Entrepreneurship | Why Should I Read That: Blog

ONE Thing to do this year. ONE Thing Book Review

Posted on December 30, 2016 by Jon DeLange

You meant to do it, but….

We all have goals, dreams, and priorities that never get done. I have things that I procrastinate regularly as I’m sure you do too.

Here’s the rub. We often think that if we will just use our willpower and get back on track, we can blast through our to-do list, multitasking to keep everyone happy along the way, and emerge victorious winners of the rat race.

Gary Keller advises the opposite.

His book, The ONE Thing, co-authored with Jay Papasan, encourages you to think through your various roles withthe lens of what they call “The Focusing Question.”

What is the one thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?

This focusing question is an extension of the “Pareto Principle.” The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the activities. Because of this, we look specifically for the highest value for effort. Another great application of the Pareto Principle can be found in the book Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy (it’s about overcoming procrastination).

Pause a second and read the quoted question again. This shouldn’t be a trite process as you determine your one thing. It has to be something you can do. Picking out unrealistic activities helps no one. Saying, “such that by doing it” implies that you are committed and can finish this one thing. Most important, it has to have a ripple effect on the rest of your to-do list. And not only that, you must push yourself to ask if it will make EVERYTHING else easier or unnecessary?

So what was your new years resolution? Did you do it??

New Years resolutions statistics state that only 8% of people succeed in achieving their resolutions.

Make it ONE Thing this year.

Here’s my story. After graduating college I wanted to continue rigorous reading, to work on public speaking skills, to be more literate in the digital world, to create passive income, to add value to the world, to inspire people of my generation, among other things. 🙂 Way too lofty? That’s just how I think.

I hadn’t read this book but I figured if I could be accountable to an audience, I would have built-in pressure and would be less likely to wimp out. I decided to start a book review YouTube channel.

Looking back, I see this principle in action. By committing to weekly uploads for the first 8 months, I had no choice but to read a book a week and bring value to the videos I was making. Making videos had a direct effect on my ability to communicate and I had no choice but to learn how to edit video in the process. Do I make thousands of dollars or reach millions with useful content? No. But if I don’t start somewhere, I’ll never get to serve that many people.

The Why Should I Read That YouTube channel became the “ONE Thing” for me in 2016.

What’s your ONE Thing?

P.S. Check out this document by the authors called “A Few Things about The ONE Thing” for a proper summary.

Why Should I Read | Ego is the Enemy

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Jon DeLange

“Our greatest internal obstacle is our ego.” -Ryan Holiday

Ego: an unhealthy feeling of one’s own importance, arrogance.

Ryan Holiday, #1 bestselling author, writes on the topic of ego to address our addiction to the drug-like effects of buying into our own awesomeness.

Why would you pick this book off the shelves? This book gives practical applications to individuals interested in maintaining their success and avoiding failure due to ego.

We consistently find ourselves in three stages in life, aspiring, succeeding, or failing. In chapter 32, Holiday concludes a thought, “…ego makes all three stages harder, but it has the potential to make failure permanent.”

Holiday’s writing is highly influenced by stoic thinkers like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. From a Christian perspective, this book is spot on, and Holiday points it out in chapter 9. He says that Christians approach the topic of ego by simply labeling it pride… and then agrees that you don’t have to be a Christian to agree that it is a bad idea all around. Over 2500 years ago King Solomon wrote,

Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 18:12

He gets it.

In this week’s book review video, I point out that the idea that “you can be lesser, but still do more” is foreign to our culture and is worth reclaiming.

If you choose to read this book, you will be regaled with stories from throughout history of ego hindering the success of great men and women. Check out the three links below for a sample of the book: the first is the introduction and Ryan Holiday’s personal story; the second is a recording of a chapter entitled “What’s Important to You” one of the best of the book; the third is a review from Derek Sivers because he has 200 high quality book summaries on his site and he loves this book.

