Jon Gordon's Blog, page 6

With the start of every New Year most of us are setting new goals. The challenge isn’t in setting those goals, it’s achieving them.

My friend Michael Hyatt has just released a great new goal-setting process to help you have your best year ever. Check out his free 3-part video series and learn how to get clear, get motivated and get started!

Watch Here

Watch Jon’s interview with the TODAY Show below. Let us know your ONE WORD for 2014. Leave a comment below, share on Twitter and/or Facebook.

Create your own One Word (free) poster at www.getoneword.com/share

Get the One Word book at www.getoneword.com

**If you on a mobile device or if the video does not appear below, Click Here to Watch.

Below is an article I share each year. It’s become a ritual and if you haven’t read it yet, I hope you enjoy it. If you have read it before I hope it’s a reminder to live life to the fullest. Now is a great time to reflect on the past and create goals for the future. No matter what happened last year you can start fresh and plan for an amazing 2014!

No Fear in the New Year

Thirteen years ago I looked out into the Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day with fear in my heart and uncertainty in my life. I had been fired from a “dot.com” company two weeks earlier with only two weeks of severance, no insurance for my two young children and only two months of savings in the bank. My wife and I had just invested every dollar we had and even took out a second mortgage on our home and $20,000 on a credit card to open what would be the first Moe’s Southwest Grill in Florida.

The restaurant was set to open January 13th and we had no earthly idea how we would pay our home mortgage and other bills since I planned on keeping my salary and job while my managers built the restaurant business. Now, it was New Years Day and I had no job, no salary and a restaurant opening that at worst would fail miserably or at best take a year to be profitable.

I thought of all this as I prepared to jump into the icy cold water-to take a symbolic plunge that this would be the year of NO FEAR. Regardless of the circumstances I was facing, this would be the year where I would trust and go for it. This would be the year I would be bold in actions and faith and humble in spirit. No longer could I do it alone. Now I needed a miracle and I decided to act as if my future depended on me and pray like it depended on God.

By jumping into the ocean I was declaring that no longer will I allow fear to cut off the flow of abundant and positive energy in my life. No longer will I allow fear to paralyze me. Instead of fear I would trust.

Now, thirteen years later, as I write this I am preparing to jump into the ocean once again on New Year’s Day. It has become my yearly ritual – to remind myself to follow my passion, live life to the fullest, surrender and to stay one step ahead of the fear that hovers around me.

And as I take my leap into the ocean I want to invite you to jump in with me. Perhaps not in the ocean but in the depths of your mind. This jump doesn’t necessarily require water but rather a leap of faith in your belief system and a shift in your mindset. The antidote to fear is trust and it is only a thought away.

No one is going to push you over the chasm of struggle to the life that you want. God will nudge you but you must take the leap. You must make this jump in your mind and then with your actions. You must make this jump with trust, determination and faith. After all, they don’t call it a leap of fear. They call it a “leap of faith” for a reason.

Tweet This: “They don’t call it a leap of fear. They call it a “leap of faith” for a reason!” — Tweet

You will always feel fear. Everyone will. But your trust must be bigger than your fear. The bigger your trust the smaller your fear becomes. And the more you trust the more you become a conduit for miracles. I know. A consulting project presented itself out the blue and we were able to pay our mortgage. A check came in the mail, the right opportunities came our way and somehow, some way my family and I were carried. A year after the restaurant opened I started this newsletter which eventually lead to me writing books, speaking and doing the work I do now.

Maybe 2013 wasn’t a great year for you but I believe New Year’s Day represents a fresh start and presents a new opportunity to create the life and career you want. All you have to do is jump in with all that you are and all that you wish to become.

Are you ready? How will you make 2014 your best year yet? Share your thoughts below or on our Facebook page!

-Jon

P.S. People often ask me what happened to my restaurant. Well, thankfully I eventually opened 4 restaurants and sold them nine years ago knowing it was time to focus 100% on writing. That was another big leap of faith that lead to me writing 9 books and I just finished the 10th, The Carpenter, that will be out in May. Thank you for your support and for sharing this message with others.

Here is a listing of my Top 11 Newsletters from 2013 to help you kick-start 2014.

