Five Rules for Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship - How to Become a Entrepreneur

Worried about your job? Worried about the future? Join the club. You aren't alone. In a recent survey, 34% of all Americans were found to be worried about their jobs. So if you worry, you're normal. But I think there is a big difference between the worry a business owner or entrepreneur has about the economy and the standard company employee has about the economy. And that is because the average company employee, in many cases, has no control over whether or not they lose their job. Often times, company restructuring and decisions are made and terminations decided in offices five thousand miles away by people the employees don't even know or will ever meet.

Be disruptive and rough!

Entrepreneurs, self-employed and business owners have a better grasp over their situation and more control.

I have found through people I have met, and through my own experiences, that people who are self-employed or own their own businesses are generally more resolved and more confident about their future. Oh sure, like I said, in this economy everyone worries, and that is probably most prudent, but the self-employed or people who have learned to depend upon themselves are the most happy and confident.


So, if you are a company employee and you want to get started on creating your own business and perhaps setting yourself on the road to freedom, then today's short blog post is for you.


Here are my five most important rules for becoming an entrepreneur and entrepreneurship. These are the ones that I believe are the most basic to the success of starting your own business and actually becoming your own boss. I think there might be a few more rules that are good to know but, for now, these are the "five aces" (okay, four aces and a Joker), if you will, of the game as I see them.


The five most important rules are:


1) Try new things until you find what works
2) Be persistent as hell
3) Adapt & overcome
4) Always refine
5) Focus! And become a specialist 


Simple. Now, let me break these down and talk about each one for a moment.


First off, trying new things. You've decided that you want to start your own business but aren't sure what it is going to be. Fine. Try many new things. Did you know that Bill Hewett and Dave Packard of Hewlett-Packard got together initially and decided to make a new company but they didn't know what they wanted to make? They were completely unfocused and starting out making measuring devices like thermometers... They tried many things until they found some things that worked... The rest is, as they say, history.

Hey! Someone already beat me to these great ideas!

A few years ago, I decided that I was going to open a marketing company that focused on the travel market. I came up with a few ideas and then I was brash enough to arrange a meeting with a large, world famous airlines. I was unable to conclude a deal on the initial meetings. I was told that my presentation was "rough."


That was fine with me, actually. I wasn't insulted in the least. In my thinking I was trying something new and I had two goals: first to try to get the contract and; two, to at least learn enough from the initial meetings so that when I tried again at another company I would have learned enough from the first company to be able the get the deals. I saw it as sort of a "on the job" training and there's no better training than real-world. If you think this way then you'll realize that there is no such thing as failure, just the discovery of better ways to do things as you go.


As it turns out, I didn't get the deal at the first airlines. But, after the first meeting, I learned enough from my mistakes that I was able to land several big contracts with one European National Tourism Agency, one airline from China and the contracts for national campaigns for several big airlines. I think I ran a total of 20 campaigns (large and small) after the "failure" of the first approach to the first airlines.


By the way, a full year and one half after that first approach to the first airlines, I finally landed a massive national campaign for them at the end of last year and now they seem eager to participate in another big campaign later this year! That makes me very pleased.


That's the part of being persistent: You have to be persistent, but it's not good to be pushy. Always be available and always pass on information. That way, when your chance comes you'll be available to take it. Even after the first airlines rejected my offer, I still kept in contact with them and still passed along useful information. Whenever I thought I had a "deal they couldn't refuse" I passed along the information to them... Of course, they refused on some of the "deals they couldn't refuse" but it still allowed me to stay in touch and let them know that I was available and convenient.


So, staying persistent - but not pestering - is necessary. 


The third most important point is adapting and overcoming. In the case I gave above, after the "failure" of the first presentation, I went over that meeting in my head and "learned" what was good and I kept those parts and threw away the parts that were bad. I especially decided to work on my attitude and self-fulling prophesy. I decided to make it a rule that I would envision every meeting from now on each and every time - with no exceptions - before I went into them to create a positive outcome. Even though I almost always do this, I did not do that at the first airlines company that I went to. That won't happen again. I was too cocky and not focused on the goal enough. 


Some people might think that visualizing a successful outcome is silly, but it is not. I am a firm believer that visualizing meetings with new people is a key in creating positive outcomes... Perhaps it is akin to practicing a speech before you give it. I even visualize shaking people's hands for the first time and smiling and looking into their eyes!


