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How To Get To It, Now!

Have you ever come to the end of your workday asking yourself, “Why didn’t I get anything done today?” Yeah, me, too. Two posts ago, before we had an interruption for exigent circumstances, I promised you I would teach you how to get to it now and get your customer’s paying work done as timely as feasible. So, let’s get to it now and see how we can make that happen for you.

If you read my book, you will find The P10 Principle, which states, “Proaction, perception, planning, preparation, practice, and persistence promote practically perfect performance.”  I conglomerated this concept from a variety of sources including Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, W. Edwards Deming’s Out of the Crisis, John Norcross’s Changeology, and Thomas Greenspon’s Moving Past Perfect.

We can easily assume you are being proactive in your desire to get to doing your paying work done as timely as feasible. So, let’s move on to the perception part of the P10 Principle.

In order to do anything, you have to perceive three things.

  1. First, you have to perceive, in immaculate detail, your practically perfect performance of what you want to do. In this case, it will be the practically perfect performance of getting your paying work done as timely as feasible.
  2. Once you have perceived your practically perfect performance of doing what you want to do, you have to then, second, perceive how you are obviously much less than practically perfectly not getting your paying work done now.
  3. Once you have perceived what you want to be doing and what you are actually doing, then you have to perceive what of your life’s precious resources of self, time, effort, energy, emotion, intellect, property, and people you can and must apply to get from what you are doing to what you want to do.

Making the change from what you are doing to what you want to do is where most of the work of the P10 Principle comes into play. This working part of life, both personal and professional, is where the planning, preparation, practice, and persistence “P’s” of the P10 Principle come into their necessary use.

As with almost anything else in life, the exact details of how one performs each of these steps varies with the specific facts and circumstances that present themselves to anyone who needs to get their paying work done as effectively and efficiently as feasible. Most of the time, if you have the requisite skills to qualify yourself to get hired to do paying professional work, you really should not need much planning, preparation, practice, or persistence to get started.

The truth is, in most situations where you are not getting your work done timely enough, you already know what it is need to do and you already know how to do it. The real problem, however, is you just can’t get yourself to work doing it.

Why not? Why can’t you get yourself to work doing your paying work? Usually, it is because you don’t really like what you do for a living or because you cannot see yourself making any progress in your life doing what you are doing the way you are currently doing it.

This is a vicious cycle, the breaking of which, requires you to admit you need some help and resolve to go get it. You can get help internally, but you are probably presently failing at that, or you can get help externally, which is going to require you to invest something, sometime, somewhere.

The secret at this point in time, however, is to “Get To It, Now!” either doing your paying work or getting some help getting past whatever is blocking you from doing your paying work now.

 

If you need help, contact me and I will be willing to help you. But you have to ask and commit to working on the problem yourself with my help.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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… and Move Your Fat Ass More

Have you ever heard the instruction,”And all you have to do is A and B, and then, you’ll get what you want” and thought, “Well, heck, anybody can do that,” and you start to knock the leather off the A ball, and while your smiling like a mule eating briars thinking about taking your lap around the bases and unexpectedly the pitcher knocks the snot out of you with the B ball? Yeah, me, too.

If you followed that introduction, then you’ll enjoy the rest of this post.

Continuing with the idea of Eat Less CRAPF (the P is silent and so is the processing) and Move Your Fat Ass More, we covered using meal replacement bars to eat less. Now, however, we need to discuss how eating less does very little good if you don’t move your fat ass more.

Growing, losing, or maintaining body weight is all a matter of energy intake and use balance. If you eat no more calories than you use, then, all other factors being equal, you will maintain your body weight. There are several factors that shift this input/output balance equation to one side or the other, but they are beyond our scope here and now. But one factor that we are concerned about is the factor that when you rob your body of energy input, it responds by slowing your metabolism to conserve energy.

So, if you only eat less CRAPF and don’t move more, you are not going to lose as much weight as you could if you moved more and you won’t be able to keep it off either. So, how much less should you eat and how much should you move?

The US government researchers say 55-60-year-old men who are not overweight should eat about 2,200 – 2,600 calories a day, depending on their level of activity and metabolism. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 8th Edition, December 2015. Available at: http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/ (Accessed on April 25, 2016).

If you are overweight or obese, however, then you have to eat much less than this to lose weight. Why? Because a pound of human fat cells (adipocytes) store about 3,500 calories. So, to lose a pound of fat in a week, you have to have a 3,500 calorie energy debt that week. But, if you just starve yourself for 3,500 calories a week (500 calories a day), then your metabolism is going to slow to preserve your fat.

Therefore, to compensate, you have to get and keep your metabolism ramped up to have the maximum weight loss beneficial effect of eating less. For the past two days, while I have been dropping from 186 to 178.4 pounds by eating only 5 food bars containing 270 calories each totaling 1,350 calories, I’ve been doing an hour of intensive exercise first thing each morning and burning about 2,000 extra calories a day.

