by miami | Oct 19, 2007
I love this story of the Mexican villager and the American Investment banker,
probably because I relate so much to it! Enjoy it!
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one
fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria,
stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life."
The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the
proceeds, buy a bigger boat and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually
you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly
to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.
You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC
where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied, "15-20 years."
"But what then?"
The American laughed and said "That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and
sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions.. Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late,
fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you
could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anybody up for a little fishing???
Don’t worry Be Happy!
by miami | Oct 18, 2007
Creating happiness in your life can depend a lot on your confidence level. Your confidence level is directly tied to your feelings and the way you think.
Here are a few ideas to help you develop confidence (followed by happiness and success)
1. Remember a time when you felt calm and relaxed and do you best to relive that time in your mind.
2. Remember a very positive experience you have had in your life. It would help if you wrote it down and posted it where you could see it.
3. When were you super successful at something? Write it down and remember the feeling.
4. What positive trait do you have or one that others have said you have?
5. Remember a time when you felt strong and confident. Write it down.
6. Imagine yourself saying something positive to someone or actually doing something nice for someone. (Of course you could always go and do it!)
7. Think of something you could do for self improvement today. Now go and do it!
Action is the key. Remembering, writing it down and doing it!
Also…
My friend and fellow personal development coach David Ferrers has developed a program called "Magic Hats" he is releasing for free.
This program is focused on helping you create confidence in creating your life.
Learn more by going to http://www.magic-hats.com or clicking here.
Don’t worry – be happy!
by miami | Aug 30, 2007
Speaking of work and the reasons for it brought a flood of comments. Obviously this is something many of us think about a lot.
Part of the coaching strategies I always employ and fervently believe in is holding a very clearly defined personal vision of the future. Once a vision is known it is relatively easy to track backwards to the present and fill in the steps required to realize the desired ending. These steps become the daily, weekly and monthly goals to achieve.
Once goals are in place it becomes easy to set measurements of some kind in order to have a certain comfort level one is in control of a life. (If there is such a thing!) However, most of us are a bit fearful of measurements. The biggest reason is fear of failure.
We see measurements as an indication of failing to meet goals instead of the real reason for measurement which is simply an indication of direction. Are we doing better or worse than expected? Are there obvious changes needed to be made in the general plan to effect more consistent or more rapid movement? Are we even going down the right path?
In my opinion, many people (quite possibly a huge majority), will not take these steps as outlined simply because it means doing things differently. It means moving out of a comfort zone where change is uncomfortable – alarmingly so.
This brings to mind two quotes I have heard in the last several weeks that have reverberated in my mind over and over:
Newt Gingrich said in a speech a few weeks ago “Comfortable failure is preferable to the fear of real change.”
Then there is this common saying: “Life begins at where our comfort zone ends.”
So what is your vision? Are you on a path to realize it? Does your work life (obviously the majority of your waking time) accurately reflect this?
I hope so!
by miami | Aug 2, 2007
One of the challenges I have found in entrepreneurs (which includes me) is the ability to let go. We tend to want to do everything ourselves.
Either we think it is the only way to get it done correctly, or that we can do it quicker, better, or cheaper.
That is crazy. We are just control freaks!
What we do best in create a vision of the future and inspire others how to get it.
If we spend the majority of our time doing all the things we should be letting others do, we are not clarifying and communicating vision. And on top of that we are holding others back from realizing their potential.
Either way it hurts someone. You or them.
Let go of something today. Find someone else who can do it and pay them. It might be uncomfortable at first, and more work as you have to show them how you want it done, but in the end you have given someone else a job, and freed yourself up to do more of what you do best.
You do know what that is don’t you?
I’m working on another product I think you will find fascinating. Several years ago I was taught a phenomenal way of communicating by simply looking at someone.
by miami | Jul 5, 2007
Last week I wrote about the need to maintain relationships to reach business and personal growth goals and offered a call to share an easy to use, very inexpensive solution.
I wondered what others had to say about it:
“Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men.”
— Albert Einstein
“The soft stuff is always harder than the hard stuff.”
— Roger Enrico
Vice Chairman, Pepsico
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
— Mother Teresa
People don’t want to be “marketed TO”; they want to be “communicated WITH.”
– Flint McGlaughlin
This very simple solution is: sending written personal cards.
Who do you want to reach out and touch?
I can show you how I do it!