The Power of Appreciation

Relationships are Everything

The Gift of Failure

5 C’s to Build a Great Team

How Do You Become an Overnight Success?

Are You a Real Team?

Serve

Driver of Positive Change

When Adversity Hits, Tell Yourself a Positive Story

The Best Advice I’ve Ever Heard

Positivity is for Everyone

1. Stay Positive. You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can trust that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.

2. Take a morning walk of gratitude. I call it a “Thank You Walk.” It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

3. Make your first meal the biggest and your last meal the smallest. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

4. Zoom Focus. Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: “What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?” Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.

5. Talk to yourself instead of listen to yourself. Instead of listening to your complaints, fears and doubts, talk to yourself and feed your mind with the words and encouragement you need to keep moving forward.

6. Remember that adversity is not a dead-end but a detour to a better outcome. {Tweet This}

7. Don’t chase dollars or success. Decide to make a difference and build meaningful relationships and success will find you. {Tweet This}

8. Get more sleep. You can’t replace sleep with a double latte.

9. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in your purpose, people and the positive present moment.

10. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.

11. Live with the 3 E’s. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

12. Remember there’s no such thing as an overnight success. There’s no substitute for hard work.

13. Believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.

14. Implement the No Complaining Rule. Remember that if you are complaining, you’re not leading.

15. Read more books than you did in 2013. I happen to know of a few good ones. : )

16. Don’t seek happiness. Instead decide to live with passion and purpose and happiness will find you. www.Seed11.com

17. Focus on “Get to” vs “Have to.” Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

I am thankful for __________.

Today I accomplished____________.

19. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants.

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Download 20 Tips for a Positive New Year as a Printable PDF Here >

I believe I have found the key to happiness and success and it can be observed first hand in millions of homes and children’s hearts this holiday season. The key is to be like a kid on Christmas morning – Thankful for the gifts you have received and optimistic and excited about the new gifts that are coming your way.

It starts with being grateful. When you are grateful for the gifts in your life, big and small, you always seem to find more things to be grateful about. That’s why abundance will flow into our life when gratitude flows out of our heart.

We become a gratitude magnet and experience more joy, love, peace, and happiness. (Note: I’m not talking about material gifts. I’m talking about the gifts of the heart.)

But what about my desire for a promotion, a better job, more money, more friends, better health, more success you might ask? Isn’t it important to strive for more? Doesn’t gratitude breed contentment and stagnation? How can I be thankful when I know my life can be so much better?

That’s why it’s important to also be optimistic and excited about the new gifts that are coming your way.

Sure you are thankful for what you have but you also look forward to more gifts in the future. You believe that your best days are ahead of you, not behind you. When people ask you how things are going you say, “Getting better every day.”

This was something I learned a number of years ago. At the peak of my misery, struggles and failures I realized I had to stop being disappointed about where I was and needed to start looking forward to where I was going. Once I started being thankful for the simple gifts in my life and became excited about the road ahead I experienced a completely different journey.

When you change your heart and mind you change the direction of your life.

So what are you thankful for? What is right about your life? Be sincerely grateful. Then think about what your brighter and better future looks like. What do you hope for? Trust it is possible. Get excited.

We often think that we’ll get excited about life when we have a life that is exciting but actually it works just the opposite.

When we get excited about life, we get a life that is exciting.

In this spirit may you experience amazing gifts this holiday season and may your 2014 bring you even greater gifts than you could imagine.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holy Days!

- Jon

Question: What are you thankful for? What do you hope for? Are you excited about life? Leave a comment below.

As we approach the New Year I’m coming up with a BFG.

A Big Fun Goal.

And I want to encourage you to do the same!

A BFG could be anything you want to experience or accomplish in 2014.

It should be a BIG goal because it’s important to dream and think big.

And it should also be FUN in that you have fun going after it and enjoy the process of trying to make it happen.

I have found that we too often get so serious about our goals that we don’t have fun pursuing them.

But this year can be different.

Whether your BFG is to get a promotion, climb Mount Everest, write a book, visit Europe, move to America, learn to play the guitar, start a new business, win a championship, go on a mission trip to Haiti, start a charity, win a big account, learn to paint with water colors, or something else, you can have FUN while you make your BIG goal come alive!

