2021 is under way and if you are like me, you have been strategizing on how to make it your best year yet, no matter what gets in your way.  As I have been planning and starting the year acting on my plans, one thing that has become apparent is how important it is to be focused this year.  And when I say focused, I mean making sure that I really understand and know the things that work and drive the results needed to meet my goals, and stay focused on them.

For that, I use the 80/20 Rule.  The rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts or activities.  And many times, it  is more like the 90/10 or even 95/5 rule.  But, that begs the question and the one you should be asking - "What are my 20% activities?"  

The answer will give you the places you need to focus and double down on your efforts.  So, as you get going into this year, take some very serious and focused time to really analyze the actions and activities you take in your life and determine which ones make the most difference and drive the most results in reaching your goals.

Then, put those into action, double down on them.  Cut out the noise and shiny objects.  Work at them, make them better, and don't stop.  Many people think success is this flashy thing, but it's not.  It's not Hollywood or what you see on TV.  Success is really disciplined, consistent focused application of the 80/20 Rule.  It's lather, rinse, repeat.  In fact, sometimes, it can be downright boring - but who cares if you are reaching your goals and dreams that you aspire to.  It doesn't matter if it looks good or flashy - it matters if you reach the goal or not.   

​Put the 80/20 Rule to work for you and go make it happen!

If you are sport fan like me, you've no doubt gotten pretty excited when you favorite team is "on a roll."  You know what I mean.  They seem to have it all going well for them.  They are scoring at will.  Everything the other team tries doesn't seem work.  In short, your team has all the momentum.

This is very easy to see in sports and it's also amazing to watch the changes in momentum in the course of a single game.

Entrepreneurship is the same.  We go through and ebb and flow of momentum on a daily, weekly, or even annual basis.  Many entrepreneurs fail to notice these momentum swings as they are so mired in the business and day to day.  Because of this, they are missing out on one of their biggest secret weapons - taking advantage of and fostering momentum throughout their organization to help them be more successful.

Momentum is contagious.  Even watching a sports game on television, you can feel it.  You can feel it happening, the energy around it, the good feelings, the excitement, and so on.  Think about how you feel when your team is on a roll.  Think about how strong and powerful they seem and how you tap into that.  They are like a soaring eagle.

It's the same thing in your business.  When you business gets on a roll and has momentum, it's up to you as the leader tap into it and foster the energy and excitement throughout the organization.  Momentum is contagious, as long as people are aware and have the ability to tap into it.  It's your job as a leader to help spread momentum throughout your organization and make it known.  The more engaged people are into momentum to longer last and more successful it will be.

Conversely, when you feel momentum slowing down, you need to do everything in your power as a leader to regain or find the next opportunity for momentum.  You should always be on the lookout for your next momentum driver or inspiration.  

If you make it a point to foster momentum in your organization on a consistent basis, you'll tap into a secret weapon that many entrepreneurs miss and find yourself and your business more successful.

Get out there and get momentum!

The other day it snowed a lot overnight.  Aside from waking up to a cold morning and taking in the sight of the fresh fallen snow on the trees and all around, I didn't think too much of it.  I had to get to work.

About mid-day, my daughter came into my office and ask if she could go play outside in the snow.  I said, "Of course" and we got her all bundled up to go outside.  My office has a big window that faces out onto the front of our acreage and I could see my daughter playing and having a blast with her sled and other things in the snow - by herself.  She was having a great time.

I was in the middle of wrapping up some things for the day and could have done more.  There is always more to do, right?

But, instead, I decided to play.  I threw my winter clothes on and surprised her outside.  For the next hour, we did sled races, built snowmen, ran around with the dog - basically, all the fun you could have.  I forgot about any work, but towards the end watching her and the dog run around, a was struck by inspiration.  I had been working on solving a business problem earlier in the day and couldn't quite get it right. 

But, by just taking some time to play and get away from things for a bit, the answer became very clear.  It was almost too easy.

We often forget how important it is for us to take time away, even during the day, and give our minds a break.  More importantly, we often forget how important it is for us to play and have fun in our lives - and how that can translate to even more success.

Make sure you take time to play and give yourself and your mind a break - daily if you can do it.  You'll have less stress, give your mind a break, and most importantly, find that playing will help you be more successful and prosperous in all areas of your life.  I wouldn't trade those moments with my kiddo for anything!

As we get into the end of the year and the holidays, I think we all welcome some real downtime.  A break from it all.  A break from the pandemic, a break from the rigorous day to day to keep business going, and a break from social media, the news - the bombardment of life.

This year will offer us a good opportunity to take that break, even if it is for just a few days or so.  And when that time comes, it's always nice to lose yourself in a good book.

