Who else wants great business coaching for less than $1 per day?

That’s right!  I have a brand new distance learning program that will cost you less than $1 per day.

Please click this link: www.Million-DollarSecrets.com

You’ll get a free CD and you’ll also be able to sign up for my new education program for the low marketing test price of $19.97. 

Take a look.

It is guaranteed.   

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Just one more day until we announce the launch of a hot new project.

This project has been in the works for over a year and it is finally ready to go.

Check back with us again tomorrow for the big announcement.

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A couple of months ago I shared a story about the Law of Attraction in action in my own life.

Well it happened again – in fact, it is happening right now.

What am I talking about?

Last week I was looking over the “client pipeline” for my business.  While I looked at our recent sales activity I took a moment to think about how grateful I was for the success I have had in my business. A nice warm feeling came over me.

I immediately looked at my meetings for the next week and I visualized myself attracting clients with great ease.  I literally saw people (in my minds eye) walking up to me and asking me to help them with their business.  All the while, I still had the warm feeling of being grateful for my past success.

On Monday I had a client cancel a meeting.  This allowed me to dress casually – which means that I was wearing a shirt with my company logo embroidered on it.  Monday afternoon I got on the elevator and a gentleman asked me about the logo on my shirt.  I explained what I do and he asked me for my business card.

About 15 minutes later he called me and asked me to meet with him.  The meeting resulted in a sizable proposal. 

In addition to this amazing event, I had two prospects call me out of the blue (one yesterday and one today) and ask me to begin work with them immediately.  I had previously met with both of these folks and they both (separately) had been “thinking about it” for a while.  All of a sudden both of them just decided (again completely separate events) to hire me.

Also – both of these people, when I asked them why they chose now to get started, responded with, “The timing just felt right”. 

No joke.  Both clients used almost identical words to answer this question.

I have to say, that any doubts I had about the Law of Attraction have now been totally dismissed. 

Want the really exciting news? I still have a few meetings left this week!   More great stories will follow.

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A couple of weeks ago we discussed a successful coaching program we conducted last year.

We have decided to open this program up to an audience in a focused line of business.

I am pleased to announce the launch of our sales coaching program specifically for Certified Public Accountants in the Miami and South Florida area.

If you are a CPA in Miami, give us a call to learn how you can develop systems that will help you find the right prospects, land new clients and develop deep relationships with your current customer base.

Call or e-mail us today to learn more about our sales coaching program of CPAs in Miami and South Florida.

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Most people don’t like what they do.

This sets them up for big problems.  

Why?

People who hate their jobs are more likely to:

Get fired – If you hate your job it is more difficult for you to concentrate.  If you lose focus you are more likely to make mistakes.  If you make mistakes consistently you will get fired.

Get sick – Your emotions affect your immune system.  If you are miserable, you will become run down and you are more likely to get sick.

Lose friends – People get sick of friends who complain.  In fact, the number one reason most people stop talking to others is because they complain.  Imagine how much you will complain if you hate your job.

The bottom line is this:  You need to do something that makes you happy.  If you don’t you are in for trouble.

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If you want to be successful, regardless of your position or your industry, you must have a bias for action.

What does this mean?

It means you must take action when you have a good idea. 

You must jump up and make something happen. 

Yes, you should plan.  Yes, you should be certain that your action is legal, moral and ethical.  You should also make sure the action you are about to take brings you closer to achieving your goals.

Most people spend a great deal of time analyzing their options.  They spend time over-thinking the steps they need to take and they wait for a GOOD TIME to act.

Guess what.

The best time is RIGHT NOW.

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The law of attraction works.  Plain and simple.  Here’s a story that helps prove it.

This past Saturday night I was thinking of a gentleman that I was friendly with several years ago.  We lost touch but I spent several minutes during the day on Saturday thinking about some work we had done together.  

On Sunday morning, over breakfast, I told my wife a couple of stories about this guy, and some of the amazing work I had seen him do.  I was also think about how great he would be for a current project that I was working on.