So over the next few weeks think about the possibilities for your BFG.

Ask your team (work team and family team) to do the same. For example, I’ve asked my wife and kids to think about their BFG and we started to brainstorm ideas.

Once you identify your BFG for 2014 please share it with us on our blog or Facebook page. I’d love to hear from you. If you are visual you may also want to choose a picture that helps you remember your BFG.

Then as the New Year begins decide to pursue your BFG with all the energy, passion and FUN you can muster.

The most frequent question I have received over the years is how to deal with an Energy Vampire. I’ve also received many stories and solutions from people who read The Energy Bus and took action. Some successfully transformed them. Others let them go so they could no longer sabotage the team. And some unfortunately abused their power by labeling anyone who disagreed with them an Energy Vampire (I don’t recommend this and it’s not in the book).

I’ve learned a lot from these people and have garnered lessons from their successes and mistakes. In this spirit I wanted to share some thoughts about how to deal with an Energy Vampire (EV):

First and foremost, love them. No one really wants to be an Energy Vampire. He/she is likely negative for a reason. The first step should always be to love, understand and transform. For example, Martin, from the company Seventh Generation, told me that he put a sign on his door that said Energy Vampires Welcome. Expect to be filled up with positive energy.
While I love Martin’s approach, I also know from personal experience and the work I do with teams and organizations that not every EV is willing to change. If your efforts to transform an EV are not successful and they are sabotaging the team and organization then they should be let off "the bus."
If you don’t like the thought of letting people off the bus you are not alone. That’s why I always tell leaders and managers that you won’t have to let EV’s off the bus if you create a positive culture where EV’s are uncomfortable being negative. If you create a strong, positive culture that attracts positive people, fosters positive communication and generates positive energy, the EV’s who are unwilling to change will walk off the bus themselves because they don’t fit in. Energy Vampires don’t like the light.
The best way to deal with Energy Vampires in your organization is at the culture level where you set the expectation that people who drain the energy of others will not be tolerated. Mark Richt, the head football coach of the University of Georgia, did this with his football team three years ago. He had all his players read The Energy Bus and had an artist draw a huge picture of an Energy Vampire on the wall of their team meeting room. Any time a player was being an EV they put the player’s picture on the wall. No one wanted to be on the wall. In essence, Coach Richt was telling his team that we will not allow negativity to sabotage our team and goals. While I don’t recommend business leaders and school principals utilize the Energy Vampire on the Wall strategy I do believe they must make it clear that negativity that drains others and sabotages team performance is not acceptable. Leaders / managers / coaches / principals must create a positive work environment where their people can do their best work without being affected by an EV.
If you are not a leader or manager and you’re not in a position to define the culture or hire and fire people you are likely wondering what you should do if you have an EV on your team or in your office. In this case you can influence your team and office culture by sharing The Energy Bus with your manager/leader and encouraging them to utilize it to create a positive culture. I’ve witnessed many organizational transformations simply because an employee shared The Energy Bus with a leader and the leader invited everyone on the bus. Please know I’m not trying to be promotional here. People tell me all the time that The Energy Bus is an effective tool that creates a common language for organizations to talk about and address negativity. Since it’s a tool that works I believe in helping others use it. You can read some quotes about it here.
If you are not a manager or leader and you have EV’s on your team or in your office it’s also important that you decide to be more positive than the negativity your face. A simple rule is: Your positive energy must be greater than all the negativity.
If you encounter Energy Vampires in your daily life remember Gandhi’s words "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet."
If you have a personal friend or a friend at work who is an EV you may decide to talk to them about their negativity. If you have a strong relationship with them and they know you care about them, they may be open to your advice. But remember Energy Vampires can’t see their own reflection. They may not realize they are an Energy Vampire. Proceed with caution if you decide to go this route. And if you do, do it with love.
If you have a neighbor that is an EV and it’s one of those days where you just don’t want their negativity to impact you, run away as fast as you can when you see them. Just say you have something in the oven. : )
Finally, as the holidays approach if you have Energy Vampires lurking in your family I recommend you become a positive force of positive energy that demonstrates to others what real positivity, in the form of love, patience, kindness, and care, looks like. It’s not easy but it’s worth the effort.

