Tuesday, October 11, 2011

LTM - 14. Get Creative and Think Outside the Box


14. Get Creative and Think Outside the Box

Do you ever run out of good ideas, or go around in circles trying to come
up with a solution for a simple dilemma? I am going to share with you
the best technique I know for stretching the mind to come up with new

and fresh ideas—from finding a babysitter on New Year’s Eve to

choosing the right name for a new business venture. Implementing this
strategy has forced me to be creative and innovative when it would have
been easier to take the standard approach.
Most people probably consider fewer than five possibilities when

exploring their options—the ones that immediately come to mind. The

problem with this basic approach is that you are limiting yourself by
only considering a few familiar choices. If you want to open your mind
to a new world of options, you must start to think outside the box.
The next time you need to solve a problem or explore a better way to do

something, compile a written list of 20 options—not 5, 10 or 15. Push

yourself to come up with 20! The first five things you think of will be

the tip of the iceberg. They’ll probably be the same five things everyone

else would think of in a similar situation because they are the most
obvious answers. The key here is to stretch your mind. You will struggle
getting up to 13 or 14, but your biggest breakthrough will come when
you push yourself to 18, 19, and 20. It is often in those final three ideas
where you find the hidden jewels.
Some examples of how you can apply this way of thinking:

 Evaluating where you want to move

 Selecting the location for your next family vacation

 Considering restaurant options for a special occasion

 Contemplating your career options

 Finding ways to cut expenses

 Distinguishing yourself from your competitors

 Looking for new strategies to drive sales

 Providing a higher level of service to your customers

 Choosing different incentive programs for your sales team.

Here’s a true story that illustrates the power of creative thinking. A

couple’s 20th anniversary was approaching and the wife felt like she and

her husband had grown apart. Bound and determined to prove her love,
she made him an anniversary card listing all the reasons why she loved
him. It became quite difficult after #8, but she stuck with it and made it
to 20. Reviewing all the reasons she had compiled, she realized she

loved him more than she thought! They will celebrate their 34th

anniversary this year.
LTM Challenge
The next time you have to solve a problem or think of a better way to
accomplish something, sit down with pen and paper and make a list of

20 options. Don’t stop at 17. Push yourself to 20.

The intense focus will open up your mind and force you to think of
things you normally wouldn’t have considered. It won’t be easy, but you
might just have fun in the process.
Is there anything going on in your life right now where you can apply
the strategy outlined in this lesson? If the answer is yes, grab a pad of
paper and a pen and get started.
To be creative, go where you have never been.
Expand your mind to new ideas,
opportunities, and a fresh way of thinking.
Only then will you discover
a new world of possibilities.
Posted by Mickey at 8:26 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 10, 2011

KH

Cute!
Posted by Mickey at 10:23 PM 0 comments

LTM - 13. The Value of a Mastermind Team


13. The Value of a Mastermind Team
The concept of a mastermind group was first introduced by Napoleon Hill
in the 1900s. In his timeless classic, Think and Grow Rich, he described
the mastermind principle as follows:
No two minds ever come together without thereby creating
a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to
a third mind. . . . When a group of individual minds are
coordinated and function in harmony, the increased
energy created through that alliance becomes available to
every individual in the group.
Over the last 20 years I have been honored to serve on boards of multiple
companies. Some of my fellow board members were younger than I and
some were older. Some were men and some were women. Some
represented the United States and some represented other countries.
Everyone brought something special and different to the table.
I discovered that what seemed logical to me might not be logical to
others, and I learned to respect the differences. The value that comes
from bringing together a diverse group of people to discuss ideas, set
goals, and make decisions became evident, and I have become a firm
believer in the synergistic power inherent in the mastermind principle.
Launching the Little Things Matter blog is a perfect example. Here’s a
glimpse of my mastermind team and the process we implemented.
Step 1. Know the purpose and plan.
Before forming this team, I put together a document with all my
thoughts, ideas, and goals. It was important that I clearly
understood and articulated what I wanted to accomplish before
involving others in the process. After selecting my team
members, I scheduled our first meeting and put together an
agenda.
Step 2. Lay the foundation.
During the first meeting I reviewed my goals and plan with the
team and sought their feedback on each point. This allowed me
to gather the views from each person as I walked through the
key components of my strategy.
 
