Awhile back I wandered into a restaurant that was refurbishing their side patio dining area. They were planting a number of palm trees. They had obviously put a lot of money into this project, including the purchase of a dozen good-size palm trees.

It really struck me as odd, however, that they planted the trees right up against the walls of the patio area. I mean right up against the wall. It was almost as if the landscaper didn’t know the trees would grow.

I’m sure you’ve seen this too. One time I bought a house and there was a tree planted against the back wall. I knew I had to dig it up before it got large or I’d have it busting through the wall and pushing up against my foundation. On a similar vein, I frequently see trees planted so close together that both of them have stunted growth. They have to share root space and a limited supply of nutrients and water.

To be honest, this article is not about landscaping: It’s about life.

When you look at an idea or an opportunity, do you see the idea or opportunity as it appears in front of you, or as it will be in the years to come? Do you see the new employee as the person in front of you or the person she can become? Do you see your child as the kid in front of you or the man he will become?

I think one of the most powerful forces in the world is a positive mental attitude. And that’s not something that just happens. You have to exercise your PMA just as with any other muscle of success. You have to practice seeing a better future. Practice visualizing what can be.

Trees aren’t the only thing that will change and grow. Everything will change! Your house, your car, your job. Your taste in food, your favorite coffee cup, and the hobbies you take on. Everything changes.

We are comfortable “in the now” because we know what it looks like. When we act on our world, we have a sense of how it will react back to us.

But we need to also look ahead, and look beyond the obvious. Don’t plant the tree you see: Plant the tree it will become. In other words, don’t just look at the world as it is today, but look at what it can – and will – become.

One of the important lessons I learned in creating and growing businesses is that I need to run the business the way I want it to be, not just the way it is. For example, I put in processes and procedures as soon as I can. So even if I only have one employee, I operate with rules and guidelines as if I had five or ten employees. This philosophy can be summarized as “Be the company you want to become.”

If you’ve ever refinished furniture or refurbished anything (toys, houses, collectible signs, etc.), then you know that there’s a skill in seeing what something can become, despite what you see in front of you. Interior designers can see the potential in the room while the rest of us just see the room as it is.

When you get in the habit of seeing potential in all situations and all people, it gives you a certain mental push. For me, it brings a positive spin to things.

What can this opportunity become? What can this relationship become? What can this writing become.

Give it a try!

Plant some trees. But don’t just plant the tree you see.

:-)

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I love this passage from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert:

“We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses — one foot is on the horse called ‘fate,’ the other on the horse called ‘free will.’ And the question you have to ask every day is — which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?”

There are many pieces to this puzzle.

First, there’s the division of what you control and what you don’t control. And even within that, there’s a big piece that you could control if you knew how to control, but you can’t control because you don’t have the skills or self confidence. But still, the big division is between the things in life you might be able to control and those you never will be able to control.

It is worth spending a good deal of quiet time and meditation on the question of control. It takes great wisdom and experience to recognize the parts of life we can’t control. After that, it takes a lifetime to accept the limitations we discover. This isn’t really something you every “achieve.” It’s more like something you come to accept that you will always have to work on.

Second, there’s the question of worrying about those things we can’t control. No matter how much control you want over things, we all tend to worry about parts of our life over which we have no control. Some people see “the world” as being so powerful that they can’t control anything. These folks tend to accept that “stuff” just happens and they need to figure out how to deal with it. Other people try to control as much of the world as they can.

In some cases, this second group probably has a better sense of how much they really can control because they’ve explored the margins of what they influence. At the same time, they probably spend more time worrying about the world they can’t control.

One final note to think about: The world keeps changing. As you grow, have new experiences, and gain new skills, you can influence more of your world than you did before. But world isn’t the same as it was yesterday, last year, or ten years ago.

So, many of the lessons we’ve learned about control are no longer valid. We “know” about a level of control that simply doesn’t apply any more. Like animals walking past an opening in the fence, we stay on the path we know and don’t consider testing limits we’ve tested before.

Consider adding “control” to the list of topics in your daily meditations. It’s amazing how much of the world is different from what our experience has told us. We’ve changed and the world has changed. But our internal thoughts about the world may not have changed.

:-)

 

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Do You Worry Enough? Part 3

This is the third and final installment of the series that started here with “Do You Worry Enough?

Worry brings benefits.  That sounds odd to us.  Let me rephrase it:  Spending time thinking about problems brings good things into our lives.

