, which you can watch on the Sound Wisdom YouTube channel or listen to on Anchor or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Living the Values: The Key to Accountability in Trying Times by Sam Silverstein

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

As 2020 draws to a close, many leaders find themselves facing a challenge they are not used to addressing: team members who get sidetracked by intense disagreements about social and political matters having little or nothing to do with the team’s goals and objectives. What is the accountable leader’s response to this situation?  

Social and political issues can cause serious divisions within the organization if leaders are not careful. Team members can start making assumptions about each other: “He probably supports XYZ policy—I know all I need to know about him.” That’s toxic. 

That kind of bias and lack of respect has any number of equally toxic parallels: “She doesn’t come from the ‘right’ school—I know all I need to know about her.” Or: “He comes from a different department than I do—I know all I need to know about him.” When people take action on such beliefs, the actions are both unproductive and disrespectful. 

How does a leader handle these kinds of divisions? 

Here is my answer. In an accountable organization, people can disagree about a lot of things: politics, personnel moves, strategic decisions, the color the breakroom walls should be painted—you name it. But there are some things that everyone in the organization, without exception, has to agree on. We call these non-negotiable points of agreements Values because they are so valuable and so important to the organization and to each individual within it that, if one of them ever goes missing or is overlooked, we drop everything and figure out how to get it back. 

Accountable leaders know that the values of the organization must always connect to the actions and decisions of each and every team member. They also know that Respect has to be one of those values. If team members are not willing to treat each other with respect—whether that is over a political disagreement, a disagreement about how to redecorate the breakroom, or anything in between—then the accountable leader has to call time-out and make sure the value of Respect is restored. If for some reason there is someone on staff who chooses not to live that value at work, regardless of how productive they are, that person has to be transitioned into finding some other opportunity elsewhere. It is as simple as that. 

The values of the organization must always connect to the actions and decisions of each and every team member. 

These are trying times, divisive times that we are now living through in the United States — perhaps as divisive as any in American history. It is understandable that some team members will feel strongly about certain issues, including political and social issues. That is not something that accountable leaders can change. What they can and must do, however, is uphold the organization’s real-time commitment to live its stated values daily, by both personal example and by making decisions that align with those values, even when they are difficult. 

So, if you haven’t already done so, identify the organization’s core values, and make sure Respect is one of them. Then, defend those values whenever and wherever necessary. Finally, accept that anyone who can’t agree to those values—by making sure they are evident in every decision and every interaction—does not belong in your organization. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Books, and other fine retailers. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.

The Mystery of Life by Jim Stovall

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

Control is an illusion. We seek to plan, organize, and manage every area of our lives. While I am a big advocate of financial plans, exercise and health habits, as well as managing the various areas of risk, life is often chaotic and unpredictable. The poet Robert Frost said, “The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.”   

In psychological studies of happiness and satisfaction, researchers found that people with predictable and mundane lives were unhappy, but, ironically, people with some of the most adventurous and unpredictable lives were also unhappy. As in most things, the researchers found that people with a moderate amount of adventure combined with periods of stability were found to be the happiest and most fulfilled.  

The only things we can control are our efforts and our attitudes. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can always determine what we are going to do about it. Recently, I’ve undertaken a study of stoicism, and I’m finding that the philosophy has a lot of merit. Stoics are people who endeavor to face life without emotional swings. Mr. Spock of Star Trek-fame comes to mind. Stoics understand that the best of times are fleeting and the worst of times are often filled with great opportunity.  

Success is more about making the whole world a better place than trying to improve our own world. 

There’s an element of faith in finding the silver lining within every raincloud. I had the privilege of interviewing the legendary football coach Lou Holtz. He expressed his faith and optimism by saying, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” 

Long-time readers of these columns know that I believe we need only three things to be happy: something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to. We can find all of these elements in the best of times as well as in the worst of times. Success is more about making the whole world a better place than trying to improve our own world. Happiness and joy are much more of a decision than a condition of life. We must enjoy the good times, remain optimistic during the bad times, and celebrate it all. 

As you go through your day today, accept every mystery of life as a grand adventure. 

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including The Gift of Giving, co-authored with Don Green, executive director and CEO of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

Do It Today: How to Not Let Procrastination Get in Your Way by Adrean Turner

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

You’ve heard the saying “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?”  That quote is attributed to Aaron Burr, the vice president of Thomas Jefferson, who’s quoted as saying the opposite: “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” That speaks volumes of the differences of these two men.

Unfortunately, at one time or another, we all have responded like Burr when it comes to getting things done. Procrastination is a widely prevalent phenomenon. Research indicates that before the COVID-19 crisis, approximately 20 percent of the adult population and around 50 percent of the student population procrastinate in a consistent and problematic manner, meaning that they experience significant difficulties in their everyday life as a result of their procrastination. 

Procrastinating until you’re under the gun used to be my way of getting things done. If I had a deadline of Tuesday, I was up all night Monday plowing through the assignment. I can tell you from my own personal experience that it comes at a great price. The anxiety and stress associated with this type of pressure can be overwhelming and affect other areas of your life. 

Timothy Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton University, has studied procrastination for more than 19 years. Dr. Pychyl found that the main thing driving procrastination is not avoiding work. It’s avoiding stress. 

In the book the The Five Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, Mel Robbins says, “We procrastinate because we feel stressed out. Here’s the catch…you aren’t stressed about the work. You are stressed out about the bigger stuff: money, relationship problems, or life in general.” Procrastinating over our work is a mini stress break from the bigger stress felt in general. 

If you find yourself putting things off and delaying tasks for the future, it’s time to make a change. Try these strategies to procrastinate less and get more done. 

1. Become more aware. The only person you’re fooling is yourself. Stop living in denial. Accept that you are a procrastinator. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to address the issue and work on overcoming it. 

2. Think about what your procrastination is costing you. Is your procrastination putting your job at risk? Do you have a million things to do around the house that just aren’t getting done? If you stop and think about the consequences, it may give you the motivation to work on ways to fix it. 

3. Make a list and prioritize. Sometimes we put things off simply because we don’t want to deal with them. Determine the type of task, the amount of time needed to complete each step, and the required resources to complete the assignment. Then put them in order of importance. Organizing your activities will make it easier to stay on track. Start small and set bigger goals as you gain momentum.

4. Eliminate distractions. If you are in the middle of a project when the telephone rings or the computer pings, let it wait. Your results are determined by your discipline to stay focused. Turn off the ringer and let others know you’re unavailable.  

Keep in mind, these strategies are helpful only if you use them. Start today. Let go of procrastination and say hello to more success in managing your time and tasks. For more tips to get more done and manage your time, watch my video on how to create a success list to accomplish your goals. 

