Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Consulting
Is it Time to Share Your Dreams
Sep 2nd
“Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~Marsha Norman
Is it time to share your dreams? Maybe. (Sharing dreams with a friend is a wonderful way to play and sort thru dreams and see which ones are ready to move from dream to goal.) If you have a recurring dream, one that excites you and you think it might be time to go after it, maybe. If you are also fortunate enough to have a friend or partner that will willingly hear your dreams, keep them safe as your secret to share, hear the desires hidden behind the dream – no matter how silly the dream itself may sound, and then will reflect back to you gently with their own insight added; then yes it is time.
Do you have this kind of person in your life? Count yourself amongst the lucky if you do. They are quite rare and if you have someone like this in your life, I hope you are nurturing them.
Are you this kind of person in someone else’s life? It is not an easy role for most of us and it certainly didn’t come naturally to me. But wouldn’t it be a real gift to the world to become this kind of person for someone that you care about?
Next time, I’ll begin to talk about going from dream to goal – they aren’t the same thing.
Till next time…Jack
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” ~Anatole France
A Bit About Goal Setting
Sep 1st
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854
As I write this, I am sitting in a coffee shop on the South side of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I have just finished walking for an hour around Lake Calhoun, one of the beautiful string of lakes and parks that help to make this city such a delight. Even though I am traveling on business here today, I made time for this walk – regular walking is a critical component to my achieving the goal that I shared last time. (The weather here is so nice today, it really was not a challenge at all to get myself out walking – today the challenge was to quit at an hour!)
I am going to be sharing just a bit more about my health goal for next year. I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. First, I want to clearly state to the world, and of course myself, exactly what I am going to do. (The how I am going to do this comes later – I certainly don’t know all of the how yet, but I have faith that I will find it.) Second, some of the ways that I have formed this goal, and am now committing to it, may be of use to some of my readers.
To recap, last time I shared that I had committed to the goal of getting myself back in shape in the coming twelve months. I made this goal public on this blog to get leverage on myself. Getting leverage on yourself can be a very good thing indeed. So can making a public commitment to getting something accomplished. I realized today that I had not been very specific in the details that I shared about that goal. Here are those missing specifics:
- By July 1st, 2011, I will weigh no more than 195 lbs (dressed in summer workout gear including shoes). This is very specific.
- My bodyfat percentage will be no more than 15% and I will have this professionally measured by a personal trainer at my health club.
- I will also be very aerobically fit. I will measure that this way: I will be jogging at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes each time at a pace no slower than 10 minutes per mile. Additionally, I will be bike riding at least 3 times per week for at least 1 hour each time at a pace no slower than 10 miles per hour.
Now that is a decently written goal for me and here are some of the reasons why:
- It is doable in the time frame (barely!).
- It is very measurable.
- It does take into account some larger aspects of my life. (I must be aerobically fit and has a healthy ending bodyfat percentage – it isn’t just about my ending weight.)
- Accomplishing this goal will open up lots of other aspects of my life as well.
Okay. Enough for today about my getting in great shape goal. Here is a question for you: Should you always share your goals publicly? I say no. Next time I’ll talk more about the why and why not of this.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“It is never too late to be who you might have been.” ~George Eliot
Avoid These Mistakes When Starting Your Book
Aug 25th
“A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.” ~Rita Mae Brown
In 2005 I decided that I was going to write a book. As I mentioned in my last entry, this wasn’t a consciously made choice. My unconscious mind decided that it was time to take action and let me know this at the end of a seminar.
I am not sure why I made that decision at that particular time. I had known that I would benefit from a book for years; as a seasoned and in-demand seminar leader, I almost always had the opportunity to sell products at the end of my presentations. Instead I used this time for chatting with attendees and over time, many of these chats ended up becoming coaching or consulting clients. (Although I can successfully coach virtually anyone that speaks a common language with me, I only consult on a handful topics.)
So, these seminars, along with other marketing techniques, kept me with a consistently full coaching practice, commonly with a waiting list, and I was complacent. Not lazy, just complacent.
Use me as a BAD example
Once I had made the decision to become a published non-fiction author, I thought about it virtually every day. And there is the beginning of the first mistake. I thought about it everyday. I invested energy into it every day. I felt bad that I wasn’t writing more – almost every day. What I didn’t do was take action on it every day – that would have taken a different and much wiser decision!
