I Relent

I just finished reading The Great Train Robbery ( Book| Video) this past weekend. It was a far better read than I was anticipating and in fact I came away with a few lessons for my current business goals. I thought I would share a few of them.

The book is a “based on fact” retelling of the famous Great Train Robbery of 1855 written by Michael Crichton in 1975. It centers around the mysterious Edward Pierce (or Simms as he is sometimes known) and his year long efforts to put together the perfect robbery on the then booming rail industry.

While I deplore criminal behavior there were a number of things that I gained as take aways from the book. While trying to build my career and businesses, the following things are good to remember …

1. Careful and patient planning is the “secret sauce” of success. Pierce literally spent a year putting the pieces of a meticulously thought out plan in place. There is no mention or guess at how long he thought about and created this plan before actually directing the events, but it must have been a considerable amount of time. In the end, he had even planned his own escape from prison should he be captured and arrested. Everything was in place.
   Lesson: Be careful and patient when planning business launches, campaigns or projects. Learn all you can, try to make contigencies where needed.
2. Even the best plans can “blow up”, stay focused and creative.In the last few months and weeks before the plan was to come off, just about everything that could go wrong … did. His co-conspirators begged him to give up the plan when everything started to go wrong. Pierce kept his wits and remained focused on problem solving. Some of his solutions made absolutely no sense to others involved in the scheme, but they worked … probably because Pierce had such intimate knowledge with the original plan and potential uncontrollable variables.
   Lesson: Don’t lose your head when things go wrong or not as planned … an inevitability. Stay calm, focused and center your thinking on solutions.
3. There is a need to walk on both sides of the line. Pierce was adept at being comfortable with the most respected of the “upper crust” and also with the lower elements of society. Both groups had resources, skills and knowledge that he needed to accomplish his ends.
   Lesson: Learn to be comfortable in all kinds of social situations, it will not only make life more enjoyable, but it will also afford more opportunities. Also, even the “whitest hat” must sometimes dabble in the “black arts” in internet marketing.
4. Be genuine and develop true and loyal friendships/partnerships. In the end, some of Pierce’s troubles in the lead up to the actual crime came as a result of his manipulations of other people. On the other hand, he had developed lasting bonds with others and in the end, those saved him.
   Lesson: Be genuine in seeking partnerships or contacts with others in and out of the industry. Not only will they be more satisfying and fruitful, you will eliminate a number of problems associated with false pretenses.
5. Be willing to pay for good information or resources. Pierce knew the value of quality services, resources and information and was willing to pay fairly for it. He gathered the best people around him as well as spending plenty of money “greasing the machines” of society necessary to meet his means.
   Lesson: Sometimes you need to spend money to make money, be willing and able to take the risk.
6. The impossible is never. The likelihood of such a robbery was considered impossible, both by the bankers, railroad executives and Pierce’s fellow criminals. He did it anyway.
   Lesson: Just do it.

As a side note, even though the movie was adapted and directed by Michael Crichton, the author of the book, it still doesn’t hold a candle to the book. So much was cut out and changed for the movie that some of the most incredible and enlightening stories are completely missing. As usual, don’t waste time on the movie, just read the book.

I’m sure there are more ideas that will occur to me as a few days pass, but I wanted to get these down as they strike as important. Now, don’t go robbing any trains!

So I am trying something slightly different for my goal setting and tracking this year. I went and bought myself a new Moleskine (a bright red one) and wrote each goal on it’s own page and left the back of the book to take notes, write encouragements, track success etc. for the year.

One other good thing that I’ve put in it is a tracking “matrix” for goals that are to be accomplished daily. This is essentially a series of small boxes for each day of the year to put an X in upon completion or an O for non-completion. It’s been good, because I can visually see how I’ve done on each one, and I want to keep going particularly on those where I have been “perfect” thus far.

And then today I read about this story of Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity secret and it fit in nicely with what I’ve been doing. I think I need to break down my other goals into daily tasks and work on chaining those. I’m sure there is some neuro-programming trick here at play, because it works. Why not use the brains quirks to our own ends, eh?!

I got a very cool new toy for Christmas from my wife, Sandy! A graphic pad for photo (and other) editing. I love it, thanks babe!

Master Marketer Mark (how’s that for alliteration) Joyner is offering some tips on blogging. The program …

The last couple of weeks have been pretty darn good. And when I look back on what has been different, it really boils down to a matter of focus.

Focus of mind, for sure. I have been getting up early, exercising and then trying to stay “present” and work on the work. I haven’t been doing very much “surfing for surfing’s sake” and have gotten a ton accomplished. So yes, focus of mind works.

Also, and probably more importantly, I have tried to enhance my focus in regards to purpose. I have spent some time just slowing down so I could think more clearly. I feel like I have spent more quality time with my children than I normally would, because I has consciously tried to put all of the work out of my mind for periods of the day. I have also thought more deeply about business and balance issues. I have been able to identify some paths I want to take and things I want to pursue. Life has still been extremely busy (had a server crash today), but I feel less “hurried and worried” than I have in the past in similar circumstances.