There are two types of “focusing” on problems.  The first is to open your mind and let the problems flood in.  Perhaps focus is the wrong term.  This is more like out-of-focus.  Sit down with a pencil and paper and relax.  Take a few deep breaths and try to clear your mind.  Think about nothing.  Focus on the way your breath feels moving in and out.

Relax.

If you have things to worry about, they will interrupt your relaxation.  As a “worry” presents itself, write down a brief note (not a long paragraph).  For example, you might write

- College Savings

- Business partner

- Ad revenues

- Etc.

Don’t pass judgment, don’t try to solve the problem, don’t get into details.  Just list your worries.  Set yourself a time a do this listing for ten or fifteen minutes each day for a week.  I guarantee that by day four you will be a lot less worried at night or when you’re concentrating on something else during the day.  Why?  Because your mind has been allowed to spend some time on the things it knows you should be thinking about!

The next step is to focus more clearly on your problems.  For the next several days spend your 10-15 minutes sitting comfortably and “organizing” your problems.  You may want to sort the list into categories such a family, finances, employees, etc.

Then spend a little time writing a bit of detail about each concern.  For example:

I’m worried about college savings for my kids because I’m starting late.  I wonder what college will really cost.  What’s my goal?  How do I get started?  Who can help me?  I need to talk to my spouse about this.

Set yourself a strict limit on this activity.  No more than 30 minutes a day!  You’ll be amazed!  It will give you energy.  Worry will stop draining your energy.  And as you focus on the problem you will naturally break it down into smaller pieces that are much more manageable.

This, in turn, will lead to taking actions that address the problem.  In other words, you’ll be working on a solution!  What you’ve done is to stop spending your energy trying not to worry.  Instead, you are spending a limited amount of energy focusing on issues that need some attention.

Instead of letting “worry” have an unscheduled, unlimited amount of your time, you have allowed a specific amount of time to be used improving your life!

Again, I guarantee that you will see a dramatic reduction in the amount of time spent on unscheduled worry during the day (and night).  Your mind knows that you need to spend time on these activities.  When you allot this time, your mind is more relaxed and it doesn’t need to force these thoughts upon you.

And, even better, when such thoughts pop into your mind now, they will be productive and bring solutions.  The process of focusing on a problem for a specific period and then setting it aside has tremendous power.  It organizes your unconscious mind, which works on possible solutions while you’re doing other things.  And then, seemingly out of nowhere, the solutions come forth into your conscious mind.

Problems never solve themselves:  You need to worry in a healthy way and you will find a solution.  Just as we have to focus on our happiness and our family and our health, we also need to focus on our problems.

You will never be without problems.  But you can be without excessive, unnecessary worry.  Allow yourself time to work on your problems and you’ll have a much more restful mind throughout the day.  Because you’re worrying enough—and not too much.

“Do not anticipate trouble,
or worry about what may never happen.”
– Benjamin Franklin

:-)

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Just as There’s Good Stress,
So There’s Good Worry

There’s a lot of “universal” advice out there. The always-present everyone says don’t smoke, exercise more, eat your fruits and vegetables.

One piece of universal advice is to stop worrying, or at least reduce the level of worry in your life. After all, we have plenty to worry about—Money, our children, our parents, our spouse’s happiness, a long list of problems at work, even the health of our pets.

Worrying, we are told, adds stress to our lives and focuses on the negative. It keeps us awake at night, gives us ulcers, and is bad for the economy.

I think that’s all a bunch of baloney.

Worrying is natural. In moderation, worrying is good. There’s something wrong with people who don’t worry enough!

In the big scheme of things, there are a few people who worry too much (some tiny percentage of the population). They have intriguing phobias that become fodder for news stories. This condition (worrying too much) is so rare that most people only learn about it from afternoon TV talk shows.

There is much more of a problem with people who don’t worry enough. Think about this. What’s your image of someone who doesn’t worry about what other people think, doesn’t worry about social norms, doesn’t worry about paying his bills or insuring his car, doesn’t worry about keeping himself clean or being responsible for his own actions? The picture in my mind is a person who is completely irresponsible, who has made a mess of his life and others, and who has left it up to other people to fix his messes.

A handful of these people make it to adulthood without changing their ways. Most, however, go through a long painful process of paying their debts, raising their children, having to work hard, and becoming responsible adults. At which point they find themselves worrying a normal amount—just like the rest of us.

Worrying is a fundamentally good behavior.

As with any other behavior, there is a great benefit to be gained by:

1) Examining the behavior

2) Learning to control the behavior

3) Focusing the behavior

4) And integrating the behavior into our overall understanding of ourselves.