What’s Important to You

Derek Sivers on Ego is the Enemy: ” I wish everyone would read this”

I hope you choose to pick this book as your next read, I put it in the top 7 books I’ve read this year and will likely read it again.

Until Next Time!

Keep Reading Friends.

Jon

Why Should I Read | Attitude 101

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Jon DeLange

I didn’t want to read another book on attitude. Then I realized I had to fix my attitude about it.

This drove home to me the principle reinforced by John Maxwell, that we are in control of our attitudes. In the book Attitude 101 Maxwell condenses volumes of work available on attitude to give you and I thoughts on the impact of attitude, the formation of attitude, and the way to approach your future with the right attitude.

Attitude 101 is the third book reviewed on this blog about attitude. “Attitude is Everything” by Jeff Keller is great attitude philosophy and “The Difference Maker,” also by John Maxwell, delves into the idea that our attitudes can provide us with a competitive edge.

This book is part of Maxwell’s “Real Leadership” series and is a half-size, ninety-seven page, one-sitting read. Yet the wisdom contained in this small book has a big impact.

As far as impact of your attitudes, Maxwell defines attitude as “an inward feeling expressed by action” (pg. 13). If your attitude is good, others are aware of those actions that exemplify your inward feelings. But if your attitude stinks, you are betrayed by the inevitable overflow of your attitude. According to Maxwell, “most bad attitudes are the result of selfishness” (pg. 11).

Check out this week’s video for an explanation of how you are in control of the formation of your attitudes and your thought habits can be changed:

Another tool we have to use is our word choice in forming our attitudes. Maxwell shares on pg 48 a list of common words that we should replace in our vocabulary. Remember, attitudes are the outward expression of inward feelings. If we can change our inward thoughts, this sort of outward language follows:

Eliminate These Words Completely

I can’t
If
Doubt
I don’t think
I don’t have the time
Maybe
I’m afraid of
I don’t believe
(minimize) I
It’s impossible.

Make these corresponding words part of your vocabulary.

I can
I will
Expect the best
I know
I will make the time
Positively
I am confident
I do believe
(promote) You
All things are possible.

Language reflects reality and definitely affects our perception of the facts. Tell yourself a positive story and watch your feelings change.

What is the possible future of having a great attitude in life? Does it mean that everything comes easy and you never struggle again? Certainly not. However, adversity can serve to lift you when you have the right attitude.

Think of running around as a kid with a kite. Could that kite fly without wind? No, there had to be wind to lift the kite, but it was anchored at the same. That resistance lifted it higher and higher with tension on the line. In the same way, with the right attitude we can use the winds of adversity to lift us higher and higher while staying anchored by the line of truth.

John Maxwell will be the first to tell you that attitude doesn’t replace aptitude. But having aptitude without the right attitude means someone may replace you.

Until next time (Next week I’ll be traveling, unlikely I’ll be able to get a blog up),

Keep reading friends!

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#Whyread The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Jon DeLange

We’ve all got problems. We also think a handful of Benjamins can fix them, right?

Don’t get me wrong, you and I might be able to fix some things with cash. However, the life of Ben Franklin offers wisdom quite a bit more valuable than his face on the $100 dollar bill.

new-ben-franklin-100-dollar

This post isn’t a recap of his life, there are textbooks for that. What I hope is that you’ll use his tactic of being creative when faced with problems. So many of us are afraid of action if the outcome is uncertain.

Read this book to see how Franklin handled difficulty.

Ben Franklin was many things during his life, founding father, printer, inventor, international diplomat, military strategist, philosopher, and “the greatest conversationalist in the colonies,” were among his roles.

We can draw present-day wisdom from his 18th-century accomplishments.

Most people focus on his 13 virtues that he developed in his 20s and lived throughout his life.

