How Long Will We Be Working?

It was very common for our grandparents to find a good company and hitch their wagon to it for the next thirty years.

In the post-depression and post-WWII era, finding predictable work was a blessing.

If you were able to work for a company like Ford Motor Company, then you were enrolled in their retirement pension plan.

This golden handcuff tethered you to the company until you reached retirement age, but your contract was mutually beneficial: the company benefited from your investment and you benefited from a reliable income source for the rest of your life.

That has all changed.

Saving for Retirement: We’re going to be working for a while.

Imagine that last week you attended your company’s retirement plan meeting. The young thirty-something presenter showed a chart proclaiming how the stock market boasts a predictable 30-year average rate of return of 10%.

For the last 15 years, however, you’ve only experienced down markets. You follow the advertised best practices, contributing your faithful (x)% every month. but you know that your retirement plan is not the golden handcuff it once was.

Indeed, the Ford Motor Company’s pension plan model vanished with our grandparents’ generation. And the promise of the stock market producing wild amounts of wealth with which we can travel the world and eat caviar does not seem to be panning out, either.

Maybe we shouldn’t try and stay with one company?

The belief that our company’s retirement plan will provide a guaranteed path to financial security is not anything you should count on. Instead, we should accept that you will be working for more years than the thirty-something presenter promised in that meeting.

Let’s not feel obligated to stick it out with any one company for our entire career.

The good news is that when the pension plan vanished, employees received greater freedom of choice. We can make career decisions largely independent of a company retirement plan.

Since most of us won’t end up in early retirement, we should certainly make sure our work is fulfilling.

We are going to be at it for a while and there is no payoff for hanging on to one company.

We are free to choose where to invest your skills and talents.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.

I Want You To Know About the Mistake I Made

Always Be Closing-Alec Baldwin

Yep, I’ve just recently learned how I single-handedly created a lost opportunity.

I choose not to listen to conventional wisdom.

I choose to chart my own path.

I choose to experiment and try something that went against the grain.

I choose to politely listen to other people but to ignore their advice.

What was my mistake? 

I gave away my eBook for six months and asked nothing in return from my reader.

I did not require an email address or a sign up for my blog updates.

I simply gave it away.

I choose to run an experiment to see if the content was worth a trade.

At first I was not sure.

I’d never written or created anything like this before.

Truthfully I didn't really know if it was any good.

In some ways by giving it away for free I was testing the populous to determine it’s worth.

It felt less risky to say; here you go I hope this encourages you without requiring anything in return.

What drove my decision? 

Now, six months later, I realize it was my own self-doubt that drove my decision.

Second to self-doubt was rebellion.

I am not an aimless follower.  I never have been.

I am generally more comfortable charting new trails than trying to walk the heavily traveled wide-path.

As a result I can be a real pain-in-the-ass.

Take one part self-doubt, combine that with one equal part pioneer and an extra dash of rebellion and you get this decision.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy being me.

And some days I come with a list of resulting challenges and limitations.

Here is what I learned

1. Have ten trusted people preview your work.

If they say it’s good-trust them. 
If they say it needs more work-trust them. If they say it’s better for your own personal enjoyment-trust them.

  1. 2. Don’t ship until you are ready to put your name on it.  

I picture this like a see a trade show exhibit.

If I were the only guy standing in 10 x 10 booth along an aisle of 5000 other exhibitors would I be proud to stand in front of my work?
If not, fix it before you ship.

3. Don’t dismiss the current wisdom of the day.

Use the proven method that produces a desirable result.  Don’t try and create a new method.
My method was, if it is any good they will come back for more.

Guess what?  They didn’t, they don’t and they won’t.

The truth of the matter is that people are busy and there is always another guy with a blog and an eBook.

In the great words of Alec Baldwin from the movie Glengary Glen Ross “ABC. Always-be-closing”.  

Take the opportunity to close the deal when you have the opportunity.  In sales you never come back tomorrow, you close it now.

4. Being generous is good

I am proud that my experiment of giving away my eBook was also rooted in generosity.
I was genuine in my desire to help change the world I live in by allowing my idea to be transmitted freely.

I want my experience to benefit other people regardless of whether or not I get anything in direct return.

What now?

Staring last week, you will now find a sign-up form in order to receive the download link to Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

I hope this encourages you in your own journey as you sort out which road to choose today.

Keep going.

Your Boss Does Not Hold the Verdict on You

Your boss, customers, company, and coworkers should not hold as much influence on you as they do.

The verdict on your impact, your worth, your genius, and your value is not in their hands.

Too much energy is consumed with interpreting our leadership’s appreciation and acknowledgement of our contribution.

