Successful people are clear on their purpose in life – and they are committed to it.  They take personal responsibility for creating the successful lives and careers that they want and deserve.

As a career success coach in Denver, I’m always looking for ways to get my common sense message about career and life success across to my clients, people who read my blog and listen to my podcasts.  That’s why I was struck by a passage in Tracy Chevalier’s new book, Remarkable Creatures.  If you don’t know Tracy Chevalier, you should.  For my money she is one of the best novelists writing today.  Her first book, Girl With a Pearl Earring, was  a mega bestseller and made into a movie starring Scarlett Johansson. 

In Remarkable Creatures she tells the story of two women fossil hunters in early 19th century England.  Her protagonists are a middle aged spinster and a young girl.  Both are committed fossil hunters.  Here is how Elizabeth Philpot, the spinster, describes committed fossil hunters…

“Hunters spend hour after hour, day after day, out in all weather, our faces sunburnt, our hair tangled by the wind, our eyes in a permanent squint, our nails ragged and our fingertips torn, our hands chapped.  Our boots are trimmed with mud and stained with seawater.  Our clothes are filthy by the end of the day.  Often we find nothing, but we are patient and hardworking and not put off by coming back empty handed…Those serious about fossils know their search is never over.  There will always be more specimens to discover and study, for, as with people, each fossil is unique.  There can never be too many.”

I love this passage.  It describes – in wonderful prose – my thoughts and beliefs on the importance of knowing your purpose in life and committing to it.  “Often we find nothing, but we are patient and hardworking and not put off by coming back empty handed.”  That’s exactly what I’m talking about when I tell my career success coaching clients. “Stuff happens.  The stuff that happens, good or bad, isn’t what’s important.  What is important is how you react to it.”  Be patient and hardworking.  Don’t be put off by a day in which you come back empty handed.  Choose to believe that your hard work will pay off in the end.  Commit to taking personal responsibility for living your life’s purpose – whether it be fossil hunting, selling, building things, or helping others.

People who commit to taking personal responsibility for creating the successful lives and careers they want and deserve know that their personal quest is never over – there will always be more to do, more to accomplish. 

It’s been almost 40 years since I first heard of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs.  If you’re not familiar with it, Dr. Maslow suggested that all human beings have a series of needs that they strive to satisfy.  He arranged these needs in a pyramid.  According to his theory, safety is the first and most basic human need.  It is at the bottom of the pyramid.  We all strive to remain safe in an uncertain world – we all want to live another day.  Security is next.  Once we are reasonably sure that we will survive this moment and this day, our needs move to developing a sense of security, one in which we feel that our lives and quality of our lives will remain constant.  Affiliation is next.  Once we feel safe and secure, we search for meaningful relationships in our lives.  Recognition is next.  Once we feel safe, secure and valued by others, we crave recognition—in the form of praise, promotions, more money.  Self actualization is at the top of the pyramid.  Dr. Maslow says that after our safety, security, affiliation and recognition needs are satisfied, we turn our attention to what he calls “self actualization,” a state of being all that we can be.

Dr. Maslow suggests that we human beings can never be completely self actualized because as soon as we reach one goal, we realize that there is almost something more that we can achieve.  Once Bill Gates became one of the world’s wealthiest men, he realized that he could be doing more to help others.  So he created his foundation.  Once I created and ran a successful consulting practice, I realized that I could do more to share my knowledge about career success with a wider audience.  That’s why I started blogging and podcasting.

And speaking through a spinster fossil hunter, Tracy Chevalier says, “There will always be more specimens to discover and study, for, as with people, each fossil is unique.  There can never be too many.”  Indeed; there will always be more to do, more to accomplish – if only you clarify your life’s purpose and them commit to taking personal responsibility for it.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are clear on their purpose and direction in life.  They commit to taking personal responsibility for living their life purpose.  If you want to achieve career success, you need to do the same.  Clarify what you want from your life and career.  Then commit to doing whatever it takes to get it.  Set high goals.  React positively to the setbacks, problems and negative people and events in your life.  Keep at it.  Don’t let a day when you come back empty handed in your quest for career success get you down.  Get up the next day with optimism in your heart and keep working toward the mighty purpose you’ve set for yourself.

