1.     The best way to gain weight is to go on a diet.

2.     The best way to keep your word is not to give it.

3.     The best way to block a punch is to not be there.

4.     The best way to improve a meeting is to cancel it.

5.     The best way to change the world is to love it first.

6.     The best way to get a dog is to beg for a baby brother.

7.     The best way to shut people up is to show people zeroes.

8.     The best way to beat the odds is to have a massive output.

9.     The best way to take care of your brain is to keep using it.

10.  The best way to get over a lover is to turn him into literature.

11.  The best way to delegate a task is to eliminate the need for it.

12.  The best way to bring home the bacon is to raise your own pigs.

13.  The best way to fight against the darkness is to become the light.

14.  The best way to get off your pedestal is to knock yourself off of it.

15.  The best way to make someone feel essential is to allow her to be herself.

16.  The best way to master an idea is to spend time thinking about why it doesn’t work.

1.     Be yourself and let the universe deal with it.

2.     Be a bowl of beneficial information.

3.     Be a chronicler of life.

4.     Be a consistent and reliable example.

5.     Be a disturbance.

6.     Be a full partner in the awakening process.

7.     Be a gateway person.

8.     Be a good self-advertisement.

9.     Be a great asker.

10.  Be a great fixer.

11.  Be a light unto yourself.

12.  Be a living statement.

13.  Be a person of consistent character and constitution.

14.  Be a person of good fortune.

15.  Be a platform.

16.  Be a recognized innovator.

17.  Be a rock people can count on.

18.  Be a source of infinite opportunity.

19.  Be a source of sobriety.

20.  Be a strategic catalyst.

21.  Be a ten.

22.  Be a vibrant body.

23.  Be absorbed in the moment.

24.  Be active in preserving and healing the environment.

25.  Be actively interested and observant.

26.  Be adult in your responses.

27.  Be alert to opportunities that present themselves.

28.  Be always guided by your body’s wisdom.

29.  Be always on the lookout to have a good time.

30.  Be always planting seeds for the future.

31.  Be an aggregator of valuable content.

32.  Be an amazing chooser.

33.  Be an archaeologist of your own life.

34.  Be an attender.

35.  Be an exponent.

36.  Be an extemporous being.

37.  Be an impulsive and compulsive finder.

38.  Be an interpreter and messenger of truth.

39.  Be an intersectionalist.

40.  Be an invitation.

41.  Be an observer of the consequence of action.

42.  Be at home with yourself.

43.  Be at peace with your path.

44.  Be available to any spontaneous feelings that begin to arise.

45.  Be available to any ways in which you are not acting out of integrity.

46.  Be aware of your bias.

47.  Be aware of the time wasters in your life.

48.  Be aware of your entire horizon.

49.  Be beautiful to listen to.

50.  Be body smart.

51.  Be bold in facing the inevitable.

52.  Be bolder in your experimentation.

53.  Be brave early.

54.  Be careful about the expectations you set for yourself.

55.  Be careful not to display your panic.

56.  Be careful not to fall in love with the idealized image of this person or else you won’t be able to hear anything bad about this person.

