Watch this brilliant video from Professor Philip Zimbardo as he conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being with brilliant illustration from RSA Animate (www.thersa.org). asdfTime influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world. Comment below.

This video was adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA. It  illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. Surprisingly enough, if we are able to think logically about what he’s saying, is his conclusions really that surprising?

A week ago I attended the second annual Engage Today training event hosted by Greg Habstritt and Kourosh Assef from SimpleWealth. Upon my return home I began to tell my 2 year-old son Kian about the event. I could probably convince you that he was totally into our conversation (judging by the picture on the left) but in reality he wasn’t paying attention to anything I said. All he cared about was  his milk and trying to rip out the pages from the 250+ page manual I had received at the training event. So I decided to post some thoughts from my three-day learning experience in Calgary in attempt to find enthusiastic readers willing to open dialog. Whether you attended  the  training or not  please share your comments below.

This year, Engage Today served as an opportunity for some of the greatest minds, leaders and innovators in the areas of personal development, marketing, business and entrepreneurship to share their invaluable insights. The theme was centered around the Engaged Entrepreneur and how to get more profits, more clients and more time off to enjoy it. With all the challenges of today’s world, could Engage Today 2010 deliver on what the marketing message had promised?

After having spent more money than I’d care to admit attending several so-called trainings or seminars which were nothing more than glorified sales-pitches, I can honestly acknowledge and endorse the SimpleWealth team for their efforts to consistently deliver nothing but great content and provide a incredible experience at their events.

Engage Today 2010 was no different.

Greg Habstritt, who co-hosted the event with Alex Mandossian, set the context immediately by taking a firm stance on why the ‘magic pill marketing’ formula is no longer working. He also iterated how the underlying shift in the global marketplace is challenging us to change our ways of doing things if we are to be successful in life and business going forward.

Greg’s contention is that most people are focused on where they want to go, but have not yet accounted for where they’re at. He called it, “The Point A Problem.” I would agree that we take for granted our point A. I know I do it all the time. We’re so focused on getting somewhere we lose track of where we actually are. But consider what would happen if you tried to get directions on Google maps without inputting a starting point. It would be impossible. You might sarcastically be saying, “well gee Sherlock, that’s ground breaking.” But seriously, can you honestly say that you’ve evaluated your life or business to build that awareness of where you actually are, right here and now? Most people avoid this conversation so they don’t have to face the realities of the current situation. Are you one of them?

Greg concluded his opening remarks by introducing the seven principles of the Engaged Entrepreneur’s road-map and laid the  foundation for the entire event with what he calls the four pillars of profitability; mindset, marketing, management and money.

From sharing personal experiences, documented case studies and proven results of what is working to speculation on where the future probabilities of success lie each presenter touched on a least one of the pillars of profitability throughout the weekend. Below is a selected summary from some of the presenters in no particular order.

Presenters: Greg Habstritt, Michael E. Gerber, Don Campbell, Jay Niblick, Dave Crenshaw, Les Hewitt, Raymond Aaron, MaryEllen Tribby, Alex Mandossian, Phillip McKernan, Michael Drew, Jim Kwik, Vishen Lakhiani, Greg Mooers, Matt Mullenweg, Lisa Nichols, Rick Sapio.

Rick Sapio: Keep things simple was Rick’s mantra. A rather obvious nugget that most people consider just another cliché. But do we really understand the power of simplicity and use it to make informed decisions on a daily basis? Judging by the statistics of unhappy, overwhelmed and unproductive people in the world I’d say not too many people are leveraging the principle of simplicity. Rick’s talk focused on things like managing by objective, how to create a “Catalyzing Statement”, the new profit paradigm and evaluating people as assets, not liabilities. He concluded by giving a simple yet effective plan on how to greatly increase the probability of success in life or business.

Don Campbell: What stuck with me most from his talk was his comment, “No more seminar grads”. The idea is to not only give people who attend trainings real-world knowledge but a first-hand experience in implementation. Why this statement was so profound to me, is the constant challenge I have in trying to bridge the gap between the academic world and real world. More often than not what we’re taught and what we need to do are two fundamentally different things. Can you relate?

Lisa Nichols: She introduced the concept of the Pyrrhic victory – where sacrifice is too great for success. Evaluating the cost of doing something is most times overlooked. The reason is that most of us are not really aware of what it will truly take to achieve our desired outcome. We see those who have achieved the success we seek without really knowing their back-story of what they sacrificed to get their results. I believe the simplest thing we can do to ensure sacrifice doesn’t outweigh success is to make sure our core values are not compromised along the way to achieving greatness.

