There’s so much about this great big world that we live in that blows my mind. Rather than tell you all the things I am amazed by, I found this nifty video (updated not long ago to show the 2009 numbers) that will show you all the amazing things in our world today.

It’s only 4:46, and if you pay attention, it’ll open your eyes to all the cool changes happening around the world.

If you’re reading via e-mail or RSS, click here to watch the video.

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If you were wondering why it’s more important than ever to embrace and try new things, this video is a great reminder. Enjoy

Reading via e-mail or RSS? Click here to enjoy Shift Happens.

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Love is the Killer App is one of my favorite books of all time, as it changed my thinking about the way I treat people and how much being a lovecat can make a difference in folks lives. It’s no stretch to say if I hadn’t found this book, you wouldn’t be reading this blog.

Tim’s new book is called Saving the World at Work. It’s all about what each one of us can do to make our work world a better place. Simple premise, but a hugely powerful message!

I came across Tim’s video via his blog, and I knew I needed to share it with you. The video is called  The Timberland Story, and it’s 8 minutes and 7 seconds long.

Tim speaks of the ripples we can each make by doing something small for someone else. I’ve lived this ripple. I’ve reached out to folks with huge success, and had many folks reach out to me. It’s amazing what we can do if we just give a crap enough to reach out and help.

Please watch the video, and think about how YOU can be the change you wish to see in the world.

More information: You can read a little more about what Tim’s philosophy is in this article on Fast Company called Love is the Killer App.

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Navigating Through Volatile Times

These are volatile and unpredictable times for all of us.  The forecasts for 2009 and beyond are murky at best and we all need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

In my book, Road Rules:  Be The Truck.  Not The Squirrel.  I discuss the twelve (12) strategies for navigating the highway of life.  In Chapter 8, the road rule known as “Be An All Weather Driver” is discussed and focuses on the need for all of us, regardless of our professions, our family situations, our unique assets or our special challenges to be ready to drive down the road of life during all types of weather conditions.  To expect or assume that you will always get to drive on a clear or sunny day is a misnomer and will leave you unprepared for the challenges that life brings to us everyday.  The weather in our lives will never remain constant and we are all suffering from what has been the “perfect storm” on an economic front.

The skills and discipline to understand how adverse weather conditions affect your path in life is critical to both survival and success.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  You will not always have a warning sign when weather conditions change quickly and you will need to adjust your driving style accordingly.  The ability to adjust your driving skills and the characteristics of your vehicle to current weather conditions is also a metaphor for how you need to live your life.  We put snow tires or even chains on our vehicles to adjust to snow and ice in the harsh winters and then take them off when Spring approaches. 

What adjustments do you need to make to your outlooks, perspectives and actions as weather conditions or seasons in your life change?

The successful people that I know and respect are durable and flexible.  They avoid “one trick ponyism” and pay careful attention to weather and road conditions and adjust accordingly.  They instinctively know when it is okay to drive faster on a clear and open road and when to slow down when navigating an icy downhill path.  Others seem to have been built to move at only one pace – they travel only at high speed and eventually crash and burn or move too slowly and the opportunities pass them by.  Others often carry cargo which is either too far ahead of its time or which is stale, rotten or obsolete by the time it reaches its destination.

As discussed in Road Rules, being the truck and not the squirrel depends on your willingness to be decisive as part of your commitment to being an all weather driver.  Trucks have drivers that are willing to make decisions fairly quickly and be accountable for the results of their decisions, good or bad.  They neither make decisions too quickly nor vacillate until it is truly too late.  They are trained to understand the consequences of their actions (or inactions).  Colin Powell said “if you have less than 40% of the information you need to make a decision, then it is probably too soon.  If you have more than 70%, it is probably too late.”  General George S. Patton said “a good plan passionately executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”  These were both generals who understood the difference between losing a battle and winning the war.

Being a truck demands that your decision-making systems (who makes decisions, how they are made, when they are made and what adjustments are made in response to road blocks) must allow for (and tolerate) lost battles as long as the focus long-term is on winning the war.

In our travels down the road of life, we will encounter winter driving conditions (some of us more than others).  There is no safe speed when driving on snow and ice.  Every stretch of highway will appear differently depending on the time of day, the temperature, the severity and intensity of the snow, the angle of the sun, the degree of salting and road treatment, etc. – but you can be assured that it will be dangerous.  You will need to adjust your driving style and provide more space between you and the other drivers.  You will need to start slowing down sooner before you come to an intersection or make a turn.  You will need to keep special supplies on hand in the event that you get stuck or the weather intensifies.  You must take the time to really get a feel for the roadway and test your brakes from time to time to find out how well you can stop.  Your critical fluids – anti-freeze, gasoline, oil and windshield fluid should all be filled to capacity.

