by Kirby Hasseman
When I am not sure what to write about, and more importantly, what to think about, I think about what makes me grateful.
As I have said before, you cannot be negative or angry when you are grateful. So when I am stressed, or anxious or frustrated, I take a deep breath and go through this exercise. It usually only takes me a few minutes to get my mental state back on track.
Here are a few things that go through my mind when I do this.
1. My wife: I am incredibly lucky to have Amy in my life. She truly does make me want to be better. As I think about blessings in my life, she is at the top of the list.
2. My girls, Skylar and Jade: These two make me super proud. I love the young ladies they are growing into. Their journey has just begun.
3. My family: All of my family have been super supportive of me throughout my life. I am forever grateful for that.
4. The Hasseman Marketing team (yes that includes Robbie too): I can’t believe the great group we have put together here. Last night we had our holiday party…what a fun group. I am excited about what we are creating together.
5. My Coshocton County friends: What a great group of people! These are the folks that would help me out (in an instant) if needed.
6. My Promo industry friends: These folks inspire me to be better in my profession.
7. My heroes that inspire me: Though I don’t “know” these people, I watch them from afar and they get me fired up to do better in many areas of my life.
8. My health: I am so blessed to be healthy.
9. My home: Speaking of blessed, I love the place I have to rest and relax.
10. The giving spirit of Coshocton County: It’s so cool to see this small community rally together whenever there is a need.
11. Newpointe Community Church: I feel like this church has come to Coshocton just when it was needed. It’s been great for me for sure.
12. Local Leaders: I totally love the level of collaboration that is going on in Coshocton County right now. It’s at a level I have never seen. As a side note, our own Port Authority Director, Tiffany Swigert was in Washington D.C. this week. Here is a clip of her talking with Leaders there. You can hear her at about 1:06 in.
13. Industry leaders: The marketing conversation has been elevated (or at least it is being elevated) because the leaders in the industry are helping to make it happen. Let’s keep that going.
14. My puppies: When they are not pooping and peeing…they are fun.
15. The Drone: I am happy we tracked the drone down after a recent adventure. You can see that adventure here. As you can see, this is a woefully incomplete list. But it’s a start. It’s a place I can go to get my head back on straight. What does your list look like? Make sure you never miss an update! It’s time to become a VIP! I would be grateful for that. Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
When it comes to accountability, I see two types of people.
There are those that always look to blame others for everything that happens to them. Then there are those that blame themselves for everything. They accept responsibility for everything…even when it’s clearly not their fault. I don’t see this as being a martyr. I see this as being a learner.
Will Smith falls in the second group. Most truly successful people do. I saw this video yesterday that illustrated this point. You can watch it here.
In the video, Will talks about his transition from junior high to high school. He went from a catholic school to a public school and decided to make a splash. In doing so, he made an enemy. Later that day, the kid assaulted Will. He hit him over the head with lock…and was taken away in handcuffs. The young Will Smith watched the other boy being taken away from the school in handcuffs.
So how did Will react? What was his takeaway? Even as a young man, Will realized he played a part. He had an influence in how this played out. He took the lesson and learned. That’s the message here. The most successful people I meet take responsibility for everything. They look for the lesson in every situation. They see that they have the ability to influence nearly everything in their life.
As I said before, this is not about being a martyr. It’s about NOT being a victim. It might not be your fault. But it is your responsibility.
As a side note, if you are looking for a cool person to follow on Youtube, the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air is awesome. You can subscribe to his channel here.
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by Kirby Hasseman
Sometimes we all get in a rut. It happens.
One day we are traveling along doing well, and the next we wake up frustrated and bored. The longer we travel along in this rut, the deeper it gets. Often, the rut is the path that we feel like we are “supposed” to do. Hell, we might even be good at it. This deeper rut makes it harder to change.
And more importantly, I think, it makes it harder to even consider changing.
