Goal Tracking - New Year's Resoutions

I believe it was Mark Twain who said that at the beginning of a new year "is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."

This year, as usual, we sat down with a family to figure out what our New Year's resolutions are. It was interesting that each of my kids already had them in their minds: Be better at turning in homework; Get straight A's; Learn to do the splits; Learn to read chapter books; Learn to dance. It was good to get them to vocalize them. That's the first step. But the hardest part is yet to come. That's where I'm going to try out some new goal tracking software solution called joesgoals.com. It's easy. It's free. It seems effective.

Joesgoals.com has a lot of great reviews for quite a few credible sources and recently won an award from ChannelFlip. Give it a try for a month and post your comments on if it actually worked for you and how you achieve your goals in 2010. I'm anxious to hear your successes or failures. Good luck with your goal tracking.

Problem: I can send email but can't receive it in Entourage - Here's the solution

I recently had a problem where I could send email but couldn't receive it in Entourage. It was baffling! I searched all over for a solution, talked with my IT support team at the office and even went to talk to the so-called Mac "geniuses" at the Apple Store. According to them, they wouldn't "touch a Microsoft product if it was the last operating system left on earth."

So, I searched some more and found the solution to the Entourage e-mail receiving problem. I could only find this solution hidden on one site, so I thought I'd put it out here to hopefully help others:

1) Open Entourage

2) Option + Click on your main identity

3) In the next window select "Empty Cache" (note the warning.)

You should be up and running in just a few seconds. Hope this helps!

What I really want for Christmas...

If anyone out there want's to surprise me with a gift under my tree, THIS IS WHAT I'D LIKE. It doesn't matter what color it is. :)

When Your Hard Drive Hits 0 KB

Ever wondered what it was like when your storage capacity hits zero? THINGS STOP WORKING. I've suspected that the main hard drive on my home PC had some sort of leak in it a few months ago when we kept getting the automated warning, "Your Hard Drive has no more room--it's like a jar of olives. Please delete all of the junk you've accumulated over the past six years or else..."

So, as I was uninstalling Adobe CS3, it totally maxed out. Norton Security went crazy, sending me messages every 8 seconds about some mayhem that was about to ensue...and that was it.

I slowly had to take very small files off of my machine one at a time until I could finally get some of the behemoths extracted. I finally retained just over a gig of space. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks. (Secretly I'm hoping that it's hopeless and we'll have to go and buy an iMac.)

Flip Video

I just got a great new toy: a Flip Video recorder. It's so incredibly small and it takes decent video.

MY REVIEW:

Video Quality: B+ (Pretty darn good! Plus they just came out with an HD model. The quality in the sample below is degraded due to Blogger's compression -- it looks much better than this!)

Audio Quality: B+ (Not Dolby quality, but it does the trick.)

Image Stability: C (It's hard to keep it from shaking because it's so small.)

Usability: A (It's so simple to operate. Just turn it on and press record!)

Battery: B (Two double A's will last long enough to get your shots.)

Recording Length: A- (You can record two hours of video on this little beast!)

Here's a sample video I shot from a recent trip to Amsterdam:

Overall Grade: A-/B+ (I recommend this great little gadget.)

Adobe Learning Summit

I've always wanted to be selected to speak at a conference of my peers. For years I was always behind the scenes running the conferences. But I never had the opportunity to speak at one.

A few months ago, Adobe contacted me and asked if I'd speak at their Adobe Learning Summit in San Jose. Naturally, I accepted.

My session focused on the insights my team and I have gained for launching a global business over the past year. Here's a link to my abstract. It was a great experience and I met some great people.

My only regret is that I didn't have time to attend the shin-dig at the Adobe headquarters that night. But overall, the conference was great! Nice job Adobe!

Nothing Exotic About Business Travel

There's nothing exotic about business travel. I've spent that past 8 days in Denmark and Amsterdam. Before that (in my previous post) I was is Asia. However, it's nothing but airports, train stations, offices and hotel rooms. It's really hard work!