Of course I visualize leaving the meeting with a great feeling and smiles on the faces of all involved.


The fourth point is about refining. That has a lot to do with number three. As you go along, making your presentation from company to company, you adapt and overcome but you continually refine your message and your presentation. Did you know that Colonel Sanders used this method 99 times before he finally made the sale that has become what Kentucky Fried Chicken is today? Ninety-nine times he "failed" but he kept trying and adapting and overcoming and he kept refining until one day someone said, "Yes!"


Oh, and did I mention that Colonel Sanders was persistent? I hope that I can continually keep up the fight even after 99 people say "No!" to me. Fact of the matter is that when that first airlines said, "No!" to me I was somewhat surprised. I knew what I had was powerful and I knew that if they said, "No!" that merely meant that I wasn't skilled enough at getting my message across. I had to refine (that is, after slapping myself on the forehead).

Colonel Sanders: He who laughs last, laughs best.

Finally, focus. You must specialize. I meet people all the time who are doing this and doing that and they can't figure out why they can't get ahead. Well, it is easy: they aren't focused. 


Here's a simple real-world example: Look around you at the restaurants. There's specialization shops and then there's family restaurants like Denny's. The specialization shops serve one type of food. Say, sushi, Italian, French, steak, etc. The family restaurant serves everything.


The family restaurant has its place but I don't think many consider it delicious. It is the specialization places one goes to for fine and delicious food. I have written more about this here.


To take the specialization example one-step further, how about professional baseball players? The so-called "Utility man" who can play several positions; they can play first base, outfield, catcher... Can you name one famous utility man? I can't. And utility men usually get paid the league minimum and are gone in a few years. But a specialist? Ah! That's different. Maybe a specialist can only do one thing well. Maybe the specialist can only throw 25 hard and fast pitches and can only last one inning but can strike out three batters... Oh, a guy like that will always have a job. A guy like that will get paid millions and be famous.


What does he do? He does one thing and he does that well. This is called "The Hedgehog Concept" you can read more about that here.  


And those are the five rules for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.


Some people will read this and ask themselves, "Well, okay, Mike. Now what do I have to do to get started?" I suppose to answer that question, there might be a sixth rule. That rule would say something like 


"You get started by doing." 


Or, as Yoda would say, "There is no try. There is only do."

As in my example above in going to the airline for the very first time, I think it would be foolish to expect that I would have had a 100% success rate (actually have batted almost 1000 since that first time) but we must be realistic and remember what our purpose is: We want success but we will also have to adapt and overcome, refine and be persistent. Get started by doing. Learn as you go. Get advice and read books.


There is nothing stopping you from being an entrepreneur excepting your own fears, indecision and hesitation.


The world needs entrepreneurs. There's definitely an job opening there for you.


This post inspired by Jeffrey Scott

The McDonald's Effect: Why Music, Literature, Cinema and the Arts Have Become Mediocre - Just Like Processed Cheese

I call it the McDonald's effect. The McDonald's effect is the action and mind-set of making things into a mass production type of set-up; into a boring, "this one same as the last one," process oriented system. Great if you run a factory in China. If you are trying to do anything unique and creative with your life and business, you'd better stop this.

The "process oriented system" reminds me of an old TV commercial I saw once. The owner of a hamburger stand was always thinking of ways to cut corners. He cut corners and cut corners... Finally, he came to the idea of using reusable plastic pickles because "nobody ate the pickles anyway."


Genius idea... If you are running a mass production, everything is the same as the last one, type of setup like McDonald's.


Pardon me, but I hate McDonald's (except the coffee) and think the food there tastes terrible.


I think that just about everything today, when it comes to music, literature, cinema or the arts seems to me to have become mediocre or is moving quickly in the direction of the McDonald's effect. In fact, when it comes to these "arts" it is much like what is happening to business; things are moving more and more away from individualism and creativity and more and more towards production. Everything seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper and more and more like McDonald's food. 


Everything in big business and big, corporate "art" seems to be moving from a "results oriented" base to a "process oriented" base. 


Results oriented means just that: the end product and how the end product is made is what is important. Sometimes it is very slow but the end product is intended to be unique or of very high quality.