Do your dinner table conversations and dates with your spouse get chewed up with workplace drama?

  • What your boss said
  • What your boss didn’t say
  • How your boss said it
  • Why it should have been said
  • Why it should not have been said

I bet even your spouse is tired of your boss.

Your boss does not hold the verdict on you.

Of course, all of us want to be noticed and appreciated for our workplace contributions, but we often put too heavy a weight on whether or not our boss or company displays appreciation or gratitude for us in the way we desire.

As a result we can internalize feedback or lack there of as a verdict on our workplace value. Although feedback is an indicator, it is not a summary.

Here are some things I have learned that have helped me weather long dry spells of negative feedback or even silence.

Stop doing your work for your boss.

Your idea is not good or bad as a result of the feedback you receive. If you believe you have a great idea, a worthy project, or a good decision, then go for it! Do it because you believe in it and because it is the right thing to do.

Assume the best.

No news is good news. Start heading down the path you believe you should follow and assume the best outcome, assume everyone is supportive, and assume you are going to be successful. If someone in authority has a problem with it, they will tell you so.

Consider the source.

If you consistently receive negative feedback from the same person(s) every time, consider that their negativity might be their own personal problem. It took me a long time to realize that consensus building and democracy is really great most of the time. Some people will never be supportive or helpful. That is just the way they choose to be, and that is OK. Don’t let their negativity stop you from doing your own great work.

Own your mistakes.

If you make a mistake, say so. Own your shortcomings, missteps, bad judgment calls, etc. Most everyone is appreciative and understanding when you say, “I made a mistake. I am sorry.”

Your boss isn’t getting what he needs either.

Yep. Your boss desires the same validation and acknowledgement that you do.  And more than likely if he is not giving it to you, well, he isn’t getting it from his boss, either.

In my story

This one was a massive tectonic shift for me. Once I realized that my boss didn’t have the verdict on me, I was free to do my best work regardless of his or her acknowledgement of it.

It was such a relief.

I had spent so many years attempting to gain the appreciation and confidence of my leaders that I was exhausted.

The truth is, it was like playing a baseball game with one eye on the game and one eye on my boss in the bleachers. As a result, I was never fully in the game because I was more worried about whether or not I was being seen for the great plays I was making.

Now I’ve learned to offer my best work every day and get my head into the game instead of spending so much time wondering what the commentators are saying.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.

What I Learned About Wisdom While Crawling Towards the Finish Line

Photo @1997 Rich Cruise Ironman Finish line

My definition of wisdom is doing something wrong so many times; you finally learn know how to do it right. The first time I learned this lesson was while I was on all fours crawling towards the finish line. When I was younger, I saw wise people seemingly make fewer mistakes.

As I watched them I witnessed how they operated with some kind of Jedi super power that enabled them to see around the next bend.

In work and life they knew

  • what to do
  • what to say
  • what not to say
  • when to say it.

At the time, I couldn’t claim these as areas of strength.

In the void of having experience I read a lot of books to gather more information.

Experience is worth a lot.

I listened to a younger woman recently expound on how a particular speaker that we listened to failed to connect with the audience.

It wasn’t that I necessarily disagreed with her.

What was missing was the reason she believed that the speaker failed.

She read in a book how a speaker should connect with an audience.

I’ve read a lot of books about how to be a better speaker, or writer, or runner or husband.

None of those books made me wise.

I gained some great information, but wisdom doesn’t come from a book.

“DNF” for my first marathon

In my first attempt at running a Marathon, I decided to wake up at 4 am and eat a whole bowl of spaghetti, take a handful of Advil and only drink water, not Gatorade during the race.

I had a plan.

I read it in a book.

I decided to try it for the first time on race day.

By the time I reached mile seventeen I was involuntarily dispensing the spaghetti on the racecourse.

By mile twenty-four I was on all fours crawling towards the medical tent.

In racing they call it a “DNF” when you “Do Not Finish”.

Now I have wisdom on how to run a marathon.

But most of what I know is a result of doing it wrong more times than I can count.

Use the books for gaining information, but use experiences to solidify wisdom.

I hope we will allow our mistakes to teach us.

Let me know if you want that marathon training program.

I bet I could dig it up for you.

What The Goonies Taught Us About Adventure

The Goonies-1985

I’m a big geek when it comes to movies.

I’m a bigger geek when it comes to adventure and road trips.

I’d love to tell you a story about my son and I retracing the steps of The Goonies movie a few years ago.

I hope you will be encouraged to plan your own adventure with your kids before the summer is over.

Who doesn’t love the Goonies?