I know. I know. I'm still in Europe, right? You're correct. And I did get a day to look around Amsterdam. I guess I'd consider that a bonus for the toughness of it all.

There are two big problems with extended biz trips.

1) my family is so far away. I really miss them a lot. I think of them all of the time and I Skype them whenever I get a chance. But even Skype doesn't bridge the physical gap of me being there with them. It's a really hard thing.

2) my email doesn't stop. Everyone is in the office while I'm trying to sleep. But before I can get to my email I'm in all-day meetings. So, it's really hard to do my work. I have to find seams of the day to do it... during a break or late at night.

So tomorrow I leave for home. The time can't pass quickly enough!

What time is it anyway?

I was in Bangkok the past couple of days. I'm now in Manila. and Thursday I fly to Seoul for a day. In the meantime I'm conducting business in the U.K., and across the U.S. Plus I'm trying to schedule webinars in Polish time on Nov. 2 and in Greece on Nov. 20. I get to talk with my family for 20 minutes a day using Skype, but I can't remember how far ahead/behind they are from me. So I'm afraid I'm going to wake them up.

My brain is tied in a knot of timezones. Someone help!

Travel Then -- Travel Now

How I wish for the days of vacation travel. Before my wife and I got married we traveled a lot. We were both in the travel industry so vendors threw free cruises, airline tickets and hotel nights at us so we could try them out. We had so many offers we had to turn many away. Our first date was to Italy followed by ten's of thousand's of more miles which led us to a family of four.

Unfortunately, I'm still traveling. But it's not the fun kind. It's the business kind. A day here...a day there. Airport after airport. Meeting after meeting. I've blown through every frequent flyer status available this year and still have two big international trips ahead of me.

I long for the days when I can travel to exotic places with my wife again.

Some Assembly Required

The replacement parts for my mitre saw came today. Of course there are about 50 pieces in a box and no instructions on how to assemble them together.

If anyone needed the instructions on how to rebuild this death machine, it would be the imbecile who was using the saw incorrectly in the first place causing the destruction all safety gadgetry.

The next post I write may be using my toes or a pencil held between my teeth.

Thumbs and Mitre Saws Don't Mix

So, I almost lost a digit yesterday. While cutting a lopsided piece of wood for a neighbor, I had to hold the "blade guard" up so it could cut properly. But somehow the thick plastic blade guard got sucked into the blade's path causing a deafening noise while shrapnel exploded across my front yard.

After I checked to make sure my son and neighbors were OK, I felt a horrible pain in my left thumb. The very thumb that was holding up the blade guard just moments before. Was I going to look down and see half my thumb missing?

My thumb was still there. Luckily. But the thumbnail was lifted up during the explosion -- it will probably fall off in a few weeks and look really ugly.

So, the moral of this story is simply, "don't be dumb" and "always wear safety glasses".

Five Tips to Reduce Your Stress: Tip #3

If you’re like most people, including me, your task might require its own Dewey Decimal system. Do you get a dozen new tasks every day, on top of the dozen you were handed the day before? Although it may seem impossible, there is a way to get the most important things done.

Tip #3: Plan or Perish

If you’re like me, you have multiple projects. Each with dozens of sub-tasks that need to be done “right now.” Right? To get through this jumble of projects you must do one simple thing: plan. It’s as easy as that. It’s no secret. It’s pure and simple common sense. Try out this process and you’ll see for yourself.

1. This coming Sunday night, before your work week begins, review your list of tasks.
2. Prioritize the ones that are most critical to your team’s goals.
3. Identify those tasks that you can easily delegate to others (see my previous post).
4. Identify what meetings you have during the week and find tasks that can be accomplished during those time periods.
5. Then, every morning, before anyone else comes into the office, take five minutes and review your list. Check off things you’ve done, review the day’s appointments, and adjust your tasks as necessary.