(This 2,000 calories of exercise is the figure that shows on the Free Motion Cross Trainer I’m using. I have no idea how accurate it is, but I am working up a maximum pulse rate of 150-160 beats per minute for most of the hour. My maximum training rate should only be 80% of (220 – my age of 57). 220-57 is 163 and 80% of 163 is 130.4. I hope I don’t kill myself trying to get that average healthy BMI of 25.)

Regardless of what the energy intake/use numbers are, eating the meal replacement bars and doing a maximum effort hour of exercise a day has helped me drop 4.1% of my high starting body weight in two days. It would not have happened just by eating the food bars without increasing my exercise. I know this from many cycles of gaining and losing these 30 extra pounds a few times over the past three years.

I’m not recommending anyone do exactly as I do. Talk to your own doctor first before making any sudden change to your eating, drinking, exercise, and other health issues.

Nonetheless, do not just eat less and expect to lose weight. You have to move more at the same time.

Check in next post to see if we have three good weight loss days in a row.

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Is It Time for a Meal Replacement Plan?

Have you ever wished you could just avoid preparing and eating meals and just get all the nutrition your body needs in one delicious (preferably chocolate flavored) pill you can take once an hour while you keep on working on more important things all day? Yeah, me, too. So does my wife, the board-certified family physician who is about to get her results for her American Board of Obesity Medicine results (we all believe she passed). Turns out, medical research supports the idea. And I’m about to apply it for at least a couple of weeks.

First, how did we get where we are today? In February of 2014, I was 155 pounds. I looked great and felt awesome. Then, I let life get in the way of my maintenance of that state of Greatness! Over the past 36 months, I have let 31 of the 75 pounds I lost in 2013 re-accrete in my abdominal viscera and I find myself halfway back to a less healthy hell and I now need to make some changes to get back down to a BMI of 25 again. Thus, I am about to shock myself with an easy, inexpensive weight loss plan I call the Clif Builders Bar plan.

Anyone who knows me knows, my mantra for RightSizing your body can be summed up as Eat Less CRAPF (the P is silent, just like the processing) and Move Your Fat Ass More! Mean as it sounds, this is just a catchy restatement of the scientific fact that eating more calories than you use each day results in increased fat mass. There is no two ways about it. If you eat more calories than you use, you store the excess calories as adipose tissue and get fatter and fatter each hour that you do it.

Having studied for Susan’s obesity medicine exams for all of 2016, I know there are lots of different dietary plans one can follow. The DASH diet, the Paleo Plan, the Adkins Plan, the Mediterranean Diet, the Asian Diet, Weight Watchers, Nutri-System, Slim-Fast, Hi-Pro, Hi-Fat, Low-Fat, No-Fat, and the North-South-East-and-West Beach Diets; more choices than at which you can shake a stick. Like many doctors tell me, “The best medicine is the medicine you are ready, willing, and able to take over the long term,” the best “Eat Less CRAPF” diet is the one you are ready, willing, and able to follow for an effective period of time.

My choice to readjust my dietary navigation in life is the dead reckoning idea of eating nothing but meal replacement bars for a sustained period of time. Hence, the Clif Builders Bar.

There is plenty of scientific support for meal replacement bar plans. Most people’s biggest dietary problems are macronutrient and micronutrient balance and portion control. Meal replacement bar plans (assuming you pick the right meal replacement bars) are a good way to overcome those problems. And the best MR Bar I’ve found is the Clif Builders Bar.

Most nutritionists recommend a macronutrient trilogy of 50% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 20% protein each day. I prefer a bit more protein than carbs and the Clif Builders Bar hits my sweet spot (in more ways than) one with 43% carbs, 29% fat, and 28% protein. The fact that I can buy their chocolate-covered goodness for $1.05 per bar at Sam’s Club or BJ’s and eat five of them a day (1/3 of a bar every hour on the hour for my fifteen waking hours) for $5.25 a day (less than one max-fancy venti Starbucks latte) is an awesome bonus.

So, here’s the plan. I’ll be taking five Clif Builders Bars, cutting them into thirds, and eating one of the thirds every hour from 5:00 am through 8:00 pm each day. This will allow me to trickle into my body a balanced flow of 90 calories per hour. I did this yesterday after starting at a weight of 186 pounds yesterday morning. After a 1-hour, 3-mile, max-incline, max-resistance on my sister’s Free Motion cross trainer, today, I weighed 180.7. Yeah. I don’t believe it either. But, I checked it three times just to be sure.

I’ve recruited a mutual accountability partner to work with me for at least these next two weeks. The same one I had back in 2013. He’s agreed to do the same MRB program with me. I won’t say his name or his beginning weight. But I will nag him here if his progress wanes. He can, and should, start his own blog if he wants to nag me about mine.