Later that day we attended a trade show in New York City.  While we were wandering the aisles of the show we literally ran directly into the gentleman we were discussing.

The strangest thing about this entire experience is that this trade show has nothing to do with his business or my business.  I was invited to speak the next day but thought I should stop by the show and “check out the potential audience” and he was invited to attend by an exhibitor.  Both of our decisions to attend were last minute.

Do you want something to come into your life?  Put yourself into the state of already having received it.  Feel the feeling associated with having that item or taking that meeting.  Do this several times each day and eventually you will find a way to make it so.

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There is tremendous buzz about “The Secret”.  This book/video was featured twice on Oprah during the last couple of weeks. 

The Secret is about The Law of Attraction.  In a nutshell the thinking goes like this:

What you think about determines your destiny.  If you focus your thoughts on positive things, you will draw positive things into your life.  Set your goals from a positive perspective.  Focus your thoughts on these goals – at least thirty minutes each day. 

Accept that you are a good person.  Forgive yourself for your past mistakes and make peace with them because they have helped you get to this point in your life.

If you believe you are going to be successful you’re right.  If you believe you will fail, you’re right.  Our thoughts control our feelings and our destiny.

Amen.

Check out The Secret if you have a chance.  You’ll be glad you did.

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Spend the evening with someone you love – not reading blogs.  There’s time for work and time for family and friends. 

Best wishes for love an happiness in your career.

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We have started a new series on fear over at the Business Advisor Blog.

Here are links to the first two posts:

FEAR and the Entrepreneur

Fear of the Unknown

Please check them out and let me know what you think.

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Scott Ginsberg has some great questions that you should ask yourself each day.  Here are my  seven favorites.  Scott’s original questions are in bold and my comments follow:

Did you get their email address?

E-mail is the best way to get in touch with people who are too busy to talk on the phone.  When you meet someone new it is far less threatening to get their e-mail address than it is to ask for their phone number.

Did you look at your goals today?

You are what you think about most.  The more you look at your goals, the more you think about them, the more likely you are to make them happen.

What did you learn today?

If you learn something everyday you will be wise beyond your years.  Hold yourself accountable for learning something new everyday.

Who did you refer this week?

The best way to get is first to give.  Start referring other people to business associates you trust and you’ll be amazed at how many referrals come back to you.

Who did you WOW today?

You need to make the people around you feel good.  Surprise them each day with something positive.  The more you wow the better you’ll feel about yourself.

Would you write that on the front page of The New York Times?

Don’t write it when you can speak.  Don’t speak when a smile will do. And never e-mail when you’re angry.  

Don’t say anything you don’t want repeated over and over again.

Who did you give your business card to today?

People need to know you in order to hire you or work with you.  Give out your card early and often.  Even if you give it to some people over and over again at least they will remember you. 

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We all fall into a slump from time to time. The key is not to let your bad mood affect your performance at work.  As a business owner/leader you really can’t afford to have a bad day.  You have to bring your “A-Game’ to work every morning.

Here are five tips to help you break out of the bad mood funk:

Click Here to Read the Entire Post

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There are several qualities that separate people who are successful from people who are mediocre.  The most important of these qualities is a hyper-competitive drive that is almost all consuming.  Chances are good that if you have this natural competitive edge you know what I’m talking about.  In case you do not have it, I will describe it for you so that you can understand what you are up against.

Click Here to Read the Entire Article

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Both New York Football Teams were eliminated from the NFL Playoffs today.

Two teams, similar outcomes but the future looks very different for each of these teams.

The Jets were not expected to do anything this year.  They have a young team with a fragile Quarterback.  Most experts picked them to lose 9 games or more.

The Giants had all the talent in the world.  They were supposed to win a minimum of 10 games.  Their veteran team was supposed to gel immediately and run away with their division (at least).

What happened?

The Jets won 10 games and finished the regular season in strong fashion.  You could literally see them getting stronger each week.

