Running for Congress––Seriously!

You may have noticed that I’ve been posting less frequently than usual. I hate to use the “I’ve been busy” excuse––but it’s true!

I was nominated by the Libertarian Party to run for the 1st District congressional seat in Maine. I am honored and humbled––and I’m embracing this adventure enthusiastically.

I teach leadership. I write about leadership. I speak on leadership.

What better opportunity to learn about the full scope of political leadership than to serve?

I’ve been involved in politics for some time. I served as Chair of the Government Liaison Committee for two terms at the Southern Midcoast Chamber here in Maine. Later I worked on Matt Jacobson’s campaign for governor. I’ve stayed active as a constant student of issues and an outspoken critic of government waste and lack of character in elected office.

With Austin Petersen, Libertarian presidential candidate at the Maine Libertarian Party State Convention.

As this adventure continues, I will be focusing on producing content to support the campaign. I will continue to post on leadership and on personal and professional Mastery––but these posts will be less frequent for the next few months.

I will also do my best to separate business and politics on LinkedIn. You enroll in our LinkedIn groups to focus on business leadership and Mastery––not to engage in political fights!

If my political posts speak directly to how politics affect business or leadership above and beyond the political fray, I’ll share them in the groups. As always, I welcome dissent––let’s just debate respectfully and rationally!

I will not campaign or solicit your support on LinkedIn, the THINK Like a BLACK BELT blog, or on THE SENSEI LEADER blog or podcast. I will post about my experiences during the campaign when I feel I can offer genuine on leadership free from partisan or divisive political opinions.

We don’t have to agree on everything to continue to learn and grow as leaders––together.

I do encourage to vote YOUR conscience and support the candidates that best serve YOUR interests and support YOUR values and principles…

Be involved. Participate. Vote.

Thank You for your understanding during this exciting and important journey! I’m already learning a great deal that will give me more to share no matter where this campaign takes me.

 

Best Thoughts!
Jim

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If you are interested in my campaign or would like to get involved, please click the banner below… (The last political ad you’ll see on this blog!)

Focus: Mastery is impossible without it!

One of the simplest and yet most difficult keys to personal and professional Mastery is “focus.”

I’ve had times in my life when I’ve been highly productive. I’ve also had times when I’ve fully embraced the proverbial analogies of herding cats, running on ice or juggling too many balls.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has days like this…

I work furiously for ten hours, I’m exhausted, I’ve checked a dozen items off my to-do list––

And I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing! (At least it feels that way.)

The problem is usually focus. It’s one thing to get a lot of things done––it’s quite another to get anything done that’s going to produce meaningful results.

One of the best examples I can give you is that of prospecting for new business. If you run your own business, I’m sure you can identify…

We have an extremely high closing ratio. Other people in our business ask how we’ve achieved this––and they usually don’t like the answer.

If you’ve been in business any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard some expert say, “It’s a numbers game.” This strategy simply says that if you want more business, you’ve got to pitch more prospects. That’s true to a certain degree, but we learned to pitch to fewer prospects and it’s working better for us.

We learned to pitch only to prospects who are highly likely to purchase our services. That requires a little research, but research time is a very good investment. We only want to invest time and marketing resources with prospects who are most likely to need and want what I do.

Before we learned to focus, we spent even more time making ice cold calls and sending emails to people who were never likely to book me. Our closing ratio was extremely low as we were pitching prospects whose needs and interests simply didn’t fit my theme or philosophy––we weren’t even on their radar and as a consequence, we were wasting our time and money…

And we wasted a lot of money!

Operating with a very limited marketing budget, we ended up sending less effective materials to more prospects. To be blunt about, we cheaped it out!

Now that we focus on likely matches––we send an impressive package to likely prospects. Each package is a serious investment, but the likelihood of closing an opportunity is much higher. We can afford to make a better impression––and one that lasts should that prospect not be ready to buy today but may be very interested in doing business in the future.

I also learned to focus on what I do best instead of trying to be all things to all people. My dear friend and mentor Joe Calloway wrote a whole book about it: Be The Best At What Matters Most. Read it!

My experience and expertise is in developing the character and mindset of leaders and people who want to become leaders.

When I first got into this business, I tried to cover several other areas––including more technical business functions and processes. Those are important too, but not my passion. I’ve been in business a long time, I know as much about sales and customer service as most people in business––more than plenty.

However––that’s not what I’m best at. I’m best at helping people become leaders and helping leaders become better people.

The less I allowed myself to be distracted––or attracted to other shine objects, the better I became at delivering my message and providing much more substantive and tangible value to my clients.

Simple––I did a much better job when I stayed focused––and people responded.

Marketing and promotion are important, but the best marketing tool you have at your disposal is the quality and value of your work.

The net result of all this focus was surprising. It shouldn’t have been.

