So what do you do now? Well as the song says “Live Like You Were Dying”! And your saying OK, OK but really what do I do now. Well here is a few things to remember: First go back to the list of the past 30 days:

1. Day 1: Organization
2. Day 2: Goals
3. Day 3: Make 10 to 20 Contacts Per Day
4. Day 4: Follow Up
5. Day 5: Motivation
6. Day 6: Stop Worrying and Start Living
7. Review, Review, Review 
8. Day 8 & 9: Prioritize for the Next Week
9. Day 8 & 9: Prioritize for the Next Week (not a typo; just matching days with #’s)
10. Day 10: Develop 30 second commercial
11. Day 11: Visualization 
12. Day 12: Live To Learn
13. Day 13: Get Out There
14. Day 14: Blog, Blog, Blog
15. Day 15: Volunteer
16. Day 16: Rest
17. Day 17: Focus
18. Day 18: Branding Yourself and Your Business
19. Day 19: Productive Meetings
20. Day 20: Go Against the Norm
21. Day 21: The Power of One
22. Day 22: Don’t Give Up
23. Day 23: Break That TV Addiction, NOW
24. Day 24: Whole Brain Approach
25. Day 25: What Did I Do Wrong
26. Day 26: Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda…
27. Day 27: Getting Back To My Roots – Digital Presence
28. Day 28: Specifically, What Are You Trying to Do
29. Day 29: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
30. Day 30: Review, Review, Review and Live, Live, Live

Then see what has changed and what is the same. And don’t worry if you have not achieved every single thing that is on the list. Take them in groups or even one at a time. Remember it takes 21 to 30 days to create a habit!

For me my life has gotten more fulfilling and busier in a very good way. As my friend Denise O’Brien said in one of her Facebook posts;

“I love my life”

My next goal is to accomplish living a life with the principles behind the 4-hour work week. Don’t worry I will share.

So thank you for joining this adventure with me. And remember that the adventure is never over as you continue to “Live a Life Outside the Comfort Zone”.

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn Join us on FB as well.

On the drive up I started thinking about the 30 day journey that I was on and what had initiated the journey and where I was at this point. The word that kept coming up was “Change”. If you have not read the book “Who Moved My Cheese” I highly recommend it. Without going into too much detail there are 4 characters, two mice Sniff and Scurry and two little people Hem and Haw.

“Cheese” is a metaphor for what you want to have in life…And the “Maze” is where you look for what you want…In the story the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls. When you come to see ‘The Hand-writing on the Wall,’ you can discover for yourself how to deal with change… Spencer Johnson, M.D.

That should give you a good idea of the book. I highly recommend the read whether you are on this journey or if you feel you need to begin a journey of your own.

On the way home from my parents this song came on the

Still don’t know what I was waiting for

Time was running wild

A million dead-end streets

Every time I thought I’d got it made

It seemed the taste was not so sweet

So I turned myself to face me

But I never caught a glimpse

Of how the others must see the faker

I’m much to fast to take that test

 

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes

(Turn and face the strain)

Ch-ch Changes

Don’t want to have to  be a richer man

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes

(Turn and face the strain)

Ch-ch Changes

I just wanted to be a better man

Time may change me

But I can’t trace time…David Bowie -Ziggy Stardust

So as we come to the next to last day of the 30 day journey remember that time is moving on whether you change or not. Change is difficult and sometimes a struggle but in the end it is worth it to “Live Outside the Comfort Zone”

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

I started this 30 day journey on October 1, 2011 and I am now on day 28. I’ve talked about and implemented Organization, Goals, Making more contacts per day, Follow up, Motivation, Failure, Success, How to Not Worry, How to Push on, Developing a 30 second commercial, Review, Review, Review.

So why today did I have the question in my head “What am I trying to do”? My business is improving, my life is getting better and more fulfilled. But I realized that even though I have my goals and Life is Moving Outside the Comfort Zone for me, what, actually am I trying to do?

Then all of a sudden this video came across my computer. It’s a little long but worth watching.

So did you hear him?

Disney, CNN, MTV, Hyatt, Burger King, FedEx, Microsoft, Apple, Texas Instruments, 20th Century Fox, Gillette, AT&T, IBM, Merck, Hershey’s, Eli Lilly, Coors, Bristol-Myers, Sun, Amgen, Autodesk, Adobe, BMC, EA (Electronic Arts), Fortune Magazine, GE and HP (Hewlett Packard)

Perspective – Crisis Can Be Good

With some of my colleagues and the people I have networked with over the last three years there seems to be two things that are happening.

One: though they started a business, they are now going back to work for someone else or are focused on looking for a “job”.

Two: They are struggling or they have gone the other way and are wildly successful but either way they are pushing on.

There is a Third Party; they are the one’s blaming the economy for why they are not doing well in either looking for work or with their business.

