"Goals not in writing are Dreams."

Something that I have failed to do, that I know has contributed to my slow rate of progression, is to have my goals in writing. Not just work but personal, academic, physical, etc. In the realization that I have nothing to track and to hold myself accountable to as well as have other people hold me accountable to, I have fallen short of goals that I have set for myself. The truth of the matter is that no matter much you here it the things that get measured get done. So, in light of this realization I have started to develop a lot more of my goals in greater detail. Having the metrics and a tracking system for them. Breaking everything down from year to month to week to day. It would be crazy and obsurd that I would have come up with all of these goals and completely mapped them out in a week. It's going to be a process as well to map out all of my goals, and this is also something that I am greatly looking forward to. I definitely feel that once this is taken care of, and I have a solid road map I will be well on my way to leaving my footprint on society through a legacy of progression.

-People wither, age, and eventually pass away. However, the ideas of people live on.

He's the King with the Crown

I recently attended a sales and management seminar with very knowledgeable, and well respected individual. The great Jack Daly has a multitude of concepts that one can apply not only to the business world, but into life in general; goal setting, standards of performance, the profound impact of first impressions. There are much too many concepts to try and implement in one day or even a month. In order to fully grasp the entirety of success that these concepts can provide will take at least a couple of years. However, this is something that I am more than willing to take the time to put into action and see how successful of a person I can be if done properly. One of Jack's trademark comments is "model the masters". This can be in any industry, and unfortunately this is something that I have failed to do in my previous years; it's also something that I am willing to change in order to progress in the areas necessary for me to have what I want in a reasonable amount of time. Not only am I excited to implement these ideas for myself, but I am utterly thrilled to share these concepts with my new managers that I will be working with this year in College Works.

"A sales leader's job is not to grow sales, it's to grow salespeople in quantity and quality." - Jack Daly

Leading and Managing, Same Difference right?

One of the most challenging aspects of working where I do is leading rather than managing. It's always simple to tell someone what to do, and use an authoritative role to enforce it. However, the question that arises when doing this is "will this person continue to be motivated to be successful?". The answer is no because the only reason "why" they have to continue on is because you're making them. True leadership is when a person can be empowered to continue on through their own will. With empowerment, people see their own why; money, advancement, self-progress and growth. Which ever one it may be they are able to carry out there task with enjoyment because they know "why" they're doing it. As a district manager there are always fresh faces each and every year, different emotions, motivations, and different "whys". The challenge is to find each person's "why" and help them get to the "how". If someone knows and understands "why" they're doing something then they can more often than not figure "how" they're going to do it and be successful at it.

10,000 Hour Rule

An expert is someone who has been interested in something for an extended period of time, and has worked in this specific interest for a substantial period of their life; this substantial period being about 10,ooo hours worth. Being an expert is always great, but it is most advantageous when you can be an expert and be "rewarded by the rest of society" because of the unique opportunity you are presented with to work really hard and seized it. On the flip side it can be bad to be an expert when there is no opportunity for the advancement of the expertise. For instance, Bill Gates and Bill Joy both had the opportunity to advance their expertise into a mjor software company and the internet itself because at that time there was no one else who had the extensive knowledge and drive to actually create something that was so out there and nonsecure.

There are many things that I would like to become an expert in, but so does everyone else. It is also pretty outlandish to think that I would be able to log the 10,000 hours necessary for everything that I would want to do to be an expert in them. However, my one true passion is golf and I am looking to become an expert in the entirety of the industry. One niche that I have realized about golf though is that it presents an interesting opportunity for networking as well. If this has shown me one thing it's that anyone from any business realm uses golf as a way of socializing. The opportunity that presents itself here is to gain as much knowledge about general business to combine something that I have a passion for, golf, and something that I have developed a great liking of, which is business. My end goal is to own and operate golf courses nationally and internationally. Once I have reached a point of success through expansion is when I will know that I achieved the expertise that I was looking to gain.

A New Change

Throughout the time that I was in the country (Friday-Wednesday of this past week), I was driving considerably slower than I normally would as well as with more patience. Now, I wasn't driving the speed limit but just about 5-6 miles over. It was an interesting experience to say the least as it proposed a different perception on time and how I would get to my destinations. You never realize how something as simple as driving slower and more patiently can affect the way that you think and look at society. Rather than seeing people as no good, in the way, and just snobs; you now see them as another person on the road trying to get to their destination the only way that they know. Speeding, going the speed limit, cautiously, aggressively or whatever way they drive. The change of perspective was nice, but not inspiring enough to completely slow all the way down.

Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity

1) There are many lessons that can be drawn from this book. Hence why it is published and people read it. However, there were a few that really hit home.

1.You are responsible for your own experience. Meaning it’s up to you to take the risk or not. But how are you going to know if your idea is a good one if you never pursue it? The answer is you won’t.

2. Keep your day job. Just because you have some great idea that you want to pursue, and it might possibly be a great one doesn’t mean that you go out and leave something that is paying for your bills. You have to keep a good balance between the two and that’s how people become successful.

3. Write from the heart. Too many people out there try and follow something that someone else has already done, and try and make their own. Following scripts can kill even the most outspoken of people.

2) Hugh MacLeod, has been doing these small cartoons on the backs of business cards for quite a few years now. In this time he wasn’t looking to be discovered by some publishing company or some newspaper editor to come take his work and promote it. Rather he was just doing something that he enjoyed that ended up turning into something successful. I find this very creative, because instead of having to make these cartoons for a specific audience and do it the way someone else wants it done; Hugh has created a power for himself in his work in the sense that it already is out there the way he does it, and no one can change that except for him. Not even the publishing company that published the book. He found a way to make something totally his, and keep it that way.

3) A) Why do so many people choose to be sheep and follow the path that other people set for them? They want as little risk to them as possible, but they want as much of the reward as possible out of everything that they do.

B) If everything is played up to see only the glamorous side of everything, what kind of effect will that have on society? People only see one side of the story and don’t realize that no matter what you do you have to put the effort in or you will get nothing in return.

Something New ( A little past due)

Not recently, but about a month ago I changed my eating habits. I changed portions, types of food, and the overall caloric intake to about 1800 calories a day. What I have found is that by doing this my body has become a lot less atoned to processing food that has all sorts of unhealthy attributes to it. Anything from a cheeseburger from What-a-Burger to less lean ground beef. It all seems to take its toll on my body when I consume it. So one thing that I've gained from eating healthy is a better mindset to be more aware of what I am eating and putting into my body as well as when to say no to something that I know will have a negative effect on me. The obvious truth is that we can't stop aging, but we can prolong the process by living better and eating healthier.