Motivation
What is success? How bad do you want to succeed?
I am watching this everyday for 30 days straight. I'll let you know what comes out of it...
Share on FacebookAlphaBit v6 – CES + TV Edition
Hope everyone is have a great start to the New Year! New Year, New name 
A) Advertising
- Super Bowl to be streamed online for first time
- The biggest event on television will now be available to those wanting to view them from their computer screens for free on NBC.
- Interesting to see how this will affect advertising, and if it will draw people away from the television experience or be more of a compliment to the viewing experience of television. Either way, a win for the digital space, next step is how to capitalize on enhancing the viewers’ experience
- Hulu lands exclusive digital syndication rights to TV comedy ‘Community’
- As digital syndication continues to grow, coupled with the growth of Smart TVs that include wifi, will more people cancel their cable subscription for online?
B) Best Buy
- Brian Dunn’s Comments to recent media coverage*****
- If you haven’t seen the article (more of a rant) ran by Forbes, which went viral (2MM pageviews). Brian Dunn concedes that Best Buy made some significant mistakesover cancellation of some internet orders just before Christmas but says BBY is strong, profitable.
- But Dunn has less patience for predictions of Best Buy's demise. "Some believe the Internet has made physical retailing (i.e., stores) irrelevant. There's no doubt that the Internet, and the mobile web in particular, have changed the way people shop, but there is strong evidence that consumers continues to value the experience of shopping in stores.”
- Also today, Best Buy released its December sales results. It said its same-store sales fell 1.2 percent and customer traffic was lower than expected. (Greg)
- Nevertheless, the Richfield-based consumer-electronic giant said its December revenues totalled $8.4 billion, with online revenues up 26 percent. And it still expects to meet analysts' earnings expectations for the full year.
- Trend for connected ‘smart’ homes contines to grow at 2012 consumer events
- One of the already ‘leaked’ buzz trend for CES this year is smart appliances, with home technology being one of the fastest growing trends by businesses in the past few years. Will this be the year it finally takes off?
C) Competitiors
- Walmart acquires app maker
- Walmart purchaces Small Society, a mobile and social network based business. The move is a response to ‘scan and scram’ shoppers who search brick-and-mortar stores for products they like, but then use barcode scanning apps like Ebay’s RedLaser or Amazon’s Price Check to locate them at lower prices elsewhere.
- It will be interesting to see Best Buy’s mobile strategy in-store, considering that many pundits call us ‘Amazon’s showroom’.
- Walmart purchaces Small Society, a mobile and social network based business. The move is a response to ‘scan and scram’ shoppers who search brick-and-mortar stores for products they like, but then use barcode scanning apps like Ebay’s RedLaser or Amazon’s Price Check to locate them at lower prices elsewhere.
Making Today Your Masterpiece
As I’ve mentioned a few times on PBJung.com, one of the few heroes I have is John Wooden, the former basketball coach at UCLA in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. I could tell you many things about him, but
I wrote about my favorite John Wooden quotes when he passed and over the years, I’ve read his books and many of interviews he had given.
Simply put, the idea of making each day your masterpiece means that you try to live each day in a way that I would be content having myself judged upon. In other words, would I be happy if, at the end of my life, my entire personhood was judged on the kind of person I was today? It’s a call to do your best each and every day.
A few days ago, I conducted a written interview with a small newspaper (I’m not even sure if the article will be online anywhere – it’s not as of yet). One of the questions the interviewer asked of me was about that “masterpiece” article. How exactly do I make each day my masterpiece?
I offered a few ideas, but this question resided in my head since then and I’ve had a chance to really flesh them out.
First of all, I don’t strive for perfection on any day. The perfect is the enemy of the good, and even the greatest masterpieces in the world aren’t perfect. I strive instead for a day that, on the whole, has much more good in it than bad in it.
I tell the people that I love the most that I do love them, and, if possible, I do something with them to express that love. I’ll kiss my wife and hold her close. I’ll play peek-a-boo with my infant son. I’ll play some variation of tag with my oldest child. I’ll run across the yard and sweep my daughter into my arms in a giant hug. I’ll give my parents a phone call and tell them something that will warm their hearts. It’s these little strokes, done over and over again in alignment with each other, that build a lasting relationship.