How do you deal with an Energy Vampire? Share your success strategy here on our blog (comment below), Facebook, or Twitter.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I’d love to share with you the benefits and power of two simple words. THANK YOU.

They are two words that have the power to transform our health, happiness, athletic performance and success. Research shows that grateful people are happier and more likely to maintain good friendships. A state of gratitude, according to research by the Institute of HeartMath, also improves the heart’s rhythmic functioning, which helps us to reduce stress, think more clearly under pressure and heal physically. It’s actually physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are grateful you flood your body and brain with emotions and endorphins that uplift and energize you rather than the stress hormones that drain you.

Gratitude and appreciation are also essential for a healthy work environment. In fact, the number one reason why people leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated. A simple thank you and a show of appreciation can make all the difference.

Gratitude is like muscle. The more we do with it the stronger it gets. In this spirit here are 4 ways to practice Thanksgiving every day of the year.

1. Take a Daily Thank You Walk – I wrote about this in The Energy Bus and The Positive Dog. Take a simple 10-minute walk each day and say out loud what you are thankful for. This will set you up for a positive day.

2. Meal Time Thank You’s – On Thanksgiving, or just at dinner with your friends and family, go around the table and have each person, including the kids at the little table, say what they are thankful for.

3. Gratitude Visit – Martin Seligman, Ph.D., the father of positive psychology, suggests that we write a letter expressing our gratitude to someone. Then we visit this person and read them the letter. His research shows that people who do this are measurably happier and less depressed a month later.

4. Say Thank You at Work – When Doug Conant was the CEO of Campbell Soup he wrote approximately 30,000 thank you notes to his employees and energized the company in the process. Energize and engage your co-workers and team by letting them know you are grateful for them and their work. Organizations spend billions of dollars collectively on recognition programs but the best and cheapest recognition program of all consists of a sincere THANK YOU. And of course don’t forget to say thank you to your clients and customers too.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you for allowing me to share this newsletter with you. I’m thankful for YOU.

What are you thankful for? Share one or two things that you are thankful for in your life.

Nine years ago I was home visiting my parents when I saw an old high school friend, Mark Rathjen, at a restaurant. I had just started writing and speaking and asked him if he knew anyone who worked at one of the national morning shows. He said he actually had a friend from college who was a producer at the Today Show and would send her my information.

A few weeks later I received a call from his friend, the producer, telling me she wanted to do a four week series called Get Energized Today. It was a life changing experience that I often share with high school students when I speak to them. I then ask them this question. “If I was a jerk in high school do you think Mark would have wanted to help me years later?” I then tell them to be nice to everyone. Relationships are everything and you never know which relationships will change the course of your life.

Fast forward to last Tuesday. I received an email out of the blue from this same producer of the Today Show I worked with 9 years ago. I couldn’t believe it. We hadn’t spoken in years. I had no interest in being on television anymore. I have really enjoyed just doing the work of writing and speaking. But she was following me on FB, saw the messages I had been sharing and trusted me to do this segment. On the flight home from New York it hit me that relationships are about long term trust not short term success.

After the show I got together for lunch with my publishing team from John Wiley and Sons; the same team that took a chance on me by publishing “The Energy Bus” in 2007. The same team that I could have left a few years ago for much more money being offered by other publishers.

But for me I just wanted to write books that make a difference and be part of a team that believed in me from the beginning. These were people who visited my grandfather when he was in the hospital near their offices in Hoboken. To celebrate with them after the Today Show was worth more than gold.

Life isn’t about money. It’s about people, commitment, loyalty and relationships. I didn’t always know this but I know it now. In the end we won’t be measured by our bank account, sales numbers or wins and losses but by the difference we made in people’s lives… and we make a difference through relationships.

Don’t chase dollars or success. Decide to make a difference and build meaningful relationships and success will find you.

Don’t be a networker. Invest in relationships not because you want something but because you want to build something!

Don’t ignore those who are closest to you. Identify the relationships in your life that need to be stronger and then make a conscious effort to focus on them, make time for them, develop them and in invest in them.

And be nice to everyone. Because you never know.

-Jon

How do you create stronger relationships?