“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” -Stanislaw Lec There is something life-changing about accountability, yet it seems like the concept is a big secret, because few people understand its power. I learned about the power found in accountability from my dear friend, Rick Cook. I started meeting weekly with him when I was [...]

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.” -Mark Twain I am not a health nut, but I am a fan of good health (In reality, nobody wants to be sick so, by default, most people are in [...]

“A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” -Mahatma Gandhi In Tom Peters’ marvelous book, In Search of Excellence, he defines the best leaders as having a “bias of action.” This bias toward action leads some to believe that if they say [...]

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” -Dr. Seuss In 2002, I was wrestling through the challenges of starting my own business. I tried to set up meetings with other entrepreneurs and business owners, asking them questions and picking their brains on how to start my dream job. Each time I had [...]

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” -Anthony Robbins Your ability to stay focused is vital if you want to stay competitive in your market. Distractions are everywhere. E-mail. Skype. Texting. Twitter. Phone Calls. [...]

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.  It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle. When [...]

“It’s always about timing. If it’s too soon, no one understands. If it’s too late, everyone’s forgotten.” -Anna Wintour The last-second basketball shot that miraculously goes through the hoop and is deemed null and void upon review because the clock ran out only a split second before the would-be hero released the game-winning 3-point attempt. [...]

“Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off the goal.” -Rita Davenport Your ability to focus on the prize changes your daily actions. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey referred to this as the “Begin with the End in Mind” principle. He says, “To begin with the end [...]

“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” -Malcolm Gladwell There’s an old story about a Chinese man who went to the Emperor and asked him for some rice. When the Emperor asked the man how much he desired, the man [...]

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” -Robert Collier I was speaking at an event outside of Seattle, Washington and to show the power of small decisions that make a huge impact, I set up about 1,000 dominos. It took an hour and fourteen minutes. As people came in, [...]