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Do I practice what I preach?

Do I practice what I preach? Do you?

This is a follow-up post to yesterday’s interesting challenge about “mistakes” smart people make.

Funny thing is, I’m often tempted to judge myself based entirely on my intentions.

The fundamental change brought about by teaching – and they say to teach is to learn twice – is that I’m much more aware of my blind spots.

So, I rewrote my 463-word vision/mission statement, created in 1995 after reading Stephen Covey’s classic, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.

It went from 463 words to two words!

So easy even a caveman can remember it.

Make it a GREAT day, because if you don’t, who will. Carpe diem jungle jeff 🙂

Know the mistake smart people make?

Wanna know one of the biggest mistakes smart people make?

Sophisticated and intelligent, most organizations wordsmith their vision, mission and brand statements for the benefit of looking good to Wall Street and their Board of Directors.

Here’s the paradox, in a quote from someone really smart.

“Complexity holds people back from acting because they don’t know which action will have impact”.

What smart person said that?

It was Bill Gates, in a Rolling Stone article I read in October 2007.

Next question.

Do you agree with Bill? Why or why not?

Wanna know my opinion?  It sounds bloody brilliant to me.

Many organizations are tempted to put together various “decks” with really cool, lofty, even inspirational stuff. That’s what great organizations do, right?

They capture the essence of the vision, mission, brand, etc. on “paper”, so that new and existing employees will be fully engaged, and committed.

Here’s the paradox: People are too busy to remember what you’re really trying to say.

My mission is to help people take it from the paper to the floor.

I have many ways in which to do this. For the sake of a shorter post, I’ll stop here.

Carpe diem, make it a GREAT day for your employees, customers and shareholders. If you don’t, who will. jungle jeff 🙂

Am I boring?

Am I boring?

Scary thought.  Sometimes I’m convinced I am. Know how I can tell?

Soon after I became a professional speaker a decade ago, a wise person told me, “Jeff, if you look out at your audience, and they looked bored, you’re boring them”. I’ve never forgotten that wisdom.

At risk every single day – failing them and boring them.  The two mortal sins public speakers commit most often.

Want the good news?

I don’t do it nearly as frequently as I used to.  Plus, I’ve also learned to recognize and react more effectively.

So, may I please ask you a question?  Are you boring?

Want to test yourself?

Read your LinkedIn profile and ask yourself, “Is this something that captures attention and motivates the reader to read.  Or, is it like so many others that people don’t even bother”?

At the core of this is your intent for using LinkedIn, in my opinion.

It’s tough out there.  If you don’t figure it out, who will?  Carpe diem, jungle jeff

Live, before you die

Here’s a post written the other day. I was 35,000 feet in the air, traveling, and had just finished watching an inspirational movie, lent to me by a friend.  It’s long, so I understand if you’re too busy to read it.  Yet I wasn’t going to let that stop me from writing it.  Here goes:

02.26.09 35K feet

Are you a chicken?

When was the last time you put yourself on the line?

Seriously!

When?

Bet you’ve thought about it. Everybody does. It’s part of our human DNA. We all dream of doing something great, of putting ourselves on the line.

Here’s the deal.

If you’re like me, you’re insanely busy. You’re also incredibly distracted. And (again), if you’re like me, most likely, a “chicken”.

Please don’t get me wrong. Being afraid is a gift given to humans to help them survive.

It can also, unintentionally, be the very thing that suffocates us.

Suffocates us?

Yes. Suffocates us.

Huh?

We go through life, unaware the clock is ticking. We wake up one day, realizing we haven’t yet lived.

This scares the heck out of me.

Today, tomorrow, next week, all month, all year, next year, until I die – I vow to, “Live, before I die.”

May I be so bold as to challenge you? To Live, before you die!

Find a way to be inspired every single day.

I just watched “Saint Ralph”. A story about a 14-year old boy, attending an all-boys Catholic school in the early 1950’s. His Father was killed in a war. His mother on her death bed, although no one will admit it. It appears she’s battling cancer. She goes into a coma and Ralph, her son, hears a story about miracles.

Ralph becomes convinced that if he can perform a miracle, in this case winning the Boston Marathon, then that miracle will lead to the miracle of his Mother coming out of her coma.

Ralph was never really good at anything. He was always getting in trouble.

He digs down deep, loses Boston by one step, and becomes a hero.

All I can tell you (to wrap this up) is that I believe in business and at home, we get an incredible opportunity to make the world a better place.

Today, once again, I’ll work hard for the courage to “put myself on the line” to do just that.

Carpe diem,  jungle jeff  :)