“Great,” I hear you saying. “But now what?” Here are a few ways I have seen people (including me) break out of a rut.
Give Yourself Permission to Dream (Again)
When you are in a rut, sometimes it’s hard to even imagine doing something different. We become a bit of a martyr. “I have to do this because…” You have to give yourself a chance to stop thinking about what you “have” to do and consider what “excites” you. By taking off the blinders, you might be able to see.
Find Your Happy
Think about the things that you really enjoy doing. How can you do more of that. Study after study tells you that you do not need success to be happy. You need “happy” to be ore successful.
Seek out a Purpose
A really good friend of mine recently told me that the main reason for depression in the United States is a lack of purpose. You need a reason to get you up in the morning. What is your purpose? If you can’t answer that question (fairly quickly), you need to dig in and get the answer.
Create “Crazy” New Goals
Sometimes the best thing to do to snap you back is to set a new “crazy” goal that really stretches you. Maybe it’s a goal to run a 5k or a Half Marathon. Maybe you want to write a book (like this one). Maybe you want to start a new business (like one that brews beer). Forgive the silly self promotion, but these sort of “crazy” projects can often really kick start your purpose. If nothing else, I can attest that you will not be bored.
Find a Place to Push Out Good
While you are trying to get out of the rut and find your purpose, be on the look out for something nice to do for others every day. The science shows you this process will help to improve your mood and overall well-being. It’s not opinion…it’s fact. Along the way, you might find a purpose. But in the meantime, you will be pushing out more good into a world that seems to desperately need it.
So if you are in a rut, keep in mind, we all end up there. But in order to get out of a rut you need to talk action. Start here…and let me know how it goes!
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by Kirby Hasseman
Earlier this year, when talking about weekly goals with my team, I had an epiphany about big goals.
Let me set the stage. I had recently read “The 4 Disciplines of Execution” and wanted to institute some of the principles. (If you want to learn about the book, I wrote about it here). In doing so, I had instituted a weekly meeting and we discussed what we were going to do to move the company toward that goal. The goal of this meeting is to keep people accountable and to keep everyone rowing in the same direction toward a goal.
But I noticed a pattern of language that I didn’t like.
If someone had set a goal for the week and didn’t make it, they said something very specific. “Well I wanted to make 5 cold calls this week. I only got 4, so I failed.” Or they might say “I wanted to get 10 face to face meetings and I only had 7, so I failed this week.”
Then it hit me.
Many people believe that GOALS are Pass/Fail. That’s one of the problems some people have with stretch goals. They think if they don’t reach them, they have failed. I don’t agree. I love the idea of creating goals that stretch you. My attitude has always been, “If I shoot for a crazy high sales goal, and almost make it, that’s amazing. That will be much better than shooting for a low goal and making it.”
But that’s not everyone’s take. Many people get discouraged.
So in that meeting I came up with another way of looking at a big/stretch goal. I told the team, “Let’s stop looking at these as Pass/Fail. Let’s start grading our success more like we did in school. If the goal was 10 meetings and you only got 8, you didn’t reach the goal. But you did get an 80%. That’s a B!” This is not about letting people off the hook. There is still accountability. You want to get 100%. But when it comes to most goals, progress (any progress) still counts. So as you create goals for your coming year, don’t be afraid to think big. This new grading system might give you a bit of encouragement to “make the grade.”
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by Kirby Hasseman
It’s hard to believe it’s been over a half a year! For better than 6 months, I have been writing a blog post here each and every day. It’s Saturday morning, as I write this, and here I am, typing away. The experience has been enlightening in many ways, and it has forced me to stretch myself. Ed Mylett talks about being successful starts with “keeping promises to yourself,” and this has been that for me.
But one thing it has truly taught me is what I DON’T know. I don’t know what it going to work or resonate. I don’t know what is going to help people. Here is an example from this week. On Monday I posted a blog that I wrote a few years ago. It was 5 Business Lessons you can learn from Garth Brooks. I was watching a concert with him at Notre Dame Stadium and that seemed appropriate. It was a blog post that did very well.