Step 3. Work in harmony.
In the two subsequent meetings we reviewed the goals and plan
for the website design. This included the sample design layouts
that my son-in-law Josh gathered. We then reviewed the
marketing brief my son Gerrid designed, the identity package
my daughter-in-law Jessica created, the Podcast plan my
daughter Hannah helped design, and finally the roll-out plan I
proposed.
Step 4. Continue consulting the team.
I continue to confer with my team members on a regular basis,
and I am confident that the success of my blog
(littlethingsmatter.com) is truly a result of the collaborative
effort of my mastermind team.
LTM Challenge
Now it’s your turn. The next time you have a project or business concept
that could benefit from diverse points of view and experiences, I
encourage you to form a mastermind team. The collaborative effort of the
team will empower you to make better decisions, expand your horizons,
produce a better project, perform above par, and succeed beyond your
expectations. While you will seek feedback from the team, remember that
you are the leader and you must be the one to run the plays.
If you want to improve your decision-making,
you would be wise to put your ego on the shelf
and seek counsel from those you respect.
Posted by Mickey at 8:25 PM 0 comments

LTM - 12. Making Tough Decisions


12. Making Tough Decisions

In the course of our lives we are faced with many important decisions. Do
we leave a secure job with an established company to take a higher
paying job with a new start-up company? Should I invest in starting my
own business? What home should we buy? Do we relocate to another
city? Do I stay in a difficult marriage? How should I invest my savings?
The outcome of any of these decisions will play a vital role in your
success and happiness. Make the right decision and life is good. Make
the wrong decision and things can get ugly in a hurry.
Ten years ago, I attended a leadership event where a former President of
the United States was interviewed. He explained how he makes his most
difficult decisions. Of all the decision-making processes I have learned
about and implemented, this one is the best.
A President’s Process for Decision-making
 Seek wise counsel. When he had a critical decision to make, he
brought together the highest-ranking, most valued members of his
team, including outsiders who had the greatest insight into the
situation.
 Understand the facts. With this group, the key facts of the
situation were clearly outlined so he and everyone on his team
would have a complete understanding of the challenge at hand.
 Discover all options. On a large board, the team listed every
realistic option available to addressing the situation.
 Reduce the options. After considering all available options, they
narrowed the list down to the best and most obvious choices.
 Explore the pros and cons of each option. The team then made
a list of the pros and cons of each option. After completing this
step, the top two or three options became clear.
 Focus on the cons. They dissected and discussed each con (not
the pros). The President wanted to have a plan in advance for how
he and his administration would handle each of the potential cons
if and when the situation would arise.
 Make the decision. After going through this process with his
most valued advisors, the President removed all emotions and
made his decision based on the facts.
The President was asked, ―Do you look for consensus among the
members of your team in making these types of critical decisions?”
He acknowledged he would always seek consensus among his team. He
said, ―If I bring together my best people and go through this process, I
would like for us to collectively agree on the best solution.”
Since listening to this interview ten years ago and incorporating the steps
outlined, I have made very few bad decisions. This decision-making
strategy combined with my life experiences have taught me the
importance of seeking wise counsel, to plan for the worst-case scenario,
to remove all emotion from the process, and to make decisions based on
facts and logic.
LTM Challenge
Good decision-making is similar to learning any new skill—the more you
practice, the more proficient you become. While many of your decisions
may not require seeking advice of others, at the very least I encourage
you to consider all your options and the pros and cons of each. If you will
carefully consider the pros and cons of any decision you are making and
remove your emotions, you will make better decisions.
Your life is a reflection of all your decisions—
big and small, serious and insignificant,
short-range and long-range.
 