Thus, the behavior–worrying–becomes one more important piece of our success.

Let’s look at three aspects of worrying

– What is worry?

– How much worrying is right?

– How can we focus our worry in order to reap its benefits?

By “worrying” we generally mean that we are thinking about something; the something is usually a problem that needs to be solved (e.g., “Where will be get the money to . . .”) or a concern about future events (e.g., the health of a loved one); our mind wanders back to the something whenever it has the opportunity; and we find ourselves thinking about the something when we don’t want to.

Thus we find ourselves worrying while we try to sleep or while we’re driving, but not when we’re engaged in a project that requires our full attention. For example, work keeps our mind off our troubles.

Interestingly, most people “try not to worry.” In practice this means we try to not think about our problems. But our unconscious mind knows that the problem needs to be addressed. So whenever our mind isn’t busy with something else, the thing we should be thinking about pops up to get its share of attention.

What are you trying to avoid addressing in your life? Why is it that humans think some problems will go away if you ignore them?

Don’t think about the roof and it won’t leak. Don’t think about your teenager’s risky behavior and it will stop. Don’t think about your relationship problems and they’ll all smooth out.

Baloney! You know it’s not true.

We have problems we want to avoid: We know we should think about them but we don’t want to. One way that we avoid thinking about problems we don’t want to think about “right now” is to spend time on a hobby or on busy work.

Have you ever noticed that our hobbies tend to be rather technical and detailed? Whether it’s carving or needlework or gardening or making things or whatever. Our hobbies fill our minds and are distractions. This is good–in fact it’s extremely good for our mental health–unless we’re using it to avoid thinking about a problem that needs to be addressed.

Let’s face it, we have problems we embrace and we have problems we avoid. Those we embrace are labeled “projects” and those we avoid are labeled “worry.” And the only substantive difference is whether we’re ready to address the problem.

- – - – -

“One of the wisest men in Des Moines tells me that he has kept track of the 50 principal things he’s worried in the last ten years, jotting ‘em down at the bottom of the pages in his diary in green ink. He finds that not one of them actually happened; but they bothered him just as much as if they had.”
– Harlan Miller

:-)

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How do you feel about being incompetent? Honestly: Is it good to be incompetent?

I say yes!

I was reading a book recently and one section was about how no one wants to be seen as incompetent. One character in the book was having a crisis of incompetence.

That got me thinking about the times when I have felt the most incompetent. In every case it had to do with a new job or a new role. On my first day, or preparing for my first day, I felt incompetent.

The truth is, I’m NOT competent in most things. The same is true with everyone. At any given time, you are only competent in a few things. They might be related to your job, your hobbies, or the roles you play (parent, spouse, friend, sibling, etc.).

What are you really great at? What are you a little bit good at? Okay. Well, you’re not good at everything else! We are each incompetent about almost everything! And it’s okay.

The reason we feel particularly incompetent in a new job is that we have taken on something and we want to be good at it. So often we find ourselves saying “Well I asked for it!”

You only feel incompetent when it involves something at which you want to feel competent. In other words, the self-awareness of incompetence comes hand in hand with a desire for excellence.

In my life there have been two examples of incompetence that stand above all the rest: My first day as a teacher and my first day as a father. As it turns out, I did a pretty good job in both endeavors.

As a teacher, I had lots of reasons to feel competent. I had credentials, degrees, and many years of experience learning the subject I was going to teach. I was even given guidelines, sample course outlines, reading lists, and all kinds of resources to help in my success.

But I had never done it. I had never run a class for a semester. I had never graded papers or managed a classroom. I had never dealt with assigning deadlines and sticking to them.

And on and on. I had experienced good and bad teaching as a non-teacher.

As a new parent I felt even more incompetent. I had two great role models with my own parents. But I knew nothing about how to do this job myself.

Unlike teaching, I had very little “education” on parenting. I had read a lot about pregnancy and childbirth. My wife and I felt reasonably confident that the birth would go well. And in the final analysis, my role was primarily that of a supporting partner. I didn’t have to eat right, get sick, go through dozens of doctor visits, or do any of the pushing on the day of delivery.

But once my daughter Victoria was born, I was a full participant in the process . . . for the rest of my life.

I remember being particularly struck by the fact that they let us just leave the hospital with this new, tiny baby. “Don’t they know how incompetent I am?”

Of course with parenting, this feeling of incompetence continued for . . . well . . . 18 year so far! I feel more competent in many areas. But every new parent-related challenge has been a first.