57.  Be careful not to lapse into rationality.

58.  Be careful not to put all your stock in your workplace.

59.  Be careful what types of energy you participate in.

60.  Be careful what you begin.

61.  Be cautiously bold.

62.  Be commitment personified.

63.  Be compassionate with yourself.

64.  Be compulsively readable.

65.  Be conscious about what you have established as expectations.

66.  Be curious earlier.

67.  Be dedicated to stimulating, serving and supporting the aliveness in others

68.  Be deliberately intriguing and vague with people at first.

69.  Be engaged in becoming.

70.  Be enormously impatient, unclouded by the shadow of scaredshitlessness.

71.  Be enough now because nothing will ever make you happy in the future.

72.  Be excellence driven.

73.  Be extinguished in the truth.

74.  Be faithful to yourself.

75.  Be famous for the people who love you and for the way you love them.

76.  Be flexible in the way you view the world.

77.  Be funny first then slip in your opinion.

78.  Be fuzzier sooner.

79.  Be genuinely at ease with the path you’re on.

80.  Be genuinely committed to honoring reality.

81.  Be good news before your share it.

82.  Be high on consideration.

83.  Be impressed with things that don’t count.

84.  Be impressive in execution not promise.

85.  Be in love with your own life.

86.  Be in the business of big ideas.

87.  Be in touch with your unique humanness.

88.  Be insubordinate when it matters.

89.  Be intentional in how you view people.

90.  Be intimate with your experience.

91.  Be kind to yourself when you fall short.

92.  Be known by people who matter.

93.  Be lamps unto yourself.

94.  Be large and small enough.

95.  Be meticulous in your attendance.

96.  Be more potent.

97.  Be more receptive to the whispers.

98.  Be more you.

99.  Be not a model of perfection.

100.        Be not an enabler of low road passage.

101.        Be not anxious to be virtuous.

102.        Be not checkmated.

103.        Be not distracted by your own nonsense.

104.        Be not distracted from your original vision.

105.        Be not divorced from essence.

106.        Be not encumbered by falsehoods.

107.        Be not humiliated by having others see you truly.

108.        Be not impatient with reasonable delays.

109.        Be not locked into limited concepts of who you are.

110.        Be not managed by every event that comes along.

111.        Be not overwhelmed by circumstances.

112.        Be not paralyzed by your own mistakes.

113.        Be not satisfied with looking just once.

114.        Be not seduced by secondary successes.

115.        Be not timid about your conclusions.

116.        Be of path and power.

117.        Be of your own sphere.

118.        Be on the lookout for mentorship opportunities.

119.        Be open to all you are.

120.        Be open to discovering new dimensions of yourself.

121.        Be open to every nuance around you

122.        Be open to ideas from everyone

123.        Be open to looking outside your current frame of reference

124.        Be open to new notions of yourself

125.        Be open to receiving answers

126.        Be open to receiving the energies that are required

127.        Be open to the hard times

128.        Be open to your internal territory

129.        Be patient in learning to live physically what you know intellectually

130.        Be patient with their weaknesses

131.        Be persistence personified

132.        Be plastered with perseverance

133.        Be precious about the brain slots you hold

134.        Be prepared to advance

135.        Be prepared to change your execution plans

136.        Be prepared to fight a battle

137.        Be prepared when nobody expect you to

138.        Be proactive about managing your future

139.        Be prolific in your commiuncation

140.        Be prolific in your communication

141.        Be proprietary

142.        Be quietly available

143.        Be quite still and solitary

144.        Be relentless about the importance of

145.        Be responsible for your own evolution

146.        Be responsive to the conditions presented to you

147.        Be responsive to what others are feeling

148.        Be rewarded for the value I’m able to create

149.        Be ruthless with grumblers

150.        Be safe, stay away from the bad kids and use condoms

151.        Be self-observant

152.        Be shamelessly enthusiastic about your calling.doc

153.        Be so compelling that your audience demands to hear more immediately

154.        Be so surrendered.doc

155.        Be someone who offers a dependable perspective

156.        Be submissive to everything

157.        Be sure your example is worth copying

158.        Be surgically in your improvement

159.        Be that ear

160.        Be the difference.doc

161.        Be the example that penetrates the whole world

162.        Be the first to tell the marketplace what the criteria are and that you satisfy them

163.        Be the flag bearer

164.        Be the key to unlocking growth

165.        Be the last man to abandon the hill

166.        Be the leader, but don’t be in charge

