Good morning on this beautiful holiday!

Yep… that’s right… HOLIDAY. What holiday you say?

Well… today is National “Good People Day” 2008… as appointed by Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the net’s truly Good People (for real… great guy and as genuine and passionate about life as it gets!). I met Gary in Orlando in February and spent 4 hours chatting business and life w/ him and a few other entrepreneurs one night… a guy that I’d love to have a beer with any day of the week.

Anyhow, while Gary is one of the “Good People” out there… I’m sure a ton of other people will take it upon themselves to appoint Gary V. “Mr. Good Dude of the Day”… so I’m gonna pick someone else to focus on today.

It’s kinda funny... but the person I’m self-appointing as “Good Person of the Day” is a guy that most people probably wouldn’t think of first when you think of a good guy. I guess it’s because of his aggressive (but soooooo passionate) personality… or it could be that he is a sore loser (aren’t we all though… really??) … or that he simply so damn honest… people either love or hate this guy.

Guessed who it is yet?

Here’s a few more clues:

• He’s an internet millionaire (might be billionaire… not sure… let me know
• Get’s fined big bucks all of the time for voicing his opinion to the “zebras”
• His last name is like the best cigars in the world (bare w/ me here… I’m stretching far here)

Okay… this is just getting corny.

My Good Person highlight is for Mark Cuban… Mr. Maverick himself.

Seriously, Cuban is a dude who people either love… or people totally hate with a passion. And, to me… that’s the sign of someone who has opinions… voices them… and is generally a really honest guy.

Seriously, think about it… if someone is doesn’t polarize people… they probably aren’t being honest with people (or themselves) all of the time. No one can appeal to everyone… and if they are… you better take a hard look at them to see where they are fudging a bit so they can not tweak some people the wrong way.

Polarization is a good thing… and in Mark Cuban definitely polarizes people because he has opinions and isn’t afraid to be honest and state his opinions.

I came across a video of a speech he did at BlogWorld… and really you can see that at his core he is a “Good Person”. He’s honest (whether you like it or not), does the right thing, and doesn’t take the easy way out.

Check out the video… it’s pretty long… but a great listen.

So, what does it mean to be a “Good Person”… to me anyway?

To me… the definition of a good person is a pretty simple thing.

• They do the right thing
• Speak from THEIR core and don’t sell out for anything
• Like to have a good time in life and business
• They like cool people… but aren’t afraid to call out people who are being idiots
• Work to help other people anyway they can

Sure, there’s a ton more that goes into being a “good person”… but those points are ones that explain good ol’ Mr. Cuban pretty well.

Like I said earlier... you might think I’m an absolute idiot for thinking Mark Cuban is one of the good guys… I’ve never met him so I couldn’t tell you for sure what he is like behind the scenes.

But, the main reason I chose him as a good dude is his honesty, his passion, how he speaks from his core, and how he goes after everything he does 143% (yep… I said it… 143%).

So, check out the video above… check out his blog… and let me know who you think is a good person. I’d love to hear from ya!

It has taken me quite a while to learn this simple of the simplest of things in life and business.

But… once I started to pull my head out of my @$$ and realize that I had a whole heck of a lot going for me… things really started to turn around in a big way.

For me it’s simple…

Whatever the heck is good about your life… show big ol’ amounts of gratitude each and every day for what you have… and what you will have.

I’m not really talking about THINGS. Ya, you should be thankful for the car you drive, the house you live in, and all of those other little luxuries of life (ya… your house is a luxury… think about how people live in Africa and other places like that… yes… your house is luxury).

What I’m really talking about is to be thankful for the stuff that is here when all of the extra stuff (car, money, nice house, etc.) is gone.

We as a society need to be way more thankful about our family, friends, health… and if we’re a business owner… about our customers and the fact that they are placing their trust in us to help them get from where they are to where they want to be.

That’s what it’s all about. People helping people live better lives… and people being thankful for what they have and grateful for the important things in life.

Gratitude + Attitude = Latitude

That little formula above is one that really works… and in a big way. As far as I know… I invented that formula (I haven’t seen it anywhere else anyway)… so don’t go claiming it as your own or I’ll send some internet voodoo your way (just kidding).

But… I made that formula up to illustrate a point and to give myself two main points to work on each and every day.