Until the next time.

 

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How Are Your Resolutions Resolving?

Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution January 1st, faithfully fulfilled it for a week, weakened in it for a few more, and then completely abandoned it by the end of the month? Yeah, me, too. And we are not alone.

John C. Norcross, Ph.D., the author of Changeology (see my 5-part post on his book by searching my blog for “Changeology”), has researched and found 75% of the people seeking to change fail, but almost all who maintain their change for three months make the change permanent. So, if you’ve had set backs in your 2017 resolutions, don’t quit. Just research what you are not doing and get back to doing it.

For me, I am already off pace for both my 2017 personal, health, and business goals. No need to cry over a month of spilt milk, however. Just time to regroup and move forward. If you find yourself similarly situated, then it’s time to get up and get on with it.

More specific posts in those individual facets will follow. If the volume of posts starts do bug you, then, please, do not unsubscribe. Just hit the delete button on each post you see as a burden on your inbox and, hopefully, the next one will call you more.

[reminder]Have you done all you can to fulfill your New Year’s Resolution?[/reminder]

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Why Turnkey Processes Yield The Best Results

Have you ever wondered, “How can I go big in my business without a technological breakthrough?” Yeah, me, too.

In his book Discipline Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup, Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, posits only two distinct types of entrepreneurship exist. Aulet’s first type includes small and medium enterprises usually started by one person to serve a local market seeking the rewards of personal independence and cash flow from the business.

The MIT professor’s second type, innovation-driven enterprise (IDE) entrepreneurship, involves more risk-taking and more ambitious as entrepreneurs, working in teams build a business off some technology, process, business model, or other innovation that will give them a significant competitive advantage over existing competitors. IDE entrepreneurs seek to create wealth through exponential growth more than to remain in control of their companies as they drive to become big and fast-growing to serve global markets with the help of venture capital from a limited number of new part-owner-investors who insist on seizing control of the enterprise.

There is, however, a third type of entrepreneurial enterprise that blends these two extremes. This third type, which is achievable by every small and medium enterprise owner, is to start, buy, run, and grow a turnkey business in order either to sell it for profit or sell duplicates of it as franchises.

Rather than being based on a technological breakthrough, turnkey businesses based on quality management improvements drive the success of the clear majority of small businesses in America and around the world today. Quality management improvement drives better businesses to be more effective, more efficient, and, therefore, much more profitable than their competitors in many ways.

Unlike Aulet’s SME model, the turnkey model blends the best of both entrepreneurial worlds. It begins with a focus on local, then regional markets, but has the end game of letting others rent the business process the turnkey entrepreneur innovates. The turnkey quality management system innovated allows for duplicable jobs, instead of tradable jobs, which multiply employment instead of merely relocating employees. And, most importantly, it grows exponentially with the franchisor staying in control of his or her business model and operations, while each franchisee begins with and maintains control of his or her own personal risk, reward, and destiny.

Whether you want to be a small business owner, an IDE entrepreneur, or an owner/franchisor, if you want to truly own your own business and get the biggest return on your investment of your life’s precious resources of self, time, effort, energy, emotion, intellect, property, and people in your business, then you must use the P10 Principle to start, buy, run, grow, and sell your business as a turnkey operation and begin with one location and let other people rent your business processes as franchisees.

[reminder]What are you doing to turnkey your business?[/reminder]

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10 Reasons Why You Can Hire Us

Here are the top 10 reasons business owners hire us:

1. You can hire us because of our expertise.

2. You can hire us to identify problems. Sometimes you are too close to a problem inside your business to identify it. That’s when we ride in on our white horses to save the day.

3. You can hire us to supplement your staff. Sometimes you discover you can save thousands of dollars a week by hiring consultants like us when we are needed, rather than hiring full-time employees. You realize you can save additional money by not having to pay benefits for consultants like us. Even though fees are generally higher than your employee’s salary, over the long haul, it simply makes good economic sense to hire us as consultants.

4. You can hire us to act as a catalyst. Let’s face it. No one likes change, especially small businesses. But sometimes change is needed, and we may be brought in to “get the ball rolling.” In other words, we can do things without worrying about the corporate culture, employee morale, or other issues that get in the way when an organization is trying to institute change.

5. You can hire us to provide much-needed objectivity. Who else is more qualified to identify a problem than a consultant? A good consultant provides an objective, fresh viewpoint–without worrying about what people in the organization might think about the results and how they were achieved.

6. You can hire us to teach. We canteach employees any number of different skills. We keep up with new discoveries in our fields of expertise–and are ready to teach new clients what they need to stay competitive.

7. You can hire us to do the “dirty work.” Let’s face it: No one wants to be the person who has to make cuts in the staff or to eliminate an entire division.

