Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak

What's Your Word of the Year for 2009?

Christine Kane has a new take on new year’s resolutions. Instead of setting resolutions (which don’t work for most of us), she advises to pick a word that resonates with us and use that as your word to build your year around.

I can do that, and you can too!

So sit softly and think about what your word will be. Maybe it’ll take you 5 minutes, maybe it’ll take you 5 hours, but sit quietly and think about it.

Here’s my 2 words:

Receive (not take)

Acceptance (not settle)

Let me explain them so I understand them better myself.

Receive

When I think about where I am in my life, I realize that I have been a giver my whole life. My parents got divorced when I was 7 years old, and my mom worked a LOT to keep 3 boys fed and in clothes. I always felt like I should do whatever I could to take care of my 2 younger brothers. I always gave all I could. I still do.

This year, I’m going to receive some of the blessings that come my way, instead of saying “no thank you.”

I always felt like this was taking. I realize now this is receiving. Receiving what others want to bless you with is a blessing to the giver…and to the receiver.

Wow, major awareness for me!

In 2009, I am going to receive more.

Acceptance

I firmly believe people are capable of achieving as much as they want to do. And intellectually, I’ve always known people are not as capable of achievement as me. I know I am a very fortunate person, that I have a ton of stamina, and that if I set my mind to something, I am determined to make it happen. I am not bragging, I just know this from all the year’s of standardized tests I’ve taken and all the year’s of comparison against my classmates. I always heard I had a lot of potential (with the exception of a few folks who told me that I couldn’t, and then I would prove them wrong. But I digress.).

I thought everyone heard that they had a lot of potential.

I realize now that is not true. Not everyone hears how much potential they have. Some people heard “You might make it if you try hard enough.” Others might have heard “You don’t have any potential.” Or worse, they heard “You’re a loser and you’re never going to amount to anything.”

I’m not saying any of these things are or are not true about you. I am just saying that for me, I need to accept that not everyone is me. Not everyone wants to be me. Not everyone can be me.

I am me, and you are you, and I am okay with that.

I’m not settling on your potential, or on mine. I am just accepting that we all have different styles, different skills, different abilities, and different things that make us tick.

Like I said, intellectually, I always got this. I love Marcus Buckingham and his ideas on strengths-based leadership. I lead this way. I just didn’t accept it as truth for me.

In 2009, I am going to accept the truth more.

Questions for you:

What is your word of the year for 2009?

Where are you going to put your attention?

I’d love it if you’d leave a comment here, but it’s more important to me that you find something powerful for you to focus your energy on.

Make it a GREAT 2009!

Buddha’s hand courtesy of rumpleteaser

How Are You Measuring Success?

As 2008 draws to a close, I find myself thinking about how I’m measuring my year. It’s been quite a year for me, so I’m measuring it in a very unique way.

Want to know how I measure success?

Click over to How Are You Measuring Success? that I wrote for Joyful Jubilant Learning last week.

Yardstick courtesy of Pink Moose

Free Ebook: Using the Social Web to Find a Job

Chris Brogan is one of my favorite people on the planet, because he is always finding ways to help make the world a better place. I’ve written about him plenty before, and I will probably write about him again in the future because he’s worth sharing with you. If you don’t already subscribe to his blog, or don’t already have him bookmarked, I hope you will in 2009.

His newest helpful giveaway is a free ebook called Using the Social Web to Find a Job. Go and download it today, even if you’re not looking for work, and put what you learn from Chris into practice. It’s full of stuff you can do to make your life even greater.

Thanks Chris for putting this together! I hope this reaches those who need it.

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hope you have a fantastic Christmas this year! Here's a little dance from me, to you, where ever you are!

Design Your Best Year EVER!

One of my favorite magazines is Success Magazine. OK, it’s actually the ONLY magazine I read cover to cover every month. The articles are insightful, and they include a “dual disc” which is a CD on one side and a DVD on the other side.

The publisher of the magazine is Darren Hardy, and he has a new product out called Design Your Best Year Ever, which has many insights Darren has gleaned over his years of studying and experiencing the world. Darren’s mentor is Jim Rohn, an amazing individual if ever there was one.

If you’ve been reading Make It Great! for even a small amount of time, you know how important I feel goals are in achieving the life I want to live, and how important they can be for you to live the life you want to live.