167.        Be the message you seek to deliver

168.        Be the message

169.        Be the most YOU version of yourself

170.        Be the one everyone else is trying to kill

171.        Be the only path to fulfillment

172.        Be the pebble in the pond

173.        Be the person on the outside that you are on the inside

174.        Be the sacrifice that would count

175.        Be the source the initiator the original the first the one the OG.doc

176.        Be too good to forget.doc

177.        Be true to your own insight

178.        Be true to your path

179.        Be unabashed in admitting

180.        Be unafraid of bignesss

181.        Be uncomfortable when you write

182.        Be unhesitating

183.        Be unmistakably you

184.        Be unreasonable, irrational, illogical and utterly insane.doc

185.        Be vibrantly vulnerable

186.        Be vigilant in what you give importance to in your thinking

187.        Be virile in your toughness

188.        Be well tuned to the ears of your time

189.        Be what the moment requires

190.        Be widely regarded

191.        Be wiling to find your own freedom

192.        Be willing to accept something without understanding it

193.        Be willing to be crucified

194.        Be willing to be reminded who you really are.doc

195.        Be willing to bring forth the fruit

196.        Be willing to change what you expect from yourself

197.        Be willing to die with your boots on

198.        Be willing to risk rejection

199.        Be willing to trust the process of change

200.        Be willing to work horizontally

201.        Be with your vehicle without distractions

202.        Be worthy of investigation

203.        Be your kinkiest and loving best

204.        Be your own advertising agent

205.        Be your own devil’s advocate.

 

1.     Start with yourself. Think back to the last time you returned from vacation. Ten voicemails were waiting for you. QUESTION: Whom did you call back first? What made you want to – or not want to – call that person back? And which of the ten voicemails did you delete within two seconds of hearing the message? This baseline exercise is the perfect way to enter into the caller mindset. Plus it helps you pinpoint voicemail behaviors that turn even YOU off. What voicemails do it for you?

2.     Don’t overlook the motivational ability of self-interest. It’s important to remember that the person you’re calling does NOT care about you. He cares about money, sex and happiness. That’s it. And if your voicemail doesn’t help him get more of any of those things – or less of the opposite – consider your message deleted. For that reason, you need to embrace a few truths about the person you’re calling. This will help you tailor your approach accordingly. Spend some time thinking about these self-interest questions as they pertain to your customers:

 

o   What drives this person?

o   What is this person’s success seed?

o   What is the key to this person’s heart?

o   Who does this person need to look good for?

o   What does this person’s self-interest hinge upon?

o   Who can hurt this person the most, and how can I address that?

o   What could I say in my voicemail that would absolutely piss this person off more than anything?

 

Remember: Nobody cares about you. How do your voicemails appeal to the other person’s self-interest?

 

3.     Punch people in the face with your purpose. I can’t begin to count the number of voicemails I receive every week from complete strangers who leave nothing but their name and number. Tragically, that’s their entire message. So, naturally, I delete their voicemails immediately. For one simple reason: No call to action = No call back. Period. And frankly, I feel kind of bad doing so. And I’m sure I’ve missed out on connecting with some great people. But I’m a busy guy. And if first-time callers aren’t respectful and intelligent enough to state their purpose within five seconds of leaving a message, they haven’t earned the right to be called back. So, the secret for YOUR voicemails is to have a purpose (not an agenda, but a purpose) … and to punch people in the face with that purpose gently and immediately. Otherwise people are going to think, “Next…!” Are you demonstrating a valid reason for your persistence?

 

4.     Pamper their ego. It’s not enough to make people feel “valued” and “special” and “important.” Go one step further. Make them feel essential. As if you couldn’t live or make a move without them. Try Phrases That Payses like:

 

o   “I need your opinion on this idea…”

o   “You’re the first person I had to tell this story to…”

o   “I quoted you on my blog today and got lots of comments!”

o   “Dude, I’ve got a story that ONLY you would appreciate…”

o   “I just gave you a referral – call me back and I’ll fill you in.”

o   “Your ears must be ringing – I was talking about you yesterday!”

o   “I’ve been thinking a lot about out conversation from last week, and I wrote out a list of five ways to make your problem go away. Gimme a holler when you can, or email me at…”

 

Your phone WILL ring. How are you making people feel essential?