8. You can hire us to bring new life to your business. If you are good at coming up with new ideas that work, then you won’t have any trouble finding clients. At one time or another, however, most businesses need someone to administer “first aid” to get things rolling again.

9. You can hire us to create a new business. We have great experience in this field. Not everyone has the ability to conceive an idea and develop a game plan. We do.

10. You can hire us to influence other people. We can get your message in places you cannot send it yourself.

 [reminder]What’s holding you back from getting our help?[/reminder]

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Put a New Concept in an Old Space

Have you ever been sitting in a dumpy little restaurant and thought to yourself, “Gee, this old place would be a great location for [insert your favorite food place] to open up a new store.” Yeah, me too. More likely than not the owners of the the worn out place your in are tired of owning it and it can be economically bought, updated, and changed into the new concept you desire.

My son, Yitzchak, and I recently associated ourselves with Transworld Business Advisors of Baltimore to add business brokerage to my evergrowing scope of business consulting services company, The Besser Business Bureau. Over the past several weeks, we have been wearing the soles off our shoes walking around Baltimore’s downtown harbor districts getting to know as many of the business owners there as we can. If the owners aren’t in when we pass by, we leave the head person in the store a sealed envelope marked “Confidential For Business Owner Use Only” containing a brief note from us asking them to contact us if they’ve ever considered selling their place. If the business is closed as we go by, then we tape the envelope to the front door of the business based on the high probability that the next person unlocking the door will either be the owner or will give the envelope to the owner.

Three things have surprised the heck out of us. First, drop letters are very effective contacting tools if properly done. Second, there are a ton of business owners out there running marginally successful enterprises who are tired of owning them and seeking to get out of what they are doing for a reasonable price. Third, there are tons of people looking to buy a marginally successful business in the hopes of making it better by making it their very own.

So, if you think you see an opportunity to put your expertise to work in a new location, find the owner and ask about buying the place.

[reminder]Do you have what it takes to break out of your rut and try a new way of earning a living?[/reminder]

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Can You Pass The Bus Test?

If you writing your business plan gave you trouble, try writing your business transition plan. Entrepreneurs incessantly think about developing, building, and scaling their enterprises. And, except for the big dream of going public or getting bought by a bigger fish, if you are like most owners, you will seldom think about transitioning your business to its next owners. And the failure to put in place a transition plan now, will almost certainly  cause you or your family to lose almost everything you have worked so hard to build.

Think about what would happen if you got hit by a bus walking to the coffee shop around the corner.

  • If you were unconscious for a week, a month, or longer, who would step in for you and keep your business running?
  • If you died, that same question applies, as does, what would happen to your business?
  • Would someone run it for your family? Why would they?
  • Would someone buy it from your family? Who? Why would they? How much would they pay?

In as much that failing to plan at succeeding in your business is tantamount to planning to fail at it, failing to plan at transitioning your business is tantamount to just letting it whither on the vine as you lay disabled or dying.

Don’t just think about this. Do something to prevent it. Find a good business advisor and build a good transition plan.[reminder]Do you have any clue what your business would do tomorrow if you got hit by a bus today?[/reminder]

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5 Changeology Steps To Become Great! All The Time! – Part 8 – The Final Chapter

book_imgWe are now in John Norcross’s fifth and final step in Changeology, Persist.

Unless properly managed and maintained over the long term, effective change dissipates slowly, gradually, almost imperceptibly as a result of minor slips. Just like Norcross consistently teaches the first four steps/stages of change require working on them in order and mastering each step’s skills and strategies, Norcross maintains his persistence step/stage requires not only mastering the skills and strategies, but also a fundamental shift in thinking.

An example of such a fundamental shift is moving from the limited, short-term deprivation of a diet to the continual, long-term enjoyment of a more enhanced lifestyle.

I have often said, “Maintenance is the largest burden of ownership.” Norcross explains that psychologists define maintenance as Continue reading “5 Changeology Steps To Become Great! All The Time! – Part 8 – The Final Chapter”

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5 Changeology Steps To Becoming Great! All The Time! – Part 7

book_imgUsing one of the core principles of Greatness! and the P10 Principle, Norcross begins his fourth step of change, the perseverance stage, in his book Changeology, by reminding one and all that most mere mortals cannot achieve perfection. But here’s the good news.

  • Studies show 58 to 71% of change-seekers slip at least once in their first 30 days of Step 3 (Perspire).
  • The average changer slips six times.
  • 71% of people who resolve to make changes and have slips and manage those slips feel the slip strengthens their commitment to their resolution.

Change is an experience. My definition of experience is breaking things and having to fix them. Norcross says the perseverance stage of behavior change is Continue reading “5 Changeology Steps To Becoming Great! All The Time! – Part 7”