Have you ever had a feeling that you should call someone or stop and see someone?

What did you do? Did you act on the feeling? Did you suppress it?

I must admit, this is not an original idea, which most are not.This idea came from my friend Karen Flasher who I know from my daughter Libby, my wife and now through BNI. She is in my weekly BNI Chapter, the Achievers Network. Karen give our whole chapter this idea right before Christmas and it really hit me how important the concept is and can be!

As I was writing this e-mail, I asked Cathy (my wife) how Libby met Gracie, Karen’s daughter… and it was, ironically, in response to a Tug Cathy had for Libby to play with Gracie.

In my studies of NLP, there is a presupposition that says “The messenger never rests until the  message is received” Which roughly means it’s important to pay attention to a communication or symptom… also known as a Tug!

So the next time you’re thinking about calling, sending a card or note or just stopping by to see a client or old friend… do it! You’ll be pleasantly surprised how it plays out for you and the results you realize!

On the last Friday morning of the year, 2011 that is, My son John, my good friend Neil Richmund and his son Jaxon and I took a trip to the Eiteljorg Museum. John is fascinated with Native Americans and the Eiteljorg is the place to go around here to learn more about them. As a bonus, the Jingle Rails train layout was there too and it was really impressive.

It’s amazing what we can do when we think we can!

As we walked through the museum seeing and reading about the American Indian, I noticed a small sculpture in a display case. (I took a quick photo and it’s to the right here…) The sculpture was of a man sitting with a little figure on each shoulder, bent over as if to whisper in each of his ears. The title of the sculpture was “Who are you going to listen too?”

You and I both have those same little figures on our shoulders. One and unfortunately the one we listen to least tells us all the things we are capable of doing. The other and more unfortunately the one we listen to the most,  tells us all we cannot do. That’s the voice (the one right now that’s saying, “what voice, I don’t have a voice…) that sews the seeds of doubt, insecurity, low self confidence and makes all of us far less than we otherwise could be.

It’s true our mind is powerful and it’s also true that we have a choice! Which voice will you listen to this first week of a new year? I challenge you to choose to listen to that voice that looks to possibility and potential. Just tell the other voice to (literally tell it to) “Get off my back!”

A sure formula for success is employ your God given abilities and be consistent in listening to the little voice that thinks you can. If you choose to do that, I am confident you will have a spectacular 2012! (pronounced Twenty-Twelve!)

Suivez-moi doesn’t really mean “so much” read on to find it’s true meaning…

When I went from personal production to a leadership position several years ago I had an experience that I wanted to pass along to those I worked with in my new position. You see there was a time as a multi-line insurance agent that I really didn’t like my job. But it wasn’t my job I didn’t like it was the people in my office. The irony was, I was the one who hired them and I was also the one who trained them. I had abdicated too much authority!

I hired a consultant named Tim Hosey from Bloomington Indiana and I will forever be in his debt. Tim taught me much about people and about how to take control back from my team so I was the leader. I offered them a chance to have a new career and I hired a brand new team. That’s where the phrase suivez-moi comes into play. It’s French and it means follow me. One of the examples Tim used to teach me was that in World War 1, French lieutenants would yell suivez-moi to their men as they blew their whistle with revolver pulled and lead a charge up and over the trench line toward the enemy. I needed to lead with both my outlook and my actions. That’s been almost twenty years ago and I’ll never forget that powerful two word phrase and the image it still creates in my mind.

Are you leading by both your attitude and your actions or have you abdicated too much? Both are relatively easy to correct… just ask me sometime!

We all have many handles that we use from day to day and sometimes to our peril other times to our benfit. Funny thing though it’s not the handle that gets to us, it’s the baggage! You can’t run or hide from it… you have it!

Since we were children, we have learned things through our experiences. Things to do and certainly things not to do. I once heard Tony Robbins share a concept explaining how we get our beliefs and it really resonated with me. Let me share his concept with you… Think about your beliefs as the top of a table and the legs of the table would be your experiences. Experiences create beliefs! A certain belief may not be what is actual or real… but if it was created based on experiences, it’s very real to that person.

