He asks one what they’re doing.

“What does it look like?” he says with a sneer. “Hauling rocks.”

Unsatisfied with that answer, the passerby asks another construction worker the same question.

The workman doesn’t bother looking up. “We’re putting up a wall.”

Frustrated, the man tries one last time. “I say there,” he asks the next fellow, “can you tell me what you men are doing here?”

The workman puts down his wheelbarrow, wipes his forehead and says with a broad smile, “We’re building a cathedral.”

Here are three men, all doing the same job. One is hauling rocks. One is putting up a wall. One is building a cathedral.

This story says a lot about the attitude that each of us brings to our lives… or could if we were willing to change our perspective.

My primary occupation, for example, is creating and distributing advice / information. One reason I write is to meet my overhead and put food on the table. To that extent, I’m hauling rocks.

A greater objective is to build a publishing and media business. The more successfully we market ourselves, the more people we attract, the better our business performs. To that extent, I’m
putting up walls.

But the real objective of my creating and distributing advice is to help people throughout the world to achieve and maintain high levels of performance excellence. When I stay focused on that, I’m building a cathedral. (And, not incidentally, meeting my lesser goals, as well.)

Idealists will counter that achieving and maintaining high levels of performance excellence has nothing to do with building cathedrals. They are mistaken.

You can improve yourself, voice your opinions, or organize around a cause without a commitment to excellence. But you won’t effect much change in your community – or build an actual cathedral – without it.

Contrary to what some believe, performance excellence isn’t about “showing off nor showing up the other guy.”

Excellence is about pride, high-standards, and healthy self-esteem along with a commitment to being the best you can be. It liberates you from the crowded field of mediocrity allowing you to stand out, rise up and shine bright!

You can’t reach your potential or live life to the fullest if you spend your days making excuses, having or accepting low standards, and doing just enough to get by. No one can attain greatness by demonstrating mediocre behavior nor accepting it from the people they surround themselves with.

A commitment to performance excellence in every area of your life is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, black or white, young or old, handsome or homely, educated or not.

If you focus on excellence, and never make an exception, you will find in short order that the cream ALWAYS rises to the top.

Performance excellence is freedom, security and peace of mind. It allows you to inspire and help others, to do and be what you want. It enables you to follow your dreams, to spend your life the way you choose on your terms.

A commitment to excellence gives you dignity. It gives you choices and fills you with immense pride. That’s why every man and woman has the right – and I believe the responsibility – to pursue excellence and to become their very best.

When my advice empowers people, when it gives them direction, comfort, hope and peace of mind, I feel good about my work. I’m building a cathedral.

You can apply the same line of thinking to whatever you do.

I created the 100 Day Challenge to show you how to achieve and maintain high levels of performance and invite you to join a very special community of people who are all committed to a common goal — creating lives of excellence.

The choice is yours. You can haul rocks. You can put up walls. Or you can build a cathedral.

Come join us and let me help you build your cathedral.

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your thoughts on this post and come check out the most extreme performance acceleration program on earth!

When you’re late, forgiveness counts.

When you’re mad, self-control counts.

When you’re broke, every penny counts.

When you’re depressed, every hug counts.

When you’re on a diet, self-discipline counts.

When you’re in a hurry, every second counts.

When you’re negotiating, transparency counts.

When making a decision, good judgement counts.

When you run into obstacles, perseverance counts.

When you’re designing a new product, simplicity counts.

Your entire life is an accumulation of tiny details and small decisions .

While we measure our lives in years, we live them in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

Every action—every detail of our lives has bottom line consequences, everything counts!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two cents worth on what this post means to you.

Every action — every detail of our lives — has bottom-line repercussions, and it’s dangerous and derogatory to think of any of those details as trivial, unimportant, or inconsequential.

You may be familiar with the old nursery rhyme which teaches this principle to children:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Downplaying small details, dismissing them as minutia — can and oftentimes will sabotage the biggest goal or project you can conceive.

Ultimately, the key to quality and excellence in every aspect of our lives is doing little things correctly — all the time, every time — so that each action produces a quality result.

