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No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

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If you’ve read this far, you probably know why this is one of my favorites.  Because it puts you in charge of your own feelings! 

You?  In charge?  Imagine that!

In Business:

Let’s talk about sales.  Nobody really wants to be in sales, right?  Because if you’re in sales, you’re one of those fake, polyester-suit-wearing, used-car types, aren’t you?

The only times I’ve ever felt inferior in business was when I didn’t believe in the product I was selling.  Let’s be more specific: I would never sell a product I didn’t believe in, but there were times when I knew the product wasn’t the right fit for the prospect, yet I was obligated to try and sell them.

I was once given the assignment of selling local television advertising to dry cleaners. 

Let’s get this straight.  I’m going to explain to a dry cleaning business how blanketing (no pun intended) a whole city — plus two cities not even in our state, but in our “metro,” which is TV-speak for viewing area — is going to grow their business?  Are you insane?

Dry cleaners are location-based businesses.  People drop off their laundry because it’s on the way to and from work.

They need location-based marketing.  Direct mail based on ZIP Code, Val-Pack, local supermarket coupons, even local cable TV inserts would have been 1000% more effective than network-affiliate TV ads.

I didn’t last long there, but I sure did learn a lot about what not to do.

You can believe in the product, but you have to believe it’s the right fit for the market, too.  Otherwise, you do give them permission to make you feel inferior.

In Life:

Here it is, short and sweet.  An insult only hurts to the degree you believe it.

So remember…

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

— Eleanor Roosevelt

Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.

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You can almost hear the words echoing in the scratchy distance of old recordings, like Teddy Roosevelt proclaiming, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

In Business:

You can only manage what you measure.  Goals are the ultimate form of measurement.

The biggest problem with goals in business is that when you set a goal (or have it set for you) and reach it, the reward is usually just a higher goal (i.e. more work, moving the goalpost). 

“Hey, you hit 10,000.  Great job.  Let’s do 12,000 next month.  Congratulations!”

Me?  I like business goals where the reward is freedom. 

Here’s the goal.  If it takes you twenty days to meet or twenty hours, it doesn’t matter.  Hit it and you’re done for the month. 

Add bonus money to the equation in lieu of free time and you’ll make it doubly enticing.  Now you’re playing in two economies instead of one (remember the three economies: time, money and liberty).

What’s the ultimate benefit to this model?  The people who’ll gravitate to this arrangement are the exact kind of people you want working in your business.

In Life:

Growing up, we have our goals set for us with each passing school year.  But after we graduate, unless we land at a company with a structured hierarchy (like a law firm, for example), we enter a “goal-free zone.”

For most of us, it’s BYOG — Bring Your Own Goals.

The key to reaching a goal is the exact opposite of operating a Ron Popiel product.  Set it and never forget it!

So remember…

Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.

— J. C. Penney

If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.

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Hmmm… are we seeing a pattern here?  Another quote that helps fight the battle against perfectionism.  Do I have too many of them in this book?  Should I delay the publication until next year (i.e. never)?  Inner thought: cancel.  Let’s move on.

In Business:

For the purpose of your business, cut out the word “badly” and paste in the word “crudely.”  Have you ever seen a picture of the original “Apple I” computer, built on wood?

 Just a note: I promised myself this would not be the one millionth book to reference Steve Jobs as a source of inspiration, and I still think I’m good because the Apple I was really all Steve Wozniak.

I wrote earlier about the software developers’ concept of “Minimum Viable Product.”  Does your basic product successfully solve a basic problem? 

If so, test it, ship it, modify, repeat.

In Life:

The key word to focus on in this quote is “worth,” not “badly,” which I bet you were doing.

The problem is we often don’t know if it was worth it until we’re already there in it. 

Will practicing the piano for all those endless hours be worth it?  Once we hear the applause at the recital and have the ability to sit down at a party and wow them with a tune, we know the answer is yes.  But prior to that… is it worth it?

