Category Archives: Motivation and inspiration

Where change begins: a starter kit for real life transformation

How do you build a life from a place where you think nothing will work?

There’s a starting point from which you can measure progress. An attitude shift and some changes to the way we use time are also required. If you stick with it, it’ll change your life. It revolves around the things we do in these three main areas and the time we spend on them:

Health and fitness

Money and income

Participation in society

We all sink time into things that take away from our lives rather than add to them. One of them is the time we spend on our phones or online. Using some of this time to build skills or habits in these areas is how you guarantee that your future will be better than your past.

Confidence grows. You’ll meet people. A way forwards will become clear. Goals will be set. Milestones achieved.

Gains are possible from a standing start. The first step is on you. It’s easy to avoid action, or add plans to a list. They’ll keep staring back at you but there won’t be any change. Action makes change happen. It’s gotta come from you.

It all begins with a simple plan. Small commitments lead to bigger commitments. Before you know it, you’ll have formed habits. People will notice your positivity. The dark clouds that were following you around will disappear.

But you’ve got to take that first step. Can you do it?

If you need a hand, let me know.

The new wing of the Art Gallery of NSW

It’s a superb new place to see art in Sydney. Be sure to add it to your list.

Being Quiet

I think this is a page from Lao Tzu. Can’t remember for sure, but it resonates anyhow. Getting carried away in the chase for more, the hunt for shiny things, can take us to places we don’t want to go to. Balance need against greed and the answers will start to come to you.

Brim-fill the bowl, it’ll spill over

Keep sharpening the blade, you’ll soon blunt it.

Nobody can protect a house full of gold and jade.

Wealth, status, pride, are their own ruin.

To do good, work well, and lie low is the way of the blessing.

Get things done using these steps

1 – Hold your hand up and own whatever it is that you want to work on, fix or change.

2 – Make a simple plan with a start, a middle and an ending.

3 – Find people who can help you and form a team.

4 – Do the things you need to do and none of the things you don’t. Distractions will kill progress.

5 – Don’t stop until you’re finished.

Unfulfilling work

We all have work of some kind to do. When this work drains you and leaves you thinking ‘Why?”, over and over each day, you’re on a slippery slope.

I mowed lawns to help my Uncle out when I lived with him and his family. I was in my 20’s and had never thought about what made a job satisfying. It was simple work – we cut grass and took it away on the back of a truck – but it symbolised something bigger that I didn’t realise until much later on in life.

Turning a messy lawn into a tidy one is a cathartic process. As we drove away, we could see the difference our work had made. There was no deep-and-meaningful sense of amazement and wonder at what we had done – it was as simple a job as anyone could have, after all – but seeing the result of your work gave immediate, tangible feedback at the transformation.

Most of us spend our days pumping out emails about emails and attending meetings on everything and anything. Craftsmen and women are still around but in much smaller numbers today. Hitting ‘send’ time after time, rather than cutting grass, building a brick wall, or servicing a bike and handing it back to its owner, does not have the same effect on a human.

Knowledge work – the ‘keyboard warrior’ stuff done by the majority in our world today – has to be fulfilling or it can drain us of positive energy. All work types can be repetitive and monotonous at times and this can be hard to avoid. The challenge is to add meaning of some kind in a personal or organisational sense. Helping employees to achieve this can go a long way to keeping them engaged and away from the vacancies of your competitors.

Who’s on your team?

Watching the Jordan documentary ‘The Last Dance’ made me think about the value of those around you.

Who’s on your team in life?

Having a virtual SWAT team of people who can help you when you problems pop up makes a lot of sense.

We have doctors and dentists lined up, but do we have the same for other types of stuff like feelings of anxiety, putting on weight, improving our writing, etc?

Our friends can get us so far, but are they real pros who will be there when we need them?

So many people are looking for the best in everything but don’t invest in people who can help them to get there.

Seeking out those who are at the top of their game is a big step forward.

And then the real work starts.

The benefits of showing up online

Social Media is responsible for all of the worst things that happen in the world today – or so you would think if you pay attention to the news media.