5.     Appeal to their inherent helpful nature. “I need your help.” Those four words are a simple, yet powerful motivator of human engagement and motivation. I use them every day right before I’m about to make ANY request, i.e., returning a shirt to Nordstrom, getting my iPhone fixed or calling tech support. Because in my experience, you’re almost ALWAYS guaranteed better service if you frame your request in this way. In addition to appealing to a human being’s helpful side, these four words also work because they’re: (1) positive, (2) honor the person you’ve reached out to, and (3) demonstrate your humility and vulnerability. Kind of hard to reject someone like that! Besides, what’s the other person gonna say? “You need MY help? Sorry pal. Ask someone who give a shit.” Unless you live in Philly, doubtful. So, I’m challenging you to use this phrase on the phone as often as possible. It works. Whom are you asking for help?

 

6.     Help people maintain a sense of control. In the psychology manual, The Handbook of Competence and Motivation, the authors’ research proved on several occasions that human beings operate out of a model to feel autonomous and in control of their environment and actions. Thus: The feeling of being in control is a basic human need. It’s right up there with “Feeling Accepted,” “Feeling Secure” and “Watching American Idol.” So, your challenge is to leave a voicemail message that speaks to that need. For example, you could offer a few choices of good times to call you back. Or give additional options for contacting you besides the phone, i.e., fax, email or text. Another approach is to say, ”I need your approval on something…” or “I’ve got an awesome idea, and I wanted to get your permission before I made my move.” This not only makes them feel in control, but also makes them feel essential. How can I appeal to this person’s need to feel in control of her own life?

 

7.     Deliver (and dangle) value. Write a list of fifty practical strategies your customer can use TODAY to grow his business. Next, every time you call, leave two of those strategies as your voicemail message. Then, here’s the best part: You tell the customer to call you back if she wants the third one. Not only will she call you back, she’ll play your message over the PA system for everyone in her office. Because you didn’t leave a voicemail – you delivered a twenty-second mini teleseminar. Wow. CAUTION: Make sure that the strategies on your list have nothing to do with you, your product or your company. You can’t just write, “#27: Hire me!” or “#41: Buy fifteen of my copiers!” as items on your list, smart guy. Does your message leave the impression of value or vanity in the mind of the customer?

 

8.     Mix the medium. Not everyone prefers communicating over the phone. Especially people born after 1978. And since that Gen X/Y/Millennial population is slowly starting to saturate the workforce (and take over the world, I might add) it’s essential to be cognizant of the varying communication preferences of your customers. So, at the end of your voicemail, remind people that they can always reach you by email for a quicker response. This approach increases your accessibility and appeals to a wider audience – even older generations. What’s more, emailing is a low-pressure, non-threatening medium of communication that gives people more time to carefully craft their words. Try this approach and you’ll be amazed how many people will email back instead of calling back. How reachable are you?

 

9.     Speak with Meaningful Concrete Immediacy (MCI).  Here’s how: First, make sure your message appeals to the aforementioned self-interest of the caller (meaningful). That means no talking about you. That means no telling stories. Second, give people the meat (compactness). That means no sixty-second voicemail dissertations. That means no incessant rambling about how spotty your cell phone reception is. And finally, be actionable (immediacy). That means reach through the phone line, grab them by the lapel, and tell them exactly what you want them to do. How much MCI do your voicemails contain?

 

10.  Honesty gets called back. Make sure your voicemail message ACTUALLY has something to do with why you called. Give people a valid reason for your persistence. Don’t use some manipulative persuasion technique disguised as a voicemail that you learned from that outdated book on cold calling you bought at the YMCA book fair for fifty cents. Customers will think your voicemail is just some cute trick to get them to call you back. Nobody like being bait and switched like that. “Press three to delete this message.” Click. How many calls are you missing because you’re not branding your honesty?