I laugh. Any day with laughter is a good day.
I read a book. Sometimes, I’ll read something very deep that makes me think. At other times, I’ll read the fluffiest page-turning science fiction or fantasy you’ll ever see. In either case, the process of turning the words on the page into things in my mind fills me in a way nothing else does.
I learn something new and practice something old. If my mind’s not working and growing, it’s getting old and stale.
I go out of my way for someone. Each day, I try to perform some “random act of kindness,” whether it’s known by a lot of people or by no one else at all. I’ll write a long response to a reader in need and send it to just them. I’ll help an old lady at the grocery store with her shopping. I’ll climb onto someone’s roof to retrieve a tree limb or a Frisbee.
I shoot for as many positive interactions as I can. I’ll talk to people who seem to feel out of place. I’ll raise my hand and get a conversation started. I’ll compliment random people on the street. The more good will I can add to the world, the better.
If I can do all of those things, then that day is a masterpiece. What else can I really ask for out of life?
Share on FacebookI thought I could have both…
You can get sympathy or you can get better, but you can’t get both. You can be in your comfort zone or you can have growth, but you can’t have both. You can be interested or you can be sold-out-committed, but you can’t entertain both. You can have excuses or have results, but you can’t do both. Choose the path that develops your visceral fortitude.
- Mario Cortes
I thought I could get sympathy and get better at the same time. I was wrong. I thought I could be in my comfort zone and still grow. I was wrong. I thought I could be interested and sold-out committed at the same time. I was wrong. I thought I could make excuses and still see results. I was wrong.
I'm a type of guy who wants to 'have my cake and eat it too'. I thought I could have the best of both worlds. Recently I have been realizing that making a choice nullifies other choices. You made a choice. There are pros and cons to that choice, but you can't make a choice and think you have another choice. I thought I could get results while making excuses. Nope. I was just making excuses. You can't make an excuse and think you can get results. You're excuses will bring you down. Excuses dampen any result, even if it was the result you wanted. When we fail, we always look for an excuse. We take the easy way out. We don't look inside.
I thought I could be sold-out committed while being interested in others... which makes no sense at all now that I am writing this. I was just being interested, never committed.
I thought I could grow while being in my comfort zone. This also makes no sense. Growth can come naturally, through experiences and what life brings. I am talking about purpose driven growth. Growth that comes from trying new things and strengthening your weaknesses. Your comfort zone is just being in an area you are comfortable in. Comfort comes from knowing and also, generally, being good at that particular action. It is easy for you. Comfort zone is ease. Ease of mind, ease of actions, ease from growth (change).
I thought I could get better and get sympathy at the same time. When something troubling happens to you, the initial warmth of sympathy does get you better. However, that sympathy can become a crutch to you getting better fully. Sympathy is the social affinity in which one person stands with another person, closely understanding his or her feelings. Initially, having that person stand next to you is what is needed. You don't know what to do with yourself. Your friends and family keep you going. But after a while, the sympathy becomes a detriment rather than a soothing ailment to your suffering and grief. During your state of sympathy, you are not 'getting better'. You are leaning on others. Not on yourself. 'Getting better' meaning further growth, getting on with your life, learning from your experiences.
Choose the path that develops your visceral fortitude.
In other words, choose actions that develop your instinctive (gut feeling/ not intellectual) mental and emotional courage when facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation.
Share on FacebookFinding Happiness vs. Being Content
Is seeking happiness in direct opposition to being content? Can you seek happiness while being fully content with what you have?
That is a tough question and one I have been thinking about. Interestingly enough, I stumbled onto a post by Get Rich Slowly called Fantasy vs. Reality. To an extent, finding happiness can be a fantasy. It can be chasing a dream while other times finding happiness is reality. GRS did a great job differentiating our present and future -selves and how your present self can be content and happy.
Another link through I found was an interesting article titled: To predict what will make you happy, ask a stranger rather than guessing yourself. I tend to agree that we, humans, are more in common than you think. We think we need to do everything ourselves and solve everything ourselves but this article debunks that thought. It says that we should rely more on 'our neighbors' thoughts. Even if you do the activity yourself, it is good to get insight from friends, family, or strangers. Refer, refer, refer!