Then on Friday I posted 5 Business Lessons you can Learn from Adam Sandler. (I had seen him on the sideline of an NBA highlight). I enjoyed writing this and thought it would really take off. I linked to outside sources. I referenced movies. This post was viewed 8 times LESS than the one above.
Was it because Garth is better than Adam?
Is one better written than the other?
Was it the time of day? Could it be the day?
What was the reason that one of them took off…and the other did not? The honest answer–after 6 months of doing this every day–is I have no idea. I think this is a strange little mind game that holds people back. They just don’t know what is going to work. So they think about it. Then they think about it some more. Then they talk about it and plan about it…and do nothing. This question of whether it is going to work creates a “paralysis by analysis.”
They literally “think” themselves out of taking action.
What I have learned from this exercise of writing every day is we need to do just the opposite. We need to lean into action, precisely because we don’t know what is going to work! That consistency of taking action is what will create the outcome we are looking for. It’s not the one action. It’s the many.
*In sales, we don’t make the sales call because it’s not the right time of day, week, year, etc. But you don’t know. So you might as well make the call.
*In fitness, we don’t start working out because we are going to wait for the next new workout plan. Just get on the treadmill.
You get the idea. Will it work? Will it fail? Will this be the magic video that goes viral? The answer, if we are honest, is we don’t know. Will this be the blog that has an impact and creates a mindset of change for you? I don’t know. So I will hit publish to find out.
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by Kirby Hasseman
If you had told me, when I was first watching Billy Madison, that I was watching one of the most bankable movie stars of the next 20 years, I would not have believed you. Adam Sandler was silly, obnoxious, absurd and, well, funny. But I did not see this as an act someone could ride for more than one movie or two.
I would have been wrong. Way wrong.
For years, Adam Sandler has made movies and money at the box office. He has had some really fun movies (Happy Gilmore, Waterboy and Grown ups) and he has made some bad ones (think Grown ups 2). But whether you like Sandler or not, I think he has several things to teach us about business.
Do What You Do: Sandlers first movies were obviously not Academy Award winners. But he found a formula that worked, and he stuck to it. He was the goofy underdog that overcomes in the end. Then, obviously a sports lover, he started making silly movies about sports. He found his niche, and did not try to be something he was not.
Lesson: Find your niche. Be authentic.
Have A Crew: One thing that always catches my eye with Sandler movies, is he has a consistent group of friends that he works with. Sure, he is obviously buddies with Chris Rock, David Spade and Kevin James. But his other cast of characters comes with him on nearly every project too. When you have a crew you enjoy working with (and trust), keep working with them!
Lesson: Find a team you trust…and stick with them.
Be Willing To Fail: Though I enjoy some of Sandler’s movies, he has certainly has had some stinkers (Jack and Jill and Little Nicky come to mind). But each of these has involved him trying something and taking some creative risks. The fact is, once people hit a certain level of success, many people don’t want to try something new. They don’t want to fail. I love that Sandler is willing to try some off the wall things. They either work, or they don’t. But he is already off to something new.
Lesson: Take creative risks. Failure is not the end of the world.
Let Others Shine: As I mentioned, Sandler clearly likes working with friends. He has even created a production company that produces movies that he is not even in! He lets some of his other friends take the lead and showcase their talents whether he is involved on screen or not.
Lesson: You don’t always have to be center stage. Let others have the spotlight.
Be Willing to Branch Out: Once he established himself in Hollywood, I like that Sandler did do some more family friendly movies. Though he still has his core characters, he has done some movies that the whole family can enjoy.
Lesson: Once you have a track of success, continue to grow. The most successful people, in any arenas, can teach us lessons we can emulate. Adam Sandler has created an amazing career that nearly anyone could envy. And best of all, it seems like he enjoys it too. Bravo.
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