So where are you? I am not judging anyone here, you might have had to go back to work because you just can’t seem to get ahead or you are lucky enough to have the support and finances to continue moving forward with your business. Either way you have answered the question of “What Are You Trying to Do?”.

So that’s the key, you need to decide on what it is you are trying to do. As the list above shows success comes from crisis. To get to success you have to fail a lot in order to reinvent yourself. So keep reinventing yourself.

WIN LIKE YOU ARE USED TO IT

LOSE LIKE YOU ENJOY IT

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

But building an online presence takes work and time. So I am not a big fan of excuses so I’ll just admit that I have not put the time and work into building my online presence.

So part of this 30 day journey is realizing where you need work and what you need to work on. So here are 9 quick tips for Branding yourself or company online fromBob Baker.

1. Define your brand up front.
2. Lead with what you do, not who you are.
3. Use a real person as a figure-head.
4. Develop a fan-club mentality.
5. Make good use of words.
6. Make sure visual elements reinforce your identity.
7. Become a one-stop destination.
8. Publish an e-mail newsletter.
9. Be visible through online forums.

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work.

And if you had, how would your life, career or relationships  be different? If you had made that investment in Microsoft when they looked like hippies you would be a millionaire now. If you had just married that girl/guy whose family had money, you wouldn’t be struggling now.

I’m sure each one of you can think of something that you wish you Woulda, Shoulda or Coulda done to change your life or circumstances. Too many times in life we dwell on the What IF’s, how it could have been if only….

You may even have someone in your life who constantly reminds you of the things you should have done.  This reminds me of a great song:

….Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention. I did what I had to do, I saw it through without exemption…. Ol’Blue Eyes

So what does all this mean?

I’M HERE TO TELL YOU, YOU CAN’T GO BACK! SO DON’T TRY!

Have you ever heard the statement: “…if I don’t tell you who will? I’m only pointing this out because I care about you”

They may mean well, but it doesn’t help you move forward. You can’t go back and change it. So why listen to it?

Dale Carnegie tells about the great philosopher Marcus Aurelius, who ruled the Roman Empire and summed up life in eight words-

Our Life Is What Our Thoughts Make It

If someone in your life keeps pointing out your mistakes and reminding you of them you need to find a way to move beyond that person. If they are family do it in a loving way.

So get rid of your Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda’s and Live Your Life Outside the Comfort Zone!

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

Living Life Outside the Comfort Zone

But if you just joined us or started your journey somewhere in the middle you are still on your journey and following these Monday through Friday daily blogs.

So it is now Day 25, What did I do Wrong? As an international sales trainer and speaker  I focus on several things when speaking to audiences. But when discussing Sales I focus on two big things when you are in a meeting with a prospect.

#1. Executives and business people are too busy to meet with you just for the heck of it. So if you set a meeting there is something your company offers that they are interested in.

#2 If you don’t close the prospect (get the sale) one of three things has happened.

• You did not show the value of what you were offering to their business.
• Your service or solution did not meet their needs.
• And the BIG One – They did not trust you or felt that you could not implement the services or solution that you were offering.

So I recently had a big presentation. I did the discovery meeting (the initial meeting where you discover what their needs are), and I did a ton of research on their industry, their competitors, and even talked with local store managers.

But- Guess What? They did not buy!

So what did I do wrong? That’s what I need to figure out for myself.

Did I not build the trust?

Did I understand the individual needs?

Did I not show the value?

Whatever it was I was asked to come back in a year. So as you can guess I was pretty bummed. But when I told one of my colleagues about what happened they made the statement:

Well at least you were able to present to them.

I thought about that and realized he was right. At least I got the chance to present to them and maybe down the road they will move toward needing or wanting the services I have available.  One of the main things is I got in front of them, many companies and sales people don’t even get the chance.

So what did I learn? I may not win every single company that I present to, but at least I was given the chance. And who knows what happens down the road.

As in life, and as in business you need to enjoy and learn from the journey. It makes you better, stronger and allows you to improve. If you won every one, you would never take a hard look at yourself and your company and ask.

HOW CAN I MAKE IT BETTER!

So you must always continue the journey! And always ask the question. “What Did I Do Wrong?” and then turn right around and ask “What Can I Do Better the Next Time?”!

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

It will eventually go down

OK enough with the whining. Day 24: Whole Brain Approach! What does that actually mean? I mean we all know about the Left Brain Right Brain.

This was Einstein’s take on the left brain right brain phenomena. Left brain is the serious side and right brain the wild and crazy side. But there is sooooo much more. A gentleman by the name of Ned Herrmann worked for a little company called GE where he used one of the GE inventions to create the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, HBDI. Which I personally use, or try to use, in every presentation and discussion. Why should you care?

Well Ann Herrmann, who is Ned Herrmann’s Daughter and now CEO of Herrmann International (and a good friend of mine) and I have had several conversations lately about the next steps for the Whole Brain Approach. It was used in creating the game Kinect Adventures for Xbox 360.

