“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes.” ~Victor Frankl

So the story of my quest to make money from my own products online continues.  My biggest challenge is finding the time to do the things that I already know work.  My coaching practice is busy, I am gearing up for speaking more this fall, and I am continuing my quest to return to the lean, mean Jack machine of my younger years; so where do I find the time to write and also create the needed online presence to sell my own products?  This is the question that haunts me.

I know that I have exactly the same amount of time that every other struggling author has had to make their deadlines – I might even have more.  So, no more bellyaching.  The bottom line: I need to stop doing some of things that I currently do, at least for awhile, and do more of less.  In other words, I need to focus.

At the start of this year, I wrote down five words that I believed would describe the attributes and actions  that I needed in order to achieve my goals for the year.  Here are those words:

  1. Focus
  2. Self-discipline
  3. Self-promotion
  4. Courage
  5. Massive Action

I think those are still the right five words.  Now I just need to do a better job of evidencing them!  What would your five words be?

More about Minneapolis

I went to Minneapolis, Minnesota USA for a business trip last week.  As always, I try and include unique food adventures and history with my business trips.  The James J. Hill mansion was great, but I didn’t have time in my last entry to talk about food.  As many of you know, I worked my way thru college cooking at various restaurants around Boulder, Colorado USA.  In the many years since, I have become a fairly accomplished amateur gourmet cook; I even casually ran a gourmet food club for years – more about that some other time.

Al’s Breakfast

I watch the food network a few hours a week on television.  I suspect this is one of the activities that I am going to need to stop for awhile in order to free up time.  Still, I like watching shows about restaurants and cooking and I recently saw a show called “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” that had a short segment about Al’s Breakfast in Minneapolis.  It looked like fun on TV and it was!  I highly recommend that if you are in that area, plan a breakfast around Al’s.  (Al himself passed on, at I believe 97, but when I found out that his last name was Bergstrom – well that sealed the deal for me!)  Here is a link to the tiny, but mighty Al’s Breakfast in the Dinkytown area (yep – that’s right, Dinkytown) of Minneapolis near the University: Al’s Breakfast.

The Front of Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown
The Front of Al’s Diner in Dinkytown

What am I Working on Today?

  1. Blogging homework from my coach (of course I have coaches, I am one!)
  2. My online business presence: My blog, Twitter, starting Facebook
  3. More writing on my first online product in intend to offer for sale
  4. Promoting myself to a couple of speaking venues in places I am already traveling
  5. Nonfiction reading ( I need to cut out that fiction reading for awhile – more focus!)
  6. Coaching work with some clients
  7. Exercise and diet – my quest to become less manly continues!

Till next time faithful reader…Jack

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” ~Mahatma Gandhi