That’s my take on clarifying your life’s purpose and then living it – and Tracy Chevalier’s new novel, Remarkable Creatures.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  If you’re a Tracy Chevalier fan, let us know about your favorite book of hers.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Commitment to taking personal responsibility for creating the successful life and career you want and deserve is one of the four keys to success in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.

Commitment to taking personal responsibility is simple really.  Success is all up to you, and me, and anyone else who wants it.  All you have to do is commit to taking personal responsibility for our own success.  I am the only one who can make me a success.  You are the only one who can make you a success.

Personal responsibility means recognizing that you are responsible for your life and the choices you make.  It means that you realize that while other people and events have an impact on your life, these people and events don’t shape your life.  When you accept personal responsibility for your life, you own up to the fact that how you react to people and events is what’s important.  And you can choose how to react to every person you meet and everything that happens to you.

The concept of personal responsibility is found in most writings on success.  Stephen Covey’s first of seven habits of highly effective people is “be proactive.”  My friend, John Miller’s book “QBQ: the Question Behind the Question” asks readers to ask questions like “what can I do to become a top performer”?  John Miller is suggesting that people take responsibility for their lives, careers and success. 

A Message to Garcia is perhaps one of the best know tracts on personal responsibility.  It is an inspirational essay written in 1899 by Elbert Hubbard that has been made into two movies. It was originally published as a filler without a title in the March, 1899 issue of Philistine magazine which edited by Mr. Hubbard.  However, it was quickly reprinted as a pamphlet and a book, translated into 37 languages, and became well-known in American popular and business culture until the middle of the twentieth century.

A Message to Garcia celebrates the initiative of a soldier who is assigned and accomplishes a daunting mission. He asked no questions, made no objections, requested no help – and he accomplished his mission. The essay asks the reader to apply this attitude to his or her own life as an avenue to success. Its “don’t ask questions, get the job done” message was often used by business leaders as a motivational message to their employees in the early part of the 20th Century.  It was given to every United States Sailor and Marine in both world wars, and often memorized by schoolchildren.

The essay is about an incident in the Spanish-American War in 1898. As the American army prepared to invade what was then the Spanish colony of Cuba, they wanted to get in touch with the leader of the Cuban insurgents: Calixto Iniguez Garcia.  Garcia had been fighting the Spanish for Cuban independence since 1868 and wanted American help. An American officer by the name of was Andrew Summers Rowan was chosen to carry a message to Garcia.  You have to remember that there was no internet, no telephones and no telegraph service to Cuba in those days.  Someone had to hand deliver the message.  Rowan succeeded in getting the message to Garcia.

Here some selected excerpts from A Message to Garcia.

“IN ALL THIS CUBAN BUSINESS there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba—no one knew where. No mail or telegraph could reach him. The President must secure his co-operation, and quickly.

”What to do!

”Someone said to the President, “There is a fellow by the name of Rowan who will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.”

”Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by name of Rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and having delivered his letter to Garcia—are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.

”The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, “Where is he at?”

”By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing – ‘Carry a message to Garcia’ …

“My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the boss is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one long, anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks will be granted. He is wanted in every city, town and village—in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed and needed badly—the man who can ‘Carry a Message to Garcia’.”

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers.  You demonstrate your commitment to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve by being willing to do the things necessary to succeed.  You also have to set high goals — and then do whatever it takes to achieve them.   Finally, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks.  You need to react positively to the negative stuff and negative people in your life and move forward toward your goals.  112 years ago Elbert Hubbard published an essay called “A Message to Garcia.”  I find it to be a great commentary on the importance of committing to taking personal responsibility for your life and career.  If you want a copy of “A Message to Garcia,” send an email to Bud@BudBilanich.com with the words “Message to Garcia” in the subject line.  I’ll send you a .pdf right away.