Adrean Turner is an author, certified career coach, speaker, professional development trainer, and business consultant. She leverages 23 years of experience in management, marketing, operations, teaching, and training to partner with individuals, entrepreneurs, and organizations to achieve their maximum potential. For more information and inspiration from Adrean, read her book F.I.T. for Success: Fearless, Inspired, Transformed for Success. You can follow Adrean on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Ten Questions Every Business Owner Should Ask Themselves (but Probably Don’t) by Steve Miller

As marketers, we’re often reminded of the important basics: What are our objectives? Who is our targeted customer? Where can we find them? What need do we fill for them?  

As a Strategic Marketing Gunslinger (OK, I’m a consultant), my experience, plus the education I received through the “School of Hard Knocks,” has pushed me to go deeper. I’ve advised corporations and trade associations for 33 years. When I consult, I ask my clients the following questions, and the vast majority can’t answer them.  

Guess what? This creates an opportunity for YOU. Being able to answer the following questions gives you a leg up compared to your competition. Focus on these, think carefully about your answers, and you’ll enjoy an unfair advantage. Commit to conquering them, and they’ll make you Uncopyable.  

So here you go—ten questions every business owner should ask themselves (but probably don’t). How many can YOU answer? 

1. How would you sell against YOU? 
   What gives YOUR product or service the advantage? What gives THEM the advantage? Think about it: if you switched sides, what would you attack/avoid? What are the weaknesses you could go after? This can be a big eye-opener. When you put yourself in the competition’s shoes, you might find some real gaps in your offerings. If so, pay attention to and fix them. 

2. What is your closing rate? 
   If I gave you one hundred new leads, do you know how many customers your company would generate on average? You don’t? Then how can you possibly set annual, realistic, fact-based revenue goals? You can’t. Your projections are just WAGs (Wild A-- Guesses). 
   Unfortunately, you’re not alone—over 95 percent of my consulting clients were unable to answer that question when we first started working together. 

3. Who is your BIG MOOSE? 
   In the language of Uncopyable, we call your Target your “Moose.” But not all Moose are the same. If you’re like most businesses, 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. Basically, if you’re generating $10 million in revenues from 100 customers, then $8 million is from 20 of your customers. These are your BIG MOOSE. 

   
   Who are these people/companies? How can you analyze them to find some type of commonality between them? Are they in a specific industry or specialty niche? Do they all belong to the same country club? Do they have a common unique challenge? Your objective, naturally, is to be able to look for more of them! 

4. What is the long-term value of your average customer? 
   Most businesspeople see a customer from a transactional perspective. How big was the last order? How big can I make the next order? How many orders can I get from them this year? It’s unusual, however, for businesses to see customers from a lifetime-value perspective, but that’s exactly how we should see them! 

   
   I learned this lesson years ago from Stew Leonard, owner of Stew Leonard’s, an east-coast grocery store. Stew told me that he pictured each of his regular customers with a $50,000 label on their forehead. He explained that his average good customer spent $100 per week at his store. He figured if he took good care of them, they would shop once a week for 50 weeks out of the year (two weeks off for vacation). 

   
   He then figured if he took VERY good care of them, they would shop at his store for at least ten years. One hundred dollars per week for 50 weeks for 10 years equals $50,000! Stew went on to say that a $50,000 customer is very different from a $100 customer! Figure it out. How much is the lifetime value of a customer? Then figure out the lifetime value of an average customer. How much would you spend (invest) to generate a customer?  

5. What is your formal referral marketing strategy? 
   How recommendable are you? How many recommendations have you received in the last three months? Almost every business owner I’ve met will tell me their company gets most new customers from referrals. Yet almost every one then admits they don’t have a formal referral marketing strategy! Does this make sense? Our #1 tool for generating new business and we don’t give it our highest priority? We don’t move heaven and earth learning how to build this strategy and we don’t crawl over broken glass to implement one? Here’s a huge tip—be recommendable first and then help facilitate that recommendation. What’s worth talking about GETS talked about…but you also want to help it along! 

6. What marketing tools do you use regularly to fill the funnel? 
   What new tools have you tested in the last three months? The first question may be easy to answer, but not the second. We ALL develop habits and routines. It’s only human nature to get into our comfort zone and want to stay there. If we learn how to use direct mail, what tool do we use over and over? Direct mail! Do we try other new tools? Sometimes, but we often only give them cursory effort. Hey, we tried video marketing once, but it didn’t work! So we go back to the comfort zone and use direct mail. It may not always work, but we have confidence in it and are comfortable with it, so we stick with what we know and keep on keeping on. 

   
   New communication tools are being developed all the time. And our customers develop their own preferences for being communicated with. Some people like to just get e-mail. Some want phone calls. Some want to do Zoom. As we recover from the pandemic, some do, and will, want face-to-face communication. Our job isn’t to expect customers and prospects to bend to OUR personal preference. Our job is to make it as easy as possible for our customers to hear from us.  

7. What business are you in? 
   What business do your customers want you to be in? Say you make widgets. Who cares? Here’s the thing: you might think you’re in the widget manufacturing business, but you’re not. You, my friend, are in the customer satisfaction business. Your customer wants to be satisfied. They want problems solved, challenges met, and sleep uninterrupted. 

   
   Your goal is to have long-term relationships with your customers, right? What are your special abilities and competencies? How do your customers WANT you to use them?

8. How many new customers did you attract in the last three months? How many customers did you lose?  
   You might know the answer to the first question, but what about the second? Look, NOBODY keeps all their customers forever. You will lose customers. This is important to track because you must make sure you've got a funnel filled with quality prospects to replace those you lose. 
   

   The other reality is that you will also occasionally lose a big customer, and that hurts. Big customers are tough to quickly replace. Yet most businesses get caught off-guard when this happens. Developing a strategy that takes just such an occasion into account is critical to your long-term success. 

9. Are you a transactional supplier or a transformational supplier? How do you know?  
   Transactional suppliers are focused on the next sale, the next quarter’s revenues. Transformational suppliers are focused on helping their customers be more successful as a result of their relationship. 

   
   Which brings me to the last and most difficult question: 

10. How much new money did your customers earn last year as a result of their relationship with you?  

    So, how’d you do? I believe the questions are ALL important. I’d suggest you take the time to think about every single question you don’t have an immediate answer to. Each one of these, answered correctly, can help you become Uncopyable.  

To learn more about the strategies and tools to make your company Uncopyable, check out the updated and expanded edition of Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition. Steve Miller is an author, professional/virtual speaker and business advisor. Since founding The Adventure LLC in 1984, Miller’s consulting clients have ranged from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 mega corporations, including Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. For your FREE copy of 108 Secrets to Grow Your Uncopyable Business (ebook), go to 108Secrets.com.

