Never Listen To The 'Experts'.

Just listened to one of my favorite podcasts this morning — How I Built This. They hosted Manoj Bhargava, the man who invented the 5-Hour Energy Drink. Manoj is a self-made man who started his career driving a $300 dump truck hauling away construction garbage. Now he's a billionaire dedicated to donate 99% of his estate to help the world. There were a number of powerful statements that caught my ear. Here are a few:

"You have to be totally determined - I hate the word passionate. If you get hit, passion tends to fade. Determination - if you get hit 20 times, you get up again." Everyone has a passion. Many people leave their jobs and start their own business based on that passion. Some do well, most don't. Manoj is spot on — passion will only take you so far, determination will pick you up when you fall down. TAKEAWAY: Drive, determination, and tenacity will help you build you a successful business.

"It's not rocket science. If you use common sense, you're in great shape. If you use experts, you're in so much trouble." I find this quote so fitting to my profession, being a Business Performance Coach. So many times I'm asked by prospective clients, "Do you have a lot of experience in my industry?" I usually say, "No, I don't. But it doesn't matter." Most businesspeople want 'experts' who know their industry and can give them the 'secrets of their success'. Unfortunately, most of the time, these experts are people who tried their hand in that industry and failed, that's why they're not doing it anymore. As a coach who uses 'common sense', I am looking at your situation from the outside in, a completely different perspective from where you are. I keep it simple and focus on the basics — that's usually where the problems hide. TAKEAWAY: "Experts are great for telling you what not to do. But what you should do? They haven't a clue."

"You've got to figure that out. How hard can it be? I'll figure it out." I love Manoj's simple way of attacking a complex problem. He makes the complex, simple — the gargantuan, a series of small steps. Sit down, get a piece of paper and map out the steps you have to do and the people you have to see. It's that simple. TAKEAWAY: Dive right in and attack. Don't over-think it.

"If these guys can come up with this, I can do better." Just because someone has done something, it doesn't make them geniuses — they just did it first. I love his philosophy and drive — I can do it too. TAKEAWAY: You can do it better if you just try.

"Most people who have invented great things didn't have a background in that area." They didn't follow the 'rules' of the experts. Again, they are thinking from outside of the bubble and not beholden to a series of arcane rules — in fact, they're the rule-breakers. TAKEAWAY: Be a rule-breaker.

P.S. If you want work with a coach who uses common sense and sticks to the basics,  Let’s talk. I’ve work with people from all over the world who want to play a bigger game — call me to schedule a free session.

Is Life Giving You Lemons?

I ran across a powerful quote the other day from Nora Roberts, the romance novelist: “If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”

Do you know about Nora Roberts? I met her MANY years ago when I was in Marketing at Waldenbooks/Reader's Market. We hosted an autographing at one of our locations and she had a new romance novel out. She was a really nice person (most authors and celebrities at the time were obnoxious). A lot of you might say with a hint of disdain in your voice, "Oh, she's a romance novelist."

Here are some sobering facts — as of 2011, her novels had spent a combined 861 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including 176 weeks in the number-one spot. Over 400 million copies of her books are in print, including 12 million copies sold in 2005 alone. She's a heavy hitter.

Nora began to write during a blizzard in February, 1979 while housebound with her two small boys. With three feet of snow, a dwindling supply of chocolate, and no morning kindergarten she had little else to do. While writing down her ideas for the first time, she fell in love with the writing process, and quickly produced six manuscripts.

She submitted her manuscripts to Harlequin, the leading publisher of romance novels, but was repeatedly rejected. Roberts says, "I got the standard rejection for the first couple of tries, then my favorite rejection of all time. I received my manuscript back with a nice little note which said that my work showed promise, and the story had been very entertaining and well done. But that they already had their American writer. That would have been Janet Dailey."

In 1980, a new publisher, Silhouette books, formed to take advantage of the pool of manuscripts from the many American writers that Harlequin had snubbed. Roberts found a home at Silhouette, where her first novel, Irish Thoroughbred, was published in 1981. She used the pseudonym Nora Roberts, a shortened form of her birth name Eleanor Marie Robertson, because she assumed that all authors had pen names. Between 1982 and 1984, Roberts wrote 23 novels for Silhouette.

Roberts believes that pursuing a career as a writer requires discipline: "You're going to be unemployed if you really think you just have to sit around and wait for the muse to land on your shoulder." She concentrates on one novel at a time, writing eight hours a day, every day, even while on vacation. Rather than begin with an outline or plot summary, Roberts instead envisions a key incident, character, or setting. She then writes a short first draft with the basic elements of a story.

After finishing the first draft, Roberts goes back to the beginning of the novel. The second draft usually sees the addition of details, the "texture and color" of the work, as well as a more in-depth study of the characters. She then does a final pass to polish the novel before sending it to her agent, Amy Berkower. She often writes trilogies, finishing the three books in a row so that she can remain with the same characters.

So let's look closer at her words:

If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it.

How many times have you known EXACTLY where you need to go and what you need to do? In fact, it's right in front of you. But for some reason, something or someone is holding you back. Here's a little secret, most of the time, that obstacle is usually YOU. You might think there are external forces out there — but you are putting those potholes in the road. You need to be very clear about what you want and go after it. Nora could have remained a stay-at-home Mom, but she had a dream of being a writer. And she went after it with gusto.

If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

As a coach, I run into this one ALL the time. People are afraid of asking for that raise, that promotion, that business. They either feel they're not worthy or that they're begging. If you want it — go get it. Nora was turned down a bunch of times by Harlequin, but she kept going back. She wrote whole manuscripts, submitted them, and was nicely declined. But she kept coming back.

If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.

MOVE. You need to move somewhere and not stay in the same place. When we need to make a life change when life is giving us lemons (and it happens all the time), we tend to get caught up on where to go. Just take ANY step - very soon, you will be making your way forward and moving towards a new location with no lemons.

Listen to Nora, she knows where it's at.

Nora Roberts biographical information was partially gleaned from Wikipedia.