Want your brain to work better? Work out. Seriously!
In the book "Brain Rules," author John Medina points out that if you exercise you actually help brain function! He is not talking about doing a triathlon or benching 500 pounds. The exercise a brain needs to help it function better is simply cardiovascular. Just 20 minutes or more of this type of activity can help the human brain work better.
Why? It's simple. (And yes, forgive me scientists for explaining this so I can understand it!).
Inside the brain, exercise increases bloodflow. The blood is carried to the areas of the brain through blood vessels (Medina compares them to highways). The cool thing is, exercise not only makes the highways (vessels) more smoothly deliver the blood to the brain. There's more! Exercise actually creates more highways! So not only are the blood vessels doing a better job of giving the brain the blood it needs to function, it is creating more vessels to do the job! Cool stuff!
This is the reason that starting the day with some activity can help you feel more productive all day long. And, getting up and moving during the day can help you have more energy and be more mentally focused to accomplish mental tasks as well!
So make sure you add exercise to your mental workout each week!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Getting the Right People on the Team
I have spent the last couple of days checking in on the NFL Draft. Like many sports fans, I am very curious to see how my favorite squad will add new team members to its roster...and how they will fit and make a difference.
It's also really interesting to me to see how different teams seem to be really good at this process. They have done their research and seem to be able to make moves to put themselves in great position to get the person that fits their needs. Other organizations seem to flail. They chase the "hot prospect" or get sucked into bad deals because they don't seem to have a strong identity from which to make decisions.
While this happens on a huge stage with cameras, commentators, and fans watching, this is not that wildly different than what happens in the business world all over the planet.
Some organizations seem to have a great system in place to evaluate talent. They have a strong sense of self...and of who they want to become. They know the type of person they need...and how that person will fit in their organization. And they want ONLY the kind of person that will fit in their culture well. Zappos.com actually offers potential employees $2000 to quit before they finish training! Do you believe that? They know that the kind of person that takes the money is not the type of person that will fit with their team. They would rather pay the 2 grand...than be stuck with the wrong fit!
And of course there are the OTHER kinds of businesses out there. They just hire whoever walks in the door...or they fall in love with someone on paper before really considering whether they will fit in the organization. And just like in the NFL, the wrong person in the wrong position can set your organization back for LONG time!
So if you are in a position to add staff (good for you), make sure you have a strong sense of the kind of person you want...and how that person will fit in with the organization.
It's also really interesting to me to see how different teams seem to be really good at this process. They have done their research and seem to be able to make moves to put themselves in great position to get the person that fits their needs. Other organizations seem to flail. They chase the "hot prospect" or get sucked into bad deals because they don't seem to have a strong identity from which to make decisions.
While this happens on a huge stage with cameras, commentators, and fans watching, this is not that wildly different than what happens in the business world all over the planet.
Some organizations seem to have a great system in place to evaluate talent. They have a strong sense of self...and of who they want to become. They know the type of person they need...and how that person will fit in their organization. And they want ONLY the kind of person that will fit in their culture well. Zappos.com actually offers potential employees $2000 to quit before they finish training! Do you believe that? They know that the kind of person that takes the money is not the type of person that will fit with their team. They would rather pay the 2 grand...than be stuck with the wrong fit!
And of course there are the OTHER kinds of businesses out there. They just hire whoever walks in the door...or they fall in love with someone on paper before really considering whether they will fit in the organization. And just like in the NFL, the wrong person in the wrong position can set your organization back for LONG time!
So if you are in a position to add staff (good for you), make sure you have a strong sense of the kind of person you want...and how that person will fit in with the organization.
Attracting Good By Doing
Many authors and speakers spend a great deal of time talking about the Law of Attraction...and with good reason! It's a law that helps to rule the universe. As one author said, it's a great deal like gravity. It doesn't matter whether or not you believe it...it's still there!
The Law of Attraction is simple enough to understand. You get what you give out. So if you are a positive person, you tend to get positive back. If you are a negative person, you get that back. The example I use when I am speaking is my teenage daughter. I work hard to explain to her that is she is always complaining and negative, that will be the way that teachers, friends and parents respond to her. It's a simple concept. Give out good...get good back. But just because it's simple to understand doesn't mean it's easy to do!
Sometimes it's tough to stay in the positive frame of mind. I understand that. But no one ever said things that are worth doing are easy. You need to work at it to stay consistent in your effort to push out good things into the universe. The good news is, you control that effort. You...and only you.
But to me there is more to the Law of Attraction, than just thinking positive thoughts. So many times people misunderstand and think they just need to be a positive person...and riches will follow. That's just foolhardy. You have to DO something too!