How to Get the Exact Position You Desire by Jennifer Janechek

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

Seven steps to your dream job

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill informs readers that “your achievement can be no greater than your plans are sound.” The sixth “step to riches,” then, is organized planning. In order to attain your life purpose—or what Hill terms your “definite major purpose”—you must create and implement plans characterized by definiteness. 

A new publication by Sound Wisdom and the Napoleon Hill Foundation, Think and Grow Rich in Ten Minutes a Day, distills Hill’s success philosophy so that the busy modern reader can quickly and effectively study and put into practice the greatest personal development program of all time. One of the many insights covered in this book is how to create plans to obtain the exact position you desire. Hill’s seven steps are as follows:  

1. Determine the exact job you want. If it doesn’t exist, create the position yourself. 

2. Select the company or individual for which/whom you intend to work. 

3. Research this company or individual extensively.

4. Analyze your talents and capabilities to determine what exactly you can offer this company or individual. 

5. Do not worry about whether there is a current job posting or position available; focus on the value you can add. 

6. Write—or hire someone to write—a cover letter that explains in detail your plan for providing the company/individual with specific benefits through your services. 

7. Identify the proper person with authority to whom you can send your letter (and résumé). 

As Hill’s advice intimates, many individuals focus more on themselves in their cover letter and interview than on the company. Instead, you should frame your skills and experience in terms of the value they bring to the organization to which you’re applying. That’s where your research will come in handy. Explain not only how you possess the competencies identified on the job ad but also how your values align with those of the company. And be as specific as possible: the more concrete examples you can give for how you plan to add value, the better. 

Hill firmly believed in the importance of choosing a job purposefully rather than “falling into” the first one that offers you a paycheck. Even if necessity drives you into a position that is not your desired one, you can approach it as an opportunity to build your résumé and skills while searching for another—using the seven steps above—with definiteness.  

For more concise, easy-to-implement success principles from the most well-known achievement philosophy of all time, order your copy of Think and Grow Rich in Ten Minutes a Day, available on November 17, 2020, from Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Books, Apple Books, Google Play, and other fine retailers. For the latest from the Napoleon Hill Collection, including free book and audiobook samples, visit this webpage.

Value and Price by Jim Stovall

Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash

People who succeed at the highest level over a long period of time create value in the lives of others. Warren Buffett said, “People know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Among the people and organizations with whom I consult, I always caution everyone about the risks of getting in a price war. If the main selling point of your product or service is that it is cheaper than anything else, you will either have short-term success or always be struggling to keep your costs down.  

Here in the global economy of the 21st century, it is not hard to find a multitude of people who are willing to work for less money than you may be. I would rather justify my price with value than apologize for low quality. In my personal and professional life, I have found that when I pay for quality products or services, it may be uncomfortable at first, but I am always grateful I looked at quality versus price in the long term. Any time I settle for cheaper services or products, I generally come to suffer the consequences in the long run. Just because something’s more expensive, doesn’t make it higher quality, but when something is significantly cheaper, it is invariably of low quality. 

As an author, speaker, TV and movie producer, or columnist, I strive to never be the least expensive alternative for those I serve. Instead, I strive to be a valuable asset in their lives and careers. When we seek out a surgeon, airline pilot, or babysitter, we invariably think of quality before price. A lower-quality alternative in these areas can be disastrous. However, anything worth doing is worth doing with excellence.  

Any component of your life that does not function with quality will eventually impact every area of your life. It’s important to make sure that when you pay for quality, you get it. If you’re not willing to make an investment in quality, you may want to wait until you can. My wife Crystal and I had a 15-year-old Pontiac that we paid a few hundred dollars for. We drove that car, known as “The Green Dog”—now famously immortalized in several of my books—until we were able to trade it in for a Mercedes. 

I’m not advocating a Mercedes over a Pontiac for you. All of us have to individually determine the things that are valuable in our lives and be prepared to invest accordingly. I know people who like to eat out five nights per week, so they can generally be found at a fast-food location. I also know people who appreciate an elite, fine dining experience, and they would rather stay home for several weeks in order to be able to have one memorable night out.  

There is no right or wrong answer; we just need to make sure that we receive all that we pay for. Hopefully we are all giving high-quality value for the money we receive, and we must be diligent to make sure that our hard-earned dollars bring us the quality we want in our lives. 

As you go through your day today, evaluate worth as opposed to cost. 

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including most recently Will to Win. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).   

Accountability and the Ballot Box by Sam Silverstein

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.” —from Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for The American President. 

Companies have cultures…and the best companies have cultures by design, cultures that are consciously created, and defended by the people who work within the organization. I do not often talk about this, but it is equally true that countries have cultures. 

As an American, I am lucky enough to live in a country whose culture is one that has been consciously designed. Our culture is one in which we hold as self-evident the truth that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is the culture we aspire to. That is America. But as Aaron Sorkin points out in the passage I quoted at the top of this post, America is not easy. This designed culture of ours, beautiful as it looks when written down on a sheet of paper, isn’t something we can just read passively and assume will exist for us without effort. We have to live it. And we have to defend it. 

As Americans, we need to ask ourselves: How do we best defend our consciously designed culture, the culture of democracy, the culture of a government by the people, of the people, and for the people? Here is my answer: By voting.  

I do not care about whom you vote for, but I do care about whether you vote. I believe that, for people who are blessed to live in a democracy, voting is the truest fulfillment of the accountability commitment that I call “It’s All of Us.”  Democracy is a collaborative undertaking. We do it together. That means if you fail, I fail. If you succeed, I succeed. The act of voting defines our democracy; choosing not to vote weakens our democracy. This is why I tell people that when it comes to defending the designed culture in which we live, we are each obliged to exercise the right to participate in local, state, and federal elections by casting a ballot. Commitments are non-negotiable. Our commitment as adult citizens to the nation in which we live, our commitment to “It’s All of Us,” must be defended by the act of voting. Period. 

That means overcoming any excuses we may tell ourselves and try to sell to others about why we shouldn’t participate at the ballot box: that voting doesn’t matter, that the democratic process is somehow flawed or unworthy of us, or even, as Sorkin’s words suggest, that people with whom we disagree may end up winning attention and influence. None of that matters. What matters is that we defend the culture.  

America is not easy. America constantly challenges us to defend its core principles, to rise above our excuses, and to participate directly in the realities of a democratic society. The very best way for each of us to do that, and to fulfill our personal commitment to “It’s All of Us,” is by casting our vote. As it is in our country it is also in our organizations. We must work for accountability. It’s never easy. 

