Mark Matteson - It's About TIME

"It's About TIME!"

My newest e-book "It's About TIME" is now available on my website bookstore. Here is an excerpt from it. This book is about living your life with no regret. It is about eliminating the IF ONLY I HAD’s in your life. If you follow the suggestions, you will live a full and rich life and accomplish twice as much in half the time. You will have realized that vast potential within you. We have all the time there is. No one has any more or less of it: 24 hours in a day, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds. Ever hear someone say Do you have a second? That usually means an hour. Why don’t we say no? The truth is we don’t manage time very well. We are not mindful. We manage activities in relation to the sands of time, dropping through our own personal hourglass. No time? That’s a myth. Here are some other myths about time. I call them Rational Lies. See if you are guilty of using one or more of these excuses. I know I have. 1.I am waiting until I have more time. 2.It (planning) doesn’t work for me. 3.I always lose my list. 4.I already took a time management course (or read the book). 5.You just can’t get organized around here. 6.But there is nothing I can do. 7.People keep interrupting me. 8.Time Management is boring. 9.Isn’t there a danger you will get so organized you can’t get anything done? 10. I need someone to motivate me. Is it time to be honest? Are you operating on a small fraction of your potential? Would you like to learn how to get twice as much done in half the time? If you answered yes, read on... My mother passed away two years ago. Her sand was all gone. She was one of the best time managers I ever knew. We finally sold her house. As we divided up her lifetime of possessions, I was struck by how incredibly organized she was in every aspect of her life: finances, closets, book shelf, scrapbooks and pictures, even her kitchen. She labeled everything! It was clear much of what she owned reflected how proud she was of her history, British history, family history, the things she loved and cared about. Her home was a shrine to a life well lived and traveled. Some of those treasured belongings ended up in my house. Now I had nine pounds of coffee in a five pound can. What to do? I had INSPIRATIONAL DISSATISFACTION. I sat down and mind-mapped this massive project. I decided to go through every room, closet, nook, cranny, and shelf to purge, sort, toss, and clean. In reorganizing my bookshelf, I created a shelf just for books on time management and organization. I went back and reread some classics on the subject, choosing the best of the twenty-five books on the subject. It was a reminder of the things I used to do, but got out of the habit of doing. Good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with. I will post more from it next week...until then, "Is it about time you improved your effectiveness?

ANYWAY!

I read a little book entitled Anyway by Keith Kent. He lists the 10 Paradoxical Commandments. They remind me of my youngest son, Evan. In December of 2010, my wife and I flew to Oahu to watch him play basketball, three games on three islands. They won all three and it was a defining moment in his college basketball career. After I read that book, it hit me, HE lives many of these commandments. It’s just who he is. Here they are. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them ANYWAY! If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good ANYWAY! If you are successful you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed ANYWAY! The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good ANYWAY! Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank ANYWAY! The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas will be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think Big ANYWAY! People favor the underdogs but follow only the top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs ANYWAY! What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build ANYWAY! People may need help but attack you if you try to help them. Help people ANYWAY! Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have ANYWAY! There is a man in Hawaii by the name of Robert Alm. He is a successful attorney and banker. He created a program called the Live Aloha Program. The meaning for Aloha they had in mind deals with caring, affection, and courtesy. Here is the list of their examples: >Respect your elders and children >Leave places better than you found them >Hold the door for others >Hold the elevator for others >Plan something >Return your shopping cart >Get out and enjoy nature >Pick up litter >Share with your neighbors >Create smiles Simple ideas. What if you tried them out for thirty days, even if people think you are strange. Try them ANYWAY. Evan’s coaches, friends, teammates, and parents of teammates tell me with great regularity how nice our son is...all 6’ 11” of him. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a competitor and doesn’t want to win. He blocks your shot, then helps you up! I think its because he lives those 10 Commandments. He got them from his mother! As of this writing, he has been invited to a try out with the NBA team, The Golden State Warriors in October of 2012. All his hard work has paid off. He has a terrific foundation of hard work, focused effort, discipline and goal achievement. He will go as far as he sets his mind to. ANYWAY, that’s enough from the proud Dad.

"Snake Pliskin, I thought you were dead!" It's a callback, a reoccurring line from one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the campy movie starring Kurt Russell, "Escape from New York. No, I am not dead. I took a blog sabbatical. It's been ten months since my last blog post. A few people asked me why the silence? A few lame excuses come to mind but not one good reason. Here are the excuses: 1) My mother passed away 2) I have been Tweeting and posting on LinkedIn every day 3) Isn't my monthly e-zine enough writing for crying out loud? 4) I wrote a new book "Wag More, Bark Even Less" 5) I wrote a new e-book "It's About TIME" (HOW TO GET TWICE AS MUCH DONE IN HALF THE TIME!) 6) I have been busy traveling abroad speaking. 7) Not enough people are reading my blog. 8) I have this hang nail.... 9) I am a lazy blogger. 10) I traveled around the country watching my youngest son play BB for his senior year of college. Not one good reason. Time to follow my own advice. "It's About TIME" Reading my new friend Kevin Knebl's terrific book "The Social Media Sales Revolution" particularly the chapter on Blogging kick me in the butt. No more excuses. I will post weekly until I die. Honest. What are my REASONS for blogging? They might be your reasons too! Here they are: 1) It's easy. I write in my journal every day, why not do it online too? 2) People seem to like what I write. 3) I love to talk (hey I am a professional speaker!) I talk like I write. 4) I love to write about the things I am passionate about and do for my clients (Sales, Marketing, Communication, Relationships, Leadership, Learning, Team Building, Customer Service, Presentation Skills, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Time Management, Personal Development, Humor/Comedy/Improv and Basketball) 5)I would like to believe I have something to say and do so pretty well. Five Reasons is a good start. GIMME FIVE MAN! What are your reasons to Blog? Did you know there are 120 million bloggers but only 7.4% have updated their blog in the last 90-days! It's like a gym membership, thousands of members, only a few show up with great regularity! It's the 80/20 rule, Pareto's Law. How many people do you know that have a Bowflex machine that is the most expensive coat hanger in their bedroom? Enough talk. It's time for action. But first, I think I'll watch "Escape From New York" tonight. Spoiler alert! Kurt Russell does't die!