The Giants won 8 games and sniped at each other (both in the media and in the locker room). 

The results were the same for both teams – out of the playoffs in the first round.

But if you are a Jet fan you have to have a positive outlook for the future.  If you are a Giant fan you are a bit more uncertain.

The same principle applies to your business career.   If you are positive and you constantly look to learn and grow, your future will be bright. If you continually complain and make excuses, you future will be uncertain and you will never live up to your potential. 

New York is unforgiving.  Unless you win a championship, you stink.  But the future looks better for the team with the positive outlook (and their more fun to watch).

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Because irrational fears are learned, you can “unlearn” them by changing your thought process. Using the same principle as the rubber band exercise discussed earlier, every time you catch yourself thinking about the “negative consequences” of success, immediately change your thought pattern. For example, when you think that if you are successful, your friends will perceive you as arrogant, you should immediately recognize this as a self-limiting thought. Then you can unlearn the fear by thinking, “It is possible but not probable that people will perceive me as arrogant, but that will only happen if I allow my behavior toward my friends to change. I will be successful and I will not change my behavior toward my friends. I control my behavior and my reactions. My success will actually allow me to spend more time with my friends.”

Preparing for success is the best way to overcome both your conscious and unconscious fears. Each day, you should spend time visualizing the new successful you. Imagine your success in as much detail as possible. If you aspire to be a successful executive in a company – an Intrepreneur – picture yourself in a big chair in a large corner office. Imagine your friends coming in and out to see you. If your dream is to open a wildly successful business as an Entrepreneur, imagine all of your employees lining up to shake your hand because you have created a company that has transformed their lives.

When you use this visualization process you are actually participating in a form of exposure therapy. Your unconscious mind does not make a distinction between imagination and reality, so when you imagine yourself as a rich successful executive, your mind starts getting used to the image. The more you expose yourself to a situation you fear, the less potent the fear becomes. You should use visualization several times a day to help you overcome any conscious or unconscious fear you may have that will hold you back on your journey to fulfill your dreams.

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Other people may not like the change you’ve made, even if that change improves your life. When it comes to making a change, gaining approval can be the wind in your sails. When people who are important to you are skeptical or disagree with you, you feel like you are running up hill.

When we were kids, we all craved the approval of our parents and the elders in our social environment. People who grow up never gaining the approval of their parents (or other influential individuals) can often have a fear of disapproval that will limit their career progression.

When I was in culinary school, I had a classmate named Jessica who baked beautiful cakes. She was a naturally talented pastry artist. Jessica’s cakes would often be entered into contests and she would almost always win one of the prizes. This was quite ironic because Jessica did not score well on the practical exams the school gave to students as they finished their training. When I asked Jessica how she could do so well in the contests and then so poorly on the exams, her answer gave me my first exposure to the negative power of the fear of disapproval.

She told me that, in the contests, she was just baking for herself. She was trying to make the best product she could. The feedback she received was direct and without detail. Either she was a winner or she was not.

In class, the instructors always found something wrong with her work. In an exam, even if she received an “A,” she would be given feedback that told her what she could have done better. This fear of negative feedback – of disapproval – led her to try to make everything perfect in the short period of time that she had to complete the work for the exam. It was an impossible task, and one that reinforced her core fear.
Successful individuals are confident in their ideas and don’t require outside validation. In fact, they are motivated to prove others wrong. Because super-achievers are unique, it is no surprise to them when others do not approve of their actions or their ideas.

Intrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs typically don’t take conventional paths toward their goals. When you stray from the conventional or the familiar, you are likely to draw some curiosity – and some disapproval – from others. At the end of the day, though, the only person you have to answer to is yourself. You owe yourself every opportunity to succeed. If you let an opportunity pass you by because you are concerned about the disapproval of another person, you are robbing yourself. You can’t let someone else determine your fate.