That’s my take on “A Message to Garcia” and the importance of committing to taking personal responsibility for your life and career.  Have you read “A Message to Garcia?”  What did you think?  Please tell us in a comment.  I’d really love to receive comments from people who have read this essay.  It would be great if you would share your thoughts about it with all of us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

If you want to create the successful life and career that you want and deserve, you need to perform at a high level consistently.  High performance is one of the competencies in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…to Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

High performers manage their time, life and stress well.  They pay particular attention to their health and well being.  It’s impossible to perform at a consistently high level if you don’t feel healthy and energized.  In this post, I’d like to discuss two issues when it comes to managing your stress and feeling healthy and energized – restoring energy and dealing with headaches.

We all get tired, run down and out of sorts occasionally.  That’s when it’s important to catch your second wind.  Here are my best ideas for getting your second wind.  These ideas work for me, and I think they’ll work for you – but remember, I am a Doctor of Education, not an MD.

Eat a healthy snack – something that is rich in fiber, like an apple, dried apricots, celery or a handful of pistachio nuts.

Take a few minutes and breathe deeply.  Relax and spend a couple minutes taking deep breaths.  Deep breathing always makes me feel calm, gives me more energy and helps me get focused better.

Visualize yourself in a relaxing place.  Close your eyes for a few minutes and imagine yourself in your special, peaceful and restful place.  This type of visualization helps rejuvenate my psyche.  My special place is Washington Park in Denver – not far from my home.  When the weather is nice, I just don’t picture myself there, I ride my bike to the park and sit on a bench for five or ten minutes.

Splash some cold water on your face – or pop a breath mint.  Mint flavors are stimulating.  You might want to begin your day by using some mint shampoo – it will help you wake up and get going.

Focus on what’s good.  At the end of every day take a few minutes to list the good things that happened to you that day.  You’ll be surprised at how many things went well.  Doing a good news inventory will help you relax, and you’ll sleep better.

Most of us get headaches too.  Headaches can be a real productivity robber.  Americans spend over $4 billion a year on over the counter pain relievers – most for headaches.  Here are the five most common causes of headaches and my best tips for preventing headaches before they start.

Stress – Exercise daily.  It helps reduce stress and tension.  Also, if you are so inclined meditate, daydream or just relax.  I have difficulty doing nothing, but I find that if I take the time to relax, I deal with the stress in my life better.

Eyestrain – When I’m not consulting or coaching, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer.  This can lead to headaches.  I try to work in five minutes of away time from my computer screen every hour.  I make a phone call or go for a short walk in the office.  I also have my vision checked every year.  I have found that deteriorating vision can cause headaches.  I keep my vision prescription up to date.

Food – Caffeine, processed foods, chocolate and MSG can give me headaches.  I always ask for no MSG when I am at an Asian restaurant.  Other people say that red wine, and some cheeses lead to headaches for them.  Figure out what foods cause you headaches and do your best to avoid them.

Sitting for an extended period of time – This is closely tied to spending your day in front of a computer.  Yes, you’ll get eyestrain that can cause headaches, but when you sit at a computer you often hunch over.  This tightens your muscles and leads to tension headaches.  Get up and move around.  Stand while you’re on the phone, take a walk around the office, or go for a longer one at lunch time.

Sleep – Too much or too little sleep can lead to headaches.  I suggest going to bed and getting up at the same time every day – even on weekends.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are high performers.  High performers maintain a reasonable level of health and fitness.  They manage their stress.  Here are a few simple steps you can take daily to increase your health and fitness and manage your daily dose of stress.  Snack on healthy foods when you begin to feel a little slow and low.  Take a few minutes in the afternoon to breathe deeply and relax.  Move around – don’t spend all day every day in front of your computer.  Exercise as often as possible.  Get the same amount of sleep every night.  If you follow these simple, common sense pieces of advice, you’ll be able to prevent a lot of stress related illnesses.

That’s my take on enhancing your job performance by managing your stress.  What’s yours?  Please leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday?  About 100 million people did.  The game was entertaining and fun to watch.  New Orleans won 31 – 17.  Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback was the Most Valuable Player, and he endeared himself to the country by bringing his little boy – who was wearing noise reduction headphones – on to the field and carrying him around after the game.