When every nitty-gritty detail is lovingly attended to, and each step in the process is given complete and careful attention, the result inevitably will be of the highest quality.


WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two cents on the importance of nitty-gritty details.

I’m referring to the goals and accomplishments that will drive you to the success you desire.

So what specifically is your life designed to accomplish?

Brace yourself…

Right now, your life and career is perfectly designed to achieve the results you are CURRENTLY GETTING!

And, if you aren’t getting the results you want, that simply means you haven’t designed a life strategy that will get them for you.

Think about that!

When you set the right objectives (the ones that get you to your goals the fastest), you focus your activities like a laser.

Why?

Because every decision you make will be judged by its ability to move you closer to your stated objectives.

So how do you determine and set the right objectives for your life?

Honestly, the right objectives will vary from person to person, and business to business.

But as you plan and strategize your life, there is one overriding definition you must use as a yard stick to engage in this behavior properly.

The RIGHT OBJECTIVES are the fewest number of accomplishments, and the least number of objectives you can determine that will allow you to reach your goals.

This is really at the heart of what it means to be a strategic thinker. It’s the core idea that makes your life efficient and profitable.

What sense does it make to take fifteen steps, when only five will get you where you want to go?

To learn how to fast track your life and results based on the right objectives than check out the 100 Day Challenge.

Over 42,000 people from more than 80 countries around the world are waiting for you to join us in the most extreme performance acceleration program on earth!

Man of La Mancha rocked Broadway in 1966 with its thundering theme song, THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM.

You remember that song, don’t you?

It opens in soft reflection, “To dream the impossible dream… To fight the unbeatable foe…” but then it defies mortal gravity to rise heavenward on a column of fury like an old Apollo rocket.

This is my Quest: to follow that star!
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far!
To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause!
And I know, if I’ll only be true
To this glorious Quest,
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest…

Wise Men follow a star when they believe the destination will be worth the journey.

Time and money: you can always save one by spending more of the other.

But money can be replaced and time cannot.

We spend the hours of our lives like a pocketful of pennies, one by one until they are gone.

What are you buying with yours?

Can you name your current journey?

Are you pursuing your impossible dream?

You can call it your 5-year plan, your business plan, your goal, your mission.

You can dress it up with numerals and call it a pro forma or wrap it in legalese and call it a prospectus.

All that really matters is that you understand your time, your energy, indeed the hours of your life are being spent in the pursuit of something.

“And I know, if I’ll only be true to this glorious Quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest…”

Wait a minute… are we talking about business goals, life goals, or the Broadway musical of 1966?

Yes, yes, and yes; we are talking about those.

That’s the thing about an archetypal story. Its message will echo through different actors dressed in different costumes but the play never changes:

Each of us follows a star. How clearly can you see yours?

By now, you are well aware that I am committed to helping individuals and organizations achieve the things they have committed to do.

You choose the star. My job is to get you there.

Polaris is know as the North Star and it has served as a navigational tool for millennia because unlike other stars, its position NEVER changes.

Can you name the star that beckons you?

If you’ll allow me, I’d like to help you achieve your impossible dream.

I’ve put together a life changing program called the 100 Day Challenge that is making dreams come true for people all over the world.

Please understand that this program is not for whiners, thumb suckers, posers, devil’s advocates, nitpickers, hand-wringers, crybabies, complainers, chicken-hearts or fools.

But it is definitely the program for you, that is, if you are ready to make that dream come true.

Come and join us as the next chapter of your adventure is about to begin!

• Dive for a loose ball. It counts.
• Miss that one field goal. It counts
• Make the tiniest mistake. It counts.
• Take your eye off the ball. It counts.
• Throw a ball instead of a strike. It counts.
• Following through on that swing. It counts.
• Extending your body on that play. It counts.
• Slow to help out on a double team. It counts.
• Your foot position on that pirouette. It counts.
• Finishing strong competing to the end. It counts.
• Leave the field with nothing else to give. It counts.

Every drill, every sprint, every long hour of practice leads to the performance. It counts.