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Like each of us, you have a strong desire to do what you say you are going to do. The psychological need for your actions to match your words drives you to follow through on whatever commitments you make. That type of commitment implies hard work, and you’d rather not commit than compromise your integrity by failing to keep your word. This is especially true when you make a commitment to yourself.

The psychology of commitment is a mental Catch-22. Your impulse to keep your word – make your commitment come true - is so great that it causes you to avoid making commitments.

There are two ways to overcome this fear of commitment. The first is to contrast possibility with probability. If it is probable that you will accomplish the task at hand, then you should be able to make the commitment. For example, if you are asked to take on a job with tight deadlines and you are afraid that you will be unable to meet the deadlines, you may be reluctant to take the job. In reflecting on your work history, you can only think of one time when you did not meet a deadline – and that was due to the death of a family member. In this case, then, it is possible that you will miss deadlines but based on your track record, it is not probable.

The second way to tackle this fear is to view a large commitment as a series of smaller commitments. This is the one-day-at-a-time philosophy that has proved so successful in helping people break addictions. Your short-term concern is meeting your goal today. Before you know it, your days turn into months and your months turn into years. Each day of success becomes positive reinforcing behavior. In the process, the basis of your fear becomes familiar and is no longer a threat.

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What if the change you make isn’t for the better? What will people think of you? People will laugh at you if you fail, and you’ll be embarrassed.

A great way to approach this fear is to reflect upon successful people who have had very public failures and still managed to recover. One of my favorite examples concerns the repeated public failures of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln lost his job as a clerk in a general store in 1831. He ran for the Illinois state legislature in 1832 and lost. In 1843 he failed to win his party’s nomination for a congressional seat. He tried running for the Illinois Senate in 1854. He lost. In 1858 he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate again. After each of those defeats, people laughed at Lincoln, yet in 1860, he was elected the 16th President of the United States. He has become one of history’s most respected figures. Most people do not know about his previous failures or that people laughed at him each time. Somehow, I do not think people were laughing at him when he gave the Gettysburg address.

The lesson to be learned is that history will be the ultimate judge of your success. You should not fear failure; each time you fail you are taking another step closer toward success.

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The next couple of days I am going to share some of my most popular posts with you.  They are about the fear that prevents us from getting the job or building the business of our dreams.  Here is the first post in the series:

As human beings, we all experience fear. Fear is an emotion that evolved as a form of protection from painful or possibly fatal situations. Rational fears protect us. Healthy fear keeps us from acting in ways that would put our lives in danger. It keeps us from walking into a lion’s den or placing our hands in a roaring fire. On the other hand, we develop irrational fears as the result of painful past experiences and conjure them up when we anticipate a similar negative experience. Irrational fears can hold us back and steal our dreams.

To help overcome irrational fear, many people use a great acronym that places it in the proper context. FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. People with Career Intensity – Intrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs – have discovered ways to overcome the Five Irrational Fears that prevent people from creating their own destiny:

The fear of the unknown.

You don’t know what the future will bring. You may know that greater possibilities exist, but what you have now is familiar. It’s difficult to give up the certainty of the familiar for the uncertain rewards of the unfamiliar.

This major hurdle is usually associated with income, and is the fear that prevents most people from taking action. A few years ago, I was having lunch with a business leader I know and respect. This man was a partner in a very successful real estate development firm in New York City. During the course of our lunch, the topic of forming my own business came up. The developer asked me why I was working for a large company when I clearly had the talent to go out on my own and start a business. I responded that the timing was not right. His response comprised the truest words I have ever heard on this topic. He said, “There is never a good time. If you wait for a good time, you will never get going. You just have to face up to whatever concerns you and move forward.”

He was right. I waited a few more years and a good time never presented itself. I needed to just move forward and not look back. It was (and sometimes still is) scary, but the only way to make things happen is to face the fear and plow ahead – without looking back.

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If you’ve ever slept in your car, gone to bed hungry or told your kid “no” because you couldn’t afford to say “yes” then you’ll understand this post.  It is over a year old but I thought it would be a reminder of those less fortunate.  You can find the original post here. 

