Humans are emotional beings.  We cannot escape the impact our emotions have in our lives, but we can learn to recognize when emotions are clouding our judgement or keeping us from recognizing the truth.  

As entrepreneurs, it is very important for us to understand how to use emotion, but also how to recognize when it is leading us down the wrong path or to bad decisions.  This is part of emotional inteliigence.  Remember, emotions are always there and driving our actions and decisions - so it is best that we go to work in becoming masters at recognizing and using them to our advantage.  The most important thing is not to allow our emotions drive us into making double standards or justifying things that are not right, just because we want a certain outcome.

You see a lot of examples of this, especially in places like politics.  For example, as I write this, there is another political scandal going on, this time with President Joe Biden having taken classified documents and stored them in places like his garage when he was a Vice President.  The law says he cannot do that.  But, many people and pundits that are "on his side" are finding ways to justify it or play it down while at the same time saying Donald Trump should go to jail for the same things.  Donald Trump was President when he took documents and had the power to declassify, which a VP does not, but it is not clear yet if he did.  Either way, if they broke the law in handling documents, the response should be the same and they should both be prosecuted according to the law, President or not.  But emotion gets in the way.  When it is "your guy or gal," it is OK and people find a way to justify bad behavior.  This is creating a double standard or avoiding the truth.  A spade is a spade.

This happens in business all the time whether it is with how some employees are treated or when leaders justify breaking rules and principles to succeed.  

So, what is the answer for entrepreneurs when we operate in a world like this?

First, we must know and understand our principles.  What are yours?  Have you ever really thought about them?  Have you written them down?  What are the lines that you will not cross for anything - not for money, power, fame, success, etc?  We must know our principles and stand for them and on them.

Second, we must learn to recognize when emotions are taking over and clouding our logic and stop this from happening.  This is not easy, but just about everyone has had times where they know emotions got the best of them.  It is at these times that we can reflect and understand how this happened and prepare ourselves not to let it happen again or at least the same way.  It is a constant lifelong work in progress, but if we keep rooted in principles, it is much easier because they guide us.  When you get really good, you learn to stop, ask, and choose.  When you feel emotion taking over,  you can stop yourself in the moment and ask yourself, "Is this the action or reaction I want to have in this situation?  Does it align with my principles?"  Then you can choose to move forward to change the action or reaction you were going to have to the best one for the situation.  

Third and lastly, recognize those around you who do not operate with integrity and principles and remove them from your world.  This will take away temptation, but also help you find the those that are true to themselves and better for your life anyway.

As stated prior, emotions will always be a part of our lives and drive us.  There are times where it makes great sense to use them to help in life and business and there are times where we must keep them in check.  Learning how to do this for yourself will be one of the best things you can do to help your success.

Each year I choose a motto to live by.  It is something that embodies how I want my year to go, but is short and to the point.  

Each day, I read this motto as part of my perrsonal growth routine and I look at all the areas I can work it into my daily life.  

This year, I wanted to get back to basics and I asked myself, "What really matters and where should I focus myself?"  In thinking through this I arrived at the following:

Sound Mind, Sound Body, Do Great Work

If I do those 3 things, I know I will have the year I want, but what do they mean?

Sound mind means to grow myself in knowledge and spiritually.  Sound body means to take care of myself physically, but also with how I eat and to limit or remove stressors on the body such as sugar and alcohol.  Good rest and a regular schedule are also needed for both a sound mind and a sound body.  

Do "great" work is a distinction.  Don't just do good work.  Ensure that the work you do is great and you are your best for it.  It means that I will have to strive and focus to be at the top of my game in all my endeavors to achieve greatness.  And it also means that I must help others that work with me to play at their best levels as well.

Have you thought of a motto for how you want your year to go?  If not, take some time and do so.  Write it down and start each day reading it as part of your personal growth routine.  You will be surprised at how it will impact you!

The New Year is right around the corner.  Are you ready?  If you are honest, probably not.  More importantly, are you ready in your business?  Probably not there as well.  

While the holidays are time-consuming and there is a lot going on, we still need to stop and take some focused time to prepare ourselves to succeed in the New Year.  Over the years, I've put together a short, but important checklist to prepare for each New Year.  In a few simple steps, you can get yourself ready and think through the most important items to ensure you succeed. 
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Here's your year end checklist!

1.)  Conduct an honest self-assessment

Take the time to conduct an honest self-assessement of where you are and where you want to be in all areas of your life from welath to health, relationships, etc.  This will help you understand the gaps and what you need to do to reach where you want to be.

2.)  Decide what to "keep, kill, or delgate"

Once you know what you need to do to reach where you want to be, then you must put yourself in the best position to succeed in doing so.  To do this, you will need to decide which things you need to keep doing and add into your life, which things you need to get rid of and/or stop doing and which things you should delegate to others. 

3.) Plan, Plan, Plan

Once you have determined what is needed to get you where you want to go and the things to focus on or delegate to get you there, you need to plan to make it happen.  This means putting in your daily, weekly, and monthly actions that you will need to do consistently to reach your goals.  Do no get overwhelmed by this.  Remember, people overestimate what they can do in a week and underestimate what they can do in a year.  Play the long game.  Planning gives you the actions needed to succeed, so you don't have to think or procrastinate.  You just get up every day and start executing.  