Regardless of the endeavor, every time you enter the practice or playing filed, everything counts.

Your performance is representative of your practice, and your philosophy. It shows and it counts.

There will be drama, heartache, triumph and heroes. The one constant is the champions attitude, and every champion knows that everything counts.

Play like a champion today!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two cents worth on what it means to play like a champion.

The following is a question I want you to seriously consider as the answer will tell you a lot about your future and ability to change. This question has allowed me to coach people to make monumental performance gains in all areas of their lives and careers.

I’d love to see your answers and will do my best to use them in the creation of future lessons and posts.

And the question is…

Q: Can you make yourself do something you really don’t want to do, in order to get a result you would really like to have?

When you are able to answer this question affirmatively, you will experience a massive shift in your perception of the immediate future.

This single concept can dramatically alter your relationships, your finances, and even your health!

The deeper question, of course, is:

What result would you like to have?

• How healthy (or unhealthy) are you willing to be?
• What kind of marriage do you really want to experience?
• Does it really matter to you whether or not your family is debt-free?
• Okay . . . So you want to be in peak physical shape . . .
• You desire a marriage filled with love, excitement, and laughter . . .
• You crave freedom from the stress and uncertainty of monthly bills . . .

BUT…

What activities must be done – with a single-minded focus – to achieve the life you long for?

And can you make yourself do those things?

I am betting that you can!

Remember, I’m The Goals Guy and I have personally witnessed the amazing changes people can make when they challenge themselves to do the things they really don’t want to do.

There it is. No more sugarcoating or explanation needed.

Do you truly want to succeed in your chosen endeavor?

Do you want to radically and permanently change your life?

Then, can you make yourself do something you really don’t want to do, in order to get a result you would really like to have?

Yes or No?

WHAT TO DO NOW? Post your response to these questions. I look forward to reading your replies!

You just made a choice. It doesn’t measure up against some of history’s legendary choices – like Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” and Patrick Henry’s “give me liberty or give me death” – but you did choose to read this message and I’m thankful for your decision, and assure you it will be well worth your time and attention.

I long ago discovered an important strategy that has allowed me, and my clients to continually improve performance (personal and business) every year.

It’s called an After Action Review (AAR), and it’s all about leveraging knowledge and experience.

To experience consistent growth you need to leverage you past experience for all it’s worth. In this lesson, I’ll show you how to do it.

To make any type of change in your life, you first need to perform an AAR and analyze what took place in the past. You need to identify every nugget of knowledge your past performance offers and leverage it for all it’s worth.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people and companies don’t learn enough from their mistakes or their accomplishments. It’s like everyone is simply plugging along with their heads down and its Ground Hog Day all over again.

But, instead of repeating the same day over and again, both companies and individuals seem to repeat the same outlook, approach, and strategies.

You and I both know that no matter how good or bad your results have been in the past – you can always do better now and in the future.

Yet, the single biggest key to improving both your performance and your results seems to go ignored by almost everybody.

If you want to be at the top of your game you absolutely must review, analyze, and learn from what has already happened.

Astonish – Astonish – Amaze

There are seven steps in the AAR process, and you must begin implementing the ideas that you are about to generate immediately.

Step 1. Identify Your Three Greatest Accomplishments Over the Past Year?

Even if the previous twelve months were challenging for you, odds are if you look close enough there’s something somewhere to be proud of.

Step 2. Analyze What You Learned from Each Accomplishment.

Now that you have identified your three greatest accomplishments, go back to each one. This time though identify exactly what you learned or were reminded of by each of them.

Step 3. Identify Your Biggest Disappointments Over the Past Year.

Practically every company and individual resists analyzing their mistakes. That’s a shame because this is where the best learning comes from.

Step 4. Analyze What You Learned from Each Failure or Disappointment?

No matter how great everything in life is going – we all make mistakes. The trick here is to really analyze them, what preceded them, what could you have done differently, and how can you prevent them in the future.

Step 5. Identify How You Limited Yourself and How Can You Stop?