I bring up the Super Bowl because you can learn a lot about branding from it.  If you notice in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, big box retailers suggest you buy a new, better TV to watch the “big game.”  Super markets and delis promote their party trays for the “big game.”  That’s because the Super Bowl is the crown jewel in the NFL’s brand; so much so that they’ve trademarked it.  If you want to use the words “Super Bowl” in your ads, you have to pay a fee to the NFL.  Coors Light did.  That’s why you saw so many Super Bowl themed Coors Light commercials these past few weeks.  Interestingly, Coors Light didn’t run one ad during the game.  M&Ms paid the royalty fee too.  I loved their ads with the M&M running on the conveyor belt in the super market.

The NFL works hard to protect their Super Bowl brand.  You should work hard to nurture, promote and protect your personal brand too.  Creating positive personal impact is one of the success competencies in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, I Want YOU…To Succeed, Star Power, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  Developing and nurturing your unique personal brand is the first step in creating positive personal impact.

I’m sure you know who I mean when I say Oprah, Michael, Shaq, Madonna and Bono.  These are people who are powerful brands.  However, personal brands aren’t just for athletes and celebrities.  All successful people create and nurture their own unique personal brand.  Your brand is how others think of you.  It is a combination of a lot of things – what you stand for, how you act, how you dress, your on line presence.  Nature abhors a vacuum.  If you don’t consciously create your brand, others will do it for you.

As you go about creating your personal brand, remember that a good brand will not appeal to everyone.  A brand that appeals to everybody is too vanilla.  You want a Cherry Garcia brand, something that is uniquely you.  A good brand will appeal to a lot of people, but it will also turn off a certain portion of the population.

Take my “Common Sense Guy” brand.  It appeals to a lot of people.  However, some people find “common sense” a little too pedestrian and “guy” a little too colloquial.  That’s OK.  Those folks probably aren’t real interested in what I have to say, and how I say it anyway.

There are two simple and common sense steps for creating a strong personal brand.

1. Decide how you want people to think of you.
2. Do whatever it takes to get them to think that way.

Once you choose your brand, stay on brand at all times.  Be consistent and constant.  Do whatever you can to reinforce your brand.  For example, all of my websites have the words “common sense” in them.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that I end every one of my blog posts with a paragraph that begins, “The common sense point here is…”  I avoid lengthy, complicated analyses.  I work hard to simplify the complex and provide simple, easy to implement advice to my coaching clients.  I use humor in my talks – and frequently pepper them with the words – “After all, it’s just common sense, right?” 

I work really hard to consistently and constantly present myself as someone who has common sense answers to everyday career and life success questions.  Later this year I have a book on teams and teamwork coming out.  It’s called Common Sense Ideas for Building a Dream Team.  See what I mean?

William Arruda, my friend and author of Career Distinction says it well.  “Be on brand in all that you do.  People with a strong personal brand ensure that everything they do and all that surrounds them communicates their brand message.” 

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people create positive personal impact.  Developing and nurturing your unique personal brand is the first step in building your brand.  Brand building takes work, but it is simple conceptually.  Do two things.  First, decide how you want people to think of you.  Then do whatever it takes to get them to think of you that way.  Your brand is important and, just like the NFL, you should do everything you can to protect it and build it.

That’s my take on the super Bowl and personal branding.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Self confidence is one of the four pillars of career and life success in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success; Star Power; I Want You…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  If you want to become interpersonally competent, you need to do three things: 1) become an optimist; 2) face your fears and act; 3) Surround yourself with positive people.

A while back in a post I did on optimism and self confidence, I mentioned a quote in which a guy by the name of Ambrose Bierce bashed optimism.  “The doctrine that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong… It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.”

The other day, I came across another quote from Mr. Bierce, “Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.”  I found these quote to be really cynical, so I decided to learn something about Ambrose Bierce.  As it turns out, he was called “Bitter Bierce” by his contemporaries.  And I can see why.  First he bashes optimism, then he suggests that human beings see the good fortune of others as a personal calamity. 

Ambrose Bierce is an interesting character.  He was born in 1842, and served in the Union Army during the Civil War.  No one knows for sure, but it is thought that he died in 1914.  In 1913, he traveled to Mexico to observe firsthand the revolution going on there. 