For years I taught my martial arts students that focus was the key to applying power effectively and efficiently. I told them not to confuse power with exertion––that it’s more effective to hit your target with a BB than miss it with a canon!

I had to discipline myself to apply the same focus to my business that I had in my arts––and that wasn’t easy.

It might not be easy for you either––especially if you’re ambitious, hard-working and conscientious. Like me, you might not feel you’re accomplishing anything unless you’re going balls to the walls at all times––even if you’re tipping at windmills.

Focus is the key to applying your skills, talents and energy in the most effective way and to the most productive and meaningful ends.

The fact is that with focus, you’ll very often find that you can produce more in less time. This also gives you time and energy to spend on higher level thinking and on activities that can make a much more dramatic impact on your business and your life.

Focus gives you time and energy––to focus.

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Additional resources to help you focus…

• FOCUS: Turn off the noise!
• FREE eBook: Sit Still, Shut Up and Breathe!

3 Options for drug addicts––and that’s all you get

Personal Mastery is about self-control and self-determination. There is nothing more destructive to your control of your own life than addiction. I know this from personal experience. If you’re struggling, or know someone who is, I hope this helps…

There are ultimately only 3 options for a drug addict:

#1 Quit
#2 Jail
#3 Death

I’ve been saying the same thing for years. I’ve been accused of being uncaring, insensitive and harsh. I don’t give a damn. I know what I’m talking about.

The last time I did drugs was in 2006. That information would surprise many of the people who know me. In my keynote speeches, I talk about quitting sometime around 1982––almost 35 years ago.

10 years ago I was well beyond my addiction. I was running a successful martial arts program and was considered a community leader. I talked often to young people about the dangers of drugs and my life was committed to providing an alternative through martial arts. No one would ever suspect me of a relapse at this point in my life.

I didn’t fall off the wagon––I broke my leg.

I’ll get back to that story in a minute. First I want to tell you about the inspiration for this post.

This CNN headline caught my eye: “Lethal strain of heroin strikes Western Massachusetts.” My own state of Maine has been dealing with an epidemic of heroin abuse for years. These stories strike particularly close to my heart because I mentor kids in juvenile detention. Many of these kids are drug addicts.

One of the most promising kids I worked with was killed about a year ago. He was a severe heroin addict. I maintained contact with him after his release and really thought he was going to make it. Sadly, a pattern started where his calls were less frequent and the conversation strained. Finally he admitted he was using again––but there was still hope.

That hope ended when I got a terrible call. He had been killed––shot twice in the chest and dumped in a river. I knew instantly and without doubt that his murder was drug related.

Back to the CNN story––it contained a video interview with Joe Putignano. Joe had been a promising world class gymnast. He was positioned for a shot at the Olympics. After a routine dental procedure, he instead became a drug addict.

If you’ve never been there, it might seem ridiculous that a simple prescription pain killer can cause you to become a junky.

Most people appreciate the benefits of these drugs without ruining their lives. They use them for the pain, finish the course and that’s the end of it. If, however, your body and mind are susceptible to addiction, this can be the start of the self-destructive spiral.

Now 

I’m going to ask you to bear with me.

I’m going to edit the story for time, but I want to share my experience with you before I talk about the 3 options again. I want you to understand that I’m not just another well-intended do-gooder preaching at you with no experience. I know what I’m talking about because I’ve been there.

My first trouble with narcotics started the same as Joe’s.

After a root canal, my dentist prescribed Percocet. The next two times I went to the dentist, I stored the pills until I needed them––not for the pain, but to get high.

I did not become a heroin addict. Believe me, I tried my share of various narcotics, particularly prescription drugs. I developed a particular fondness for speed, which I would usually obtain in capsule form, then break open and snort. Quaaludes and other “downers” provided the balancing effect. All of this just to keep the party going as my marijuana habit escalated to 6 to 8 bhang hits a day.

I was high all the time. But––I wasn’t a junky. At least that’s what I told myself.

You see, I didn’t do needles and I never snorted a single line of coke. To my mind, that’s what junkies did. No smack, no coke––no junky.

One day a friend who was always part of the party, and in fact who was my main source of pot accused me of being a true waste product. I said, “You’re just as bad as I am.”

“No,” he said, “I’m a smoker. You’re a STONER!”

But, as I said, I never did heroin. Thankfully.

Putignano was not as lucky.

He eventually quit. Then fell off the wagon. Then quit again. This is not unusual––especially with heroin, it usually takes several attempts to be successful. He finally got clean for 8 years and worked his way back into gymnastics as a featured performer in Cirque Du Soleil.

After a shoulder operation and despite warnings on his medical record, a nurse gave him a powerful narcotic pain killer. He felt the surge again––thankfully, he stopped it before it could take hold.

The same thing happened to me after I broke my leg.