The reason we feel so acutely incompetent in some areas in that these are the things that are most important to us. We feel the lack of competence precisely because competence is so important to us.

When I look at the complexity of an aircraft engine, I don’t feel incompetent. But I certainly am. It is overwhelming and annoying and almost miraculous to me. But I have no desire to be good at designing, fixing, or doing anything else with aircraft engines. So while I am supremely incompetent, I don’t feel incompetent.

We need to keep things in perspective. Remember, you only feel incompetent when you seek to be excellent. Incompetence is really a reflection of your desire and commitment to excellence. Being aware of your incompetence is the first step on your road to something amazing in your future!

:-)

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I recently had a nice two hour drive after one of my appearances. And as I was driving home, I started thinking about how much my success relies on other people. And this is not a simple thing, either.

We all rely on others in many, many ways.

Of course I rely on “clients” to attend an event, subscribe to services, and buy books. That’s the most obvious way I rely on other people. But there are also many other ways.

I rely on my sales guy to help me get jobs, sell advertising, and find sponsors. I rely on friends and connections all over the world to help me find good venues and to get attendees.

I rely on my staff to keep the office running, process orders, ship books, update web sites, and much more. I rely on my business friends and mastermind group members to keep my brain engaged in new ideas.

And of course I rely on my friends to make me laugh, balance my life, and to keep things in perspective.

Now, any one of these people might not see how much I rely on them. But I hope that they all, as a group, know that I would be not be able to achieve much at all without this great support system. Individually, most of them are my friends. As a group they are my support system.

Around January first I wrote some notes to people who had a significant impact on my personal and professional growth in the last year. I am truly blessed to have a such a collection of people in my life.

Through a series of personal, financial, and business challenges, I have relied on other people to keep me engage, keep me pointed in the right direction, and keep my chin up. Through all the crap I’ve gone through in the last few years, this support system has made me feel that the “final analysis” is a very positive one.

If I had been alone during this period, I might have a very different view of the outcome. But my support system has made me realize how blessed I am.

Whether you realize it or not, you rely on a number of people in every part of your life. Pick them well, treat them well, and make sure they know you appreciate them!

:-)

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Reality is an interesting concept. Sometimes I think I’m the master at being mis-understood. Why? Because I work a lot with people who aren’t like myself. They interpret the world differently than I do.

Reality has three components:

- Events, actions, or statements
- Context (other things going on more or less at the same time)
- Interpretation

The most important of these is the last: Interpretation. This is true because the interpreter takes the input and the context and “translates” these into her reality.

Notice, also, what’s missing: Intention. The intended reality is important to the person who wishes to be understood, but plays no direct role in whether or not he is understood.

- – - – -

A few months back, my daughter moved away to college. So I moved out of the big, big house into a small apartment. In the big, big house I had a walk-in pantry that was larger than the entire kitchen in my apartment.

The first time my daughter came to visit, she looked at some Cup-a-Soups on top of the refrigerator and said “Oh my God, are you living on ramen noodles?” I said NO, I just didn’t have any other place to put them.

The next time she came to visit I had just been shopping. There were some granola bars on the kitchen counter. And she said, “I hope you’re not living on granola bars.” No. Of course not. But the cupboards are full and I don’t have any place to put them.

You see, my reality didn’t really figure into her perception of my reality.

I always think it’s interesting to contemplate how we all interact with one another even though we have completely different understandings about how the world works. Sometimes it’s a miracle that we “communicate” at all.

As I mentioned, I always lose the battle of relying on what I *intended* someone to see or hear. I didn’t mean to insult you, but I did. I didn’t mean to suggest something, but I did.

The only salvation I have on this front is that, over time, people learn that I’m well-intentioned. So when something could be interpreted more than one way (in their opinion), they begin to give me the benefit of the doubt. Whew!

Just remember that we’re all interpreting our world. And we don’t always realize it.

So try to be generous and kind as you translate your environment into meaningful information.

Most people are well-intentioned most of the time. Assume so and the world will be a better place.

:-)

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Tis the season for people to start putting together their “to do” lists for next year.

- Exercise more
- Eat less
- etc.

All too often this “exercise” is simply an exercise in futility. People add things to their lists because they think they should. Or, even more commonly, they really want to accomplish something next year, but they don’t put together a PLAN in addition to items on a list.

Goals are great. Goals are necessary. But real, meaningful goals have to be coupled with action plans. Think about it this way: When I ask an audience of any size whether they want to be millionaires, virtually everyone raises their hand. Then when I ask how many have a plan to get to that status, I might get one or two hands.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. And most of the time it’s a wish that won’t come true.