1. Gratitude: Please… please… please… be grateful for what you have. Be grateful for the talents you have been blessed with, the health for you and your family, the food you have to eat, the friends you have, your customers, your competitors… be grateful for simply being around to experience your life to the fullest. Without gratitude life just sucks… and you really get wrapped up in the things that really don’t mean a whole lot in the whole scheme of things.
2. Attitude: For me…success and having fun is all about attitude. If you think life sucks… I can guarantee you that life surly will suck. If you think it’s impossible to make $1,000,000 a year (if that’s a goal of yours)… it most definitely will be impossible for you. However, as soon as you start to take a positive outlook on things and look for the good in everything… you’ll see things begin to change a whole lot for the better. By nature I’m a pretty positive guy. People actually get pissed quite a bit about how positive I am and just doesn’t understand how I can always turn “bad” things into something positive for myself. I guess it’s just how I’m wired. But, for me… it’s simple. We only get one spin here on this earth… and every second I spend with a negative attitude or with thoughts that don’t make me feel happy… are seconds wasted out of my life that don’t get me 1 inch closer to where I want to be. Negativity is cancer. So, I make the conscious decision to be positive about pretty much everything… and find a way to feel happy all of the time. Hey, why not?
3. Latitude: To tell you the truth… I picked the word “latitude” because it rhymed with the other two words. But, when you really think about it… it fits in quite nicely. For me, latitude is freedom… it represents choices… the ability to basically do what you want. Who doesn’t want that? To me, that’s what life is about. The only thing is… I never really was able to have freedom and to do what I wanted to do until I started to be grateful for what I had and to until I really made sure I looked at things with a positive attitude. If you think about it… this same formula works pretty darn well if you use the opposites of these words.
   

Ungrateful + A Bad Attitude = Restriction

As soon as you start to be ungrateful about things and have a crappy attitude… your options start to close up and you don’t let yourself see the true picture of the kind of life you can really lead.

Hmmm…

So, how grateful are you of the people in your life?

How grateful are you for the skills you’ve been given?

How grateful are you for your health?

How grateful are you for your business and your customers?

Do me a favor and at least for today out loud (or in an email, IM, or over Twitter) let the people in your life (including customers) know how grateful you are to have them in your life.

And… to whatever higher power you believe in… express your gratitude for what you’ve been given and for what you are going to be given.

It feels so good and always comes back to you 10 times more in the end.

Oh… big props to Gary V. for inspiring this post in this video. If you’re not hooked on to the Gary V. train… get going so you can learn from one of the best.

Have you ever heard the saying that “bad habits are hard to break”? I’m sure you have… haven’t we all?

I can tell you from personal experience that bad habits are incredibly hard to break (still find myself chewing my nails from time to time… putting dishes in the sink instead of right in the dishwasher… forgetting to get a receipt for everything so I can write it off… etc.).

But…

What’s even harder in my opinion is creating good habits and getting those good habits to stick.

Is this you?

When was the last time you made a new years resolution?

Probably a few months ago huh? Well… have you stuck with that resolution? I mean really stuck with it and have it ingrained so deeply as a part of your life now that you can’t imagine living any other way?

If you’re like 95% of the rest of the population… I’d place my money on the line and bet that you dropped that good habit not too long after you started it.

Am I right? Hey, I do this too. There are a ton of good habits that I wouldn’t mind picking up… but it’s not as easy to put into action as it is to flap your lips about.

Here’s how I stick with my good habits… and make sure they stick

I’m the first guy to say that sticking to good habits and getting rid of bad habits takes a bit of work. When I was in high school, I remember my baseball coach telling me that I had a flaw in my swing that needed to be worked out.

For a couple weeks I did the drills like mad every single day… and kept finding myself slipping back into my old ways ever now and then when my body would forget about the new good habit I was trying to work into my swing.

I kept getting pissed at myself every day because I thought I’d be able to change my swing forever in that first day…

… I was wrong.

After about the 3rd week… my coach told me something that I never really thought of.

He said, “From my experience, the human body and brain don’t ingrain something into everyday practice until you do that thing 70 times in a row the RIGHT WAY. ”

So, what he was saying was that it takes time and a consious effort to make a lasting change… you can’t do it overnight… your body and brain just don’t change that easily when it comes to changing or adopting a new behavior.

Let’s translate that to real life…

Okay, you know I’m a baseball nut (it took up 22 years of my life!)… so for me that example I just told you is a good analogy… but hey… you may hate baseball and want it related to real life a bit better.

Recently a good friend of mine and fellow Portland marketing guy, Eric Albertson wrote a great newsletter on this same topic.

In short, his newsletter spelled out the same things I just said… but he put a different number on it… and I completely agree w/ him and have noticed it in my life time and time again.