Stormy weather conditions may mislead you into thinking that you are reaching your destination faster than you really are and that the challenges may increase as you get closer to home.  There is a difference between moving forward and just spinning your wheels in snow or ice.  You may be applying the same pressure to the accelerator, but are not making any forward progress.

Think about the challenges and situations in your career or at home that are akin to driving in snow and ice – did you adjust your driving style?  Will you next time?  Or did you skid out of control, with your driving wheels losing traction on the pavement, only to glide left or right but certainly not forwards?

Be an all-weather driver.

• Know how to adjust your speed and style to the road conditions which lie ahead.
• Plan.
• Prepare.
• Adjust.
• Keep Moving Forward, Not Side to Side.
• Don’t get caught driving too fast or too hard on a surface with thin ice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew J. Sherman is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, with over 400 attorneys nationwide.  Mr. Sherman is a recognized international authority on the legal and strategic issues affecting small and growing companies.  Mr. Sherman is an Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University where he has taught courses on business growth, capital formation and entrepreneurship for over twenty (20) years.  Mr. Sherman is the author of seventeen (17) books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth and capital formation.  His eighteenth (18th) book, Road Rules Be the Truck.  Not the Squirrel is an inspirational book which was published in the Fall of 2008.  Mr. Sherman can be reached at 202-420-5000 or e-mail ShermanA@dicksteinshapiro.com.

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You flinch . . .  you lose.

Imagine skiing at over 130 mph on skis and you catch an edge. One instinctive flinch to catch your balance and you lose any chance at winning the race.  The challenge is overcoming the protective instinct to throw your hands out for balance while maintaining stability and maintaining your line.
In a sale, negotiation or even a debate, flinch and you lose ground.  In a world of incredible speed the lost ground might be too much to recover from.
Imagine you are a sales person selling a high-ticket product and the prospect questions your intentions. Picture negotiating a deal where the other side gets the notion you might settle for less. Suppose you are debating a point and you pause with a wide-eyed blink at a critical point. In any of these three situations a shrewd challenger will likely counter punch with his agenda.

How then do you overcome instinct and not flinch?

Think of something in your job or life where you would benefit from not flinching. There are three approaches that can assist in your quest for flinchlessness:

1. Expand your risk tolerance — When speed skiing it was clear that being mentally tough would translate into better results. Overcoming the instinct to flinch on the racecourse could be prepared for in unconventional ways.

On my non-speed skiing days I would take to the slopes on short, flexible slalom skis at high speed. Skis made for slower finesse turns would become chaotic boards akin to squirrels on crack. I would train my body to relax while the skis drastically shot every which way.

In the summer I would rocket down rocky slopes on my mountain bike. Instead of putting a death grip on my handlebars I would teach my nervous system to relax and let the bike bounce and shimmy underneath me.

Expand your risk tolerance by putting yourself in higher risk situations.

In sales, expand your risk tolerance in a variety of ways. If a prospect says something that if incorrect, don’t smile and nod. Beg to disagree. Appreciate their point of view and then show value in looking at it in a different way. People love to be right but love it more when someone proves that they are cared for.

Try prospecting in a new way. Back when I was selling real estate I was comfortable doing cold calls on the phone. Then I learned a technique by the amazing Bill Nasby. Here is the script that he teaches.

Sales Guy: "Hi, I’m with ABC Real Estate. When are you folks planning on moving?" Followed by a big toothy smile and a flinchless gaze.
Prospect: "We’re not." They look back in absolute wonder.
Sales Guy: "Great. Well how long have you lived here?" More teeth. More smile.
Prospect: "Five years." Still wondering what you’re up to.
Sales Guy: "Cool. Well, if you did move, where would that be?" Teeth and smile continue.
Prospect: "Lakewood."
Sales Guy: "And when would that be?" Still smiling with those pearly whites.
Prospect: "In a couple of years."
Sales Guy: "Perfect. Well this is what I’ll do for you. I’ll put you on my mailing list and give you monthly updates one the recent sales and listings in your neighborhood. When you do plan on moving, you call me and I’ll do a comparative market analysis so you’ll know what money you have to work with. Sound like a plan?" Still smiling.
Prospect: "Sounds great." Now they’re smiling.
Sales Guy: "It’s a deal. Here’s a magnet for your fridge."

Amazingly, every twenty houses or so, when a prospect was asked when they’d be moving, they’d look back in astonishment and say, "How did you know I was moving?" Bingo. You have a hot lead.

Stretching your comfort zone involves taking some risk now and then. In this case, the meek inherit very little. Go for it!

