Their purpose, according to the article, was to show other people with disabilities that their disability doesn’t mean they can’t be active.  While I certainly feel they accomplished that objective, they did a lot more as well.

Think about it for your life or those around you.  So often, we say, “I wish I could…” or “If only I didn’t have X, then everything would work out.”  We truly have no excuses.  The only thing that holds us back is ourselves, our beliefs about what is possible.

Let’s break down what they did, they identified their goal, they established their motivation, they prepared and then ultimately they committed and took action.  According to one of the veterans, “It was evidence that with the right planning and right preparation and right execution anything can be done.”

I can only imagine what type of physical challenges they endured in that climb.  But they persevered.  And I’m sure they would be the first to say, that if you’re not getting what you want in life or in business, there are no excuses.  It is totally up to you to make it happen.

Think about what is holding you back.  Anytime you hear yourself say, “I can’t because”, understand that everything that follows the because is B.S. (belief systems).  Follow their lead, figure out what you want, why you want it, and take action until it is done.  Go for it.

Think of the last vacation you’ve taken.  Where did you go?  Chances are you went to a location that you like, whether it was tropical, warm-weathered, or snowy if you like skiing.  We tend to categorize vacations not just on the activities we engage in but also the location.  It is the environment that is important.

This doesn’t mean that you should move your company to where you want to vacation, although you can.  It means that you should think about environment as well as what it is that your doing.  If you’re passionate about what you do and you love the location in which you do it, that is the ultimate lifestyle.

Many CEOs are now realizing the importance of location.  Not only for their own enjoyment but for their families as well.  Right now, there is a CEO shortage, and executive recruiters are having a hard time attracting executives to some areas of the country because they are not a fan of the location.  And so even if the pay is there, execs are evaluating the cost in terms of lifestyle as well.

Think about what you’re doing right now and where you’re doing it and ask yourself, “Am I doing what I love where I love?”  If the answer is yes, then, well done.  If not, consider whether it is worth it to you to find a better match for you.  The good news is that it’s totally up to you.  If you’re happy…wonderful.  If not, change it.

The Mehrabian studies indicate that 7% of our communication is verbal and the other 93% is communicated through voice tone and body language.  This idea has been debated in recent years because if I tell you the latest stock market update, my nonverbal communication is going to have little effect on the message you receive.

However, where the 93% nonverbal communication comes in is my emotions about the message.  That is to say, how do I feel about the stock market, is it up, is it down, have I lost or made money?  So the idea that 93% of our communication is nonverbal is true when it comes to the message about the message.

If someone sends you a text that says, “Thanks a lot.” Can you tell if they’re being genuine or not?  Depends on the context. And that’s what we lose with digital communication. We lose the ability to communicate context nonverbally with our tone of voice and body language.

So while it is okay to send emails and texts as they can be quite convenient.  We must also pay attention to the possible ambiguity of our message. Could it be misinterpreted?  If so, we can clarify further in the message but it can be just as quick to call them up or have a face to face meeting.  An in-person meeting itself is also a way to communicate importance. So think of your message as well as what type of message am I sending by sending this message in this way, get the message?  After all, it’s not what you say; it’s how you say it!

What reading does is that it not only expands our knowledge but it accelerates our learning curve and our success. Because most people learn through trial and error.  Trial and error is fine, but what does it cost you?  What does it cost you that is truly the one thing you can never get back?  Time.  Trial and error takes time.

By reading and expanding our knowledge, we can model others.  Find out what they did to create a particular result and then take what we like and leave the rest.  That’s what it is all about.  A couple things to keep in mind, of course, is that not all knowledge is created equal. If you want to be successful, study success.  Find someone who did what you want and then do what they did. The other thing to think about is speed of acquisition.  If you’re a 7 percenter, chances are you don’t always have time to go out and interview the people you want to study, that’s why reading their books, attending their seminars, or hiring them as a coach can accelerate your results.  That’s what it is all about, producing results, more efficiently and more effectively.

