| BK, MN, BB, and I were talking about mergers and how companies are managed afterward. The doomed AOL/Time-Warner combo (and split earlier this year) came up. This got very quickly into the question of how much forward thinking a CEO should do. I won't carry you through the discussion. I'll leave you with our conclusion: A good CEO looks ahead, but he gives priority to shorter-term goals. There are two reasons for that: 1. As the bottom-line guy, the CEO's primary job is to make sure the current year is profitable. That means he must give priority to those projects that will bring in profitable dollars soon, not later. 2. Long-term vision is based on long-term prognosticating, which is never reliable. (Over 70 percent of John Naisbitt's "Megatrends" predictions were wrong. The Wall Street Journal's technology predictions between 1958 and 1989 were 80 percent wrong.) In takeover or turnaround situations, you must have three perspectives: What the business could be in seven years. How it will perform two or three years ahead. What profits it will bring by year's end. Look at all three, but make your first priority the shorter-term objectives. If you fail at that, you may not have a chance to work on longer-term solutions. Make the best plans you can and then, every three months or so, stand back for a longer view -- but not too long. ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended ---------------------------------------------------- Become an "Ethical Copycat" - There is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to advertising copy. As Charlie Byrne explains in the Internet Money Club program, there is a quick -- and totally legal -- way to "steal" your competitors' most profitable marketing messages. Read more... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table." Louise Hart You have a companion. One that never, ever leaves you. It sticks with you, staying even closer than your shadow. It is like a leech sucking your blood, and you cannot shake it loose. This constant companion is your mental chatter. Another name for it is your internal monologue. It begins the moment you open your eyes in the morning and carries on until you close your eyes at night. More often than you'd like, this chatter prevents you from drifting off to sleep. And when you finally do doze off, it may well make that rest fitful. Some companion. Think about what happens when you wake up. Does your mental chatter go something like this?... "Drat! There's that alarm again. I don't want to get up. It's going to be another horrible day." And does it continue throughout the day?... "No toothpaste. I told him to get a new tube before he used this one up. If he cared for me, he would have done it."... "Now I have to go to the stupid meeting to interview the candidate for that new position in the department. Not that the boss will actually listen to me. He will listen to Todd. Todd's so smooth -- he's going to be the next vice president for sure. Not me. I can't do anything right around here."... "Lunchtime! Let's get the hell out of here. Forget inviting Lorna, she's been ignoring my e-mails all day. She probably doesn't like me."... When you look at your mental chatter, you will notice that it is an unending stream of noise. But you will also discover that much of it is putting you down, either directly or, more subtly, by having you compare yourself unfavorably to others. And it is exhausting you by telling you all the things you have to do that you probably will not be able to. Over time, those negative judgments start to accumulate. Eventually, they form a huge barrier squarely in front of you on the path to your ideal life. It is like a coral reef, a strong structure capable of ripping the bottom off the stoutest ship ever made. Yet that structure is made up of the skeletons of tiny coral polyps. Each individual polyp is insignificant -- and when it dies, its death is of little consequence. But when hundreds of thousands of them die, they bond into that awesome reef. Your mental chatter works like that. Each individual negative thought is of no particular significance. But it leaves a tiny mark -- and those tiny marks accumulate. You have been enduring a constant stream of mental chatter for decades. And you've been building a "reef." That reef has imprisoned you -- and you never even realized you were building it. Even if, at times, you were dimly aware of your tendency toward negativity, you probably dismissed your thoughts as unimportant or as well-deserved criticism. And you were partially correct. Each individual coral polyp is unimportant. Each individual negative thought is inconsequential. But when taken together, they form a massive, nocuous structure. That's where you live now -- in this "reality" you've created. The good news is that once you become aware of what you have unconsciously allowed to happen, you can fix it! In this case, you are both doctor and patient, so first you have to know how bad the "disease" is before you can treat it. Here's how to do the diagnosis: For the next two weeks, carry a journal or notebook with you. Record your mental chatter -- positive and negative -- throughout the day. Be as specific as possible. In particular, note the number of times you beat up on yourself and compare yourself unfavorably to others. You might find that those negative thoughts fall into categories, such as "Criticism of Others," "Running Myself Down," and "Feeling Inadequate." As you record your mental chatter, pay close attention to how your emotional state is tied to it. You might feel sad, overwhelmed, fearful, or dissatisfied. But you might also feel