If you have not yet registered to vote this November 3, please defend the culture of democracy right now by going to vote.gov. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His newest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is available from Sound Wisdom on November 9, 2020. Preorder it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog.

Masters of Accountability by Sam Silverstein

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash 

What is the first and most important commitment of accountable leaders? What do true Masters of Accountability always do?  

I ask this question often, and I get a wide variety of responses. It surprises me how rarely people share the answer I am looking for: Accountable leaders are committed to developing their team members to their fullest potential. 

That is their #1 priority. That is one of their “no matter what” commitments. That is what makes them Masters of Accountability: a commitment to developing their own people.  

Leadership is always—repeat, always—about the people you lead. It is about developing your people to be the best they can possibly be. If you call yourself a leader but you are not all in with that commitment, you are in the wrong line of work. 

There is a fascinating paradox at work here, however. We must start with ourselves. As accountable leaders, we cannot give what we do not have. That means we have to develop our own skills—so we can model and teach those skills to the team and the entire organization. We need to set meaningful development goals. We have to make a personal commitment to our own growth and development, not for our own self-aggrandizement, but as part of the larger organizational commitment to growth and development. That is what true Masters of Accountability do. 

If we want to develop our people, then we have to develop the ability to understand what accountability is in our own world, and we have to make sure that we are living and leading with accountability consistently. That means figuring out where we are starting from and coming up with a personal growth plan. So, as leaders, we should have a personal growth plan for ourselves—and we should also be helping each of the people we lead to develop their own personal growth plan. Here are three simple steps that leaders who are Masters of Accountability take in support of these interrelated goals. 

STEP ONE: Invest one minute in a Personal Accountability Assessment. You will find it here. This free assessment will give both you and your team members instant insights into those areas where your personal accountability is already strong, as well as those areas where there is room for improvement. This is the all-important first step in setting up the right personal growth plan: self-evaluation. 

STEP TWO: Discuss what you have learned, and set a personal development goal. Clearly define where you want to be, based on the feedback you have received. Knowing where you are now, find out where you want to go next as a leader—and when you want to get there. Once you have done that for yourself, sit down with each of your people one on one and help them to set up a compelling vision of what is possible in their lives. 

STEP THREE: Close the gap. Build a plan for getting from here to there, and start executing that plan. Your plan may take the form of a study group, or a book you choose to read, or an online course you choose to pursue, or any number of other opportunities for personal development. Choose one and build it into your weekly schedule. One powerful development option you and the members of your team may want to consider is the Pivot! course, which focuses on the three critical questions we all need to answer in order to become a more accountable leader, spouse, parent, family member, and friend. 

Never forget: it is the commitment to develop yourself as a leader so you can develop your people that sets you apart as a Master of Accountability.  That is what communicates to the team that you care about each of them as individuals and that you are loyal to them. That commitment to help them reach their full potential is what creates unshakable loyalty from them back to you. So be sure you follow the three steps I have just shared with you. Commit to your own growth and the growth of your team, no matter what! 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His newest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is available from Sound Wisdom on November 9, 2020. Preorder it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog. 

The Importance of a Good Morning Routine by Jennifer Janechek

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash 

When COVID hit and the schools moved online, I found myself trying to homeschool my then-four-year-old while working from home. This was difficult on its own, but the emotional weight of navigating my own fears and anxieties while managing my children’s concerns, while taking care of a home, while preparing nutritive meals, while performing well at my job, while trying to find time for self-care, while trying to locate Lysol wipes, paper towels, burrito shells, and English muffins (the items that disappeared from the shelves were often quite random)—the list goes on—often felt debilitating. Speaking with other working parents, I recognize that my experience was not unique. Stresses about the economy, our children’s well-being, and our productivity colored every day, making it difficult to manage everything on our plate. People without children struggled too. The level of overwhelm and uncertainty was intense.  

In an effort to frontload my work, I stopped using my morning time—my time alone before everyone else in the house gets up—for self-care out and started trying to pack in more work time. When I experienced burnout, I began wasting the first portion of my morning scrolling Instagram, consuming panic-inducing media, and “browser window shopping.” My mornings unraveled: soon there was very little “routine” in my routine. Everything felt like a haze, and I was drained by the time I began my workday in earnest. I knew I needed to take back control, and it had to start with the way I used my mornings.  

The key to a successful, energizing day is a good morning routine. Not only does it set the tone for the entire day, but it creates physical and cognitive changes that ripple outward, giving you positive momentum. Below are some tips for setting yourself up for success with a life-giving morning routine: 

1. Exercise first thing in the morning.* 
   I used to exercise midday because it forced me to break up prolonged periods of sitting with some physical activity. However, for me, the risk that I would talk myself out of my workout exponentially increased over the course of the day. The benefits of working out in the morning are also hard to ignore. According to Healthline, “A 2019 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that morning exercise improves attention, visual learning, and decision-making.” Morning workouts also boost energy, strengthen focus, improve mood, support metabolic health, and enhance sleep quality. Bonus: if you work out immediately after waking up, your body (and mind) won’t know what you’re doing until it’s too late to talk yourself out of it. 
   * Always consult your doctor before starting or modifying an exercise routine. 

2. Write down your daily goals—but make them doable. 
   While you drink your morning coffee (or other beverage of choice), either before or after your workout, write down the action items you will accomplish that day. Don’t make the list overwhelming or unreasonable; list only the items you can realistically cross off. You might have a second list with all your tasks from which you draw to create your daily to-do list. But by writing down you goals for that day at the beginning of the morning, you will have a clear sense of purpose and direction that will focus your activities. Without this list, it becomes too easy to slip into non-priority items or to find yourself off-track and on social media. (Also, the feeling of joy that comes from crossing off to-do list items is almost as good as exercise-induced endorphins, amiright?) 

3. Limit caffeine and boost your water intake. 
   Caffeine can be a lifeline for the sleep-deprived, but it can also have the reverse effect: it can make you feel simultaneously lethargic and anxious. This is because the overconsumption of caffeine can actually cause fatigue at the same time that it stimulates your fight-or-flight response. According to Healthline, “If you stick to 400 mg of caffeine per day or less and go easy on the added sugar, you should reap the benefits of caffeine and avoid its drawbacks.” I found this to be true: my first cup of coffee revved me up, but a second cup actually brought me down (mood and energy levels). While I felt fatigue, I was on edge and experienced stronger emotions than I did when I had only one cup. An associated issue is that caffeine can cause dehydration, which also impacts energy levels and mood. Swapping that second cup of coffee with a big glass of water will ensure you feel better energized to tackle your day. 

