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Archive For: Fun

Are You Beside Yourself?

This is my gorgeous wife, beside herself during a dusk walk at Cardinia Reservoir.

Yes, it’s a sneaky little trick you can do when shooting in panorama mode.
Yes, it would be good to be able to clone yourself to get more done.
Yes, it’s not like this in real life … or is it?

Long time readers will know that I am a huge fan of systemising your activities.
Let your processes and systems run the business and your people run the systems.

Now, with some of the newer technologies and apps available, not only do the systems run your business, but you can also automate them so that they run by themselves.

Here are some examples:
Accounting packages – Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Sassuu and others all now link directly to your bank to download your statements and based on past activity, will partially reconcile these statements saving you a lot of time.
Social media – Hootsuite, Buffer and some social media channels themselves, allow you to post your news across multiple social media streams at once. MeetEdgar will store your social media entries by category and continue to publish them according to the schedule you set, ad infinitum.
Education – Online learning via video, audio and other modalities allows you to present new knowledge at your speed and convenience while the student absorbs it at THEIR speed and convenience (and level or repetitiveness required).
Your relationship – Just so you know, you have to do this yourself. Once you automate or outsource it, you are in big, BIG trouble! I thought it was important to state this!

It is now possible, even preferred, that you be beside yourself and be able to leverage your skills, knowledge and earning capacity.

So how can you be beside yourself today?

PS For those of you who will be in Melbourne on Sunday 18th September, I am beside myself with excitement as the choir I sing in Mood Swing will be performing.
If you love A Cappella music and want a relaxed and family friendly Sunday afternoon of enjoyment, check out the details here. I would love to see you there.

Check One Two

If you have ever been to a “gig” you will have heard roadies and sound teams up on the microphone, “check one two, check check, one two onnnne two two t t t two”.

Make all the jokes you want about roadies not being able to count above two or some of them struggling to get above one, they actually do this for a reason.

My sound engineer buddy told me that in the phrase “Check one two” you get the main sounds you are tuning your sound system for.

Think about that.

In the “check” you get “ch”, “eh” and “k”.
You get the “w, “u” and “n” in “one” and in “two” you get the hard “t” and the “ooo”.
It also can test across a vocal range and some of the popping you can get on T and P words.

About now you are probably thinking, “who cares, I am not an audio engineer!”

Think about what you do. What do you do to test that everything works as it should? Do you have a standard way to cross check your output for quality?

Many spreadsheets I have worked on over the years have had erroneous formulas in them that I only picked up by doing some simple cross checks of totals. From my auditing days (a long time back) I picked up the 10% sample test. Rigorously testing 10% of my data to be sure it was accurate. Some at the beginning, some at the end, as well as random middle samples.

At the very least a spell check, grammar check and reading important correspondence out aloud helps me test the flow and effectiveness of the piece.

What about you [First Name]? How to you test your work? Even if “Check one two” doesn’t do it, something else will.

PS Click the image above to see a 70 second video from my recent Gala Dinner hosting for Master Plumbers with more on this.

PPS If you want to see a real gig in action, the choir I sing in “Mood Swing”, has a performance in Melbourne on Sun Sept 18. Click here for details and tickets.

Do You Hear The Voice?

Aren’t these lovely horses? Such majestic creatures. Except that last night, I was swearing at them!
It was late at night, I was tired, it was dark, it was raining and five of them got out and I could not get them back in the paddock!!

Truth be told, it was all my fault.

We had a colossal weekend splitting 25 cubic metres of wood (about 15 tonnes) and I was delivering some to the farm. The horse’s owner always leaves the gate open, visits them and then leaves closing the gate behind her.
I thought I’d do the same. I will never do that again!

This voice said, “Shut the gate. It will be better. You don’t know where the horses are and you would hate to have to chase them.”

Did I listen? Nooooooo. I overruled my common sense, sub conscious, gut reaction, guiding thoughts (what ever you may call it) with my wilful self. I was so tired and I knew I couldn’t be trusted but I did it anyway.

(The story has a happy ending. The owner finally checked her phone that was on silent, and after me trying for 90 minutes, within 5 minutes she had the horses all back in the paddock!)

Do you ever ignore that voice? Maybe it’s an email you want to send, a comment you think about saying, a phone call you could have made or some kind of action that the voice is telling you to do or not do and you over rode the voice to your detriment.