 

 

10 Unmistakable Motivators of Employee Engagement 1. People engage when they feel gotten. What do you do – every single day – that makes people think, “They get me”? 2. People engage when their development is supported. How much will it cost if you choose not to develop your people? 3. People engage when they know their opinions matter. How are you making it easy for people to show up in full voice? 4. People engage when their job makes use of their talent. What personal skills are you afraid to give people permission to tap into? 5. People engage when their dearly held sense of individualism is honored. Are you asking people to defend their specialness or inviting people to articulate their fabulousness? 6. People engage when their unique definition of engagement is considered. Have you asked your people what engagement feels like to them? 7. People engage when their commitments outside of the organization are respected. Have you accepted the fact that work isn’t the only determining factor in how your people live their lives? 8. People engage when they’re treated as assets to be valued, not expenses to be managed. What do you see when you see people? 9. People engage when the organization makes it possible for them to become more valuable. How are you making it hard for people to grow? 10. People engage when the work they do make a significant contribution to something they value. Do you provide opportunities to do meaningful work that helps others?

1.     Are you making war on the competition or making love to the customer?

2.     Are you mistaking activity for value?

3.     Are you much of a rockstar off stage?

4.     Are you obtaining feedback from people who are more successful than you?

5.     Are you offering too much?

6.     Are you passionately incompetent?

7.     Are you playing NOT to lose, or are you playing to win?

8.     Are you pressing the off button enough?

9.     Are you productive or just active?

10.  Are you putting your fees in perspective for your clients?

11.  Are you seeking influence or affluence?

12.  Are you spending time with clients who are going to become a bad commercial for your business?

13.  Are you still a well-kept-secret?

14.  Are you still adding value others can’t?

15.  Are you still trying to get somewhere?

16.  Are you submersed or immersed?

17.  Are you swallowing the hype of the moment?

18.  Are you talking to a person who can buy your services?

19.  Are you the arrow or the bullseye?

20.  Are you the internist or the pharmacist?

21.  Are you the one with the most information?

22.  Are you tooting or blowing your own horn?

23.  Are you typecasting yourself?

24.  Are you valuing your alone time?

25.  Are you wasting corporate assets on things NO customer is asking for?

26.  Are you wasting your passion on people who don’t appreciate or deserve it?

27.  Are you watching people who are the best in your industry do what they do in action?

28.  Are you willing or able to give up control of your company in exchange for being able to grow and expand it more quickly?

29.  Are you willing to build, no matter what?

30.  Are you willing to plunge forward plan-less?

31.  Are you winning?

32.  Are you working IN your business or ON your business?

33.  Are you working too hard to make your clients successful?

34.  Are your average projects getting bigger in size and revenue?

35.  Are your fendships, relationships, and your emotional life suffeng as a result?

36.  Are your products timely or timeless?

37.  Assuming that technology and finances posed no constraints, what would you change ght now about your business processes and operations?

38.  At what point are you working on making a living vs. building a career/company?

39.  Can people buy your stuff from other smart people?

40.  Can people use your platform to grow their own business?

41.  Can you build from this level?

42.  Could you make a collectible version of your product?

43.  Did you ever incur a personal cost to stand by your values?

44.  Did you pay yourself first?

45.  Did you really just trade this day for what you want?

46.  Do you deliver insight or expertise?

47.  Do you have a client?

48.  Do you have the courage to turn away business?

49.  Do you have the guts to walk away, or do you sell out?

50.  Do you know how to acquire new business?

51.  Do you know how to introduce a product with NO budget?

52.  Do you offer meaningful uniqueness?

53.  Do you possess know-how or know-when?

54.  Do you provide wisdom or knowledge?

55.  Do you really have the confidence to tell paying customers that you are not ght for them?

56.  Do you really know how to run a bakery, or do you just like to cook because people keeping telling you they enjoy your cupcakes?