Were there certain actions you took or didn’t take that came back to haunt you? In order to make sure you don’t limit yourself again – you need to bring these self-defeating actions to the surface, confront them, and most importantly determine what you must do differently to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes all over again.

Step 6. Pragmatically Review the Information You Have Gathered?

The goal of this exercise is not simply to know yourself and your business better but to actually use the information to make certain that the next year of your life far surpasses the previous year.

What are the big takeaways from answering each question? What do you know about yourself or your business that you didn’t realize or weren’t thinking about?

Obviously, having this list isn’t going to do it all, you still need to take this new knowledge and USE IT!

Fortunately, that’s what the last question is centered around. And here it is…

Step 7: Use This Information to Astound, Astonish and Amaze Yourself!

The purpose here is to build in to your schedule, your interactions, your management style or whatever else you’ve surfaced in the previous questions and build yourself a new better approach.

Ok, now that we’ve uncovered a lot of useful information, the final step is to incorporate it into a personal plan for success, growth and prosperity.

If you’ll allow me, I’d like to help you turn everything in your life around for the better. And I’d like to show you how to achieve more, faster and easier than you could ever possibly imagine.

I’ve put together a life changing program called the 100 Day Challenge that is making dreams and goals come true for people all over the world.

Please understand that this program is not for whiners, thumb suckers, posers, devil’s advocates, nitpickers, hand-wringers, crybabies, complainers, chicken-hearts or fools.

But it is definitely the program for you, that is, if you are ready to put in the effort to make your dreams and goals come true.

Come and take part in the most extreme performance acceleration program on earth!

I’m often asked for my definition of success. Here goes…

Success is the end result of doing the Right Things… the Right Way… at the Right Time… for the Right Reasons.

What more could be asked of you if you are consistently doing your 4 R’s?

In my book — nothing!

So, what’s the difference between Efficiency & Effectiveness?

• Effectiveness is doing the Right Things…for the Right Reasons.
• Efficiency is doing them the Right Way…at the Right Time.

Keep this in mind, no matter how efficiently you do things, if they are the WRONG things to be doing… or you are doing them for the WRONG reasons… you will never have your HEART in the battle—so you are defeated before you even get started.

WHAT TO DO NOW? Comment and share your thoughts on this post.

In 1982, two social scientists—George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson—published an article in the Atlantic in which they argued that a city window left broken is an invitation to further disorder.

Why? Because neglect accelerates the rot in society faster than any other factor.

Their message was as simple as it was unconventional. Sweat the small stuff (graffiti, aggressive panhandling, petty crime) and you’ll stop problems before they grow bigger.

In the three decades since, mayors and police chiefs across America have transformed their cities by taking the broken-window message to heart.

Q: How can you use the broken window theory where you work, live or play to enjoy better results and a better quality of life?

Nobody’s perfect but everybody is trying!

• Building the perfect athlete
• Pitching the perfect game
• Laying the perfect bunt
• Chasing the perfect season
• Finding the perfect diamond
• Buying the perfect gift
• Riding the perfect wave
• Singing the perfect note
• Cooking the perfect dessert
• Creating the perfect wine

Any driven athlete–any serious physicist, philosopher, winemaker or entertainer, for that matter–will tell you that while they all chase perfection, there is no such thing as perfection; there is only the ongoing pursuit of the ideal.

We each have our own idea of “as good as it gets”, and while perfection will never be obtained, our individual and collective goal is and should always be to perform as flawlessly as possible!

What To Do Now? Share your thoughts on what it means to perform flawlessly.

I’m referring to the goals and accomplishments that will drive you to the success you desire.

So what specifically is your life designed to accomplish?

Brace yourself……

Right now, your life is perfectly designed to achieve the results you are CURRENTLY GETTING!

And, if you aren’t getting the results you want, that simply means you simply haven’t designed a life strategy that will get them for you.

When you set the right objectives (the ones that get you to your goals the fastest), you focus your activities like a laser.

Why?

Because every decision you make will be judged by its ability to move you closer to your stated objectives.

So how do you determine and set the right objectives for your life?