The Law of Attraction says you get back what you give out. But you have to GIVE something more than postive thoughts. You have to take action! That is a huge piece to the Law of Attraction that I think sometimes gets glossed over.
If you want to be a force to be reckoned with in any area of life...you need to take action. Everyone has good ideas. But it's what you do with those ideas that separate people in the world. What have you DONE with those ideas?
And don't worry, you can start small. Often, that is where you can make a big impact and get your momentum going anyway. How? When you have an idea that you should send a "thank you," DO it. When you think you should go across the room and shake the new person's hand...DO it. When you think you should speak up...DO it. When you know you need to be on time to an important meeting...DO it!
You see, just like in many areas of life, it's the small things that sometimes turn into the big things. Do those things within your control consistently, your area of control increases.
So when you think about the Law of Attraction in your life, make sure you consider Taking Action in addition to just thinking good thoughts. Taking Action will be the thing that makes all the difference!
The Law of Attraction is simple enough to understand. You get what you give out. So if you are a positive person, you tend to get positive back. If you are a negative person, you get that back. The example I use when I am speaking is my teenage daughter. I work hard to explain to her that is she is always complaining and negative, that will be the way that teachers, friends and parents respond to her. It's a simple concept. Give out good...get good back. But just because it's simple to understand doesn't mean it's easy to do!
Sometimes it's tough to stay in the positive frame of mind. I understand that. But no one ever said things that are worth doing are easy. You need to work at it to stay consistent in your effort to push out good things into the universe. The good news is, you control that effort. You...and only you.
But to me there is more to the Law of Attraction, than just thinking positive thoughts. So many times people misunderstand and think they just need to be a positive person...and riches will follow. That's just foolhardy. You have to DO something too!
The Law of Attraction says you get back what you give out. But you have to GIVE something more than postive thoughts. You have to take action! That is a huge piece to the Law of Attraction that I think sometimes gets glossed over.
If you want to be a force to be reckoned with in any area of life...you need to take action. Everyone has good ideas. But it's what you do with those ideas that separate people in the world. What have you DONE with those ideas?
And don't worry, you can start small. Often, that is where you can make a big impact and get your momentum going anyway. How? When you have an idea that you should send a "thank you," DO it. When you think you should go across the room and shake the new person's hand...DO it. When you think you should speak up...DO it. When you know you need to be on time to an important meeting...DO it!
You see, just like in many areas of life, it's the small things that sometimes turn into the big things. Do those things within your control consistently, your area of control increases.
So when you think about the Law of Attraction in your life, make sure you consider Taking Action in addition to just thinking good thoughts. Taking Action will be the thing that makes all the difference!
Friday, April 27, 2012
The Most Powerful Computer
We are truly lucky. Each of us plays host to one of the most powerful super computers in the world. Our minds have the power to do amazing things within each our lives every day. The mind not only has the ability to make instantaneous decisions, calculate equations, find nourishment and communicate, but it also has the ability to guide us through tough times, connect with others and even heal.
The problem is that most of us simply don't consciously use our computer very well. We don't feed it information in order create the life we want. We take whatever life gives us and let that be the "food" we give our brain. That's no good.
Kody Bateman, in his book Promptings, tells us that 85% to 90% of what we see and hear every day is negative. And if you pay ANY attention to the news, people at work, or even your Facebook friends, you can see this is true. So if you are allowing all of those negative factors to shape your world and your attitude within the world, then your mind will begin from a negative mindset.
You see the subconscious mind is the part of the brain that never shuts off. This part of the brain is running all of the time to create the reality your conscious mind feeds it. The subconscious mind simply doesn't know what is real...and what is not. So if you want to create the life you desire...you need to feed the subconscious mind information that makes it operate from this place. If you want to be wealthy, for example, you need to feed your subconscious mind information that tells it that you are wealthy!
I am wealthy. I am a magnet for money. I am manifesting my own abundance. I am happy. And so on...
Notice how each of these statements are a positive statement of fact. You don't want to create the statements in the negative. Again, the subconscious mind simply doesn't discern between two.
Author Wayne Dyer tells us that most people get what they really, really want. They also get what they really, really don't want! Why? Because that is what they are focused on. They think about these things they don't want all the time. As Dyer puts it, "Once you realize that what you think about expands, you get really careful about what you think about!"
So make sure you are consciously feeding your subconscious mind what you want your life to be. Start today. One great exercise is to get a journal and write out the "story of your life" as you want it to be. Write this story in great detail about your life in your dreams. Now write it in the present tense, as if it has already happened. Where do you live? What is your health like? What are your relationships like? What are you doing for work or money? How did you get here? Do this today...and get your Super Computer to start operating from this reality right away!