He joined Pancho Villa’s army in Juarez.  On December 26 1913, he posted a letter to a friend from the city of Chihuahua.  That was his last correspondence.  Wikipedia says, “Several writers have speculated that he headed north to the Grand Canyon, found a remote spot there and shot himself, though no evidence exists to support this view. All investigations into his fate have proved fruitless, and despite an abundance of theories his end remains shrouded in mystery. The date of his death is generally cited as ‘1914?’”.  His disappearance is one of the most famous in American literary history.

In 1906 he published “The Cynic’s Word Book”, later to become known as “The Devil’s Dictionary”.   It is a book of satirical definitions of English words.  Ambrose was clever, I’ll give him that.  I often see quotes from this book online, including the one that inspired today’s post, “Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.”

But I digress.  I wish he were around today, because I would like to ask him where he got his bleak view of human nature.  He defines politeness as, “The most acceptable hypocrisy.”  In another quote, he defines perseverance as, “A lowly virtue whereby mediocrity achieves an inglorious success.”

Do you know any people like Ambrose Bierce?  If you do, hold them at arm’s length.  While you may find them to be witty and entertaining at first, they will drag you down in the long run.

People like Ambrose Bierce may be clever, but their views are incompatible with becoming self confident.  Self confident people look for, and usually find, the best in others.  They are polite because it is the best way to build strong relationships.  They are willing to extend themselves to help others, even when they can see no immediate return to them for so doing.

If you read this blog regularly, you know I am a big fan of The Optimist Creed.  Point 6 says,

“Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are of your own.”

This is 180 degrees from the Ambrose Bierce quote that I cited at the beginning of this post and from his life view in general.  Self confident, optimistic people aren’t jealous or upset by the success of others.  They are genuinely pleased when they see others succeed.  They use others’ success as an inspiration.  They use it to motivate themselves to achieve bigger and better successes.

If you would like a copy of The Optimist Creed that you can frame and hang in your workspace, go to http://budbilanich.com/optimist.

The common sense point here is clear.  Successful people are self confident and interpersonally competent.  Self confident and interpersonally competent people build strong relationships with the people around them.  In part, they build these relationships by being genuinely pleased about the success of others.  They are not jealous, nor petty.  They are happy to see others succeed.  Self confident and interpersonally competent people use the success of others to motivate themselves to greater success.

That’s my take on Ambrose Bierce, self confidence and interpersonal competence and how one reacts to the success of others.  What’s yours?  Please leave a quote sharing your thoughts on these ideas.  As always, thanks for reading – and writing.

Bud

The other day, I was at a workshop and one of the speakers was clearly nervous.  He began his talk by telling the old story about the survey that asked people to name their greatest fear.  Public speaking came in first, by a large margin.  Death was fourth.  So, if you believe the results of this survey, most people would rather die than stand up and give a talk.  He was one of them.  He urged us to be kind to him because he was nervous doing this talk.

He was suffering from what is known by a number of names: presentation anxiety, stage fright, the jitters.  Whatever you call it presentation anxiety can be the death knell for an otherwise great talk. We all get nervous before a talk, but being nervous doesn’t have to mean you’ll do a bad talk.   Presentation anxiety is a response to fear of doing a poor talk.  It shows ups in a number of ways: blushing, shaking stuttering, preparing.  At its worst, it will lead you to feel as if you’re not making sense, or worse yet, to lose the thread of your talk.

Presentation skills are one of the three communication skills that are part of my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss them in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success; Star Power; I Want YOU…To Succeed; Your Success GPS; 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.

I make speeches for a living, and I get nervous before every one of them.  In fact, if I’m not a little nervous, I start to worry that I will be flat and deliver an unenthusiastic talk. Over the years, I’ve developed a few tricks that I use to calm my nerves before a big presentation and make them work for, not against me.  Check them out…

Practice your talk out loud. This will help you get comfortable with your material and your delivery.

Think good thoughts.  Imagine yourself succeeding beyond your wildest dreams.  Imagine that you will get a standing ovation for your talk.  This is what visualization is all about.

Get there early. In this way, you’ll be able to set up your computer and run through your slides one last time.

Greet people as they arrive; exchange a few words with them. This will help you make a good first impression with members of the audience. It will also help you get control of your nerves, because you’ll feel more comfortable speaking to a group of people you know rather than a group of strangers.

Take a deep breath before you begin.  This will calm you, help center you and give you enough air to get through your opening.

