What happened to great (or even good) customer service?

• I’m tired of getting my order screwed-up whenever I go through a drive-thru lane
• I’m tired of dealing with any customer service representative who cannot (or will not) take the time to smile at me
• I’m tired of waiting for the “bug” guy or the “cable” guy or anyone else who doesn’t understand how an appointment system works
• I’m tired of these same people (who abuse their appointment system) and their apparent refusal to use a telephone to alert me to their inability to live up to their commitments.

(photo courtesy of Finsec)

Two phrases that I have used within the past couple of months with great results

Within the past couple of months, I have been faced with two serious customer service situations. The first involved poor customer service that had a direct and huge impact on my business. The second situation was personal and involved my mother’s health and well-being.

1. “That’s Not Acceptable”

Back in February, The Birmingham News ran an article ( Industrial Mechanic invents tool to improve shoulder mobility, finds niche in athletics ) about the Rotater. This article resulted in a huge traffic spike to our website which caused it to crash. I wrote about it in an article entitled “The Good Stuff, The Bad Stuff and The Other Stuff”.

A couple of weeks later, this same article was picked up on the newswire and ran in the Ann Arbor Press under the title of “A Shoulder To Lean On”. Great traffic, lot’s or orders, our website crashes again.

(photo courtesy of dboy)

After the initial crash I spent a couple of days researching the source of the problem. I was getting a Wordpress error message whenever I (on anyone else) tried to access Shoulder Performance & Rehab.

Thanks to the great people who take the time to post about situations like this one, I discovered that the hosting service that I was using at that time had a built-in traffic regulator that had tripped due to our large traffic increases.

I called customer service, waited for about an hour and finally spoke with someone who understood that problem. He quickly corrected the problem, but didn’t spend any time informing me about future crashes and what to do.

Shoulder Performance & Rehab Crashes Again

When the article ran again in the Ann Arbor Press, our blog crashed again. No problem I thought ( I was naive ) – I’ll just call customer service again.

This time, when my call was answered (after a hour), I quickly explained the situation thinking that the problem would be quickly remedied. I was wrong. The person who answered the customer service phone was not a customer service rep, but “screener”. She told me that she would take my message and have a “customer service rep” or technician call me in 2 – 4 hours.

Living Personal Growth and Development

In the past, her response would have spurred a tirade of anger from me and would have resulted in me slamming the phone in disgust, but thankfully, I really try to live the stuff that I write about.

I told the “screener” that her answer “was not acceptable”. I think that she was shocked because the phone was silent for several seconds ( you must be willing to wait them out). She tried again to tell me that there was nothing that she could do and I simply responded with “that’s not acceptable”. Again, several seconds of silence – but I waited too.

Wait ‘em out!

Finally (I think it was due to her inability to get rid of me) she called her supervisor. He came on the phone and took care of the problem and explained to me that if my site crashed again then they had the right to cancel my service. I quickly changed my hosting service provider from IPOWERWEB to HOSTGATOR. (I’ve had no problems with HOSTGATOR to date, am very happy with the service and my site seems faster!)

If you are having problems with poor customer service, then I encourage you to use the “that’s not acceptable” response any time that the person that you’re dealing with tries to do something other than your request or provide a reasonable alternative. You must be:

• willing to wait silently while they “digest” your response
• willing to repeat this phrase, because they will attempt to tell you that there is nothing else that they can do
• willing to ask to speak with someone else
• willing to stay completely calm during the whole situation

This phrase has worked for me and it will work for you.

2. “We Are Not Happy”

Last Tuesday (April 29^th), I received a phone call at about midnight telling me that my mother was in the emergency room with severe abdominal pains. I rushed to the hospital and waited with her, my father and my sister for several hours. The emergency room was not busy.

Initial diagnosis

When a physician finally examined my mother, we were told that it appeared to be appendicitis, but they would have to run a CT scan for confirmation. This required my mother to drink some hideous dye solution and the wait three hours for it to make its way down to her intestines.

After the CT scan, we were told that she did not have appendicitis. It “appeared” that she had diverticulitis. The physician said my mother could go home or she could be admitted to the hospital. Either way, she would be treated with antibiotics and high-powered narcotics for the intense pain.

Into the hospital

My mother chose to be admitted to the hospital, which surprised everyone. My mother has the highest pain tolerance of any person that I know. She once took care of my grandmother (following my grandmother’s open heart surgery) for two weeks with a completely separated shoulder. My mother had fallen in the parking lot on the morning of my grandmother’s surgery.

I had the same injury from a skiing accident and I cried like a “little girl” every time I moved.

Too much pain

My mother chose to stay in the hospital because she could not tolerate the pain. We were told that within a couple of days, there should be some improvement. There was no improvement and seemingly no alternative plan.

By Friday, I was livid. The physician was evasive and appeared unwilling to do anything else. My mother’s pain was worse and she was asking for more pain medication every 12 hours.

We are not happy!