Three Mistakes I Made
Looking back 6 years, I am embarrassed. I should have known better! As an NLP practitioner, I had helped hundreds of people get unstuck and begin taking consistent action from a place of pleasure. From my slightly more enlightened future, I can look back now and see three big mistakes that I made.
- My first mistake was not deciding – not committing to – taking action every single day.
- My second mistake: I was using a pitiful motivation strategy to get myself to take what little action I did take! (I’ve talked about good and bad motivation strategies before and I will again – really useful stuff!)
- Finally I was not accountable to anyone for getting this book done. The only person I was reporting to about it was me and that was just not good enough.
Next time I’ll talk about what I would do differently and what I am doing differently now to write books.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Choices are the hinges of destiny.” ~Attributed to both Edwin Markham and Pythagoras
Learn to Write Like Author Richard Bach
Mar 9th
“The meaning I picked, the one that changed my life: Overcome fear, behold wonder.” ~Richard Bach
Last time I wrote about planning and the importance of setting big goals, long term goals that stretch out at least 10 years. I was going to write today about the process of setting these goals and how to create a great attitude that makes this process even easier and even more fun. Well, scratch that bit of learning for a couple of days, wonderful as it would be and will be again and instead let’s go on a little adventure filled side-trip together. Let’s take a trip into the mind of best-selling author and pilot Richard Bach.
Learn to Write Like Richard Bach
I have been reading Richard’s books since early 1970 and after nearly 40 years, his books are still some of my best friends. Just like my human best friends, I enjoy seeing Richard’s books each time and I enjoy spending time with them. Also just like my human friends, Richard Bach’s books are smart and I learn something from them every time we meet. I had the pleasure of finding a short video interview with Richard Bach a couple of days ago and it really had an impact on me. I am including a link to this video here and I encourage you to watch it. For ears that are ready to hear, there are wonderful, bright and beautiful gems of empowering beliefs just waiting to be picked up in this interview. Next time I will talk about some of these beliefs that Richard is gifting us with and how we can use them to make our own writing better and more fun for us and for our readers. The link will autoload and start to play immediately. Link to Richard Bach video interview.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you
Either you’ll find something solid to stand on
Or you’ll be taught how to fly!” ~Richard Bach
How Far Should You Plan Your Life?
Feb 24th
“If you don’t have a plan for yourself, you’ll be part of someone else’s”. ~American proverb
Last time I talked about my new laptop running Windows 7. I’ve been using it many hours a day for a couple of weeks now and I still love it. Windows 7 is a great improvement over Vista, so much so that I am going to convert two of my other computers to run Windows 7. And the new Sony Vaio “F” series? I have never had a computer boot up and settle down so quickly and the hd screen and blu-ray player are just great!
How Far Should You Plan Your Life?
How far should you plan your life? In my opinion: as far you’d like to be alive living it! In more practical terms, I encourage my clients to have motivating and exciting goals that go out at least 10 years. In 10 years you can accomplish virtually anything – as long as you use those 10 years wisely.
Planning and goal setting go hand in hand. I set goals that excite me and then I put together the best plan that I can, to make that goal happen. Does that mean that goal setting and planning happen at the same time? Generally speaking – no. For most people, and most businesses, the process of setting goals and the process of making plans to achieve those goals should be very separate. For companies beyond a certain size, goal setting and creating workable plans to achieve those goals may even be best done by different groups of people. I’ll talk more about this separation of creation and planning in larger companies in another post.
Do You Have 10 Years of Exciting Goals?
If yes – great! Congratulations! Now go set some great and motivating goals 15 years out and soon we will talk about the process of creating plans to make these goals part of your everyday reality.
You don’t have any goals that go out 10 years or more? Then here is some homework. Remembering that you can accomplish virtually anything in 10 years, and being completely unconcerned (at this time) about what it will take to make these goals a reality; set at least 3 goals that stretch out at least 10 years. If you need a little help, consider these questions:
If you were certain that you could accomplish it, in the next 10 years,
- Where would you like to be living?
- How much money would you like to have saved?
- What would you be doing for a living?