4. Avoid toxic media. 
   Don’t read the news, scroll your social media feeds, or check your e-mail until you’ve completed your morning routine. It’s too easy to get sucked into the negativity and attention-demanding requests that threaten to derail your morning. Give yourself the space to gather your thoughts, take care of your health, and mindfully prepare for the day without allowing the toxicity that is out there to infiltrate your bubble and augment fear and stress. Mindfulness expert and celebrity hypnotist Ricky Kalmon offers a number of mindfulness audio guides through his app, and you can get access to an exclusive audio program within the app for free with your purchase of his new book, Leverage Your Mindset: Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Amplify Your Life! (His book also works incredibly well as a morning mentality primer, as principle #5 below recommends: Kalmon’s Leverage Your Mindset program helps you recalibrate your mindset and update it with constructive thoughts in only 10–15 minutes per day.) If you stick to your morning routine, you will be better able to combat the negativity that comes at you later on—and better equipped to sort through the problems thrown at you and discern which actually require your time and emotional investment.  

5. Read for personal growth. 
   Carve out 20 minutes to read a chapter of a book that will inspire personal growth and motivate you to achieve your goals—yes, goals!—even in the year we shall not name. It is possible to shift from surviving to thriving. One chapter a day—that’s all it takes to get your mind right, focused on gratitude, positivity, and the success that’s in store for you. Sound Wisdom has got you covered on this front. Check out our full list of publications for content that will inspire business development, transformative leadership, well-being, and peak performance. And be sure to subscribe to the Sound Wisdom Blog for weekly motivation delivered straight to your inbox! 

Commit to a morning routine that combines these elements, and you’ll start your day feeling excited and more in control—of your outcomes and your emotions.  

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom and the founder of Work–Home–Life, an online magazine and virtual community for remote and hybrid workers, freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs with home offices. She is also the host of The Sound Wisdom Podcast, which you can watch on the Sound Wisdom YouTube channel or listen to on Anchor or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Uncopyable Innovation: Stealing Genius by Steve Miller

I was a teenager when my father joined up with Bill Lear to create one of the most iconic and industry-changing products ever—the 8-track tape player. Lear had been with Motorola when he decided to start a new business jet company, aptly named Lear Jet. But Lear was also one of those guys who had more ideas than time.  

In the late ’50s, early ’60s, Chrysler manufactured a car with a record player in it. It flipped down from underneath the dashboard and only played 45s. (For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Google it, you young whippersnappers!) 

It was a great idea to take your own music with you in the car, but clearly, the turntable was not a good way of doing it. Those of us old enough to remember can picture the needle bouncing all over the record while driving down Main Street. 

Lear thought there must be a better way and went looking for someone to help develop this idea with. He found my dad, Ralph, working in Columbus, Indiana, and offered him a job. Dad was already known as something of an audio/video wunderkind, having developed and patented some pretty cool ideas. 

Lear began another new company, this one called Lear Jet Stereo, and together they improved on another company’s idea—the Muntz 4-track—ultimately coming up with the 8-track so well known in consumer electronics lexicon. 

Without going into all the gritty details, the 8-track tapes and players ended up being manufactured in Japan. Think about that for a moment. “Made in Japan” in the 1960s. For the most part, Japan wasn’t known for its high-quality products. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Japanese-made products back then were more known for their poor quality and workmanship than anything else. They made cheap stuff. And labor costs were very low. 

The idea of manufacturing a complicated piece of electronics of high enough quality to be sold back to the world’s biggest consumer nation—the USA—must have been daunting to my dad and Lear, but they met an American consultant who was at the time consulting for some Japanese manufacturers, including Toyota. He was W. Edwards Deming, an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer and consultant. As Wikipedia describes it, “Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later reputation for innovative high-quality products and its economic power. He is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage.” 

At the time, I had the bad fortune to be dragged to some dinners with Dad, Lear, and Deming. In hindsight, it’s easy to see how valuable it might have been to be that fly on the wall while these three pretty smart guys discussed manufacturing. But like I said, I was young. Sitting through those times was like experiencing the torture of constant water drops on your forehead.  

I learned much later that Deming taught his Japanese clients to build quality into the manufacturing process first. This was significant in that most companies built products first and then tested them via Quality Control after. Lear Jet Stereo didn’t have that luxury because they didn’t have deep pockets.  

Fortunately, a few tidbits of information managed to stick in the back of my tiny little teenage boy brain. Two such tidbits were the concepts of maintaining a vigorous program of education and constant self-improvement. Deming often stressed that both were accelerated by what we know as benchmarking. Most of us know the definition of benchmarking as: To observe correct behavior and then emulate within our own context. In other words, study best practices and then adapt to our needs. Most of us practice this type of benchmarking in one way or another. But the way we do this is incorrect for the most part. This happens quite unintentionally, though. Our heuristics actually get in the way. Here’s how I define heuristics: Individuals assess probabilities based on their familiarity with a certain task, idea, or environment. Humans attempt to frame a decision based on prior situations confronted and successfully negotiated. Individuals start at one place in a decision matrix and adjust from that initial point. In other words, we don’t see things as they really are. We see things as we are.

It actually goes further than that, though. We not only see the world through our own filters, but we actually experience it that way, as well. We read the same magazines and trade publications as most of the people we spend time with. We attend the same conferences and trade shows as everybody else in our industry. We bookmark the same webpages. And we hang out in the same online discussion groups on LinkedIn. So, when we start “observing correct behavior,” who do we benchmark? Why, we study other people and companies within our world, that’s who! We take ideas from the same speakers and consultants as everybody else does. We walk the same trade show floors as everyone else does—looking for “new” ideas we can incorporate next year. “Hey, they’ve got a magician and a really crowded booth. That’s what WE’LL do next year!” And what happens? After a while, everyone is stealing from each other. We all start to look alike, and we all start to act alike. We are all copyable.  

Deming understood this and, after a couple of martinis, used to rail on about how stupid this was.  

Yes, it’s important to know what the competition is doing. We must pay attention and make sure we aren’t getting left behind. But when the Radisson hotel group started promoting their rooms with the Tempur-Pedic Sleep Number Bed, they weren’t innovating. They were copying the Westin Hotel Heavenly Bed. Did they think they were adding some awesome new benefit customers couldn’t get anywhere else? Possibly, but that’s the danger of heuristics. The fact is Radisson’s efforts are really no better than a hotel who touts a better coffee maker. 

Like I said, Deming understood this. And many years later it finally sunk into the back of my tiny little adult boy brain. If you truly want to innovate—if you want to be so different you’re Uncopyable—you must benchmark outside your world. 