If you’re a user of Microsoft® Outlook® or IBM® Lotus® Notes® you might consider checking out some quick and simple Time Management webinars offered by FranklinCovey. They’re only about 1 ½ hours long and will provide some amazing techniques to help teach you how to use these tools while you plan your days.

In my next post, I’ll cover tip #4: “No” is not a four-letter word.

A better frequent flyer program

I’ve spent a lot of time on airplanes this year. Delta just came out with their “Diamond” status – a step above Platinum. To reach this you have to travel the equivalent of flying to Jupiter and back. I’m just rounding Saturn as I type this post.

But before you try for that new status, let’s look at it another way. Let’s view it in terms of memories missed.

How much will that “status” cost you in personal experiences with your family and friends. Important Caveat: I’m more than willing to travel for my job, it’s how I get my job done and I like my job. But this year has been a bit extreme.

Some memories I’ve missed this year:
--A couple of weeks of summer with my kids
--Several family member’s birthdays
--And this week I missed my kids first day of school

I’m not saying you shouldn’t travel. When it happens you have to deal with it. I’m just wishing there was a way that we could better plan it around our personal lives. Wouldn’t you?

I think that airlines should come up with a better reward system, especially when we have to sacrifice our memories. If I was in charge, here’s how I would award points:

--Missing a child’s soccer game or recital: 1,000 bonus miles
--Missing a child’s birthday: 10,000 bonus miles
--Missing your anniversary: 50,000 miles (transferable to your spouse)
--Missing the birth of a child: You get to ride shotgun next to the pilot.

Com’on Jet Blue. If you did this, I’d be a regular passenger.

Five Tips to Reduce Your Stress: Tip #2

Have some of your colleagues been laid off recently? Are you being asked to pull up the slack and do more with less?

You’re not alone.

I mean, there are still other people in your organization, right?

Tip#2: Embrace Others

Odds are, when you’re working fast and furious, there is probably someone, somewhere in your organization that may have some downtime, or they’re worried about not being aligned with strategic projects. Find them. Grab them. Capitalize on their skills. And have them chip in. People are generally happier when they’re engaged and contributing. Sure, quality might slip a bit and it might take longer for you to get that project done. But there is a huge feeling of relief when you delegate a task to someone and you go back to your office and are able to tackle something else. And there is an even better feeling when they come back to you and the project is finished and better than if you did it yourself.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlines the principle of abundance. What this means is that there is always enough work for me and you, and the person in the office down the hall. Don’t be afraid to relinquish a bit of control over your projects. It will only benefit you and the people you bring into your circle. Your projects will get done better than before and you’ll be helping other people become engaged.

In my next post I’ll cover Tip #3: Plan or Perish.

Review of ClickHeat by LabsMedia

OK. I admit it. I could sit for hours and look at web stats and analytics, evaluating different patterns of behavior...following paths...seeing what is or isn't working... I just love to dig into the data.

I was introduced today to another analytic tool that will eat away at my weekends, HeatClick by LabsMedia: http://www.labsmedia.com/clickheat/index.html.

Here's a sample ClickHeat image from a page off of one of my sites:

I know. It looks like a bunch of smudges. But what it's telling me are the popular places where people are clicking and where they are not clicking. It's even telling me where people rest their mouse when they're looking at my page (perhaps that's too much data). Anyway, from this you can tell what is and isn't working on each web page. It's a great visual indicator that I can't get from Google Analytics. In fact, it confirmed several suspicions I've had but couldn't validate until seeing it visually. I wouldn't ever use ClickHeat as my exclusive analytic source, but it's a great addition to my quiver of data tools.

To download ClickHeat which, by the way, is freeware, just click here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/clickheat/files/

I give this product an: A+
Download it today and recommend it to a friend!

Five Tips to Reduce Your Stress: Tip #1

Some of you may have read portions of this blog before. However, I've expanded it and will now republish it in five sections. I'd love to hear any comments. You can leave them here or e-mail me directly at matthewmurdoch@yahoo.com.