Honestly, the right objectives will vary from person to person, and business to business.

But as you plan and strategize your life, there is one overriding definition you must use as a yard stick to engage in this behavior properly.

The RIGHT OBJECTIVES are the fewest number of accomplishments, and  the least number of objectives you can determine that will allow you to reach your goals.

This is really at the heart of what it means to be a strategic thinker. It’s the core idea that makes your life efficient and profitable.

Think about it, what sense does it make to take fifteen steps, when only five will get you where you want to go?

To learn how to accomplish your goals faster and easier than you ever thought possible, check out the 100 Day Challenge.

To me, expectations are the result of a previous experience.

• I have come to expect certain results when interacting with various organizations:
• I expect a big smile when I visit my neighborhood coffee store.
• I expect to be ignored in most government offices.
• I expect long, slow moving lines when I get to the airport.
• The wait staff at a local Italian bistro acts as if they are doing me a favor by being open, and I’ve come to expect that.
• My expectation is to be scolded when I am pulled over by a traffic cop.
• When flying cross-country in coach I expect to be tired and wrinkled when I arrive.

The problem as I see it is that we often CONFUSE expectations with desires, and as a result, we waste a lot of time and energy trying to understand why our expectations were not met.

Now, I may WANT to be treated differently at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but my expectation is that I won’t.

The result? I get in, get out, and get on with my day without wasting any emotionally energy. That’s the key!

If however my expectations are exceeded, I take it as a bonus and enjoy the experience.

As you plan your day, manage your business, family and daily personal affairs, I want to take you through an exercise that will help you to grasp the subtle differences between Expectations, Wants and Needs.

• How do people EXPECT to be treated?
• How do they WANT to be treated?
• What do they NEED?

Do this exercise with your team or family:

1. Discuss service or product situations where you have had low expectations. Are your desires different than your expectations?

2. Talk about situations where you have had high expectations. What caused you to expect what you did? Previous experience, recommendation, tradition?

3. Turn a critical eye on your own company’s interaction with customers and how you treat one another at home. Based on their experience with you or others in your industry, what do they expect?

What do they want? How far apart are they? How can you give them more than they want? AND need?

The group exercise is important because we often take for granted that everyone is on the same page.

I’ll think you’ll discover that’s not the case and you’ll be glad you took the time to talk it out.

WHAT TO DO NOW? SHARE your two cents worth on your experience with managing expectations.

Practice is probably something you think you’re done with when you leave school or when you’ve stopped taking music lessons.

However, having or showing gratitude is also a fine art that comes with practice.

The best way to practice gratitude and giving thanks for being alive…is to:

• Accept 100% responsibility for your life.
• Behave like a gentleman and lady.
• Commit your life to excellence.
• Deliver exceptional results.
• Exceed expectations.
• Focus on solutions.
• Gracefully age.
• Honor your commitments.
• Inspire through your actions.
• Joyfully embrace each day.
• Keep your promises.
• Leave a lasting legacy.
• Model best practices.
• Necessitate high, uniform, ethical standards.
• Open your mind to new ideas.
• Passionately pursue your dreams.
• Quickly solve problems.
• Reciprocate and pay it forward.
• Showcase your talents.
• Talk lovingly.
• Undertake challenging tasks.
• Vote to protect and defend democracy.
• Welcome and embrace change.
• Zealously do what is right, good and noble.

There is a special kind of magic in the practice of showing gratitude.

It raises our consciousness, recharges our energy, enhances our self-worth, and strengthens our spirit!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your two-cents worth on what it means to show appreciation.

Let’s take a moment and examine both sides of this conversation.

The metaphor of feeding someone and that sufficing to get them through one day, and one day alone shows that people can ONLY be helped so far.

No matter how you slice it, this is a restrictive, demeaning, and highly manipulating mindset that is fueled by a poverty mentality.

Now, I’m aware that there are a lot of well intended people out their who want to help, however intentions are better focused on “helping people help themselves!”

If all we do is help people and do things for them all the time, then they rely on us, which is not only unhealthy for their development of skills, it also makes them psychologically weak, confidence deprived, and quite literally puts their very future at risk.