The truth is quite the opposite in many cases.

There will always be those who hide behind their keyboards and spread hatred from the relative safety of their sofa. These are also the people who think that spamming is a clever and profitable way to spend their time.

I’m more interested in the positives of Social Media and feel there are many. Here are a couple, specifically based on a mini project I’ve been doing daily on Facebook:

Firstly, you develop confidence from learning new skills.

Writers have to work harder at brevity, keeping posts short but effective at the same time. Artists and photographers have to work out new ways to stand out from the crowd.

Lawyers also ask me how they can demonstrate to their clients how they solve problems rather than tell everyone how amazing they are (their favourite thing in the world).

Next, you can make new connections and build an important new kind of network.

Being part of old school face-to-face networking groups has its place. Being part of a fun, fast-moving and thriving Facebook Group can be just as good, if not better.

The connections and friends you make in these Groups online can carry over into real life, too.

Not everyone behind a keyboard is a weirdo. Talk to them and work it out for yourself.

And, finally, the more you show up, the better things will be overall.

I’ve been making a Monday to Friday Facebook Live called ‘Showing Up’ for my community and I’ve had some interesting feedback.

It has started conversations, created a few discussions and plenty of laughter.

It’s also helped me to reconnect with a few old contacts who tend to stalk more than participate.

But, most importantly, it’s got me to spend more time in a place where I wasn’t giving my best and that’s important for me. I’m an expert in this stuff and I always need to be at the sharp edge.

Train the brain

It’s as crucial as any other kind of training. And, in many ways, it’s more important.

Every day I’m trying to do some kind of mental exercise to improve my thinking and use the power of my brain.

It might be meditation. It might be writing my lists of ten new ideas. It might just be writing a post such as this one.

But I do it every day without fail. I don’t miss a day because I know it’s having a huge effect on my long term results.

And I’m very focussed on the long term.

Short term is also important – we’ve gotta eat, right? But long term thinking and effort makes so much more sense for me.

My brain operating on level ten is the goal for as long as I’m still breathing and daily training makes this increasingly likely.

How about we check back in 50 years (age 98) and see if everything’s still working?!

Ten of my favourite books

2 Replies

(These are in no particular order of favouritism.)

Resilience, Eric Greitens
Discipline Equals Freedom: A Field Manual, Jocko Willink
Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe
The Warrior Ethos, Steven Pressfield
How To Get Rich, Felix Dennis
The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
Do The Work, Steven Pressfield
The Effective Executive, Peter A. Drucker
Confessions of An Advertising Man, David Ogilvy
Casino Royale, Ian Fleming

What would be top of your list?

Can you sell?

I had no money in my pocket and no ideas on how to make more. The job was gone, the part-time business was drifting along and I didn’t know where to start.

It was a few years ago but it was a tough time.

I had a 9 mile journey to the place I was working at (for a couple of weeks before they made me redundant) and also had to buy some food, so the toss up was between the bus or food.

I walked.

Learn skills and change behaviour

I had to learn how to sell. Sell myself, my skills, my experience at this stage and then, later on, my products and services.

The alternative was to go hungry and start asking for handouts. I wasn’t ready for that.

I had to learn and change.

These sales skills have been incredibly important.

How to overcome objections. How to handle difficult customers and clients through basic communications. How to negotiate for the best price and maximum value from any deal.

I use scripts to keep me on track and I review and refresh these scripts to make certain that I’m always improving.

I know when to push and when to pull back.

These skills are so important to me. They keep everything moving forwards and allow me to build new relationships, spot opportunities and build a more successful and prosperous life.

Even a few basics will help you a great deal.

If you don’t ‘like’ selling or feel you can’t do it, take a step towards it and do some learning. It will add confidence to everything you do and help you in many parts of your life.

And you’ll always be in control of a deal. Very important!

I haven’t got time

Ask people to do something that’s crucial for their health, their stomach or their sex life and they’ll drop everything and do it right away.

Anything else? Good luck getting it done anytime soon.