Friday afternoon, I had to leave the hospital, but I told my father to speak with the physician and find out what is going on. My father did not feel comfortable “questioning” the doctor’s diagnosis, but I had no problems with it, so I wrote the following on the whiteboad that is mounted on the wall:

1. We Are Not Happy!
2. What is the diagnosis?
3. What tests are scheduled to confirm this diagnosis? why or why not?
4. What are our treatment options?
5. Why is my mother in so much pain?

The physician is indignant

I called my father later that night and was told that the physician had come in during rounds and found my note. He became quite angry but scheduled another CT scan for Saturday morning. Thank God.

The second CT scan found that my mother’s small intestine was obstructed. A surgeon quickly came to see my family and explained that they would try to relieve the pressure on her intestine by pumping my mother’s stomach and lower intestine. If this didn’t work, then she would have to have emergency surgery.

It didn’t work and my mother had emergency surgery on Sunday. The surgeon had to remove about 3 – 4 inches of my mother’s small intestine. The change has been dramatic.

Although she has an eight inch wound, her abdominal pain is gone (except for the new scar).

Don’t be afraid to challenge authority

(photo courtesy of Citizen Mira)

It seems to me that people are willing to accept anything that a person in authority says as gospel. This seems especially true of physicians, clergymen and lawyers. Hey, they are people just like you and I. They overlook things and they make mistakes. Ask for explanations and clarifications.

If someone is being vague, then there is a reason. Call them on it. Your life may depend on it.

Tags: customer+service, web+host+provider, the+Rotater, righteous+indignation

Jill Bolte Taylor’s first-person telling of awakening and then slowly realizing that she has had and is having a stroke.  What makes this telling so unique is that Jill is uniquely qualified to articulate this accidental experiment.  It is inspiring and enlightening on so many levels.

Take the time to watch and listen – It may change the way you think about reality – your reality.

• your next post
• how to best convey your message
• where you will find sources for visual images
• how you can get more traffic

How to get more traffic

Okay, I’m not going to give you a list of things that you can do to increase your exposure or tell you how to get other people to link to your blog or web-site.

I’m going to tell you to visit Websitegrader.  Simply input your url (or any url), scroll down to the bottom and click on the “generate report” button.  Websitegrader.com will run a series of diagnostics that analyze your blog/website for:

• On-page SEO – which includes things like number of keywords (and why you don’t need more than ten), header summary, image summary, interior page analysis and readability level
• Off-page SEO – domain info, google page rank, google indexed pages, date google last crawled your site, links
• much more – you’ll be amazed at how much info they can provide you about your blog and how to make it more marketable
• free – that’s right, it’s free

My initial results sucked!

The first time that I ran soupornuts.com and therotater.com was pretty sad.  I think that I scored a 79/100 for soupornuts.com and 63/100 for therotater.com.  The beauty of Websitegrader.com is that they tell you what you can do to correct the problem.

For example, after I found out how low my sites were scoring, I got busy.  I would make changes and check again.  Pretty soon, I was scoring in the 90’s for both sites.

I ran soupornuts.com through just prior to beginning this post to see where I stood.  I was surprised to see a score of 88/100.  After a quick check, I saw that three of the images on my page did not have alt tags.  I quickly corrected those and ran websitegrader again.  Poof – 92/100!

I just ran therotater.com and it scored 92/100 as well.

More tools and information

Websitegrader.com can also check your site to see how it is grading for your keywords and how it compares against your competitors.  And they have a great blog. 

No matter how many times you use this service, it cost nothing and provides you with invaluable information.  Give it a shot – you won’t be disappointed. 

The result: instead of reaping the benefits and power of our unique ability (learning capacity), most people are content to have just enough to “get by”. Mediocrity is the rule.

Instead of living up to our potential by focusing our talents where they can do the most good for:

• ourselves – in the form of financial prosperity
• society in general – in the form of influence, wealth creation and economic stimulation

…we are satisfied to languish along side the rest of the herd.

This herd mentality, the desire to be like everybody else, does more to hold us back than anything else. We must realize that if we are to rise to our potential, then we must separate ourselves from the rest of the herd. To fulfill your potential and open the doors to possibility, requires both the desire to be more than you are right now and the conscious effort to learn how to be more. To be the person you are destined to be requires you to:

1. Desire to learn

If you are content, then you will not change. You will not see or feel the need to change. It’s only when discomfort replaces contentment that we consider changing something in our lives. It is when our clothes begin to get a little tighter that we begin to think about losing the slowly added weight. Here’s a thought that should make you very uncomfortable:

“…Every 8 seconds a Baby Boomer turns 50. According to a recent MetLife Foundation survey, Americans over the age of 55 fear Alzheimer’s more than any other disease besides cancer. But researchers no longer accept the notion that memory loss is inevitable. Instead, they urge senior citizens to exercise their minds.” (this is excerpted from Time magazine – Read the entire article)

You must become uncomfortable with the fact that you are not living up to your potential – if you are not. The fact that only a small percentage of our population (3–5%) ever reach financial independence is evidence that everyone cannot be reaching their potential since we live in a world of abundance and the same opportunities are available to everyone. What we don’t realize is that these “successful few” are not blessed with any special abilities. They may have traits that make them different, but their abilities are the same as ours. Read the “Millionaire Mind” by Thomas Stanley.