With that said, here are 3 of my favorites to enjoy during your break.

 Top Fiction Book 

I have really enjoyed delving into the James Rollins Sigma Force series of books this year.  If I had to describe them, they are part Indiana Jones, part Jason born.  And they are also "faction," and this is what I love most about James - he meticulously researches to find truth from history and science and builds an awesome story around it.  I am always amazed at how much of the things in his books are true.  So, not only are the stories/adventures page turners, I get to learn things as well.  His latest book is called the Last Odyssey and is the book I started with before going back and starting the series from the beginning.  The nice thing about the Last Odyssey is that you don't need to read the series to understand what is going on, so it is a great place to start.  But, if you want to start from the first book, pick up Sandstorm.  The "opening scene" of the book is awesome.

Top Non-Fiction Book 

My top non-fiction book for the year is The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather.  It is about the man who volunteered to go into the Auschwitz death camp and bring it down from the inside.  I have mentioned this book before, not just because of how amazing the story is and how well written the book is, but because of what you will learn about what really happened in the Nazi death camps and get a healthy dose of reality and lessons for life.  This book is not for the faint of heart, but is a must read.

Top Book to Make You Think 

My top book for making your thinking and looking at society in a different way is The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad.  I admit, I recently started this book, but it is already incredible.  It is all about how easily common sense can be destroyed by "idea pathogens" in our live and what we can do about it.  It really helps you to better understand reason and become a better independent thinker.  Dr. Gad Saad is one of the top behavioral science and marketing thinkers of our time.

Anything can be learned.  I'm serious.  Anything.  

If you want to be a rocket scientist, you can learn to be one.  If you want to learn how to pilot a plane, you can learn how.  If you want to learn how to be a better entrepreneur, you can do that too.

So, then, why if anything can learned, do so few reach their goals, dreams, or new heights to which they aspire?

One word, Desire.  They lack the desire, the will, to do what it takes to learn the things they need to learn to reach the goal.  They don't want it bad enough and thus are not willing to put in the time, effort, sacrifice needed to learn.  Anything can be learned - we just really don't want to learn it.

I'm reminded of a great quote by Robert Heinlein, ​“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

He's right - specialization is for insects.  We can and should learn to be much more than we are today.  All it takes is a little desire, will, discipline, and commitment.  

Look at your life and ask, "Is this it? Is this all I am destined for?"  I think you know the answer.  You have so much capability and personal power waiting to be unleashed.  Don't waste it or the time you have.  

Anything can learned, so get learning, and put it into action!

The habits we have in our lives shape us, our lives, and our success.  I once asked Zig Ziglar's son, Tom Ziglar, "What is the fastest way to success?"  His answer was, "The fastest path to success is to replace a bad habit with a good habit."  It's that simple.  You pick a bad habit, replace it with a good habit, and then cement.  You can then move on to the next.  Think about if you did this multiple times in the course of a year - where would you be?  You'd be in a completely different place that you are today.

So, with all that said, here are 3 habits you can start doing today that will make a major difference in your life.

Journaling

You've no doubt heard about the power of writing things down and journaling.  Many of the most successful people in their fields do this every day.  Why?  Because it works.  When you write things down and get your thoughts out of you on paper - it helps you to crystalize them and get them in order so they aren't just bouncing around in your head.  Taking 5-10 mins a day to write your thoughts down will help you be better organized, know what to prioritize, help you to know yourself better, and help you be more successful.  My favorite tool for helping someone do this is the 5 Minute Journal.  It makes it easy by giving you the structure, so you don't even have to think.  And it takes 5 minutes to do each day!  Click Here to Get a Copy! 

​Consistent Sleep

This is an easy.  Start going to bed and waking up at the same times each day.  Set your times and adhere to them, even on weekends if you can.  Studies have shown that your quality of sleep directly affects your energy levels and mental capacity.  By going to bed and waking up at the same times each day, you create a habit of consistency for your body and its sleep rhythms that will help you be more rested, have more energy, and be more alert and on your game each day.

Commit to Personal Growth

You know this one, but it bears repeating because you can do it today.  They say you are the sum of the 5 people you hang out with.  I like to take that further by saying you are not just the sum of those you hang out with, but of the books you read and the things you put into your mind.  And if you don't take the time to put anything into it, you cannot learn, grow, and get better.  If you want to increase your success levels, you must grow yourself.  Start small - pick one new book to read a quarter.  Then maybe one per month, and go from there.  Listen to podcasts like the Misfit Entrepreneur or take courses on things like Udemy.  Whatever you do, commit to a personal growth plan.  As Jim Rohn said, "Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you rich!" 