confident, peaceful, or grateful. Do those feelings change often -- or is one dominant? Are they generally positive... or negative? How does your emotional state affect your behavior? Jot it down. If you tend to criticize yourself or blame others for your mistakes or frustrations, jot that down too. Don't berate yourself when you notice negative thinking. You are just recording it. And remember, you are also recording positive chatter and the emotions connected to it. Eventually, you will get to the point where you are constantly aware of your mental chatter. And you will find that this awareness changes it -- making it less able to take your thinking down a destructive path. This gives you much needed control. You get to decide for yourself whether you are going to build your reality on the foundation of a negative judgment... or not. You cannot eliminate your mental chatter but you CAN shape it and channel it. You can make it your friend instead of your enemy. And when you do this, your life takes off in more ways than you can imagine. P.S. Are you shocked to discover how mental chatter is affecting your life? Want to learn more about pushing negative thoughts and judgments from your mind? My Personal Mastery Success Program gives you all the tools you need, including exercises like the one you just did, to rejuvenate your mind and make you come alive. ----------------------------------------------Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- Receive A $75,000 "Jackpot" From the Government - Recently discovered "glitch" for U.S. citizens. "Get paid" for improving your home. Or buy a new one! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consumers aren't looking for brand-new products. They are looking for clever new adaptations of products they already know and love. What does this mean to you as an entrepreneur? For one thing, it means that your goal is not to develop brand-new products. Instead, you must notice trends that are beginning and develop products that anticipate where those trends are going. It also means that you must be humble. Innovation isn't usually about genius. It is more often about trial and error. If you are always trying to come up with products that are completely different, you will likely have a very poor success record. Imitation -- knocking off your competitors' products -- doesn't work. It is always too late. But noticing what products are starting to trend upward and then creating better versions of those products -- that's how you get the breakthroughs. As we used to say in the 1960s, it's all about evolution, not revolution. ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- "The Cholesterol Theory of heart disease is quite possibly the largest cover-up in medical history," says cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Dwight Lundell.
Get ready to discover: - How an entire nation was lured into believing cholesterol causes heart disease, a theory that lacks scientific fact.
- How "no fat dieting" and "elimination of saturated fat" actually caused an epidemic of inflammation.
- Simple, powerful recommendations to help reduce the causes and effects of inflammation.
- PROOF that lowering inflammation is the most effective way to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
It is time to stop the cholesterol madness. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you are an early riser, getting up two hours later seems like you are losing half a day. My back was cramping yesterday, so I took a muscle relaxer last night. I slept fitfully and didn't get out of bed till 8:00. That's at least two hours "late" for me. By the time I got into the office, it was after 9:00. Already the place was buzzing. No sooner did I open my laptop than Jon Herring was at my door, inviting me to an editorial meeting. After that, he told me, Jason wanted to go over some marketing copy. And so it went. It's 11:45, and I've just begun writing -- something I usually do at 7:00 or 7:30. And because the official workday has begun, it's likely I won't write as well as I would have in the quiet of the early morning. I know that late risers hate it when I get on this soapbox. But as a former "night person," I'm here to tell you: Early to bed, early to rise... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Latest News - Have you signed up for our Info-Marketing Bootcamp yet?
Maybe you haven't heard about it. You should know this: If you don't learn from the experts we've invited how to make at least $10,000 by May 2010... you get your money back AND another $1,000 for your trouble. Find out more about our "wager" here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading ETR this morning. As a matter of fact, it helped start my day on a beautiful note. Information like yours is a real wakeup call." Chellie Mahoney ---------------------------------------------- Highly Recommended --------------------------------------------------- E-Mail Trash or Treasure - Bob Bly wrote an e-mail in five minutes. It generated a $7,449 profit in a single week. Here's what he said... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Words That Work: Nocuous Something that is nocuous (NOK-yoo-us) -- from the Latin for "to harm" -- is likely to cause damage or injury. Example (as used by Dr. Srikumar Rao today): "Each individual negative thought is inconsequential. But when taken together, they form a massive, nocuous structure." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We want your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on today's issue. Email us at: AskETR@ETRFeedback.com | 
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