The principle whereby we rely totally on the support, guidance, handout, and even nurturing of someone else, for too long a period, is typical of far too many governments, families and institutions.

To build a rich, powerful, purposeful and sustainable business, family or society, this “give a man a fish” nonsense has to stop!

Let’s look at the flip side, where we ‘teach a man to fish’.

Not only does the man become self-sufficient and becomes able to survive without being provided for, but he has a sense of achievement and fulfillment which is priceless.

How good does an angler feel as he pulls a fish from the water?

Much better than when one is placed generously in front of him, merely to eat.

Sure it may be good, for a while, to be provided for, but human psyche is bigger than that in a healthy human being.

People need to be valued for who they are and what they are capable of achieving.

We help them best, when we ‘teach them HOW to fish’.

By teaching people life, money, and self-management skills, we validate them for who they are and the contribution they are able to make.

By exposing them to best practices and challenging them to demonstrate a strong work ethic, their confidence grows as does their contribution back to society.

They know they are useful and valued and with this confidence they do more. They learn that to stretch themselves is good. That they have within themselves untapped resources which show off the potential they have always had, now released.

Indeed ‘teaching them to fish’ realizes not just the material potential they have, but catalyses even bigger capabilities in them. Their development muscle has been stretched and exercised, so it becomes bigger and more capable.

If you’d like to learn “how to fish”, then check out the 100 Day Challenge. It’s truly a game changing experience!

It determines whether you realize your  dreams, both personal and professional.

It virtually defines you to others. Without it, true success is impossible.

Your ability to demonstrate this quality impacts every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture, every effort in which you’re
engaged.

It changes the quality of every present moment and alters the trajectory and outcome of every future moment of your life.

On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, this one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life.

Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.

That one thing is TRUST.

Simply put, trust is confidence in an individual or organization. It is other people feeling good about relying on you. And its value can hardly be overstated.

Trustworthiness is the universally accepted test of good character.

When you trust someone, you have confidence in his or her honesty and abilities. You can delegate things easily and effectively.

You can relax. You have peace of mind. But when you doubt someone’s integrity, question his accomplishments, or worry about his agenda, confidence is replaced by suspicion and anxiety.

Take a moment and picture someone you trust implicitly.

It could be a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend, or a business associate.

How does this relationship make you feel?

How easily do you communicate?

How quickly do things get done?

Now imagine someone you distrust. How does this relationship feel?

How easily do you communicate?

Do you enjoy this relationship… or is it complicated, high-maintenance and draining?

The difference between a high-trust and low-trust relationship is night and day. In a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing and your listener still understands you.

In a low-trust relationship, you can choose your words carefully, be very precise, and you may still be misunderstood.

Sadly, trust is at an ebb in our society. A Harris poll reveals that only 27% of Americans trust the government, only 22% trust the media, only 12% trust big companies, and only 8% trust political parties.

Personal trust is waning, too. Many people nowadays look back on contracts or commitments as something to negotiate.

Half of all marriages end in divorce. Many (perhaps most) of them founder on a lack of trust.

Each of us naturally gravitates away from individuals we can’t believe or rely on and towards those we can.

Low trust is the very definition of a bad relationship. And once you forfeit someone’s confidence, it’s awfully hard to win it back.

This is particularly true in business. We all survive by selling a product, service or skill. Yet every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust.

If trust is lacking, forget the other four. You’re done!

The moment someone suspects your motives, everything you do becomes tainted.

That’s why successful companies make a priority of building and maintaining confidence.

John Whitney, Professor Emeritus of Management at Columbia Business School, estimates that mistrust doubles the cost of  doing business.

You may have the best product, great service, competitive pricing, mountains of supporting facts and figures, and testimonials galore.

But if you don’t command and deserve trust, you will not enjoy long-term success.

It is never enough to simply invite trust. It must be earned.

In personal relationships, that means handling responsibility, proving your credibility, allowing yourself to be relied upon again and again.

It’s not just about integrity. It’s about looking out for the other person’s interests as well as your own.