There’s always time for scrolling and watching TV. Yoga classes and reading endless self help books. Another news notification or LinkedIn comment to reply to.

But something to work on that’s hard to achieve, really important and has a lifelong impact if you can work it out? Bottom of the list.

Lack of purpose

Those who say they haven’t got time for the important stuff in life don’t understand what avoiding it really means. They’re drifting through each day. They lack purpose and goals. They’re putting everyone and everything else in life before themselves.

If you tell everyone you’re always busy, you really need to have a look at how you spend your time.

Are you honestly flat-out for 8 to 10 hours a day working? I think not.

It sounds cool to be busy.

People act impressed when we say that we’re under the pump, but rarely is this busy with stuff that’s getting us closer to our personal goals.

We put all that off because, of course, we’re too busy. “I haven’t got time.”

Time is easy to find

If you were given a free, all-expenses-paid holiday for three weeks leaving in three hours time and you had to complete your work before you left, you’d get it done.

If someone close to you was about to die and you had the chance to see them before they passed away, you’d be there.

So why don’t you go to the gym and work out when you say you will?

Why do you eat the wrong stuff when you know you shouldn’t?

Why do you skip meditation, don’t clean your teeth, or go to bed an hour later than you know you should?

The priority is not you

It’s because to you, you’re not the priority. You’re bottom of your list and everyone and everything else is above you.

You have time for client calls and meetings about meetings and emails – endless emails.

But your growth and wellbeing? Your health and wellness? It always comes second.

And then you wonder why you suffer. Why you have issues with anger and anxiety.

Top of your list

Getting some order in your life will help. Start with a calendar and go from there.

But first, take it even further back. Ask yourself why you’re not top of your list every single day.

Solve that one and things will gradually get better.

Let go and grow

The middle is a horrible place to be and I’m in it. It’s packed with the majority and the mediocre. It’s a safe place but it’s only a place where things die.

The thoughts of people who live in this place are destructive.

The stuff about fitting in with everyone else, not standing out. Nonsense.

Those who are more concerned about pleasing other people than pleasing themselves. Living in fear of the consequences of other people not liking them. Enough already.

The ones who let people get under their skin, never stand up for themselves and complain to everyone who’ll listen how bad they’ve been treated feel good here.

This isn’t a place I want to be.

Cutting ties with this place is my next step. The emotional drain of those who spend their lives in this place is bearing down on me and affecting my thinking, my progress.

Thoughts are at the root of everything we do so I know what I have to do next. There’s a sense of relief even writing these words, but the hard part comes next – acting on it.

Let’s see where that leads.

Realistic expectations are crucial

The excitement that builds at the start of any new project can be infectious. The idea sparks something in our minds that opens up new possibilities and lines of research. We get into action.

As time goes by and we get down to work, the size of the task can become clearer than it did at the start of the process. And, at this point, it can pay to take a step back.

Are expectations and reality lined up?

Bite off more than you can chew and the outcome can end up being destructive for all involved. You miss deadlines, targets get further away, your mood changes as things get real and you start to beat yourself up for falling behind.

Is your ego taking you on this new journey? I wanted to run a marathon for my 48th birthday with three weeks training (dumb idea for anyone at any age) and, on reflection, I wanted to prove to my ego that I’ve still got it – and I clearly haven’t as one training run has left me on the sidelines for two weeks and counting.

The reasons why you’re not getting things done to take you towards this new goal can be resistance. This is something we all face and it shows up when there is something real at stake, so, in some cases, this is a sign that we have to dig deeper.

But once we weigh all this stuff up and set realistic expectations, the energy keeps flowing through us as we work towards the goal and the chances of success increase.

What would I do if I was a retailer today

The post-coronavirus world is starting to take shape. Here in Australia, shops are reopening and cafes and bars are now allowing 50 people inside. There is still the danger of a resurgence of the virus but we have no incoming travellers without a quarantine period and this seems to be doing its job well.

Retailers have been hit hard these last ten weeks. Here are a few of my ideas for them to boost their businesses and use free online platforms and tools to get it done.