Michael E. Gerber: He talked, more like ranted, about many things including ego-driven authenticity. His honest and bold approach gave us a lot of insight into many things we didn’t want to hear – especially around what we were doing with our time, what we were learning and who we were learning from.

Jay Niblick: Jay had put us through a great self-awareness exercise to help us uncover our genius. Brilliantly simple and equally effective the core purpose of the exercise was to distinguish between our natural talents and non-talents and determine how critical they were in determining our success. The idea, contrary to popular belief, is to spend more time on mastering our natural talents instead of trying to improve our non-natural talents.

Dave Crenshaw: From separating different types of ‘tasking’ to understanding why we can’t do two different things at once that require conscious thought, Dave shared his insight into the myths, lies and the high costs of multitasking. He walked us through an invaluable exercise that helped define our two Most Valuable Activities and create the proper order of offloading.

Jim Kwik: Being an avid fan of human growth who has studied various learning methodologies I was already partial to Jim’s presentation on memory and retention going in. It was a great to see him illustrate how powerful the mind really is and how we can be more efficient and effective to get more things done by training our own internal computer. The reading strategies were most insightful for me especially the left hand trick – since I’m a terribly slow reader.

Les Hewitt: Les broke down the areas of focus that produced the greatest results for our businesses. Then we compared that to what was actually done our business and where most of our time in the business was being spent. The take-away was to use the 7-day focus plan going forward to track what was being done, the results that were being produced and modify as necessary.

MaryEllen Tribby: Workingmomsonly.com founder talked about direct response marketing. In fact it wasn’t just a talk. It was a complete marketing system from the ground-up, including a proven 10-step testing method, on how to channelize your marketing message for explosive profits.

Phillip McKernan: The premise behind Philip’s talk was how to build a business that serves you, instead of you serving it. He gave some great examples of where most people get stuck in their life and business and went through a unique exercise that compared our ‘wants’ to our ‘haves’. After doing the exercise, astonishingly enough the results were much different than I expected. What hit home the most was not focusing on the how so much. Thanks Phillip.

Greg Mooers: As a person who loves to systematize things, this was one of my favorite presentations. Greg’s energy, intensity and knowledge epitomized the theme of engagement. He coherently defined the four stages of experience we go through; listening, awakening, knowing, and chaos and detailed the complimentary characteristics of each stage. This helped me define my point A very systematically.

Matt Mullenweg: Founder of WordPress talked about how he founded the most popular blogging software platform. One of the insights was that he was truly doing something he loved to do. Even though he’s had offers of over nine figures to buy WordPress, he asked himself what he would do if he had all that money. His answer was, “I’d want to do the same thing I’m doing now.” Even though you may have to endure a job that is truly not fulfilling continue spending time on what you’re passionate about. There is a market for almost any type of niche – even yours.

Michael Drew: He modified his highly acclaimed pendulum presentation to focus on ten actions that we could use to build a civic conscience organization. The power in the ten actions was the scalability of the number of instances where they could be applied, not just in building an organization.

I would have to say that overall the event’s marketing message was congruent with content provided. There were over forty items I had put on my ‘light bulb list’ (listing of valuable things I took away) in the action guide. Above and beyond were all the extras included. From the healthy lunches to the cocktail parties and the numerous networking opportunities with the high-quality attendees, the value once again was under promised and over delivered.

Judging by the number of attendees, the economic climate, and the marketing message I am somewhat surprised that there were less than 300 attendees. I understand first-hand what it’s like to put on an event of this magnitude having done it a couple times before. Besides all the logistics the biggest challenge is staying true to the content being delivered, yet proactively encouraging people with all the benefits of attending without screaming the hype.

I am encouraged that the training industry is starting to change, one from hype to help, albeit ever so slowly. Even though I have a particular bias for Greg and Kourosh because of our working relationships and great friendships their team at SimpleWealth is breaking new ground. They are challenging the old paradigm of teaching and becoming true leaders setting precedence  in delivering great content while providing world-class experiences. They have set the bar extremely high and have successfully delivered on what they promised once again. But is it enough to redefine an entire industry?  Join the community and spread the word. Please share your thoughts and comments below.

For more information on upcoming SimpleWealth events check out their website.

One of my favorite shows on television is The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. The show’s slogan is “Your Toolkit For Success.” On the show Donny interviews top achievers in various disciplines from athletics to business in effort to give you insight into the tools, the strategies, and the connections you need to start living a richer life.

During an episode of the show he remarked:

“If Sunday night doesn’t feel like Friday night you’re doing the wrong thing.”

-Donny Deutch

How does Sunday night feel to you?