One thing that does stand out in the successes of our world is that they have a tremendous desire to learn. The successful person understands that learning always results in growth:

• growth of opportunities
• growth of skills
• growth of net worth

In order to grow in your career or in your life, you must learn, otherwise you stagnate. Stagnation stinks – literally.

Does the term “neuroplasticity” mean anything to you? It should. Read Shae Hadden’s post “The Plastic Brain”. It may change your thoughts on life after middle age. You should also consider reading “How Thinking Can Change The Brain” by the Dalai Lama. One quote should be of particular interest to you die-hard “can’t-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks” advocates:

“The Dalai Lama had put his finger on an emerging revolution in brain research. In the last decade of the 20th century, neuroscientists overthrew the dogma that the adult brain can’t change. To the contrary, its structure and activity can morph in response to experience, an ability called neuroplasticity. The discovery has led to promising new treatments for children with dyslexia and for stroke patients, among others.”

2. Be open-minded

Learning requires the study of new topics and ideas. If you have a “know-it-all” mentality, you will never be able to free your mind to be all it can be. Almost no issue is either black or white. Most issues are shades of gray. It is often our lack of understanding that causes us to act erroneously and irrationally on a given topic. Learn How to Exercise an Open Mind.

It is when we give up stereotypical thinking and absolutism, that we “free” our minds to expand. This inner growth and development leads to an outer growth and expression in our lives. It is because we open ourselves to possibility, that the possibility comes into existence for us.

Opening your mind exposes the opportunities and possibilities. Are these new opportunities? No, they have always existed, but due to “tunnel vision”, you could not see them. How many “narrow minded” people do you know who would be considered financially successful? I think that these terms are mutually exclusive. In order to succeed, you must be progressive in your thinking.

3. Expose yourself

You cannot learn in a vacuum. You must explore and expose yourself to ideas and concepts that are foreign to you.

During my college experience, I had a professor who had a profound impact on my life. He was instrumental in motivating me to become involved in a graduate teaching program which resulted in one of the most satisfying experiences of my life – teaching. I went through an intensive training program and became a qualified (and paid) lab instructor for a variety of the biology courses offered.

This great experience would never have taken place if I had been content to just go to class and “get my credit”. Due to his enthusiasm, passion for teaching and willingness to help, I approached him for advice. This simple step led to a tremendously successful and fulfilling experience for me.

Expose yourself to new possibilities. Take a chance and look at these videos of some of the great tech thinkers of our generation. You don’t have to agree with them, but listen to their input. You learn when you are exposed to new input.

4. Practice thinking

Surround yourself with great thinkers and practice thinking. Trade ideas. Debate and defend your closely held beliefs. Do they stand up to scrutiny and examination?

If you want to be a success, then you must associate with successful people – people who stimulate your thinking.

• Discussing the weather, what you watched on television or which sports team is number one is not mentally stimulating.
• Listening to the constant bitching and moaning of the negative “doom and gloom” nay sayers will not introduce you to new topics of discussion.
• Most people have their minds made up, they are just trying to make sure that you don’t stray to far from the herd.

Move away from these kind of people! Find a mentor or at the very least someone who you consider to be successful and spend some time talking to them. You will discover that their abilities are no different than everyone else’s. However, their attitudes are.

Practice bouncing your ideas off of someone who can and will help you. Don’t waste your time with someone in the herd who just wants to play catch – tossing the same, bland ideas back and forth.

5. Keep a daily journal

Ask yourself, “what did I learn today?” I am not talking about a listing of facts, but a chronicle of the lessons and ideals that you experienced that day. Record what and how you learned these new topics. The act of manually recording your new ideas will imprint the experience on your brain where it will remain.

We have all heard or read the writings and advice of both Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Both of these great writers simply recorded their journey through life and their experiences with the “common man” along the way. The result is that each of these men are considered to be great teachers and philosophers.

Keep a journal. Record your ideas and lessons for the day, then go back over them from time to time. You’ll be amazed.

Successful men and women:

• have a great desire to be more knowledgeable
• are open-minded in their thinking
• constantly expose themselves to new and different ideas
• surround themselves with “possibility” thinkers
• keep a daily journal

If you want to be successful, model success. Do the things that successful people do. It is really that simple.

Credits – blast-off photo used courtesy of NASA

Tags: keep+a+journal, practice+thinking, open-minded, learning

“You are what you think about all day long.”

“You are the sum of your thoughts.”

“Your tomorrow is based on today’s thoughts.”

These are quotes that those who study inspiration and motivation recognize and have heard or read many times. I can’t remember who said each one of them, but I believe that they are factual. I believe that our thoughts produce our lives. Something that is not tangible (our thoughts – you cannot touch one) creates something that is tangible (our lives). Something being created from nothing. That’s a post for another time.