Again, not deep diving here, go check out these posts and books to learn about his 13 virtues:

However, I was fascinated by his method of thinking through problems in a creative way. Backed up by a group of men who met weekly to discuss ideas, Franklin instituted the first fire department during his lifetime. He invented a stove that heated the house safely and consumed so much less wood that it’s design was used for over a hundred years. He franchised his printing businesses all around the American colonies and trained entrepreneurs.

My favorite story was this one about getting his soldiers to attend daily prayers during the French and Indian War using a chaplain and alcohol. I share that one here:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nSZNddhk

Again, I believe that a creative approach allows us to be more effective. I hope you’ll read this book and learn directly from the only founding father who signed the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and the Treaty of Paris (ending the Revolutionary War).

For kicks and giggles, count how many times Franklin says “ingenious” in his book. It seems to be his favorite adjective.

Until next week,

Keep reading Friends!

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Why Should I Read | Entreleadership

Posted on July 30, 2016 by Jon DeLange

I used to be flat broke.

When I moved from Colorado to Texas at the beginning of September 2014, I had about $200 in my bank account, and wasn’t going to get paid a dime until the end of the month from the job I had just taken.

I remember walking down the aisle of Walmart in Temple, Texas and thinking to myself “If I buy supplies for PB&J I can eat that for a week for about $12.”

Dave Ramsey, the founder of Financial Peace University, starts his book, Entreleadership, with a similar situation that he found himself in during his early career, and from the first page of this book I thoroughly enjoyed it.

“Entreleadership” is a word coined by Ramsey as the mash-up of “Entrepreneur” and “Leader.” He states that a leader is a proven force within an organization and can either get results herself or motivate others to excel. His definition of entrepreneur is one who is driven to strike out and try something that’s never been done before, one who has a compulsion to create. By taking strengths from each of these persons, Ramsey trains his teams to get results while looking for opportunities to innovate.

This book is easily one of the most comprehensive guides for small business owners I have read. Ramsey states on the cover that this book contains “practical business wisdom from the trenches,” and the content is curated to contain strategies that a business owner can use, TODAY.

I was recommended this book by a friend since she knew I am considering starting my own small business. After reading it, I would put this book near the top of any reading list for small business owners.

While planning this week’s video, I paused to think about some of the topics that this book covers, off the top of my head in about 30 seconds I compiled this list:

Technology Changes
Hiring
Firing
Cash on hand
Buying new facilities
Compensation plans
Personality styles in the workplace
Leadership vs management
Types of small business
Taxes
Selling styles
Mechanics of starting new business
Percentage of revenue to save for taxes

There are so many more topics covered in this book and ALL of them are backed up by personal stories from Ramsey’s companies.

Personally, from one quick time through the book, I can pinpoint multiple potholes that I’ll be avoiding while starting a new business later this year.

Ramsey writes in his wrap up that he tried to write a “different kind of business and leadership book.” This work is Ramsey’s personal playbook, and if you’re entrepreneurial or desire to lead well, I encourage you to view his results and take his advice.

Until next week,

Keep Reading Friends!

Jon

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Why Should I Read | The Richest Man in Babylon

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Jon DeLange

If you’re like me, you too have tried to “get into” a finance course or personal finance book. You may be realizing, like I am as well, that a failure to learn good financial principles compounds throughout your life and that not knowing what you’re doing is an incredibly bad idea.

Last week we talked about why stories drive change. This book, The Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason, presents useful financial principles in story form. I won’t reprint the stories here, so you’ll have to settle for a quick bullet-ed list of the “7 cures for a lean purse.” The audiobook version is $1.95 and only 4 hours long too!

This book was published in 1926 a few years before the great depression. Clason was the owner of a prominent map company and applied the principles he writes about throughout his life.

This small paperback is the seminal work on personal finance and entrepreneurial thinking. These lessons address topics such as avoiding debt, seeking out mentors and protecting assets. The short, allegorical book struck a chord with Depression-era readers, who clamored for its easy-to-read financial advice and wisdom on building wealth.