Why is it that when layoffs occur, and the workforce retracts, the work seems to expand? The remaining employees are, quite often, left with additional responsibilities and fewer resources. Sound familiar? I’m going to share with you my five keys to remaining sane when your job requirements try to drive you mad.

Tip #1: Eliminate Chaos
When everything around you is moving fast it’s hard to get organized. Does this sound like your typical day? You return from one meeting only to go to another and yet another throughout the day; you don’t have time to focus strategically on one project because your time is spread so thin over a dozen; you have three people at your door waiting for a decisions on three different projects.

Unless you gain control over the madness of your days, it will control you. You need to do whatever it takes to prepare yourself for these tornadic days - because they’re not going to stop. You need time management. You need to get organized.

Come in 30 minutes early and straighten your desk and reply to urgent e-mails: It’s amazing how much quality work you can do when nobody else is in the office.

Organize your files so you know where everything is: It’s a great feeling to be called into a last minute meeting and be able to grab the appropriate file.

Block out chunks of your days to ensure you have time to get your work done: I find that I’m most productive on Monday-my brain is fresh and I’m still thinking clearly. After my morning meetings I’ve blocked out a few hours in the afternoon to actually work.

Take time to help others: You’ll find that when you’re organized, you’ll be better able to help others and help them with things they need.

I’ve learned that when my life is chaotic, I work minute-by-minute. I can’t see the horizon and I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed. So, take some time and eliminate the chaos by getting organized.

In my next post I’ll talk about Tip #2: Embrace Others

Lessons Learned

Last week I was teaching my eldest son how to be thrifty by patching his bike tire rather than having to spend money on a new one.

Unfortunately, yesterday the patch job gave way and the tire was kaput. So off we went to WalMart to buy a new inner tube. We were having some great one-on-one guy talk about life when all of a sudden a cop appeared behind us with lights a blazing.

My registration was past due (side note: we recently moved and the registration forms never made it to our house and I totally forgot about the whole renewal process) and the cop said that it's within the time frame where he might have to tow my car.

My son, in the back seat, commented to the cop, "I always wanted to see a police car with the lights on but never like this." The policeman got a chuckle out of this and was somewhat leinient. He didn't tow my car, but I still got a ticket. Bummer.

In any case, it makes for a good story for my son, and I was able to teach him what it feels like to get pulled over.

Lessons learned:
1) How to change a bike tire.
2) What happens when you're not proactive.

Business and bicycles

In high school a teacher once told me that I don't just burn the candle at both ends. I cut the candle in half and burn the other two ends as well.

I'm typically a pretty busy guy. I like to be busy. I like to have a lot on my plate. I like to be involved. I like to go into work early and get things done. But with this lifestyle there is also a lot of stress. Plus, I feel like I'm missing out on part of my kids lives. In fact my five-year-old told my wife that he'll never be able to finish riding his bike because his dad isn't ever home to teach him.

So, I'm going to change my ways.

As of yesterday, I've started to block out my morning for time to "sharpen my saw" and spend more time with my family. I figure everyone else at work rolls into work at 8:00 or 8:30 and they still have a job. Why can't I? Sure. There will still be times when I have early morning or night-time meetings with partners in Europe or Asia, but for the most part I'm going to try this out and see what happens.

So, yesterday I stayed home in the early morning hours and let my wife go running. Although I still did e-mail from home. She was happy.

Today I went running (to begin my training for a 10K in a couple of months) and still had time to read a book before leaving for work. I also got to see how my kids look in the morning when they wake up :). I was happy.

I even told someone that I couldn't meet at 7:00 am for a meeting and he didn't complain. We're meeting at noon instead.

Guess what? The earth hasn't exploded and I still have a job.

I'm commtted to this new way of life. I believe that I will be happier, more productive, healthier and most importantly, my kids will know that their father really exists.

But the best part though, is I taught my son how to ride his bike last night and he couldn't be happier.

A very wise man once said, "No success at the office can compensate for failure in the home." I've never been one to accept failure and I'm not going to start now.