Share on FacebookBut the point is not that a peer's prediction will be perfect, but that it's better than what you could do yourself. Gilbert notes that people's emotional reactions aren't as different as we may think. Many of them are based on ancient bodily processes that are consistent across cultures. And we're especially likely to share emotional reactions with those people most likely to share theirs with us - our friends and family. As he says:
"[Firstly, we prefer] warm to cold, satiety to hunger, friends to enemies, winning to losing, and so on. An alien who knew all the likes and dislikes of a single human being would know a great deal about the entire species. Second, people tend to marry, befriend, work with, and live near those who share their preferences and personality traits... In short, there is little disagreement among people about the sources of pleasure and pain, and even less disagreement among neighbours."
Gilbert's experiments are compelling and they are just the tip of the iceberg in similar research on the psychology of happiness (see chapter 11 of his book for more). But more pessimistically, they also suggest that people are unlikely to take full advantage of the "power of surrogation", of using other people's experiences to simulate your own. Instead, we tend to hold to the mistaken strength of our own predictions, misguided though they may be. As Gilbert says:
"When we want to know our emotional futures, it is difficult to believe that a neighbour's experience can provide greater insight than our own best guess."
Goals: Reloaded
Money! Power! Fame!
I recently read a great article in the Harvard Business Review about not basing your leadership on money, power, or fame. Rather we should be basing our leadership off purpose, passion, and humility. This got me thinking. Are my goals oriented toward money, power and fame or are they directed toward purpose, passion, and humility? I find myself struggling with desires to seek fame or fortune, but is that really the leader I want to be? Leading because I have a lot of money or leading because I have fame of some sort?
Great leaders don't see themselves at the center but rather their purpose. They lead with this sense of passion that attracts others to their cause. They are humble throughout the whole process.
Share on Facebook"Humbition is one part humility and one part ambition," they wrote. "We notice that by far the lion's share of world-changing luminaries are humble people. They focus on the work, not themselves. They seek success — they are ambitious — but they are humbled when it arrives. They know that much of that success was luck, timing, and a thousand factors out of their personal control. They feel lucky, not all-powerful. Oddly, the ones operating under a delusion that they are all-powerful are the ones who have yet to reach their potential...[So] be ambitious. Be a leader. But do not belittle others in your pursuit of your ambitions. Raise them up instead. The biggest leader is the one washing the feet of the others."
What are you reading?
Your raise is only as effective as you are. Things change. Only way to be on top of that is to be reading, growing, studying continuously. #Who are you reading? Why? (I'm reading everything Seth Godin + Jim Collins + Malcolm Gladwell) Learn something. Grow. Let's get some books. Let's read. Let's grow. Let's think. Let's get excited again. Let's dream again. Because people make the mistake that if you start off your life with base knowledge of X and continue on that level of knowledge, you are going to automatically succeed.
YOU DO NOT SUCCEED IF YOU DO NOT GROW.
YOU DO NOT SUCCEED IF YOU DO NOT GROW.
Your income will not go up unless you know something tomorrow that you didn't know today.
YOU DO NOT SUCCEED IF YOU DO NOT GROW.
-these are notes from a Dave Ramsey Podcast
We are the agents of change that pass through.
I recently went back to my old college stomping grounds. I am only a couple years removed from the college life but it seems so distant to me. I looked at the fraternity house I use to live in and saw all these new faces that were now 'the organization'. I use to be that guy. Now someone else is that guy. It is funny how the structures and systems stay the same and we, the people, are the passing agents. I was struck by Jobs quote:
Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
The nation I am proudly a part of was founded on July 4th, 1776. That is 234 years. Views, cultures, and laws have changed since then, for better and for worse. What I love is that our core values of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have not changed. That can be argued but for the most part it has stayed intacted. The nation has gone through a Civil War, multiple other wars, and slavery just to name a few. How is it still here?
I work for a company that is 145 years old. It was founded in 1865. The company has and is standing the test of time. The company has endured The Great Depression, many stock crashes, and financial meltdowns. How is it still here?