Posted by Mickey at 8:22 AM 0 comments

Sunday, October 9, 2011

LTM - 11. Our Lives Reflect Our Decisions


11. Our Lives Reflect Our Decisions
One of the most noteworthy and accurate statements of human
achievement ever articulated was a statement made by Jim Rohn.
Success comes from making a series of good decisions
over time, while failure comes from making a series of
bad decisions over time.
After more than ten years of thinking about this statement and watching it
play out in the lives of people I know, I am convinced that our lives are
indeed a mirror image of our decisions.
Every day we make hundreds of little decisions which I call ―Either–Or‖
decisions. Most of these types of decisions may seem inconsequential at
the time, but every decision—no matter how small—leads us closer to or
further away from our goals.
Either–Or Decisions
 Do you get up early enough to properly prepare for the day, OR
do you sleep in and then rush out the door?
 Do you exercise as you had planned, OR do you blow it off
because you don’t feel like it?
 Do you make food choices to improve your health, OR do you eat
whatever you want?
 Do you pick up the coffee mug sitting on the table, OR do you
leave it for someone else to clean up?
 Do you control interruptions to improve productivity, OR do you
allow people and things to divert your attention from your
responsibilities?
 Do you demonstrate respect by letting people finish their
thoughts, OR do you interrupt?
 Do you have a positive attitude even when things don’t go your
way, OR do you moan and groan?
 Do you genuinely apologize when you are wrong, OR do you
water down the apology by making excuses?
 Do you smile and say, ―Good morning,‖ to your co-workers, OR
do you pass quickly to your desk?
 Do you compliment someone for a job well done, OR do you
think they don’t need it because they are just doing their job?
 Do you think about what you want to say before speaking, OR do
you let the first thing that pops into your head pop out of your
mouth?
These little decisions and hundreds of others matter. Your life today is the
result of the quality of the choices and decisions you’ve made up to this
very moment. Our decisions determine our physical and mental wellbeing.
Our finances are what they are because of our decisions. Where we
work and what we earn are the outcomes of our decisions. The strength of
our relationships with friends, siblings, parents, and spouse is directly
related to the decisions we have made.
Bottom line: everything we have or don’t have and who we are as human
beings have been determined by our decisions.
Even though you may choose to avoid accepting responsibility for where
you find yourself today, the truth is that you are where you are based on
your decisions; there’s no one else to blame. You’ve been in the driver’s
seat. If you want to change your course, it’s time to take control and learn
to make different choices and better decisions.
Good Places to Start the Big Change
 Accept responsibility for your decisions and stop blaming others
for where you find yourself today.
 Become aware of the decisions you are making every day and
start making decisions consistent with the person you want to
become.
 Believe in yourself and your ability to make good decisions.
 Start small. Do the LITTLE THINGS right. Make good Either–Or
choices.
LTM Challenge
All positive change begins with awareness. If you find your ship in rough
seas, turn off your autopilot. Start being aware of all the little decisions
you are making. Remember, the outcome of your life will be largely
determined by the moment-to-moment decisions you make each day.
Don’t allow yourself to think something doesn’t matter. Everything
matters.
The hundreds of little decisions you make each day
will influence every part of your life.