This book is concise, it delivers financial principles in story form, and it provided a basis for many authors and speakers of the 20^th century as they wrote books and delivered seminars on financial success.

You may actually prefer a change of pace from the dry financial tomes that tell us how to pay down debt, buy a home, invest in stocks or other strategies like flipping houses or starting a business. Then the stories of Arkad, Dabasir, and Sharru Nada set in the exotic gardens of Babylon or the deserts of the Middle east will be a welcome change of pace.

NASA photo of Euphrates River, along which Babylon grew up.

If that sounds interesting, and you want more than these 7 quick points to overcome being broke we are going to cover, then go get this book on amazon for 4 dollars for a paperback or 1.95 on audiobook.

Think about this for a second, Og Mandino, one of the most successful personal development speakers and authors of the 20^th century called this book the greatest text on personal finance and thrift of all time and it’s 1.95 on amazon. The problem isn’t lack of information, people, it’s lack of implementation.

Another personal-achievement expert, Brian Tracy, explained in his book Getting Rich Your Own Way that Clason’s message, despite its age, is still valid today. “The book is a primer on financial success because its principles are simple, direct and effective,” Tracy says. Pulled from Success Magazine, April 13, 2011

Here are the seven bullet points on overcoming a lean purse from the Richest Man in Babylon.

Set thy purse to fattening
1. Specifically, hold 10% of your income for your own future.
Control the expenditures
1. Live on 90% of your income or less and don’t deviate from the budget.
Make thy gold multiply
1. Straightforward, don’t let it sit there, invest wisely. Parable of servants matt 25.
Guard thy treasures from loss
1. Invest only where the principle is safe, where it may be reclaimed if desirable, and where you earn reasonable interest. Also seek counsel from wiser heads when investing.
Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment.
1. Own your home. Here’s the thing, I take issue with this one to some extent but in almost all cases it’s better to own if you can do it without debt.
Insure a future income
1. Provide in advance for your family and/or retirement
Increase thy ability to earn.
1. Build your capacity, study and become wiser and more skillful, and act as though you respect yourself.

Those are the 7 cures for a lean purse from The Richest Man in Babylon. The audiobook is 4 hours long and costs less than a cup of coffee. If you can’t handle some Thees and Thous don’t bother, but with experience comes wisdom and many experienced individuals highly recommend this book.

Why Should I Read | Eat That Frog

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Jon DeLange

“If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that it’s probably the worst thing you’ll do all day.

According to Brian Tracy, “eating frogs” is a fun way to refer to overcoming procrastination.

There are 21 practices outlined in this book. All of them are immediately practicable for those interested in being more effective in the time that they have.

Do you fit this description?

If so, you may be looking for the “5 Easy Steps to Get More Done.”

I know I’ve clicked those articles before hoping there was some shortcut.

However, the one habit that could outshine all the others in the book may be the toughest of them all.

Here it is, start every work day by doing the most difficult task first.

Why?

Implementing this habit rids your day of procrastination.

As an interesting aside, the psychology of procrastinating is a fascinating topic. Here are two links, first to a fun Ted talk (Instant Gratification Monkey!), and second, a PsychologyToday article titled 10 Things to Know About Procrastination.

So to develop this habit, Tracy says there are seven steps that combine to maximize your capacity to scarf down that big, ugly frog first thing in the morning.

Written List. This is a pre-emptive habit, ending your day or week by writing down what needs to happen the next time you start gets your subconscious mind aware of the next challenge to be faced.
Reprioritization. The list you have has a number of first priorities, identifying them, and using the 80/20 rule to identify what is the highest value for the effort. This is the first point in this week’s video.
The choice. Select a single task that is among your highest priorities and has the most serious potential consequences from either getting it done or being left undone.
Assembly. Still the day or week before, you’ll want to gather the information or tools you’ll need and put them where you can get started right away the next morning.
Workspace. The final preparation piece beforehand, you clear your workspace so that it is only you and your frog.
Discipline. This aspect is simply a willpower exercise, but if it is the first challenge of the day, your willpower hasn’t been depleted yet by distractions.
21 days. Tracy writes that if one will do these 7 steps every day for 21 straight days you will literally double your productivity in less than a month.