I have a copy of this program, and it is outstanding! For just $19.97, you can get a copy of this wonderful program. Complete with a workbook where you can take notes and make this YOUR goals guide for the next 12 months and beyond, this would make a wonderful gift for anyone in your life looking to make it great!

Want to learn more? Check out a short promotional video here.

Go ahead and Design Your Best Year Ever today! You deserve to live a great life and to achieve great things!

Navigating Through Volatile Times

Note from Phil: This is a wonderful guest article from Andrew J. Sherman, author of Road Rules: Be The Truck. Not the Squirrel. As this year comes to a close, this is the perfect article (and the perfect book) for you to pick up and think about for 2009. I hope you enjoy this article.

Navigating Through Volatile Times

These are volatile and unpredictable times for all of us.  The forecasts for 2009 and beyond are murky at best and we all need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

In my book, Road Rules:  Be The Truck.  Not The Squirrel.  I discuss the twelve (12) strategies for navigating the highway of life.  In Chapter 8, the road rule known as “Be An All Weather Driver” is discussed and focuses on the need for all of us, regardless of our professions, our family situations, our unique assets or our special challenges to be ready to drive down the road of life during all types of weather conditions.  To expect or assume that you will always get to drive on a clear or sunny day is a misnomer and will leave you unprepared for the challenges that life brings to us everyday.  The weather in our lives will never remain constant and we are all suffering from what has been the “perfect storm” on an economic front.

The skills and discipline to understand how adverse weather conditions affect your path in life is critical to both survival and success.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  You will not always have a warning sign when weather conditions change quickly and you will need to adjust your driving style accordingly.  The ability to adjust your driving skills and the characteristics of your vehicle to current weather conditions is also a metaphor for how you need to live your life.  We put snow tires or even chains on our vehicles to adjust to snow and ice in the harsh winters and then take them off when Spring approaches. 

What adjustments do you need to make to your outlooks, perspectives and actions as weather conditions or seasons in your life change?

The successful people that I know and respect are durable and flexible.  They avoid “one trick ponyism” and pay careful attention to weather and road conditions and adjust accordingly.  They instinctively know when it is okay to drive faster on a clear and open road and when to slow down when navigating an icy downhill path.  Others seem to have been built to move at only one pace – they travel only at high speed and eventually crash and burn or move too slowly and the opportunities pass them by.  Others often carry cargo which is either too far ahead of its time or which is stale, rotten or obsolete by the time it reaches its destination.

As discussed in Road Rules, being the truck and not the squirrel depends on your willingness to be decisive as part of your commitment to being an all weather driver.  Trucks have drivers that are willing to make decisions fairly quickly and be accountable for the results of their decisions, good or bad.  They neither make decisions too quickly nor vacillate until it is truly too late.  They are trained to understand the consequences of their actions (or inactions).  Colin Powell said “if you have less than 40% of the information you need to make a decision, then it is probably too soon.  If you have more than 70%, it is probably too late.”  General George S. Patton said “a good plan passionately executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”  These were both generals who understood the difference between losing a battle and winning the war.

Being a truck demands that your decision-making systems (who makes decisions, how they are made, when they are made and what adjustments are made in response to road blocks) must allow for (and tolerate) lost battles as long as the focus long-term is on winning the war.

In our travels down the road of life, we will encounter winter driving conditions (some of us more than others).  There is no safe speed when driving on snow and ice.  Every stretch of highway will appear differently depending on the time of day, the temperature, the severity and intensity of the snow, the angle of the sun, the degree of salting and road treatment, etc. – but you can be assured that it will be dangerous.  You will need to adjust your driving style and provide more space between you and the other drivers.  You will need to start slowing down sooner before you come to an intersection or make a turn.  You will need to keep special supplies on hand in the event that you get stuck or the weather intensifies.  You must take the time to really get a feel for the roadway and test your brakes from time to time to find out how well you can stop.  Your critical fluids – anti-freeze, gasoline, oil and windshield fluid should all be filled to capacity.

Stormy weather conditions may mislead you into thinking that you are reaching your destination faster than you really are and that the challenges may increase as you get closer to home.  There is a difference between moving forward and just spinning your wheels in snow or ice.  You may be applying the same pressure to the accelerator, but are not making any forward progress.