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid’s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under fluorescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can’t find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she’ll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you’ll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid’s teacher assuming you don’t have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you’re not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn’t bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you’re being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it’s all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn’t spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.

Being poor is making sure you don’t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.

This list gets me every time I read it. 

Sometimes it just takes one break to make a difference in someone’s life.  Look beyond the surface the next time a job opens up. 

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Most entrepreneurs can’t and their is no shame in that.  That’s where coaching comes in. 

Entrepreneurs tend to be individualists who have overcome the odds to become successful. As the business matures (and grows) this attitude gets in the way.  Let’s face it, you can only “do it yourself” up to a point. 

Business coaches help you focus on the long-term.  They help you keep your ultimate goals in mind while you are busy “getting it done” on a day-to-day basis. 

Your coach will also hold you accountable for your commitment to achieving your goals.

Everyone needs a coach.  The return on this investment can be staggering.

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Why did you get up and go to work this morning?

I’m sure it wasn’t because of sex (at least not for the majority of us).  Most of our jobs would not be considered “sexy”.

Maybe it was for power.  Do you have control over when you report to the office and when you leave?  Do you have the freedom to work on projects you love?  Do you have the ability to turn down business you have a philosophical problem taking?  If you don’t then power may not be your motivation.

Is it fun?  Do you feel like a kid on the playground when you walk through the door to the office?  If you had all the money you needed to survive, would you still do what you are doing? If not, fun probably is not the reason you show up at the office everyday.

That brings us to money.  This is the reason I hear the most when I ask people why they go to work everyday.  Is it right?  Is it wrong?  Is the person who just shows up at the office for the money a “sellout”?

The truth of the matter is that there is no “right” answer. 

If you are happy in your job I want to know why.  Drop me an e-mail and tell me what motivates you to go to work every day.  If you give me permission, I’ll post your thoughts here.

Extra points if it’s sex! 

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Lisa Haneberg offers another great post on attitude and life management. 

Lisa advises us to go to our own special place when life gets tough or the correct path just doesn’t seem clear.  Here’s a portion of her post:

“I was cruising on my motorcycle the other day (before fall/winter whacked Seattle upside the head) and noticed that I was a bit preoccupied with the speeds and rhythms of those around me. Bikers have to have eyes on all sides of their heads to keep from getting creamed, but beyond that, I need to make my journey. “It’s my ride,” I said to myself and flowed into a much better biking groove.

I was on the elliptical trainer at the gym today and was noticing the folks around me and who they were noticing. It was a bit distracting. I closed my eyes, let my iPod take me away and into my own best pace and rhythm and said, “It’s my ride.”

Over the weekend, I was thinking about my business and where I want to take it. During the last month, I have connected with lots of people like me and noticed what they are doing and how they are running their businesses. Benchmarking the cool things people are doing is fun and important to keep fresh and relevant - that said, so much of what other people are doing just doesn’t seem like me. This weekend, I leaned back in my chair, put on some thinking music and said, “It’s my ride.”

The next time you face the complexity of life and you don’t know where to turn, do the following:

• Stay in the moment.
• Clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts.
• Think to yourself that life is what you make of it.  You have control.

While this won’t solve your problems, it will leave you refreshed and prepared to face the world.

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Your know you are a procrastinator if:

1. You believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

2. You never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.

3. You never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.

4. You  meet all of your deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury you expect to receive from missing them.

5. You firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from your obligations.

6. You truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

7. You never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesimally small, is not exactly zero.

8. You always decide not to decide, unless of course you decide to change my mind.

9. You always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when you get around to it.

10. You obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.

11. You know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.

12. You will never put off until tomorrow, what you can forget about forever.

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A “Partner” position at Goldman Sachs is the most desired role on Wall Street.

The process of “making partner” at the firm is highly secretive.

Career Journal provides an interesting take on the process.

It is a different world – to be sure.