The Life of Bob

I recently went on a marathon trip to Mexico City, Costa Rica and Panama City with a couple of co-workers to launch LiveClicks to our offices there. The schedule was fast-paced and the flights had very little room for error. Five days...five flights. Miss one and you mess up the whole schedule.

I was traveling with someone I'll call Bob. Bob is a very hard worker yet he is very relaxed. I learned a lot from Bob on this trip.

On one leg of the journey, Bob's flight and that of our other co-worker, were accidentally scheduled to leave on the wrong day. Meaning they would miss all of the meetings in Costa Rica. We didn't discover this error until they went to check-in. The flight was oversold by 12 seats. Bob spoke kindly to the people at the ticket desk, letting them know that it was his fault that the dates were wrong. He smiled. He was relaxed. He was kind. My wife has a saying for this, "You'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." The man behind the desk said to come back in 20 minutes and he'd see what he could do.

I was sweating. I thought that there was no way they were getting on the flight. My angry thoughts turned to the agent who booked the tickets... "how careless", I thought. Bob simply said, "It was just a mistake. Nothing we can do now but hope for the best."

20 minutes later we went back. Not only did they get on the flight, but got upgraded to first class!

On the next leg, we had 7 hours to make a flight. The only problem is we had to travel 1.5 hours in one direction, attend to 1.5 hours of business and then return 1.5 hours to the airport. 4.5 hours right? It was 1:00 pm and we thought we had plenty of time. We didn't factor in traffic jams.

We were sweating all the way to the airport. All of us except Bob. He was calm and casual. We made it back with 30 minutes to spare.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Dr. Covey teaches about the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Control. The Circle of Control represents the things you can actually do something about. The Circle of Concern are things you can't. Bob is a great example of living a life of less stress because he doesn't worry about things outside his control. He works hard to influence those things, but when it comes right down to it, he realizes there is only so much he can do.

On the last leg of the journey, Bob actually did miss his flight from Panama. But he didn't panic. He caught another one a few hours later and made it home without any problem. We should all take note of this and try and live without so much stress.

What your customers want.

I recently got to take a break for a couple of days with my family driving through Idaho, Montana and Wyoming...essentially circling up through Island Park, down through Yellowstone and into Jackson Hole. We saw incredible sights and had a lot of fun like fishing in the woods. But at the end of the day, what my kids really wanted in a vacation was simply a swimming pool and a hotel room where they could watch the Disney Channel. I now realize I could've saved some time and money and just driven to the local Marriott.

Today I had a call with a product manager from a multi-billion dollar software company. He was letting me in on a sneak peak of their next release of some software which will be launching soon. He was very excited to show me all of the work his development team had done. And, certainly, they had done a tremendous amount of it. He even said that they had do develop a new technology for these added features.

The problem is they didn't listen to the customer.

They are only implementing half of what we really need. Had they taken the time to talk with customers before development they would've had a much better product.

I'm guilty of this same oversight -- as my kids let me know when they hit the pool in Jackson Hole. But this has opened my eyes to making sure I do my due dilligence before development. And you should too.

LiveClicks Webinar Workshops

A couple of years ago I was working with some colleagues trying to launch a paid-for webinar. It was going OK. We were making a bit of money with it, but not nearly enough to consider it a new business model.

One day while on a business trip to Laguna, I was sitting on a patio looking over the sea and the vision hit me. (Sea air can do that to you.) I understood what the need was, and how to build the business to support the need. I'm not going to divulge the business plan (he he) but you can get a taste for the business by watching a video on this page (www.franklincovey.com/liveclicks).

The business is unfolding even more rapidly that I had initially imagined. On November 21, 2008 we launched LiveClicks. On December 5 we held our first true LiveClicks webinar workshops. On May 26 we held our first fully international LiveClicks webinar workshop delivered by our Mexico office. Today I saw the very first LiveClicks Encore (a recorded, on demand version) created by our Japan office. We have many top brand name companies that are in the process of adopting LiveClicks in their organizations. And I've been invited to speak at the Adobe conference this fall.

