by Kirby Hasseman
Everyone wants to get more done. We want to be more productive. It makes sense. But in order to get more done, we don’t always need some new time management trick. We need our brain to function at a higher level. We need to think clearer and quicker. We need to deal with stress better. Great news. You can help make that happen. “The trick” to a better brain is often not as complicated as we might think. We don’t need surgery or some science fiction drug. There are several very real actions each of us can take each day to help our own brain function. Here are just a few…
Exercise: Study after study shows that 30 minutes or so of aerobic exercise will help to increase brain function. (This also helps the body deal with stress, which helps your brain too). A simple way to explain this is that the blood is delivered to the brain through blood vessels. Consider these blood vessels the highways. These highways get pot holes sometimes…and exercise helps to re-pave the roads. In addition, exercise also helps to create NEW roads! More blood to the brain helps to increase brain function. So just 30 minutes of exercise a day can make you smarter. Go!
Sleep: When I was in college, I never subscribed to the theory of the “all-nighter” before the test. Turns out I was right. By depriving your body of sleep, you can actually decrease your brain function by up to 40% after just one night! So staying up all night to study actually makes you dumber! Feeling out of it or groggy? Just can’t function? Get some sleep. It will help your brain.
Stop Multi-tasking: This is not my opinion folks…it’s fact. The human brain cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. It has to stop focusing on one thing and then re-direct every time we change our focus! So by focusing on many things at once (i.e. music, phones, Facebook alerts, Snapchats, texts, etc.) while trying to work on a paper or a project is a recipe for (brain function) disaster.
Our brain is a complex and awesome part of us. I believe it is the number one indicator of whether we lead a successful and (more importantly) happy life. Why not give it the best chance for success?
So consider these 3 things to make your brain a better tool for you! The best part? These three (for the most part) are totally up to you. Make sure you never miss an update. Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. We send out an email each week that gives a synopsis of our content of the week! Oh…and sometimes we include some sweet promo specials too. Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
A ladle and a spoon are both perfectly good utensils. They are just designed for different purposes.
The spoon is a single sized utensil that allows you to efficiently and effectively serve yourself. The ladle is a larger tool that is better served being used to put larger helpings on others plates. It’s designed for serving others.
Yes you can serve others with a spoon, but it’s not efficient. Yes, you can serve yourself with the ladle, but that’s not it’s purpose.
The challenge, I see, is that most people are walking around life with only a spoon. We only seek to serve ourselves. We see the world through the lens of “looking out for number one.” It causes us to be myopic and selfish. There are certainly times when we need to serve ourselves, but it’s not a rewarding long term way to go through life.
Instead, today I encourage you to at least take the ladle with you. Be on the look out for reasons and opportunities to provide others value. Look for reasons to share and serve. It might be as simple as doing your job in a generous way…or it might be paying for someone’s lunch. Whatever. Just look for a way to set down your spoon for a bit today…and serve.
How can we serve you?
I wrote this a few years ago…and I want to add this caveat today. Both the spoon and the ladle are important. It’s important to serve. But it IS important to take care of yourself too. The challenge, as I see it, is that we usually carry only one. We either are selfish and only carry the spoon. Or we focus solely on the ladle…and we can become burned out and jaded. Make sure to carry both utensils in your backpack today.
Our goal here is to provide you value each day (to serve you). Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our VIP newsletter. You can do that here.
by Kirby Hasseman
There are going to be times when you are “wronged.” The person on the other end of the conversation or interaction will be a jerk. They will say the wrong thing or mean the wrong thing. It’s their fault. But in those instances, I always find something in the interaction that I could have done better. I could have been kinder. I could have had a longer fuse. I could have taken more time to explain. It might have been their fault. But each interaction is my responsibility. It’s my responsibility to make it better. It’s my responsibility to be better next time. Stop looking for people to blame. Start looking to see how you can make it better. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for the VIP newsletter here!
by Kirby Hasseman
We all need to be inspired sometimes. There are going to be days when you don’t “feel like” doing the work. So I am constantly on the lookout for things that fire me up. That way, when I hit that spot (and we all inevitably do) when I don’t want to do anything, I know where to go to find some motivation. 