Posted by Mickey at 8:19 PM 0 comments

LTM - 10. Stretch Your Comfort Zone

10. Stretch Your Comfort Zone
People are hardwired to search for comfort; therefore, much of daily life
is centered on familiar patterns and habits. While operating in your
comfort zone feels good, you are not going to advance your life forward
unless you have the courage to push yourself outside your comfort zone.
Think about it. Your comfort zone is where everything feels familiar,
safe, and secure, where you know what to expect, and where you are
content with the status quo. How can you reach greater heights personally
and professionally if you aren’t stretching yourself and growing on a
regular basis?
Best-selling author Brian Tracy said, ―Move out of your comfort zone.
You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable
when you try something new.”
Denis Waitley, another best-selling author and consultant, has trained
numerous U.S. Olympic athletes. He said, “To achieve your dreams you
must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable
with the unfamiliar and the unknown.”
It’s time to get uncomfortable. Let’s begin by doing some self-evaluating.
Do you avoid doing things you know you should do because they make
you feel anxious and awkward, nervous or fearful? What are they?
Contemplate how your life could change if you ventured into the
―discomfort zone.‖ Would you feel better about yourself? Would you
become more respected by your peers and colleagues? Would you have
more self-confidence?
Your first step on the road to greater achievement focuses on the LITTLE
THINGS you know you should do but don’t feel at ease doing. If you push
yourself to do the LITTLE THINGS that thrust you outside your comfort
zone, your confidence will begin to grow.
As you build your self-confidence in doing the LITTLE THINGS, you
slowly build your confidence to do the bigger things. It works this way
for all of us. We start, one step at a time, building our confidence by
successfully completing smaller tasks first.
An experience my son Jake had is a perfect illustration. Jake’s first job
was a bagger at a local grocery store. Jake is an introvert. He is especially
shy around strangers. One day I challenged him to start being friendly to
the customers whose groceries he bagged. The first day he talked to two
customers, the next day five, the next day ten, and by the sixth day he
talked to 50 people. Each day Jake told me about his results and I could
sense his confidence was growing. One day a head cashier told him he
was very good with people—a compliment Jake thought he would never
hear anyone say.
Like Jake, when you first step outside your comfort zone you’ll likely
feel nervous and perhaps even fearful. But unless you are doing
something dangerous or risky, nothing bad is going to happen to you. To
the contrary, that knot in your stomach is your signal that growth and
opportunity lay ahead.
So feel the fear and do it anyway. Dale Carnegie said,
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it . . .
that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered
to conquer fear.
LTM Challenge
Identify one of the LITTLE THINGS in this book where your growth has
been limited because you have remained in your comfort zone. Start in
just one area and as you build confidence in the first one, select a few
more LITTLE THINGS where you can break down your barriers and
improve. Then fire yourself up and do it without further hesitation!
The periods in life when you experience
the greatest growth and advancement are when you
do what you have never done,
go where you have never gone,
push yourself harder than ever before,
and do what’s uncomfortable.
Posted by Mickey at 8:00 AM 0 comments

Saturday, October 8, 2011

LTM - 9. Commitment Gives Power and Purpose


9. Commitment Gives Power and Purpose
Think of at least one major accomplishment in your life that has made
you proud of yourself. Do you have something in mind? Now, think of
the initial commitment you made when you started. On a scale of 1-10,
how committed were you?
During my career, I have worked alongside thousands of people ranging
from Little League ball players to CEOs of billion-dollar companies. One
of the things I have learned is that there is a vast difference between
Improving Your Life One Thing at a Time. 27.
simply desiring something and being committed to achieving something.
When you just desire something, you do it only when circumstances
permit. When you commit, you accept no excuses, only results.
A commitment is a binding pledge that obligates you to assume a position
or carry out a course of action. Making a commitment to what you do—
whether in your personal life or your professional life—is one of the most
fundamental principles of success.
Commitments are powerful because they influence how you think, how
you sound, and how you act. Unlike a half-hearted hope or best shot,
making a commitment means that you try harder, look for solutions when
faced with obstacles, don’t look back, and never consider quitting as an
option.
Whether it’s a relationship or marriage, job or career venture, fitness or
health, or a personal improvement goal, the temptation to give up will
arise. You must anticipate it and make yourself a promise that the feeling
of wanting to quit will not overpower your commitment. Unfortunately
most people quit when they feel like quitting, which is why they seldom
succeed at anything.
One of the keys to fulfilling your commitments is not to undertake more
tasks than your available resources justify. The number of opportunities
and decisions we’re faced with on a daily basis increases all the time.
Given the limits of your time and attention, you’ll need to be selective
about to whom and to what you commit. It’s simply not feasible to do
everything you would like. You must decide what is truly important to
you and commit only to those things.
LTM Challenge
 Make the decision today that you will never again start a project
to which you are not fully committed. Do your research. Know
what you are getting into in advance. Consider the obstacles you
will face. Then, with your eyes wide open, set your goal, make
your commitment, put together your plan, and don’t allow excuses
to enter your mind.
 Create a Commitment Statement for each of your goals. Take a
weight-loss goal as an example. ―I commit to do whatever it takes
to lose 10 pounds in 3 months. No matter what obstacles arise
and even when I feel like quitting, I will exercise and eat healthy
so I can reach my goal.” Write your Commitment Statement on
an index card and read it every day.
The only way you will enjoy a long-term relationship with someone
is if you are committed to that relationship.
The only way you will enjoy a successful career
is if you are committed to it.
The only way you will enjoy life’s journey
is if you are committed to making the best of it
and living life to its fullest.
Posted by Mickey at 8:00 AM 0 comments