Processed oriented means that making the largest amount of the end product at the cheapest price possible is important. Processed orientated businesses are like factories stamping things out of molds. They reward cutting corners and costs and quality to the minimum.


What I mean to say is that, it seems to me, there is nothing at all recently that is capturing the hearts and imaginations of the young people of the world. How can it? When everything becomes like McDonald's food, what's to capture hearts and minds?


Or is it just the way I perceive it as being? Read on and see if you agree with me...


The Harry Potter movies were fun in 2001... At least the first ones were. Now it's been ten years and, well, Harry at 18 years old is not nearly as cute as Harry at 8. Oh? The books? Oh those... Well, compared to say, Dickens or Tolkien, JK Rowling is 'pablum.'


The Star Wars movies were great, as far as comic books go, in the late 1970s.


Movies in the golden days of the 1930s and 40s up until the 60s were great. Today? Comic books from the sixties are turned into Hollywood "Hits."


Besides cinema, what else has become like chewing cardboard? 


Michael Jackson, probably the last of his kind, electrified the entire world with Billie Jean in 1982 and then self-destructed in 1993 with a rumored 16 million dollar out-of-court settlement for child molestation and entry into drug rehab... The he overdosed... That's been happening a lot recently.


And speaking of music and self-destruction, the other day the Grammy Awards were held. How many other people besides me view the entire charade as fake and plastic? Even when it comes to memorializing the deaths of former great performers, these types of ceremonies trivialize and cheapen things. Or, as my friend described the Grammy Awards, "...They turned everything into processed cheese." 


Today's movies, music, literature and arts all seem like they are rarely good. I think as a whole we are in a cultural funk. 


Though, do not misunderstand, there are individuals who I think are very good. And that is the key here: the individuals.


I remember when I was a child in the sixties, whenever a new major motion picture was released or a new album by a big star, like, say the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, it was a big deal. Today? "What release?" And, "are those guys still together?"


I work with many people in TV and radio and can tell you that I can count on two fingers the people who I know who do world-class work or even try to. The rest of the 99.8%? Why bother? They are all in the wrong business. They should all be working for banks and punching time clocks. 


I can't tell you why cinema or literature or music have become so much like processed cheese. I have a guess. But I can tell you why one part of the arts has gone to hell in a hand basket. I can tell you why the broadcast arts are so poor today. 


Some people will tell you that TV and radio broadcasting are so bad because of lack of money. But I think that is just an excuse. That is using the "which came first? The chicken or the egg?" Problem as an excuse for making a poor product that no one wants to buy.


Why don't the TV and radio stations have any money? Because they have no sponsors. Why don't they have any sponsors? Because they've lost all their listeners and viewers. Why don't they have any listeners and viewers? Because the programming is boring. Why is the programming boring? Ah! They'll tell you because they have no money.


See? It's an excuse. Here's the real answer:


1) The programming is boring because 99% of the people do a half-assed job.


2) 99% of the stations have been cutting corners for so long that when competition came up (like the Internet) they were caught off-guard. 


You really have to wonder how it is that some guy, somewhere, alone in his house could come up with better and more interesting content than a TV or radio station with hundreds of millions of dollars of staff and equipment could... But he did, they did, she did and the results are here for everyone to see. This is where the results oriented individual comes in: His primary purpose is not a processed oriented result. It is a results oriented outcome. He wants quality.


Let me give you an example that I am very familiar with. It is about the FM radio business... As far as #1 (above) is concerned, take the case of radio Deejays; 99.7% of them are lazy and do the minimum they need to do to get by. They make no effort to learn about new music; they don't go out; they don't read (or if they do read, they read music magazines! Ha!) They think it is not their duty to learn about new music and to bring it to the masses, so they don't. Most Deejays don't even go to stores or search the Internet for new music to play. They are puppets who are told what to play. Or, even worse, they are stuck in the past and continually play what they liked in high school!


Fools! Can you imagine, say, a fashion magazine constantly running articles and ads from the sixties? Sure, retro fashion might be cool, but at least it is updated. Old music is just that: Old music. It has its place but it will rarely capture the imagination of the youth.


In Japan, these Deejays learn new music from Billboard Hit CD compilations from the USA! Billboard? Billboard is a magazine that list things like the Top 40. If it is in Billboard, it is already old.


