Make It Count.

One of the most energizing videos I've seen lately - great music, editing, quotes — Casey Neistat is a force to be reckoned with.

Quotes from the video:

"Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all." - Helen Keller

"Buy the ticket, take the ride." - Hunter S. Thompson

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." - Mae West

"Above all, try something." Franklin D. Roosevelt

"I never worry about the future, it comes soon enough." - Albert Einstein

"One who makes no mistakes, makes nothing at all." - Giacomo Casanova

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years," - Abraham Lincoln

"Do More" - Casey Neistat (tattoo)

"If I'd followed all the rules, I'd never have gotten anywhere." - Marilyn Monroe

And my favorite: "Action expresses priorities." - Gandhi

Open Your Kimono.

A number of years ago, I joined a powerful mastermind group comprised of seasoned professional women. As the only guy, I was a bit intimidated, but thankfully, everyone in the group were welcoming and excited to have me on-board. During our first session, I used the term, "Open Kimono" which in corporate-speak means, "To share information with an outside party." Unfortunately, or fortunately, my group couldn't stop laughing from the vision I was presenting — opening MY kimono or flashing them. It not only broke the ice in our mutual relationship, it deepened our respect for one another.

Today, I want to share a powerful quote I relate to almost all of my clients:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." - Emerson

Too often, we ensconce ourselves with the guilt from our past and worry for the future. We forget the gifts we have within us to solve our current problems. We feel inadequate because of past mistakes and make up scary stories about the future.

Time to OPEN YOUR KIMONO and let everyone see what you really have to offer:

• Energy - how can you add just a little bit more pizazz to what you're doing?
• Ideas - you have a different way of doing something - let others know.
• Enthusiasm - kick it up a notch - you will infect everyone!
• Focus - most people today have no focus, show them what you can do.
• Hard Work - stay a little bit later or come in early.
• Experience - you have the knowledge - let it out!

EVERYONE has each of these things within them. You have to let them out and show the world you can change the world.

Two People To Keep Your Eye On At Work.

I've always said, keep your eyes on people who live at the ends of any spectrum.

• In politics, be wary of the extreme conservative or liberal.
• In sports, be wary of the player who swings for the fences or the one who waits to be walked.
• In school, stand back and watch the student who maxes out on their course load and the one who takes the bare minimum.

In business, don't follow people who continuously upset the apple cart or people who never want to change anything.

My advice? Live in the middle of the spectrum and move towards each end based on reasoned and factual thinking. But don't stay in one place. And don't stay at one end. Usually, people who live at the ends of a spectrum tend to be either fanatical or lazy.

Years ago, (okay . . . MANY years ago), I worked on a project to deliver GIS (mapping) technology to our salesforce. We were in the beta test stage and had to work with huge (250mb!) replaceable hard drives. Each salesperson had to swop hard drives, update their data, and replace the hard drive. Each hard drive was then FedEx'ed back to our office to erase. I came up with the idea of burning CD's with the info on them (back then laptops did not have a CD reader). There was a company who developed an external CD reader to connect to the port on the back of the laptop. Problem solved! We would mail the CD's instead.

You wouldn't believe the push-back I received from our IT department:

• You can't do that.
• It will corrupt the drivers on the laptop.
• It will pull too much power and short circuit the battery.

I can go on forever. So I went out with my own credit card, bought the CD drive, hooked it up to my laptop, and transfered the files in 2-3 minutes. Even when I showed them the process and how fast it worked (and so much more economical and easy), they still didn't want to do it.

They were living on one end of the spectrum. I moved to the other to make things easier for my customers (the salespeople) and much cheaper for the company (hard drives were expensive back then).

Do you find yourself at one end of the spectrum in your career or business? Why? What is it costing you?

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Working with someone at one end of the spectrum? Let’s talk. We can devise a strategy to get them to think more holistically — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Presentations: Longer is Sometimes Not Better.

I had to deliver a keynote to a large group of business owners the other day. I was asked to compose a quick 6-8 minute talk — and if you know me, it's a VERY short time to talk. I used iWork Keynote with an LCD projector (all set up well ahead of time) — I felt each slide would add impact (see presentation here). As you can see — no bullets, bold statements — get in and get out.

As the meeting wore on, I realized we were running out of time. To add insult to injury, the speaker before me used ALL of his allotted time (plus some) — so I received a subtle prod from the vice president to severely cut down my time. Accomplished presenters run into this all the time — if you're last on the docket, you're usually asked to shorten your talk a bit.

So I did. I talked for a total of 3-4 minutes (a 50% reduction) with the same presentation.

Guess what? Major accolades from the entire audience. What did I do?

1. I jumped up, grabbed my remote, dispersed with the bio about me, introduced myself, and started the talk.
2. I kicked up my energy another 50% (on top of my usual 150% enthusiasm level). This is important.
3. I moved around and used my hands to deliver each point.
4. I interacted with the audience — I asked questions like, "Who going to try this?" They immediately raised their hands.
5. I spoke a bit faster, but I added assertive emphasis to each of my points.
6. No questions. There was no time.
7. I closed within the 4 minute mark, thanked my audience, and sat down.

The room of 60+ people burst into applause. Longer is sometimes not better.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Has this ever happened to you? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of executives step up their presentation game — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.