It started with Max. He auditioned for an arts magnet school. Then Isabella auditioned for the New York Baroque Ballet show. Alex, not to be left off the train to Auditionville, tried out for the lead roll in a play in a neighboring town. You and I, we have two typical reference points for auditions. Either the outcome itself or the pre-outcome: the heeby jeebies, purgatory of ‘no word yet’, the waltz between email, voicemail and the lonely mailbox, answering "I don't know yet," to the repeated question, “Did you get in?” Auditionville is not a destination. It’s a process.
A process of methodical action. Not a whimsical or impetuous pursuit.
Take for example Max’s audition for Booker T. Washington. The high school where dozens of Grammy winners, including Nora (Come Away with Me) Jones, Edie (The not-so-New Bohemian) Brickell and Erykah (Keep your clothes on) Badu, were educated. Close to 900 significantly talented teenagers auditioned for a couple hundred spots in the performing and visual arts. Max auditioned on guitar – the most contested spot. Max didn’t just show up on a set date at Auditionville. Two years prior he made up his mind he would do what it took to be selected. He had two guitar lessons a week. Greg Ray helped with pieces designed to profile musical and technical ability. Owner of Zounds Sounds School of Rock and graduate from Booker T., Marc Solomon, worked with Max on music theory and sight-reading. Max practiced multiple times a day. He toured the school three different times. He made a connection with the music teachers in advance just to put a face to the name. This fourteen year old was dedicated to the process of auditioning, not just the event. 
Meanwhile, Alex takes multiple acting classes while practicing on her family and friends any chance she gets. Isabella has five dance classes per week, has practically worn out her dance bar in her room and doesn’t miss and opportunity to dance in every hallway she encounters. With Max, Alex and Bella, the focus is on the process of auditioning, not necessarily getting the role. Getting the part would be nice but the life skills gained in the process to Auditionville are much more important. The ride to Auditionville is a mindset. Some of your opportunities are in plain view. Most of them are hidden behind that little blinking cursor on Google's homepage. Let’s say, for grins, you want to audition for a new position in your company, reach a big client, start a new role. What are you willing to do to prepare for your next opportunity instead of just showing up? Hop on the train to Auditionville. The ride is righteous! Until next week, it’s full speed ahead, Vince PS Alex and Isabella got their parts. Max will find out March 2 nd Should you wish to invest in learning tools (click picture below) on how to improve your ride to Auditionville. 100% of your money will go to education.
(Specifically - see picture above to see who's education.) 
Take a look...
The author of this 70 Second eBrief is Vince Poscente. He's a New York Times bestselling author, shorter than he looks and shoots left in hockey. In the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, he skied for the Canadian team at an incredible 135 mph. (216.7 kmph... sounds faster when you say it like that) He's 50 but has the body of a 49 year old.
The three stages of parenthood can be slotted into a playful metaphor. We parents start as dog owners (Stage One). Then cat owners (Stage Two). Then back to dog owners (Stage Three). Ruminate on this to change attitudes about parenting (especially parenting teenagers).
Last night a friend Jamie described a conversation he had with a seasoned parent. (Seasoned - meaning his kids are grown... not to mean he is flavored with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - and if you remember that - you too might be seasoned).
Here's the analogy.
Stage One Parents. When the kids are young they are ready to play, engage and a might even even chew furniture.
Stage Two Parents. When the kids hit their teen years into their early twenties, the parents become cat owners. You have to feed them, water them and be tolorated. Much like cats, these pre and early adults walk in, shrug acknowledgment and proceed with whatever they darn well please.
Stage Three Parents. By the time the offspring hit their mid to late twenties, the parents become dog owners again. The kids are more like a trusted Lab. They know the drill. They're engaging. A more comfortable relationship surfaces.
Again, this is meant to be an amusing look at parenting. It may be particularly helpful for parents of teenagers. These parents can be searching the skies for answers to the pervasive question, "What do I do?" Alas, if you own a cat, you know it's about the cat. They'll come around when they want to. Teens (sans the collar with a bell)? Not far off.
Bottom line, enjoy the journey. Parenting is really is meant to be fun.
To have fun and learn to communicate better, even with 'cats' - check this out...
Keynote speaker, Vince Poscente helps people reach BIG GOALS in short order. His invigorating perspectives go beyond motivation in the workplace - to overcoming a lack of motivation at home. His words that inspire make him a motivational speaker who's in demand worldwide.