Employers build trust with employees by assigning them important responsibilities, giving them the freedom to make mistakes, and setting an example.

Real leadership is about getting results in ways that inspire confidence.

In a world that changes as quickly as ours, trust is a critical factor. It is the vital currency.

Business consultant Tom Peters calls trust “the issue of the decade.”

Trust makes work easier and more productive. It makes relationships stable and predictable. It creates a sense of community.

That’s why it’s crucial that we not violate it. Trust can take years to build but only a moment to destroy. And you may not get an opportunity to even try to restore it.

For each of us – and for every organization – trust is something to be built up, protected, valued, cherished, and carefully preserved.

It is the one thing that changes everything.

I hope by now that I’ve earned your trust when I say that participating in the 100 Day Challenge is the fastest, easiest,  and most effective way for you to rapidly transform your life and business.

I invite you to see for yourself why people from more than 80 countries around the world are using the 100 Day Challenge to turn their dreams into reality,  faster than they ever thought possible.

What to Do Now? Share Your Two Cents worth and let me know how you feel about trust and its impact on your relationships.

The goal of the batter is to hit the baseball.

This is why every kid who holds a bat is told, “Don’t take your eye off the ball.”

Later, when endurance is needed, we say, “Keep your eye on the prize.”

• Can you name the ball you’re trying to hit?
• Can you name the prize?

As a consultant and highly paid coach, I can tell you without equivocation the question that is the hardest for the average person to answer…is…

“What are you trying to make happen?”

With death hanging in the balance, mountain climbers turn this question into the imperative command: “Don’t Look Where You Don’t Want to Go.”

The first step in any journey is to SEE your destination.

Your mind is an amazing thing, crammed with invisible and unknown mechanisms that move you unconsciously toward whatever future you believe to be real.

What future do you believe to be real?

Do you have the audacity to believe in a happy ending?

Do you have the courage to move toward that ending with every action you take?

Persons who are frightened, angry or bitter will see this and call you “foolish.”

Sadly, this will be most people.

Your choices and your actions are merely reflections of what you see in your mind.

What do you see?

The first step toward accomplishing a thing is to project it onto the visual sketchpad of your mind.

You may have heard this referenced as “seeing it in your mind’s eye.”

You can do only what you have first imagined.

What do you imagine?

In my world, each of us is swimming in opportunity and everything is possible.

I see opportunity all around you. You can see it too, can’t you?

My highest wish is that you should have a crystal clear vision of what you are trying to make happen, and I’d like to show you how by introducing you to a very special program called the 100 Day Challenge.

Check it out and you’ll learn how to get everything you want in life, faster and easier than you ever thought possible by unleashing the power of your mind’s eye!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Share your experience with creative imagination and how it has positively impacted your life.

To build a solid reputation with yourself and others, to earn more money, to be in great shape, and to ensure success in any area of your life, you must learn the discipline of:


•    Looking for solutions rather than focusing on problems.

•    Going the extra mile and exceeding expectations.

•    Consistently adding value to your customers.

•    Eating healthy foods and proper nutrition.

•    Proper preparation and thorough planning.

•    Saving and investing more than spending.

•    Writing a thank you note to a customer.

•    Managing your time and commitments.

•    Giving more than you receive.

•    Paying your bills on time.

•    Honoring your commitments.

•    Exercising self-control.

•    Keeping your promises.

•    Telling the truth.

In short, you must learn the discipline of self-discipline.

One of the great benefits of self-discipline is that each act you engage in comes with a corresponding reward.

•    For each failure you experience, you find new lessons and wisdom.

•    As you overcome each challenge, you gain new understanding.

•    With each success you achieve, your confidence grows.

•    With each loss, you gain empathy and humility.

•    For each book you read, you gain knowledge.

EVERY act of self-discipline in life bears desirable fruit!

What To Do Now? Click here to learn how to enforce iron self-discipline in every area of your life, and remember to Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues.

In this post, I will present a two-step plan on the importance of reality, of complete transparency, of dealing with the truth as it is, rather than how it was, or how you would like it to be.