The way in which this chapter of the book ends is certainly motivating to me, and I hope it is to you too.

Develop the habit of doing the most difficult task first and you’ll never look back. You’ll become one of the most productive people of your generation.

So what frog are you going to eat?

Have you seen the video on this book? Click Here.

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Why Should I Read | Sam Walton: Made in America

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Jon DeLange

Sam Walton didn’t set out to become the wealthiest man on planet earth.

It just sort of happened along the way.

This week’s book, Sam Walton: Made in America is a prime example of a man who passionately pursued a desire to be the best at what he had chosen to do.

This post follows the points brought up in this video:

Here are the three things we are going to cover.

Sam Walton’s personality
Walmart’s culture
A couple fun stories from the book.

With the possible exception of Henry Ford, Sam Walton is the entrepreneur of the century.

Tom Peters, Author, In Search of Excellence

Sam Walton, “thought of perhaps running for president one day,” when he was a young man. Many people have big dreams like this but Walton was willing to back up his ambitions with work. Transitioning out of political ambitions, athletic excellence into merchandising he found that he loved the process that went along with buying a product and selling it at a profit.

His mindset is summed up on pg. 39 by his successor and CEO of Walmart, also current owner of the Kansas City Royals, David Glass:

Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know. First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve eve known. And once he sees he’s wrong, he just shakes it off and heads in another direction.

That relentless drive to improve pushed Walton to continually benchmark the practices of his stores against others.

There’s not an individual in these whole United States who has been in more retail stores- all types of retail stores too, not just discount stores – than Sam Walton…. there may not be anything he enjoys more than going into a competitor’s store trying to learn something from it.

Bud Walton, Sam’s brother & co-founder pg. 190

Again, Sam Walton didn’t set out to become the wealthiest man in the world, but he did have a burning desire to win and be “on top of the heap.”

His natural abilities of motivation, coupled with a sickening amount of work, resulted in a multinational corporation that rocketed from profits of $112,000 in 1960 to over $1 Billion in the early 1990s when he passed away.

Walton would maintain throughout his life that the culture built the business. Yet he embodied the culture his organization carried out with precision.

The “Walmart Culture” as it came to be known, was a real partnership with the associates with the intent to make the customer number one. That was beautifully executed in an environment of high trust.

With practices like the weekly Saturday morning meeting, constant store visits, thinking small, passing profits and stock options to associates, and giving smart trust to people, Walton built a very specific culture into his organization that endured throughout his life. It can be summed up in this statement from pg. 137.

I learned this early on in the variety store business: you’ve to give folks responsibility, you’ve got to trust them, and then you’ve got to check on them.

Beyond those two ideas, this book is downright fun to read. The adventures that Sam Walton would experience in building Walmart make for a fun time.

In the early days it was not uncommon for Sam walton to pull up to his store front with the back seat of his car filled to the brim with ladies panties which he bought for a great price. Walking through his own front door with arms full, he would announce a sale.

That mindset of passing along savings to the customer reverberated through the entire organization for years. My personal favorite is the story of Phil Green in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who ordered enough Tide to build a 12 foot tall mountain of Tide that ran the entire length of his store, 7 cases wide. Even Walton thought he was crazy but people came just to see that much soap in one place. Green sold it all. Emboldened by this experience Green later bought 200 identical riding lawnmowers and filled his parking lot with them.

They all sold too.

You’ll have to read the book to find out why Sam Walton was crawling around on the floor of Kmart, flying his plane sideways over the Missouri countryside, hollering pig calls at shareholder meetings, or dancing the hula on Wall Street.

This man had a self termed “Bias towards action” and his was a full life. His autobiography is no different.