The secret is, trust yourself. You really do know what you are doing it’s just that sometimes you have to get out of your own way. Listen to the voice or you may be wasting a lot of time fixing a situation you have caused.

Be Like George

Meet George (and his two adoring fans).

George is the colossal coffee machine at the Eastern Innovation Business Centre.
George dispenses love in the form of coffee.
George has lots of fans and people come from everywhere to spend time with him.
George gives a predictable output every time.
George can vary what he does based on your inputs and requests.
George needs basic inputs as well as regular maintenance to be in good working order.
George gets input from others if there are changes ahead and does what he can to accommodate change.
George is constant and dependable.
George is clean and smells good.
George always looks tidy.

In business, be like George.

Can You See Stars?

Img: WikiArt

I love starry nights. Even Van Gough’s classic above is fantastic. The problem with living in the city is that they are hard to see.

Last night I drove a friend to a country location where she will be running a workshop today. As I got out of the car, I looked up.

It was stunning.

Without the light pollution you could see the ceiling of the world covered in twinkling points of light. Some of these stars already don’t exist and we are just seeing their echoes, others will keep burning for eons to come. Not only was the night sky clear, I also had a moment of clarity on my place in the world and what is truly important.

What about you?

Are you surrounded by “life pollution” that doesn’t enable you to have clarity on what is really happening and your true position in the world?

Can you back away from the smoke and mirrors and truly see what counts for you and however you measure your success?

Too often we get caught up in our own thoughts and lose focus on what really counts.

Maybe it’s time to step away from the life pollution and ask yourself, “Can I see stars?”
PS Huge thanks to all those who have taken advantage of the 2 for 1 May Sale on Get More Inspiration. If you want to find out more or get your two copies of the book while I pay postage and give you additional bonuses, head to this website.

Let’s Celebrate!

There are so many reasons to celebrate.

Yesterday was Mothers day, my brother also turned 50, my sister has a recently purchased a new house, I just turned 48, my dog is awesome and I have the best wife in the world.

Sometimes you can celebrate for professional reasons as well. Your project finished, you got a new position, you got a bonus, your boss left or even simply that you turned up to work!

As long time readers will know, I am a huge believer that if you make Celebrating Success a Habit, you will make success a habit.

So I wanted to celebrate my recent 48th birthday by giving you a present.

WARNING – THIS CELEBRATION INCLUDES OFFERING A DEAL TO YOU TO BUY SOMETHING (But it is an AWESOME deal!)

Of late I have been receiving some fantastic feedback on my Get More Inspiration book. One person said, “I thought this might be a fluffy motivational book and I was surprised that I really like the additional structure, reflections sections and tips. Great work”

Another said, “My husband never reads books but he really liked yours”

Ok, so I don’t want to turn this into a huge sales letter but I really want to celebrate, so here is the deal. If you want a burst of inspiration in a book that is specifically designed NOT to be read (you just flick and read a two page story at a time) then I want you to have a copy of the book. The great news is that it is a workbook as well. It has places to write your ideas and actions, but that means you won’t want to lend it to friends. No problem as I have the solution!

For the month of May 2016 if you order the physical Get More Inspiration Book, I will give you a second copy absolutely free so you can give it to a friend. I will also pay the postage to send both copies to you and I will enroll you in my Get More Done in 90 Days ecourse worth almost $300.

So that’s $385 worth for only $34.95

How does that sound?

If you are interested click the order button to make it happen.

If you are a eBook kind of person, sorry but I can’t do a magic deal for you. What I can do is direct you to the Amazon store where you can get it for only $11.99!

For my US Based buddies, you can hit your Amazon store here.

Maybe you will choose to celebrate some other way and that’s ok. What is important is that you always look to celebrate success.

So how will you celebrate success?

It’s a Wrap

Whew! After 4 and a bit weeks of touring around the USA and Canada and meeting interesting people, places and things, we are home.

While it was a great time, there were a few challenges (part of the reason there was no newsletter last week). So what I wanted to do is give you a few quick thoughts and some other bits from the trip.

1) Travel. Nothing makes you appreciate your life more than going to visit other countries (or other parts of your own country) and see how they live. It also expands your mind in a way that you can no longer go back to old thinking.

2) Stretch yourself. We drove over 6,500 km which meant 6 or 7 hours driving some days. This lead to a lot of conversation time in the car which enabled my gorgeous wife and I to connect strongly, share ideas and thoughts and make plans for the future.