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If you did only the things that you were really good at and had someone else do tasks in areas where you did not have an aptitude?

If you started your day by thinking about your goals for the next one, three and five years.

If you ended your day by thinking about the positive things that happened to you that day.

If you took one extra day off each month?

If you made a promise to yourself to have dinner with your family at least four nights each week?

If you scheduled time on your calendar to actually talk to your kids about the topics that everyone hates to discuss – sex, drugs and their friends?

I promise that if you do just four of the six items listed above, things will change for the better.  All of these things help give you piece of mind.  They help keep you grounded.  all too often we get caught up in the day-to-day of our lives and we forget about what is important.

Give this a try.  You’ll be glad you did.  

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After ten years of a pack a day, a business associate of mine, Robert, tells me he recently quit smoking. I asked him if he had tried to stop before. “There is no try—only do,” he answered, in a nod to Yoda’s training model for Luke Skywalker. He says that he will most likely always want a cigarette, but that the improvements in health he is already feeling, the sense of accomplishment in knowing that he is in active control of what he does, and the momentum generated by making a bold decision and following through are more than worth the sacrifice.

Robert’s determination is a great reminder that we all have the power to do whatever we want. No one can stop you from charting your own course to happiness and success. And if you’re persistent enough, nothing can stop you from making the journey and reaching your destination.

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One of my readers, K.M. Nunez from New Jersey, recently sent me an e-mail about Career Intensity.  Here’s what she said:

“After reading Career Intensity, I finally got up the courage to look for another job. This book helped me find my true calling and then gave me the ideas I used to successfully market myself. The result? I doubled my pay!”

Wow.  That is fantastic!  Congratulations K.M.

This is not the first time I have heard of readers achieving outstanding results from putting Career Intensity into practice.  In fact, I receive several e-mails telling me about outstanding results each week.

The problem with business books is that people buy them and never read them…or sometimes they read the book but then they don’t take action.

I want to change that.

Effective today, if you buy the book directly from my distributor, I will guarantee that you will be happy with the results you receive if you take action. 

Here is the website:  http://www.careerbooksite.com

Check out the guarantee at the bottom of the page.

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Many people are in denial about the state of their career.  They toil away believing that they are on the right track but in reality they’re going nowhere.

Whenever I am asked to coach someone who is in a deep state of denial (or even just a little confused about their career) I take them through a specific sensory exercise to try to shock them back into reality.  Here’s how it works:

First we talk about specific scents that they remember from their past.  We also talk about what they associate with those scents.  This “warm-up” period helps them to clear their mind of the various distractions of the day.  It also puts them into a mindset of visualization triggered by the olfactory sense.  It generally takes a little bit of work to get into this state.

Once we get into the mindset of remembering positive scents from the past, I ask them to think about their career.  I then describe six different scents.  We discuss each scent in terms of the client’s career.  I ask the question; “Does this scent represent the current state of your career?”  The discussion that follows often leads to surprising results. Here are the six key scents and what they represent in terms of career progression:

Cinnamon Bread

Ah.  The smell of baking cinnamon bread gives most people a feeling of satisfaction and excitement.  This is the smell of a great career.  If your career smells like cinnamon bread then it is always fresh and satisfying.  Each serving (each day) offers a new opportunity to do something fantastic.

Thanksgiving Turkey 

This is the smell of anticipation.  You can almost taste that delicious bird as it cooks in the oven.  You know that that smell means that fun times with family and friends are coming soon.  The smell means that the holidays are approaching and you will be receiving the gifts of the season.  This is the smell of a career that shows unbelievable promise.  Success and happiness is just around the corner. 

New Car Smell

You’ve just made a big investment.  You’re  taking a chance but it is exciting.  You’re not sure how fast you can go or how reliable your new vehicle is going to be, but you can’t wait to get it out on the open road and pop the clutch!   This is the smell of a career that is beginning (or beginning anew in a different role).  It is exciting, fresh and new.