Think about an area of your life in which you want to create more success.  Think for a moment about how long it might take for you to master this area of your life or your business if you do it through trial and error.  And then think about how long it would take to create success if you model someone else, through reading or by attending a seminar or by hiring a coach.  My guess is that the choice is clear.  Decide now and go for it!

When dealing with people, it has been said before that “Fast is slow and slow is fast.”  While that seems completely counterintuitive, it does actually make sense.  When we communicate fast, we may be in such a rush that we leave out details or the message isn’t completely received. In the first situation, the other person may ask for more details, in the second, they may think they have all the details and act on incomplete information causing ineffective performance that may have to be redone.  That is why it can be critical to slow down, especially on important items.  I know for many this can be a challenge because it is important, we have energy, and we want to get it done.  But by slowing down, which seems backwards, we can actually speed up our results.

Can you slow down too much?  Absolutely.  So we have to find that balance of efficiency and effectiveness.  So pay attention to the feedback you’re getting from your people.  If they can handle a quick pass, great.  If they need you to do a handoff, pay attention to that and you’ll score touchdowns not only more frequently, but faster as well.

One of the biggest stress-inducing factors is the weather.  Because when bad weather hits, there’s not really much you can do.  If there are tornadoes in my hometown, no amount of switching flights is going to fix that.  And it is easy to see how stress can build up to a boiling point.

Recently I was in Connecticut hoping to fly home but was experiencing delays because of inclement weather.  And the airline was delaying flights left and right.  Cancelling is one thing, but a delay is something completely different.  With a cancellation, you can make arrangements and be done with it.  But a delay keeps you wondering, guessing, and stressing.

For one would-be passenger, it got to a breaking point.  Now this person appears to be a seasoned traveler, wearing a nice suit, has a briefcase, and gives the impression that he’s a business owner, consultant, or perhaps a CEO.  Now the successful CEOs that I know handle stress quite well.  In fact, they thrive on pressure.  But this guy broke under the pressure.  He started swearing left and right, about the airline, about the airport, and I think even about the city.  And he was not just swearing to himself, he was yelling it out for all to hear.

That someone is frustrated at the airport is certainly nothing new, but what was interesting was in less than a minute, what looked like two state troopers appear out of nowhere, one with a big dog in tow, and they ask the guy to put his hands behind his back.  He does.  They take his ticket and he lunges after it, big mistake.  They subdue him even further.  Finally, they have him cuffed, they grab his bag and walk away.  And the whole airport applauds.

Not only had I never seen someone cuffed in an airport, but I had not seen such solidarity in a group that was obviously frustrated as well.  Everyone wanted to get home or start their vacation, some handled the stress well, some didn’t.

It became clear to me that I wasn’t the only one who was put off by his visible display of frustration.  In today’s environment, it is expected to have some amount of frustration when you travel.  The same is true in business.  Business is full of frustration and challenges.  But they are also opportunities to dig down deep and see what we’re made of.  Can we handle this?  Yes.  How are we going to behave through the stress.  Because how we handle the pressure has a big impact on the culture of our organization.

Think about how you handle stress.  What do your employees or your co-workers see when you’re under stress.  Are they impressed by your ability to handle uncertainty, or do they get to see parts of your personality that you’d rather they didn’t.

Check out the following video on Nick Vujicic.

The first factor is Scarcity.  They’re not making any more land.  In fact, as the coast lines erode, we could even say that there is less land.  And scarcity equals value.  The more that availability is limited, the more valuable it is.  How does this relate you?  One thing to keep in mind is to not make yourself to available.  If you call someone to set up an appointment and they tell you that they’re wide open for the next few weeks and that anytime works, it makes you wonder why they’re so available and you begin to question their value.

