The Single Biggest Barrier to Success

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I’ve been a student of self improvement for nearly twenty years. I’ve read a library full of books on success. I’ve absorbed a ton of information on what it takes to be successful.

Yet here I sit at forty-one years old fairly mediocre. I’ve only sometimes achieved what I’d call success. And then only very modest success at that.

I’m a pretty smart guy. I already know what I need to do to succeed. Yet I routinely fail to do what I know I should do, what I know I could do if I just would do it.

Over the past couple months I have become acutely aware of the fact that even though it feel like something is holding me back from doing the things I know I need to do, in reality I am my own worst enemy. I am my problem. I just couldn’t figure out why I was so thoroughly and effectively sabotaging my own success.

Until last night.

Ah-Ha Moment

Last night I read something in yet another self improvement book, The Slight Edge: Secret to a Successful Life, on page 28, that was like a light bulb going off in my brain. For me it was one of those powerful “Ah, ha!” moments that comes along and can change the course of your life.

I’d figured out the first half of the equation on my own, even before reading those powerful words last night. Read more

Surprising Light Bulb Moments

When was the last time you had a light bulb moment?

You know the kind. You’re just trucking along thinking things are just ducky. You’ve got things figured out and you know exactly where you are headed.

Then. Wham!

A moment suddenly comes when a whole bunch of things you never knew before, or probably never even considered, are set right in front of you in a way that is crystal clear and obvious.

You know without a doubt that your life will never really be the same again. You are thinking thoughts that you’ve never had before. And those new thoughts will change the direction of your life forever.

Dinner and a Light Bulb

That happened for Gorgeous and I last night.

We had a friend over for dinner. I thought we were going to be talking about a web site for him.

I think we all entered into that conversation thinking we were going to be talking about a web site for him.

But instead, after four hours of talking with our friend, Gorgeous and I both shared one of those light bulb moments.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes. I’m sure we just stepped onto a new path, one that we never even considered before.

How About You?

Do you ever have light bulb moments?

How did you know it?

How did it change you?

The Pursuit of Happiness

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…
–The Declaration of Independence

A Different World

This holiday I can’t help but think that the men who hotly debated the content of that formidable document and ultimately passed it 231 years ago were living in an entirely different world than we are today.

There are differences over and above the obvious technological changes. But just to help get your mind around how different the world is now, let’s do an imagination exercise.

Try to imagine how different your world would be without any of these things: cell phones, internet, email, computers, cars, trucks, electricity, air conditioning, refrigeration, television, antibiotics, anesthesia, contact lenses, air travel, plastic, synthetic materials, self propelled ships, artificial lighting, recorded music, radio, mass transportation, telephones, the list seems endless.

But living without all of those things would make for a radically different world to be sure. Read more

Lessons at the Watering Hole

Caught this video today on YouTube. It’s a little on the long side. But all the twists and and turns that happen at this particular watering hole over in Africa are worth watching all the way through.

The Battle of Kruger Video

There are a bunch of lessons that jump out at me watching this. Some from the side of the buffalo, others are from the lion’s point of view. Here’s a few to get our minds working. Read more

Visionary Cat Herding Princes of Execution

That last post about the quote I saw on Twitter generated quite a discussion about the difference in rolls between the Visionaries and the Princes(ses) of Execution. Tariq Khan and Karin Hermans in particular wrestled with the question can you move (or move someone) from one category to the other?

It’s a great question.

I agree with those two that you can. But it is not easy. And both elements are vital in their respective quantities or the organization will flounder.

Big Takes More of Each

The bigger the organization, the more of both elements that is required.

When you are a one man (or one woman) show, you get to wear both hats. In fact you have to wear both of them or you are sunk. Read more

How to Stay on Course During Life’s Storms

It started early yesterday morning.

The cell phone never seems to be more than three feet from me, even when I’m sleeping at night. Especially at night.

Its incredibly loud ringing shattered my sleep about an hour before the alarm was set to go off. The phone is always set on the loudest setting. I often find myself in noisy, industrial settings. I make it vibrate all the time too, just in case. The whole effect is very effective at shocking the system into the awake (and mostly coherent) realm when it goes off at night.

We need you at work. Now.

“OK. I’m on my way.” Read more

Maintaining Your Blogging Passion

One of the things we talked about at the conference on Friday was about blogging from your personal passion. Passion and interest are the fuel that will keep you going when the luster of the “new thing” that blogging is when you get started wears off.

One of the participants asked a valid question as we were talking about sustaining business blogging activity and addressing how much time is involved in successfully blogging in support of your business.

He wondered if he’d be able to maintain that over the long haul. My initial response was that as a business owner did he have trouble being passionate about going to work? If so, blogging was probably not for him.

One of the beauties of business blogging is that it can be a natural off-shoot of the passion business folks have already for their work. If you don’t have any passion for what you do in your business, then blogging probably isn’t a good fit for your business model.

I was talking with my dad last night who is considering starting a personal blog. He said, “Blogging because it’s the next new thing is not a good enough reason to get started.” Dad gets the need for passion.

Most of us spend more time working than we do with our families. The vast majority of business owners have a tremendous amount of knowledge about their business (at least they should!) Couple that knowledge of what they do gives them a unique perspective to speak about their business.

And the familiarity that comes from all the time we spend at work gives us a comfort level talking about what we do.

Ideally all that will blend together into a passion cocktail that can spill out into the blog posts and keep propelling our blogs forward.

Do you have challenges with motivation when it comes to your blogging?

If so why do you think that is?

And what are some things we can do to keep ourselves motivated and moving forward?

Life Lessons From 2006

Ben Yoskovitz has a group writing project under way over at the Instigator Blog asking the question, “What did you learn this year?”

Whew! Talk about a big question!

I mean I learned lots of things this year.

Some of them were relatively insignificant yet very practical. For example I learned that you shouldn’t put stop leak into the overflow reservoir of your 2001 Buick Century instead of into the radiator because it will gunk up the plastic reservoir tank, cause the sensor to turn on the “low coolant” light steady, and cost approximately $360 to get someone who actually knows about cars to fix. Oh, and it won’t stop the leak that way either.

Other lessons had a little bigger impact. Read more

Would You Really Want to Know Your Future?

Had an interesting discussion last night over at Successful-Blog’s Tuesday night Open Comment Night ritual. As always there was good conversation to be had over there. The topic last night was the future and fortune telling.

Now personally I don’t think I really want know exactly what my future holds until I get there. If I did, I’m not sure I’d have enough heart to make it through the tough times.

And when I look back over my life so far as I approach 40, there have been some challenges that I’ve had to overcome. If I knew the extent of those difficulties before I got to them, I suspect I might have been more inclined to give up before I made it through rather than sticking with the stuff and actually overcoming the obstacles that have been in my path.
Read more

Better Get In Motion or You’ll Be Stuck With Dead Ducks

This morning Mike Sansone posted a quick note on Perfection.

Do you struggle with wanting everything to be “just so” before you get started? Are you looking for a sure fired guarantee that you will see the results you want so you can take that first step to get into action?

Are you a planner? I am.

I have been through long years of training and an even longer career where working out the details, preparing contingencies, covering my bases, and yes, even getting my ducks in a row.

Are you more comfortable working out the details than pulling the trigger?

Read more

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