It all goes back to the principle that before there is physical creation of something, there is a mental creation. I'd also like to add that before there is physical creation, there is a lot of hard work from a devoted team.

Contrasts

I've spent the past few days in India launching some new products to our offices here. It's been a fascinating experience, to say the least. I now understand the true meaning of contrast.

In one moment you're in a glass skyscraper eating delicious Chinese food and the next moment there are shoeless children in rags rapping on your car window, begging for a few Rupees.

There are BMW's speeding past men on bicycles loaded with bundles of sticks and narrowly missing cows wandering the streets.

There are dirty streets lined with refuse juxtaposed with women in beautifully colored saris.

There are smiling powerful executives being served by emotionless hopeless servants.

There is spicy curry and extra spicy curry (please, no more curry!!)

There are slums and there are mansions.

It's truly an amazing culture... and I've learned a lot about the market and the way people operate. But I'm really looking forward to my flight home tomorrow -- back to the U.S. where contrastss aren't quite so sharp and where I can get brush my teeth without using bottled water.

The Best Hot Dog - Gray's Papaya

I'm just returning from a marathon trip to New York:

• Red-eye flight Sunday night
• Two hour nap at hotel
• Eight hours of meetings to prep for our client meeting
• Five hours of sleep
• 90 minute client meeting
• 15 minutes lunch at Gray's Papaya
• Flight home
  

I'd never been to Gray's Papaya before, but a colleague refused to leave New York without one of their hot dogs.

The "Recession Special" was priced at $4.95 and I got two hot dogs (one with sweet onions and the other with ketchup and mustard) plus a cup of Papaya drink.

Perhaps I was delirious, perhaps just really hungry. But I placed it on my top 20 list of restaurants. Now, everytime I come to NYC, I'll be required to have one of their dogs.

Twitter: The New P.R.

I have a great employee, Courtney, who has been wanting to bring FranklinCovey into the 21st century. So, she has started the official Stephen R. Covey facebook account, the official FranklinCovey Facebook fan page, the official FranklinCovey YouTube account and now the official Stephen R. Covey Twitter account.

At first I was sceptical. Who would ever want to follow these micro-blogs. 140 characters. Too basic? Too simple?

I'm now a believer.

I am truly amazed at the viral nature of Twitter. Within just a few weeks, we have 600 Twitter followers including many other authors and celebs like Tony Robbins and Oscar de la Hoya. The marketing power behind Twitter is amazing. It it truly the new PR.

We can try to get people to come to our website, or we can go to where the people are. It's really exciting to go where the people are already congregating and provide them with something the really want.

If we continue at this pace we'll have a great social community on Twitter where we can really help people and help educate them on how to be more productive in their lives, at work and in society.

By the way, you can follow my Twitter here :)

Book Review: Outliers

I'll admit it. I never been a Malcom Gladwell fan. I read Blink, but didn't really enjoy it. I thought it was quite, well, ordinary common sense.

When my father-in-law gave me Gladwell's latest book, Outliers, I was less than excited (sorry Ken). It sat on my nightstand, looking at me every night. Then finally, my wife got tired of it sitting there and started reading it. "I think you'll really like this," she said every night and she devoured the book.

I'm happy to say that I'm now a Malcom Gladwell fan. This was one of the best books I've read in a quite a while. (Even though this guy has insanely crazy hair:)

The following paragraph sums up the book nicely, "[Successful people] are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and ingeritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky--but all critical to making them who they are. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all."

I thought the most intriguing part of the book was the discussion of 10,000 hours. Gladwell's theory is that to become an expert at something, you have to practice doing it for 10,000 hours. He cited the Beatles, and how they would play gigs all night in Hamburg, and that because of this time, they learned to work together and create the genius music they did. It left me wondering what I'm going to become an expert it. 10,000 hours is a long time...