Does it feel like Friday night?

Or does it feel like you can’t wait until next Friday night comes again?

The degree of truth in the above quote from Donny Deutch depends on what Friday night feels like to you.  If Friday night means doing cool things with cool people then I’d agree with Donny.

But unfortunately for many people it doesn’t matter whether it’s Friday night, Wednesday afternoon or Sunday morning. A lot people seem stuck on the treadmill of life and don’t know how to get off. They spend their lives on autopilot every day; an endless battle getting pushed around by the monotonous. They jump from task to task in effort to finally catch up on their never-ending to-do list.

Does this sound all-too familiar?

If you’re spending your days on that treadmill, existing day-to-day doing things you hate with people you don’t like, then read Steve Jobs’ advice[1] below and make it part of your morning routine:

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important thing I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

On the other hand, if you truly love spending your time doing what you’re doing then hats off to you for creating the life you want.  After all isn’t that the essence of life – doing what you want, when you want with who you want?

If you’ve read my post, Something’s Missing: Is it Your Life, do you think all those people with luxurious yachts and huge mansions, were they doing the wrong thing?

Do you think Sunday night felt like Friday night to them?

If all their time was being spent doing what they loved, then why the need for all these other lifeless luxuries?

I’m not suggesting that having the luxury and material lavishness of yachts is bad. I ask, on the other hand, shouldn’t they at the very least be enjoyed? Isn’t that why they were purchased in the first place?

Could it be that all these people who owned the big boats and even bigger houses were working, trying to pay for them? This couldn’t be right; not possibly. Rich people, the wealthiest of the wealthy, with possessions this grand, don’t work. They don’t have to. They have more money than they know what to do with.

Surprisingly enough, after some research I discovered my initial reaction was valid.

Sure, there were many successful and genuinely wealthy people with money to burn. However, there were more people living beyond their means buying stuff they never enjoyed with money they didn’t have. They were always working, constantly struggling to pay for it and playing their part in what many are calling worst economic crisis they have ever seen.

Further research into the county courts confirmed this. The extremely high number of foreclosures and repossessions were devastating, especially in an area so welcoming to the life of luxury.

To compound the matter even further over 50%[2] of people who work hate what they were doing for a living. This echoes the careerbuilder.com[3] survey that said more than 4 out of 5 people in the U.S. are not working in their dream job.

I can recall speaking at an event a couple of years ago with a little over a thousand people in the room. On a whim I asked this question to the audience, “How many people would quit their job yesterday if they could?” The results astounded me. In a room full of above average achievers more than 70% had their hands up.

So let me get this right. The majority of people spend most of their time working at a job that they don’t like; to try and pay for things they want but rarely use or have time to enjoy. Are you one of those people?

And we wonder why we’re experiencing so much turmoil and economic uncertainty.

If you’ve recently made a change to start doing what you love, comment below and share with us what you did.

[1] –Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, Stanford Commencement address delivered on June 12, 2005

[2] Inc.com survey

[3] CareerBuilder.com reference

(Photo: nfarley)

A modern Renaissance may have reached us in the early 21st century, and it just may be the time for us to capitalize on our own creativity. While we can learn from mentors and model their behaviors there will truly never be another you. With the amazing influx of technology and information since the 1980s and 1990s, the world has reached an apex of information-facts, figures, communication, connections, cell phones, fax machines, PDAs, and the wonderful World Wide Web. All of these developments have spelled a different kind of working and living life, and has altered things from the way they were in the past. While everyone has access to the world of information just mentioned, it will be up to the individual to utilize the creativity that makes up such a part of life. Will creativity become the new leader?

According to Daniel Pink, “We’ve progressed to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers.” This means that this whole new mind has given us the opportunity to abandon a life of fear and scarcity. Thanks in large part to economic uncertainty we have begun to reevaluate what it means to be successful, rich and prosperous. We have been forced into analyzing our lives outside of our possessions and search for truer meaning.

While we have reached a point that everything sold in stores must be useful, beautiful and effective, technology has leveled the playing field for everyone; allowing access to the mechanical tools necessary for creative innovation in this new world that were once privy to only the wealthy and the corporate.

Daniel Pink argues that because people are becoming savvier, the price of essential products like automobiles has been reduced for us to live more comfortably. Our ability to be more creative has allowed for cheaper products, more intensive high education courses, and has allowed us to bring together separate disciplines to more productively live and work our lives.

As we continue to develop our creativity and desire things for their meaning, and not  just for their other throw-away intangibles, we are giving ourselves more room and more money to live with these things. We must stop looking at the individual lines and texts of our life-the products and work hours and the gadgets-and instead look at the broader context and concepts that envelop us.

