One of my great faults is overthinking things. When I play golf, I may change my swing mid stroke based on a multitude of swing thoughts. If I’m planning for a meeting, I will have 3 plans set up in case the first two don’t work out the way I want. It’s a curse and it’s a blessing, all rolled up into a challenge in the way I think. While it’s a fault when I over analyze, the blessing is the ability to have a plan and adjust it in a proactive way. I work with several clients

Last evening, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my friend, Rob Darrow, who I had not seen in 4 years. We had worked together in the past, and we have kept in touch via video conference and telephone calls. It was great to be able to talk in person. During the conversation, we determined that he was my son’s age. I’m not sure if that changed our relationship, but the realization did make us both understand that age isn’t a factor in business, unless you make it one. As

There is no greater critic of my performance than me. Whether is it playing golf, writing a blog, or working with my clients. I can be hard on myself. Specifically, when it comes to golf, I can demean myself in ways I would never speak to anyone else. Usually, it’s after I splash one in the water, or the bunker of miss a putt under 10 feet. And it used to be worse. I’m working on improving my performance constantly. I stop to reread emails, and blogs multiple times befo

There is a Buddhist saying that is referred to as the Second Arrow. The Second Arrow is when something happens, the first arrow, and then you continue to let the first arrow bother you. That’s a simplified definition but holding onto something and letting it continue to bother you, is the second arrow. It’s self-inflicted pain. I had that opportunity this week. We had just flown home from an amazing wedding and business trip to Portugal. We had spent 10 days enjoying the

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” Goethe Early in my career, I did some “lesser” jobs. I delivered product for the welding supply I worked for. I ran the warehouse, before I started selling in a territory. In those roles, there were people who treated me very well, and people who talked down to me. Later, after I had started my practice, I called a company to prospect. I was speaking with a counter salesperson

My wife and I are traveling to a wedding soon. We have a different approach to travel. I plan for days in advance, make lists of what I need to pack, and then have plans “A”, “B”, and “C”, if something goes wrong. My wife, on the other hand, goes with the flow. She plans differently, packs differently, and enjoys the moment. Why do I stress over things, and she just enjoys them? Opposites attract. Yesterday, as we were having a conversation over coffee, it occurred to me

As you may know I’m a big fan of James Clear and his book Atomic Habits. I subscribe to his newsletter, and I read it religiously, every Thursday. Last week he wrote about how we set goals, and how we miss goals. His question was which is more important, goals or systems. I sit down every year and faithfully write up my goals for the year. Then I check them occasionally to determine if I’m meeting my goals. I look at financial, physical, family, spiritual, business, and

One of the great challenges of doing something for multiple times is the tendency to take shortcuts. I’ve been leading and coaching sales for years and doing a great deal of selling myself. When I fail is when I don’t stick to my processes. There are a few rules I must follow: · Always prospect, even when you are busy executing · Prepare for your meetings, even when you have met with the prospect/client multiple times · Always ask for an appropriate

What is anger? It is a punishment we give to ourselves for somebody else’s mistake. I was perusing IG and saw a post that shared this saying. It made me think of my younger days when I was prone to get angry with a short fuse. If something didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, then I would voice my anger. I experienced later in my career when I was managing a sales team. When we lost on a competitive situation, it was always explained as a price issue, or something unethic

Do not confuse things that are hard with things that are valuable. Many things in life are hard. Just because you are giving a great effort does not mean you are working toward a great result. Make sure that mountain is worth climbing." James Clear author of “Atomic Habits” I recently listened to the book Atomic Habits by James Clear and thoroughly enjoyed it. I made changes to my annual commitments based on the insights it provided. As I’m tracking my commitments, I’m

I recently joined Level Five Coaching as a partner. I believe in the product, the process, and the people who founded the company and who run the company. I believe them because there aren’t large egos involved. In fact, we start every meeting reviewing the values. They are simple, but powerful. 1. Golden Rule- treat others as you would want to be treated 2. Abundance- we are unselfish; what goes around comes around 3. Growth- we believe in continuous lea

My oldest granddaughter turned 4 the end of May. I know I’m biased, but she is a genius. Even geniuses need coaching. Recently she started waking up early and getting herself dressed. She has a vivid imagination and is highly creative. She also has a well-developed sense of humor. She decided to dress a little differently last Saturday. She arrived in the kitchen with socks on her hands, and underwear on her head. She couldn’t stop laughing, and when we saw the video,

While Covid and the lock downs have been challenging for business, there have been some benefits as well. In our business, we used to travel a great deal. There is a cost to the travel in expenses and in time. I had a client I worked with in the past where it took me a day to travel to them. I’d fly in, rent a car, and drive to their location. After spending the night, we would hold a 2–3-hour meeting, and then I’d drive back to the airport and fly home. We spent 2 days