The problem is that most of us simply don't consciously use our computer very well. We don't feed it information in order create the life we want. We take whatever life gives us and let that be the "food" we give our brain. That's no good.
Kody Bateman, in his book Promptings, tells us that 85% to 90% of what we see and hear every day is negative. And if you pay ANY attention to the news, people at work, or even your Facebook friends, you can see this is true. So if you are allowing all of those negative factors to shape your world and your attitude within the world, then your mind will begin from a negative mindset.
You see the subconscious mind is the part of the brain that never shuts off. This part of the brain is running all of the time to create the reality your conscious mind feeds it. The subconscious mind simply doesn't know what is real...and what is not. So if you want to create the life you desire...you need to feed the subconscious mind information that makes it operate from this place. If you want to be wealthy, for example, you need to feed your subconscious mind information that tells it that you are wealthy!
I am wealthy. I am a magnet for money. I am manifesting my own abundance. I am happy. And so on...
Notice how each of these statements are a positive statement of fact. You don't want to create the statements in the negative. Again, the subconscious mind simply doesn't discern between two.
Author Wayne Dyer tells us that most people get what they really, really want. They also get what they really, really don't want! Why? Because that is what they are focused on. They think about these things they don't want all the time. As Dyer puts it, "Once you realize that what you think about expands, you get really careful about what you think about!"
So make sure you are consciously feeding your subconscious mind what you want your life to be. Start today. One great exercise is to get a journal and write out the "story of your life" as you want it to be. Write this story in great detail about your life in your dreams. Now write it in the present tense, as if it has already happened. Where do you live? What is your health like? What are your relationships like? What are you doing for work or money? How did you get here? Do this today...and get your Super Computer to start operating from this reality right away!
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Little Things Make the Big Difference
When creating the extremely successful business CDBaby.com, Derek Sivers realized his automated "thank you" for customers who ordered, just wasn't enough. So, as he wrote in his book "Anything You Want," he spent twenty minutes and wrote an email that was funny, snarky, and full of his company's personality. That one single email made a huge difference!
It made such a huge difference that when you google search CD Baby Jet, you get thousands of hits on it. Here is the email that a happy client posted!
"Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, August 17th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music"
So as you can see, a really different, fun way to say "thank you" to his customers. At Hasseman Marketing we are taking this idea to heart. We have created automated emails that go out to each customer that orders something from us! Our difference is we are switching them up. We don't want the message to get stale for those that order from us regularly. And the response has already started to come in on this simple idea.
We also go out of our way to recognize our customers birthdays and special occasions when we can. We will send them a card with their picture on it to recognize their acheivement. It might take a little time, but the impact to our relationship is BIG!
You see we all want to have that big brilliant idea that will make sales double or triple. But in reality it's the simple things we can do to delight our customers that make a BIG difference in our long term sales!
It made such a huge difference that when you google search CD Baby Jet, you get thousands of hits on it. Here is the email that a happy client posted!
"Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, August 17th.
I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!
Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music"
So as you can see, a really different, fun way to say "thank you" to his customers. At Hasseman Marketing we are taking this idea to heart. We have created automated emails that go out to each customer that orders something from us! Our difference is we are switching them up. We don't want the message to get stale for those that order from us regularly. And the response has already started to come in on this simple idea.
We also go out of our way to recognize our customers birthdays and special occasions when we can. We will send them a card with their picture on it to recognize their acheivement. It might take a little time, but the impact to our relationship is BIG!
You see we all want to have that big brilliant idea that will make sales double or triple. But in reality it's the simple things we can do to delight our customers that make a BIG difference in our long term sales!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Controlling What We Can Control
Let's face it. Life is more fun when you are passionate about what you are working on! You want to get up in the morning. You are excited to go to work or school. You have a purpose. Therefore you are positive!
But every once in a while, even the most positive person can get a case of the "grumpies." So many times we can easily blame it on the weather, the neighbors, the boss, the customers, the spouse, or whatever. Sometimes I am not sure why I have a case of the blah's.
For me, when I am not "feeling it," or when I am in a down right foul mood it is because I am spending too much time outside of my Circle of Influence. The Circle of Influence is famously written about in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The concept is that Highly Effective people spend time working on only things they can control. Things outside of their control cannot be influenced so there is no point spending any time or energy on them!
Things like gossip, worries, the weather and other's behavior are just a few things I simply can't control. So why bother?
When I am feeling frustrated with life (as frankly I was for a part of yesterday) it is almost ALWAYS because I am spending my time outside my circle of influence! So I need to re-focus my efforts onto controlling the things I can control. When I do that, I become more effective...and I get in a lot better mood too!
