3 Three Killers of Dreams

Here are the 3 big diseases that kill the possible success of those starting out on new activities, businesses, projects and careers:

1. Hesitation Disease - Instead of jumping in, getting started, asking questions, charging ahead, you hold back. You start thinking about all the things that could go wrong, all the things you don’t know and you freeze. Instead of focusing on what you are excited about and what you like you focus on the unknowns. You freeze and you miss your opportunity.

2. Detail-itis - You want to know everything about everything. You major on the minors. You are never satisfied. You drive yourself to learn every single thing but you never do anything with any of your information. Since you aren’t active you remain idle. The idleness turns you into a busybody, endlessly poking your nose into other’s business, questioning and analyzing everything to death. Instead of making a positive contribution you become a negative, interfering with those doing the work.

3. Excuse-itis - You don’t take responsibility for your progress. You see yourself as a victim who is persecuted by the world. You can’t get anything done because The world is against you. You always have a reason why you can’t get anything done. You focus on problems. You seem oblivious to the fact that everyone has the same problems yet they get things done anyway. You never get anything done, but you always have an excuse.

Avoid these dream killers, and avoid those who have these diseases—because they are contagious and you don't want to get infected!

Relationship Splinters

Easy going in, painful coming out.

When starting new relationships you don’t need to be paranoid, but you’re wise to be careful. That warning applies to all relationships—personal, business and associations. It's so easy to be infatuated with a the new, regardless of whether its a person or something else. But think before you dive in.

Relationships are so easy to get into, but painful to get out, just like a splinter. The trouble is that the bloom eventually goes off the rose and the initial infatuation will fade. At that point, if there is not something deeper there, you’ll be looking to end it.

Here’s the problem…there’s an “ouch” coming.

When you reach the point of ending relationships you realize, there are no good options. No matter what you do, someone is going to be hurt. There’s going to be pain—no way around it. Eventually you stop avoiding the issue and just get it over with. The pain lasts and lasts. Relationships—easy to start, painful to end.

You can’t avoid them

You don’t want to avoid them. Relationships are what make up life. They make life rich and rewarding. There are lots of great things to be gained from a great relationships, so don’t be too paranoid. 

But the warning remains, just take a moment to think before you jump. That may be all it takes to let you avoid a lot of unnecessary pain, because they will always be easy to start but painful to stop. Choose wisely.

Shuffle or Hustle

Recently, I got on an elevator, and then immediately in behind me rushed a UPS deliveryman. He was pushing his cart filled with boxes and you could feel the small space almost vibrate with his energy.

You could tell he was pumped up and a man on a mission. He had places to go, things to deliver and a short time to get it done. The result was that he was energized and focused. That’s certainly not the way most go about their business during the day.

Your energy shapes everything around you. How fast you walk. How fast you talk. It paints a picture for everyone else to see how you feel about what you do. It let’s people know instinctively whether or not what you are doing is important and beyond that whether or not YOU are important.

What kind of results do you want? Are you on a commission? Are you on a salary? Watch a delivery person, the energy that they go around with versus somebody who’s on a salary on a job with a guaranteed income. 

Companies generate the energy level of their employees. There’s a difference between the body language of somebody with a top company, somebody with a average or mediocre or floundering company.  What do their employees look like?  How can you tell? You can tell by their energy and body language.

Give them reasons. if you want people to hustle, you’ve got to give them reasons—personal reasons, team reasons, mission reasons. Give them a cause where they see the big picture. If anyone asks the question, "What’s so great about this company?" they should be able to rattle off two, three, four examples. There should be an energy about it. When they talk about their company it should create fire, energy, and excitement. They should get more excited the more they talk about it because it’s reminding them of good things and why they are fortunate to be there.

Find a place that motivates you to hustle. If you shuffle along through life you’ll never do anything great. One mark of high achievers is that they have tremendous energy and excitement about what they do. For you to have a chance at Greatness you must find a place to work that excites you. You must find something to do that excites you, something that you believe in and know can pay off in a big way. Finding an energizing environment to work in releases you to be your best and make the maximum contribution. 

Your hustle will identify you to everyone as someone who has great promise and is on your way up.  You will be enjoying your work and it will show. People will enjoy being around you.

It's the people who hustle who wind up at the top! 

Winner's Book Club Selection of the Week: How To Parent

"How to Parent," by Dr. Fitzhugh Dodson

When our boys were born I bought and read every book on parenting in the book store.

This one was one of the best. The information, the attitude and the philosophy of this book really hit home with me. It provided me with a lot of valuable guidance as a new parent raising two energetic boys.

What I didn’t expect was that I received a lot of foundational insight that I found also applied to business as well.

You can’t be successful in business without people and keeping them working and growing together as a team has a lot of parallels to raising a family. This book will help you understand how to deal with many situations and give you confidence to trust your own instincts.

That’s a little insight to why this book has been such a top seller for decades.

Here’s what others who have used the book have to say about it's value.

Review #1 by Kathy Williams (kwilliams@texoma.net) (Sherman, Texas)

Twenty-four years ago, a friend sent me a copy of this book. My first child was a few months old. I am the oldest of five children and had a fair amount of experience with young children who had been raised in a loving and independence-oriented family. I also had extensive college-level instruction in psychology and believed most of the theory I had been exposed to did not match my experience with living human beings. >>read more<<

Review #2 By A Customer

I bought this book in the early 70's when my youngest daughter was born and I became a single parent. I found Dodson's methods made complete sense and felt natural to me, encouraging the practical use of his techniques (his 10 commandments) which were as much for my benefit as my daughter's. >>read more<<

Review #3 By A Customer

This is the absolutely best childrearing book I have read in the past 30 years. I credit Dr. Dodson with much of my children's best parenting. They have turned out to be incredibly wonderful people, and I am thrilled that this book is available again to a new generation of struggling-to-be-good parents. This book really took a lot of the guesswork out of the task for me. If your own childhood left you with a less than satisfying foundation to be a parent: get this book. It will make you a better person and it will give your kids what they need: Good Parenting—no, GREAT parenting!

Start with a bang!

One of the secrets of success in all walks of life is to …Start with a Bang! From a roller coaster ride at the amusement park to a Broadway show, they all start with a Bang!

Why is this so important?

It sends a definite signal that THEY MEAN BUSINESS! It sends a clear signal that this is going to be exciting and you’re going to be glad you came. They want to instantly engage all your senses and rock you out of your normal comfort zone to maximize your attention and enjoyment.

Business Leaders could learn a lot from this technique.

In business, you are always starting over. Every week, every month, every season, every year—you start over all over again.

If you can come up with ways to grab your team's attention and start each phase off with fresh excitement, you're on your way to maximizing team activity and having lots of great things happen as a result.

In fact keeping your team energized and active is the biggest key to keeping your business growing.

Activity produces energy, excitement, knowledge, experience and results!

Leaders, if you are looking for a head start on your competition, find ways to put extra activity into your weeks and months by…Starting with a Bang!

Start with a BLITZ of Activity!

  ...Because Activity produces! 

       Activity produces Energy!

          Activity produces Knowledge!

             Activity produces Experience!

Because...Focused, High-Energy Activity Produces WINNING!