When Rock radio was new and exciting in the 1950s and 1960s, Deejays found new music and played it. Deejays were personalities. Today? Nope. Like I said puppets; people with no faces and no names.


Don't believe me? Quick! Give me the name of one radio program! Can't do it? That's OK. Most people can't.


It is pretty obvious by the state of radio today if this situation that has been going on for the last twenty years has been good for the health of the industry or not. I use the example of radio, but this has been going on in TV, cinema, literature and the arts now for decades...


The arts are like a once popular mom and pop hamburger shop. 


When the mom and pop hamburger shop was first started, it was delicious and very popular. All the kids and people loved it. It was always crowded. But as time went on corners were cut and costs lowered in order to increase the profit line. That made for smaller and smaller burgers and french fries. It made for Cokes with more and more ice in the cup. Along with the smaller burgers, cheaper and cheaper ingredients were used. The good taste began to disappear...


One day, the owners of the burger shop started noticing that their fan and customer base started shrinking. What did they do? Well, they began cutting more and more corners. Instead of coming up with creative solutions, they fell back into old fashioned thinking and continued to do the only thing they knew how to do: Make smaller and smaller burgers and cut more and more corners.


Soon, one day, they were barely holding on. They had 1/20th the customers that they enjoyed just ten short years ago. If it weren't for government or outside help, they'd surely be bankrupt.


Their answer to the problem? Cut more corners and make smaller portions. And the cycle continues today. 

Now you know why so many things have become so mediocre. It is obvious why, isn't it? Cutting corners and doing a half-assed job. But every once in a while someone like a Bukowski comes along... Someone with no money who is results oriented and art hiccups... For a moment at least...


Entertainment people can blame a loss of revenue all they want, but the cutting of corners and laziness began when the revenue was still good and they were king.


And that brings us back to the McDonald's Effect. Are you in a creative or sales oriented business? In today's economy, we're all in sales; and, if so, are you cutting corners and, when you stop to think about it, are you slipping into a process oriented behavior? If you are, you need to get out of that rut.


If you are doing any sort of creative or sales type of work, then you need to get out of the "punching the time card" type of mentality. You need to start working on results and not processes... Processes are for McDonald's or convenience store owners. 


Unless you already own a McDonald's, then you'd better stop thinking how you can create plastic reuseable pickles.  

Would Bad Weather and Other Unforeseen Circumstances Destroy Your Business Plans? Successful People Exploit Bad Luck!

"Any fool can have bad luck; the art consists in knowing how 
to exploit it" - Frank Wedekind

Many business people are guilty of blaming lack of success or just plain out and out business failures on unforeseen circumstances and things, "Out of their control." 

How often have you had a great plan or a great team and the idea or project that you were working on just didn't seem to turn out as you planned it? Of course, there's always an excuse for the luke-warm results: Something happened that you hadn't planned on or things changed on the ground.


Often these things that some people take as bad luck and as reasons for failure, others take as opportunities and vehicles for success. The winners take changes in a situation to show their ability to adapt and overcome. That is what we all need to work on everyday.


Instead of me citing a specific business example, let me use a personal family one to illustrate. The example I want to use has nothing to do with business, but think of it as a sort of parable that can relate to business. Yesterday, I took my family to Disneyland.


We had the plan all laid out months ago. We like to plan ahead. Planning ahead is smart as you can get everything at massive discounts. Sometimes up to 60% off on hotels and entry.


When we woke up yesterday morning, it was pouring rain. We checked the weather report and it showed a 70% chance of rain all day until the afternoon of the next day. It was raining hard. I considered for a moment blowing the entire trip off.


Nevertheless, we loaded up the car and headed out to Disneyland. Even if we cancelled the hotel, we'd still have to pay. Also, since I am such a famous cheap-skate, my family considers merely staying in a hotel as fun.


When we arrived at Disneyland an hour and one half later, it was raining even harder than when we left home. There were very few people at Disneyland. I suppose the heavy rains scared most people away. 