Next time I’ll talk more about 10 year goals – big goals – and a great attitude for creating these goals. (And soon I’ll give you a simple technique to put yourself in a great mental frame for setting exciting, compelling and authentic goals.).
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Wishing consumes as much energy as planning”. ~American proverb
There’s Nothing Like the Smell of a New Laptop
Feb 12th
“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” ~St. Francis of Assisi
My new laptop arrived a couple of days ago and I have been immersed in moving my computer life from an older machine to a new machine. This is quite a bit more work than I had imagined, but it will be worth it. I travel quite a bit for speaking and I write for hours each day – pretty much every day, so I got the best laptop that I could find for mixing travel, speaking ( I use my laptop as a prompter while the audience sees the presentation on the screen behind me.) and writing while on the road. I ended up choosing the new Sony Vaio “F” series with the fastest quad processor and lots of ram. I have only been playing with it for 2 days now and I love it. Fast – super fast and Windows 7?- this is a great improvement over Vista. I am sure that Vista had some great features – I just never found them. I had downgraded the 5 computers in my system to XP to avoid the madness of Vista. Anyhow, I love the Sony “F”. I love what I have experienced of Windows 7. And of course, there is nothing like that new laptop smell!
That’s all the time that I have for today. Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette.” ~Henry S. Hoskins
Self Publishing – My Final Analysis
Feb 8th
“And Winter slumbering in the open air, wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring”! ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge (and Bill Murray in Groundhog Day).
(As I write this entry, we are experiencing another blizzard here in Iowa. Another blizzard – no! I am more than ready for this winter to be over!)
Last time I wrote about some of the reasons why I was choosing to self-publish my first book.
Here is the rest of my reasoning.
My Reasons for Self-Publishing my First Book:
- Speed: I can get a book out much more quickly. I can get a book out in 6 months or so, including much of the pre-marketing, versus the 14 to 18 months for “traditional” publishing.
- Profit: I will make much more profit from each copy of my book that is sold – especially if I do a print run of 5,000 to 10,000 copies.
- Control: I will be able to control every aspect of my book’s creation and publication. It will truly reflect my vision.
- Learning: I will learn a great deal about the book publishing business and since I intend to publish more than one book, this knowledge will serve me well in the future.
- Better Future Deals: I know a little bit about book publishing and my likely sales results right now. After I get this first book out and have the results of my first marketing cycle, I will know much more and be in a better position to negotiate with agents and publishers for future book deals – should I decide to go the traditional path in the future.
Please notice that I did not mention anything about self-publishing so that I could get published. I think that any author, that has done their homework and has a book worth publishing, will eventually find both an agent and a publisher.
Should you self-publish? Maybe – maybe not. If you have an audience already and don’t want to invest the time in learning the book business – then find an agent, have them find you a publisher and let them handle it for you. You will still be doing much of the promotional work – I don’t think there is a way around that unless you are a really big “name” in your field. Otherwise, self-publishing is worth a ponder.
Next time I am going to talk about the actual content of my upcoming book and why I chose to write this one first.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome”. ~Anne Bradstreet
Is Self-Publishing a Wise Choice?
Feb 5th
“Patience is also a form of action”. ~Auguste Rodin
Last time I talked about some of the things that I would not be getting by self-publishing my first book. Now let’s start talking about the rewards of self-publishing.
Rewards of Self-Publishing
- I have much more control of the entire process. My choice of proofreaders, editors, cover design and designers, who gets contacted for peer reviews and many other choices; I get to make these decisions. (There is opportunity and peril here. If I make poor choices here, I am not going to get good results.)
- I learn the book business. I intend to be a successful published author and publish many books. I certainly have the material for many books. I believe that the sooner I learn the process of publishing, the better off I will ultimately be.
- I intend to be a successful published author. (Yes, I said it again…I know.) My research indicates that more than 90% of the first time non-fiction authors, published traditionally or self-published, never make any significant amount of money from their writing efforts. My research also indicates that something in the neighborhood of 90% of the first time non-fiction writers never get a second book published. These seem like very bad odds to me and I wanted a way to stack the deck in my favor.
Next time I will explore in more detail how self-publishing, done properly, can hopefully stack the deck wonderfully in my favor – and yours too.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Patience is the companion of wisdom”. ~St. Augustine
I’m an Idiot for Self-Publishing?