We had this idea that we’d fly to Portland, OR and retrace the making of The Goonies movie.  We found this website that provided scene-by-scene beta including maps of where each scene were filmed.

We’d decided that we’d take our portable DVD player in the car and retrace the movie over a couple of days while we car camped along the coast of Oregon.

We romped, hiked, sauntered, waded, walked, galloped and gazed for four days.

We found an excuse to go create an adventure.

My son was young enough to still think it was cool and we would re-enact the scenes at each location.  It was awesome.

Here are a couple of fun photos that can tell the story better than I can in words.

Memories instead of stuff

While your kids are still at home, make memories instead of buying more stuff.

In our annual budget travel tends to be one of our largest expenses.  We drive used cars all with over 100K miles on each of them.

We live in a nice home, but we don’t all have the newest gadget or most trendy fashion.  My kids have started to notice that although we don’t have some of the other things that the Jones’s have, we go on some killer trips.

Don’t make it complicated

A couple of times my kids and I have hoped in the car with a map, sleeping bags and a tent.  We point the car in a direction and a vague idea of where we might land and allow the adventure to unfold organically.

To be fair this fits my personality.

During the week, I am organized, measure statistics and forecast revenue.  I try to not apply that same analysis to my play.

I encourage you to find a few low budget ways to pull a Clark Griswold and go visit the World’s Largest House of Mud.

Error on the side of not knowing

You don’t have to know where you are going, where you are going to sleep, or what you are going to eat.  I’ve found that part of letting go of these things allows us to be more aware of our circumstances and environment.

For instance, if you’re hungry then you pull over and find something to eat.  If you’re tired then you start looking for a campground or a cheap motel to stay in.

A couple of practical tips

  • Get a good book on audio
    Little kid suggestion: Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz
    Teenagers: Travels with Charley, Into the Wild
  • Let your kids pick out the treats for the car
    Bribe them with Starbucks or ice cream
  • Let the schedule be driven by your kids
    How long the hike is, the pace you go at and what you listen to in the car.

Summer is almost over.  It’s not too late to hit the open road.

Act Like a Professional Eight Minutes at a Time

Yesterday I ran for eight minutes.

That’s it. That’s all the margin I had left between meetings and work obligations.

I slept five hours.

I started at 7 a.m. and finished after 11 p.m.

It was raining outside and I decided to strap on my running shoes and go anyway.

For years I neglected these narrow windows of opportunity and skipped the few minutes of exercise available to me.

It felt too small a fraction to account for anything productive.

A good friend of mine walked me through a simple math equation that pros use:

[Small Margin] + [Consistency] x [Time] = Accumulated benefit

Meet Neal

He is a decorated runner, triathlete, and marathoner.

Here are the results related to running over time:

8 Minutes x 4 weeks x 12 months = 40 to 50 miles a year

What Neal decoded for me that day was that the best of the best, the elite athletes on the cover of magazines, choose to run for eight minutes instead of skipping it all together.

Don’t get stuck on this as a running story; running is only the metaphor.

Start acting like a pro

We believe the pros have:

  • More time than us
  • More margin than us
  • Fewer conflicts than us

The truth is that a pro chooses to go for it anyway.

Whether it is running, investing in your marriage, trying to find a new job, or saving $3.22 at a time…

It all adds up.

Are you willing to act like a pro and go anyway?

Let’s Lead Like the Building is On Fire

What if we lead our organizations like the building was literally on fire?

What if we skipped all the niceties and the politically correct advisable techniques and simply lead?

I care about people.

I care about the impact I have on people’s lives under my influence.

And, I exhaust myself somedays in caring about my effect on people more than simply leading them.

I lead better when the building is burning

Upon some self reflection, I see clearly how I am a better leader in crisis.
In crisis, I am decisive.
In crisis, I am brave.
In crisis, I am precise in my leadership.
What is wrong with me that the above are lacking when crisis is not present?

The question came to me

What if we lead like the building was on fire?

What if we skipped all of that added layer of corporate conditioning?

Instead of “You know we should talk more about this.”

We might shout Go this way!

Instead of “Would you mind if you considered an alternative?”

We direct NO!

Instead of “I wonder how you might feel about this?”

We emphatically traffic the under-performer towards the exit.

Crisis quickly surfaces what we really believe.

Why Serve Forty Years of Hard Labor?

In medieval times, indentured servants worked the land of a king for a fixed number of years until their debt was paid in full.

The king owned the field, the crop and the harvest yield.

He got rich, he ate and drank as much as he liked, and the servants learned to live on the crumbs from his table.

Kings love servants and minions.

Does this sound familiar to you?

For many people work can be a place where they feel like indentured servants. It

can be a place where they feel obligated and stuck.