2. Anticipate problems — Before your sale, negotiation or debate, anticipate inflection points, objections or problem areas. By simply being aware of what might happen during real time speed, you can get the feeling "Hot dog, everything is going as planned." as opposed to "Oh crap, now what do I do?"
In the Age of Speed, if you are not prepared you lose. The fly-by-the-seat of their pants people will not be able to get away with their careless ways nearly as much. A rule of thumb here is to slow down before you speed up. Anticipation does not have to be an unconscious attribute. Anticipate scenarios. Pilots do it by ensuring they go through a pre-flight checklist. Doctors use well rehearsed sequences before any Emergency shows up on their door step or hospital bed. Physicians remember many sequences by using acronyms.

If you methodically slow down before the time you need to be "on" you will be a high performer at speed.

3. Breath deeply — Use simple physiology to your advantage.  Oxygenate that five inches between your ears. There’s a part of the brain called the amygdala and it is triggered into fight or flight with shallow breathing. Fight or flight is an instinctual stress response. If you hand over your reactions to instinct, get ready to flinch. Stay calm and flinchlessness is yours. So breath deep before and during your sale, negotiation or debate.

Breathing is actually an anchor to your physiological state. Breath heavily in short, sharp breaths through the mouth and you send a signal to the amygdala to get ready for danger. Breathe slowly through your nose and your physiological anchor will react with a lower stress response.

Now get out there and conquer the flinch.

©2008 Vince Poscente

Author Bio

Vince Poscente is best known for his ability to provide an invigorating message to organizations across the corporate landscape. Company leaders call on him to inspire employees to embrace speed when they feel compelled to resist it and to produce faster results in ways they find rewarding. When companies come face-to-face with speed, Poscente helps them understand the challenge and turn speed to their advantage.

To learn more about harnessing the power of speed, join the ever-increasing community of people who subscribe to Full Speed Ahead, a weekly eBrief that will help you discover how the force of speed can be put to use in your life and business.

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The Decision to be Remarkable is one of my favorite articles that I found by looking around Chris’ site a little more. He offers some great tips for those of you who, like me, want to stand out and stand up to the world as we see it. Among his tips:

• Stop Making Excuses
• Take Responsibility
• Take It Up a Level

and a few more. Sounds like a guy after my own heart!

A caution about Chris’ tale: it’s not for everyone. If you’re not willing to take life up a notch and make it great, please don’t read A Brief Guide to World Domination. Then again, if you’re not willing to take life up a notch, you’re probably not reading this blog.

Go get your free copy of A Brief Guide to World Domination and tell ‘em Phil “Make It Great!” Gerbyshak sent you.

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A big change is coming down the pike, at work, or at home, and though you think things will be better long term, you’re just not sure about the outcome? So you start stressing out, you start feeling afraid of what COULD happen, instead of leaning into it and enjoying what IS happening?

Recently I’ve been afraid of a few things, a few really big changes in my life that are going to be great for me long term, but changes that short-term are very painful for me to handle. They’re scary because I don’t know exactly what the outcome will be when things are over, just that things will be…different.

One of my friends shared this quote with me:

"Feel the fear and do it any way." – Susan Jeffers

This helps a lot, as it doesn’t deny my fear, doesn’t deny the feelings I have. In fact, it validates them, and reminds me that it’s okay to be afraid. I still can get through it, in fact I WILL get through it, if I just face the fear, and give it a name.

Some names of my fear are:

• change
• rejection
• uncertainty
• newness

What are some of the things you call your fears?

I’ve found if you can name it, you can claim it, so I encourage you to take a little time and claim your fears today.

Need a little more help, maybe some insights from someone smarter than me, smarter than you? One great resource for this is Lorraine Cohen’s audio program titled Transform Your Fear Into Power. Lorraine offers a no nonsense approach to getting out of your own way and being power-FULL, a great way to look at things. You can learn more about Lorraine at her PowerFULL Living blog or on her PowerFULL Living radio show.

I listened to Lorraine’s program a few weeks back, and it helped me understand some new things about overcoming fear and how to turn those fears into powerFULL thoughts and powerFULL actions. If you need a little extra power to help you make it through your fear, I recommend Transform Your Fear Into Power as another expert outlet.

And remember…If you can name your fear, you can claim your fear!

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This is a hilarious video that you must watch and try to understand for your business.

If you’re looking for the reason that the technology bubble might pop (again), watch this video and think about how people are talking about blogs, social media, whatever the latest thing is, as your ONLY part of your platform. Use your blog as part of the platform, along with great content, in person events, books, videos, and more.

Do I think the blog/social media bubble is going to pop and stop being useful as your business strategy?