Eric says, real lasting change usually doesn’t take place until you have practiced it religiously for 90 days.

The 90 Day Rule…

Think about it for a sec. Think of any big change you made in your life or business that has stuck until today… then think of the ones that you hoped would stick but didn’t.

Of the ones that didn’t stick... how many of those goals did you give up on before 90 days of religious execution… I mean day in day out without fail…??? My guess would be that if you truly did execute on your goal every single day for 90 days… and didn’t stray off course… that thing would be sticking like duct tape on a hot barbecue (I just made that up… don’t tease me too much about how corny that is .

And…

If you didn’t stick to it for 90 days… you subconsciously told your brain that you really don’t give a crap about that goal enough to stick with it… so your brain followed your subconscious lead and gave up.

The rule is pretty darn basic:

• Stick with something for 90 solid days… and odds are that it will stick and be ingrained in your everyday life from then on.

Think about it… can you imagine making it past the 30, 60, and 90 day marks doing that activity each and every day… and being able to give up on it? I can’t. If you can go for 90 straight days… it would be a bit time bummer to give up on it now… wouldn’t it?

30 days is a good barometer too. If you can do something everyday for 30 days straight… odds are that you’ll probably stick with it. For most people, if you do something everyday for 30 days and you start seeing good results… wouldn’t it be crazy to stop doing something that you’ve already proven you can do?

It sure would.

But, for me… the 30 day mark isn’t all that powerful because in most anything worthwhile… you probably won’t see huge measurable results in just 30 days. It usually takes more time to see life changing measurable results… like between 60-90 days.

So, while 30 days is a great feat… many people will not see the results they were expecting and give up saying, “this crap doesn’t work… I’ve been doing it for 30 days and this is all I have to show for it!”.

So… 90 days it is.

Yep, simple as that. Just do something for 90 straight days and you’ll be set.
… Ya right!

Simple, Yes. Easy, Not Always.

Why most people give up almost every time…

There are a billion reasons why people rationalize giving up on their goals… or even on small things that will help them improve their business or lives.

But, in my opinion most people don’t make it to 90 days because of a few things:

• They expect miracle results in just 30 days… and if they haven’t seen those results in 30 days… “this crap just doesn’t work”.
• They don’t pick the things that they can see the most improvement on to work on first.
• They aren’t clear on what the heck they really want… why they want it… and how important to their life it is that they get it.

So it all boils down to clarity, low hanging fruit, and realistic expectations coupled with long-term vision.

How to make your goals and “good habits” stick…

Here’s a simple little formula that I use to make my good habits and goals stick in business and in life.

1. Choose the 5 most important changes you want to make in your life and business
2. Write down the steps that it will take to make those changes/reach those goals… and the timeline you think you can reach the goal in
3. Use the 80/20 rule to pick the 1 to 3 goals/changes that you can see the most improvement over a 90 day period in. For instance, what activities will provide the most bang for their buck (time and energy investment)?
4. Build those 1 to 3 things into your life each and every day… and even set reminders for yourself multiple times a day to do those activities that will help you get there.
5. At the end of every day… look at your journal (if you don’t have a journal… get one… trust me!) and write down what it felt like to move toward your goal and what you can do better tomorrow.
6. Do that for 90 days… and after a while it will become second nature and you won’t even have to remind yourself to do it. It’s now ingrained in YOU… and you can concentrate on improving another part of your life or business for the next 90 days.

To me, things should be done in time chunks. 90 days is a great length of time for many goals… and most activities or behaviors can be easily ingrained in your day to day routine after 90 days of religious execution.

The disclaimer…

I don’t want to be a late night infomercial guy and tell you that all you have to do is sit on your ass, do this thing one time, and your life will change for ever (but if you buy now… I’ll give you your second miracle for free… you just have to call within the next 4.5 seconds .

Any lasting change that is worthwhile will take a bunch of time and effort on your part to make it happen.

But hey…

If it’s really worth it… don’t you think that you should find any way you can to stick with something for just 90 days? Imagine… 90 days from now you can completely turn your life or business around if you just focus on 1 to 3 areas that you want to see improvement on… and work on those every single day for 90 days.

Crazy stuff what focus and clarity does. Try it out. If you stick with it for 90 days and it doesn’t work… I’ll refund everything you paid for this advice.

Let me know your strategies for making things stick? What do you do?

Oh… before we go.

Think about this for a second. 99% of your competition won’t make the effort to use this 90 day rule. They might fudge and go 30 or 45 days… but only 1% of YOUR COMPETITION will actually follow through with something for a full 90 days.