I should say I shattered my leg. In an attempt to regain lost time from my youth, I started playing semi-pro football at age 44. My injury happened on the field––very similar to the infamous Joe Theismann injury.

I’m going to keep a very long story very short. The short story is that the surgeon could not operate on my leg until it was stabilized. Until then, they had to manage the pain. The hospital started me on Morphine.

Suffice it to say that their administration of the drug was less than cautious. I found myself on a pendulum alternating between severe pain and tripping my brains out.

As I said, this is a long story and I’m leaving out a lot of detail. The end result, however, was that I was transferred to another hospital and to the care of a surgeon who specialized in sports injuries. By the time I was transferred, I was hallucinating. I felt as if I could just  walk through my  hospital window and fly across the city.

Thankfully, the second hospital recognized the problem and got me on a routine that controlled my pain without the hallucinatory side effects.

Following the operation, I was prescribed Oxycodone. It wasn’t my doctor’s fault. Though I usually mention that I’ve had problems in the past, but I don’t remember if I made it an issue with this doctor. After all, it had been years––and I was a much different person now.

Just like Putignano described––I instantly experienced a very familiar and comfortable feeling. Fortunately, I knew what was happening. I immediately stopped taking the pills.

I have never again taken a narcotic pain killer.

Would this experience relapsed me into an addict?

It could have. Had I not had the strength and support of my wife and a very close friend who knew my situation intimately, I may very well have started buying Oxys on the street. I don’t know where it might have gone from there.

We’re facing an onslaught of powerful narcotics and heroin on our streets. This is not a “big city” problem. Most of the kids I work with come from podunk towns in Maine. It’s happening everywhere and the addictive and lethal potential of these drugs is exponentially more dangerous than anything I encountered in my twenties.

With drugs comes crime. Avoiding the legalization argument––drug dealers are criminals. They don’t care who they hurt, they only care about money. They cut drugs with poison to stretch their inventory. They provide an ever more powerful product to increase their markets with people who can no longer get off on the old stuff.

And if you cross them, they’ll think nothing of killing you faster. There are plenty of other customers.

As I said, there are 3 options for an addict.

#3 is death.

We just covered that again. Eventually, the drugs will get you. If not, your local dealer might pump two round into your chest. Or––you might be shot when the cops catch you breaking into some old woman’s house to raid her medicine cabinet––and I can’t say that I’d blame them.

#2 is jail.

The problem with jail is that you’ll have a record. If you thought getting a job when you’re high was tough––it’s just as bad, sometimes worse when you have a record.

The good thing about jail, if you’re lucky, is that it can get you clean.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of ways to get drugs in lockup, but in many places you also have access to rehab programs and therapy––and you’re at least separated for a while from the people who supported your habit in one way or another.

#1 is to quit.

Simple, not easy.

I fell off the wagon a couple of times in my first couple of years. I don’t count those against myself. The important thing when you fall off the wagon is to just get back on it again.

After I broke my leg, I could’ve fallen again––and hard. This time I had the experience and I will say, the courage to acknowledge the situation.

I also had the benefit of years of a much better life under my belt. For me personally, I also had a new belt––my Black Belt. Martial arts helped me become a disciplined, focused and dedicated person. I learned about the value of perseverance and I learned that pain is an unavoidable part of life; something to acknowledge and deal with, not something you can avoid.

Martial arts also provided me with a purpose––an individual focus and goal. You need that.

Discipline is nothing more than the development of meaningful and purposeful habits. Without productive habits, there are plenty of destructive habits waiting to fill the void. Nobody knows this better than an addict.

If you want to get yourself clean, get another habit––something with meaning and purpose to you.

Finally, and most important, I had the support of people who cared about me.

They couldn’t help me when I was committed to drugs, but when I wanted to quit they stepped in. The second time around, they stepped in right away––they knew me as person, not as an addict.

I’m not here to propose societal or political solutions to this problem. I don’t know if there are any. There will always be people who feel desperate, who want to ease the pain or who just plain don’t see any other way.

I’m focused on the individual. On you.

This is not easy, but it’s not complicated either.

#1 Decide to quit.
#2 Don’t go it alone––ask for help.
#3 Keep trying. If you fall off the wagon, climb back on.

You know the options. If you want to quit, you can. If you want to live a happy and productive life, you can.

If I can do it––so can you.

Do just this ONE thing and change your life in the New Year––seriously!

The most useless words in the English language:

“I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Haven’t you said this when what you really meant was it will never get done?

There are only a few days left in this year. The New Year is really just a mileage marker on the calendar, but it does represent a good time to stop, consider what you’ve been doing and do some meaningful planning for the next year.

If there’s one thing you could do that would most dramatically impact your live over the next year, it would be to eradicate the words and thought that anything should wait until tomorrow.