Matt's Rating: ***** (out of 5 stars)

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I!

5 Tips To Help Avoid Burnout

Stress, anxiety, and doing more with less. These are all things that are happening in today's workforce. I've never been one to back away from hard work, I put in my time. But when you work tirelessly without the chance to take a break, burnout can occur.

So, if you're 10 minutes from burnout, here are some tips I've learned to help you keep going.

1) Eliminate Chaos: When everything around you is moving fast and you come back from one meeting only to have to to go another, you don't have time to get organized. Do what you need to do to prepare yourself for your tornadic days. Come in 15 minutes early and straighten your desk. Organize you files so you know where everything is. Block out large chunks of your days to ensure you have time to get work done.

I know that when my life is chaotic, I work minute-by-minute. I can't see the horizon and I start to feel overwhelmed.

2) Embrace Others: Odds are, when you're working fast and furious, there is probably someone, somewhere in your organization that doesn't have enough to do. Find them. Capitalize on their skills. And have them chip in. People are generally happier when they're engaged and contributing. Sure, quality might slip a bit and it might take longer for you to get that project done. But there is a major feeling of relief when you delegate a task to someone and you go back to your office and are able to tackle something else. And there is an even better feeling when they come back to you and the project is finished and better than if you did it yourself.

3) Plan or Perish: If you're like me, you have several lists of projects each with a dozens of tasks. Before your work week begins, review this list. See what the critical items are for the week and see what you can delegate. Then, try to focus on one task at a time and get it done. You'll always have interruptions you'll have to manage. But come right back to the task at hand and execute on it. It will keep you moving forward on your plan and keep you sane.

4) "No" is not a four-letter word: When times are tough, people will ask you to do more. It's important to help others as much as you can. You may have the knowledge or skill they need, plus it's always good karma. However, there are times when you just can't do it all. You'll know when they are. And if you can sense that the request isn't "mission critical" just say no. The other person will survive. And it will keep you from getting distracted on your plan.

5) Find Time for Self: In the past this was the hardest thing. When I get to work I tend to be heads-down and not resurface for a long time. I would eat at my desk, or not eat at all. But what I found over time is that burnout comes faster. So, take time to read a news story of interest, run an errand at lunch, or call a family member or friend for a few minutes. Once I even went to Costco, grabbed a hot dog and walked the aisles for 20 minutes. It opened my mind and kept me fresh for the remainder of the day. Regardless of what you do, find some time just for you.

Hopefully these steps will help you avoid a crash and keep you moving forward.

The Art of Shawn Ray Harris

I've known Shawn Harris for years (decades actually). I've seen his artistic styles grow and expand over the years. My claim to fame is being the first first face from which he made a plaster mold -- I'm still missing part of my eyebrows from getting the mold off.

Recently I was amazed with his "Ice Project" -- a photography series of things melting in ice. You can see it on his website shawnrayharris.com or on his Facebook page. My favorites are the gold fish, the foreign currency and the eyeball (I'm afraid to ask who's eye this is.)

Some of my favorite photographs are his self portraits at the top of this page -- they're definitely worth a look.

I Like Chicago

There's something about Chicago that I really like.

My first trip to Chicago was about 10 years ago when I was doing market research for a client. At that time I categorized the people in Chicago as New York style without the attitude.

I just got back yesterday and realized that people are still the same. In Chicago people held the door for each other. Greeted people in elevators. Looked you in the eye on the street and smiled. There's something great about this city.

And then there's the cold. I've been to Chicago probably two dozen times, but never in the winter...until now. It was biting cold!

Monday night I needed to walk eight blocks to the Apple store to get a new headset for my iPhone but I walked two blocks, thought my hands were going to freeze off, and went right back to my hotel. People were walking around in full body-armor winter gear to protect them from the bite, all I had was just a thin leather jacket--no hat, no scarf, no gloves and no boots.

Perhaps now I realize why people were looking at me on the street.