This is your opening… you are either 90 days away from a totally different life or business… or 90 days away from looking back at today wondering why the heck you didn’t listen to this dude yap away on his blog.

Where will you be in 90 days??

It seriously took me a few years to figure this out… but I truly can’t imagine life any other way now.

What is it that has made this huge difference in my life and my successes so far?

Just a simple measly little hour.

You know how your mom always told you that you need a good breakfast to start the day off right? And how the “health gurus” say that breakfast is the most important meal?

Man… I do. If you know me… you know I’m a sports guy. Played baseball all my life (up through college anyway… not anymore , love golf now, and work out almost everyday. When I don’t eat a good meal in the morning the rest of my day is plain shot.

Is that the secret I couldn’t imagine living without?

Lol, nope. But…

Very similar.

The thing I couldn’t live without (or at least function like a productive and creative human being) is my morning routine.

Some people call it fancy names like “the hour of power” (cough… cough… Tony Robbins), “morning mind ritual”… but for me it’s just a routine that I’ve noticed when I do it… I’m productive, clear minded, positive, and get a ton of stuff done.

When I don’t do it… I stray off course easily, have a tough time getting focused in the first place, and have a plain ol’ attitude that isn’t really all that positive.

So, for me… this simple hour I call my morning routine is really just like that “eat a good breakfast” saying (actually, eating a good breakfast is part of my routine too). It starts the day off right and really sets the stage for what the rest of the day will be like.

So, what’s a part of my morning routine?

For a few years I would go in and out of having a steady morning routine. Sometimes I would get up early thinking that was the key (it really isn’t for me)… sometimes I would try to meditate for a while… sometimes I would just write out a little plan for the day.

None of these things really worked for me so I could stick with it every single day.

But, a little while back I simplified it. Before then I was trying to be too rigid with my routine and it just wasn’t working well for me.

So, I sat down and started to log the things that produced GOOD results for me… and the things that produced BAD results for me in the mornings to make me more productive and happy.

The Good:

• Meditating for 5-10 minutes – Nothing too heavy. Just clearing the mind for a few minutes really got me so I could think clearly and focus right away.
• Exercise – Once again… nothing too heavy. Get the blood pumping a bit and get some oxygen in the blood. This is where I come up with some of my best thoughts.
• Eat a good breakfast - This is huge for me… really gives my body the fuel it needs to start things off right. When I don’t eat a good breakfast I’m toast for the rest of the day.
• Drink a glass of cold water and pop the vitamins
• Read for 10-15 minutes… usually something that inspires me to start the day
• Write out my top priorities for the day

The Bad:

• Getting more than 8 hours of sleep – I love my sleep… but when I get more than 8 hours it just seems like I’m tired the whole day. 7 hours is great… but right at 8 hours is perfect for me… no more.
• Reading my email before 9am – The first thing I used to do was get up, turn on the computer… and read the email as I was eating a bowl of cereal. Man, I found out that this really shot to hell my morning… and made me extremely unproductive.
• Getting on twitter before 9am - I love my twitter… but it’s so addictive that it is a huge productivity killer that I just can’t check it until after I’ve done my morning routine anymore. (hey, if you’re not following me… do it… you know you should!)
• Not creating a plan for the day and making priorities – If you’d ask my wife… I’m not a guy who normally likes to plan things to the hilt. But… when it comes to business and being productive… I’ve found out that not planning out things really is a killer to getting stuff done. Not planning = wasting away the day (only takes 5 minutes… if you’re not… DO IT!).

So, I basically kept the things that are GOOD for my productivity, happiness, and sanity… and got rid of the things that are BAD for my productivity, happiness, and sanity.

Sounds simple huh?

