Blog

Communication is a two way street. Email me your thoughts.

May 11, 2009 - 10 easy steps to a less creative you.

Save your creativity for when it’s really important. Don’t waste your mental energy on little jobs.
Don’t mess around with your creativity. Use your skills only when you get paid.
Know your strengths. Avoid your weaknesses.
Hold on to your disappointments. It’s healthy and productive to feel sorry for yourself when things don’t go as you’d like.
Get stressed. Focus on all things you dislike about the world.
You’re busy. And life is short. Don’t waste time exploring things that won’t work anyway.
Don’t write down your good ideas. It’s easy to recall them later.
Watch more TV.
Drink excessively.
And by all means, remember that creativity is a mysterious process. Good ideas come serendipitously, so don’t bother to work too hard. If at any time the creative process becomes painful, stop and turn your attention to something else. Procrastination is your friend.

If these steps don't do it for you, just remember you probably aren’t really that creative anyway. Some of us are old and tired. Others are just good fakers with few creative skills. In any case, you have to understand no one can be consistently creative. Ultimately, you will fail and will seek to lay blame elsewhere. That should be easy; there is always someone about who’s preventing you from being creative.

February 15, 2009 - Lessons from Ironman

The race is long. The training is grueling. Few would ever consider doing it, and many can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily sign up for such punishment. For me it’s a completely different experience. I not only enjoy the Ironman triathlon (and endurance athletics in general) but also learn from it. These eight simple lessons offer applications far beyond athletics:

1. Keep pushing. I've discovered enormous reserves of energy. In athletic pursuits, like in life, people too often don’t push themselves far enough on their first set of legs to realize they have much more to give. Keep pushing, and you can travel farther and do more than you ever thought possible.

2. Embrace challenges. The Ironman seems like a lot to swallow. Before committing, I had difficulty wrapping my mind around how to do it and what it might take. In hindsight, I can honestly say, the biggest obstacle to completing the race was my own paradigm defining what was possible. Once fully embraced, the challenge became manageable. We’re all capable of more than we know.

3. Focus. It simplifies the complex. For most first timers, the goal is crossing the finish line on race day. My first was no different. That single-mindedness allowed me to plan and learn and train and rest and nourish my body day by day, week after week, applying myself with dedication and focus until they day I brought it all together. Focus on the big day keeps you safe and permits you to implement your race plan to perfection.

4. Sacrifice. Every act has an opportunity cost. Because I chose to dedicate time and energy to endurance racing does not mean doing so is right for everyone, or that it’s right at any time. Make your sacrifices carefully, and make them for the right reasons. Be willing to sacrifice what you are now for what you can become.

5. Learn. It’s important to me to never stop learning. The challenge of Ironman, like other difficult tasks, forced me to study the discipline. Extreme challenges have a way of exposing what you don’t know. I learned from reading, but my best source was people who had been there. We learn, or we lose our way.

6. Eat right. To perform well you have to nourish your body. I know that eating right better creates better performance. And, that applies to life generally, not just endurance racing.

7. Work hard. And, rest. Overloading your muscles and your mind and putting them under stress are an important part of the training process. But, without rest, growth doesn’t happen. Get your rest, grow, and be sharp.

8. Play deeply. Ironman requires a lot of hard work. For me, the work is a form of play. I enjoy challenges, and I reslish hard work. Fact is, when I’m challenged I don’t feel the need to make a distinction between work and play. The deeper I immerse myself in the work, the more rewarding and playful the experience.

I’ve completed three Ironman triathlons – one of them having begun the race with a broken rib. Although I feel I have a faster one in me yet, other challenges are ripe for consideration. Thinking of how I can apply what I’ve learned makes me smile.

The Ironman triathlon is a swim of 2.4 miles and a bike of 112 miles, followed by a full marathon at 26.2 miles.

January 25, 2009 - Resolve to Plan Your Life.