Book Review: Lessons From Private Equity Any Company Can Use

Here's a short book that carries a punch. Although "Lessons From Private Equity Any Company Can Use" is the more boring title of any book I've read lately, the content is quick, easy and informative. Here's my book review.

(Authors: Orit Gadiesh and Hugh MacArthur, Bain & Company; Harvard Business Press)

MATT'S RATING: * * * (out of 5)

WHO SHOULD READ THIS? Managers, Directors, Executive. Small business owners will learn something from this as well. I think it's a bit too analytical for the typical front-line worker.

WHAT'S THE POINT? Exactly what the title says. They try to offer "clear, practical suggestions" for implementing the ways PE firms do business in order to make your business more valuable.

WATCH-OUTS: I'm always suspect of books that use the word "top-quartile" within the first 100 words. Don't plan on some fast-reading Dan Brown novel.

SUMMARY: They cover six main lessons.

1. Define the full potential.
2. Develop the blueprint.
3. Accelerate performance.
4. Harness the talent.
5. Make equity sweat.
6. Foster a results-oriented mind-set.

Here are quick take aways that I learned from the book:

• No company can be successful when it divides it's resources among too many initiatives. I'd like to also extend this to say, an individual worker cannot do this either.
• "The prospect of being hanged focused the mind wonderfully." -Samuel Johnson
• The discipline of NOT doing things can preserve tremendous value.
• You need to be committed to your short list of key initiatives and designing action oriented plans to achieve them.
• Make managers owners of the business. Often management teams will own 10-30% of the business - sometimes through phantom equity.
• Watch cash more closely that earnings. It is the true barometer of performance.
• Use substantial bonuses to reward great performance.
• Find the entrepreneurial people in your business and harness goals to them.
• Embrace those individuals in whom the company has invested a great deal and who could know more about any outsider ever could.
• The job of a CEO is leading. And many times leading into change.
• The best communicators find new and different ways to get the vision of change and milestones across to as many different internal audiences as possible.

The Leader In Me

Here is a great new video by FranklinCovey that has really cool execution and style.

iProjecTrak™ - Free Project Management Task Software

I've been really frustrated lately trying to manage dozens of projects and their tasks. It seemed like every time I went to a meeting I was having to try and dig through my brain or old notes about the status of my (and others') tasks.

So I've created a solution that I've named iProjecTrak™. This is a simple project management task tracking solution that keeps all of your projects in one Excel document. I built it so you have everything you need in one place. No more digging through old notes (or brain cells). It's all at your fingertips. Running to you project managment meeting? Just print it out and use it for notes. After the meeting and put the notes in the document. Managing multiple projects? Just add additional tabs for all of your project management needs.

It's free-ware for now. If you like it, just refer people to my blog to download it. If you have suggestions on how to improve it, please leave a comment.

To my new Italian friends...

Since my post, dated October 2, I seem to be attracting a lot of readers from my most favorite of all of the countries, Italy. And to you, I say, "Ciao amici miei!"

Italy has had a powerful imact on my life. I've been there many times and every time I experience something new and amazing. It's also where I took my wife on our first date.

So, to all of my friends in Italia, I hope you enjoy my blog. I hope to see you soon.

A Pile of Books

Ok. So over the past two months I've been the recipient of a load of different business books by many different people. I've stacked them all on my desk at work -- it's become quite a teetering library. I have the best intentions to get around to read them all. But where does one start? They are all on the "best seller" list and they all cover a wide variety of topics -- which are all of interest to me.

However, lately when I come home from my 12 hour days at the office [pause for tangent: when I leave at 5:00 pm and a co-worker breaks out the old joke, "Only working a half day today, Matt?" I can honestly say, "Yes."], I really just want to read something fun. My other personal problem is that when I read, I don't like to rush through books. I like to chew on all of the words [i.e. I'm a slow reader].

I estimate I have about 2,500+ pages of work related books to read. My goal is to read them all within the next six months. I'll post a brief synopsis of each of them when I'm done.

Stay tuned...