Absolutely…if it’s the ONLY part of your strategy. If it’s part of your strategy, and you want to build community, and develop great content, test ideas, make friends, and become a better writer/speaker/editor/designer, then absolutely not.

Thanks to Karl Long, throough Greg Verdino for finding and sharing this Pop Goes Web 2.0 video!

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Today is the day! Blog Action Day is upon us. So what can you do to change the world, 1 action at a time?

I’d recommend you take a shorter shower today, and save a little water for the next guy (or gal), in the next generation. You don’t really need to spend an hour scrubbing up. Shave 5 minutes off your shower, and you can help change the world.

One other thing you can do is donate to a worthy environmental charity. Conservation Fund is one such charity that has global reach. Locally for me, the Urban Ecology Center is helping the environment, one person at a time. Look inside your community and see what’s there, and then get involved, financially or with your time.

You CAN make a difference! The only question is WILL you?

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A few days ago, Phil put out a request for guest bloggers so that he could take a month off and focus on a million other things on his plate.  He’s done so much for me and reached out when I was just getting started as a blogger a little over a year ago.  So when he put out an "all-points bulletin" asking for guest bloggers, I jumped at the chance.  And here I am.  I’m thrilled to be here! 

By way of introducing myself to you, I thought I would start by sharing different ways I perceive life because I’ve learned that it’s not what happens to you that really matters but what you do about it.  You see, I was born profoundly deaf, putting me in a interesting position of dealing with a multitude of different people, places and circumstances along the way. 

This is what I’ve learned so far:   

1. It’s not what happens to you but how you perceive it that determines how you will deal with the situation.

2. Behind every difficult person you meet, there’s a lesson to be learned. 

3. Instead of saying, “Why is this happening to me, you say, “What can I learn from this?”

4. Trust that everything in life is temporary and that going through different cycles is part of the process. Translation: Life will get better if you just have enough faith to get through this one.

5. We all have a divine blueprint for our lives – there is a such a thing as destiny and it’s up to us to discover what it is through our innermost passions.

6. The power of visualization cannot be ignored – it actually works! Don’t say it doesn’t work until you’ve tried it in earnest. Have you truly visualized yourself having or doing something?

7. God is your partner in life, let Him in and let him co-create things with you.

8. Without adversity or life’s challenges, we would never know what we are truly made of. It is through the toughest times we learn what we’re capable of doing; thereby becoming stronger and more confident in the process.

9. Everything you’ve experienced in life has been in preparation for what’s to come later in life. In fact, you are “life’s perpetual trainee.”

10. Learn to trust and pay attention to your intuition — those “AHA” moments — they are often right on the nose.

11. There are no accidents. Everyone you meet, everything that has come your way was not an some random fluke.  Like my fifth grade teacher who forever changed my life with three words, THAT’S RIGHT, STEPHEN!

12. Plan on making a fool of yourself and not take life or yourself so seriously – even God has a sense of humor. (i.e. Tell him your plans!)

13. Go crazy and send handwritten thank you notes to those who have helped you. Gratitude and positive energy attracts success, abundance and more of what you’re thankful for.

14. Be patient – you will be rewarded justly. Dont’t bother seeking revenge – it isn’t worth it.

15. Know that you are making a difference in small and large ways by just being who you are.

16. Refuse to compromise your integrity. People can see right through you and can detect whether you’re genuine or not. If you truly care about your customers, friends, family or business associates, they’ll stick with you through high and low because they know you care about them. In other words, they don’t care what you know until they know you care about them.

17. Fear is misdirected energy and must be redirected into faith.

18. Refuse to compare your progress with others. It will only serve to destroy your confidence. Everyone is at different stages in their lives and if you understand that you’re right where you’re supposed to be, then it won’t matter what others are doing. You are unique with special qualities, talents, skills and thought processes, etc. There is no one like you so how can you compare yourself to others?

19. If you haven’t failed enough in life, you haven’t risked much. Life without taking adventurous risks is downright dangerous.

20. Understand that you do matter – there is a purpose to your life – find out what it is and use your gifts to make a difference.

Food for thought: The list can go on but these are some of the impactful thoughts that have helped me through life’s toughest moments. Can you come up with a list of your own thoughts?

Stephen J. Hopson is a former award-winning Wall Street stockbroker turned motivational speaker, author and the first deaf pilot in the world (yes, you read that right) to earn an instrument rating in 2006.  This is a rating that allows him to fly as pilot in command through "bad" weather where radio use is actually required (how?? – email him at stephen(at)sjhopson(dot) and he’ll tell you!).  He just moved his "Adversity University" blog from Blogger to WordPress at www.adversityuniversityblog.com     If you’d like to see him in action as a speaker, you could visit his professional speaking website at www.sjhopson.com

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