Another factor is Convenience.  Depending on where you want to live, proximity to certain elements such as grocery stories, downtown areas, theaters, airports, etc, can be important.  The further we are from these resources, the longer it takes to use them which costs us our most valuable resource: time.  One way to use this is to think about ways that you can make your work environment more convenient.  Is there anything you’re doing consistently that is costing you time.  This will make your location more supportive and enable you to produce results more quickly.  If you do something for 5 minutes every hour, such as look through papers trying to find documents, that’s 3.3 hours a week, 165 hours a year, or 4 forty-hour work weeks.  What can you do with an extra 4 weeks a year?

Lastly, the Environment itself is key factor in determining the value of a location.  This is the ambience, the feeling you get when you are at the home.  The main question you need to ask yourself is when you walk into your office, do you feel energized?  If you do, then your environment supports you.  If not, you need to look around and find out what the problem is.  Is it cluttered, is it not organized the way you want it, what’s missing that you need, or what’s present that you want to get rid of.  Take a look and see what you need to do.  Do it today!

Like most guys, I love electronics.  To me, technology is fun and exciting and it can be like a puzzle.  If you’re trying to connect things that are unrelated, it is a puzzle that can be solved if you have the right materials and understand the problem.  The solution for many of my electronic compatibility issues is, of course: Radio Shack!

Whenever I need a connector cable that is unusual, I’m reasonably confident that I can find what I need at the Shack.  Earlier today I went to procure a needed cable and asked the sales attendant for some assistance in finding the cable.  He responds by asking me if I want to buy a Blackberry Bold and proceeded to tell me how great it was.  All I was interested in was getting a cable but that wasn’t the conversation that he wanted to have.  Soon, I pulled out my own Blackberry Bold and told him that I already had one and that all I needed today was a cable.

I certainly don’t mind upsells such as the classic, “Do you want fries with that?” but the problem I had was that there was no relationship and more importantly diagnosis.  Had he taken the time to assess my situation, perhaps we could have determined that what I really needed was a new stereo receiver, instead of a cable.  But the damage was done and I was clear, 30 seconds into the conversation that all I was going to buy was the cable.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some great salespeople at Radio Shack who get in there, figure out what you’re trying to do, understand the problems your having, and then help you come up with the solution.  And that’s what being a good salesperson, a good manager, and a good leader is all about.  Helping people get clear about the objective, the obstacles, and the solution.

In whatever capacity you are in, make sure that you always diagnose, then prescribe.

One of the things he did was to create a situation in which the client was clear about what they wanted and was ready to buy once they saw the solution that met their specific needs.  The challenge is that client’s don’t always know what they want and need to be educated.  So before the actual presentation, the sales director would talk with the client about a proposal that they were working on that the client was sure to like.  The client gets excited but is told that there are a few problems with the campaign as well.  Of course, the client isn’t as interested.  Then later on, another proposal is being prepared that overcomes the first proposal’s issues but has some different issues.  The client is initally excited but disappointed because of the apparent pitfalls.  Then last, but not least, on the final day of the presentation they reveal the ideal proposal for a marketing campaign that solves both sets of problems associated with the first two campaigns.  The client is thrilled and buys the campaign.

Have you seen this before?  Of course you have.  Anyone who has worked with a realtor before has seen this framing strategy in action.  The realtor first shows you a run-down fixer-upper that doesn’t meet your needs, onto an over-priced house to set the contrasting price frame, and then finally the perfect house at the right price is the last one you see and hopefully buy because of your contrasting frames.

As you can see, framing is everything.  We don’t know how to evaluate something unless we have something to compare it to.  When communicating with a client, co-worker, or employee, think about what framing is necessary to get them to see things in the same way that you do.  One of the things I liked about the sales director’s strategy is that he woud do the contrasting before the meeting through subtle hints.  It wasn’t one, two, three on the day of the meeting.  He was able to educate the consumer and show contrast all out of awareness and before the big day.  The client sees you’ve done your homework and put a lot of time and effort into creating the best proposal possible which is ideally irresistible.

There’s no reason we can’t do the same thing in our day to day communications.  Over the next day or say, pay attention to how people frame their call to actions and how you frame yours.  And pay attention to the responses that each call to action generates.  Enjoy!