Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak

Happy Birthday to ME!

 

Happy birthday to ME! Today, December 2nd, 2008 is my birthday, so I am giving away a free copy of my book 10 Ways to Make It Great to you!

No obligation, just right click here and download it. Of course if you want a hard copy of the book, you can click on 10 Ways to Make It Great and order a copy.

If you’d like to share this with your friends, enemies and blog readers, please share the link to this post, not directly to the ebook, as I will be revising the ebook and the link in the future.

If you've been here for a long time (Make It Great! has been online since March 3, 2005), thank you for your continued readership and friendship.

If this is your first time here, take a look around and see what you can find that interests you.

• Subscribe to Make It Great! via RSS (http://feeds.feedburner.com/makeitgreat). 
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter the Make It Great! Gazette!
• Hire me to speak to your organization

And happy birthday to Stephen Smith too! His birthday was yesterday :)

And happy happy birthday to Steve Sherlock, who shares my birthday!

Happy birthday photo credit to kyz

Make It Great! Wins Dig Your Job Award

I just got an e-mail from GL Hoffman indicating I am a winner of the "Dig Your Job" award! VERY cool! Past winners include Dr. Ellen Weber, Troy Worman, Timothy Johnson, Drew McLellan, Steve Roesler, Robert Hruzek and Dan Schawbel, to name just a few.

What did I do to earn this great award? According to the award page:

All you need to do is start a dialogue how the workplace, something positive. Offer a new posting, feature, idea or article that will help someone. Or you can simply add an idea or a spark to a discussion that is going on here. Or, just share some story that happened to you that might help someone else manage or cope a little bit better.

Cool! I’m glad to help others manager and copy a bit better with the world around them. That’s all I can hope for.

Thanks again for the recognition GL!

Interested in World Domination?

Chris Guillebeau offers a fantastic little manifesto called “A Brief Guide to World Domination,” available as a free PDF download. At 29 pages, it’s hardly all encompassing, but it is certainly brief. Thanks to Jonathan Fields of Awake at the Wheel for the link.

The Decision to be Remarkable is one of my favorite articles that I found by looking around Chris’ site a little more. He offers some great tips for those of you who, like me, want to stand out and stand up to the world as we see it. Among his tips:

• Stop Making Excuses
• Take Responsibility
• Take It Up a Level

and a few more. Sounds like a guy after my own heart!

A caution about Chris’ tale: it’s not for everyone. If you’re not willing to take life up a notch and make it great, please don’t read A Brief Guide to World Domination. Then again, if you’re not willing to take life up a notch, you’re probably not reading this blog.

Go get your free copy of A Brief Guide to World Domination and tell ‘em Phil “Make It Great!” Gerbyshak sent you.

Phil Gerbyshak on the Powerfull Living Show

This Thursday at 12 noon eastern, I'll be on the Powerfull Living Show, hosted by Lorraine Cohen. Go to the Powerfull Living Show page, or just mark your calendar and call in with questions to 646-716-7937.

The topic will be Making It Great! in 2008!, something I know a thing or two about. :)

Until Thursday, I encourage you to check out some of Lorraine's archived shows, including conversations with Bill Strickland, Joan Stewart, and Liz Strauss, to name a few.

3 Years Making It Great (and still going strong)

I can't believe it. Today, March 3rd, 2008, marks the 3rd anniversary of Make It Great!, the brand and the blog.

A few noteworthy stats:

• 1471 posts
• 2520 comments
• 188 trackbacks
• 8 authors
• Technorati ranking of right around 5000, with about 700 blogs linking back here
• My first book, 10 Ways to Make It Great! was published (first and second edition, with 6 printings already complete)

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has commented, linked back, or otherwise contributed to the success of Make It Great! I can't thank each of you enough or personally, so I thought I'd do something extra special for you. In honor of my 3 year blogiversary, I'm giving you a free MP3 to listen to from me at the 2007 Personal Branding Summit talking about your 5 x 5 branding plan and a copy of the ebook I mentioned in the conversation. I hope you enjoy it and can learn a little something from me, just as I have learned something from you!

2007 Personal Branding Summit conversation between Phil Gerbyshak and Jason Alba

5x5 Personal Branding Ebook

It's my small way of saying THANK YOU for all you've done for me! I look forward to making the next 3 years even GREATER!

The Dark Side of Phil Gerbyshak

This week I was hoping to have an interview posted for you with AnnaMaria Turano and John Rosen, authors of the great book Stop Watch Marketing. I'm almost done processing the MP3, and will have it for you NEXT Thursday morning.