We all want to exercise more, eat less, spend less, save more, and spend more time with our families. But some people WILL and some people WON’T make progress on those goals in the year ahead. Overwhelmingly, the people who actually make progress will be those who have a plan and work to make the plan come true.

You hear a lot of talk about dedication or conviction around goals. Without playing too many word games, let me say that most people are dedicated to their goals. But they don’t execute. And the reason is that you really have to have a plan wedged between the goal and the conviction. Here’s what I mean.

Let’s take exercising as an example.

Conviction comes from a sincere desire to accomplish something. But a goal of “exercising more” is pretty imprecise. It’s hard to execute. It’s hard to measure. It’s hard to hold yourself accountable. And it’s difficult for others to help you hold yourself accountable.

But a plan takes the ethereal goal and turns it into one or more visible, physical action steps. A plan doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to have enough specific action steps to turn desire into results. If the goal is “exercise more,” the plan might be to walk one mile a day, five days a week.

You can measure this very easily. You might even check off days on a calendar or use a software program to track your progress.

But here’s the key: What happens when you slip? What happens when you skip a day or two? If you only have a wish and a desire, it’s hard for conviction to take hold. When you add a PLAN to the process, you have a way to get back on track. The plan gives you someone to grab onto and get back headed in the right direction.

That’s what I mean about wedging the plan between the desire and the conviction. A plan of action gives you something hold onto and something to get back to.

If you plan is written, that’s best. You can literally pull it would a read it. For simple goals, a one sentence or one paragraph plan is ideal. Read it regularly as part of your daily quiet time and it will keep you headed in the right direction.

Good luck with your goal setting for the end of the year. Just don’t forget the important part: A plan to make your goals come true.

:-)

Goals · Mission · Vision

The human mind is a very interesting instrument. It is programmed a little every day by every action we take and every decision we make. One of my favorite quotes is . . .

“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day,

and at last we cannot break it.”– Horace Mann

That sounds like plain old habit-making. But it goes deeper than that. Think about how you define yourself. Are you a mother, a father, a sister, a child, a spouse, a student, an employee, a manager, a business owner?

Or maybe you’re a parent whose kid went away to school. Or a grown-up who still has scars from childhood. Or a newly-divorced person trying to get used to being divorced.

Maybe you’re torn between who you used to be and who you’re becoming.

We all define ourselves by the roles we play. Not just the things we are but the things we have been. Our lives are a combination of the past and the present. And, of course, we combine these with our hopes and dreams to build our future.

I recently learned about a woman whose house is filled with memories of her past. Painful memories of family members who have died. “It’s like a shrine to the past,” I’m told. But not just a happy past, a past that represents loss and sorrow. This woman defines herself not only by her past but by what she’s lost.

I myself have tried to fill my place with happy memories. Artwork I enjoy; Pictures of my daughter at various ages, growing into a woman. I like to think I spend my time dwelling on the present and the future. But I am product of my past.

My friend Kelli Wilson has written a great book called The Clutter Breakthrough. Kelli coaches people through problems with clutter — clutter so bad that it cripples their ability to lead normal lives.

Kelli’s approach is simple but powerful. When people have an empty place in their lives, or a place filled with pain, they tend to “acquire” things to fill that place so they don’t have to think about it. They fill their lives with activities, collectible toys, knick knacks, shoes, and anything else that keeps them from thinking about the pain.

In some sense, these people are “stuck” between the past and the present. There is no future for them until they get un-stuck and figure out how to move on. Kelli helps them deal with clutter by helping them address the underlying causes of the clutter.

I think it’s very important to acknowledge the past . . . to hold on to the sweet memories. At the same time, I think we need to work to get past the tough times. You might think that this is a blatant double standard: Remember the good times and forget the bad times. But it’s not quite that simple. Let me put it this way:

- Acknowledge your past, both the good and the bad
- But don’t define yourself as your past (good or bad)

It can also be crippling — or at least paralyzing — to be stuck in a happy past. There’s more happiness today and in the future than there is in the past. It’s a real, live, vibrant happiness that’s much more fulfilling than shadowy memories of happiness.

Let me give you a very personal example: After 20 years together (19 of them married), I find myself divorced. Perhaps some day my ex-wife and I will be “friends” again, but not today. We’re not un-friendly, but we don’t share the comfortable, close conversation we once did.