Friday, October 7, 2011

LTM - 8. Create a Well-Developed Action Plan


8. Create a Well-Developed Action Plan
Just as you would not be successful in building a home without a set of
blueprints, it’s doubtful you would be successful in achieving any
significant goal without an action plan. A well-developed action plan
clarifies everything you need to do to achieve your goal, outlines a
prioritized sequence of steps, and serves as a method for measuring your
progress.
I would like to share with you two personal examples that demonstrate
the connection between a well-thought-out, written action plan and the
achievement of a specific goal.
My Plan to Earn $400,000
In January of 1989, I set a goal to earn $400,000 by selling residential
real estate. In reviewing my sales numbers from the previous year, I
determined that if I wanted to make $400,000, I would need to sell 117
homes at an average sales price of $115,000.
My first step was to concentrate on identifying potential home sellers.
Based upon my previous year’s prospecting results, I would have to meet
with 252 prospective sellers over the next 52 weeks to reach my goal,
translating into five appointments a week or one per business day. My
record-keeping from the previous year helped me assess how many phone
calls I needed to make each day in order to schedule one appointment.
By the end of the year, I had met with 250 prospective sellers—two short
of my goal, and I had sold 115 homes—two short of my goal. However,
due to appreciation in the market, my average commission was slightly
higher than the previous year and I earned $401,000.
If I had started out the year by saying, ―I want to make $400,000 and I
will work hard to do so,‖ do you think I would have accomplished my
goal? No way! If I did, it would have been pure luck. Do you want your
success left up to luck or a well-thought-out plan?
The key to my real-estate action plan was an itemization of daily
activities. By tracking my results, I knew where I stood relative to the
weekly goal. When behind schedule, I picked up the pace.
The key here is to realize when you are off track before it’s too late to
change your course.
My Plan for the Blog—Little Things Matter
I start every new project with what I call a ―brain drain.‖ This is a list of
everything I can think of that will go into developing, launching, and
implementing the project. After a complete brain drain, I organize my
list, set priorities, and assign deadlines to the key elements.
Launching the Little Things Matter blog (LittleThingsMatter.com) was no
different. My list included major categories such as website design,
podcasts, potential profit centers, budget, business formation, social
media, an organized list of LITTLE THINGS, and marketing.
Within each category, I listed sub-categories. For example, the social
media category incorporated the following activities: learn from and
follow experts in the field; join Twitter; get an Avatar; establish my
Facebook page; complete my profile in LinkedIn, and learn proper
protocol in the social media sector.
Once I was satisfied with the action plan, I reviewed it with the team I
had selected for this project. Based upon their suggestions, I refined my
plan and began to execute.
The end result: I launched my blog just as I had planned and the results
have exceeded my expectations.
LTM Challenge
What’s your plan?
Take the concepts I have shared with you and put together a prioritized,
daily action plan to achieve the goal that is most important to you. Once
you have drained your brain and created your prioritized plan, identify
five people who have been successful doing what you plan to do and ask
them to review your plan and offer feedback.
Once your final action plan is broken out into daily activities, get started.
Be disciplined and be sure to track your results. From time to time, share
your progress with your mentors or members of your team and continue
to seek their advice.
To achieve any important goal, you must first develop
a prioritized, daily action plan. Then, using your
self-discipline, execute your plan with excellence.
Posted by Mickey at 8:00 AM 0 comments