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WSIR 002 | How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Jon DeLange

Why should someone read a book on sales? I asked myself this question when this book was recommended to me the first time. I didn’t feel that anyone outside of the profession of sales should have to pick up a book entitled, How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling. I realized later, and as the title of this post points out that the title could easily have been, “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success” and still been entirely accurate. The principles in successful salesmanship are directly tied to the principles of human interaction

Most people think sales is something like this:

This book, first released in 1947, covers topics all the way from arguing for keeping detailed records to Benjamin Franklin’s program of personal improvement to even how to talk to your barber to look your best.

Three topics addressed in the video are enthusiasm, overtalking, and a correct view of failure. There are certainly more key topics in this book, especially the section on asking questions to effectively listen and on handling objections but you’ll need to go read the book to get those broken down.

1. Enthusiasm!

If there were a single thing in your life that you could change and by changing that one thing you were able to double your results, would you do it?

That switch is called enthusiasm, look at anyone who is successful and in some capacity they have used enthusiasm to help them. Without getting too political, Dr. Ben Carson has been widely criticized for lacking enthusiasm in his campaigning and it has damaged his bid for the White House in 2016.

Bettger recollects to his mindset of nervousness and how he (understandably, I’ve done this too) let nervousness translate into laziness or lack of enthusiasm. This actually got him fired from a minor league baseball team. He discovered however that he could force himself to be enthusiastic regardless of his feelings and he tried this tactic out at his next team.

Three things were a direct result.

His enthusiasm overcame his fear, his nervousness began to work for him!
Other players noticed his electric manner, and began to match his enthusiasm.
Rather than being tired from the heat, he was exhilarated at the end of the game.

Another thing was an indirect result, Bettger gained a reputation of enthusiasm and Frank “Pep” Bettger used that reputation all the way to becoming the third-baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals.

I urge you… to make a high and holy resolve that you will double the amount of enthusiasm that you have been putting into your work and into your life. If you carry out that resolve, you will probably double your income and double your happiness. – Dale Carnegie

2. Overtalking

We’ll keep this section short 🙂

Bettger was convinced that the biggest reason salesman lose business was their tendency to overtalk.

I work as the Director of Development for a non-profit so I have meetings with donors quite often. One of my mentors has suggested a 70/30 split on how much the other person should talk in conversation compared to how much the person presenting should talk. This is based on the idea that the more the other person talks the more they like you. You pay them a subtle compliment by listening to their ideas.

Abraham Lincoln had a knack for cutting to the core of an issue in his communication with others. Most people are familiar with the Gettysburg Address. In 272 words, our 16th president started with the founding of the country, reminded those present of the tragedy that took place before them, and cast vision for the future.

Edward Everett, who spoke for 2 hours before Lincoln that day, is quoted as saying,

I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the center of the idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.

Remember, “We quickly resent the person who is abrupt; but we admire the person who is brief and to the point.”

3. Failure

“Your greatest asset is is the number of strike outs you have had since your last hit.”

Most people, if asked, “what is the opposite of success?” Would immediately respond with the idea of failure. However, this mindset that failure is where someone should stop is far from what should happen in that situation.

When someone fails, the opportunity for learning is present. If you quit because of failure, you’ve in effect said, “This issue will always beat me, and I won’t attempt to win here again.”

Babe Ruth, the baseball star not the candy bar, in his day was known widely for being a man who could hit. His home runs are legendary. Most people don’t know this though but he also led the league in another area, strike outs.

That’s right, the man who is immortalized with 714 home runs, struck out at that very same home plate 1330 times!

Ruth is quoted as saying,

“I just keep going up there and swingin’ at ’em. I know the old law of averages will hold good for me the same as it does for anybody else, if I keep havin’ my healthy swings.”

We need to adopt some of that same attitude, whether in sales, customer service, or engineering. The law of averages is real, and if you have built the correct skills and implement them regularly, your efforts will pay off.

