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Data Is Nonjudgmental

Have you ever stepped on the scale, seen you gained the same pound today you lost yesterday, and felt yourself an absolute failure? Yeah, me, too. Until a wise one taught me, “Your data is not judgmental of you because of the data and neither should you be judgmental of yourself because of your data. Just study your data, learn from it, and react to it appropriately.”

A reader asks, “What’s the benefit of micromanaging weight loss daily vs. the negative psychological effect of failing to drop weight for one or two days?”

First, I reject the premise of the question. There should be no psychological effect of failing to lose weight daily. The daily data is just data. We don’t judge actors based on data. We just analyze data and prior actions and other factors that caused the data to fluctuate as it did to discover the cause of the deviction from the expected result and correct our inputs in order to get better results going forward.

We use data such a daily weight to exercise CONTROL over our actions by Correcting Ourselves Nicely To Repair Ocassional Lapses.

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FOCUS and CONTROL In Action

Have you ever set a goal for yourself and then, when you hit hiccups along the way, just gave up instead of persevering? Yeah, me, too. Then I learned that maintaining FOCUS, Following One Course Until Success, and CONTROL, Correcting Oneself Nicely To Repair Occasional Lapses, requires work both before and after any journey begins.

This morning, my meal replacement bar 5-day weight loss shock plan delivered much smaller results than it did Monday and Tuesday. Sunday morning, I weighed 186. Monday morning, 180.7, which was a 5.3 pound loss. Tuesday, 178.4, which was a 2.3 pound loss. Today, 177.0, which was only a 1.4 pound loss.

Prior to learning how to focus, I would have gotten frustrated after the third day of decreasing losses. But now, I understand what is happening with my program and why and it doesn’t bother me. I prepared in advance for this decreasing weight loss as time runs on by learning how my body would react to decreasing my energy intake while significantly ramping up my physical training. Now that my gains, which are coincidentally actually losses, are decreasing each day, the ever-positive sum total of them is still recognized by me as progressing according to plan.

How did I arrange this? By perceiving my desired objective of practically perfect performance, by perceiving my present performance, and by perceiving what resources of self, time, effort, energy, emotion, intellect, property, and people I had to invest in moving from performing how I was to performing how I wanted to.

The most important part of FOCUSing was choosing a proper practically perfect performance goal (10 pounds of sustained weight loss obtained this week and maintained next week) instead of a ridiculous goal (losing 5 pounds a day for 5 days and keeping it off). The second most important part was to understand how the entire trip to success was going to proceed instead of just starting a course and winging it. The third most important part has been using my POWER by Proceeding Only With Every Resource I had available. The fourth most important part was using BALANCE by Building And Leveraging A Nicely Coordinated Ensemble of resources, which includes my wonderful accountability partner.

My partner, however, did not have as good a day as I did yesterday. He didn’t persistently trickle in his food bars yesterday because work got in his way and perceived he had some metabolic issue and then adulterated his food bar regimen by having a big steak last night to compensate somehow. But, to his credit, he exercised great CONTROL and didn’t beat himself up about it, but we talked about it today and he was already back on the food bar plan and continuing on with me despite a small weight gain because of last night’s steak. Even though he’s not being a big a purist about this course as I am, he is sticking with it in the main, correcting himself by agreeing to only having a small piece of salmon tonight, and, hopefully, he will have a better result tomorrow.

Come back tomorrow to see how things proceed.

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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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13 More Reasons You Can Stop Hating Your Self and Rightsize Your Body

Stop Hating Your SelfHave you ever sighed with tears in your eyes and said to yourself, “I hate my self! I am so fat I’ll never be able to be a normal weight again!”

Yeah, me too. But let me tell you what I found out. If I just learned to listen to my body, only eat only as much I needed to thrive, and move my fat ass more during my entire day, then I would be able to be a normal weight again. And not only have I done it, but Susan has done it as well. And so have another 13 men and women featured in this week’s People magazine. And if Susan and I can do it and these 13 “real” folks (and the hundreds like them People has featured over the past several years) can do it, then you can to.

And Susan and I will help you, every step of the way. Continue reading “13 More Reasons You Can Stop Hating Your Self and Rightsize Your Body”

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The 1 Way To Get Your People To Admit Their Mistakes

Report errors and love the errant
Report errors and love the errant

Have you ever been overly severely chastised? So severely reprimanded that not only you felt guilty (because you felt you had done something badly), but also, and worse, you felt shamed (because you felt you were a bad person for having done something badly). No one likes heavy-handed reactions to their mistakes in life, even well-deserved ones. So, if you would much prefer your people feeling empowered rather than ashamed, then you must consider this.

Continue reading “The 1 Way To Get Your People To Admit Their Mistakes”

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4 Things To Make Yourself the Go-To Guy or Gal

We all want to be the “go to” guy or gal in life. The person other people go to for advice, assistance, or whatever else they desire. The person others trust, admire, and respect for our compassion, competence, confidence, and demeanor, regardless of what is being asked of us and regardless of whether we are acting as a family barrister or a family butler, which seem to be my two main roles in life.

People seem to want their doctors, lawyers, other advisors relatively well-aged, well-experienced, and well-regarded. So, if you are not old, haven’t practiced your profession for a score or more, and are not even known in your community, much less respected, what do you do to appear well done?

Many people tritely answer this quandary saying, “Well, you just have to fake until you make it.” This is neither, however, the well-aged, well-experienced, well-regarded, nor correct response.

If you want to be the “one” to whom others go, then you have to  Continue reading “4 Things To Make Yourself the Go-To Guy or Gal”

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The 4 Factors of Greatness! – Part 4

Balance

In Part 3 of The 4 Factors of Greatness!, we discussed POWERing while FOCUSing and CONTROLing. In this Part 4, the last of this series on the 4 Factors of Greatness!, we will finish up by discussing BALANCE.

Continue reading “The 4 Factors of Greatness! – Part 4”

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The 4 Factors of Greatness! – Part 3

ControlCONTROL is an acronym for the instruction to, “Critique oneself nicely to repair occasional lapses.” Moving toward Greatness! requires power and focus as you practice applying some of all the types of your life’s precious resources to a chosen task persistently. Quality control is important to promoting practically perfect performance. Nonetheless, the critique that follows any quality control data gathering, requires kindness in order to achieve that Greatness!

Continue reading “The 4 Factors of Greatness! – Part 3”