Throw Your Hat Over the Fence

A wise old farmer asked his fourteen year old grandson to help him with a long overdue project, to remove the boards from a six foot high fence that needed repair one saturday morning. He laid out exactly WHAT he wanted done and WHY it was so important, as any good leader would. The HOW was up to his grandson.

He checked back on his grandson an hour later only to find the young man standing there wearing his favorite cowboy hat staring at the imposing task.

Not a single board had been removed. “What’s wrong Johnny?” the grandfather asked. Looking down at his cowboy boots in shame, he replied, “Well, this fence is so high and its going to take a lot of work and time for me to get all the boards down. I am having a hard time getting started,” tipping his favorite hat back on his young head in frustration.

With that, the farmer grabbed his grandson’s cowboy hat and threw it over the fence.

“Hey, why did you do that! That’s my favorite hat!”

“Johnny, as I told you father when he was your age, in order to get your hat back, you are going to have to take down a few boards. Once you get going, you might find you have to take down a few more. At that point, you may decide to stop for the day. That’s okay because you can come back tomorrow, throw your hat over the fence again and take down a few more boards. Eventually, before you know it, the job is done.”

The young man smiled, looked up his grandpa and went to work.

Sometimes, we just have to toss our favorite hat over big jobs and start. Action cures fear. What are you putting off? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Go find your favorite hat and toss it over your next big fence project.


Mark Matteson, Author, Speaker
206.697.0454

Watch my inspiring demo video:
http://sparkingsuccess.net

How Do You Know It's Bad

My oldest son Colin has been playing professional basketball since he graduated from University of Fairbanks, Alaska in 2009. First he played in Cottbus, Germany and led his team to the championship. Next it was off to Darwin, Australia where he averaged 27 points per game including three 42 point games (hitting 10 three pointers several times in one game!) Recently he signed with a club in England.

We were excited. My grandfather was a Coldstream Guard in London during WW2. I spend five summers in England as a child. My late mother met my father in Ryslip, England in 1949 where my father was playing semi-pro basketball while stationed in Uxbridge. Colin skills and hard work had united three generations. It had come full circle.

When Colin arrived at Heathrow Airport last week, he was detained for seven hours by customs. Evidently he did not have the correct Visa. Inevitably he was sent back to America to sort out this faux-pas. He mentioned he was hungry after six hours and was directed to a table where there was a bag of potato chips and a moldy orange. (The British are not famous for their food.)

Devastated, exhausted after 36 hours of traveling we sat down to discuss his options and next steps. In the midst of his pain I asked him, “How do you know its bad?” He looked at me like I was insane. We went to work securing the correct visa online. It took six hours. He was told he would need to visit a company that would take his fingerprints and photograph and he would have his new and correct visa in 7-10 business days.

Three days later he received a call from a First Division Team in Ireland. An offer for five times what the English Team was going to pay him! He leaves for Limmerick, Ireland on Tuesday.

When one door closes, another opens up. Every dark cloud has a silver lining. How do you know its bad? Now he understands those are not simply clever phrases in the midst of adversity and setback. They are laws live Gravity.

The next time you receive some distressing news, remember the question, HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S BAD? It might just land you in Ireland!

A Different Kind of Teacher PART THREE

Declarations are a simple way to assimilate the positive precepts into your life and make them your own. Below are the 13 Habits that will change your life for good. Read each one two to five times a day for a week and then move to the next one. At the end of the year, you have gone through each one four times. Ben Franklin taught this simple strategy in his autobiography, perhaps the first self-help book ever written in this country. It worked for Ben. Maybe it will work for me and you?

I choose to be HAPPY today! I am as happy as I make my mind up to be. I make gratitude lists regularly. I love my life.

I dominate the LISTENING in every conversation. I listen, pause, question and paraphrase. “Yes and then what happened...?” is a favorite phrase of mine.

I SMILE twice an hour, 24 times a day! I am quick to Laugh. Joy and gratitude are habits of thought and feeling today.

I look for ways to humbly SERVE others every day.

I ACCEPT people, place and things as being exactly the way they are supposed to be. I love people and life.

I look SHARP and dress well. I have self-respect.

I take personal RESPONSIBILITY for all of my actions and decisions. When I am wrong I promptly admit it and move on.

I enjoy a POSITIVE outlook on life. I am an Optimist.

I FORGIVE others easily and quickly.

I am a FAMILY FIRST Guy.

I PRAISE others consistently every day. I am a GOOD finder!

I use SELF-EFFACING Humor and others feel safe around me.

I am FIT at Fifty Four. I eat small portions, quality food and exercise 6x a week. I love to workout.

Mark Matteson, Author, Speaker

206.697.0454

email = mark@sparkingsuccess.net

Watch my inspiring demo video:

http://sparkingsuccess.net