Do you still have the love?

It is one of the greatest times of the year for a sports fan.  Major League Baseball's race for the play-offs are heating up, The NFL and college football are just weeks away, and The Little League World Series is underway.  I love the Little League World Series and I think it gives us an opportunity to learn.  Here's how:

The kids still love the game for the game.  No salaries, no hype, just a pure love of the sport.  There is always passion, emotion, and the desire to win.  So how about you?  Do you still have the love?  Let's examine three areas.

 1.  The love of life.  These kids love life and play hard in everything they do.  You might be saying, "but if they had my bills, my job, my situation, they would not have that love."  What would happen if you turned that around, and asked the reverse.  What would happen if you took their love of life and put it into your work, your relationships, and your everyday habits.  I bet you would see a big improvement.

2.  They love to compete.  All of these teams are winners or they would not have made it this far.  Yes there are winners and losers in The Little League World Series, but they are all competitors.  When they face difficult situations, they look at how they can succeed.  Sometimes with "maturity" we lose that trait.

3.  The love of their families.  I have met a former player in the series.  I talked to his aunt about the whole experience and she explained how the players are kept safe and secure in a very fun dorm type environment.  But they do not have contact with their families during the time they are still in the series.  Yes they are big time baseball players -- but they are still little boys who need their families.  They realized that very quickly.

What about you?  Have you realized that no matter how old you are, you need a support system around you.  Somewhere inside there is still a little kid.

Just a few things to think about as you start your week.  Go find your love of life.  Have fun.

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.

Schools in session. Is yours?

Some schools have already started.  A number of college freshman have already reported.  It is that time of year.  What about your school, is it in session?

I once interviewed a very successful high school football coach about the schedule that his players went through.  He talked about preseason workouts, watching videos, in season workouts, etc.  I shared that schedule with my sales team and then challenged them that if a group of high school athletes could be that dedicated, why couldn't they step up their own training schedule.

One of team members approached me after the meeting and told me that he had worked that hard during High School and College but he wasn't willing to do that as an adult.  What about you?  Are you willing to train to get better?  Or are you too old?  Here is my challenge this week.

1.  Invest in yourself.  Education and training are as easy as going to a bookstore, going online, or to a library.  Turn your commute time into learning time.

2.  Learn with an open mind.  Too many times, people are critical of the lessons instead of learning from them. The presenter might have a strange delivery or you don't agree with everything they say, just listen and see what you can pick up.

3.  Be an active listener.  Rewind the interesting parts, listen over and over again, you will always pick up different things.  Put a game plan into action to make sure you turn your education into action.  As Chris Lytle says, "Education without action is merely entertainment."

4.  Stop worrying about what you already know.  Ask yourself if you are doing what you know.  If you are not, what you know really doesn't matter.

School is back in session, I encourage you to enroll in classes and learn, then do.  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 video then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Do you say "it" enough?

You can learn a lot about people when they are enjoying success.  Do they share the spotlight?  Do they thank the people who help them succeed?  Saturday Night's NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony offered one of the best examples of how to do say thank you I have ever seen.
  
Emmitt Smith is the all time rushing leader, Pro Bowler, Super Bowl Champion,  and Saturday night he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but his acceptance speech is a highlight that I will never forget.   Read Emmitt's speech.

Two items really stood out.

First, he shared the spotlight with his teammates.  The tears offered evidence of his sincerity.  His words were thought out, honest, and full of emotion.  There was another portion of this speech that offers a great example to all of us.  When Emmitt was six years old, he told his dad that he was going to play in The NFL.  His dad supported his dream.  Here are this week's points.

How often to you thank the people who have helped you succeed?  I don't believe in self made people.  There are always people who help you, serve as an example (good or bad), and support you.

Are you saying thank you to those people?  In addition to saying thank you, I believe that you honor those who helped you, when you help other people achieve.  Spend some time this week thinking about people who helped you and let them know what they mean to you.

Please, please, please never tease a child about what they can't do.  Joking and teasing around with youngsters can be fun.  But, never discourage them, even in a joking matter, about not being able to accomplish something they want.  Joking is a big part of my family, which I enjoy.  At the same time, do not joke about what they can't achieve.  How things could have been different if Emmitt Smith's dad had not supported his son's dream.

Are you living out your dream?  Why not get started?  Until your habits reflect the goal, your goal will never be a reality.  You have the ability, now change your routine, be thankful, and help others hit their goals.  You too will become a Hall of Famer of life.

Now, go make it happen.

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  and call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Neglect always comes with a high price

I hope you had a good weekend.  I spent my Saturday morning paying for neglect.  It was a high ticket price.

In the spring, I had the bank behind my house mowed and trimmed.  For a couple of months, I keep it maintained.  It usually took me about an hour to mow it.  Then something terrible happened.  Nothing.  I started saying, I will get it next time.  Next time didn't come around for about six weeks.  Saturday, I paid the price of neglect with four and half hours of hot, tough yard work.