Saying “sorry” can save money. Apologizing keeps customers coming back. Serving up a little humility with “I’m sorry” cuts prison time. Heck, it even cures indigestion.
The University of Michigan Health System found four striking benefits from an immediate apology and offers for compensation. One - malpractice claims were cut in half. Two - open claims went down. Three - time for claim resolution were reduced. Four - costs per claim were halved.
Saying “sorry” to customers, no matter what, also improves the bottom line. Consider the Southwest Airlines (SWA) female passenger who kneeled in front of her middle seat, chewed the seat cushion then doffed her top as she ran topless up and down the aisle of the plane. SWA’s policy of a sincere apology, brief explanation of the incident and a travel voucher even applied to the passengers who endured Lady CooCoo Gadiva’s escapade. According to SWA’s chief apology officer (tongue in cheek title), Fred Taylor Jr. "Our objective is to get out in front of the situation before the inquiry occurs. We want to try to think about the way a situation happened on board, the way our customers were affected by that."
American Airlines maintains a similar policy. According to an American executive, Mark Mitchell, “When we handle a delay situation well, (customers) score us about 14 to 16 points higher than they do for just a regular old on-time flight.”
SWA’s policy of apologizing within 24 hours of the incident seems to be working. Of 19 carriers, SWA scored the lowest; 0.21 complaints per 100,000 passengers. The worst? Delta Airlines with a score more than nine times higher at 1.96 complaints per 100,000 passengers.
In the UK, Crispin Blunt’s task as Prison Minister was to cut costs with a “rehabilitation revolution.” His department found criminals apologizing to victims could eliminate costs of £185m over two years of reduced reoffending.
At this point you might be inclined toward conventional wisdom. Apologizing is paramount to admission of guilt. Isn’t this a bad tactic for defendants in a court of law (or husbands everywhere)? According to Jennifer Robbennolt, professor of law and psychology at University of Illinois, “Studies suggest apologies can actually play a positive role in settling legal cases" (or an angry wife).
Robbennolt presented 550 people with a hypothetical injury lawsuit where an apology was given. In the survey, respondents were more satisfied when they found out the other party was sorry and they also settled for less money.
So here’s the two-part skinny on sorry.
1. Say “Sorry” immediately. Heed Dan Heist’s advice. “It’s easier to eat crow when it’s still warm.” Nobody needs the indigestion.
2. Offer to “Make things right.” The quicker you get to forgiveness the brighter the future will be.
Want more inspirational stories and better ways to communicate?
How to increase sales isn't only from employee motivation. Practical tools of growing sales and leadership. Business consultant and motivational speaker, Vince Poscente teachs how to skip a lack of motivation and getting out of a rut with his short inspirational thoughts:
We were in France. Our trip-tradition? Buy a piece of art. We have works from St. Petersburg, Ireland, New Zealand, India and, closer to home, New Orleans. It wasn’t until an art shop in Paris did the realization occur – a sticky story is critical to the sale.
If you’ve been to Paris in the winter, you know what cold is. Bone bending, denture dislodging, don’t stick your tongue on that bronze mermaid – cold. With Europe experiencing particularly frosty weather, tourists are forced indoors.
You happen across an art shop and stumble through the door. The bell at the transom makes a feeble ding then disintegrates off its hinge. You turn to your spouse and say, “It’s so cold, the doors are freezing their bells off.” Your spouse grins and rolls her eyes. She then scans the room for what’s for sale.
The works are intriguing and have potential. You start to envision what piece would be best on your walls at home. Which work will represent a cherished memory from this trip?
“Could you tell us about this one?” you ask.
The clerk peeks over her glasses and says, “It is one sowsand Euros.”
Hmmm. Okay…
“Could you tell us about zat one?” you accidentally ask in a French accent.
“Zees is seecks ‘undered Euros,” the ‘sales person’ says with more interest.
“But what can you tell us about it?” your spouse asks, giving her a real chance at putting the ‘sales’ in to the term ‘sales person.’
“It is oil. It is possible to ship. It is elegant – oui?”
You try to like what you see. Its tradition after all. But, thirty minutes later you leave the store empty handed. Unable to contain her annoyance, your spouse says under her breath, “Why buy something without a story?”
Which was followed by the sincere desire to avoid any more negative Kelvin and find a taxi – tout de suite.
What do you sell?
Is it a product? Is it a service? Is it a direction at work? Is it an idea for your neighbor?
Velcro a story to what you’re selling. Make the story compelling and you not only ensure the story travels. You make the narrative echo.