Move. When you begin your presentation, move around. Use body movement to help release some of your nervous energy. Don’t get trapped behind the podium.  It can inhibit you from releasing your energy.

Just chat with the audience. Think of your presentation as a conversation. There might be 10, or 25, or 100 people in your audience. But in terms of real communication, there are only two people in the room: you and a single listener.

Tell stories to illustrate your main points.  People like listening to stories and they tend to remember points illustrated by stories.

Ask questions during your talk. This will help you build a dialogue and a participatory feeling. I try to make at least one quarter and as much as one half of my talk a discussion with the audience. In this way, it’s less of a speech and more of an expanded conversation with every person in the room.

Don’t worry if you make a mistake.  To begin with, most people won’t realize that you made a mistake.  Second, realize the audience is with you.  They’ve all been there and know that presenting can be nerve wracking.  Most people in the audience will be pulling for you to do a good job. 

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people are dynamic communicators.  Presentations are opportunities to shine – to demonstrate that you are a dynamic communicator.  Stage fright is the biggest enemy of presentation success.  Don’t let stage fright rob you of your opportunity to shine.  One good presentation can make a career.  Presentations are the best ways to get noticed and have your name at the top of the list when promotional opportunities come up.  There are several ways to deal with presentation anxiety: be prepared, know your stuff cold; think of your talk as a conversation with the audience; tell stories to illustrate your points.    However, there is one piece of advice that trumps all when it comes to delivering dynamic presentations: practice, practice, practice! 

That’s my take on dealing with stage fright.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

Yesterday I wrote a post in which I quoted George Bernard Shaw, my favorite playwright.  I showed how his words related to two of the four pillars of my Common Sense Success System: clarity of purpose and direction, and commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and success. 

After I wrote the post, I came across a Japanese proverb…

Vision without action is a daydream.
Action without vision is a nightmare.

“Great,” I thought.  “Another twofer.”  And a twofer on the same two pillars – clarity and commitment. 

“Vision without action is a daydream” goes to the heart of commitment.   No matter how big your plans, thoughts and dreams, they’ll never become a reality until you act on them.  You have to commit to taking personal responsibility for creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.  And action is the single most important word when it comes to demonstrating your commitment.

On the other hand, action without vision truly is a nightmare.  You’ll never get where you want to go if you don’t have a clear idea of exactly what you want to achieve.  I call this clarity of purpose and direction.  Think of your purpose is your mission in life – why you exist, why you are on this world.  Think of your direction as your vision for the next five years; that big hairy audacious goal you are going to accomplish.  Your mission and vision, your purpose and direction shape your actions.  When you act in accordance with them, you’ll avoid the nightmares that come from unfocused action.

I talk about this stuff and the other two pillars of my Common Sense Success System in much more detail in my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  You can read more about these ideas in any one of these books.  My daily podcasts at www.CareerSuccess.mypodcast.com also provide information you might find useful.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people have a clearly defined purpose and direction for their lives.  They also commit to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers.  To develop your clarity of purpose and direction, you need to do three things.  First, define what success means to you personally.  Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success.  This image should be as vivid as you can you make it.  Third, clarify your personal values.   You demonstrate your commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and career by doing three things.  First, take personal responsibility for your success.  Only you can make you a success.  You must be willing to do the things necessary to succeed.  Second, set high goals — and then do whatever it takes to achieve them.   Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks.  You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals.  Getting clear and getting committed are the starting points for creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.

That’s my take on clarity and commitment.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

The other day I saw a great quote from Margaret Thatcher…

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”

Ole’ Iron Maggie really nailed it with this one.  I like this quote because it gets at the essence of commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and career.  Commitment to personal responsibility is one of the four pillars of my Common Sense Success System.   I discuss it in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart your Professional Success. 

You demonstrate your commitment – to yourself and to the world — by doing three things.  First, take personal responsibility for your success.  Only you can make you a success.  You must be willing to do the things necessary to succeed.  Second, set high goals — and then do whatever it takes to achieve them.   Third, stuff happens; as you go through life you will encounter many problems and setbacks.  You need to react positively to the negative stuff and move forward toward your goals.