The Halloween season wouldn't be complete without a post about skeletons!  

But the skeletons I want to talk about today are different.  They are your business' skeletons.

Business skeletons?  What are those?

Your business skeletons are the things that you know have needed fixed or done in your business for a long time, but you have not gotten around to or keep putting off because you can continue operating with them the way they are.  They might a lack of processes or not being buttoned up legally or in accounting.  They could be keeping a line of business that should be removed.  They could also be something that is embarrassing and to confront it would bring it to light.

Business skeletons exist in a lot of different ways and if not dealt with will eventually cause issues and come out.  It's best to confront them head on now, than to wait til later.

What kind of issues can they cause?  Well, let's say you've built a nice business, but have been lax in your contracting with clients and thus have no consistency or even records of contracts in some cases.  If you have a problem with a client you have nothing to go back - no clear set of rules for your relationship.  Or worse yet, maybe you go to sell the business, but have no record of contracts with your clients - the buyer would definitely red flag that and your value would probably not be what you expect.  

Another example is not delegating and creating processes with systems for others to follow.  As your business grows, you will reach a breaking point and could get crushed under the weight of tasks that fall only to you making you a giant bottleneck and limiting the growth of the business.

Every business has skeletons.  The key is to admit it and fix them long before they can become an issue.  Yes, they are often things we don't want to deal with or don't seem as important as the day to day in the business - until they are.  Deal with them now and you'll find it much easier to grow, scale, and succeed!

Every should an advisor or mentor for themselves.  You do not have to pay for these services, although when you do pay, you are much more apt to take it seriously because your money is on the line.  

It is important to seek out the right advisor or mentor for your needs - not just someone with experience.  You need someone who understands you and were you are on your journey of development.  You need someone who understands your business and it's needs not only now, but in the future.  And you need someone willing to work with you on a consistent basis.

Once you find someone that fits the criteria, do everything possible to work with them.  The benefits will be tremendous.  

For example, I mentor a young entrepreneur that has a fast growing startup.  This entrepreneur is very good at a few things in the business, but crafting professional communications is not one of them - at least not yet.  Recently, there was a client contract dispute in which the entrepreneur needed to get an attorney to represent the business in a specific state.  They had no idea what to do and were just going to fire off a couple sentence email that would not have gotten a response.  They knew they needed help.

So, they reached out to me and we crafted the message together.  I shared with them how to address an attorney, how to lay out the facts and desired outcome from retaining their services, and craft a professional message that would get an attorney to respond and work further to potentially represent them.  I saved this entrepreneur hours of time and headache and taught them how they need to approach professionals for their services.  I also walked through the situation with them to see the client's point of view and come up with a plan and solution that when communicated by the attorney would most likely resolve the matter and cost a few hundred bucks at most.  

This type of mentorship can be priceless.  I know it was for me when I started out (how do you think I learned to craft professional messages!)

No matter what stage you are in for your growth and that of your business, you should seek to bring in the best people you can around you to fill your gaps and help you become better in these areas.  Remember, the bigger you grow yourself and your capabilities, the bigger business you can have.

Reach out and seek an advisor (or two), today!

I get to meet, speak to, and work with a lot of top entrepreneurs.  I am always impressed by their ways of thinking, success routines, and the effort they put in to be the best in their business and in serving their clients/markets.

But, still, as good as these people are, they aren't perfect and have to overcome challenges.  Many times, those challenges are self-imposed.  I was thinking about this the other and I started to look at the most common ways I've seen that entrepreneurs sabotage themselves and hurt their success.  Here are 6 of the most common ones.

Self Doubt

This is probably the most prevalent.  Everyone goes through periods of doubting themselves and their abilities, especially entrepreneurs, but the key is someone's ability to pull themselves out of it and not let self-doubt create unnecessary destruction in your life and business.  The first place I always start when I feel self-doubt creeping in is to stop and ask myself if what I am feeling is really true or just an emotional reaction to current events, a bad day, etc.  Usually, it is a temporary outside event or influence that is short lived and in understanding it, I can change my thought patterns and gain perspective so that I don't let it sabotage me.  You can do the same.

Taking on Too Much and Not Delegating

It is sometimes tough for entrepreneurs to truly let go and remove themselves from the day to day tactical needs of their business - but they will not grow or scale unless they do so.  The hardest part is knowing that you can do all of these better and/or faster than those you delegate to, but that is OK.  You will never be able to have the business run for you unless you realize that there is only one of you and that is OK.  Others can get the job done.  They may do it differently, but they will get it done.  Trust in that and empower them.  Let go!

