His priorities are straight, are yours?

Recently, I talked to a man who, at a young age, hit his goal. He had spent more than a decade working his way up the company ladder and he was in control of a division. From that position, he did not like the view.

The view was many hours at work and very few hours at home. The view was missing ballgames and other family moments that he knew he would never get back. He decided it was not worth it. So he stepped down from that position and got a job, with much less pay, and much more time. As he put it, he has never been happier.

I am not suggesting that you need to follow his footsteps. But, I think it is important for all of us to take a step back and assess our priorities. A readjustment of priorities will always come with decisions and trade offs. More time with family could possibly mean less things. For the man in our example, it was simple and his family supported his decision.

This week, find some quiet time and just think. What are your priorities? What is important? Remember, we have one shot on this earth, make sure that you give it your best. And your best usually does not mean things.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

When will your Idol moment come?

Several thousand people traveled to Chicago to stand before the American Idol judges and get the pass to Hollywood. 13 made it. It is my perception (which in my head makes it reality) that a number of people just wanted to act like a fool on TV, some really think that they can sing and can't, and some are pretty good, but judged not good enough. My question this week; are you ready for you idol moment? When you get your shot at your goals, will you be ready to make it happen?

Here is what you need to be prepared:

1. A goal. Goals, dreams, and aspirations will drive you for success. Goals will help you get out of bed in the morning and keep you motivated.

2. Determination: A goal without action towards that goal is a pipe dream. Goals are achieved by making mistakes, correcting those mistakes, and constantly moving towards the desired outcome. That will not happen without determination.

3. Balance: A lot of people have hit their goals and are still very unhappy. How? They are out of balance -- hitting a goal with no one to share the joy with is not worth it to me. Keep a balance in your life.

4. The willingness to fail: Most successful people have "failed", learned from the failure (see determination) made corrections and gone onto success. That education does not happen if you are unwilling to fail in the first place. If you want to be great at something, you have to be willing to be bad at first.

So hats off to the people who are truly going after their dream at American Idol. The long lines, the nerves, the willingness to be judged. We can all learn from them.

This week, think about a forgotten dream and ask yourself, why you allowed it to die. That book, the Broadway play, the business, the *insert your dream here* is still in you -- just apply determination, balance, and the willingness to fail and your idol moment could be happening before you know it.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

What are you about?

Last Friday Night, January 16th, I was honored to be The Master of Ceremonies for The Branson Believer's annual awards banquet. There are a number of reasons why this night is so cool.

1. The recipients are people that the majority of folks probably would not know. It is not a "kiss-up" opportunity to the well known. It is truly an award to highlight how people live their lives.

2. The recipients do not know they are receiving awards. In many cases, they are there thinking that they are going to award someone else. The emotion is amazing and the honesty is real.

Many of the recipients talked about their passion, how they are lead to serve, and they know that they are doing the right thing. How about you? What are you about?

I think it is important to follow their lead and all of us ask ourselves those types of questions. What is our passion? What are we about? How are we making our community a better place to live.

Our Journey on this earth goes fast, even faster when we distract ourselves with things that are not our true passion. Spend some time this week, asking yourself some questions. Start with, "what am I really about?" Have a great week.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

It all comes down to execution.

I love the NFL Playoff season. The records, the seeds, what was done in the regular season is out the window. It all comes down to game execution. You win, you stay in. You lose, your season is over.

If you think about it, life is like that. You have the responsibility to execute to work and make things happen. What you did in the past doesn't matter. It is what you are doing right now.

As you move forward into 2010, how are you executing? Some things to consider:

1. Are you doing the things that will help you win? Are you calling on enough new clients? Are you taking care of your body? Are you training and putting that training into action?

2. Are you living in the moment? Like the regular football season, what you did in the past is in the past. Stay focused on what is happening now and make the most of it.

3. Are you expecting good things to happen? Professional athletes expect to win. They expect to take advantage of the breaks. Stop worrying about things outside of your control. Go out and execute. Expect big things of yourself.

Life is exciting and it is also short. You have many blessings; go out this week and execute what you need to do in all parts of your life.


The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Where is your mind?

The bowl season is winding down and will finish Thursday when Alabama and Texas play for the championship. I want us to turn our attention to The Liberty Bowl. Arkansas survived several game winning opportunities from East Carolina to win the game. As we embark on 2010, we can all learn from the game.

East Carolina's kicker, Ben Hartman, missed field goals in the final few minutes of the game and in overtime to leave the door open for Arkansas. You could read his mindset and know that he was not ready to make those kicks. The question is are you ready to make your kicks in 2010.

The definition of luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet. If you are prepared to take advantage of the opportunities in the upcoming year, you will automatically see more opportunities. One of the hottest books and videos out recently was The Secret. Great book -- I saw the video, enjoyed and subscribe to it's message. However, one of the contributors to that book is Jack Canfield and I heard him on an interview say, "Eventually, you got to get off your butt and go do what you want to do as you are expecting good things to happen." His message is simple, just sitting and expecting good things to happen, will not make them happen.

Here are some suggestions for 2010.

1. Give yourself credit for what you do. If eating is a problem for you and you eat half a piece of cake instead of a whole piece, give yourself credit and build from there.

2. Be willing to miss the mark (fail) The most successful people in history (Edison, Trump, Jordan) They all failed - but then learned from those failures and became extremely successful.

3. Have goals. If you are missing excitement in your life, create goals and then work hard to hit them.

4. Create a stop list. You have habits that are stopping you from your success. Killing those habits and replacing them with more positive habits, will help you in 2010.

5. Worry about what you can control. You can not control a lot of things. Every moment you spend worrying about those things, you are robbing yourself from concentrating on the things you can control.

Sometime in 2010, you will be asked to make the kick. Be prepared, look forward to the opportunity, then make it.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.