by Kirby Hasseman
I love going to events that educate and inspire me. For me, it’s a great way to get out of the whirlwind, and learn and create ideas. One event I had the chance to attend this year was Skucamp. I talked about 5 of the takeaways from the event here. I was also honored to speak at the event with my good friend Bill Petrie. Bill and I took on the topic of Content Marketing in pretty raw form. We were honest about how we got started, and our struggles in doing so. And hopefully we were a little funny too! Here is a link to the presentation. This presentation is for: *Anyone that wants to do Content Marketing…but is not sure how to start. *Anyone that is not sure Content Marketing actually works. *Anyone that has tried Content Marketing in the past and failed. Bill and I also dig into our overall philosophies about Content Marketing. Feel free to check it out and let us know what you think! Make sure you never miss an update. Sign up for the VIP Newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
How does your day start? What are the first things you think about? What are the first things you do?
If you are like most people, you start your day thinking about the yesterday. You might be stressed about the work you did not get done…or the bills you did not pay. You might be mad about a conversation with a co-worker or a spouse. Or you might be worried about things coming up today or tomorrow. You are thinking about all you have to get done. You worry about the meeting you will have or the project that is nearing it’s deadline. You are stressed that there will simply not be enough hours in the day to get it all done.
Either way a few things are true;
1. You are not living “in the now.”
2. You have started your day in stress mode.
Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about this phenomenon in his book Becoming Supernatural. It’s no wonder, he says, that we feel like we are living the same day over and over again. We start each day in the past! By the way, I totally get it. I struggle with this a ton too. My natural state is “go, go, go.” That means when I wake up, my brain is ahead of me. I struggle to not start my day “on the wrong foot.” It’s a daily struggle. So what do I do? Each morning, especially on those days where I can feel my stress taking over from the start, I do three quick things.
1. I Take a Deep Breath: The whole goal here is to slow my heart rate down. There is no sense in starting the day in stress mode. I know that intellectually. But this simple exercise helps me take control of my physiology.
2. I Make a Quick List of Things I am Grateful For: I talked about the power of this yesterday. The fact is, you can’t be upset or negative when you are grateful. So by re-setting my mindset to gratitude, it helps me to get back on track, mentally.
3. I Get Up and Start Taking Action: For me, a ton of the anxiety I feel comes for worrying about the problem…whatever that problem is. Once I get up and start working on the project, I feel better. For me, nothing cures worry like taking action on the problem. So on this week of Thanksgiving…gratitude wins again. Let me know if this helps you…or share with me your “go to” morning strategy!
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by Kirby Hasseman
My wife and I had the opportunity to attend an event called “Married Life Live” a few nights ago. Though I often hesitate to attend events like this, I am nearly always glad when I do. The fact is, just like in business, your relationships need for you to invest time and energy in them to make them better. The speaker this year was Shaunti Feldhahn. She is the author of several best selling books and on this night she spent a great deal of time talking about her book “The Kindness Challenge.” The concept is simple. You pick any relationship in your life (in this case she was talking to spouses) and for 30 days you do 3 simple things. 1. No negative talk to our about that person. This means you can’t say anything negative them. But it also means you can’t run to your friend and complain about them either. No negative talk about that person for 30 days.2. Sincerely compliment them on something they have done. Each day you find something you appreciate about them…and tell them.3. Do some act of kindness for them. This could be big or small. As Shaunti mentioned, for her 16 year old daughter, this act of kindness might be to stop working long enough to watch a youtube video with her. But each day, you make it a point to do something for them. I really like this concept. But there was one idea that jumped out to me above all others. Shaunti talked about one woman in a focus group that told her that she would really struggle to compliment her husband each day! She just could not imagine that she could come up with 30 compliments! She was so sure that she would not be able to come up with them that she decided to keep a notebook. “That way,” she told Shaunti, “I can bank them!” Then an awesome thing happened. On the first page of the journal, she listed 2 things that her husband had done for her. She thanked him for one of them and decided to save the next one for tomorrow. On day 2 she wrote down 5 things. On day 3 she wrote down 11! She was absolutely blown away by all of the good things her husband was doing that she was simply not noticing…until she started looking! There is science to back this up. The fact is, when you actively start to look for something, you tell your subconscious mind that it’s important. So your subconscious mind starts to find that thing and show it to you! It’s like when you buy a new car and start to see it all over the place! They were always there. You just needed to turn on the mental lights. So on this week of Thanksgiving, I want to challenge you to start your own Gratitude Journal. Start to look for things that are good in your life. An amazing thing will start to happen. You will start to find them! We are thankful for you! So please make sure you sign up to become a VIP! We want to provide you value each week so we send one email with all of our weekly content in one place. Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
What are you doing today to get better? I am a big believer in ramping up activity in order to get better results. That can be in fitness, sales or being a better father. If you work harder on it, you generally get better at it. As I say all the time, “It’s simple. It’s not easy.” On the other hand, nearly everyone needs days to refresh and re-energize. I get that. As a matter of fact, I need that too. But even when you are looking to rest, you can do it intentionally. Is what you are doing bringing you real joy? Or are you just sitting on the couch, mindlessly watching crap? Are you filling your brain with good things? If you need a list of cool books to start with, check out my blog from the other day. As this post comes out, this is Sunday. Sunday is often thought of as a day of rest. Sure…but rest doing what? As I have asked before, what are you willing to invest? Today, I am challenging myself to watch educational videos…or listen to a good book. I might spend some time working out. Or I might spend some real time (no phones) with my family. Either way, my time will be spent on purpose. Will yours?
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by Kirby Hasseman
I am a bit of a rule breaker by nature. I always have been. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say I follow rules that make sense to me. Now, let me clarify a bit before I hear sirens wailing outside my office. It’s not the that I am a criminal. It’s just that I have a bit of a contrarian streak in me (a lot of entrepreneurs do). And I like to consider all options for myself. I remember when I was just starting this business. I had an office in my home, so I was almost always working. There was just always something to do. When I was at dinner with the family, I could hear my phone ringing in the office. When I woke up in the morning I started working. It’s what you do when you are starting a business. No big deal. But after a long winter, I was ready to break out! So in March I went to my wife and said “We need to take a quick trip to Florida…like now. I am booking a trip for next week.” She protested saying that next week was the mandatory state testing for the students, including our girls. I looked at the school calendar and confirmed that it was state testing next week. I also noticed that the following week was “makeup testing.” Then I pointed out to my wife something really important (to me). I don’t care about state testing. Not at all. My oldest girl at the time was in third grade. What does state testing have to do with her long term success? The answer? Not a damn thing. My wife agreed, but told me it was my job to tell the school principal. “No problem,” I said. I went to the school the next day to talk to her about it. I said, “We are going to be taking the girls out of school next week for a family vacation.” She said, “But next week is testing.” She waited for the impact of this enormous announcement to sink in. But I said, “I know. But the next week is make up testing. I am sure they can take the test then, right?” She thought for a moment and said, “Oh…ok. But if they take it later the girls will not get their results with the rest of the school!” She clearly felt this was a big deal. “I literally don’t care about that at all.” I pointed out. With nothing left to offer, the principal (who was very nice by the way) said “Well…have a nice vacation.” And we did. The point about this fun story (that became a fun vacation) is that rules are important. They help keep society moving, and in many cases, polite. On the other hand, I don’t think that rules are made to be followed blindly. They are to be considered. They should be evaluated. And in some cases, they should be ignored. Don’t ignore this! It’s a great time to sign up for the VIP newsletter. Each week we take all of the content we create and put it in one email for you to consume. We know you are busy…so sign up to be come a VIP now.