That’s what led me to this interview. On this Impact Theory interview with Tom Bilyeu, Tom interviews Ed Mylett. This was my first introduction to Ed Mylett…and wow! This was impressive. There were several takeaways from this interview that were powerful. But probably my favorite is the idea of “keeping promises I made to myself.” Mylett and Bilyeu talk about ways to increase your success and to make an impact throughout the interview. But one big takeaway from Mylett is that you need to change your identity and your expectations from life. In order to do that you need to increase your self confidence and your self worth. Makes sense right? When asked how to increase your self confidence, Mylett talks about keeping promises you make to yourself. If you want to get in better shape, you need to set simple goals for yourself that you can check off the list. If you want to make more sales, you know the activities you need to do. They are simple…not easy. But when you do get up and do the workout, it creates a sense of worth in you. It raises your level of confidence. It’s not an outward activity. It is you keeping a promise to you. By doing this over and over again, you create habits that will help to propel you toward your goals. I love it. My recommendation? Spend the time and watch this interview. I have. Now I am looking for other material from Ed Mylett so that I can motivate myself on the days I don’t want to keep my promises. Make sure you never miss an update or a chance to be inspired, sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
One of the things I love about Promotional Products is that they affect human behavior. If you want people to work safer, come to your store, visit your website or sign up for a trial…a promo product will consistently drive behavior. This is not the first time I have said this…I talk about it here. But how do you take SWAG up a notch? Add a Brand Experience to the event! This takes the power of promo and makes it fun and emotional! There are many ways to do this. Recently, I partnered with Jeff Colley and Imagen Brands in order to create a “Hit It To Win It” contest at a local Golf Outing. (I talked about this event a bit here where I found the cooler I didn’t know I needed!). So what did this look like? How do you make it happen? Watch this fun video to see it in action.
As you can see, you can have a lot of fun with a Brand Experience like this one. One of my favorite comments from the day was, “I have done around 100 golf outings, and I have never seen anything like this!” This was music to my ears. This is the kind of impact you want to make at your event. I want to give a quick shout out to Danny Rosin from Brand Fuel for making me start thing of events and Brand Experiences in this way. The fact is, we have a chance to make a difference at our events or in our organizations if we just start to think differently (and bigger) about how to make it happen! Thanks Danny! So what does your Brand Experience look like? How can you take your event to the next level? What fun stunt can you create at your next company function? Get your wheels turning…and let’s make some fun! If you want to make sure you never miss an update, sign up for our VIP newsletter here. But if you want to get shopping for ideas for your next Brand Experience, head to our site now.
by Kirby Hasseman
In a recent podcast with Roger Burnett, I mentioned the 80/20 rule of sales. I was referencing a great book from Todd Duncan called High Trust Selling. After that conversation with Roger, I got a question from Mendy Klein: “In 80 20 in sales episode that took your business to the next level from Tod Duncan’s great book. Can you describe in detail what are the few vital tasks that will bring the 80% of success?” Thanks so much for reaching out Mendy! So let’s start from the beginning. In the book, Todd Duncan says that Pareto’s rule (the 80/20 rule) is in full effect in sales. The idea is that 80% of your results in sales come from only 20% of your activities. The challenge is, that most sales professionals spend 80% of their time on the activities that only bring 20% of the results. One of the most important (at least to me) parts of the book was that in order to achieve great sales results, we need to flip that. We need to spend 80% of our time on the areas that bring the most results. So back to Mendy’s question, what are those activities. The simple answer is: sales activities. In nearly every sales job there are things you “have to do” for the sales process. They are important. But they are not revenue generating. They are things like getting proofs to clients, making sure things ship on time, organizational activities. You get the idea. The idea from Duncan is you need to spend less time on these activities (and potentially even outsource them) and spend time on sales activities. These are the ones that actually move the sales needle. So they might be: 1. Meeting with clients2. Making product presentations3. Making prospect calls You get the idea. These are all client facing activities that drive behavior. As I heard Greg Muzzillo from Proforma say once “There is no money behind your desk! Stop looking there!” I love that. So get out and “see the people.” Or as I said in this blog, let the people see you. Thanks for the question Mendy! If you have any questions you would like me to answer, please email me here. Otherwise, now is a great time to sign up for our VIP newsletter to make sure you never miss an update.