Think about the challenges and situations in your career or at home that are akin to driving in snow and ice – did you adjust your driving style?  Will you next time?  Or did you skid out of control, with your driving wheels losing traction on the pavement, only to glide left or right but certainly not forwards?

Be an all-weather driver.

• Know how to adjust your speed and style to the road conditions which lie ahead.
• Plan.
• Prepare.
• Adjust.
• Keep Moving Forward, Not Side to Side.
• Don’t get caught driving too fast or too hard on a surface with thin ice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew J. Sherman is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Dickstein Shapiro LLP, with over 400 attorneys nationwide.  Mr. Sherman is a recognized international authority on the legal and strategic issues affecting small and growing companies.  Mr. Sherman is an Adjunct Professor in the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University where he has taught courses on business growth, capital formation and entrepreneurship for over twenty (20) years.  Mr. Sherman is the author of seventeen (17) books on the legal and strategic aspects of business growth and capital formation.  His eighteenth (18th) book, Road Rules Be the Truck.  Not the Squirrel is an inspirational book which was published in the Fall of 2008.  Mr. Sherman can be reached at 202-420-5000 or e-mail ShermanA@dicksteinshapiro.com.

7 Things I Will Achieve in 2009

My friend Yvonne DiVita tagged me in a very fun article 7 Things I Would Never Tell My Mother. I don’t know what I would or wouldn’t tell my mom, so I thought I’d take a new twist on it, and share 7 things I want to achieve in 2009.

1. I will publish my second book by March 15th, 2009 call the Help Desk Manager’s Crash Course Guide. I’ll be sharing more of this in the coming months, but for now, just now that many of the management musings I’ve made here on Make It Great! and at Slacker Manager will be expanded upon for this new book. I’m speaking in Las Vegas the first full week of April, so this MUST be done, and I am excited that I get to do this with my good buddy Jeff Brooks.
2. I will launch at least 3 new websites with more focused content, one on branding for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and one on lifelong learning, and one as a companion site to my new book.
3. I will read and review at least 20 new books. I read more than 20 in 2008, but I didn’t review as many as I wanted to, which means I didn’t do as deep a dive into my learning as I wanted to, and I didn’t share as much as I wanted to.
4. I will perform at least 15 keynote speeches in 2009. This year I performed 12, and I’m aiming for a 25% increase in 2009, no easy task as I have a full-time job in addition to my speaking business.
5. I will publish at least 2 new ebooks to share with you.
6. I will connect with 50 new people in person.
7. I will attend and implement at least 3 training courses.

If you want to achieve more in 2009, please consider yourself tagged. Publicly declaring my goals has helped me achieve many things I didn’t believe were possible before.

What will you achieve in 2009?

Get Inspired! 40 speeches in 2 minutes

Amazing what folks can do if they're inspired to do it. Matthew Belinkie must have spent a LOT of time editing this down to just 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

Invest the next 2:15 and watch this video. Then go do something to make it great!

Want Your Next 12 Months to be Your Best 12 Months Ever?

Phil Gerbyshak and Kevin Eikenberry making it great!

Of course you do! Who wouldn’t? I know I do!

Join my friend and colleague (and best selling author) Kevin Eikenberry this Thursday, December 18^th at 2 PM or 9 PM (eastern time) for a free Start Today! Make Your Next 12 Months Your Best 12 Months teleseminars. Click here to sign up.

During this 75-minute call you will be handed all the tools to develop a plan for making the next 12 months of your life the best you've ever experienced. You will learn:

• 26 key questions to help you create your desired future
• Answers to the critical "yes, but" questions people ask about their success
• The Next 12 Months Best 12 Months Formula
• The leverage point of your future success
• 3 ways to get the help and support you need
• 3 specific types of learning that will help you accelerate your progress
• 7 habits to set or adjust for maximum success
• AND...the FAIL SAFE FIRST STEP

Click here to get the details, register and lock it into your calendar.

It will be the most valuable 75 minutes you spend on your future.

Scared of Santa: Sunday Off-Topic

 

My local paper has a great online only section called Scared of Santa, full of pictures of kids who are obviously afraid of Santa. Some even bring Mrs. Claus into the action.

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry about this, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide. Scared of Santa. Coming to a child near you!