3) Have fun. Many of those hours driving we spent singing, telling stupid stories and being creative in some way. We rarely played the radio or music and we had a stack of fun.

4) Talk to people. We had some great conversations with complete strangers, some were challenging due to a difference in values and beliefs and others were intriguing to discover their perspective. The picture above shows us sharing my birthday dinner with over 2,000 people at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy. They had a very different perspective on things.

5) Plan for things to go wrong. We had a few interesting experiences. When we landed home in Melbourne, our car had a completely flat battery. At the conference we had unexpected snow (See the 90 second video here). Having a few “What if …” ideas up the sleeve helped.

6) Enjoy the really good things. We were staying in some very cheap accommodation and also some very nice accommodation (that latter had indoor fountains!) Who were we not to enjoy it? You can see a video of it as well as a quick comparison of the Aussie and USA meetings industry here

7) Share it. I have put many photos and stories on Facebook as we have travelled. So many people have commented on how much they enjoyed them and felt like they were having a holiday too (except we paid for it!) We also have catch ups with friends planned who want to hear all the detail about the trip.

8) Repeat it. The value from this travel is so significant that we have more trips planned, the next one is likely to be Vietnam. Why would you stop your own personal growth?

So have you got anything planned?

PS While I was away, two more episodes of the almost award winning show, Get More Success have been released. You can see/hear them here.

PPS May is a special month for a couple of reasons but you have to wait to next week to find out why (and what the special deal is!)

Open Your Mind

In two sleeps, my gorgeous wife and I are off to the other side of the world. As you can see, Google Maps optimistically says it will take 14 hours and 10 minutes to get there. You and I know it will take a lot longer.

But the first world problem of sitting in a steel tube that flys through the air in the same way that bricks don’t (credit to Douglas Adams for that) is nothing compared to the pay off.

Travelling brings perspective.

It enables you to appreciate all the small things you take for granted that you can’t get, do or have while overseas.
It reminds you how good your own quality of life is when you see the quality of life of others.
It shows you the truth about a place not just the romanticised version you may have or the photoshopped pieces on FarceBook.
It gives you an appreciation of other cultures and sub-cultures regardless of how similar or different they are to your own
It is humbling as it allows you to see your own problems for what they really are and to acknowledge how blessed your life really is.
It opens your mind to new ideas, new opinions, new perspectives, new ways of being and thinking.

So how open is your mind and do you need to go travelling to open it a bit further?

Grand Opening

WOO HOO!!

I am so excited that after some serious procrastinating, some hard work, bursts of inspiration, serious doubts, more procrastinating, more work, home made design, a lot of interviewing, a stack of support, the kindness of friends and some techo gurus the Get More Success show is now live!

Over the coming years I will be interviewing people from all walks of life and find out how they define success and what are their success tips that you may be able to apply to get success in your life.

As an added bonus, the show will also include excerpts from the Get More Speaker Success monthly blab. This is a group conversation with a more lighthearted approach that covers issues in the speaking, meetings and events industries. It has some great ideas if you are looking to run events.

Because of the increased demand in the visual media, a lot of my interviews are also on video as well as audio. So if you like to look at what is happening, feel free to watch as well as listen.

You can see/hear the show at The Get More Success website.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP

The first couple of weeks of a podcast’s launch are important to help get traction. So this is where I need your help.

If you like the idea of the show as well as the first couple of editions that are out there, I need you to subscribe to the show in iTunes if you are an iTunes user.

This will trigger some of iTunes magic goodness and increase its profile and shoot it up the charts which then makes others want to look at it.

So I would love it if you could give me a boost.

It’s really easy. Just click this link to see the show listing.

Click on the “See in iTunes” button on the left of the screen

When iTunes opens, click on the subscribe button.

At the very least, head over and listen to Wayne Thompson from the Australian Type Foundry talk about how he creates fonts and some of the icon advertising pieces you have seen in advertising all over Australia (including the Optus “Yes” speech bubble).

So what is new in your life? What have you achieved after grinding away for what seems like years? How can I help you achieve success?

What’s On Your Mind?

It was a big weekend after an even bigger week.