4.)  Resolve to constantly evaluate what is working and what is not

Just because you decided to "Keep, kill or delegate" once does not mean you are done.  You should evaluate, at least monthly, what is working and what is not so you can refine and get even better.

There you have it, a 4-step checklist to end the year successfully and start the New Year on right foot!

Do you know what the biggest killer of dreams is?  It is not outside circumstances or lack of talent or lack of knowledge.  The biggest killer of dreams is worry and fear.  

What do you worry about?  What is constantly on your mind?  What eats at you day and night?  How is it impacting you?   

Whatever you are worried about or fearful of, chances are it will never come to fruition - but it can be a great excuse not to move forward or step out of your comfort zone.  The worry and fear will keep you in the same place if you let them.  That is why they are the killers of dreams.  Because in order to reach your dreams and reach new heights - you will have to push beyond your worries and fear.  And to many, that is very scary. 

What if?  What if? What if?  When you even attempt to push through these things, you will find yourself in the "What if?" stage where you come up with every possible scenario that can go wrong if you push through the worry and fear.  But, what if you did and things went right?  Where would you be?  What could you accomplish if you did not have the worry and fear?

We are pre-wired to focus on the negative and make that the more possible outcome in our lives which is just plain wrong.  We must focus on the positive outcome as that is just as possible or many times, even more possible than the negative outcome.  

For just once, focus on the positive outcome of going for your dreams.  List out all the wonderful things that would happen if you reached them.  Then pick one action you can take toward them.  Set aside the worry and the fear.  They will be there, but take one action toward your dream.  Then once you've done that, take one more action.  Each time, you accomplish one action, pick a new one and keep going.  You'll be amazed at what happens when you focus on reaching your goal one action at a time and how it can eliminate the worry and fear that stands in your way.

I have always like the Stoic philosophy because it is about individual responsibility and choice - and the ability to endure.  Stoicism is a pursuit of self-mastery and wisdom.  Many of history's greatest minds including people like George Washington sought out the philosophy and studied it.  It is also interesting how many of the same philosophies exist in the Bible, especially in Proverbs.  

We would all do well to follow some of the Stoic philosophy in our lives.  Here are 10 quotes to make you think from top Stoics.

I love Parkinson's Law.  It is the ultimate time management lesson - if you heed it and do the opposite.

Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."  This means that whatever the work that needs to be done, it will take the time allotted for it.  So, if you have something that needs to be done in 3 weeks, it will take you 3 weeks to do it.  It's the perfect definition of procrastination. 

Once you understand Parkinson's Law, it will teach you how to mazmimize your time.  The way to do so is to schedule your work with deadlines shorter than the time alotted for completion.  This will allow you to be exponentially more effective and get more done in less time.  For example, if you have 3 weeks to get something done, schedule it to be completed in 1 week and then go to work.  It forces you to have to be more efficient and productive with your time.  

Just imagine how much more you can get done if you are focused and cutting the time down to accomplish things by 50% or better.  Where could you be 1 month from now?  Two months?  A year?  

Right now, there is a little less than 2 months to the end of year.  What if you started applying this principle today?  How strong could you finish the year?  You may even be able to accomplish goals you didn't think were going to be possible.  This is how you finish the year strong and keep getting stronger.  Make it your mission to defeat Parkinson's Law and watch how much your success improves!

As an entrepreneur, it is hard to succeed without having a great team.  Depending on your business, your team may be large or small or even outsourced, but it is still a team nonetheless.  And ensuring that your team is working in the best way possible is critical.

But, how do you know that your team is functioning at maximum effectiveness?  Over the years, I've found that there are 3 signs of a great team.  

1.)  They are respectfully, brutally honest.  

Great teams are respectful of each other, but are not afraid to hold each other accountable and be brutally honest with each other.  They do this because they care and genuinely want to see everyone on the team and the business succeed.  

2.)  They are on the same page marching in the same direction.

Great teams operate in lock step, not in silos.  They all believe in the mission and vision.  They are all in on the goals for the company and are clear on their role in helping to reach them.  The work as a unit and ensure that they are meeting and exceeding their responsibilities.  They are driven and focused.

3.)  They understand the bigger picture.

Great teams not only understand each person's role, but they understand how it fits into the bigger picture.  Thus they are hungry to ensure that they do their best as an individual or leader, but also do everything possible to help those around them be their best.  The know they are part of creating something great and are dedicated to making it a reality.

When you build a team, whether with employees, partners, or outsourcing, you should do your best to apply these principles and foster them.  Let people know you respect them and want their honest feedback.  Make sure everyone is on the same page for the mission, vision and goals.  Show them the bigger picture and how what they do has a big impact on reaching it.  Communicate these things consistently over time and you will build a great team.

No one is perfect.  We all develop habits that may not neccessarily be the best for us.  This typically happens over time and eventually those bad habits can affect our lives and businesses.  