Can we overstate the importance of developing our thinking ability? I don’t believe that we can. But many people blindly rush through life without any idea that they can and do control their own destiny. We’ve all heard, “your future is in your own hands.” However, I think it would be more accurately stated, “your future is in your mind” or in how you choose to use your mind. Here are four ways that you can use your mind to increase your thinking skills.

1. Expose your mind to good input.

I don’t advocate watching television, but I realize that it is a fact of life and we have two in our home. I do believe that they can be used to increase your thinking skills. If you must watch TV, then watch the channels and programs that will promote your thinking. National Geographic, Animal Planet, TLC, Science, Discovery, HGTV, PBS, CNBC. business and financial programs.

Just as lying around on the couch is detrimental to your physical condition, so to does watching crap lead to mental ineptitude. Read more:

• books

• blogs

• magazines

• technical manuals

Find a topic that interests you and become an authority on it.

Ask yourself the following question. If you were at a dinner party could you participate intelligently in conversation about:

• the current political climate, political races or political policies

• your governments involvement in foreign policy

• the war in Iraq

• inflation

• unemployment

• new trends in business

• emerging technologies

• economic growth and development

• books on the best sellers list

• the current “hot” movies

Would you be able to hold up your end of an interesting and stimulating conversation or would you be relegated to nodding and smiling, while hoping that no one asks for your opinion?

Excluding the networks that I have mentioned above and a few news programs, television seldom provides the subject matter for a stimulating and intelligent conversation.

2. Get out of your comfort zone.

Visit a museum, then visit another. Take your children to the zoo, a planetarium or an aquarium. Discus science, technology, politics or religion with your family. Set aside a specific time each week for all family members to present something new they learned during the past week. Then discuss that “new” idea or concept in detail. Ask questions.

Show your children that you are a multi-faceted individual who has thoughts, ideas and great thinking skills. Children emulate what they see and who knows, you may inspire a future Nobel prize winner.

Show your child that there are no benefits in being ignorant. It may look cool on TV, but in “real life”, it’s just sad and economically depressing.

3. Spend some time with good thinkers.

This is almost a no-brainer. You become like the people you hang around. How many times did you hear your mother say that? Guess what? She was right.

I am fortunate in that I am part of a group of thinkers who constantly force me to keep up or get left behind. These are my inner circle and they poke, prod and test my thinking. Each one is very intelligent and each has their own special interests and areas of expertise. But we all make it a point to expect great thinking from each other and typically, you get exactly what you expect.

Good thinkers provoke good thinking. They don’t just ask for your opinion, they expect you to justify and defend it. They test you. Because of my group, I am a better thinker.

Look at the people who occupy space in your life. Do they encourage progressive thinking? If not, you don’t need to get rid of them, but you do need to seek out people who will stimulate your mind and add them to the people you associate with.

4. To stimulate creative thinking, get out of your rut.

By rut, I mean your unconscious, habitual ways of drifting through your daily life. If you stop to think about it, I’ll bet:

• you get dressed in the same way everyday

• you brush your teeth and comb your hair with one or the other hand, but always the same one

• you take the same path to work

• you arrive at about the same time everyday

• …you get the picture.

Being habitual is not conducive to creative thinking. Being different is. Make it a point to do anything and everything differently. This forces your brain to get off of autopilot. Do you remember the act of brushing your teeth this morning? What were you thinking? Chances are, you don’t remember because you were on autopilot.

Anytime that you do things differently, you force your brain into action. It has to adapt. Create new neural pathways. Validate new actions and make adjustments. Doing things differently forces you to “see” things differently. Seeing things differently leads to new and creative insights.

Brush your hair with your less dominant hand ( you can go back over it with the other one later ), change priorities, change pathways, change your life.

Your mind is your most powerful tool for creating the life you desire

It has been estimated that we have about 60,000 thoughts a day. How many do you remember? How many were remarkable? Isn’t it amazing how our mind transitions smoothly from one thought to the next? Each new thought is seamlessly and effortlessly tied to the previous thought and provides the springboard for our next thought.

Take a moment to think about your thinking skills and realize that it is your greatest asset. Your thoughts today will produce your life tomorrow therefore, mediocre thinking today will produce a mediocre tomorrow.

Mediocrity is not acceptable!

Tags: thinking+skills, good+thinkers, comfort+zone, creative+thinking

• The first thing you have to realize is that everything you need or want to know is available.
• The second thing is that you have to actively search for it.

The following is a list of web sites that offer a tremendous amount of information. Some better than others. Visit them and glean from them the information that you find helpful. If I feel very strongly about a site, I will offer a note or two. You will also find intermingled with these web resources a number of hints that I feel will help you.