Pull some merits from the other humans you work with, precious people like you. Find some art and satisfaction in whatever it is that you are doing. Do your absolute best at writing reports or closing accounts-be artful with it to a point of pride and perfection. Use the design of your workplace to pull some beauty out of it. Enjoy your surroundings by being creative. Take it all in with the story of your day and your  co-workers. Tell some jokes and share some stories, and try to get wrapped up in the giant story that is life and living.

Find a crush or a friend; find it in a person or an animal, a character on your computer, or a spot in your mind. Use all of these things at work and at home to be creative, contextual, and conceptual. Pull them all together into a symphony of your day, and hear the beauty of the life within.

Have empathy for the people around you. Know what makes them tick and what makes you tick. Know that they are trying to work a little, and live a lot, and relate to them. Find the meaning in their struggle, in your struggle, and in every dollar that you make and in every day that you work. Find the meaning in all of your aggravations. Know that that aggravating traffic jam brings you to your pay check, it gives you time to sit and listen to the music of life, and time to reflect.The hours spent at work give you time interacting with coworkers, time with yourself, and time to excel and be the best and be your best.

Perhaps above all of these, above symphony and empathy and meaning, find time to play. Play at work, play at play, and play in between. All of these things will fill you with confidence and with pleasure. Find the right people to play with and the right way to play, whether this is talking about sports, goofing around, going shopping with a co-worker on lunch to buy a purse, or drawing a stupid picture of a bee at your desk, have some time to play. It will keep you alive, it will keep you creative, and it will keep you, you.

A couple of years ago, around Christmas time my wife and I were listening to the John Tesh radio show. With its mix of music and relevant talk, the show’s savvy slogan is “music and intelligence for your life.” On this particular day a great narrator brought a brilliant story to life that even the toughest of the tough would have trouble holding back tears. It went like this:

“Once upon a Christmas season when the snow floated gently to the earth in search of tranquility a man and his ten year old son walked slowly down quiet streets. They marveled at the decorated houses ablaze in Christmas color, lost in the stills of wonder in awe of the silent celebration that coaxed the heart of man to reach out in love.

Hand in hand they walked, each lost in their own thoughts yet as close to each other as the dreams that called them. Suddenly the father looked at his son and said, “If you could be anyone in the world, either past or present, anyone at all, who would you be?”

The boy was contemplative as they walked the snowy street. For a moment the father had thought his son hadn’t heard him. But then the boy looked up at him and smiled and said, “Me. I’d like to be me.”

The father laughed, gave his sons hand a squeeze then said, “No, you don’t understand what I mean. I mean, just suppose you could be anyone; a great sport hero; or a great actor or an inventor, or scientist or writer, even the President of the United States – who would you choose to be?”

The boy grinned up at his dad. “Me.”, he said again.

“I’d choose to be me.”

The father stopped. Looked down at his son in awe and asked him, “But why? With all the people to choose from in history and now, why wouldn’t you want to be one of them; with fame and wealth; someone everyone looked up to?”

The boy shrugged and said with a happy grin, “Oh that’s ok I guess, but I like being me. I like you being my dad and my mom being my mom. I’ve got Gramma and Grandpa. We live in a nice house and I’ve got lots of friends to play with. I like school, my teachers and the church we go to. I don’t think I could be anybody better than me.”

Father and son continued to walk down the festive street with the snow gently falling on them. They were silent as the melody of a distant carol reached out to touch them. “Who would you be dad?” the young boy suddenly said. “Who would you be if you could be anybody you wanted to be?”

The father didn’t answer immediately. He was too busy fighting back tears. But finally he said with a bit of a sob. “You son, I’d like to be you.””

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

(Photo: JonathanCohen)

A great video remembering those who sacrificed everything and paid the ultimate price to give us the opportunity to live the ultimate life.

Thank You!

We Shall Not Forget.

A couple of hours ago I had the pleasure of spending time in CBC studio 43 watching a live taping of The Hour hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos with a good friend of mine. His guests included Taylor Branch author of The Clinton Tapes, David Jacobson US ambassador to Canada and Battle of the Blades team Tie Domi and Christine Hough-Sweeney.

George first interviewed Taylor Branch who was a friend, transcriber and sometimes unofficial therapist to President Clinton during his tenor in office from 1993-2001. In Clinton’s eight years as President, the two men would quietly escape to a private section of the White House usually late a night. It was there that President Clinton would answer questions and tell stories about his presidency. Taylor recorded seven nine of these intense and sometimes unpredictable dialogues  to compile a memoir for the gifted and resilient former President of the United States.

