Never give up

Dean Karnazes has run over 200 miles. At one time.

Take a moment to fully appreciate that: 200 miles in a single run. Think about the last time you went for a run, it was probably less than an hour.

It’s not because he has bigger lungs or stronger legs. It’s all in his mind. It’s not a physical thing. Now, it’s easy to say that people like Dean Karnazes are “freaks” and that’s why they can do the incredible things they do.

But isn’t that just an excuse?

Doesn’t that give us justification to not attempt the same things? We can sit back in our comfortable chair and say “well if I was Blessed with lungs like his then I would do the same, but I’m not, so I won’t”.

But we’re just kidding ourselves when we do this aren’t we?

Dean Karnazes is not a freak. He is a normal guy who has chosen to do some incredible things. He was nobody before he decided to do this. In fact, there are people with bodies far more suited to endurance running than his who haven’t done anything.

The fact is – anyone can choose to do something incredible.

And ‘anyone’ includes you…

The Importance of Hard Work

You do not come across success just by hoping for it. To achieve true success, you need the strength of mind and body to struggle and work hard to reach your fullest potential. You need the right attitude, self-discipline, and the ability to put your goal before all other desires if you are really driven towards reaching success. There is, after all no substitute for hard work. As Henry Ford said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get”, and the more successful you get!

The truly successful person keeps trying and struggling. Thomas Edison failed approximately 10,000 times while he was working on the light bulb and yet he never dreamed of giving up – this is the hard work and the determination that marks a true success. Indeed, success is not measured by the position that you are in today, but by the amount of hard work you put in and the number of obstacles that you overcome to reach your goal.

There are no short cuts to success. Hard work, complimented with a willingness to struggle to achieve success is the only way to reach your goals.

Remembering Steve Jobs

Like many, I respected Steve Jobs and his genius, and I am deeply saddened by his passing. The reality is that even if you have never owned an Apple product, Steve Jobs impacted all our lives.

There are many lessons we can all learn from Steve Jobs brief, but brilliant life. In particular, if you have not seen his 2005 Commencement address at Stanford, it is time well invested.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

Take these lessons and apply them to your life–personally and professionally. Once you stop setting new goals to strive for, your strategy for your career or your life becomes timid and leads to stagnation and decline.

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

You have today. What will your legacy be?

What can your organization learn from a mouse?

It's hard to imagine a place more magical than Walt Disney World. We are heading back to Disney and I’m sure we will have a great time!

On my first trip, I marveled at how clean Disney parks were and how friendly the cast was. How does Disney keep its cast members so motivated?

The motivation, the desire to perform well on the job, the feeling like they can make a difference is not just about training, it's about great leadership. Disney takes pride in having great leaders who create an environment where people want to do their best. Cast members want to do their jobs in 90-degree heat and 98-percent humidity, and keep on smiling while they are doing it because they feel like they are adding value and contributing.

The secret to Disney's success isn't magic pixie dust. It's a secret Walt Disney realized years ago: "You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”

Walt Disney's dream of creating a magic place where dreams can come true has obviously been fulfilled. What can your organization learn from a mouse?

Century Ride for Cancer

Like many of you, cancer has touched my family, many friends, and colleagues. To support ongoing research and new treatments for this disease, I will be riding 100 miles in the in the Century for the Cure cycling event on September 10, 2011, sponsored by The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Use the link below to go visit my donor page, and please consider supporting me.

Keep in mind the commitment I'm making to help end this disease. While I’ll be riding, I hope you'll be a part of it with me. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Support me!

What I have learned from being a college professor

As the spring semester draws to a close, I realize I have learned a great deal as a professor, especially from my daily experiences with students. It is from these experiences that I made this list of things I have learned from being a college professor:

• Teaching gives me hope for the future. I am fortunate to work with some amazing students. Their dedication to academic excellence and the pursuit of truth often humbles me.
• I love the “aha” moment. When a student or class has been struggling with an idea and finally grasps it, the satisfaction and excitement is almost palpable. It is addicting.
• Teaching (like leading) isn’t just about the classroom or the lecturing; it is about being a model for your student. Modeling is another type of teaching that we do with students. Modeling is often times more effective than the lecture.
• Freshmen seem like they are getting younger and younger, and, no, it is not because I am getting older.
• It’s okay to say, “I don’t know.” Really.
• Don’t start a question with, “This is probably stupid.” or any similar self-deprecating statement. The only thing stupid is that phrase.

At Tax Time: Money and happiness

Many people associate money with happiness. However, thinking about money frequently is likely to make us less happy. With money always on our minds, we work more and spend less time with loved ones. To increase the richness of our life experience, time, not money, should be our focus.

A series of surveys and experiments examining the effect of focusing attention on money or time found that people who focused on money, no matter how much they had, were more likely to work more and socialize less.

This work was conducted by Professor Cassie Mogilner at University of Pennsylvania. She commented “passing the hours working (although productive) does not translate into greater happiness.”

On the other hand, focusing on time motivated people “to spend more time with friends and family and less time working; behaviors that are associated with greater happiness.”

Long work hours decrease happiness by cutting into time that could be spent with partners, friends, and family. “Simply increasing the relative salience of time (vs. money) can nudge someone to spend that extra hour at home rather than at the office, there finding greater happiness” says Cassie.

The Pursuit of Happiness: Time, Money, and Social Connection Psychological Science 21(9) 1348–1354, Mogilner, Cassie

Show Me Your Friends; I Will Show You Your Future!

Many people have various formulas for success in business and life. One lesson that I have learned (sometimes painfully) is “Show me your friends, I will show you your future.” The idea of this is not new. The notion of being guilty or successful by association has been around for centuries.

Over the years, this has led me to ask a question if my own friendships were propelling me forward and enhancing my life. Fortunately, I am now surrounded by a circle of friends and associates that challenge me. Sadly, this was not always true and it is not everyone’s situation. While some have a great support system, many do not. For whatever reason, there are people that do not want to see others succeed or accomplish their dreams. Many people have surrounded themselves with these people.

Most of us spend too much time holding on to bad or damaged relationships. If you are loyal to people who are not loyal to you, you must move on. If every time you share your dream and they kill it, you must move on.

I am not trying to influence you to end all your friendships. However, you should be asking yourself what your future will look like based on those you call friends. I (of all people) know that you can’t change your friends, but you can CHANGE your friends.