1. SCORE – one of the best business information sites available – free, no agenda and lots of info. There is a reason that I have it listed first – it’s the best!
2. Helpful Hint – when you visit a site, look for a links page or a resources page – this info can take you to sites (and info) you may have never considered
3. Inc – great site and lots of info – take notes
4. Helpful Hint – search the web for any and everything you can think of related to your “big” idea – potential customers, potential competitors, suppliers, etc.
5. Helpful Hint – get the Firefox browser if you don’t have it. With this browser, you can add-on a bunch of search engines and cut down on your search time. The Firefox down load is quick, simple and easy. You’ll thank me a million times.
6. Allbusiness – advice, business blogs, online videos and forms and agreements ( I purchased a package of forms and was well pleased)
7. Inc – online version of Inc. magazine – wealth of info – somehow it made the list twice – must be really good!
8. Get Motivation – inspiration and motivation – articles and quotes
9. Entrepreneur – business tools, resources, online videos and more
10. Helpful Hint – Down load the Web2.0 tool bar today – with this tool bar installed you can search the social book marking sites (del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati and more) as well as a host of blog directories. Easy down load and install plus it is a mega feed aggregator – you’ll appreciate this
11. Small Business Administration – your government at work providing you with (free?) business startup info and more
12. Hot Points – blog authored by Bob Parson’s, owner of Godaddy.com – unique perspective, motivational and helpful – search the archives
13. Helpful Hint – if you go to a site, look for the articles section, these are usually free, but sometimes you have to search for them
14. Helpful Hint – when you finish reading an article, look at the author’s info ( usually in a box at the bottom ), there will be a link to their site or more info, if you are so inclined
15. My Own Business – free online course
16. Better Business Bureau – educating online business
17. SuccessMethods – inspiration and motivation, but you’ve got to do a little searching – hint scroll down the pages
18. Startup Journal – a Wall Street Journal source produced for entrepreneurs
19. Goals Guy – this link will take you to his articles, but explore the rest of the site
20. Harvey Mackay – this is a direct link to his best of columns – great writer and motivator
21. My New Company – startup info and help
22. Visit soupornuts.com often or get the rss feed.

All right, this will help you get started. Just remember, it’s all about being passionate – but passion without knowledge creates a zealot.

• have a goal
• get some knowledge
• develop your idea
• formulate a plan
• make adjustments
• stay focused
• become an entrepreneur

Tags: entrepreneur, business+websites, helpful+hints, motivation

• There are reams of documents that must be filled out and submitted to bankers, lawyers and contractors.
• There are hordes of decisions to be made, analyzed, corrected and then remade.
• There is the constant juggling of your schedule to accommodate contractors, sub-contractors, appraisers, bankers, suppliers and more.
• There is the never-ending need to coordinate the sequences of events. Do we need the plumber first or the electrician? What about the sheet rockers and trim carpenters?
• Then of course, you have to constantly be mindful of quality and cosmetic issues.

But now, we are living our dream life in our beautiful dream home and all the stress and hard work seem insignificant. It was worth it – every drop of sweat, every agonizing decision, all the missed sleep – it was all worth it.

In retrospect, it’s seems very clear to me how similar the process of building a house is to building a successful life. Like building a house, building your successful life involves a number of decisions prior to the actual construction process.

1. Decide to be successful

My wife and I own a beautiful twenty acre tract of land that we envisioned would be more beautiful with our dream home on it. But nothing really happened until we made the decision to make it happen. You can tour as many model homes, open houses and home shows as you like, but until you actively decide to build your dream home, nothing will get done.

The first step is deciding that you want to build your dream home and then determining the actions you need to take in order to make your dream a reality. How big is it to be? Where will you build? What style? Financing? Blueprints? Contractors? It all starts with your decision to start.

Creating a successful life occurs in the same way. You see friends or acquaintances who seem to be enjoying a fuller family experience, a better career or greater financial security and you wonder, “why does their life seem to be more successful than your own”? Most of the time we’ve been lulled into the rut of complacency by default and inaction. We don’t realize we are in a rut and we don’t realize that there is more available to us if we will only seek it out.

• Do you want a more successful life?

• What does “a more successful life” mean to you?

• Is it career advancement and more compensation?

• Closer family relationships?

• Financial prosperity?

• Entrepreneurship?

• All of these?

Just like building your dream home, these are the types of decisions you must make.

It all begins with you acting on the vision that you hold in your mind of what you want and deciding to pursue your dream life.

2. Create your blueprint for life

What will it take for you to reach your vision of success? If you are building a house, you start with:

• a set of blueprints

• assembly drawings

• lists of necessary materials

• spec sheets

• architectural elevations

• building codes and requirements

These are the documents that specify the materials, sizes and placements, functionality and appearance of your dream home.

Just as it would be impossible to build your dream home without a blueprint and the associated documents, you can’t build a successful life without a plan. No one ever wakes up one day and discovers that while they were asleep, that they had been selected to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. It just won’t happen. But even if it did, how long would you last in that position if you had made no preparation for that position? I’m sure you’ll agree that it wouldn’t be long.