The school I went to was founded on November 4th, 1861. 150 years in a year. The school went through two World Wars, social events labeled 'image killers', and a firebombing. How is it still here?
My fraternity was founded on June 28, 1855. That is 155 years old. They have gone through scandels, sanctions, and probations. What organization that has been around longer than 100 years hasn't? How is it still here?
Now these are the success stories. For each one of these institutions that have stood the test of time, there are thousands that have failed; more like millions. Even large companies this old can come crumbling down: ie Lehman Brothers founded in 1850. So nothing is guaranteed.
How are structures like companies, organizations, and the church standing the test of time? How are systems like laws, rules, and regulations intacted for future generations?
Learning through the financial crisis, my company has used this time of crisis as a jumping board to strengthen the company, rather than fall by the wayside. Structures that endure use crisises to strengthen the people. People are the company and the company is the people. Why is it so important to have good leaders? Because they are the nation, the church, the company, the organization. Without good people, the structures will fall or at the very least change from its original intent.
College is for students. Fraternities and sororities are for students. The company is for people who work there or have worked there. The nation is for citizens. NOTE: just attending or being a part of a group does not mean you are helping in the forward progress of development. There is always an excuse not to help build. Even if you are not a part of the 'main' organization, you can still help build. Why do you think there are so many alumni based organizations? People want the structures, more specifically the ideals that the structures uphold, to endure.
People pass through. I am getting older. You are getting older. There is life and there is death. What are you helping to build? What do you want future generations to have in their life? For without good people, things will perish.
If I have learned anything, it is that we have to live in the moment. We have to live life to the fullest. For this too shall pass.
Share on FacebookDemonstrating Strength
Demonstrating strength
Apologize
Defer to others
Avoid shortcuts
Tell the truth
Offer kindness
Seek alliances
Volunteer to take the short straw
Choose the long-term, sacrificing the short
Demonstrate respect to all, not just the obviously strong
Share credit and be public in your gratitude
Risking the appearance of weakness takes strength. And the market knows it.
Share on FacebookClass Act Characteristics
Class Act Characteristics
- Live by your own highest standards. Class acts liberate themselves by establishing personal standards of thinking and behavior that are more demanding and exacting than those of conventional society. They are consciously chosen, established, and applied…
- Maintain dignity and grace under pressure. There are three aspects of this characteristic. The first is imperturbability in the face of chaos…The second is a calmness that gives courage…The third is a quality of certainty…
- Focus and improve the behavior of others. Because a class act individual is a good role model, other people around them begin thinking and acting at a level that surprises both themselves and others…
- Operate from a larger, inclusive perspective. Because class acts are in touch with their own humanity, they have a deeper understanding and compassion for the humanity of others…
- Increase the quality of every experience. Class act individuals have the ability to transform seemingly insignificant situations into something enjoyable, meaningful, and memorable because of their conscious thinking and actions. They are creators rather than consumers, and they constantly enrich the lives of others by introducing greater beauty, significance, uniqueness, and stimulation into every experience…
- Counteract meanness, pettiness, and vulgarity. The hallmarks of this characteristic are courtesy, respect, appreciation, gratitude, and generosity of spirit…
- Take responsibility for actions and results. Class act individuals are accountable when others hide; they tell the truth about their failures, and they transform defeats into progress…
- Strengthen the integrity of all situations. Class act individuals are always establishing and achieving larger goals that require them to constantly grow and develop as well as add increasing value to the world…
- Expand the meaning of being human… In pushing boundaries for themselves, they do the same for others by giving them new freedom to express their uniqueness in the world…
- Increase the confidence and capabilities of others. Class acts are energy creators rather than energy drainers.
Influence with integrity gives you the tools to be a class act. When your skills to influence increase, your impact on others is stronger and thus your responsibility grows along with your power, for the primary outcome of organizational life is the development of people. When you influence without awareness of the other person's needs and outcomes, then you are influencing in the dark and may be unintentionally guilty of manipulation. These powerful tools and techniques are neither innocent nor guilty, but are neutral for only human beings have intentions and integrity. As we radiate the purpose-driven life, we create resonance and the authentic power of influence to create a compassionate culture. How one uses his or her access to power best determines true character as proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln:
Share on Facebook"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."