Here’s my morning routine

1. Wake up, shake off the cob webs and go have a glass of clean, cold water... and pop some multi-vitamins. The water helps to wake me up and hydrates my body for the rest of the day.
2. Do about 20 minutes of light exercise just to get my blood pumping. This one is huge for me. When I don’t do this… my productivity is crap for the rest of the day. Nothing fancy… do some sit ups, push ups, walk outside/run in place inside, jumping jacks… whatever. Just something to get my blood pumping… not necessarily to sweat. This exercise is more to get my mind working right… not to build muscles.
3. Eat a good breakfast. Whether it be a bowl of raisin bran with a banana, scrambled eggs, omlet, oatmeal, etc. I just need something healthy in my gut or I’m a slug for the rest of the day.
4. A bit of meditation… like 5-10 minutes. I know, I know… meditation huh? Man, I used to be weirded out by that word too and thought it was only for people who wore purple robes and had shaved heads. But, when I started to do it… I realized that this stuff really works. You don’t have to do anything fancy… just sit in a quiet place… close your eyes… relax… and try to think about nothing for a while. Clear your mind. Maybe visualize your goals and the awesome stuff you’ll be doing that day. Works like a charm.
5. Read for 10-15 minutes. After I clear my mind I like to read for a few minutes. Usually it’s the latest book I bought from Borders (business, motivation, marketing, etc.). For me, this little time of reading helps me to get my brain to focus on things and to get my creativity juices flowing.
6. Write out a quick snapshot of how I’d like the day to go w/ priorities. This is key for me. I look through my journal and see what projects I have on my plate, what I accomplished and didn’t accomplish the day before, what I need to do today to accomplish my goals… and what things are highest on my list of priorities. Simple. Now I know what I’m going to do today and have something to measure my actual results against. Without measurement you can never get better.

That’s it. Simple stuff huh?

But, once I started to do this little hour (give or take a few minutes) morning routine… my productivity and happiness shot up.

I can almost guarantee you that your morning ritual is probably a bit different than mine… and it should be. But, the key is to figure out what you do when you have a very productive and happy day… what you do when you don’t have a productive and happy day…

… and get rid of the stuff that drags you down and fit the things that help you start the day off right into a morning ritual.

The key to making your morning ritual stick

Really, your morning ritual will stick only when you have truly banished the things that drag you down in the morning out of your routine. Until then, it will be tough to stick to it because your results will be inconsistent.

So, every single day you should write down what has a positive effect on your productivity and happiness… and what has a negative effect. Then, every day… work on replacing a bad activity with a good activity… and do this every single day until your morning routine is second nature… and you wonder what the heck you would do if you didn’t have this routine in place.

Try it out… let me know how it goes.

Hey, do you have a morning routine that works for you? What is it? Leave a comment below.

Entrepreneurship with passion huh? 

Sounds nice… but what is it really?

Well… I’m still a young guy and have a lot of life in front of me still.  But, I’m old enough to know what entrepreneurship with passion is… and what unpassionate (is that a word??) entrepreneurship.

I grew up in a middle class home where we had to work hard for everything we got.  It wasn’t until I was in high school that our family really became what is called by a lot of people “well off”.  Before then… it was full of hard work and a lot of struggle.

You see… my mom and dad are both entrepreneurs.  My mom owns the largest party and wedding rental/sales store in Southern Oregon and it’s been around for almost 20 years.

My dad owns Southern Oregons most successful independent construction and lawn and garden equipment rental/sales firm in addition to a few other businesses including commercial real estate.

I don’t say this to brag about anything…

… far from it. 

Like I said, the success really didn’t come until I was in high school… and it was a long haul to get there.

But, the reason I bring this up is because through watching both my mom and dad start, build, and now look to exit their businesses… I’ve seen the whole range from extremely passionate entrepreneurship… all the way to worn down and unpassionate entrepreneurship.

When my parents started their businesses they loved every second of hard work and frustration (at least I think they did .  They lived their businesses until they had built them up to the point where they were able to take more time off and have their employees run the biz.

But…

In the last 5 years or so I’ve really seen a huge change in my parents when it comes to their businesses that have been around for over 15 years.

The passion is gone.

My dad loves his business and his employees (most of the time, lol).  But, he doesn’t wake up every morning excited to go to work anymore.  He is getting worn down in this biz… but still hasn’t lost his entrepreneurial desire.

As for my mom, she lost her passion several years back and actually is fortunate enough to have a company team that has taken over the operations so she can completely step away from the business.  That’s what we’re all looking for…. right??

Well… not for me.  I’m not looking to build a business so I can step away from it 5 years from now.

To me, entrepreneurship with passion is what I’m living right now. 

I love waking up everyday and thinking about how I’m going to build my businesses, serve my clients better, and reach my life goals.

I live, eat, sleep, and breathe entrepreneurship and am always looking for ways to add to the passion. 

But…

A couple years back I was completely the opposite.  I was working with a company that I was excited about at first.  I just knew I could build their business and my wallet would fatten up in no time flat.

But… in less than 6 months my passion faded fast and I literally had to drag myself out of bed every morning to go to work.  I even went as far as negotiating a flexible work schedule and stayed home some days to “work”… but found myself not getting a whole lot done for the company.

I was worn down and hated life. Whatever the opposite of passion is… that was me.

Then, I figured out what passion meant to me…