Your plan must:

• define what success is to you

• outline the steps you plan to take to reach your definition of success

• account for the skills you feel must be developed and how to acquire them

• evolve as more and better knowledge is gained

• allow for contingencies along the way

3. Develop your goals system

You must develop your goals system. No one can do this for you. This is a stumbling block for everyone and this is where almost everyone falters on the path to success. For whatever reasons, most people (95 – 97%) cannot, do not, or will not set goals for themselves. I am referring to actual written, recorded goals and the plans ( action steps ) necessary to achieve their goals. If you cannot make yourself focus long enough to record your goals, is it any wonder that your life is one of unrealized potential?

According to statistics that are repeated time and time again, three to five percent of our population is considered financially free and financially successful. Ironically, this is the same percentage that take the time to develop goal programs for themselves and then dedicate themselves to achieving their goals. Is there a correlation?

Develop a set of goals. Define what it is that you require, then get busy taking the necessary actions to achieve your goals. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Focus on your goal. Develop a plan and take action. Do it now.

Every time that you are faced with a decision, ask yourself:

• Is this the best use of my time?

• Will this action/decision take me closer to or farther from my goals?

Then, act accordingly. If you will take the time and make the effort to do this every time you face a decision, you will increase your chances of becoming the success you dream of, exponentially.

4. Character & Integrity are the foundation for a successful life

Webster’s dictionary defines character as “moral strength” or “reputation”. How would your friends and co-workers describe your character?

• Are you honest?

• Are you sincere?

• Are you trustworthy?

• Are you loyal?

• Are you friendly?

• Are you helpful?

• Are you caring?

These are some of the characteristics of people who are considered “strong of character”. If you demonstrate these traits, then you don’t have to tell the world what you believe and stand for. Your life will show it.

Webster’s says integrity is “firmness of character”, “honesty”.

• How firm is your character?

• Will you stand up for what you believe in?

• Will you oppose the majority even if you have to stand alone?

• Will you defend the oppressed?

• Even if the oppressors are your friends?

Our integrity and character define what we believe in and what we stand for. The way we talk, the people we associate with and the places we frequent all tell the world in a much louder voice than our own, what we truly believe in.

You would not build your dream home on a faulty foundation and you cannot build a successful life on a weak character or a lack of integrity. Your new life would never be able to withstand the storms or trials you are bound to face along the way. Begin today to always stand for what you believe in, fight against opposition to truth and always, always keep your word.

4. The walls of success

The walls of your home provide you with protection from the elements, security from intruders, and provide support for your roof system. The first wall of your successful life is a positive mental attitude.

Your first wall: A Positive Mental Attitude

All successful people are highly motivated and possess a positive attitude. They know inherently that they are destined to succeed. Every event and every action is seen as a means to deliver them to their goal. These individuals believe that the universe is conspiring for their benefit in all things. Furthermore, successful people have an optimistic view, believing that the glass is always half full.

An action that does not go according to plan is not a failure, but a learning experience – the elimination of a theoretical solution and it is not an indictment of them or their abilities. Their positive mental attitude is demonstrated by the confidence with which they attack the obstacles standing between them and their destined success.

Successful people are reminiscent of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Colonel Sanders and all the rest who stumbled along the road to success but refused to quit because they courageously maintained a positive mental attitude.

Your second wall: A Strong Work Ethic

All successful individuals demonstrate a strong work ethic. Their mantra could be – “If it is to be, it is up to me.” In their mind, hard work is not an optional or part-time trait. Generally, they work long, long hours.

A truly successful life can only happen when you realize that in order to have it (success), you must get off your butt and go get it. You will not find it:

• in front of you television

• down at the bowling alley

• over at the local bar

• out in your hobby shop

• hanging with your boys (or girls)

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with any of these means of killing time other than that is what you are doing – killing your time and these activities do not contribute in any way to acquiring the successful life you desire.

To achieve a goal worth having requires hard work. Ask any person whom you consider to be successful how they achieved their status. I don’t believe any will say,

• “ I just woke up one day, went to work and they made me president of the company”

• “My business just took off one day while I was watching TV”

• “The kids came and got me out of the bar and gave a Father or the Year party”

No, every successful person realizes that his/her effort brings about the desired result. The buck stops here. You must take responsibility for your own success and happiness. Truly successful people have the ability to clear their minds of the common distractions that we all face and focus on their goals. This ability to focus results in the development and implementation of plans that produce the achievement of their goals.

The successful person is action-oriented. They don’t take a wait and see approach. More than likely, they will start whatever it is they wish to accomplish and then make adjustments along the way based on feedback they are monitoring. I’ve heard it described as the “ready, fire, aim” approach. The point is, there comes a time when you’ve got to get off your butt and take action.

Your third wall: Passion

Few successful people have ever reached their status without passion. Passion is what drives you. It’s what you lie in bed and think about at night, examining new ways of approaching pertinent issues that you are faced with. Passion is the fuel that powers your engine. If you desire to be successful, find out what it is that you are passionate about and then develop a way to exploit your passion.