We decided that since we were at Disneyland anyway we'd go in, ride a few rides, and then see how it goes. I thought it impossible, but mentioned that it might clear up. Heck, we were there at 8 am. The hotel check-in wasn't until 3 pm. What were we going to do? At the worst, we could get in a few rides and, if we got soaking wet, we could warm up and hibernate in one of the huge restaurants inside of Tomorrowland. Of course, my son eagerly agreed.


Funny that, when you stop to consider; children are far more open to opportunities and positive thinking than many adults and businessmen would be. 


Well, we went in and it began to rain harder and harder as the time went by. It was nearly freezing yesterday at 2 degrees Celsius (about 35.2 Fahrenheit). By 10 am our feet were soaking wet and our toes freezing walking around with wet feet and socks and shoes in that frigid temperature is not good at all. I began to entertain thoughts of leaving and going somewhere where we could dry our feet off. 


But, once again, we thought of the best way to save the situation. My wife went to look for children's rubber boots and socks. FYI: Folks, they only sell boots for children up to about 4 or 5 years old. There's only two shops in all of Tokyo Disneyland that sell boots and socks... Anyway, my wife bought the dry socks for all of us. But what to do about the wet shoes? If you put on the dry socks and put your feet in the wet shoes, your feet will just get wet again.


Here's where so advice I got from my marine dad and time in the boy scouts came in handy: We got a bunch of Disneyland vinyl bags. We dried our feet off well and put on the dry socks. Then we put the vinyl bags over the socks and put the shoes back on tightly. Wallah! Like magic! Dry and warm feet (plus I didn't have to pay outrageous prices for Disney boots!) 


Of course, most people wouldn't be seen dead walking around with plastic bags over their feet in public. I think we probably looked like homeless folks walking around with those plastic bags over our feet. But, hey, these were special circumstances and special circumstances call for special measures! 


The end result? We were able to stay at Disneyland all day and did not have anymore trouble with cold, wet feet again... The extra bonus? Because we didn't give up at the very start and blow off the entire trip and went to Disneyland as planned, we got to go on everything and their were no crowds.


Bigger bonus? At about three o'clock the skies cleared up and it actually became sunny. We were walking around Disneyland and it was sunny and there was basically no waiting over 15 minutes at any rides! By seven o'clock in the evening the wait was zero for everything! We walked into the entrance of attractions and straight onto the ride. We even had our own boat on It's a Small World!!!!

Feeding ducks. You can see the massive Disney crowds in the background.

Because of this, I think we set a record for rides at Disneyland in one day. Well, for my family we did. And trust folks, I am from Southern California so I had been to Disneyland more times by the time I was 10-years-old than most people go their entire lives...


Yesterday, we took what seemed to be a bad (and cold and wet) situation and turned it into a fantastic day with great memories. Today, 24 hours after the rain? No one thinks about how wet we were at the start. Everyone thinks about how great a time that was and how amazing it was that we were able to see so many attractions in one day. Everyone only thinks about how amazing everything turned out!


Let me get off the point for a second: Moms and dads who have taken their kids to Disneyland!... Let me brag about this. That place was empty! Here is a chronological order of the events, rides, restaurants and attractions we enjoyed:


Monsters Inc.
Star Tours (the Star Wars ride)
Captian EO (Michael Jackson 3D show)
Tomorrowland Terrace (restaurant)
Buzz Lightyear's Astro-Blasters
Haunted Mansion
Mickey's Phiharmagic (New 3D show - highly recommended!)
Country Bear Jamboree
Mickey Jubilee parade down Main Street
Pirates of the Caribbean
Blue Bayou restaurant
Jungle Cruise
Buzz Lightyear's Astro-Blasters (2nd time)
Grand Circuit Raceway
Star Tours (2nd time)
Man's Greatest Dream (Song and Dance show at Showbase theater)
Monsters Inc. (2nd time)
Pan-Galactic Pizza Port
Grand Circuit Raceway (2nd time)
Pinocchio's Adventures
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (kinda scary for little kids actually!)
Electrical Parade
Peter Pan Adventure
Mickey's Phiharmagic (2nd time)
It's a Small World
Star Jets


That's 27 attractions, events and rides we saw in one day! My son is still a bit afraid of Space Mountain, so we didn't go on that. By 5 pm we were wondering, "Gee. We've been on everything. What are we going to do?" So we decided to ride everything twice and go on really little kids rides. (Man! Are my legs tired!)