The steps for retailers in the post-Corona world

Firstly, their Social Media profiles need to be put to work. Posts should be daily with offers for new customers and special offers for existing customers. All profiles should be checked over to make sure contact details and ‘about’ sections are up to date and on point.

Facebook Messenger is the ideal way to deliver offers online with high engagement levels – 80% open and 40% click-through rates – and I would be working to build my own chatbot to automate customer service as a minimum.

I would hire a comedic writer to create funny blog posts with a true sense of humour to increase the attention on my posts. Two funny posts on top of the offers content would work well. The funny writing should also be used to email my existing customers once a week to keep them engaged and updated.

I would use Instagram/Facebook Stories and TikTok to create video content every day. All of the attention is on video right now and I would use it to attract new followers and highlight the daily offer.

Every Saturday and Sunday would be ‘bring a friend’ day and there would be a voucher for everyone who turns up for them to use on another visit based on liking the Facebook page and subscribing to the chatbot.

And finally, I would say my prayers every night and be thankful that I’m still in business while many have already gone.

Become an ideas machine

Credit for this post goes to James Altucher. I’ve been tuning into his daily Instagram Lives with his wife during lockdown in NYC (they’ve been a rich source of ideas in themselves) and his number one tip that has worked so well for him through the years is this one.

Become an ideas machine

Take a notebook and aim every day to come up with 10 new ideas. Make them specific and put the brain muscle to work.

Choose a business you’re connected to and work out 10 ways they could improve, for example. It’s a great way to start a conversation. I did this last week for a client of ours – I sent the list over to them and it was a real success.

Or you could make a list of 10 ideas for a friend of yours who’s struggling with something in their life. It could be a simple playlist to brighten their mood or a list of courses online they could do for free to learn a new skill.

Whatever you choose to do, do it every day and your brain will adapt and start spewing out so many ideas you’ll need a pile of notepads. Give it a try and see where it can take you.

Add systems to increase efficiency

The more systems I have in place, the better everything is for me. I have a long list of jobs to do most days and I feel demoralised if I don’t get the majority of things ticked off. There’s a regular daily battle between order and chaos in my life and anything I can do to help order win is always a good thing.

Systems and processes make the difference.

My mind works in a lateral, logical way so if I can stay focussed on a task for long enough I’ll always complete it.

If a disruption happens – the phone goes off, incoming messages ding (I send a lot of direct messages to people every day) or I’m drawn to my inbox – it can be the equivalent of slipping on a banana skin – there’s no going back once you start falling.

If I can reduce the number of decisions I have to make every day, I can increase my outputs and efficiency. Time spent deciding what to have lunch, what to wear, and what job to do first may seem trivial but it adds up and if I don’t have these decisions to make when I sit at my desk, my brain avoids the banana skins.

Something as simple as knowing what I’m going to wear the next day and eating the same things for breakfast and lunch most days makes a big difference to the flow of the day and the number of things I get done.

Simplicity is also important. Avoiding complexity makes every day run more smoothly and I work really hard at this. I try to avoid complex travel plans where possible and if I have to travel somewhere different I spend time creating a detailed plan with a couple of alternatives to keep the stress levels low.

What systems and processes do you use to stay on track?

Attitude and our responses

The way we respond to things that happen around us every day is the main reason for the way things turn out.

If we get angry at the queue in the coffee shop, that queue is rarely going to speed up. If we can accept it, chances are that it will disappear quickly.

If our partner gets angry at us and we get angry in response, nothing good is going to happen next (except for a full blown fight). If we take a second to listen to what they’re saying before responding angrily, there may be a chance we can work it all out.

If a job we interviewed for goes to another candidate, we’re going to be frustrated. But if we then blame the bus driver for making us 2 minutes late (the only reason we were passed over) without holding up our hand and realising this was our mistake, we’re not going to see much change for the better.

The fact is that it’s all on us. Our attitude and our responses to situations lead directly to the outcome of that situation.

Keep a good attitude and good things will happen. Let anger take over and blame everything and everyone around you rather than looking at yourself and things will stay the same.