Those days in which you have a lot to do, and you get it all done, are not only satisfying they demonstrate your commitment to your success, and help strengthen that commitment.  I’m writing this on a plane on Friday night.  It’s about 8:00 in the evening.  I’ve been up since 5:00 because I needed to finish an important project for a client before I attended an all day workshop with Russell Brunson, my internet marketing mentor and business partner.  I’ve had a full, but very satisfying, day.  And, as Ms. Thatcher points out, one in which I feel a sense of supreme satisfaction.  I’ve demonstrated to myself that I’m willing to do the things necessary to succeed.

On the other hand, I had a bout with the flu earlier this week.  It left me feeling weak and tired.  I spent all of Monday afternoon and a good part of Tuesday morning in bed.  It couldn’t be helped.  I needed to get my strength back.  By Tuesday afternoon, I was feeling physically better, but emotionally drained.  I felt as if I hadn’t moved forward toward my goals.  I didn’t get anything done for about 24 hours – and I hated it. 

I agree not only with Maggie Thatcher, but with George Bernard Shaw, my favorite playwright…

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.  I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

I know that I want my life to be a splendid torch that burns long and brightly.  How about you?  Do you revel in hard work and accomplishing everything you can?  Or do you prefer those days Maggie Thatcher describes as one in which you “lounge around doing nothing”?

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people commit to taking personal responsibility for the creating the successful life and career they want and deserve.  They set high goals – and do whatever it takes to accomplish them.  They react positively to the people and events in their lives – especially the negative people and events.  They relish the days when they have a lot to do, and then go on and do it.  They get great satisfaction from working hard and seeing the results of their labor.  When was the last day when you were truly busy? How did you feel at the end of it?  If you’re an achiever – someone who is committed to your career and life success, I bet you felt exhilarated and ready to go the next day.  That’s how I felt after a very long day last Friday.

That’s my take on feeling good about putting in the time and effort necessary to succeed in your life and career.  What’s yours?  Please take a minute to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

I am The Common Sense Guy.  My tag line is, “Helping individuals, teams and entire organizations succeed by applying their common sense.”  That’s why my ears perked up when I heard President Obama say the words “common sense” in the State of the Union address last night.  He said, “Let’s try common sense – a novel concept.”  Common sense is not a novel concept, but it is one that is often misunderstood.  

In the Introduction to my forthcoming book, Common Sense Ideas for Building a Dream Team, I say… 

“We are all born with five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.  These senses help us navigate our way through the world.  They bring us delight in small things: the turning of the leaves in autumn, an Eric Clapton guitar lick – or depending on your taste, a Yitzhak Perlman violin piece; the warmth of the sun on your face on the first day of spring, your favorite birthday dinner that your mom always made, the smell of warm bread baking.  They also warn us when danger threatens: lightning in the sky, a police or fire siren, a hot barbeque grill, food that is spoiled and not safe to eat, the odor that is added to natural gas.

“However, I believe that we all have a sixth, and underused sense, our common sense.  Your common sense helps you make the right decision in ambiguous situations – but only if you use it.  When I tell people that I’m the Common Sense Guy, they often come back with the old saying, ‘Common sense isn’t all that common.’  I disagree.  I think that we all have innate common sense.  It’s a natural gift, just like our five other senses.  I think common sense is very common.  What’s uncommon is our lack of willingness to use it.

“Noetics is emerging science.  The word ‘noetic’ comes from the ancient Greek nous.  It refers to ‘inner knowing,’ a kind of intuitive knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses.  Noetics is the exploration of the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing — including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses.  Common sense is a type of noetics.  It is an inner knowing of what to do in any given situation.

“Thomas Edison once said ‘Many people miss opportunity because it comes dressed up in overalls and looks like work.’  I believe that most people know what to do in most situations, their common sense tells them.  However, many people often don’t do what their common sense says for a number of reasons… ‘it’s too difficult and not worth the effort,’ ‘it takes too much time,’ ‘so and so might get upset with me,’ ‘I don’t know if I can do it.’  I’ve found that there are as many reasons for not using your common sense as there are people in the world.”  