The key is two-fold:  look at small victories in your own past that you know were worth it, and big victories in the lives of others.  The small, personal victories will keep you from backsliding.  The big victories from others will help propel you toward them.

You’ll get better and better… and, yes, it will be worth it.

So remember…

If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.

— G.K. Chesterton

It’s never crowded along the extra mile.

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What a simple, yet powerful turn of phrase from Dr. Dyer.  He could sometimes get a little “out there” for my taste, but he never failed to inspire me.

Another one of my favorites from him is, “When you squeeze an orange, what comes out?  Orange juice.  Why?  Because that’s what’s inside.  When life or other people squeeze or put pressure on you, what comes out?  Whatever is already inside.”

I might have to save that one for Simple Secrets: Volume II.

Dr. Dyer used to tell the story of coming back to his hotel after a run, and discovering he’d just missed the complimentary breakfast by a few minutes.  “Sorry,” the concierge said, “Kitchen’s closed until lunch.”

In Business:

The next day, he vowed to get back from his run a little earlier, but was still a few minutes past the cutoff.  This time there was a different concierge on duty, but Dr. Dyer didn’t even bother to ask, and just went to his room. 

A few minutes passed and there was a knock on his door.  It was today’s concierge holding a small tray with a couple of doughnuts, a muffin, a bagel, and some orange juice.

He said, “I noticed your face when you came in and saw them taking down the breakfast bar, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed you a little assortment before they put everything away.  Hope you enjoy!”

He called that guy an “eagle,” because he was flying high, observant, towering above all others.  The original concierge was a “duck,” floating in a pond of mediocrity, just quacking along with all the other ducks.

This story has found its way into the personal shorthand between my wife and me.  Say there’s an erroneous charge on a statement.  “Were you able to get it resolved?” I ask.

“Not at first,” my wife might say.  “I got a duck, but I called back twice until I got an eagle and it’s done.”

In your business, ask yourself if you’re being a duck or an eagle.

In Life:

I know it’s weird to use a life example for the business section and a business example for the life section, but I’m controlling my inner perfectionist and going with it.

In the TV series Mad Men, Don Draper is having trouble with a client and fellow partner Roger Sterling keenly observes, “You’re not good at relationships because you don’t value them.”

That’s it.  You go the extra mile for things you value without giving it a second thought.  You polish the fine silver, you get your best canine friend the memory-foam dog bed instead of the cheaper version, and you make back-ups of the back-ups of your computer hard drive with all your family photos.

Decide which relationships you truly value and it will be easy to go the extra mile.

So remember…

It’s never crowded along the extra mile.

— Dr. Wayne Dyer

To worry is to pray for what you don’t want.

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Like most of us, I’m prone to worrying.  Keep this little gem in your mental back pocket and use it when you sense yourself getting carried away.

In Business:

I mentioned before the concept of your mind being a “reality projector.”  Worry is an endless loop of negative movies played over and over in your mind.

Having a worrisome, fear-based, scarcity mindset in your business is not a recipe for success.  What’s the best way to overcome it?  Here’s what I’ve found works best for me:

1.  Set an overall business goal.

2.  Divide it into smaller, milestone goals that you’ll reach along the way, like rungs on a ladder.

3.  Focus only on the action you need to take to get to the next rung.

4.  Don’t look up at all the rungs you have left to climb, and don’t look down at how high you are, either.  Just check your progress and take the next “action step” to advance one rung.

In Life:

Eliminate worry by dividing all events into two categories: things you can control and things you can’t.

With things you can control, stop the worry by actually doing something about it — even a small step.  Action dissolves worry.  It’s like flipping the closet switch to reveal there really is no monster.

When it comes to the other category, things you can’t control, you need to accept the fact it’s out of your hands.  Any energy you put into wishing it were otherwise is a complete waste.

Accepting the way things are will help you make peace with them.

So remember…

To worry is to pray for what you don’t want.

— Dr. Deepak Chopra

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