Us on front of Cinderella Castle. There wasn't anybody around. (Notice my wife's plastic bags on her feet - my son and I were able to hide them under our jeans!)

The lesson here is simple: When unforeseen circumstances arise, don't give up and don't throw in the towel so easy. This is a good lesson for everyone (me too) who quickly contemplates cutting and running when things look difficult. Think. Use your minds creatively. There is a solution. 


And, remember, your competitors are probably dealing with the same sorts of challenges. If they are giving up then that gives you a golden opportunity.


Golden opportunities are rare these days. When they come, take them. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade...


Even if you do have to be seen in public with plastic bags on your feet.

How to Stop Worrying So Much and Be More Successful at Life!

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” - Mark Twain

In today's world, there are plenty of things to worry about and the list seems to grow everyday. There's war, the safety of the food we eat, nuclear accidents, car accidents, "Will our children be safe?" There's diseases, pollution, taxes, will we still have a job next year? The list goes on and on. There' a million and one things to worry about. Take your pick.

You want to be a worrier or a warrior? Take your pick.

I have plenty of friends who seem to worry constantly. The biggest thing they worry about is work. I think it is pretty safe to say that they are their own worse enemy. 

The funny thing is they think I don't worry about work or these other things at all. But I do worry! I am a "worrier" for certain. They just don't know! I think, up to a certain point, worrying is perfectly normal human behavior, and we all do it. But my friends think I don't worry because I've found a good way to control it and I'm glad I did. It's easy to do and just takes 3 minutes every morning. That's a better deal than worrying all day, right?

Many years ago, I used to worry so much that I wouldn't sleep well at night. The funny part is that I'd be worried about work! Think about that! I'm worried about work so much that I cannot sleep well. Then, the next morning I go to work and I'm tired. I'm so tired that I don't do a good job. So I worry so much about losing my job that I lose sleep and then, on the job, do a poor job because I'm sleepy because I didn't sleep well because I was worried about losing my job! What an idiot I was!

Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Worrying all the time is a proven cause of unhappiness and stress. Stress is a proven cause of a wide array of physical and mental illnesses and disorders. Life is rough enough as it is without our own thinking placing a heavier burden on our shoulders than we already have.

Think about it, is there any one of us who can do our best and achieve to our capacity - or even higher than that - when, in the back of our mind is this crawling negative fear - a worry - that binds us? Of course not.

So why do we do this to ourselves?

Today I want to give you two really good tips that can help you control your worrying. First off, I'd like to recommend that buy yourself a $1.00 pocket notebook and that you write down your top 5 or 10 goals first thing in the morning when you wake up everyday. Do it like religion or brushing your teeth.

Writing down your goals will help your subconscious mind to focus better on what is really important to you in your life and it will also allow the Law of Attraction to work in your favor. (There are several links at the bottom of this post to other articles with more details that you might enjoy reading).  

Here's how I do it: I wake up and sit down and think about what is really important to me. Do not cheat by looking at what you wrote the day before. Think. Really think about what is important for you and write it down. If you do this everyday and do not look at the previous day's goals, the things that are important to you and your life will naturally flow to the top. I used to write things about money and business as my top goals, but after doing this for so many years, I came to realize what is truly important in my life is not that. It is my family.

These are my recent top four goals (and I always add today's date at the end):

1) I am a wise and patient father and husband. I am a kind person.

2) Thank you god for all the wonderful things I have and am about to receive today.

3) All my loved ones are healthy and prosperous today.

4) I am a very successful businessman and 2012 is my best year so far. 2013 is even better!

Recently there are another 4 on the list, but those have to do with my work and financial goals. Everyone would be different, of course.

Actually, writing these things down is not my original idea. It is the method of success in life and business for many extremely wealthy people and the basis for a best-selling book: "Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracey. May I suggest that you do yourself a great favor and read that book and apply some of the simple rules to your life? 

By the way, one of my dearest friends read this book and later I asked him about it. He said that he does write down his goals in his iPhone. Folks, the advice of millionaires say to buy a handy pocket notebook. It is extremely difficult for any computer or hand held device to be faster than a pen and paper. Why ignore the advice of these people who have succeeded and are rich for the $1.00 it costs to buy a pocket notebook? 