Bitty G


This reminds me of my son bitty Guido.  
He will rewind and rewind this movie and laugh his head off.
I have no idea where he learns these things.




Sent from my iMickey! 8(; - )
⁰●⁰. ⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰.⁰●⁰          
Posted by Mickey at 6:22 AM 0 comments

Halloween treats

Just in time. I bet these are delish!
Posted by Mickey at 5:37 AM 0 comments

Cupcake

I would so love these.
Thank you.
Posted by Mickey at 4:24 AM 0 comments

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Flash Mob proposal...<3

Love that ring!

Posted by Mickey at 8:10 PM 0 comments

Commencement Speech at Stanford given by Steve Jobs 2005

What an amazing speech. RIP Steve Jobs
 
Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 6:18:09 PM by Swordmaker
Thank you. I'm honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college and this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation.
Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months but then stayed around as a drop-in for another eighteen months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife, except that when I popped out, they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We've got an unexpected baby boy. Do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college.
This was the start in my life. And seventeen years later, I did go to college, but I naïvely chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and no idea of how college was going to help me figure it out, and here I was, spending all the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms. I returned Coke bottles for the five-cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example.
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them.
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class and personals computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something--your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever--because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.
My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me. I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.
In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance, and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. 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, and 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. Don't settle.
My third story is about death. When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's 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. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Thank you all, very much.

 
 
"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -  ºoº Walt Disney ºoº  
 
Posted by Mickey at 9:11 AM 0 comments

Hitting That Big Old Wall

Hitting That Big Old Wall

How to Keep Going When You Feel Like Stopping
  -- By Julie Isphording, Olympic Marathoner
Just about everyone has heard of the "Wall," as in "hitting the wall." And lots of us - in running and in life - have run straight into it. Head on.

A wall is the point in a race (or in life) where you're used up. You're officially done. You feel as if you are draining away into a little puddle on the ground. Your legs don't respond to the word "go." You vow never to do this again.

Although I hope you never have a wall get between you and a goal, here are some tricks I've learned from running that can help you get over your own wall when it's in the way:

Keep going regardless
Promise yourself that, no matter what, you will press on, even if you are walking, crawling, or puttering. In the Boston Marathon in 1993, I was running so slowly to the finish that I felt like I was actually going backwards. Stay on your feet. Eyes straight ahead. Move.

Don't think
Just go. Do not dwell on how overwhelmingly awful you feel. Focus on the cheering crowds, your friends and family waiting at the finish, the cool water, the trees... anything.

Try bribery
Tell yourself, "Self, when I get done with this, I'm going to buy you a new car, a new house, whatever you want."

Word-watch
Watch the negative words and thoughts. Think instead about all the successes you have had. How about all those hills you conquered? All those long workouts you endured? You are a great person. Relish those thoughts.

Negotiate with yourself
Give yourself permission to simply go to the next water stop, or to the next milestone, or even just the end of the day. Keep repeating that strategy until you see the finish line. Just one more mile before you say one more mile!

If it was easy, everyone could do it. You are the one who will make it. And don't forget the finish line pose!


 
 
"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -  ºoº Walt Disney ºoº  
 
Posted by Mickey at 8:58 AM 0 comments
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