Want to subscribe? Click here to send us your email address. We'll notify you when the newsletter is published each month!

Letter From The Editor

You will notice a theme to this month’s newsletter… Being unstoppable. Why? With the constant barrage of bad economic news and political fighting, who hasn’t been tempted to stay in bed with the covers over their head! Even I have days when I wake up and go, “I Don’t Wanna!” I don’t want to talk to any one! I don’t want to make a difference! I just want to stay in my own world and play with my new puppy dog!

So how can you get going when you don’t want to?

Own up to the fact that your brain is controlling you – If you don’t acknowledge the feeling of “I don’t wanna”, it will continue!

Be your purpose – Get back in touch with who you are and who you are committed to Be, no matter what circumstances you are dealing with.

Have a plan – It is much more difficult to ignore an issue, a person, or something you know you should be doing, if you have a written plan and dates for doing what you say you are going to do!

Clear – Communicate that you are stopped!

Get into action – Read your plan and do what it says. Go for a run and get your body moving. Change your surroundings. Getting into action will create a shift in where you are mentally, so you can get back to where you need to be!

We all have days when we “don’t wanna”, but what separates those who aren’t stopped from those who are stopped is their making a CHOICE to play no matter what!

Getting going when you don’t want to is all about recognizing that you are stopped and then making the CHOICE to play… making the CHOICE to have fun… making the CHOICE to be your word, and asking for help when your brain is stopping you.

Remember: You can complain about the life you have or create the life you love. What do you choose?

Warm Regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Innovation or Commitment… Which comes first?

In today’s tough market conditions, business leaders everywhere are looking for new innovations to increase their company’s efficiency or to start new product lines all together. Yes, innovation for many is the key to sustaining their companies during tough times, but innovation in and of itself isn’t enough! You’ve also got to think about the momentum beyond successfully creating and then introducing a new way of doing something for your customers and even for your team. The momentum I’m talking about is commitment!

Every management team leader has their own communication style, team building skills, and motivational methods. But what each successful team leader has in common is commitment. When they actively seek new innovations for improving their own business processes or their products, their commitment to creating what’s next for their company and team is first and foremost to the success of the innovation as a whole.

The dictionary defines commitment as: 1) a pledge to do. 2) something pledged. 3) the state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons.

I define commitment as being unstoppable!

Essentially, when one is unstoppable, they are committed to moving forward no matter what obstacles or opposition come their way, and often not even knowing how they are going to do it. But their passion and commitment to improving their business processes (and in effect their company’s bottom-line) and to furthering their company’s success with new products, propels them forward in their discovery of what’s next, or in other words the next big innovation.

A great example of the tie between commitment and innovation is as follows:

" Dear President Jackson,
The canal system in this country is being threatened by a new form of transportation known as “railroads” . . . If the canal boats are supplanted by railroads, boat builders would suffer, and towline, whip, and harness makers would be left destitute . . . God never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed."

Sincerely,
Martin Van Buren
Governor, State of New York, 1829

In light of closed minds and stiff opposition, the innovation of the “railroad” would have never gotten off the ground and then succeeded without the commitment and unstoppable nature of all involved in making the railroad a success.

So which do you think comes first, innovation or commitment? I say they go hand in hand. Innovation without commitment is simply innovation for innovation’s sake. However, innovation combined with the commitment to making a difference for your company and team, is a powerful combination that puts passion and purpose into why you do what you do. And which do you think is more successful? Innovation for the sake of innovation, or innovation created out of an unstoppably committed desire to discover and put into practice new and better ways of doing things that create value for your customers and company as a whole?

The Power of Action

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

– Will Rogers

Do you ever sit around and analyze (and over-analyze) why you haven’t produced the results you are committed to producing? Do you surround yourself with spreadsheets, charts, lists, analyses, and other research tools? Do you keep waiting for things to change so conditions are optimum before you take the first step? Well, guess what? This is it. You have no other time. Your life is not a dress rehearsal. If you want something, now is the time to go for it. Do something, and do something now. You can spend your whole life looking for the answer to the question “why” and it won’t change anything about the present, and won’t create anything for the future.

Stop letting your fear of the unknown or of failure stop you from taking action. When did “playing safe” become your life commitment? And, if lack of a valuable commitment that lights you up is at the root of your stagnation, change your commitments. Get really, really committed to what you really, really want…not what you think you are supposed to want for your life and your business, but to what you really want.

You can talk all day, have meetings, make written reports, make lists out of your lists and review them until the cows come home. But people who accomplish great things TAKE ACTION! So don’t just sit there… do something, sell something, create something, change something, volunteer for something! Do something bold!

Procrastination has been defined as “the deliberate act of excessive postponing.” Notice that word….deliberate. That means it’s a choice! Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all your excuses/reasons for not getting things done…those things you tell yourself…are the truth. The truth is in your actions. You always have the power to choose your actions, no matter the circumstances. Choose to get unstuck!

Yoda had it right… “Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’.”

Want to subscribe? Click here to send us your email address. We'll notify you when the newsletter is published each month!