But, the good news is you change things.  You can choose to move away from these bad habits and put yourself on an even better path.  

Several years ago, I interview Tom Ziglar, Zig Ziglar's son and now the CEO of Ziglar Training.  We got into a great discussion about habits in our lives and how they impact us.  I asked him, "What is the best way to stop a bad habit?"  He paused and then said, "The best way to stop a bad habit is to replace it with a good one."  I loved the simplicity of that answer and it makes complete sense.  All you have to do is start developing a good habit and stop doing the bad one and the good one will eventually take its place.  

Now, sometimes that is easier said than done because, as they say, "Old habits die hard."  But, they can die.  And creating a new better habit is the first and best step to replacing them.  It doesn't mean you won't have to work at it or will not fall prey to the old bad habit, but if you can incrementally get better and increase the new good habit in your life, eventually the old one will fade away.

Imagine if just for one year, you picked bad habits in your life and replaced them with a good ones.  Where would you be 1 year from now?  How would your life change?  How much more successful could you be? 

Try it.  Start today.  Choose the habit you want to replace and choose the new habit you want to replace it with.  You'll be amazed where you are even a week from now.    

How bad do you want it?  How bad do you want to achieve your goal or goals?  Do you wake up every day energized and determined to make it?  Do have a burning fire inside you that will not let you stop or quit - almost like an obsession of reaching the levels you aspire to?

If you do, you have what you need to reach your goals.  The #1 thing that determines whether you will reach your goals is the deep burning desire to reach them.  A desire so strong that nothing can quelch it.  It is desire that drives you and moves you every day to keep going not stopping until you have achieved the goals you want.  

But, how do you get "desire?"  Can it be coached?  Is it something you just have to have?  It's really a little bit of both.  Coaching desire is really helping someone or yourself fully understand what you want and gain clarity around it.  But, the other piece is that once you are clear on what you want - you cannot stop thinking about what you need to do to get it.  You cannot stop working at it and finding ways to make it a reality.  You innovate and work through problems.  You use adversity to your favor to fuel the fire to reach the goal even more.  You have to want it and want it bad.  As noted above, in some ways, it becomes an obsession - albeit a healthy one.  

If you've ever read Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill, he states that the secret of the book is right there for you throughout the book.  That secret is to have a "burning desire" for something.  If you have a true burning desire, you cannot help but go after what you want.  And you will know it if you don't, because you won't wake up each day thinking of every way possible to get it.

What is it you really truly want?  Think deep and hard on it.  What is the thing that sticks in the back of your mind more than anything else?  Better yet, what is it that you know you should be doing and maybe are too scared to step out of the comfort zone and do - but you can't stop thinking about?  Figure it out, follow your desire to get it and let it take you to whole new possibilities.  

I saw a great thread the other day on Twitter discussing how to be extremely productive and the steps to do so.  It was posted by @Copywriting_Dad and I wanted to give you his advice.  You can view the tweet at https://twitter.com/Copywriting_Dad/status/1579811799041728512, but here it is below.

1. Start your day early 

Fix your schedule to wake up at 5 AM

This'll help you key in 3 hours to day

Adopt a morning routine that’ll keep you motivated during the day

• Set a timer
• Drink a litre of water
• Have a morning walk
• Read a book you've planned

2. Interrupt distractions as they occur 

Before you settle for any focused work, modify your environment

Do this;

• Set timer before undertaking tasks
• Turn off notifications 
• Focus on a single task

This'll scale your productivity 2x better

3. Work during your peak hour

Identify when and what get you energized.

During your peak hour; 

• Tackle the hardest task.
• Improve the work system

Work on improving the efficiency on undertaking your tasks.

4. Plan before

Spend 20 minutes in your evening to make a list of 3 most important tasks.

Do this;

• Pick a pen and a paper
• Write down all activities to undertake
• Cancel out the most important to be left with 3+

Have your plan run in 1 day, 100 days and 1000 days.

5. Write a daily to-do-list

Make your to do list short and actionable 

Make it;

• More specific
• Have a sense of urgency
• Simplified with digestible tasks

A to-do list act as a roadmap to task completion.

6. Avoid multitasking 

Focus your attention on one goal at a time.

This helps you;

• Get less overwhelmed 
• Boost your productivity

Energy flow where is directed.

7. Learn how to build flow state 

Finish minute tasks 

How to create flow state;

• Pick a task
• Set a timer(50 minutes)
• Aim at short term target 
• Get rid of distractions 
• Take 10 minutes break 
• Repeat until you finish the task

8. Set deadlines 

You work 5x faster with deadlines.

If you set a deadline for 4 hours, it'll get done in 4 hours.

Do this;

• Know what you want to achieve 
• Get what you need
• Set aside time 

Deadlines help you measure outcome and improve your systems.

9. Learn how to boost your mood

When you feel overwhelmed, do activities to cheer you up

Do this;

• Take a cold/warm lavender shower 
• Prepare a cup of coffee/green tea
• Take breaks and regular walks
• Free dance to your favourite song 

What gets you in the mood?