Again why should you care? Because it allows you to reach your entire audience when you are trying to be persuasive.

Now what makes this different from DISC or Myer Briggs or the many other personality tests that are out there? It is not a personality test. It actually measures your “Thinking Preferences”. With the other tests you can take them and a month later take them again and get different results. With HBDI you take the assessment and if you take it 10 years from now you will have a very close if not exactly similar result. Unless you have a major traumatic experience in your life, i.e. divorce, death of a loved one, or have a child….

So that’s the history. I have been in sales and leadership for over 25 years and after discovering the “Whole Brain Approach” I use it almost every day. It allows me to reach my entire audience whether I’m giving a presentation or keynote speech, talking to a group of people, trying to persuade them to buy my services or become a partner, and even in casual conversations.

I know my own “Thinking Preference” and if I just spoke or addressed others in the way I think, I would not reach a third of my audience. You probably never thought about the way you think and how it affects what you say and do and how you relate to others. But if you take the time to think about it you realize that not everyone thinks like you, and no they are not STUPID, they just have a different thinking preference than you!

So now that you know. You might start seeing the world differently. Realizing that your spouse may have a different thinking preference, your employees, and the most important one: Your Audience for your product or services.

The next time you come across someone who thinks differently than you do, don’t try to persuade them with more information on how you would be persuaded but present the subject in a “Whole Brain Approach”.

If you would like to know what your thinking preference is or want more information on this subject please email me @ les.adkins@mysylbert.com or call 770.656.0399

Have a very Whole Brain Day!

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

I don’t know about you but I grew up with TV.  I sat in a room called the TV Room. It had a couch, pillows, blocks (that is what we used for pillows back then as kids) and a big TV in the front of the room.

My parents watched the Lawrence Welk Show

Hee Haw

Oh yes the “Good Ol Days” as they say. But if you are under the age of 30 you may have never even heard of these shows.  Thus the need for the videos above.

Now a days there are videos, games and reality shows.  As well as the new one’s Pan Am, Once Upon A Time and Grimm. Plus when I was little there were 4 channels. ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. Now, depending on the service you have, you can get anywhere from 500 to over 1000 when you start talking HD and now you can watch 3D Movies At Home. So if you are not careful you can spend all day and night watching TV.

Here are a couple of hints to turn off the TV:

• Plan it: Pick the shows you want to watch and put that on your schedule. Make sure you only watch those shows. (Channel flipping is a killer of time)
• Don’t Watch Reruns: If you’ve seen the show previously don’t sit there and watch it again. You have better things to do with your life
• Don’t Put the TV in a Prominent Position in the Room: Don’t design a room around a TV. Don’t make the TV a focal point. Put it off in the corner or up on a wall away from the center of the room. (This will help make not watching TV a more comfortable activity if you have to work to watch.)
• Plan other activities during your normal TV Watching Time: If you watch TV at night. Plan on getting your emails or social media posts done in the evening. If you watch in the afternoon decide to go on a walk instead or go to your local coffee-house and read a book.
• Health Risk: Sitting down watching lot’s of television can cause weight gain and also stress.

In order for you to “Live Life Outside the Comfort Zone” you have to “Turn Off the TV”

Here’s a little video to help you do this.

So Get Up, Get Out, and Get Moving. And TURN OFF THE TV ALREADY

 

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

It began with a simple premise. “To Live Outside The Comfort Zone!”  So on this day I personally looked around and realized that I still needed to finish organizing my office (This was Day 1) and get rid of the clutter. I realized that I don’t do everything I need to, every day or every week. And I sometimes work when I should be relaxing and relax when I should be working, but through it all I keep on moving forward. You could say that I’m human, imagine that. I bet most of you are too.

I am still reading “The 4-hour Work Week” and a few other books. Yes, I have trouble Focusing (Day 17). So why am I telling you all of this. Because I want you to know that if you aren’t doing everything you need to do to “Live Outside The Comfort Zone”, DON’T GIVE UP!

Don’t give up. There are too many nay-sayers out there who will try to discourage you. Don’t listen to them. The only one who can make you give up is yourself.  - Sidney Sheldon

Fall seven times, stand up eight. – Japanese Proverb

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters to what lies within us.  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

And for all my truly Geek friends out there!

Never give up, never surrender! – Galaxy Quest

So Today: Relax, Spend Some Time With Your Family, Work If You Need To,  But Whatever You Do:

DON’T GIVE UP!

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well.

You can work with others, connect with others, help others but it all begins with One. YOU! One person can make a difference in the world, in the country, in the community, and in your life.  But the only person that can make a major difference in your life is YOU!

Remember One Person Can Make A Difference…And You Can Make A Difference if you just Try!

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!

Les Adkins is the CEO of  Orange SMS Consulting and an International Social Media Strategist, speaker, consultant and author. Bringing strategy and whole brain thinking to creative campaigns and social media through his work. Please follow @mysylbert and connect on LinkedIn

Join us on FB as well