When a product, service, direction or idea captivates someone’s imagination it gets told repeatedly at the “purchaser’s” home. Like an objet d’art, the story about what you sold ripples across time and distance.
When others come through your door looking for the same thing, this means more sales.
Sales soar with sticky stories.
Quelle est votre histoire?
Every punch he threw, I blocked with my face. With a broken nose repaired and the stitches healed, a lesson presented itself. The lesson to this motivational speaker went beyond the realm of being a business consultant. It's about how we live.
A year ago, in a men’s recreational league hockey game, a young man’s feelings were hurt by some aggressive play on my part. Sure, I deserved to be sent to the box for stopping him from scoring a goal with what’s called “good penalty.” But he just went off. He did something I hadn’t seen, face to fist, in 45 years of playing the game.
We got into an altercation. No biggie. It happens all the time. Good ol’ frisky business, if you know what I mean. But then his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went crazy. He threw his gloves off (mine stayed on), tore my helmet off causing two deep lacerations from the cage clips into my forehead (his helmet and cage stayed on), pulled me into a head lock and proceeded to pound my face until my nose was pointed east. As he was punching, this twenty something hot-head said, “So you think you’re tough now - old man?”
Old man? Really? Forty-nine is old?
This seemed to be the consensus for the following two weeks while my face was a cross between Frankenstein and a beef taco.
“Aren’t you too old for that?” Said some. Others said, “I’m sorry that happened.” Followed by, “Aren’t you too old for that?”
My integrity as a father was also questioned by well-meaning, “aren’t you too old for that” advisors. “You have responsibilities at home. You’ve got kids. You can’t go play hockey with people at home who depend on you.”
Should I continue to play hockey? Hmmm. (psst... I still am with two goals scored in our game last week)
Here’s what I know: It’s fun. I enjoy it. It’s a great work out. I’m a good hockey player, in good shape and don’t feel old on or off the ice. I feel good.
If you’re facing a decision, take the advice from this keynote speaker, you’ll decide based on what feels right - to you.
Before my kids were born I learned how to fly a sailplane. That was fun too. After our first child was born I had a close call that could have ended in a crash. It took all of 30 seconds to reflect and decide: This was not the level of risk I was willing to take. Motivation in the workplace had nothing to do with this decision. It was motivating to be a dad that took healthy risks not life threatening ones.
Responsibility is a double-sided coin. The other ‘responsibility’ is one of example. What example do you give when you make decisions based on fear? Should you take risks or avoid them? What makes a risk appropriate for you?
Minimizing the risk is ultimately what makes any effort palatable. If the risk is too great, then you’ll know. It won’t feel right.
If the risk is reduced and acceptable, it will feel okay.
Do mistakes and accidents happen? Yes.
Can you ever be certain? No.
Let’s bottom-line this!
Which feels better?
Living in fear or living fully?
You'll build confidence and have no lack of motivation when you live fully, not fearfully.
Motivational speakers, the good ones, know there is no 'one way' to deliver employee motivation or sales training. But they also know there are some tried and true ways to engage audiences.
If you are a guest speaker at a conference, an after dinner speaker or a leader looking for a way to conquer a general lack of motivation with your group then use the following sequence. This sequence is what I've learned over 17 years of personal development presentations and increasing sales around the world.
1. POINT Make your point and ensure it is innovative or counterintuitive. Saying clichés like "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" or "You must believe to achieve" only accomplishes the opposite of personal development. Clichés unconsciously trigger a part of the audience's brain that says, "I've heard this before." String a few comments from the podium that are commonplace and you will eventually lose your audience all together. So make it innovative or counter intuitive.
Let's say you're trying to make a point about stretching your creative muscle. You would turn them off if you said, "We must creative on a daily basis." But, if your POINT was, "Get out of the wrong side of the bed." Then you expand on the concept of doing things differently. For example: Taking a new route to work. Use your non-dominant hand for three hours. Then you'll have your audience starting to think, "Gee, I hadn't thought of it that way."
2. STORY After a clear, succinct, innovative/counter intuitive point tell a story from your life, a case study or a third person account. Remember, when telling this story that person sitting in the chair, listening to you, really doesn't care how wonderful, smart, intriguing you are. He cares about himself. She only has her own interests in mind. Keynote speakers are under the illusion they are there because of how special they are. False. If you are keynoting a conference, tell story's that demonstrates how special THEY are by being authentic, vulnerable, honest, altruistic in your delivery.