But every once in a while, even the most positive person can get a case of the "grumpies." So many times we can easily blame it on the weather, the neighbors, the boss, the customers, the spouse, or whatever. Sometimes I am not sure why I have a case of the blah's.
For me, when I am not "feeling it," or when I am in a down right foul mood it is because I am spending too much time outside of my Circle of Influence. The Circle of Influence is famously written about in the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The concept is that Highly Effective people spend time working on only things they can control. Things outside of their control cannot be influenced so there is no point spending any time or energy on them!
Things like gossip, worries, the weather and other's behavior are just a few things I simply can't control. So why bother?
When I am feeling frustrated with life (as frankly I was for a part of yesterday) it is almost ALWAYS because I am spending my time outside my circle of influence! So I need to re-focus my efforts onto controlling the things I can control. When I do that, I become more effective...and I get in a lot better mood too!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Raising Your Sights
Here is an email I sent to our staff...slightly modified.
Good morning gang. I hope each of you is doing well. I wanted to get you thinking about our company…and how I think we can propel our growth by changing our sights.
Each of you, by now, know that I am a big believer in goal setting. I think each of us need to have our goals, clearly defined and written down. It’s a powerful way to cause positive change in our lives.
You also know that I have laid out certain goals for HMC. I have said that I would like for us to shoot for (an aggressive reasonable goal) in sales for 2012. That could be viewed as a lofty goal considering our previous year’s sales. But I think it’s not lofty enough. Why? Because I think if you create a goal (say $1 Million) that is not high enough, you make decisions looking through those pair of glasses. Quite frankly, if each of us did a little more in sales, we could reach the reasonable goal. There is no need for a change in thinking.
I think if we change the conversation to a BIG Goal, it changes our internal conversation. It changes the way we view each decision. How would a larger company tackle this issue? Or, maybe more importantly, what kind of customers, sales techniques, and processes will we need to get there? What do we need to inherently do better to reach THE BIG GOAL?
The same is true for our sales team. I think I have done you each the disservice of saying (a reasonable number) is your goal. Though each of us has to set our personal sales goals, I think (from a company standpoint) we need to change the conversation. Instead of shooting to sell $2500 per week, you need to be shooting for $10,000 per week! Just think, if you fall short of this, you might still be quite above the original goal! And just think of what your income would look like if you are selling $10,000 per week. Totally different.
But to reach $10,000 per week you may have to view your own sales differently. What kind of customers do I have now? What kind do I need to reach this new level? What do I need to consistently do to get them? These are questions each of us need to ask ourselves to make sure we are keeping our eyes on our goals.
So that is the question I leave with each of us today. What can we do to change our focus toward THE BIG GOAL? What can you do to change your personal sales go upward? I have some thoughts, but I want your input. Please let me know what I can do to help!
Good morning gang. I hope each of you is doing well. I wanted to get you thinking about our company…and how I think we can propel our growth by changing our sights.
Each of you, by now, know that I am a big believer in goal setting. I think each of us need to have our goals, clearly defined and written down. It’s a powerful way to cause positive change in our lives.
You also know that I have laid out certain goals for HMC. I have said that I would like for us to shoot for (an aggressive reasonable goal) in sales for 2012. That could be viewed as a lofty goal considering our previous year’s sales. But I think it’s not lofty enough. Why? Because I think if you create a goal (say $1 Million) that is not high enough, you make decisions looking through those pair of glasses. Quite frankly, if each of us did a little more in sales, we could reach the reasonable goal. There is no need for a change in thinking.
I think if we change the conversation to a BIG Goal, it changes our internal conversation. It changes the way we view each decision. How would a larger company tackle this issue? Or, maybe more importantly, what kind of customers, sales techniques, and processes will we need to get there? What do we need to inherently do better to reach THE BIG GOAL?
The same is true for our sales team. I think I have done you each the disservice of saying (a reasonable number) is your goal. Though each of us has to set our personal sales goals, I think (from a company standpoint) we need to change the conversation. Instead of shooting to sell $2500 per week, you need to be shooting for $10,000 per week! Just think, if you fall short of this, you might still be quite above the original goal! And just think of what your income would look like if you are selling $10,000 per week. Totally different.
But to reach $10,000 per week you may have to view your own sales differently. What kind of customers do I have now? What kind do I need to reach this new level? What do I need to consistently do to get them? These are questions each of us need to ask ourselves to make sure we are keeping our eyes on our goals.
So that is the question I leave with each of us today. What can we do to change our focus toward THE BIG GOAL? What can you do to change your personal sales go upward? I have some thoughts, but I want your input. Please let me know what I can do to help!
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