Archive for the ‘Success’ Category

I like to think I’ve been successful in my life. And in looking back, I think the greatest periods of success that I have enjoyed – whether working for others or working for myself – is when I was true to myself in terms of sleep. Let me explain:

There were three jobs in my life that I really thrived at (and these were the jobs I left on good terms, too). The three jobs were retail manager/buyer (twice), and computer tech support. I loved those jobs, did excellent work, and was loved in return. Every other job I had I either got fired, or quit in a huff. And I didn’t like any of those lesser jobs either.

I’ve also owned three businesses in my life - a direct mail advertising business in the 90′s (failed), a computer consulting business in the 90′s (failed), and what I do now (success – going on a decade of success, in fact.) And not only did I fail at the first two, I really didn’t enjoy them all that much either.

Now, here’s the funny thing: I’ve noticed a direct correlation in all of my successes. It’s sleep. Or, more precisely, the ability to work late and sleep in.

No two ways around it – I’m an evening/night guy. I am at my best in the afternoon/evening. The retail jobs I had, since I was the boss, I worked the afternoon-close shift. Tech support was 4-midnight.

My first two businesses were straight “in-person” B2B, meaning I had to rise early. I failed. But my current business is at home, through the Internet – I work late and sleep in.

I noticed in my last two years of business, I changed a little – I wasn’t enjoying it quite as much. Wanna know why? Because I was making an effort to “get up earlier”. Why, I don’t know – maybe I felt it was more “business-like” to be up at 8am. No coincidence that I started having trouble sleeping two years ago.

It took me until right now (well, yesterday, really) to make this connection. Because two weeks ago, I started going to bed when I felt like it (2-3am usually) and sleeping until I naturally woke up (9-10am). In other words, I stopped fighting my body - ever since I was a kid, I was like this. I’m just naturally a Night Owl. And I can’t be successful or truly happy unless I remain true to that. I realize that now.

It’s only been two weeks, but I’m ecstatic about this - I feel one million times better. And I have zero trouble sleeping (and need no help), because I don’t give a @#$% what time I wake up.

To me, this is one of the keys to success – be true to yourself. I realize it’s not always 100% practical (moms everywhere will disagree with me, and even I sometimes have to schedule something early), but going against your nature is going to be more of a hindrance than a help.

Just a quick thought that walked through my mind today.

Like most of you, I have my circle of people / families that I know well, etc. And while finances are usually not something that is outwardly discussed, it’s pretty easy to discern who is doing well and who isn’t.

Well, I noticed something today – almost all of the families I personally know that are struggling are one-income families.

Now, I’m sure some of them are that way by choice (“we’ll do with less so someone is home w/ the kids”). And that’s fine. But most that I know really aren’t like this. The non-working person would work if the perfect storm of hours / pay / benefits / commute / easy job / etc etc appeared. But that usually doesn’t happen. And the family struggles financially as a result.

I’m not going to criticize such, because this is a touchy area for a lot of people. But let’s just say I don’t understand people who don’t/won’t/can’t work. Really – I just don’t get it. 

Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about that person who lost their job two months ago and is still looking. I’m talking about that person who could/should go work, and for whatever reasons, never really seems to get it together and just go earn a living. I suspect we all know people like this in our lives.

I apologize for this being a somewhat incomplete thought without a satisfying conclusion, but I just wanted to let it out today.

I’m one of the few people that actually enjoys public speaking, and I consider myself an advanced public speaker. Here are my tips:

2 – Move around a little. A rigid, stationary speaker is boring. And look at your audience – maybe pick five points in the room (front left, front right, back left, back right, center) and glance at each one from time to time. This helps with eye contact.

3 – It’s nice if you can memorize your entire presentation, but that may not be for everyone. If not, notes will help, but don’t “read” from them. They should be either index cards or a page of large font talking points. This keeps you on track, but doesn’t give that “reading from a paper” feel.

4 – Make it as conversational as possible. Anecdotes, small stories, real world examples… they go a long way in making a speech interesting.

5 – A little humor can help. But, in general terms, nothing even remotely risque.

6 – Practice, and if it’s needed, get your timing down. If at an event you are slated to speak for seven minutes, seven and a half minutes will not do. Nor will six.

7 – If there’s a presenter / emcee (etc), most times you can end your speech by turning to the presenter and sort of re-introduce him or her (“Mister Chairman” “Ms. Johnson”, etc). Leave the stage from the opposite side that he or she comes from (so you don’t do the “get out of each other’s way” dance).

8 – If possible, wear clothes you are comfortable in. If you are not a suit and tie person, it’s really hard to give a speech in a suit and tie that you wear once every two years – you’ll just feel “off”. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but try and find a way to be as comfortable as possible. You can loosen your tie and open your top shirt button before the best man speech.

9 – Voice inflection can really be an asset in many speeches. Pretend you’re telling a story to a bunch of kids – this will help with voice inflection.

10 – If speaking/presenting/etc on occasion is going to be a part of your life – even just a little – then join Toastmasters. Can’t recommend them enough.