I’d been talking with Jim Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom department stores at the time. We’d met on the golf course, and he began asking me questions about marketing. Frankly, I was a little taken aback by this and said, “Jim, I can’t give you any marketing advice. I don’t know anything about retail.” To which he responded, “That’s exactly why I’m asking you. The retail consultants will tell me the same thing they would tell my competition. You might tell me something none of us had thought of before. You tell me what you know, and we’ll figure out how to use it.” 

That was the epiphany. I finally saw the mistake most businesses make. Deming’s rants all of a sudden made perfect sense.  Even Albert Einstein saw the need to look for answers and new ideas from outside our heuristics: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” 

History is rife with examples of accidental external benchmarking, i.e., discoveries: 

Velcro 

The hook-and-loop fastener was conceived in 1941 by Swiss engineer George de Mestral who lived in Commugny, Switzerland. The idea came to him one day after returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps. He took a close look at the burrs (seeds) of burdock that kept sticking to his clothes and his dog’s fur. He examined them under a microscope and noted their hundreds of “hooks” that caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing, animal fur, or hair. He saw the possibility of binding two materials reversibly in a simple fashion if he could figure out how to duplicate the hooks and loops. (Wikipedia) 

Anesthesia 

Crawford Long, William Morton, Charles Jackson, and Horace Wells all come to mind when talking about anesthesia. These men realized that in some cases, ether and nitrous oxide (laughing gas) inhibited pain in people under their influence. In the 1800s, inhaling either of these compounds was somewhat popular for both recreation and entertainment. By witnessing and even partaking in these events, often called “laughing parties” and “ether frolics,” anesthesia’s founding fathers learned more about how these experiences affected people’s perceptions of pain. 

One example in particular demonstrates the accidental discovery of these compounds used to prevent pain in the medical field. In 1844, Horace Wells attended an exhibit and witnessed a participant injure his leg while under the influence of laughing gas. The man, whose leg was bleeding, told Wells that he didn’t feel any pain. After his accidental discovery, Wells used the compound as an anesthetic while he removed his tooth. From there, anesthesia’s use during medical procedures and surgeries took off. Wells, Morton, and Jackson began to collaborate and use anesthesia in dental practices, while Crawford Long used ether for minor surgeries. 

Other examples include the microwave oven, the ice cream cone, Teflon, Post-It Notes, the Slinky, the drive-through window at McDonalds, and Play-Doh. All are examples of serendipitous discovery. 

And, although not as common, there are also examples of intentional benchmarking outside the common walls. My favorite example is Southwest Airlines. The airline industry is probably one of the most egregious examples of an industry that’s stuck in its own heuristics. American Airlines starts a frequent flyer program. Everybody follows suit. United Airlines starts charging for baggage. Everybody follows suit. Delta Airlines creates a hub and spoke system. In an industry of copycats, it’s amazing companies like Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin have been able to resist the hypnotic pull of follow-the-follower. 

Back when Southwest Air wasn’t the airline industry’s profit leader, Herb Kelleher, CEO, came to the realization that SWA didn’t make money when an airplane was at a gate. It only made money in the air. Kelleher decided SWA would cut the turnaround time drastically, but how to learn?  

The answer was to observe and learn from NASCAR pit crews. Top teams can change all four tires, fill up the gas tank, check the oil, clean the windshield, and vacuum the floor mats in under 12 seconds. (Okay, I made up the floor mat part.) Southwest Air learned how to get everybody—pilots, ground crew, gate agents, and flight attendants—involved in getting a plane offloaded, reloaded, and in the air faster than any other airline. I’ve personally timed multiple flights myself and have never seen a turnaround take more than 20 minutes. On the flip side, I’ve never seen American, Delta, or United ever turn a plane in less than 40. Southwest benchmarked outside their industry when they studied NASCAR pit crews. Instead of copying competitors and then doing “more of the same, but better,” they looked for the genius answer. 

Who is the best in the world, no matter what industry, and how do they solve this? 

That’s why I call it Stealing Genius. Pablo Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” Steve Jobs quoted Picasso in a short video clip I often cite, and he goes further by explaining how Apple has used the concept. If you want to be Uncopyable, this is the mindset you need.  

In the world of comedy, it’s said there are no new jokes. Brilliant humorists are able to uniquely twist an old story…camouflaging it to the point we don’t even recognize it…until we are set up for the “we didn’t see that coming” punch line. 

Every time I teach a group how to Steal Genius, they’re almost caught off guard by its power and effectiveness. A few years ago, I took 28 exhibitors from the huge annual automotive aftermarket trade show, AAPEX, through a Stealing Genius laboratory. We met in Las Vegas and the objective was for them to learn better methods for attracting quality buyers into their booth and turn them into customers. I sent them out to study three local “trade shows”—the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, and the Shoppes at The Palazzo. I asked them to observe how the “exhibitors” (the retailers) grabbed shoppers’ attention, how they helped the shoppers qualify themselves, how they displayed products, what type of graphics and messaging was used, and how the “exhibit staffers” (the salespeople) helped them. 

Many of the participants said they’d never seen the similarity between a shopping mall and a trade show, but once their eyes were opened, it was clear. And it became a great learning exercise. Delphi Automotive was so motivated they completely scrapped their existing exhibit plan and booth, developing a new strategy based on some stolen genius. They had their best trade show ever, according to Roger Powell, Director of Marcomm.  

That’s the beauty of Stealing Genius. Once you see the myriad of possibilities outside your own world, you’ll find many new ideas. And once you learn how to do it, it becomes a skill you’ll use to observe your experiences—and your world—to come up with ideas you never would have thought of.  

So, the next time you are looking for a new idea for your organization—maybe a new marketing promotion, a new product idea, a new customer service, or maybe a branding proposition—don’t look at your competition. Don’t even look within your own industry. Look outside. Look at people, organizations, and industries completely unrelated to yours. What are they doing in those areas you want to get better at? How do they solve similar problems? 

Then ask yourself, “What can I steal?” 

To learn more about the strategies and tools to make your company Uncopyable, check out the updated and expanded edition of Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition. Steve Miller is an author, professional/virtual speaker and business advisor. Since founding The Adventure LLC in 1984, Miller’s consulting clients have ranged from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 mega corporations, including Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. For your FREE copy of 108 Secrets to Grow Your Uncopyable Business (ebook), go to 108Secrets.com.  

Paycheck to Paycheck by Jim Stovall

Recent government and industry statistics show that 70 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. This means that these individuals are literally less than a month from going into default on their obligations, and bankruptcy is not far behind. When you study the individuals who make up this 70 percent segment of our population, there are some interesting factors that I believe can teach us all some valuable lessons.  