Also, I find that having a handy pocket notebook is great for lowering stress in that I never forget anything. Anytime I have a good idea or something that I must remember to do, I jot it down. It's so much faster with a pen and paper than any electrical device could ever be!

The second good piece of advice I have for those of you who find yourself in a serious pinch whereby you are worrying so much that it has engulfed your entire being is to realize that your brain can only think about one thing at a time. Seriously. It's true. The human brain can only process information about one thing at a time.

There will be people now who think I am wrong about this, but I am not. Just because you can multi-task at work doesn't mean that your brain can think about more than one thing at once. It cannot. Your brain can switch back and forth quite quickly so that the skilled person can multi-task but that doesn't mean that the brain can focus on more than one matter at any given moment.

Here. Let me prove it to you. Here is a sentence. Read it and them repeat it over and over in your head. You will see that, as you are repeating it, you are unable to think about anything else, unless you switch off the repetition. Here is the sentence:

"I am a positive and hard working person and today is the best day so far this year and tomorrow is going to be even better!"

Read it and memorize it. Now, repeat it over and over in your head. Do it many times. 

See? Your mind can only focus on one problem at a time. This is why constant worry is so dangerous. Because if you are only worrying, you will begin to make things worse as you will focus your entire being on that worry. It is a vicious cycle.

Stop it right now!

Anytime of the day, if you catch yourself starting to worry, stop. Take a phrase like the one I have given you above and repeat it in your head over and over until the worrying goes away. If the worrying (or panic) comes back, then start up the phrase and repeat again until the fear and worrying subside.

Some astute readers will recognize what I have written here as a form of meditation, chanting, or prayer. Call it what you want, it will help you to defeat the worrying that is destroying your health and your life. 

I hope that, if you start to worry, that you'll try these these two simple exercises that will help you set your mind free and help you to relax. They've helped me greatly. I know they will help you too.

I do recommend the book, "Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracey but, if you are a cheapskate (like me) and need more evidence, I've written extensively about it here below:

One Easy Step To Becoming a Better Parent and More Successful at Life

Pocket Notebooks: The Secret of Millionaires and People Won't Listen!?

Vacation is a State of Mind - How to Get The Truly Wonderful Things in Life

What is Your Purpose?

"What is the mission of this company?" That was the question that I was supposed to answer.


I was to give a short speech to some investors who were thinking about investing $1 million (USD) into my small start-up company. One million dollars is not a lot of money as far as investments into start ups goes, but in this economy, and especially for me and my partners, it was the difference between life and death for our fledgling company.

DOROTHY LOVE COATES - STANDING ON THE ROCK

One of my partners kept insisting that I say something like, "We intend to become to biggest, most profitable company in the niche within 3 years..." and padding that with a bunch of fancy words to make it sound better. Those words were "money," "gains," etc... He kept saying that these investors were not interested in philosophy. He said they were only interested in the bottom line.


I strongly disagreed. Basically what he wanted to say was, "We want to make money. Lots of it. Money. Money. Money. We own you!"

Sure, that might actually be what everyone is thinking, and it might actually be the real purpose, but it doesn't make a very good publicly stated mission. It doesn't look good on paper or on advertising. They might want to make lots of money but they definitely want to look good doing it and look like they are doing something for the betterment of society.


Here is the mission statement of a very famous oil company: "At the heart of the (company name) way is our Vision to be the global energy company most admired for its people, partnership and performance." Get that? "People, partnership, performance"! Compare that with my friend's idea that basically translates into, "We want your money!"


Not a good comparison.


A mission statement for a company or your personal goals is a very important thing and one needs to consider deeply what the stated mission is.


My oldest daughter is a jazz singer. She sings traditional jazz. Her company figures than since CD and record sales have dropped off the map, they can still sell albums if they take a young, pretty girl and have her sing standards. Stuff like "Take the 'A' Train" or "All that Jazz." She has been performing at dinner shows around Japan to audiences that comprise people old enough to be her parents or grandparents.


Why not? These are the only people who have any money these days and they are still the people who will buy CDs.


But, even with extensive touring and a successful track record at that, her CD debut has been delayed now for over a year. The delays had to do with her attitude.