One of the most memorable stories he recounted was when George asked Taylor about how President Clinton was as a father.

In a tense session on the night of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Taylor recalled, President Clinton’s daughter Chelsea  sought  advice for a homework essay on the character Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel. In the midst of catastrophe  the President of a nation did what every great parent would do, put everything on hold  for their kids. He read Chelsea’s essay out loud, offered his daughter some assistance in her composition and reassured her she was doing a great job.

David Jacobson was up next. In his interview he talked about one of the most memorable nights in US history. It was almost one year ago to the day when he was with the new President-elect Barack Obama. He discussed, among other things, his role as US Ambassor and his relationship with the current US President. George probed him for some insider information and asked him what President Obama was really like. David responded by simply saying he’s the real deal; the same person behind the scenes as his is in the public eye.

After a short, fun interview with Tie Domi and Christine Hough-Sweeney and recording had wrapped I asked George how he got his job as host of The Hour. He said, after working at Much Music (Canada’s version of MTV) for several years he wanted to try something different. CBC television had a time slot available but no show. They asked him if he would create a show to put in the time slot. After rejecting them four times for fear that the government owned television station (CBC) wouldn’t allow him to have creative control George finally agreed.

George’s manager suggested he had nothing to lose thinking his show would be lucky to last a month.  So George took his creative team and spent two days in a pool hall and created the show. Five years later the show is still going strong.

I believe that much of the show’s success can be attributed to one of the core values  Clinton and Obama embody – Keeping it real.

(Photo: The RobeGuy)

There is a theory that a great coach is one that has been there, done that and still doing it. On the surface it may seem that the best coaches are the ones whose credentials say that they eat their own cooking and drink their own cool aid or at least did at one time.

But if we dig a little deeper below the surface we see there’s more to being a great coach than just having great personal achievements and glorified accolades.

There is a distinct difference between achieving results for oneself and teaching others how to do the same. Doing and teaching are two different skills. Just because someone can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that they can teach others to do the same.

Many times a great coach isn’t/wasn’t always the best player on the team. In fact, many times the best coach is/was an average player at best. Don’t believe me?

Take Hank Haney for example. Hank who? Haney. You know the guy who coaches Tiger Woods?

Surely to be Tiger’s coach Hank must have won several major championships on the PGA Tour?

Nope.

Ok at least won several PGA tournaments?

Not once.

Finished in the top 10 on the PGA Tour?

Zero times.

Did he even play on the PGA Tour?

Never.

Are you serious?

When I speak at events for business events and colleges on the subject of leadership I ask the audience members, if they were attempting to become a professional golfer and make the PGA Tour who would they want to have coach them, Tiger Woods or Hank Haney?

With the rare exception of a couple of hard-core golfers in the room, the majority of hand raisers would vote unanimously for Tiger Woods. Now not to say that golfing with or learning from arguably the greatest golfer of all time wouldn’t be cool. And he does know a thing or two about golf.

But how much do you think you’d learn from someone who coaches the world’s greatest golfer?

Wouldn’t you want to learn from someone who dedicates his time to being a student of his discipline and has the ability to teach you how to be great – even if he isn’t?

I have found that with very few exceptions there are certain characteristics that all great coaches embody. Here are the top 5:

A great coach:

1. Is constantly learning and working on mastering the rules and rudiments of the discipline.
2. Has the ability to teach (intuitively or learned) and lead by example.
3. Has great listening and communication skills.
4. Loves teaching/coaching and genuinely cares about the person being taught/coached
5. Is attuned to the individual differences in people’s personalities and styles.

So how do you find a coach with the above characteristics?

Before you set out to find the best coach for you, you must clearly define why you want a coach and what results you’re hoping to achieve with your coach.

After you’ve answered those two questions the best thing to do is perform an interview with possible candidates to see if they’re a potential fit.

Five of my favorite questions to ask potential coaches are the following:

1. If I were to become a coaching client of yours, could you take me through the process from A to Z?
2. What is your coaching experience?
3. Have you coached others in similar situations to mine?
4. What are some of your other client successes?
5. Who are you and what do you do outside of coaching?

In question 1 the coach should answer according to how much time, energy, action and money is required from both sides.

Questions 2-4 validate the coach’s past experience and successes with other clients. Although there’s no guarantee that past performance is indicative of future results it’s the best measure we have for potential.

The last question,  is usually what determines whether the coaches personality, belief system and core values match yours.

In the end a coach is there for you. And it’s your results that matter.

Feel free to comment on your experiences with a coach by posting in comments below.

(Photo: thegordons)