9. The only kind of marketing you need is an amazing product. If it’s good, people will spread the word for you. All other kind of marketing is disingenuous.

10. Never send an email or message that’s unfit for the eyes of the world. In this digital age, you never know what might slip into public view.

11. You can’t motivate people. The best you can hope for is to inspire them with your actions. People who think they can use behavioral “science” or management techniques have not spent enough time on the receiving end of either.

12. If you find yourself swimming with all the other fish, go the other way. They don’t know where they’re going either.

13. You will miss a ton, but that’s OK. We’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important … that we forget the simple fact that we cannot experience everything. That physical reality dictates we’ll miss most things. We can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people. But the secret is: life is better when we don’t try to do everything. Learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.

14. Mistakes are the best way to learn. Don’t be afraid to make them. Try not to repeat the same ones too often.

15. Failures are the stepping stones to success. Without failure, we’ll never learn how to succeed. So try to fail, instead of trying to avoid failure through fear.

16. Being a vegan/vegetarian is wonderful. For many years I thought it was a ridiculous notion, that I couldn’t give up meat, that it was a sacrifice not worth suffering through. I now know that it’s no sacrifice, that our taste buds easily change, that I’m enjoying vegan dishes more than anything I’ve ever eaten before, and I’m reducing the suffering of animals in the meantime.

17. There are few joys that equal a good book, a good walk, a good hug, or a good friend. All are free.

18. Fitness doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long process, a learning process, something that happens in little bits over a long period. I’ve been getting fit for five years now, and I still have more to learn and do. But the progress I’ve made has been amazing, and it’s been a great journey.

Post written by Leo Babauta <http://leobabauta.com> .

“I’ve been on this earth for nearly four decades. Being in a city like Paris, where there are buildings that measure their age by the millennia, helps put that brief blink of the eye into perspective. But still, it amazes me that I’ve been around that long — I feel like I’ve barely begun.

I’m not usually one to make a big deal about my birthday, but as always, it has given me an opportunity to reflect. I thought I’d share a handful of lessons I’ve learned — as a helpful guide for those just starting out.

This post is for my children, whom I miss greatly across the distance of a continent and an ocean. I hope this will shine a dim light on the streets they have to navigate ahead of them, though I know they’ll still stumble as much as I have.

1. Always swallow your pride to say you’re sorry. Being too proud to apologize is never worth it — your relationship suffers for no good benefit.

2. Possessions are worse than worthless — they’re harmful. They add no value to your life, and cost you everything. Not just the money required to buy them, but the time and money spent shopping for them, maintaining them, worrying about them, insuring them, fixing them, etc.

3. Slow down. Rushing is rarely worth it. Life is better enjoyed at a leisurely pace.

4. Goals aren’t as important as we think. Try working without them for a week. Turns out, you can do amazing things without goals. And you don’t have to manage them, cutting out on some of the bureaucracy of your life. You’re less stressed without goals, and you’re freer to choose paths you couldn’t have foreseen without them.

5. The moment is all there is. All our worries and plans about the future, all our replaying of things that happened in the past — it’s all in our heads, and it just distracts us from fully living right now. Let go of all that, and just focus on what you’re doing, right at this moment. In this way, any activity can be meditation.

6. When your child asks for your attention, always grant it. Give your child your full attention, and instead of being annoyed at the interruption, be grateful for the reminder to spend time with someone you love.

7. Don’t go into debt. That includes credit card debt, student debt, home debt, personal loans, auto loans. We think they’re necessary but they’re not, at all. They cause more headaches than they’re worth, they can ruin lives, and they cost us way more than we get. Spend less than you earn, go without until you have the money.

8. I’m not cool, and I’m cool with that. I wasted a lot of energy when I was younger worrying about being cool. It’s way more fun to forget about that, and just be yourself.

The more content you are with yourself, the fewer material things you need.

~ quote from Kirk Weisler

I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened. ~  Mark Twain

You can lead your life with forbidding thoughts of doom and gloom and prove yourself right…by actually creating the darkness or at least inviting it with your dark outlook.  Or you can life your life with hope and optimism and allowing yourself to be a creator or reflector of light.  Either way unexpected and unfortunate things will still happen.  But it is easy to see which of our predetermined outlooks will best serve us in our journey through those circumstances.

Let’s look forward to and create a most wonderful and worry free weekend.

Kirk out

Many of us are good at starting things — it’s the finishing that we need help with.

The truth is, it might seem funny that my post on “How to Finish” sat unfinished for 7 days, but I’m actually decent at finishing. I start a whole bunch of articles and books, and let those ideas germinate. When I’m ready to focus on them, I get them to done pretty easily.

How? Many people wrote in to ask me to write a post called “How to Finish” after I wrote about How to Start. Reader Anthony Zullo, for example, asked:

“You know when you get to the middle of a project, like a novel and start to lose motivation. Well, how do you develop that motivation after you’re half way up the hill but not yet walking downhill yet?”

I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll gladly share what works for me.

Motivation

For me, finishing is all about motivation. If you’re having a difficult time finishing, it’s best to look closely at why you want to finish in the first place.