Instead, this week I invite you to check out part 2 of my interview with Stephen Hopson, where he shares the "dark side of Phil Gerbyshak." He also asked me questions about my mentors, how I've dealt with adversity in my life, the defining moment in my life, and much much more.

Go check out Stephen Hopson Interviews Phil Gerbyshak, part 2. If you missed part 1, you can check it out as well.

Loving You for Who You Are

I'd like to take this time to remind you to love the most important person in your world; YOU!

YES YOU are the most important person you can love, because if you don't love who you are, how can you expect anyone else to love you, or to feel the love that's in your heart? Empty vessels can't fill others' pitchers, so take some time right now to remind yourself how great you are!

What? You're not feeling the love? You're thinking about all the things you CAN'T do? Forget about 'em!

Love you for who you are, not who you're not.

Let's think about this a little more, in terms of dollars and cents, instead of just emotions. I know you have something you are good at. If I had to guess, you probably have quite a few things you are really good, no that you're GREAT, at. And people count on you to do those things you're great at. The more often you can do those things you're great at, the more money you can make. Nobody is going to pay you to be mediocre at something, they're going to pay you for making it great!

Following me so far?

So you've got those things you're good at, and you get paid to do them, and you don't get paid to do the things you're not so good at. If money is one measure of the value of your work, then what you're getting paid to do is valuable, and important, and worthwhile. And what you're not getting paid to do is unimportant, because it's not valuable, and obviously not important for YOU to do.

Now think about how you feel about yourself. Are you valuing those things you're great at? Do you love yourself enough to let those things you stink at pass you by, or to find someone who can help you complete your world? After all, nobody is great at everything!

Focus on the things you ARE great at! Love yourself for who you ARE, for what you HAVE, and stop worrying so much about who you are not. Whatever is getting your focus is what is driving your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Why not focus on something that you do GREAT and stop focusing on that which drains you.

ACTION STEP: Take 5 minutes right now and right down all the things you're great at. Tuck it away in your wallet or purse. Next time you are feeling drained, pull it out and remind yourself that you are great because of these things.

Love yourself for who you are, because you are GREAT!

Book Review: 10 Ways to Make It Great!

New blogger (and author of Fired Up or Burned Out) Michael Lee Stallard, recently reviewed my book 10 Ways to Make It Great!

Here's a snippet of what he wrote.

Book Review: 10 Ways to Make It Great by Phil Gerbyshak

This book is a brief, practical workbook that will help guide its readers to a productive and satisfying life. Phil provides questions and suggestions that help readers zero in on the factors everyone should consider. If you follow the journey he takes you on, you will indeed make your life a great one. I say this because the issues he tackles are those that relate to satisfying our universal human needs for respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth and meaning.

Phil’s book is ideal for individuals who want to reflect on their journey in life, whether the journey is nearer the beginning or a mid-course correction. Small groups of friends would benefit from reading and discussing together the material in 10 Ways to Make it Great!

You can read the rest of the review here, or pick up your very own copy of 10 Ways to Make It Great! and see for yourself.

Thanks so much Michael! I appreciate your review very much, and I look forward to diving into your book later in 2008! I have no doubt it will help me, and many others, Make it Great!

If you don't want to wait for me to review it, you can pick up a copy or read more about Fired Up or Burned Out, or go check out Michael's new blog on Employee Engagement, Leadership and Team Building.

Last call for contributors: Age of Conversation 2.0 closes tomorrow

Sorry I'm just now sharing this with you. Been a hectic few weeks. I hope you'll forgive me.

The Age of Conversation 2.0 is almost upon us. Tomorrow (February 3rd, 2008), the call for contributors for The Age of Conversation 2.0 will close. I wrote a piece in AOC 1.0, and while the writing was fun, the contribution we made to charity was EVEN BETTER so we're doing it again.

Go visit Drew, and sign up NOW so you can help change the world, one word at a time, by writing for Age of Conversation 2.0. Time's up tomorrow, so go NOW!

Click here to be transported to a world changing opportunity!

GuitarPlayerZen says I'm a top 50 Blog...

Just wanted to give a quick shout out of thanks to Jeff over at GuitarPlayerZen for naming me one of the "Top 50 Blogs to Light a Fire Under Your Ass." Other awesome blogs include OkDork, Achieve IT!, Success Begins Today, Ian's Messy Desk, and Legal Andrew, to name just a few.

Check out the whole list of Top 50 Blogs to Light a Fire Under Your Ass!