I don't tell you that story because I think you are interested in my yard work chores.  But, I do hope it will get you thinking about an area or areas of your life that you are neglecting.  Here are some common areas that we neglect.

1.    Our Spiritual Life.  If we spend time learning and developing a strong foundation.  Our spiritual lives will be stronger and have more impact, personally and for others.

2.    Our Families.  It is always easy to continually put our families behind others.  This is a area of neglect that is very dangerous.  From date nights to phone calls, our family need us.

3.   Our Bodies.  Usually, we take better care of everything else than we do our bodies.  The price for this kind of neglect is very high.

4.   Our Continuing Education.  From formal education to just spending time reading a book, you are either growing or dying.  Neglecting the need to continue to learn and grow is very dangerous.

 Whether your area is covered in our famous four or not, most people have neglect in their lives.  So what do we do about it?

1.  Admit it.  Spend some time thinking about neglect and prioritize the areas that you want to work on.
2.  Get started on improvement.  No need for major announcements, just quietly reverse the trend.
3.  Like my yard work, know that there will be a price.  Be willing to pay it.
4.  Spend some time making sure that once you pay that price, you do not repeat the offense.

Neglect is consistent and sneaky, if you give it a chance it will grow big time.  Have a great week and stay focused on your fight against neglect.

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 then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Are you trying this hard?

This weekend, I watched an ESPN special, "Homecoming with Rick Reilly."  Reilly's guest was the all-world skater, Tony Hawk.

Hawk was one of the key reasons  ESPN created the X games.  This entry is not about ESPN, Skate Boarding, or The X games.  This blog is about perseverance.  Tony Hawk worked on one of his key tricks for 10 years before perfecting it.

Ten years of work.  Let's break that time period.

1 decade
120 months
520 weeks
3650 days

Can you imagine how many times he got discouraged?  How many times he wanted to quit?  How many times he wondered if it was really worth the effort?  I don't know the answers, but I do know that he kept going, he pushed through, and he overcame and made it happen.

Now, the question is to you.  What have you put off doing, because it was to difficult?  What have you put on hold because you got discouraged?  Let me challenge you.

Get to work.  Revive that dream,  start working and forget about the negative self talk.  If it takes you longer than you think it should, does it really matter?  Keep working, make everyday count, stay focused on your dreams.

Go 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. See my speaking demo.  Call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Let's do some math and become more productive!

There are 168 hours in a week.  Go ahead and check my math, 24 hours per day x 7 days =   ?

Working schedules vary, some people work 40 hours, some people work 80 hours.  For our purpose here, let's say you work 60 hours per week.  How can you make that time more effective?

Bryan Dodge introduced me to an interesting concept.  Quality of time at work - Quantity of time at home.  According to Dodge, when you are at work -- work.  When you are at home be at home.  He goes onto say that our kids need to know that we are home.  Even if they are in another room of the house, the simple fact that they know that Mom and Dad are there for them is very important.  So how can we become more effective  at work.

1.  Have a plan.  When you have a plan for the day, you are more excited and focused. With focus, comes execution.

2.  Do the worst thing first.  Brian Tracey, a time management expert, has authored a book, "Eat that Frog."  If you have a frog to eat, eat it first.   That way you won't be worrying about it the rest of the day.  Do it and move on.

3.  For me, real successful days always mean having some fun while you work.  Life is to short and too unpredictable not to have fun.  But you can have fun and still have a focus.  I have received email forwards that I have enjoyed and on occasion I send them on -- but be honest, if you are forwarding several emails every working day, you are robbing your company.  If that doesn't mean anything to you - you are robbing yourself and your company too.

4.  Be ready to work when you get to work.  If you spend the first 20 minutes of each day at the coffee pot,   you have wasted an hour and half per week

So if you work 60 hours per week, what are you doing with the other 108 hours?  Okay you need to sleep.  Let's say on average people sleep 8 hours per day that is 56 hours; that leaves us 52 hours.   Again, we have church, family, school and various responsibilities.  However, if we are dedicated and determined to get the most out of our time, we can reach our goals.

This week, do the right thing at the right time and enjoy your productivity.  Have a super 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.  Call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Is it time to "make it happen?"

Goals.  They are important.  They are the road map for your life.  Some people have their goals taped to their mirror.  Some people visualize themselves hitting their goals.  Goals are vital to success.

At the same time, a road map, like goals, is only useful when people are in motion.  People have to get in (or on) a vehicle and put it in action for a road map to be useful.  The same is true with goals.  We can cover every mirror in our house with goals, we can visualize every success we want to achieve -- but if we don't get off the couch and make it happen, it will never happen.  Here are some suggestions:

1.  Do not misunderstand this blog -- goals are important and you should have them.
2.  Keep a list of all the things that you do every day to achieve your goals -- work to accomplish four daily tasks that will help you.
3.  Understand that without action, nothing happens.
4.  Make a list of all the habits that are stopping you from hitting your goals - create a game plan to establish more productive habits.

Action is the key.  This week work to create a game plan for action.

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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.  Click Here   Then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.