57.  Do you take big steps or baby steps?

58.  Do you understand your client’s visions of excellence?

59.  Do you want to be a boutique or a mega-mart?

60.  Does everything you do lead to something else you do?

61.  Does this client represent an organization you would hate to lose?

62.  Does this client represent long-term business potential?

63.  Does this client serve as a reference or exemplar for other clients?

64.  Does this new assignment, project or client allow you to command higher fees than before?

65.  Does this new assignment, project or client allow you to learn new skills?

66.  Does this new assignment, project or client enable you to leverage more than in the past?

67.  Does this new assignment, project or client expose you an important future opportunity?

68.  Does this new assignment, project or client increase (not just sustain) an existing relationship?

69.  Does this new assignment, project or client lead to future work with the same organization?

70.  Does this new assignment, project or client lead you into a new industry?

71.  Does your present work let you grow in new directions?

72.  From observation of the past what do I perceive as probable in the future?

73.  Have you decided what kind of company you’re going to be?

74.  Have you identified and valued your TRUE expertise and inventoed your negotiable personal assets?

75.  Have you misrepresenting your expertise in a rush to get to the client?

76.  Have you taken the time to figure out which types of clients you like?

77.  How and when have you made it hard for customers to do business with you?

78.  How are you adapting to the new volume of options?

79.  How are you commoditizing yourself?

80.  How are you creating a culture of growth expectance?

81.  How are you fighting your profession’s image?

82.  How are you going to measure your own performances?

83.  How are you increasing your earning ability?

84.  How are you increasing your intellectual assets?

85.  How are you keeping yourself current?

86.  How are you making money while you sleep?

87.  How are you making sure that everything you do is leading to something else you do?

88.  How are you mining the information you have?

89.  How are you researching specific ways to add value to your customers?

90.  How are you taking your customers behind the scenes?

91.  How are you taking your customers to new places?

92.  How are you using your clients as referral spngboards?

93.  How are your clients competing with you?

94.  How are your customers adapting to the new volume of options?

95.  How big can the network atop your platform grow?

96.  How big can you get before you get bad?

97.  How big do you need to be?

98.  How can I change the way I am currently doing this in order to affect more people and in less time?

99.  How can I develop promises around what I do that serves the fear of the corporate world?

 

 

Andrew Davidson’s book, 1000’s CEO’s, is packed with colorful and instructive career anecdotes and advice from business leaders around the globe.

However, since it’s a 512 book, and you’re a busy executive, I’ve collected my best notes, keepers and offshoot thoughts from my reading experience for your enjoyment. 