And honestly, I think my resolve to get up earlier has helped with all of this. I have time in the day now (in the morning) to center myself, pray and meditate. Because of this, I feel like I can be a bit more deliberate the rest of the day, no need to rush quite as much as usual. I have already taken care of some very important things by 7am, so the rest is just butter, in a way.

Well, I finally launched a new website I have been wanting to get out there for over a year … HighImpactChanges.com. It’s a site designed around the idea of “30 Day Changes” in our lives. In other words, committing to a behavioral/habitual change for 30 days and seeing if it’s worth continuing with or not (an idea I first discovered over at Steve Pavlina’s site).

It’s fun to push something like this. I am personally excited about the project if it really took off from a growth standpoint. The basic idea of the site is a group of people working on a change together, supporting each other. At the end of the trial period, everybody rates the change as to how much benefit they derived from it. I think it would be great if a year down the road we had a solid database of changes and ratings that pointed the way to the most effective changes you should make in your life.

Now I just need to figure out a way to get other people to know about it, understand how to use it, etc. We are currently working on trying to simplify the site so that anybody would know fairly intuitively how to use it. We also need to find a way to get some people talking about it. Maybe an inspiring YouTube Video? I’ve tried emailing a couple of bloggers, they say they like the site and idea, but haven’t talked about it. My guess is that they want the site to “age” a bit more before talking about it? Or maybe they are just being nice? I don’t want nice, I want honesty, that way I could figure out ways to make it better.

This whole trying to change my life thing is turning into a very long road, a very difficult target. Some things have progressed quite well, one project in particular should launch at the end of the month. I am excited about this one and can’t wait to see what it can do.

One of the reasons I’m excited about this project is because it is different. Most of what I have done for the last five or six years has been VERY traditional (read: boring) and not really a move from business as usual. Not that it is earth shattering, it’s just a new type of project and idea for me. I am looking forward to the lessons learned on this one. I am tired of the same lessons over and over with my “9 to 5″.

Another thing that is exciting about this one for me is the work structure of it. I have made it my goal to spend no more than 10 hours a week on it (I’ve held to that, pretty much) and to do it “off hours”. It’s working well and giving me a bit of the juice I need to do my standard stuff during the day. One of my long term goals has become to make this my pattern going forward, no more ten hours per week on any given “business” or “project”. It probably sounds lazy to some, but it keeps my interest engaged. Working 40 to 60 hours a week on one thing/business definitely makes me a dull boy. Not exactly the advice you read in the standard business books, but I no longer have the goals outlined in those books.

Anyway, I started this post on a bit of a down note. I feel that way right now. One of the benefits mentioned above was that I have more juice to work on my “9 to 5″. That’s been good and I have been far more focused and way more productive. But at the same time, I find my mind working on other “new” projects I would love to get to, but simply lack the time. I wish I didn’t have my current obligations holding me back from going full bore into this new stuff I am enjoying so much.

Ouch, so almost three months later I come back to the blog. A bit sad. This summer has been one for the books. I came back from the vacation facing MAJOR technical problems with my business. My primary money making server was crashing at least once a day and everything else was seemingly crumbling before my eyes. On top of that, there were plenty of other things to deal with, including some family outings to see extended family and some business trips.

Long and short, 90% of the technical problems are now resolved (100% of the critical ones). I definitely broke all the rules of Life/Work balance and some of my own resolutions this summer. For about six weeks I worked about 14 hours a day, attended to family and church duties a couple of hours, ate and then finally slept about 5 hours a day. Oh well.

I am even more resolved than ever to change the way I do things. This is going to be a process of goal setting and accomplishment though, not a one and done decision that easily leads to better times. I have not “designed” my life such that I can just fall away from the responsibilities I have right now. But I know that I can slowly get there with some creativity and hard/smart work.

I have some projects that are progressing, far more slowly than I want, but given recent distractions, I’m just happing they are still going. I will try to do better on this blog to keep my mind focused on the important stuff.

I’m about to find out. I leave tomorrow for a one week cruise in Mexico, I’m looking forward to it … should be fun. The kids are staying home … my wife and I are going with friends from our college days. The laptop is staying at home too, which will make this first time in about six years I have been away from my computer for longer than 48 hours! That actually sounds great. Just me, the most beautiful woman in the world and one very long book.

The thing is, the past two weeks have been so stressful preparing for the trip that I wonder if the trip will only SEEM relaxing by comparison. And then the week after a vacation is always crazy with “catch up and patch up” duties. Another reason to seek the 4-Hour Work Week and the attendant “mini-retirements”. Just the general slowing down of life instead of revving the engine way too high just so I can slam on the brakes for a second or two.