The majority of the population who is living paycheck to paycheck have received several raises over the past five years. When you track their earning vs. spending, these raises make little or no long-term difference. In fact, in many cases, these paycheck to paycheck individuals are actually worse off financially several months after receiving an increase in income. This is because they use their increased income to secure more consumer debt.  

This consumer debt, quite often, is used to purchase things that are decreasing in value. Any time you are involved in an economic model that involves borrowing money, paying a high rate of interest, and acquiring assets that are not worth the amount of the obligation while they continue to go down in value, you are in a never-ending losing cycle.  

If you are one of these paycheck to paycheck individuals who makes up 70 percent of our population, let’s look at some steps you can take to break the cycle. 

1. Stop all consumer debt going forward. If you find yourself in a hole, literally or figuratively, the first step toward getting out of the hole is to stop digging. Cut up your credit cards and vow to never again buy anything involving consumer debt.  

2. Give your household a thorough financial checkup. Figure out how much money is coming in and where it is all going. You will be amazed at the amount of money you spend on things you had never really considered. I’m not telling you how you should spend your money, I’m simply saying it should be a conscious decision on your part. You work hard for your money, and it should work hard for you in the areas where you want to spend your income.  

3. Get on a budget. A budget is nothing more or less than you taking control and ordering your money to do what you want it to do. Your budget is not a confining, inflexible document. Instead, it is there to help you save your sinking financial ship. 

If you will follow these three simple steps, you will find yourself in the upper 30 percent of people in our society and well on your way to financial independence. 

As you go through your day today, remember you’re going to have to change your financial pattern if you’re going to change your financial results. 

Today’s the day!  

This is an excerpt from Wisdom for Winners Volume 2, which is now available to listen to on Audible. Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including most recently Will to Win. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).   

Who Are You? Are You Accountable? by Sam Silverstein

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash 

You and I are living through a strange time, a time that will be written about in history books for decades and centuries to come. We are living through a time when the pressures and challenges we face are causing many among us to choose to perpetuate cycles of fear, anger, and greed. Yet this is also a time when others around us are just as prominently motivated by choices that sustain love, compassion, and generosity in their lives and the lives of those around them. 

Make no mistake: These are not easy times in which we find ourselves. These are times when our character is being tested. These are times that produce extreme responses. And each of our responses is the answer to a critical question: Who are you and what do you believe? 

It is worth remembering as we navigate these times that it is always up to us to choose the responses we will make to the challenges we face. We always have a choice about how we will respond. We always get to choose who we are and what we believe. All of our responses to a situation say exactly who we are and what we believe. 

We always get to choose the Source of our beliefs and values—it may be the Bible, it may be the Quran, it may be the Torah, it may be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It may be the silent question “What would my grandfather do in this situation?” To be defendable, our Source and our belief system must value people and respect the rights of others. But the point is, we must choose to follow that Source once we identify it. We always have a choice about what voices and influences we are going to listen to when it comes to deciding what we really stand for…and where we draw the lines of right and wrong in our life. 

We always get to choose whether our words and actions align with what we say we believe. When we ignore our Source and make decisions that do not align with our best selves, we make the world a darker, more dangerous place, and we make our lives smaller and more self-absorbed. On the other hand, when we choose words and actions that align with our most deeply held beliefs, we deepen our character, we make the world a better place, and we are better positioned to serve the larger human family. 

We always get to choose whether we are focusing on things we can control or on things we cannot control. When we choose to focus on that which we cannot control, we make excuses. When we choose to focus on that which we can control, we make decisions and we move forward in our lives.   

We always get to choose the commitments we will make, and honor, in our relationships. When we make commitments but fail to honor them, we damage our relationships and undermine our own sense of whom we are meant to be. When we open ourselves up to making and keeping relational commitments—commitments that serve others and support our connections to people—something extraordinary happens. Eventually, someone we have touched in a positive way tells us about the impact we have had on their life, the obstacles we have helped them to overcome, and the contributions we have inspired them to make. When that happens, we know we are on the right track. 

Our actions, our focus, and our commitments tell the world who we really are and what we really believe. We always get to choose the person we will share with the larger world. As we look for ways to make sense of the many challenges that lie before us in 2020 and beyond, let’s be absolutely certain we are sharing the highest and best expressions of ourselves with the rest of the human family. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His newest book, The Accountability Circle: Discovering Your True Purpose, Potential, and Impact with Accountability Partnerships, is available from Sound Wisdom on November 9, 2020. Preorder it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, or Porchlight Books. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog. 

The Jack-of-All-Trades by Jennifer Janechek

Trying to “do it all” is a form of procrastination that will delay your success. 

Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to success is the human tendency to juggle too many tasks at once. So often we pride ourselves on our ability to multitask and “do it all.” However, what we neglect to realize is that in “doing it all,” we are really doing nothing substantive. We are merely treading water—distributing effort across a multitude of tasks, expending energy just to stay afloat. If we pause for a moment to consider the reality of our situation, we discover that we have not, in actuality, moved forward. We have made no progress; and yet, we are completely exhausted from wasting our energy on divergent aims. 

We are all familiar with the ills of procrastination on a small scale. We know it is counterproductive to whittle away our time by mindlessly scrolling social media apps, daydreaming, watching television, and engaging in other activities that prevent us from making progress on our goals (though our awareness of this often doesn’t translate into action). But we are less familiar with this other form of procrastination, which might be considered more pernicious because it does not at first glance appear to be a method of wasting time; on the contrary, it clothes itself in the guise of productivity. Trying to do too many things at once—to be good at everything—makes us appear successful by virtue of our busyness: we juggle so much; surely, we must be getting somewhere! And yet, what of value are we accomplishing? In reality, we are delaying our success by wasting time and energy on efforts that do not support our primary goal—what Napoleon Hill called our “definite chief aim” or “definite major purpose.” 

Hill recognized how detrimental our inability to align our efforts with a definite chief aim is to our potential for success. After all, one of the thirty major causes of failure he identifies in Think and Grow Rich is attempting to be successful at too many different pursuits. As he writes, “The ‘jack-of-all-trades’ seldom is good at any. Concentrate your efforts on one DEFINITE CHIEF AIM.” In Napoleon Hill’s Power of Positive Action, we likewise are instructed to “direct our limited energies to what we want to achieve and not dissipate them on things of no consequence.… By focusing on what we want to achieve or do that will create a lasting impact, we are directing our energies to what is truly important to us.” 