Feb 4th
“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it”. ~Sidney Howard
I’m an idiot for self-publishing? Maybe, but maybe not. Last time I talked a bit about what I had recently learned from my study of the genius British novelist Charles Dickens. I also mentioned that some of what I had learned from my study of him had been a deciding factor in my decision to self-publish my first book. I think if Dickens had been beginning his writing career today, he would have almost certainly self-published his first works. Then I think he would have partnered with a great publisher for his next works.
For me, the decision to self-publish was a hard one. I am already busy and writing and then publishing a book – and really doing the proper promotion to ensure a great reception for the fledgling book – this is a lot of work. I had no idea how much work it was until I began the process. For me at least, the writing of the book has turned out to be the easiest part. All of the things that the publisher would do for me, if I had sold the rights of my first book immediately to a publisher, – that has been quite a steep learning curve.
So why did I decide to self-publish? I’ll start from the side of what I won’t be getting or what I am giving up.
- It will cost me more money to self-publish, quite a bit more. Since I am taking on all of the costs of proofreaders and editors, cover designers and printing and the hiring of top-notch PR people, all things that a publisher might have done for me, I am spending more money.
- I am giving up a great deal of my time learning the book business. Had I sold my book immediately, I would have needed to learn very little about the book business – at least at first. I could have let the publishers handle all of the details for me.
- I am giving up the money that I could have made by simply coaching or speaking instead of learning the book business. I am usually fully booked or as booked as I care to be for coaching and I could have simply coached more, earned more, and let the publishers do what they know best.
- I am giving up some credibility for this my first book. A self-published book does not have the credibility in the eyes of some people that a traditionally published book has.
- I am almost certainly giving up some sales that I might have had otherwise. I don’t know all of the distribution channels that an established publisher knows and although I am learning fast – it is certain that I will miss some of them – and not sell those copies of my book.
So, with all of that, why on earth would I self-publish? We will both have to wait until next time for that answer – my time is up for this entry.
Next time I will explain the balance of my thinking about traditional publishing versus self-publishing.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs”. ~Vance Havner
Charles Dickens and Groundhog Day
Feb 2nd
“Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert but the people are better behaved and there’s a groundhog involved…” ~Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper.
… As an aside, it is Groundhog Day in the United States while I am writing this entry. Although I am not sure that “Punxsutawney Phil” is any better at weather forecasting than me, and I am not very good; I do love the concept! The cute little devil did see his shadow today and has forecast 6 more weeks of winter. Not a shocker – this winter does not seem to want to let go. …
Last time I talked about my first book and its upcoming release in November of 2010. I also mentioned that my decision to self-publish this first book was influenced by my research into the life of Charles Dickens. Here is a bit more about that story:
I recently read “The Making of Charles Dickens” by Christopher Hibbert and I really enjoyed the experience! I not only discovered a new author whose style I liked, but a prolific author as well. This means I have lots of great books waiting for me to find and read. I also got some great insights into what might have helped Charles Dickens be the incredible novelist that he was. (Did you know that he is one of the very few authors that has never gone out of print? And this, as I write this entry, some 140 years after his death? Wow!)
I am always looking for the “secrets of success” or the unique beliefs that help exceptional people be exceptional. Here are some of the secrets that I extracted from my recent study of “Boz”:
1) Being extremely focused on the task at hand – fiercely determined to get it right – is a key to success in writing (and any other aspect of living.)
2) It is okay to be afraid about the reception your writing will receive – as long as you are brave enough to get it out to the public to read.
3) Believe in the value of your writing, even if others at first do not share your enthusiasm.
4) Write about what you know intimately well and share the clarity of your vision.
5) Don’t be afraid to ask what you think your writing is worth.
6) You can do more than you think you can.
7) It is fine to use newest technology to publish your books. (Dickens commonly used magazines and serial releases of chapters – then he sold the books as completed documents. This was pretty cutting edge stuff for the day.) This final point is the one that swayed me to the side of self-publishing.
Next time I’ll be talking about the complete set of reasons why I decided to self-publish this first book and what the implications might be for you and me.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time”. ~Charles Dickens from his novel “David Copperfield”