When audiences experience my story about being unable to find a wind tunnel for aerodynamic training, they learn about the idea to ride on top of a car. They hear "You're wearing a pink rubber suit. Your biggest fear is not crashing the car. It's getting arrested. Folks, you're wearing a pink rubber suit." Compare that to: "I wore a pink rubber suit. I wasn't as concerned about he car crashing as I was concerned about the car crashing. I'm wearing a pink rubber suit. That's why I felt that way." Can you see and especially FEEL the difference?
3. CONNECT This is the part where you relate your point and even your story you just told, if appropriate, to their everyday lives. Imagine you just told the story about the pink rubber suit. Then you connect this example with how the audience goes to work and hits road block after road block with government regulations. Saying things like, "You can creatively meet the government standards that make your customers know how much you care."
4. POINT Now circle back to the original point to hit it home. "So when you get out of the wrong side of the bed you start thinking creatively, you create momentum for innovative ideas and solutions for you and your customers."
To see an example of this:
Use Point, Story, Connect, Point as a general template for how you get your message across. You are selling ideas and people buy more readily when they feel connected to a story, experience you as a person and relate it to their lives as something they need to do or have.
Do this and the secrets of motivational speakers isn't a secret any more ;-)
If you are an experienced speaker and want to elevate you expertise we have two options available:
1. Keynote Coaching - a month to month coaching program.
2. The Keynote Bootcamp - an intensive 2.5 day program presented by the Chairwoman and founder of International Speakers Bureau and my self.
Other resources include:
1. The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson
2. Paid to Speak by The National Speakers Association
Wasting time is a headache and a headache is a waste of time. Get rid of both to reach your BIG GOALS in short order.
At 20 years old, not wanting to pay for a mechanic, you bought a book on how to replace your engine. Like any man, you skipped the boring part where it says, “Read This First” and went straight to the How-To section.
Everything’s going well until you come across a task to remove the Offenhaus Defosticator (that, as my mom would say, is a doohicky thingy in an engine). Two hours turns into three. From trying to torque the Offenhaus Defosticator off, your head throbs in frustration. Expressing yourself as a sailor would on a regular afternoon of deck-swabbing you realize you need help. You call a friend who’s a hobby mechanic. You meekly admit to him you can’t get a simple Offenhaus Defosticator dislodged from its fitting.
Your buddy comes over with a tool. It’s made precisely for removing the source of your headache. In seven seconds he twists it off. SEVEN SECONDS! Seven seconds vs three hours. The right tool vs the wrong tool. Or should we describe it as, “The tool holding the wrong tool - taking three hours - and failing.”
What a valuable lesson at twenty years old. Use the right tool and save yourself the headache of wasted time.
One of the cool parts about this job of speaking to a variety of companies is you learn about their services or products. One such company is Essilor – a $4.2 Billion company that helps the world see better with their amazing lens technology.
In the process of due diligence you learn about Essilor’s computer lenses . With their progressive lens technology, you are curious because you consistently get headaches from all the screen time you spend writing and researching. You experience tired eyes, blurred vision, headaches, neck and shoulder pain. (Note, these lenses are intended to be prescribed as a second pair to compliment a person’s primary pair of progressive lenses.)
There’s something called Visual Fatigue Syndrome that impacts people of all ages with different visual needs. It affects people who have 20/20 vision and even those who wear glasses, contacts or have undergone refractive eye surgery.
The benefits of Essilor’s Anti-Fatigue™ lenses include:
- Effective clear vision at distance when tipping the head slightly down. This results in functional and efficient distance viewing.
- Large intermediate area creates a more relaxed, comfortable visual experience.
- Ordered in the same manner as any progressive lens.
As I write this eBrief to you, I'm wearing computer lenses Essilor provided. No more headaches, improved efficiency with screen time and no shoulder pain. (No, they didn’t pay me to say that. But I am impressed by their technology.)
AMAZING what happens when you have the right tool for the right job.
Goodbye headache. Hello next company who hires me so I get to research their products. Like... Victoria Secret maybe?
Until next week, it’s full speed ahead,
Vince
PS "Be a seeker." The first line out of Invinceable Principles - Essential Tools for Life Mastery. Order your personally signed copy today.
Hard cover or Audio Book - 70 Second eBrief Discount
Want your company to reach BIG GOALS in short order. Start thinking smaller.
Intuit, close to 8,000 strong and revenues in the billions, consistently finds ways to think big by thinking small. An example is their product SnapTax.