Bottom Line, If you are looking for a book that gives rock solid principles for successful every-day interaction with others, look directly at Frank Bettger’s How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling.

Have you watched the video yet? Subscribe for weekly videos on these books.

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WSIR 001: Magic of Thinking Big

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Jon DeLange

Welcome to the Why Should I Read series. This is the companion site to the YouTube channel Why Should I Read That.

I’m Jon DeLange and I’ll be breaking down a concept or two from a series of books in order to answer questions I believe, most of us are asking.

Today we are going to be looking into a book entitled The Magic of Thinking Big, by Dr David J. Schwartz. This book was first published in 1959 and the things that Dr Schwartz talks about in that book are as true today as they were then. I’ll point out a couple things that I learned reading this book, but believe me there are thousands more lessons and applications to get from reading this classic.

Define success… Why?

This step is key in many personal development literature, one of the original works in the genre, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, lays out a process of writing down stated goals and creating a mental picture of oneself achieving that goal. This method was pulled from Hill’s interviews of 500 early 1900’s millionaires.

Dr. Schwartz also recommends this process so that by having stated goals, you automatically decide based on your end-game. If I’m driving down the freeway, any exit is the best exit until I know where my destination is. If I drive from Detroit to Chicago, unless I know I’m driving to Chicago, I won’t follow the clearly marked signs that say Chicago.

As you go through this process of defining what your goals are, a great framework can be used, I found it in Launching a Leadership Revolution by Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady. They state that material goals, recognition goals, and missional goals are the three levels of motivation. Each person is motivated differently by items in these categories. For example, I am highly motivated by recognition from those that I have respect for. If a mentor of mine tells me that I have done a good job, I generally respond more strongly to that than the thought of being rewarded with a material bonus of some kind.

Action Cures Fear

This is probably one of the biggest things I learned reading this book. Chapter 3 is entitled Build Confidence & Destroy Fear.

On Pg. 48 of Magic of Thinking Big, Dr. Schwartz states, “The traditional ‘It’s only in your mind’ treatment of fear assumes that fear doesn’t exist. But it does. Fear is real. Fear is success enemy number one.”

In the rest of the chapter, Schwartz goes on to state that there is always some sort of action to take in response to a fear reaction. This conscious exercise of the muscle of courage in the face of fear builds a habit of overcoming that one can use to conquer increasingly larger fears in life.

If you fear making a certain phone call, make it! And the fear dissipates.
If you fear being out of shape, go to the gym or do exercise and over time your fear disintegrates.
If you fear something totally out of your control, pray, and then put it out of your mind by taking a positive action in some other area.

In a personal example, when I have told some people that I am starting a youtube channel based on my book-a-week reading list, some have responded by saying “That’s a lot of work to choose to do.” I don’t know if they were trying to put fear into my thoughts of starting, but at some point I had to start this series despite never, repeat: never, filming or editing video.

Eventually, later, some point, those are all failure words. The only acceptable way to not do something now is to have a definite point by which you will do so! If I have a great idea for a blog post or video, but never post it, was it really a great idea??

Thinking Big.

If for no other reason, read this book to expand what you believe to be your potential.

If you have a goal for yourself that doesn’t stretch you or scare you, what kind of thinking are you teaching yourself? Have you ever accomplished far more than you set out to do? I’m not always about cheesy motivational quotes, but it bears repeating, “If you aim for the moon and miss, at least you’ll be among the stars.”

I see people every day that are uninspired or of my generation that give up on the dreams that they have.

If you read this book, define success for yourself, consistently take action towards that goal, check and adjust as you go, there’s no reason you cannot accomplish what you set out to do, regardless of how far it may seem at the present time.

Thank you for your attention, time is the only resource we don’t have the opportunity to reclaim and as such it is the most precious commodity… but that’s a post for another time.

If you haven’t seen the youtube video, click this line!

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