Trust Issue

To go with above, one of the biggest sabotaging habits of entrepreneurs is not trusting the people around them and questioning everything instead of empowering and trusting.  I've see another of great businesses ruined by an owner who could not and would not trust those they have worked hard to bring in to help them.  And typically either ends with good people quitting or leaving or the business owner taking the business down.  If you are going to have a business and grow, you must be willing to trust those you bring into help you.  There is nothing wrong with checking in and verifying things are being done how they are supposed to, but that is leadership, not lack of trust.  Don't fall into this trap.

Financial Literacy

A lot of business owners are incredible at creating and selling their product, but horrible at managing their finances.  I understand.  Financial education is not taught in any real good way in formal education.  Understanding cash flow and how to read a P&L, or how to understand the trends happening in a business is a different kind of financial literacy.  Entrepreneurs need to invest the time to understand the numbers and what they are telling them.  An accountant can easily help educate you on these things and you should self-educate.  I've seen a lot of businesses who are "killing it" fall apart because they could not manage cashflow.  Just because you sell something doesn't mean you have the cash yet and not understanding the expenses required to deliver what you sell can sabotage you very fast.  Get financially literate.

Understanding and Managing Risk

Great entrepreneurs, understand risk and how to use it well in their business.  They practice "asymmetric risks."  These are risks that when taken have a tremendous upside, but small downside.  In other words, if it doesn't work out, the business won't fail.  Many entrepreneurs do the opposite.  They take huge risks where almost all of the risk and consequences are on them if they fail.  They "bet the farm" and many times don't last because of it.  As entrepreneurs, we will always have and many times must take risks, but the key is to make sure they are asymmetrical and that the consequences can be mitigated or overcome if the risk doesn't pan out.  I'd rather take a number of risks and have a few workout very well than take one big risk and it bring me down.  I think you'd agree.

Lack of Focus on Two Key Areas 

Another thing that sabotages entrepreneurs has nothing to do with the business itself.  It is a lack of focus in two key areas:  Physical and Mental Health.  You cannot be your best in your business if you are not at your best physically and mentally.  You need to have the stamina to keep things going and pushing forward in your business and you need the mental capacity to handle all of the things that come your way.  The best entrepreneurs have a daily fitness routine and a daily mental health routine.  And it doesn't need to be anything crazy.  For me, it is my Ironman training every morning and my 10 minute prime that I do where I write our 3 things I am grateful for and my 3 most important things to do for the day, followed by a prayer.  This keeps me grounded, focused, energized, and healthy.  Everyone is different, so you need to figure this out for yourself, but you must figure it out and put it a physical and mental health routine into action in your life.

Avoid these 6 ways of sabotage and you'll find you reach goals even faster and will have a better business for it.

Right now is a very interesting time.  OK, I know that is a duh statement.  But, I don't say it because of everything we are having to do with the Wuhan Coronavirus, I say it because there are a lot of other things happening out there that people aren't paying much attention to.

Most people gloss over when they hear about the US Congress passing trillion dollar spending bills.  That is TRILLIONs.  Just to see it as a number - it looks like this:  $1,000,000,000,000.  There are 1000 billions in a trillion.  Now, where does all that money come from?  Most people, say, "We just print it!"  But, what does that mean?  And what does that mean for your life, your business, your future?

The short answer is that it is all debt - in fact, all dollars in the world are essentially debt.  This has a big impact on you and your life and most people never educate themselves on the ramifications of all of this debt and the printing of more.  More importantly, they need to prepare themselves to be ready for the future consequences of this debt and money printing.  

Below are 5 Books I feel are important for everyone to read before the end of 2020 to help better take control of their financial future and understand money and finance in our world.  Remember, whoever controls the money is in control.

1.)  The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffith

This book is a comprehensive history of central banking in the world and ramifications of it.  If you want to understand money and how it works - and how "we print money out of thin air," this book will educate you better than any.  It reads like a mystery novel and the history is extremely well researched.  It will blow your mind.

2.)  Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

A classic that you may have read.  If not, you should.  In this book, you will learn by savers are losers and your house is not an asset.  

3.)  Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

In my opinion, Robert's first two books go best read back to back.  This book teaches you about how and where to build your wealth.  (Hint:  It is not as an employee).

4.)  The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clayson

Personal finance is not taught in our schools.  I happen to think it is deliberately not taught for a host of reasons - none of them good.  This book, told in the form of a fable, gives you all the basics of personal finance you need.  You can follow it up with some Dave Ramsey books if you want to go further.

5.)  A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

This book covers it all and is great for beginners in investing.  You can follow it up with the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.