1.     Administer the medicine no matter how bad it tastes.

2.     Be no afraid to expect a fair amount from people.

3.     Be not afraid to court controversy.

4.     Big isn’t necessarily beautiful.

5.     Capitalize on the benefits of scale.

6.     Channel the ambition.

7.     Constructive confrontation works.

8.     Create a place where all employees can advance their talents.

9.     Create a solid foundation of goodwill.

10.  Deliver bad news with calm and quiet optimism.

11.  Dictate the way ahead. Position your company to play a leading part in the revolution.

12.  Discuss rather than just presenting points of view.

13.  Do you view your challenges as more pressure or mere paths to success?

14.  Don’t be afraid to build on others’ decisions.

15.  Educate the people other companies are ignoring.

16.  Embody unshakeable belief.

17.  Excise every ounce of fat from your process.

18.  Find endless incremental improvements.

19.  Firm up people’s commitment.

20.  Forget about the detractors.

21.  Free yourself from the constraints of orthodoxy.

22.  Get the advice in advance.

23.  Get your ass out there and explain yourself, otherwise you’re destined to be defined by your mistakes.

24.  Give people what they want before they know exactly what that is.

25.  Have decisive courage.

26.  Hedge against fluctuation.

27.  How often do self-doubt and caution take hold of your decision making process?

28.  Idealism is valuable as long as you don’t let it compromise your financial future.

29.  If people aren’t told what’s going on they will assume the worst.

30.  If size mattered, dinosaurs would still be alive.

31.  If you believe in something be prepared to risk everything.

32.  If you want to make your brand stick, stick with the values that made it successful in the first place.

33.  Impress the market with your long-term future.

34.  Keep pushing or your dominance will crumble.

35.  Keep your eyes open for markets into which your business can naturally expand.

36.  Learn to change without crisis.

37.  Listen hard to their aims.

38.  Make every aspect of what you sell visually appealing.

39.  Make sure people understand your vision and their part in it.

40.  Never believe that the only people who know what’s best for the business are the people inside the business.

41.  Never hesitate to reinvent.

42.  Never ignore a formula that has worked before.

43.  Never let go to the original idea that made you successful.

44.  Not every question has an answer.

45.  Overestimating your ability plus underestimating the challenges leads to death.

46.  Provide a secure base from which to operate.

47.  Radical decisions are rarely universally welcomed.

48.  Reduce your argument to a few crisp words and phrases.

49.  Relentlessly seek out new innovations.

50.  Reputation for unreliability.

51.  Respect the legacy you inherit.

52.  Seek to renew yourself, even when you’re hitting homeruns.

53.  Spot opportunities overlooked by rivals.

54.  Stop ignoring the people who will take you forward.

55.  Study the width of your brand.

56.  The paralyzing fear of criticism often prevents you from acting decisively.

57.  There’s no point in being scared of the system.

58.  Treat people as people, not tools to transmit your directions.

59.  Unswerving dedication works.

60.  What is your name synonymous with?

61.  You can’t let your critics define who you are.

62.  You need people who are going to challenge your way of thinking.

Losers embody the arrogance of success. Arrogance is a learning disorder. Don’t be a victim of your own success. Is the bright light of your own achievements blinding you?

Losers expect the worst so they can’t be suckers. Then they get what they expected. Can you say self-sabotage?

Losers are poor narrators. If you can’t tell the story of what happened to you, it never happened to you. What did you write today?

Losers view stumbles as proof of inadequacy. They’re not. They’re evidence of opportunity. Do you have a safe place to fail?

Losers let bad circumstances and annoying people deplete their oxygen supply. Life’s too short to surround yourself with those who don’t challenge and inspire you. What friends do you need to fire?

Losers burn in the purgatory of wannabe. Never be an aspiring anything – just be “an.” There’s no pre-heating. You either are or you aren’t. Whatever you want to become, start by being that thing already. Are you a nevergonnabe?

Losers mistake triviality for necessity. I’m looking at you, social media. Do you have enough self-control to tweet and get on with your life, or will you get swept into the undertow of inconsequentiality?

Losers vomit in the name of authenticity. Just because your blog says you “keep it real” and “speak your mind” doesn’t give you license to blow electronic chunks of non-value all over your readers’ screens. Do you really need to be working this hard convince people that you’re authentic?

Losers compartmentalize their life. This helps preserve a sense of certainty and predictability. Let your security come from within, not without. Learn to be secure in your own self-definition. What if everything worked together as a cohesive whole? 

Losers find themselves running when they aren’t being chased. Total waste of energy. What lies are your excuses guarding?

Losers live with the results of other people’s thinking. Do you believe what you believe because you (actually) believe, or because somebody told you to believe and you mindlessly followed?

Losers spend their time executing non-plans. It’s great that you got the work done, but does it even count?

Losers waste their precious time navigating a trivial, meaningless network of people who will never give them money. Stop squandering your billable time floating around in poisonous orbits. Do you need to attend another Chamber of Commerce meeting or have lunch with someone who matters?

 

1.     Help people articulate what’s missing from their strategy

2.     Help people become more aware of themselves

3.     Help people become the best, highest version of themselves

4.     Help people clarify their decision

5.     Help people clarify their truth

6.     Help people educate themselves about themselves.doc

7.     Help people fall in love with themselves

8.     Help people feel a sense of self-achievement

9.     Help people funnel down their world

10.  Help people lift their worlds.

11.  Help people get beyond their misconceptions

12.  Help people move off stuck.

13.  Help people identify the stories they’re telling themselves

14.  Help people identify their territory

15.  Help people ignore the critics

16.  Help people in their struggle to break free of their limits

17.  Help people know what they claim they don’t

18.  Help people know what they know

19.  Help people open into a new relationship with themselves

20.  Help people recall their high performance patterns

21.  Help people see their gifts more clearly

22.  Help people solve problems they didn’t know they had

 