Your passion is anything that constantly occupies your thinking. It may be a hobby (woodworking, restoring antique automobiles, computers, entrepreneurship), your family, or any combination of things. Only you know where your passions lie.

Based on what your passion is, embrace the fast-changing landscape of the internet to research innovative ways to capitalize on your passion. All successful people understand that the future of technology is all about the proliferation of information via the internet. It is to your benefit to embrace this fast-moving technology and try to keep up with emerging advancements and how you can apply them to your passion.

Use your passion, be innovative and embrace new technology (it’s not going away). This will help you to welcome change which is just another way of saying, “be progressive with your passion”.

Your fourth wall: Perseverance

The last wall of your successful life/house is perseverance. The never-say-quit, refusal to give up attitude. Sometimes we see these people struggling and we wonder why they even bother. I know people have asked that about me. The reality is we set our eyes on our goals and nothing will deter us from achieving it.

The obstacles we encounter are only opportunities to display creative problem solving skills. Nay sayers only make us (me) want it more. Those who truly believe in us motivate us beyond words.

Those who succeed:

• thrive on pressure

• embrace deadlines

• are committed to overcoming obstacles

• are determined to succeed

• won’t quit

• don’t quit

• can’t quit

Remember Rocky Balboa and his refusal to stay down in the original Rocky movie. That’s perseverance!

5. Your roof: Continual Learning

To protect the interior of your dream home/successful life, you need a roof. That roof is a commitment to continual learning. Someone said, “If you’re not growing, then you’re dying.” I am in full agreement with that statement. Our minds thrive when we stimulate them and provide them with challenges.

Subconsciously, we limit ourselves when we say, we can’t do something or “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. This sets us up to fail. The truth of the matter is we can and will learn anything we want to learn if we are given the right motivation.

Twenty five years ago, few people considered the long-range impact that the PC would have on every aspect of our lives. Consequently, most people did not rush to learn how to use them. However, everyone now realizes that computers are an integral part of our lives. To survive in our present world, we must adapt and adopt this technology.

What you know today will not be enough tomorrow. It is as plain as that. Don’t be left behind. Commit to learning something new today and everyday.

6. Maintenance

Finally, in order to enjoy your new home/successful life, you must maintain it in good working condition.

• Do periodic self-evaluations.

• Try to stay humble.

• Give back something.

• Mentor someone.

• Be introspective.

• Remember to thank those that helped you along the way. No one becomes successful without help.

• Inspect your life and reflect on what it took to get to where you are now.

Tags: success, goals, blueprint+for+life, goals+system, passion, perseverance

The proliferation of information

In the past, wisdom was a much desired trait. This was due, mostly because of the scarcity of information. In ancient times, the priest hood and royalty controlled the dissemination of information. Later, the church assumed this role and doled out to the common man only what they needed to know in order to control and pacify the masses. The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1447 made available to the common man, first the scriptures and later other works of literature. This led to the first mass proliferation of information which allowed the common man access to facts, thoughts, ideas and teachings that had previously been denied. This was the first step to enlightenment for the common man.

It is tempting to say that today we are at the zenith of the information age. But, to our advantage, I don’t believe this to be the case. Due to the exponential growth of the internet (the second mass proliferation of information), there will be more information available tomorrow than there is today and it will keep increasing.

Information is as close as your nearest computer

If there is any subject or idea that you desire to know about, gain a better understanding of, or want to research then head on over to your nearest search engine and start typing. Within seconds, you will have access to more information than you’ve got the time to view or even knew existed on a particular subject. However, it is up to you to sift through this vast storage media and determine what is accurate and what is not. All this brings me to the point of this post.

It is my goal to help as many people as I can with this website. I do this by writing articles to inspire, motivate and educate. Today, I want to expose you to a website that I found to be very educational and I believe that anyone who has thought of starting their own website or blog will find the information presented timely, easy to understand and applicable. Go to:

www.tubetorial.com

This site is a great source of video how-to information. Do you want to know how to start a blog on your own domain? They’ve got it. They have a very large library of pertinent videos dealing with all sorts of subjects like web development, technological issues, legalities, search engine optimization, WordPress help and more. If there are some web related question that you’ve wanted to ask but didn’t know where to go, give them a shot.

All of the videos that I have had the opportunity to view so far have been informative, very well produced and easy to understand. An added bonus is that they are all FREE!!!

Tags: tubetorial, video+tutorials, information

When I was in college, I can remember my roommate always waiting to the last minute to write his term papers. He would work on it for most of the night and then just as exhaustion was about to overtake him, he would sigh, “That’s good enough”.

“Good enough” seldom is

There are several problems with this approach to rating our efforts.