How much more could we achieve if we evaluated all our commitments and weeded out those that are not moving us toward our definite chief aim? Of course, sometimes we must perform a role or task that is not directly related to our definite chief aim if it is necessary to the maintenance of health or security, e.g., working a job unrelated to our desired profession in order to support our family. However, even this should be reframed as supporting our progress because it is a means of ensuring that our basic needs are met. I am talking more about our tendency to overcommit ourselves, taking on roles and activities that do not align with our desired outcome. For example: Do you really need to volunteer for that board position? Does this freelancing opportunity support your professional goals or take away time that could be used for deepening your knowledge and skill set in the area you most want to pursue? Which “side hustle” could drive your success if you pursued it wholeheartedly, and which ones are serving as distractions from your chief desire? 

Hill explains in Napoleon Hill’s Gold Standard that “the man who controls his own mind may control everything else that gets in his way.” And as he acknowledges, no form of controlled attention is more important than that which is directed toward one’s definite major purpose. 

So today, take inventory of your commitments—everything that requires your time, energy, or attention. How do these tasks, roles, and responsibilities align with your definite chief aim? 

If they do not, or if you are unsure, the first step is to clearly define your definite chief aim. Without a thoroughly defined goal, you will continue to waste energy on pursuits that lack direction. In his speech “What I Learned from Analyzing Ten Thousand People,” transcribed and printed in Napoleon Hill’s Greatest Speeches, Hill recommends the following: 

Make a practice of concentrating upon matters pertaining to a single interest, and you will become absorbed in it as an ideal. You will acquire a standard by which to appraise the value to you of the facts of your life. 

Make a practice of concentrating upon a single interest, and you will acquire a constant and completely “possessing” and automatic inhibitory power. You will without thinking refrain from many useless activities. You will refrain from indulgence in pleasures and recreations that would interfere with the accomplishment of your main purpose. 

Clarify your definite major purpose, and begin today to consistently envision the realization of it so that all your thought processes align with your desired outcome. By doing so, you will be better equipped to discern which activities will bring you closer to your chief desire and which will only distract you from it, and you will be able to eliminate from your life those unnecessary commitments that drain your time, energy, and attention. Imagine what you will be able to accomplish when you have renewed these resources and redirected them toward a single interest!  

In his or her versatility and constant occupation, the jack-of-all-trades might appear to be successful, but it is better to be great at one thing than to be mediocre at many things. Do not limit your success by merely “keeping busy.” Invest all your actions with purpose, and you will be amazed at the momentum you gain toward attaining what you desire most in life. 

Jennifer Janechek is the director of content strategy for Sound Wisdom and the founder of Work–Home–Life, an online magazine and virtual community for remote and hybrid workers, freelancers, digital nomads, and entrepreneurs with home offices. 

For the latest from the Napoleon Hill Collection, including free book and audiobook samples, visit this webpage. The latest in this collection is Think and Grow Rich in Ten Minutes a Day, which is available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Books, and other fine retailers. This succinct, engaging summary extracts the key principles, instructions, and stories from Hill’s original, unedited masterpiece and provides updated, relevant examples—in modernized, easily accessible language—so that all readers, regardless of how busy they are, can benefit from the timeless wisdom found in Hill’s book. Action items added to the original text will help readers expertly apply each chapter’s lessons. This title will be released by Sound Wisdom on November 17, 2020. 

How Hunting Moose Can Transform Your Company’s Marketing by Steve Miller

Does your company suffer from low closing rates? If so, there’s a good chance you—or the people on your marketing team—are not hunting moose. 

That’s right, hunting moose. Let me explain. 

Hunting moose is a marketing lesson I’ve carried for years. Today, it makes for the strategic marketing foundation for all my clients as I help them create and maintain long-term relationships with their customers. 

So, what exactly is hunting moose? It’s target marketing—done the right way.  

The reality is, many companies today struggle with effective marketing. Too often they make the mistake of thinking everyone should want or need the product or service they’re selling. They try to sell to everyone. That’s an issue because not everyone is the same. We’re all different, with different needs and interests. 

Here’s why I call it hunting moose. Imagine for a moment the world is a forest. Like any other forest, it is full of different animals—bears, birds, rabbits, deer, wolves, moose, squirrels, etc. Now, your company has made the conscious decision that your product or service is best suited for moose. The moose represents your target market. You’re interested only in moose, not any of the other animals. 

Determining your Market—hunting moose—is the first step in The Marketing Diamond, the foundation of the Uncopyable philosophy. I detail it in my book, Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition. Every successful marketing strategy starts with defining and understanding your moose. 

The trouble is that too many companies cast their net wide—onto all of the animals in the forest in hopes their moose will be among them. But think about this: If I gave you 10 different prospects (all different types of animals including moose), how many would you close? Now, imagine all 10 of those prospects were moose. You can bet your overall close rate would significantly increase. 

A moose is a prospect, but what we’re really after is a qualified lead. A qualified lead not only represents your target market, they also demonstrate a clear interest in your company’s product or service. They “get it” and agree they have a need. That person is a qualified lead. In other words, they’re a hungry moose.  

The easy part for most companies is defining their prospect in terms of geographical location, industry, company size, job function, their role within the buying process, etc. However, there’s a second and very critical behavior prospects must display in order to be a qualified lead. They must show interest. What would cause a prospect to be interested? Consider the following: 

• There’s a specific problem you solve 

• You save them time or money 

• You present them with unique opportunities 

Here’s an example. Let’s say I’m a new car salesperson and, if I were to look at you, there’s a good chance you’d fit the profile of my target. You’re my moose. I think you need to buy a new car. But do you think you need a new car? If you do, then bingo! You might be willing to test drive a few cars and may even leave with a new set of wheels. That’s the power of interest. But if you don’t think you need a new car, then my odds of selling you one are probably slim to none.  

Okay, let’s say you find someone who fits the profile of your target market but, for whatever reason, they display no level of interest. What do you do? In this scenario, you may want to consider a drip campaign. A drip campaign is a communication strategy in which you send or “drip” prewritten content or messages over time (i.e., e-mail newsletters, etc.). This way you are still communicating with them and offering them value through content, but you’re not investing people time. 

The bottom line: Don’t waste time trying to sell to everyone. Look for your moose, and only your moose. Then, give them opportunities to raise their hand (or hoof?) to say, “I’m interested.” Now, you have a hungry moose. Your job of closing them just got a whole lot easier. 

It’s your turn. Go out into the forest, find your moose, and make them hungry. Do that, and your closing rate will skyrocket.  

Happy hunting! 

To learn more about the strategies and tools to make your company Uncopyable, check out the updated and expanded edition of Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Book Company, Google Play, Apple Books, and other fine retailers. Steve Miller is an author, professional/virtual speaker, and business advisor. Since founding The Adventure LLC in 1984, Miller’s consulting clients have ranged from solo entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 mega corporations, including Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. For your FREE copy of “108 Secrets to Grow Your Uncopyable Business” (ebook), go to 108Secrets.com.