I know––there’s only 24 hours in a day and some things have to go unfinished. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about that conscious decision to put off until tomorrow what you absolutely could have, and should have done today.

Here are some simple steps you can take:

• If it takes you longer to think about when you can do it than it takes to do it––do it––now!

• Do little things quickly and get them out of the way.

• If you legitimately don’t have time to do something, schedule a time to do it and put in your planner––now.

• If you’re tackling a big project, break it down into actionable steps and schedule for those.

• If it’s uncomfortable––do it now. These things only get worse with time.

• Schedule some time every week to do the things you didn’t have time for.

That last one is really important. Leave yourself a little “clean-up” time to handle some of the items that might not otherwise make it to your planner. Keep a quick access file of these things so you can just open it up and get to it.

There are dozens––scratch that––hundreds of systems and methods to help you manage your time and get the important things done. For my money, Stephen Covey’s “First Things First” is still the class of the genre.

I’m not here to complicate the issue with more suggestions, but one simple procedure I’ve found helps me a lot and I’m glad to share.

As focused as we are on electronic communication these days, I’ve found the best way for me to keep from putting something off indefinitely is just to send it to my email inbox. I send tasks, memos, articles, research, reminders––all to the inbox.

Once a week I clear my inbox completely. Items either go on my schedule, to a holding file I can access from time to time or––to the trash. Sometimes an item that seemed important at the time loses it’s significance by the time I get to it…

No worries––Delete––No clutter.

I’m old enough now to appreciate the grave reality that days turn into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. What seems like an eternity looking forward feels like the blink of an eye looking back, and lost time is lost––forever.

I learned my lesson long ago. “I’ll do it tomorrow” are the most useless words in the language. The most regrettable are:

“I wish I’d done that when I had the chance.”

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You really want to improve your life this year?

Become a leader––or become a better leader!

Leaders earn more. Leaders enjoy more opportunities. Leaders earn the trust and respect of the people they serve.

Don’t wait. Enroll in this FREE course today:

The truth about trophies

This may surprise you, but I really don’t have a problem with participation awards, especially for kids. It does no harm to recognize a kid for “just showing up.”

However––that participation trophy shouldn’t be 3 feet high and it shouldn’t be the same as the champion’s.

If you want to cultivate a certain behavior, reward it. The fundamental skill that we need to cultivate in kids is, in fact, showing up. We can build from there.

If you want kids to “show up,” then reward them. Nothing wrong with that. If a kid makes it through a tough season of practice and games, by all means give them a participation medal.

Save the 3 foot trophy for the champions. It’s perfectly appropriate to recognize exceptional performance with an exceptional award.

If you have an issue with that, remember that a kid can work hard and still end up on a losing team. Your kid’s championship potential is subject to many conditions outside his or her control including where you live, who the coach happens to be and whether or not their team drafted the biggest kid in the league.

At the same time, a kid on a championship squad might receive a trophy as big as he is just for riding the bench. None of this is fair, but life itself isn’t always fair. That’s the greater lesson.

We actually have quite the opposite problem and it doesn’t end at Little League or high school graduation. We too often tolerate, condone and at times even reward bad behavior. We’re afraid to stand against egregious acts for fear of retaliation and political correctness has stifled constructive criticism and debate.

In the workplace this unintended negative reinforcement takes the form of giving a promotion to the person who never rocks the boat. We give raises for time served regardless of production and we often condemn meritocratic pay systems as being somehow unfair. We keep problem employees in place to avoid protracted legal challenges.

As a society we’re pressing for ever higher levels of minimum wage. Isn’t this the ultimate “participation trophy?” Many people believe that every adult should earn a “living wage” just for showing up.

Give the kids the participation awards. Train them to show up––and to keep showing up even when it’s tough.

When they win, give ‘em the big trophy. Teach them that hard work can earn greater rewards––and that it’s not just the starters that make a successful team.

Draw the line at adulthood. If you’ve been taught these values, you should now realize that showing up is the bare minimum. Minimum effort produces minimum rewards. If you want a shot at the big trophy, you’ve got to put in a big effort.

And you’ve got to accept the fact that no matter how much you deserve to win, sometimes you’re going to lose.

The participation award for grownups is life itself. No matter what your current circumstances and conditions, you can usually find someone worse off than yourself. No matter how bad it is right now, if you’re vertical and mobile you can usually do something to change it.

For kids, lets train them to show up. Let’s train them that if they work hard, and they get some breaks, that they may enjoy greater rewards.

Let’s also train them not to be afraid of taking intelligent risks. Let’s teach them to be courageous and confident. Let’s train them to keep showing up even when things aren’t going their way.

When they show up, give them the participation award––

But never deny the champions their trophy.

Picture of trophy courtesy of Pixtawan and FreeDigitalPhotos.net