• The most obvious is that “good enough” seldom is good enough. It is not our best effort and when pressed to judge our own work, we will not say that it is a superlative attempt. The truth be known, we did just enough to satisfy the qualifications for the job. We are not proud of our effort.
• This “good enough” ideology is quickly permeating the American economy. Fewer and fewer people seem to take pride in their job and work. Everyone wants to “do their eight and hit the gate”. Phrases like, “that’s not my job”, “let the next shift worry about it”, “that’s the way it’s always been done”, and others are common. At one time, America had the greatest workforce on the planet. Do you still think that is the case?
• “Good enough” is the mantra of mediocrity. We have lowered the bar so low that “good enough” requires very little effort on our parts. Standardized tests that high school seniors are required to pass in order to graduate from high school are a joke. Our children are falling behind the rest of the world in science, technology and math because their work is “good enough” to graduate, but not good enough to excel at the world class level. Who do you think that they got their “good enough” work ethic from? Apples don’t fall far from the tree.

My 50/50 rule

My hobby is building custom cabinets and furniture. Very nice, well crafted and highly valued pieces. I use mortise and tenon and dovetail joints to join my pieces together. The pieces will be together when my grandchildren are able to use them.

From the time that I create my design, until I have finished the building stage, will consume about 50% of my time. All that remains is applying the finish. In order to have a finish that equals the degree of craftsmanship that I dedicated to the building phase will require me to invest an equivalent amount of time in the finishing phase of the project.

In other words, I can build a great piece of furniture and then spend very little time preparing the piece for finishing and then rushing through the application of the finish, which will result in a very average looking piece of furniture. This is not what I want for my descendents. I want something that will last and be beautiful for many generations. “Good enough” is not an option.

“Good enough” will not lead to greatness

I think that we have a responsibility to show our children what greatness is. From our attitudes to our work ethic. If we expect this country to remain a strong, world leader, then it is up to us to lead the way. Embrace the greatness within you. Do everything as if your children are watching, because they are. If “good enough” is good enough for you, then it will be good enough for them.

Tags: greatness, good+enough, complacence

Children notice everything!

Here’s a news flash. They see and hear everything I do or say, they adapt it to whatever it is they are doing and then over time, if allowed to go unchecked, they adopt it into their lives. I’m sure that if you have children, at some point, your child repeated a word, phrase, idea or thought that took you a little while to realize where it came from.

The eye-opener is that I understand my influence only because I am constantly exposed to my daughters. I make it a point to talk with them and treat them as intelligent, partially grown human beings. They respond by eagerly developing into two smart and inventive little girls.

I realize the effect of my influence on my daughters only because of my continual exposure to them. This made me begin to wonder, “How many people do we influence that we don’t know about and how do we influence them?” I’ve decided to call the ways that we influence others, “our Powers”.

1. THE POWER TO INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE

When others see us:

• attempt and then accomplish a task

• meet a deadline

• overcome an obstacle

• go back to school

• learn a new skill

• go beyond what is the status quo

…they realize that “it” can be done. They are inspired to “do more” and “go beyond” their previously self-imposed limitations. By our attitudes, character and actions we have the power to move others in the direction of their true potential. We have the power to motivate them to pursue their goals because we have demonstrated that a worthwhile goal can be achieved.

2. THE POWER TO LEAD

Some individuals are natural born leaders while others have the role of leader thrust upon them. Who looks to you for leadership?

• friends

• co-workers

• children

• spouse

• others

You may be surprised. We may not see ourselves as leaders, but the odds are the someone looks up to us as their leader. Are we exhibiting good leadership qualities? Do we demonstrate:

• integrity

• a solid work ethic

• preparedness

• or a host of other qualities that we expect our leaders to have?

Remember, never expect more from others than you are willing to give. It is a sobering thought to know that someone is watching and emulating what we say, what we do, what we think, how we act and the attitudes we portray.

3. THE POWER TO TEACH

You have skills. You know things. Perhaps you:

• know a shortcut for doing a particular job

• know a tip or technique for doing a task more efficiently, quicker or more economically

• know who to contact to get that “certain something” done

• have devised a system that others are unaware of

• know where to go for the answers

Tell someone about your unheralded skills. It will make you feel good to share plus you will help someone else become more productive. Rest assured, 99% of the time, they will give you the credit for developing their skills.

4. THE POWER TO LEARN

If you want a new skill, then learn it. It doesn’t matter whether is is becoming proficient with a new software package or learning how to use a hand plane (a woodworking tool), you can learn. Your mind is like a muscle, it never loses it’s ability to increase it’s functions. You can develop new skills and abilities through hearing, observation, imitation and deduction. The only realistic limitations we have are the ones that we place on ourselves.

5. THE POWER TO ENCOURAGE

It is truly amazing when you stop to realize how much affect a few words of encouragement can have. A simple “good job” or “nice try” lets others know that we see and value their efforts and accomplishments.

One of the largest complaints that I hear in my position is, “no one respects or appreciates what I do”. Studies have shown that workers in general are more likely to perform better, quicker and more efficiently if their efforts are noticed. Continual improvement is more reliant on this personal encouragement than the promise of financial gain.

Stop to encourage others with a word of appreciation or a smile. The benefits will be long lasting – even if you don’t see them.

Tags: your+super+powers, teaching, inspiration, motivation