1.     You don’t have to use your father’s name.

2.     You don’t have to be great AT it – you just have to have love FOR it.

3.     You don’t have to be that good to get paid.

4.     You don’t have to be upset with people who you are in your life because of inertia.

5.     You don’t have to do anything but say thank you.

6.     You don’t have to do everything by a bell.

7.     You don’t have to do it all, and you don’t have to do it all at once.

8.     You don’t have to feel bad to heal.

9.     You don’t have to lead the industry in everything you do.

10.  You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to love it but you do have to consider it.

11.  You don’t have to move on and know where you’re moving on to at the same time.

12.  You don’t have to produce something to make your time valuable.

13.  You don’t have to prove yourself to anybody today.

14.  You don’t have to suffer to be great.

 

1.     Stop and acknowledge what is true for you at this moment.

2.     Stop and listen to the voice of your true self.

3.     Stop and smell the baby poop.

4.     Stop being busy and start being accomplished.

5.     Stop being what colleges want.

6.     Stop believing people you shouldn’t even be paying attention to.

7.     Stop breathing and let the universe breath through you.

8.     Stop choosing to be less.

9.     Stop depending on the validation of strangers and start acting on your deepest feelings.

10.  Stop exposing yourself to harsh, unsolicited feedback.

11.  Stop fantasizing negative futures.

12.  Stop feeding beggars.

13.  Stop feeding poverty mentality.

14.  Stop feeding the ego monster.

15.  Stop fighting after the bell has rung.

16.  Stop filling yourself up with irrelevant knowledge.

17.  Stop fostering a sense of entitlement.

18.  Stop fostering mediocrity in others.

19.  Stop getting better and start appreciating where you are.

20.  Stop going on a passive strike against yourself.

21.  Stop helping people and start charging them.

22.  Stop hiding your big ideas.

23.  Stop holding on to the problem and start listening to the answer.

24.  Stop ignoring the reality of your present situation.

25.  Stop investing energy in your fears and let them go.

26.  Stop judging yourself and start writing yourself.

27.  Stop justifying every aspect of yourself.

28.  Stop kidding yourself about the things that you NEED – it’s about what you WANT.

29.  Stop learning things the easy way.

30.  Stop letting your ego vote.

31.  Stop listing all the reasons why you should avoid taking a risk.

32.  Stop living by default and start living by design.

33.  Stop living someone else’s mechanical thoughts.

34.  Stop maintaining relationships that are damaging to you.

35.  Stop majoring in minors.

36.  Stop making a vocation out of being sick.

37.  Stop over thinking your life.

38.  Stop playing games with yourself.

39.  Stop playing small.

40.  Stop promising and start doing.

41.  Stop rationalizing your way out of risk.

42.  Stop refueling your hopelessness.

43.  Stop searching for the injustice.

44.  Stop selling coasters.

45.  Stop sharing your goals with negative people.

46.  Stop spending time with people who don’t tell the truth reliably.

47.  Stop submitting to the category and invent your own.

48.  Stop talking and start walking.

49.  Stop talking yourself out of things.

50.  Stop trying to be what you aren’t.

51.  Stop trying to rationalize yourself out of being in love.

52.  Stop trying to rearrange the world.

53.  Stop trying to see with your eyes.

54.  Stop volunteering yourself or misery.

55.  Stop waiting for it to get easier and start making yourself better.

56.  Stop waiting to be.

57.  Stop wasting energy protesting.

58.  Stop wasting energy trying to avoid something you don’t even know.

59.  Stop wasting time on relationships you’ve outgrown.

60.  Stop wasting your brilliant mental effort on negativity.

61.  Stop working to put money in someone else’s pockets.