A Dentist’s Office

This is the smell of stale minty tooth paste and antiseptic that foreshadows the pain that is yet to come.  This smell is generally accompanied by the hair-raising sound of high speed hand tools that wurr, buzz and slurp.  You know that pain is coming but you also know that if you don’t face this pain now you’ll need to face greater pain later.  This is the small of the career of a survivor.  You face some difficult times in the short term, only to have a better and stronger career down the road.

The Fish Store

This smell is pungent and offensive.  The interesting thing is that you can get used to it.  If you hang around a fish store long enough, the smell no longer bothers you.  The fish may be rotting away but you’re so used to the smell that you don’t care.  This smell is a sign that you need to get out of your current rut.  You’re in a bad place.  Take your time and find out what the world has to offer but make sure you take steps to find something new. 

The Dumpster on a 100 Degree Day

This stinks.  You can’t even stand to be near it for a second.  It contains the things that everyone else has cast off.  It is also a repository for some of the most disgusting and vile aspects of day-to-day life. If your career smells like this you need to run away from it as fast as you can.  The stink of a rotting career can stay with you for a long time.  It is better to get into fresh air and clear your head, even if you have little or no options.  Spending too much time in this category can have long-term damaging effects on you.  Get out of the dumpster.  Make a move now.  It is urgent.

Why do I ask people what their career smells like?  I do it because it forces them to use a different part of their brain to think about their career and their future.  Smell is also the most powerful of all the senses and it triggers deep emotions. 

Face it, if I can convince you that your career has you standing in a rat-filled dumpster surrounded by dirty diapers, animal fat and vomit, then I can get you to take action pretty quickly.

So what does your career smell like? 

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How are your energy levels? If you find yourself burned out, tired, or lackluster a lot of the time, your body’s probably trying to let you know that a change is in order. If you do not look forward to going to work, it’s time to start thinking about work that inspires and excites you. If you’re dissatisfied with your current job and you’ve tried to make it more challenging and rewarding, without success, it’s probably not going to get any better, and you’ll be doing yourself a big favor by seeking out better opportunities. Finding a new job that you love is likely to boost your energy and productivity dramatically.

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Life can offer you a great deal of wisdom if you open your mind and your heart and you are willing to receive it. Sometimes it takes a major event to help bring us back to reality.

On September 11, 2001 I was managing a big business in Manhattan.  Many of my clients were in the World Trade Center.  Quite a few of my employees were in the buildings surrounding ground zero. I had been in those buildings several times in the days before September 11. All of us have heard stories of people who lost friends and relatives in the terrorist attack.  The thing that stays with me about that day is how normal it was before the first plane struck.  It was a beautiful, sunny day with almost zero humidity.  It was one of those days where the air seemed unbelievably pure– even in New York.  There were no signs that something awful was going to happen.  Thousands of people went to work not realizing that they would never see their friends and family again.

During an equally beautiful afternoon in the Winter of 2003 I was briskly walking down Sixth Avenue to meet my wife.  We were late for an appointment to look at an apartment.  I crossed the street with about 15 other people in the crosswalk.  We had the right of way, and everyone saw the cab turning the corner as he accelerated through the red light – everyone except me.   I was thrown 40 feet and I landed on my back.  The hour and a half that followed – when I could not feel anything below my waist –  was terrifying.  I could have easily been killed. 

Both of these days caused me to shift my thinking about life and my priorities.  I often reflect back on those two events to help me focus my priorities. 

What would you do differently if you knew, in advance, that today was going to be your last day on earth?  How would you act if there were no tomorrow?

Try it.  Go ahead.  Do it today.  Adjust your schedule.  Live today as if it is the last day. 

Who will you call?  What would you say?  What meetings would you go to and which would you skip?  What wrongs would you make right?

Keep a list of what you did and who you sought out.  Write down how the events of the day made you feel. 

Major events often shake us up and help us realize what is important. Don’t wait for it.  Create your own life-altering event today. Shift your priorities and refocus on what is important.

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