Friday I was hosting a client “talk show” to profile their new and upcoming software releases for their top 70 clients. There was a teenage birthday. Saturday had meetings reviewing the annual residential and future direction on similar events as well as catching up with other training and video production colleagues. Sunday was hang out with my gorgeous wife in the morning, big dog walk and then a few hours of finances and a BAS statement.

Phew!

What better way to chill out than to take the beast for a fang up to Drouin only 75 km away. (If you are not sure, click here to see where it is on Google Maps.)

At our recent residential retreat, Therese Sheedy was instrumental in guiding us through what it mean to be mindful and how that benefits you, your energy levels and your overall health. Motrobike riding is a great way to be mindful.

The secret of mindfulness is to be only thinking about what is happening here and now. If you don’t do that on a bike, you crash!

For me it was great to smell the countryside, be fully aware of the traffic around me (including the dude who was speeding and cut me off), and think of nothing but what I needed to do to keep safe. I didn’t even know where I was going. It took me awhile to decide and only then did I realised I had missed the turn off. No problems – I set a new destination of Drouin and just kept going.

So What?

Ok, so I get you don’t really care that I have gone off on a motorbike ride.

Here is the point: I took time out to forget the rest of the world, the rest what was happening in my life and become a Human Being and not a Human Doing. Not only does that charge my batteries it also makes me easier to be around, more grateful for what I am already experiencing in life and better able to manage the issues that I am facing.

So how do you get present?

How do you let go of everything around you and just “be”?

It is incredibly important to empty your mind at times, so what mechanism will you use to do that?

Why Are You Shouting?

AIME2016 is on this week. That’s the Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo. It is held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre and it is a real focus for the meetings industry. It is always good to go along and see what is happening in the industry.

It is interesting looking at some of the comments coming out on social media, and they are typical of many exhibitors and events all over the world. Essentially they are shouting “LOOK AT ME”

The actual comments are more like “come by stand 26B to see XYZ. You could we an ipad/bottle of wine/(insert token gift here)”.

Can I humbly suggest you save your breath and stop shouting?

What is happening is the more you do it, the more your fellow exhibitors think it’s a good idea to and then they do it and then you do it again and fairly soon everyone is shouting.

Meanwhile, all of the delegate have been scared off and purposefully avoid you.

Here is another approach. Make a personal offer to the people you want to talk with. If you have their emails or phone numbers, contact them directly and make an appointment or let them know why you would love to see them. If you don’t have their details, you will know the type of person you want to speaker to so make an offer directly to them that is intriguing and makes them want to come and visit.

For example, “For all the association event organisers visiting AIME, how would you like complimentary shoulder massage as we share with you ways to get more members at your events? Drop by the Event Strategists and let our masseurs work their magic for you”.

Isn’t that a little more attractive?

Find out what your niche customer will be attracted by and provide it. Then get ready for the onslaught of visitors. (Naturally this idea translates in to normal marketing, sales messages and even parenting)

So why are you shouting?

By the way, I will be at AIME on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. If you want to chat about how you can make your next event more fun, memorable and successful, call me on 0408 592 158 and we can catch up on the show floor.

Feel The Love?

It was Valentines Day yesterday. The day that cynical people agree card companies and florists created to increase sales.

The less cynical among us would say it is a great day to celebrate our love in the world.

My Mum would agree it is about love. She is celebrating 7 years since she started “going out” with Dudley. (She initially changed her Facebook status to “in open relationship” then too but that is a different story!)

For my dog Winston (who looks very similar to the poodle above) it is just another day to love everything equally. Whether it is going for a walk, having a drink, meeting you at the door, being served dinner or joining you on the couch, there is always the unconditional love that he has.

What an excellent way to be in the world. What an amazing way to treat others. What a joyous force for good that would make us if we could do the same.

I love the concept that I should try and be the person my dog thinks I am. What an amazing person I would be then.

So Winston and my wish for you is that EVERY day is Valentines Day. That you look for things you love. Get excited about the small things and live each day to it’s fullest.

So are you up for the challenge?

15 (more) Seconds of Fame

I was unexpectedly on radio this week.

My lovely friends Mel Kettle and Annette Jones were on ABC Brisbane 612 as part of the festival of Brisbane Podcasts. As part of their segment, they played some excepts from recent guests including when I was a guest.

You can see them in action here courtesy of the host Spencer Howson:

To check out the whole audio, including my fabulous 15 seconds of glory, head on over to the ABC site here.