She has had a serious problem with her motivations and her intentions. One day, the president of her company told her that he had met a girl who'd been singing at public parks. Though she wasn't nearly as talented, what she lacked in talent, she more than made up for in enthusiasm. He told my daughter,


"That girl said she didn't care about anything but music. She just wanted to sing. She'd sing anywhere just as long as people could hear her voice. You have to be like that!"


I asked my daughter what she said to him about that and she said that she didn't reply at all. I asked her why and she said,


"Because daddy, I don't want to sing at parks! I want to sing and make lots of money!"


"Foolish girl!" I cried. "Haven't I taught you anything? You shouldn't think that way. Ever! You should realize that you have a gift from god and that god didn't give you this gift so that you can merely fatten your bankbook!" 


I went on and explained to her why this kind of thinking is doomed to failure. It is exactly as my friend above thinks. These people who are supporting you with money may want to do so in order to make money, but they want a better, more magnanimous excuse for what they do.... Just doing what they (you) do for money? That's no good. You must state a higher purpose! You must do what you do for a higher love!


I told my daughter to think deeply about why she has a gift and what the purpose of music is. I told her to go back and tell her boss that her purpose of singing is something like this;


"Life is short and life is difficult. So may people have a hard life and so many people are unhappy. I want to sing so that if I can make them forget their problems and become happy, if only for even a few minutes, then that's what I want to do... God gave me this gift and I want to use it to make people lives better... If only for one minute or two...."


I told her to consider this deeply everyday and to change this into her own words and her mission in life. I told her to write it down everyday. I told her that if this wasn't to be her mission then she should stop singing right now and go get a regular job if all she wanted to do was make money.

L to R: Julie, Sheena, some dude

She realized where she'd been selfish and had been on the wrong path. I think, later, she began to cry. 


A few days passed and, after careful consideration, she told her boss what her mission was. He was quite happy, from what I understand, and has now decided to use his connections and resources release her debut album.


Will she succeed or fail? I don't know. But I can tell you that if her mission were, "I want to sell lots of records and make lots of money!" then that wouldn't capture the imagination of her backers nor would it have inspired them to finance this project. This project would have failed for certain.


Everyone, from the backers to the promoters to the people who stock the store shelves, they all must be motivated that this is an artist who is doing what she is doing for a higher purpose. That is a formula for success.


For my own experience with my financial backers, I ignored my partners advice of saying that "We want to dominate the world and make lots of money! and I said to them,


"The purpose of our company is to help people live better lives and to help them to better themselves and their personal businesses. This year has seen some difficult times for Japan. We want to help the people of this country to overcome, to be more prosperous and society as a whole to become more positive and forward looking. If we can help people to achieve their dreams and become what they really want to become and to have our company become synonymous with that, then we will be hugely successful. If we can help people to capture their dreams and be more prosperous and happy, then our profits will surely come. That is our mission."


The investors all looked at me and smiled. Five of the eight gentlemen, watching my short speech, lightly clapped for me when I was done....


Four weeks later, we had the money in our bank account and the company was on its way. I was fortunate that my short speech captured their imaginations.


Always remember that what you do is for a larger and bigger purpose. If you can make people happy and satisfied with what you do, then you will be successful. Always remember that.


Placing profits before people is a bad combination and an extremely bad public image. Don't do it.


You have a higher purpose in life.  


For Julie Rogers, Tosh and Alistair

Make Your Own Success!

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." - Peter Drucker


My daily thoughts and meditation, that I always perform in the morning, and before I go to sleep go something like this:


"Today is a very big day in my life. Today is the day I finally make it.


I'm going to make it. It is decided.


I've prepared.


I've visualized the success and I am creating my success.


Years of experience and preparation have come to this.


Today is my day. Today is the greatest day of my life and tomorrow will be even better. And, the day after that, will be even better still.


It will continue like this until the end of my life.


........... I make this dedication to my family and myself everyday."


Doesn't your family and don't you deserve the same dedication from you?


I always write down my top 10 goals in my note book.


Consistently, everyday my #2 goal is, "I am worth $10.5 million US dollars on Dec. 1, 2015"


With a goal like that at #2, you might wonder, "What could be #1?"


My #1 goal is, "I am a kind and generous and patient father and husband today and every day."


There's many things that are important and many types of success.


The best way to predict the future is to create it. Visualize your success and write down your goals.