So where does this “Handle” I am talking about come in to play. Well, the “Handle” is a word and the baggage would be all meanings you or another has assigned to that word. As an example, when someone says they want a job that’s “Challenging” we have no idea what challenging means to that person. Most times we don’t need to know, that’s one of the things I love about NLP, you don’t need all the history of a situation to make a change. The person using the word Challenging has a very clear image, feeling or sound associated with that word. It’s how they’ll know they have it in a job.

The question to ask is, “How would I know what challenging is to you?” Sit back and listen, watch or feel the baggage be exposed.

I really was a model! But not like you might be thinking! Oh, I did model a suit way back in high school but that’s not exactly what I am talking about today. There’s a saying from NLP (neurolinguistic programming) that says “If one person can do something, others can too. That’s the modeling I am talking about.

My good friend David Gordon teaches people how to do what another does. He is one of the early practitioners of NLP and is quite well known in the field. He was teaching a multi-day course on modeling in Chicago which I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in. My fellow classmates picked four from the course who they all felt had a sense of humor and I was one of the one picked. Imagine that!
Here’s what happened… they put each of us in a corner of the room and asked us several questions to elicit what and how we thought about being funny. (there’s actually a book about all this and this very case study)

When the groups were finished asking each of the four of us (separately each in his/her own corner remember) several questions they charted our answers on separate pieces of flip chart paper and hung them on the wall. The results were spooky to say the least. With very few exceptions, the charts were the same!

So what does this mean to us today? I know for sure, I’ve seen it, I’ve done it! If someone is exceptional, good or proficient at performing their job… it can be modeled and then taught to others! It’s a process that works!

It amazes me how, when a person has too, they can handle multiple priorities at seemingly one time. There is a danger in that though… if you don’t have a way to track the projects you have and are committed to blocking specific times to work on each… you’re doomed!

I know from first hand experience that if the two, tracking methodology and time blocking, are missing… it’s a rough way to go. Thankfully, my good friend Scott Manning, known for getting “a ton of c*@p done” has taught me some of his magic. I’ll share it with you in just a minute.

When you go to a great restaurant do you tell your friends about it? Do you recommend it to your friends and associates? I know I do and although I shouldn’t take it personally when a person doesn’t go to taste and see for themselves… but I do! I am working on that, but I’m just not there yet. You might be wondering, “Did you forget what you were talking about Jack?” The answer is a simple “NO.” You see I have recommended Scott to many of you and although he’s not a restaurant, he does provide nourishment! Nourishment for your wallet and well being that is!

Here are just 2 of the many things Scott taught me… 1.) Block time for the things you need to do. More than that… block enough time for each thing. I wasn’t doing that so consequently, many “things” would be about half cooked and I would jump to something else. 2.) Tie the list of things you have to do to the money they’re worth to you. The priorities quickly rise to the top. Something else I wasn’t doing.

In the remaining 33 days of 2011, make your list. Tie money to the items and then block enough time to get the things done!

We all have many things and reasons to be thankful and because we all have so much it’s easy to forget or just as easy to take for granted what we have.

There have been times when I wished for more, more money, more time, more patience, you might be somewhat similar. There’s one thing I know for sure, I don’t remember the times when I reflected on the things I am truly thankful for in my life.

I think it might be true for most of us too, that we don’t take time to just be thankful. My mentor Tommy Richardson always has an attitude of gratitude and I admire that very much. This week, in your journal, (you do have a journal don’t you?) make a list between you and you of all the things that you’re thankful for. More than just the “things” list the non-things too. Things like; awareness, sense of humor, creativity, you know… the non-things in your life. Those things that God gave you and you have developed or that you are still developing.

Then, when you have those times when things don’t go exactly as planned and you begin to fret… read the list. It’s awfully difficult to be angry, mad or depressed when you’re thinking of all the things that you’re thankful for.

I want to let you know about one seemingly little thing that I am really thankful for and it’s all the comments I get about this weekly e-mail. You have no idea how much it means when someone I admire and/or respect tells me “Jack, you’re a really good writer.” Writing is something I never thought I would be thankful for but now I am!

Thank you for reading this weekly note and know that I send wishes for the Happiest of Thanksgiving’s to you!

Sounds like a very strange question doesn’t it? It’s not “What do you think?” it’s “Where do you think?”

Where do you go when you want to create? A paper, a message, a proposal? If you don’t have a place you retreat to when you want to create you might think about having one.