Intuit's leaders could have sought innovation through focus groups, testing, R & D teams, outside hired guns. Yet they brought together a team of five to come up with a what is one of Intuit's many profitable products. It did it by allowing this initial group of five to be on an "Island of Freedom." They had the license to create and build like the culture of a start-up company.
According to Eric Ries, the Author of The Lean Startup, "Innovation is a bottoms up, decentralized and unpredictable thing, but that doesn't mean it cannot be managed. It can, but to do so requires a new managment discipline." Basically, Reis encourages senior mangement to "cultivate entrepreneurship" within the company's culture.
Encouraging entrepreneurship is critical, at all levels. Just ask the AlliedSignal executives who were approached by internal employees Gary Burrell and Min Kao (hence the name GarMin) with a new concept around global positioning systems. As these employees were ignored, they went on to be entrepreneurs and start their own company called Garmin. In the words of Rick Perry, "Oops."
Senior executives who insist on meddling in the efforts of innovators have not learned the ways of true entrepreneurial thinking. Learn from the example of Intuit and leaders like Scott Cook. Create an "Island of Freedom" in your company and see what they come up with. Your thinking small may turn into a BIG GOAL occuring in short order.
For more ideas about innovation and creating an island of freedom, start with this workshop in a box.
You may know Jill Kudryk’s story. An idle Tuesday morning you laughed with her about the new movie, Animal House. That afternoon she died from heart failure. By Friday, you and a stunned group of teenagers listened to eulogies for this life cut short by a weak heart. Yours truly made a decision that solemn day. Do everything at least once! Thirty-four years later, this motto can define your What Shows Up List too.
A celebrated concept, The Bucket List, is easy to comprehend. Write all the things you wish to do in your life, and check them off. Yet, this assumes you know what’s best to do in your life.
What if it were the other way around?
What if life knows what’s best for you?
There’s a different way to approach the uncomfortably forced and egocentric Bucket List. Have your BIG GOALS in short order emerge. Let go of what you want to achieve in life and let in what shows up. Think BIG this way: Your What Shows Up List reveals itself when something NEW, DIFFERENT or REPEATELY IGNORED appears.
NEW: Something you’ve never tried but at least heard of. Maybe it’s racquetball, riding a cutting horse, skiing in a pink rubber suit. Life is far too short to say, “No, I don’t look good in pink rubber.” Clearly, if safety is in question, then a qualified yes is in order. It always makes sense to minimize risk but never, ever make a decision based on fear. If it’s new and you’ve been approached to try it, it’s waiting to be added to your What Shows Up List.
DIFFERENT: When something different shows up say, “Sure, I’d love to do it.” Let’s say someone asks you to play Wiffle Ball Polo. If it’s legal, moral and ethical, then why not? Say yes! What have you got to lose? Mark Twain had an answer to that. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Ummm, buuuuut, if someone figures a game of strip poker in the shopping mall is a good idea, you might just keep those bowlines tied up. Just sayin’…
REPEATEDLY IGNORED : You know the answer to this one. You know it! Don't let a lack of motivation get in the way. Stop procrastinating give it a go. Friend and author of The War of Art , Steven Pressfield says you must overcome Resistance. “We are not born with unlimited choices... Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal that we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” Your What Shows Up List is ready and waiting to be made longer, even if that thing scares you, is uncomfortable or appears to be that loathed word, ‘unrealistic.’
Pay attention! Your What Shows Up List is waiting!
Until next time we connect, it’s full speed ahead,
Vince
PS Want you or your team to know what's on the What Shows Up List? This Ant and Elephant Workshop in a Box is the fastest way to discover it.
Look into the future with this interesting perspective on things to watch in 2012.
Professional development, personal development, inspirational ideas and stuff you didn't see coming is what you can expect... plus more of what's right under your nose.
Here's an excerpt:
Curbing Food Waste. – Screened Interactions: as more flat surfaces become screens and more screens become interactive— with consumers touching them, gesturing at them and even talking to them—we’ll see screens infiltrating restaurant and retail experiences, making for Screened dining and Screened Shopping. – Objectifying Objects: as objects get replaced by digital/virtual counterparts, people are fetishizing the physical and the tactile (like Stationery). as a result we’ll see more Motivational objects, items that accompany digital property to increase perceived value, and tools that enable things like digital-Into- Physical Postcards.• this list also includes noteworthy events on the calendar, people to keep an eye on, tech tools and devices, and much more, including new behaviors and ideas with the potential to ladder up to bigger trends.
Thank you Dain Dunston for the great link.