You see, death and taxes are not the only guarantees in life: the truth counts as well, yet far too many people spend their lives denying the truth and playing the game of perception management.

However, if you deny the truth for whatever lame reason, you will soon discover that life is indeed a game of undesirable consequences.

Face it….facts are facts…perceptions are perceptions. Each is powerful…each serves a purpose, but you MUST know the difference.

True honesty, self-respect, trust, and character are built on reality…not on the illusion of perceptions.

The acceptance of reality, the truth in every situation is a moral obligation, not an option.

Why?

The reason why is quite simple…because lies destroy progress, compromise character, and ruin relationships with others and ourselves.

Reality is what it is – the truth!

Your health, wealth, relationships, and peace of mind are what they are. Stick with the facts…the truth as EVERY decision about your life must be based on truth.

Let’s get started on your two-step plan.

Step One: Answer these questions…

• What are you pretending not to know?
• What truth are you hiding from?
• What part of your reality do you find undesirable?
• Why are you playing this charade?
• When are you going to start accepting reality and deal with the truth?

Unfortunately the truth often becomes a piñata for those unwilling to accept reality.

This is true for someone unwilling to admit to an addiction, a bad marriage, a competitive liability, a criminal act, or an ethical injustice.

I promise you that if you resist the truth long enough, the backlash will be inevitable. Remember that which you resist WILL persist!

Step Two: Take action.

If this message spoke to you, if it made you uncomfortable, if it made you want to shoot the messenger (Me), than quit playing games, stop wasting your life, accept the truth of a difficult situation and deal with it.

The best strategy right now is to face reality, take action, and mobilize the appropriate responses. And do it right now!

WHAT TO DO NOW? Click here to learn how to turn your life around, and remember to Comment and Share your feedback with friends and colleagues.

Strategy 1: Adopt the Everything Counts Customer Service Maxim

Everything Counts is a maxim that sends a powerful message. It means that you see every customer interaction as an opportunity to retain a valued customer, increase your value proposition, build loyalty, or strengthen a brand.

It means that everything in your business counts from the friendly hello to the appreciative thank you as well as every little paper clip and detail in between.

Strategy 2: Take Care of Your Staff … So They Will Take Care of Your Customers.

Without the right staff and proper training to deliver great service, other plans and programs won’t amount to a hill of beans.

That’s why effective customer-focused leaders focus on employees first. Take care of your staff, and they’ll take care of your customers.

Leadership must put staff first, and staff, in turn, will put the customer first.

Strategy 3: Keep Your Promises

If you make a promise to a customer, keep it. The absence of this discipline is a stain on your company’s reputation that is virtually impossible to remove.

Take your promises and customer commitments seriously, because your customers do. Nothing annoys customers and fuels their lack of loyalty more than being lied to.

Strategy 4: Deliver Quality and Excellence

A commitment to quality and excellence breeds client loyalty. These things don’t happen accidentally; they are the result of careful planning and exceptional execution.

Quality and excellence create confidence and enhance your customers peace of mind; they function as an insurance policy against mediocrity and an assurance of profitability.

Strategy 5: Focus on the Customer Experience

Making people feel good about themselves and your company makes a more conducive environment for them to spend their money. Customer centered companies provide more than just a quality product, they provide a rich experience, too.

Apple uses an acronym of the company’s name to lay out the Steps of Service for their customer-centered program:

• Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome
• Probe politely to understand all the customers needs
• Present a solution for the customer to take home today
• Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns
• End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.

Apple’s entire customer experience, their service, quality, product design, and their brand attributes connects on an emotional level, keeping their customers satisfied and feeling well served and loyal. That loyalty can and will result in the capture of substantial lifetime revenue.

The companies that put customers first win much more than loyalty; they win advocates. As passionate advocates, customers jump on the bandwagon and freely recommend your company to friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

They purchase your products and services as gifts, and they provide unsolicited praise or suggestions of improvement because they believe in you!

What to Do Now? Share your two cents worth on customer service and having a customer-centered culture.