A few years ago I subscribed to an audio tape (those were the way to listen to portable audio before CDs and before iPods) program by a guy named Mike Vance. Unfortunately Mike discontinued the subscription program. Mike was the very first Dean of Disney. He was there in the beginning when Walt Disney was creating the Disney experience. As a matter of fact, Mike said that Walt told him he (Mike) was the most creative guy that he (Walt) knew.

I saw Mike talk at a program in Indianapolis many years ago and I was blown away. I got it! I absolutely loved his style and creative thinking and I absorbed as much as I could of Mike Vance!

Mike always talked about creating a “Kitchen for the Mind” in your home or office environment and I took it to heart. We have a room at our house that is our Kitchen for the Mind. It’s where we go to create, to read, to dream and to make plans. Unfortunately, the room isn’t as big as I would like it to be… but it’s what I have and I enjoy it.

There are books galore in that room, audio, video and DVD programs there. There is a stereo, a TV, a VCR (again what you used to record TV shows or movies on before DVDs) a DVD player… Pictures, white boards, cork boards, a drawing table and flip charts.

You don’t have to have a dedicated room… Starbucks, Big Apple Bagel or a State Park could be that special place you retreat to to create. You could use headphones on your phone to listen to inspiring music and utilize some type of portable writing / drawing surface.

Try it sometime. Make a special place you go to think. Then when someone asks “Where do you go to think?” you’ll have an answer that will inspire and cause them to dream a little. I’d like to hear where you go to think.

I know, the title of this week’s e-mail sounds like a cocktail but it really isn’t…

This happened few years back when I was with a major property and casualty insurance company in the role of recruiting and training new insurance agents, an executive from the corporate office, we’ll call him Jim, was talking to a group of us and asked a very strange question.

Now, you have to remember this was before the days of the internet (yes I’m that old) and prolific e-mail. There certainly weren’t any smart phones either. Anyway, the question was regarding our business cards and he asked, “How many ways do you have for people to reach you?”

Even though the it’s the twenty first century the question Jim asked is still a very good and pertinent question. How many ways do you have for your clients and prospects to reach you? Think about it… there’s Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, Cell, Web, e-mail and a myriad of other social network and ning sites out there. I think ol’ Jim was kind of bragging about having 3 or 4 phone numbers on his business card.

As I remember it, I was the only one in the room that had as many phone numbers and ways of contacting me as he did. Even back then I knew the importance of being available to clients and prospects… yes that’s a shameless brag… or as Walter Brennan would say… “No brag just fact!”

When the team doesn’t win and plans go awry as they sometimes do… here’s a little something to keep in mind.

Tommy and I sat down this morning to talk about some upcoming trainings, coaching and speaking engagements as we do every Monday morning. But today, we began the conversation about the Zionsville, Brownsburg and Colts football teams. What did they all three have in common… they all three lost this past weekend.

Tommy reminded me about the S.C.O.R.E. acronym and how it can help us all when things don’t go as we expect and I wanted to pass it along this week.

The S stands for Self Discipline – It’s the homework you need to do to get ready for the event. Both the mental and physical part of the preparation. You have to take the necessary time to get ready to excel with your mind-set and physically. Practice!

The C stands for Concentration – You have to focus on your role and what you need to do, especially the small seemingly insignificant things.

The O stands from Optimism – You must have positive expectations about your desired outcome. First to have a desired outcome and secondly to see it come to be before it actually does. Believe!

The R stands for Relaxed – You see once you know you have done all you can to prepare and you’re focused on what you are to do and you believe you can accomplish the task at hand then and only then, you can relax and enjoy the execution. This might be a place where my beloved Colts are falling short. They are so focused on making BIG plays and overplaying their role to contribute to a win that they are missing their individual roles. One piece of evidence of this is that players are getting hurt. If you overplay it usually doesn’t turn out too good. You must do what your role is designed to do and be relaxed, mind like water to be your best.

The E stands for Enjoyment – If you’ve done the prep work and you’re concentrating on the job at hand, all aspects, you believe you can accomplish the task and you are relaxed. Then you can enjoy the journey. Enjoy the game!

I hope this little acronym developed by author and coach Jim Fannin helps you be even better in your role and in your results!