Many companies and leadership teams have this same ancient mentality.

They believe that their employees are lucky to work for them.

They believe that each worker is a replaceable cog.

They are looking for compliant workers and employees, who, under the weight of needing to meet their own financial obligations, settle in for forty years of hard labor.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Why approach your workday with this kind of obligation?

I was an Indentured Servant

I realized that my truest desire was for a partnership, not an obligation. I dreamed of being in a business arrangement where the company and I were equally investing in each other.

Believe it or not, it is possible. I found that part of the problem was that I was acting like a factory worker or an indentured servant. In fact, I was training other workers around me to relate to me as a replaceable cog.

Once I could name and describe this arrangement I could begin to navigate and craft a new arrangement. I stopped thinking and acting like an indentured servant and I started being a skilled craftsman instead.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.

The Illusion of Ease

Jackopierce-Jack O’Neill & Cary Pierce

When I see a pro at work I have to remind myself that the ease, perfection and polish that I am witnessing is an illusion.

Nothing this good comes easy.

Sure there are protégées but the truth is that they are extremely rare.  Most of them fizzle out and never reach full maturity in their craft, skill, or gifting.

The temptation is to be duped into believing that this perfect polish was achieved easily.  Let me give you a few examples to prime your senses.

Pick your favorite writer, your favorite band, your favorite photographer or painter.  How about the entrepreneur or public speaker, school teacher or professional athlete?

Made to look easy

When you experience them in their respective area of strength do you say to yourself

How did they get so good?
Man they make that look easy.

It is true.  It does look easy.

When the pros are doing their thing, they are absolutely inspiring to watch.

In the past few weeks I have felt a temptation to assume that the pros I have encountered somehow found a shortcut.

They must have found the magic pill, magic button, hidden road or seed to plant their money tree in their back yard.

I know better.

They must have found a shortcut

When we make the conclusion that someone got a free pass or got to cut to the front of the line and bypass all of the hard work, perseverance, disappointment, agony of setbacks and defeats then we create a dissonance between us and them.

We interpret the gap between them and us with a list of reasons for the gap being so wide.

  • We conclude that they didn’t have to work as hard as we do.
  • They didn’t have a tough start like we did.
  • They must have had a really good father, mentor, friend, grandfather, professor, boss, rich uncle, etc.
  • They are more naturally gifted.

When we conclude that the pros were the benefactors of a shortcut then we justify our current position as affirmation that we will likely never close the gap.

The truth is that the pros also waded through the same crap 
that we have to in order to achieve their dreams and desires.

Don’t preclude yourself from the pursuit of your desires.

Don’t embrace the temptation to believe the illusion of ease.

Show up and do the work and close the gap instead.

Unravel What the World Has Taught You

Madness or Brilliance?
Madness or Brilliance?

Do you remember watching the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire ?

Remember Tom Cruise playing the slick sports agent whose career implodes in a single afternoon?

In the first three minutes of the movie we get the Cliffs Notes of his life. He has spent years working for the most successful sports management company of his day. He is fierce and suave, and he is dying inside.

In his words, he had become “another shark in a suit.”

One night, just before his corporate conference, he finds himself at a moral crossroads, a point of breakthrough. During his wrestling—his epiphany—he does headstands in his hotel room and unravels what he had previously learned about the world.

He starts writing a mission statement

He is not merely writing a memo, he realizes, but a mission statement. A suggestion for the future. In it, he advocates a provocative concept to his coworkers: charge less money, take on fewer clients, and give more personal attention. In the next scene we see him running 110 bound copies of his manifesto, title page and all, and stuffing them one by one into his colleagues’ in-boxes.

He calls it “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business.”

Jerry Maguire is alive again.

His mission statement makes him famous, but for all the wrong reasons.

His peers smile as they make eye contact from across the conference room while making sure not to stand close enough to catch the career-suicide bug that they knew had surely infected him.

Soon Jerry is fired and leaves the office with his mission statement in one hand and the goldfish, his only heretic recruit, in the other.

OK. To be fair, the cute secretary comes with him, as well. She can’t resist a man of principle.

What does Jerry Maguire have to do with me? 

Everything. What you are reading now is a mission statement. Not merely a memo, but a suggestion for the future. You awoke to your in-box stuffed full of my sweat-stained declaration of independence.

This is a manifesto. A coup d’état. A sudden illegal overthrow.

I am inviting you to unravel what the world has taught you about your work, your career, and your future.   

I may end up being the lonely guy holding a goldfish with no one following me. But, like Jerry, I’m willing to run the risk.

I’ve lived too long following the rules and expecting the outcome to match the promises.

It hasn’t worked.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.