Life and marketing have parallels. As an adept planner I know the value of good insight. And vision. Marketing pros spend a great deal of time and mental energy planning campaigns. What if we put even a little of that effort into stewarding our own futures? Could be transformative, right?

Here’s a simple way to begin. Ask yourself, what do you want to change in your life? For that matter, ask your family the same question.

Now, say you successfully make the changes you want. What difference will this make next month or next year? In two or three years? Imagine life if you make the change. Contemplate your future if you don’t. Who stands to be impacted, and for each of them what’s at stake? How are those stakeholders likely to interpret your plan, and what will you have to do to overcome obstacles they may present?

As professionals, we strive to make rational decisions based on the best available information. We count on the consumers we target to make emotionally driven decisions. But, we don’t always apply the same care in to our own lives that we offer the brands and companies for which we work. Resolve to change that. And, in the process, you’ll change your life.

January 15, 2009 - Don't Hunker. Aim Higher.

It’s really bad out there. Businesses are losing money. People are losing jobs. Everyone is afraid. Our seemingly solid foundation is transforming into some sort of quick sand as the institutions and systems we long thought so trustworthy fall apart. Powerless are we to change the sad, downward course of our collective trajectory.

Yet, I believe this will be the best year of my life.

All I hear and read is it's time to hunker down. To stay put. Not to make waves. The troubling result of a strategy that seeks only to protect one’s status is eventual failure. Especially if it’s only for the sake of the stuff.

Today, I’m healthy and strong. I’m experienced. I know what I want. And, it’s all within reach. Here’s the essential truth: my potential to do great work this year is even greater than it was last year. Or at anytime past.

In fact, the potential to realize great things exists in all of us right now. Just as in the past, realizing possibilities requires aiming higher. Aiming higher releases our potential energy. And, with careful, persistent, consistent work every one of us is still able to focus that energy and empower our life.

Don't mistake my optimism for recklessness. Exercising a degree of caution is good advice. But, in a different category are the options of settling for too little, hiding out, and staying put when you could be moving forward. Those choices are certain to diminish one’s spirit, and much else in the process.

I won’t be hunkering in 2009. Odds are I will create my best year yet.

January 1, 2009 - Ten ideas to make the most of the new year:

Times of transition offer opportunity. Make a distinction between ’08 and ’09. Put the past in the past, and leave all your bags—good, bad, and ugly—behind you. That opens up ’09 for new possibilities.
Think like a toddler. Imagine a two-year-old’s unrestrained enthusiasm. How do they do it? They have no history, no life experiences that relentlessly check their joy and interest. A small child’s reaction to new ideas is completely natural. Do yourself a favor. Summon a little of the freedom a child’s perspective offers.
Be present. Fear and stress keep us thinking in the past and the future. Most of our human issues are unfortunate creations of our own minds. The opportunities are all here and now. Even when you’re reaching for loftier, further reaching goals, the things that need doing are right before you.
Take an inventory of your organization’s culture. In a tight economy, you may not be spending to improve infrastructure; maybe this is an opportunity instead to modernize organizational culture or systems. If your processes or tracking or business models are antiquated, now is time for change. There’s power in being bold.
When things are good and the cash is flowing, anyone can be happy. Living and working graciously in tough times is a much greater test. Let those who work with you know the difference they make. Be cognizant of sacrifices.
Work within your circle of influence. Seeing clearly from 50,000 feet can be a great thing, but we’re not all in a position to affect everything in sight. Know what your role is and work passionately to make a difference where you can.
Learn to do something that scares you. Expand your comfort zones.
The world is changing faster than ever. Take social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.). Technology is transforming how people communicate. Holding onto tradition can help us feel comfortable, but it will also limit your world, diminish your sphere of influence, and shrink your effectiveness. Don’t let it happen. Dive in. Now.
Be grateful. Remember the pain and suffering in the world. Contemplate your position among the rest of humanity. Remember that much of the Earth’s population would leave everything behind to trade places with you.
Tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us. Rather than filling you with fear, let that fact fill you with an burning desire for living and working today.

Thanks for reading. I wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.