Darren Rowse and Jo Whitton were also excerpted (is that a word?) but if click on their names you can hear their whole podcast. You can hear Spencer’s podcast here (yes, he was a guest as well) and my edition here (they call me a Poodle Daddy!) but you really want to check out The Activity Pod at their website.

DIY or DIFM?

(Do It Yourself or Do It For Me)

This was our weekend. We spent most of Friday and all of the weekend moving a very large, very heavy and very noisy bit of equipment around on our concrete floor.

We were trying to make it into a fantastic, shiny and glamorous bit of flooring goodness but it never go there!

The equipment was great and a big thanks to Kennard’s Concrete Care for helping us out. The first grinder died 90 mins into grinding and they went out of their way and swapped another one in 8pm on a Friday night!!

But here’s the thing with DIY – if everything goes well, it’s fabulous and you can save yourself a lot of money. But if you get that one job that has “special” requirements it is a nightmare as a DIY person. A DIFM expert would be able to read the situation, use their many years of skills and know the short cut to success.

This is where the DIFM expert earns their money.

Our concrete wouldn’t grind. We changed to the medium bonding, harder diamonds as directed but still it didn’t grind. We Googled, YouTubed, and even read the instruction manual. It made no difference. We talked to others who had had some grinding done recently and something didn’t seem right.

So we kept on doing what we knew to be right (because we had hired the equipment for the weekend). What we were missing was the 20 years of experience to be able to “read” the concrete and know how best to attack it. The DIFM expert would have known.

I won’t say it was a wasted weekend (because then I would have no reason to feel this exhausted) and the finish we have is better than the raw concrete, but it is not even close to the vision.

What we do have is a unique concrete floor, loaded with character than in two or three years (when we have prioritised the money for it) will have a professional come and grind and seal it.

While DIY is good and can save you some money the DIFM professional undoubtedly gives a better experience, particulalry if an issue arises. It’s one of the main reasons I get booked as a corporate MC.

So what do you need to DIY and what do you need to get a DIFM professional in for?

Do You Compete for Success?

competition It’s happening again.

2016 has barely started and already I am getting bombarded with “This is what successful people do”, “10 things to do before you get out of bed” and “7 Ways to be a winner”. You know the kind of post I am talking about.

I get an interesting response. Part of me goes all Anthony Robbins and “Yeah – let’s do iiiiiitttttt!!!” Another part goes, “Meh – I have success already, you can nick off.”

Why do we get excited and exhausted at the same time?

For many of us, it is some kind of primal competition. Higher, faster, stronger, more, more, more! But the main reason is quite simple.

WE DON”T KNOW WHAT SUCCESS IS!

We can have lists, read books, do courses, grow ourselves, plan our days, years and life but most people don’t know why they are doing it.

Take a moment. What is success in 2016 for you?

Money is one measure but there are far more. Is it to do with your relationships with others, your relationship with your self? Do you want to learn a new skill or hobby? What about travel or exposure to different cultures? Is it parenthood? What does success look like for you this year?

It is very seductive to get wrapped up in those lists of “Top 10 things CEOs do before breakfast” but let’s get real. Do you really want to be a CEO working 18 hours a day, earning good money but rarely having time to spend it? Personally, I don’t but I know a few people who do.

So what do you want?

Be prepared to pay for it though. If you want to be the CEO you need to work your way up the ladder, play politics, stand out, be a leader as well as a manager and be at the boards beck and call. It is the same with all of your desires and plans. There will ALWAYS be a cost. Figure out what you are prepared to pay.

So let’s all take a deep breath…

Forget about what others are doing. Ignore what other people say you “should” be focussed on, forget your new years resolution (you won’t keep it) and focus on what will success be for YOU this year?

Personally, I find I get more success if I focus on a theme. Last year for my wife (who is also my accountability buddy) and I it was the Year of the Holiday. This year is the Year of Health.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a strategic plan for my business with matching Tactical and Operational plans but the overarching theme is The Year of Health. No competition, no worrying about others dieting tips just simply focussing on OUR definition of success.

So what is success for you in 2016?

PS I have joined up with Presentation Expert Zerafina Zara and Psychologist Therese Sheedy to run at 2016 Kick Off residential at beautiful Philip Island on the last week of January (See image above). Our focus will be on creating success, mindfulness and communicating with clarity and purpose all while having a load of fun. Come and join us! Click here for more details.

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