In the case of politicians, the reason for not doing the common sense thing is usually rooted in their need to get reelected – not wanting to anger the voters back home, or the lobbyists who make big campaign contributions.

This isn’t a political blog, so I’m not going to comment on what President Obama implied is a lack of common sense in government. 

It is a career and life success blog however, so I will comment on how common sense should be your guiding light when it comes to creating the successful life and career you want and deserve.  My Common Sense Success System is built on four common sense success principles: 1) clarity of purpose and direction; 2) a sincere commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and career; 3) unshakeable self confidence; and 4) competence in several key skills.  I discuss these ideas in detail in several of my book: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I Want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

If you want to succeed, you need to apply these four common sense principles in your daily life. You need to use, not deny your common sense.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people embrace and use their common sense.  They apply four key common success principles: 1) clarity of purpose and direction; 2) a sincere commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and career; 3) unshakeable self confidence; and 4) competence in several key skills.  In the State of the Union address, President Obama called common sense a novel concept.  It may be.  However, if you are serious about creating the successful life and career you want and deserve, you will embrace your common sense.  You’ll apply your inner knowing of what to do to when it comes to succeeding in this life and in your career.

That’s my take on common sense and success.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud

New Orleans was jumping on Sunday.  The Saints beat the Vikings to get into the Super Bowl.  I read that during the game 80% of the televisions in New Orleans that were turned on during the game were tuned to the game.  That’s an amazing number.  This is the first time the Saints are in the Super Bowl in their history.  They began playing in the NFL in 1967.  That’s a long time to wait for a chance at the championship.  Ironically, many Super Bowls have been played in New Orleans, the Saints just haven’t played in them.  I was at the Denver Broncos first appearance in the Super Bowl in January 1978.  It was played at, you guessed it, the New Orleans Superdome.

The party began in the Superdome as soon as the game was over and continued long into the night in New Orleans.  There was one story about all the partying that really caught my attention.  Sean Payton, the Saint’s Coach mentioned that his young son was worried that they wouldn’t be able to have their post game catch because the stadium floor was covered in confetti. 

I thought this was touching, but I also thought it reinforced one of the points I make about creating the successful life and career you deserve – clarify your purpose and direction in this life.  Sean Payton’s son is a little guy.  Right now, his purpose in life is to enjoy playing with his dad.  By the way, they did have that game of catch, confetti and all.  Young Mr. Payton was staying true to his purpose.  He wanted to be able to continue his ritual with his dad.  A successful day at the stadium meant playing catch with his father after the game was over.  It didn’t matter that this was the biggest game his dad had coached to date.

Clarity of purpose and direction is one of the four keys to career and life success that make up my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success, Star Power, I want YOU…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success. 

To develop your personal clarity of purpose you need to do three things.  First, define what success means to you.  Second, create a vivid mental image of you as a success.  This image should be as vivid as you can you make it.  Third, clarify your personal values.

When I speak about clarity of purpose and direction people often ask me how this ties into things like a personal mission or vision.  Here is what I tell them….

Think of your purpose as your mission in life as your reason for existing – why you are on this earth.  My mission is helping other people create the successful life and career they want and deserve.

Think of your direction as your vision for where you are going in the next five or so years.  My current vision is to use the internet and emerging technologies to being my common sense message about career and life success to as many people as possible.

Get it?  Purpose = Mission.

Direction = Vision.

Your personal vision needs to be aligned with your mission.  Your goals should flow from your vision.

The common sense point here is simple.  Successful people clarify their purpose and direction in life.  Your purpose is your mission – why you exist.  Your direction is your vision – where you are going in the short term.  New Orleans Saints head coach, Shawn Payton’s son has a simple purpose in life – to spend as much fun time with his father as he can.  That’s why he worried that he wouldn’t be able to have his post game catch with him last Sunday – because the field was covered in confetti.  What is your mission in life?  What is your vision for the next five years?  If your answer is, “I don’t know,” please take some time to answer these questions.  These answers provide you with your clarity of purpose and direction – a foundation on which you can build to create the successful life and career you want and deserve.

That’s my take on clarity of purpose and direction.  What’s yours?  Please take a few minutes to leave a comment sharing your thoughts with us.  As always, thanks for reading.

Bud