If the task or project isn’t something you want to do, consider the consequences of dropping it. I’ve done this often and it’s a relief when I finally drop something I didn’t really want to do in the first place.

If you really do want to do the task/project, ask why. What do you get out of it? Do you love doing it? Is there some benefit you’ll get? Visualize that — it might get you going.

If you need more motivation, find a way to give yourself some public accountability. Set a deadline, do a blog post, tweet about finishing. A little positive public pressure can be a good thing.

Get Moving

In my post, How to Start, I shared a tip for getting going:

Make it ridiculously easy to get started. Make the task so small, so easy, you can’t say no — make it just 1 minute long, for example, or even just 20 seconds.

Use the same tip for finishing: break your task into tiny little mini-steps, and just get started on each one by making them so easy you can’t *not* do it. And keep doing that, repeatedly, until you’re done.

It’s that simple. If you can’t write a whole chapter of your book or report, just write a paragraph or two. Take a walk around for a minute, then write another paragraph or two. Keep doing this until you’re done.

Then go out and tell the world you finished. It’s awesome.

The worst voice of the brand *is* the brand – by Seth Godin

We either ignore your brand or we judge it, usually with too little information. And when we judge it, we judge it based on the actions of the loudest, meanest, most selfish member of your tribe.

When a zealot advocates violence, outsiders see all members of his tribe as advocates of violence.

When a doctor rips off Medicare, all doctors are seen as less trustworthy.

When a fundamentalist advocates destruction of outsiders, all members of that organization are seen as intolerant.

When a soldier commits freelance violence, all citizens of his nation are seen as violent.

When a car rental franchise rips off a customer, all outlets of the franchise suffer.

Seems obvious, no? I wonder, then, why loyal and earnest members of the tribe hesitate to discipline, ostracize or expel the negative outliers.

“You’re hurting us, this is wrong, we are expelling you.”

What do you stand for?

I was doing some reading yesterday and came across this short bit of wisdom from Seth Godin.  It reminded me of all the leaders who have approached me over the years looking for insight on what they can do to handle an extremely negative or toxic member of their tribe.  Sometimes they feel their hands are tied by union or governmental issues…and maybe they are.  Most of the time though it seems that the leader is just hesitant to do what they know needs to be done.  And most of the time leaders wait far too long to take the needed action.

What if it wasn’t up to the leader?  What if it was like an episode of survivor where you had a weekly peer vote and the least contributing member (the one that was bringing down your brand ) was voted off!

When I was going through the 2 month long US Army Ranger training we did something like this every 2 weeks.  We had to identify the least contributing member of our team and pass the name to our instructor.  If the vast majority of the team turned in the same name then that person packed their bags and we never saw them again. (Unlike the TV show there was no follow up interview asking them if they felt betrayed or asking the team if we felt guilty about sending them packing).

There was no guilt, no hesitation and no regrets.  We never even discussed them again… who has time, energy or even the desire to talk about such things.  Weed out the whiners, porcupines and skunks and move on.  There is a mission to accomplish and I want accomplish it with the most elite bunch of super talented freaky tribal members we can gather to our cause.

Get em off the Island, get them away from our brand, so we can, without the baggage of their distraction, get on with the mission !

Kirk Out

“Out of the mouths of babes come words we shouldn’t have said in the first place.”   (So speak carefully)

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”  (So give generously)

Out With the Boys

A man left for work one Friday afternoon. But, being payday, instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend hunting with the boys and spent his entire paycheck.   When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted by a very angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade befitting his actions.

Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him. “How would you like it if you didn’t see me for two or three days?”

To which he replied, “That would be fine with me.”

Monday went by and he didn’t see his wife.

Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results.

Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye.

Make it a great weekend and don’t spend your whole paycheck….unless you are hunting for trouble!

Who you are and what’s inside you is all that matters.  Live well and know you have all of eternity to stand tall in the doorways of your life.

~Gigi Galluzzo

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

However when it comes to “All you can eat”  moderation is recommend.

Let’s make today as great as we possibly CAN.

Kirk Out

Hello Fear
Before you sit down there’s something I need to explain
Since you’re here
I think I should tell you since we last talked things have changed
See I’m tired of being broken-hearted
So I made a list and you’re on it
All my hopes and my dreams You took from me
I want those back before you leave

Hello Fear
I knew I would see you, You have a hard time letting go
See these tears, Take a good look cuz, soon they won’t fall anymore
God’s healing my hurtful places
That seat that was yours now is taken
I’m no longer afraid, See I’m better this way
And one more thing before you leave

(Chorus)
Never again will I love you
My heart it refuses to be your home
No longer your prisoner
Today I remember
Apart from you is where I belong

And never again will I trust you
I’m tired of fighting it’s been way too long
No longer your prisoner
Today I remember
Who I was and now it’s gone
They’re gone

Hello Grace
It feels like forever, I thought my chance with you was gone
See your face, it reminds me of mercy
And please let me say I was wrong
Never knew your touch was endless
How you never run dry of forgiveness
Didn’t know how bad it was, was afraid just because
Sorry fear, grace took your place