A few months ago I bought one of those electronic picture frames that scrolls through hundreds of pictures that you load into it. I loaded several pictures in there that include my Ex. Why? Because she has been — and always will be — a major part of my life. Even if I live to be 100, she’ll still be the mother of my only child. We had many years and many happy adventures together.

I could (easily!) focus on all stuff that brought our marriage to an end. But I choose to dwell on the positive.

And that’s key. I don’t forget the bad stuff. But I choose to not define myself by the negative experiences. I accept that they are part of my past.

At the same time, I don’t define myself as the happy husband either. That’s part of the past and it needs to stay there. Both the good and the bad brought me to where I am today. I shouldn’t forget that. But I also shouldn’t dwell on either one of them.

It is extremely important to live in the present and focus on the future.

Like any other “muscle” we exercise, our brain can be trained. We can work to create the habit of accepting the past without dwelling on it. We can work on the habit of focusing on the present and interpreting our world in a positive way. And we can work on looking forward to a wonderful future. These are all habits we can create from the ground up.

Yes, your situation might be special. Your past might be horrible and you might have allowed yourself to get “stuck” there for years. Or your past might be so much better than the present that you want to spend your time there.

But there is no future unless you leave the past, move into the present, and begin creating your future. You can begin this process today, tomorrow, and every day. You can reset the process and begin again if you find yourself slipping into the past. Just like any other exercise, you can start over any time and it will serve you well!

You can choose to be defined by your past. Or you can choose to define yourself anew everyday. You can even define yourself as your future . . . and then run to make it come true.

The choice is yours.

:-)

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Here’s a strange thing to ponder: Do ideas have value?

We (humans) are intellectual beings. We think. Most of us think a lot. So even if we’re driving down the road or mowing the lawn, our brains are busy cranking away on something.

We take that for granted. But not all creature are this way. I recently drove nine hours through the middle of California. Of course, along the way, I saw cattle, sheep, and horses in the fields. Not to put down our furry friends, but they don’t have a lot of ideas. Cows ruminate (They are ruminants, after all), but they don’t really think the way we do. And even horses, which are pretty smart, just stand in one spot for hours.

I don’t expect these animals to design hospital equipment or anything like that. But clearly they don’t have brains filled with new ideas all the time.

No, ideas are a very human thing.

And we tend to place high value on ideas. It is not uncommon for someone to utter, “That’s a GREAT idea!” We cheer each other on when we share good ideas. Someone else’s good idea can make your brain start clicking away. That’s what “brainstorming” is all about.

I am lucky to have lots of ideas all the time. And even luckier to hang around people who have lots of good ideas all the time. I love living the world of “what if” and “Hey, why not.”

But sometimes people get frustrated with me.

“When are you going to do that great thing you talked about?”

“I’m waiting for my . . . [insert great idea reference]!”

And I do the same thing.

“If you don’t hurry up and do that, I will!”

My friend Allen Fahden has developed a model for how our creative minds work. He argues that most people have a very strong “Creator” element in their make-up.

I believe that’s true. But it leads to a startling conclusion: If creativity is available everywhere in large quantities, then it might not be very valuable!

Because we all love creativity and great ideas, this just seems wrong. How can an abundance of ideas be without value? Is there a supply and demand equation for creativity?

Let me add one more element to the mix: Good ideas vs. Great ideas.

We have often heard it said that the best design doesn’t always win, the best system is not the best-selling system, the best “whatever” is not necessarily the most commercially successful.

That is often true. And here’s why: Ideas are necessary but not sufficient for success.

To be successful, an idea requires two key actions. First, it requires execution. Second, it requires a plan of action.

Execution is the most important element in success. In fact, it is more important than a great idea! Why is that? Because great ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is rare. Millions . . . Billions of ideas die every day because no action is taken. Ideas are cheap. Ideas that are acted on have potential.

An idea without action is completely worthless, no matter how great the idea is.

A Plan of Action is also critical because doing “something” may not guarantee success. Actually creating a plan to move things in the right direction takes a lot of time, effort, and energy. It takes a different kind of creativity. And it takes sitting your butt in a chair with a pencil and piece of paper.

Creating a plan of action is part of execution. I separate them because you can also get stuck at the planning stage and still never actually do the thing you say you want to do.

People who execute are critical to your success.

People who create plans are critical to your success.

People who create ideas are also critical … but they’re easily replaced!

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By the way, Al is a member of my Mastermind Group. What a wonderful group of people. We can create more ideas in an hour than the population of North American can execute in year. Luckily, we also hold each other accountable for taking action and making things happen.

:-)

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