Living in Community

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” - Jane Howard

It’s a funny thing, on one hand we want to compete with each other; to be in the top of the class, to win the scholarship, to climb the corporate ladder faster, to be the best parent, to have the best retirement, golf score, yard, or antique car. On the other hand we desperately need each other; to work together, to have a tight knit community, safety in numbers, collaborating for friendships, family, and a better life together.

Even though, competition exists at all phases of life, as we mature, it’s encouraging to see that competition seems to give way more and more to community, relationships, and authenticity. It’s not about impressing others or reaching higher successes, but finding more ways to be significant in our communities and with the ones we love.

In many ways, a business can personify this philosophy of community. Businesses are micro-communities and it’s truly incredible bringing people, ideas, and fun together. Weaving the community together into the tapestry that is each organization.

A tight knit community always contains these 3 “C’s”:

1. Communication that is open and has spirit of learning
2. Coordination of events, ideas, and people all working together for a better life.
3. Cooperation as an attitude of curiosity and willingness to learn and work towards common goals.

A tight knit community contains these 3 attributes*:

1. Care as the active concern for the physical needs of others
2. Responsibility as caring for the higher needs of others
3. Respect as allowing others to grow at their own pace

It is the desire of great leaders to be an incredible resource to their organization/team and work to bring success, even more opportunities for significance, and doing it all in the spirit of building a truly tight knit community.

After all; call it a family, a community, love for others, or whatever you want. We all need it.

Enjoy Life!

Jon Bohm
Owner-Coach- Speaker
Driven Coaching
jon@drivencoaching.com
623.505.9330
www.drivencoaching.com
www.jonbohm.com
Building priceless leaders and stellar organizations.
* Care, responsibility, and respect is a great concept from Joseph Jaworski's book Synchronicity

6 Do's and Don'ts for Organizational Communication

"Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up." Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

3 "Do's:"

1. DO: OVER-COMMUNICATE Vision and Values. It doesn't matter if you think everyone has heard it or knows them. 99% of the time the executive team thinks they have beat it into the ground and the rest of the team couldn't tell you what they are.

2. DO: COMMUNICATE THE SELF EVIDENT - or, at least if it's a Core Value. Many leaders tell me they don't need to communicate positive attitude, friendliness, excellence, or integrity. And after all, these are their handpicked team. However, core values shape the culture, and communicating them drives the values from a list on the wall to culture that can be experienced. For example the Declaration of Independence; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,..." Some things may not be self evident later- and that is precisely when they are needed most.

3. DO: COMMUNICATE WITH YOURSELF - Strange but true. We communicate in our mind about our external factors and internally how we feel about ourselves all the time. Actually, at the alarming rate of 60 million bits of information per second. Be intentional and positive about what you are saying to yourself. The organization will pick up on (and believe) what your attitude and body language are saying faster than your words. What is going on in your head will effect your message.

3 "Don'ts:

4. DON'T: FOLLOW THE "3 TIMES MODEL"- I have seen many times where people from some antiquated speech class are told this "Say what you are going to say, say it, and say what you said." Argh! Please stop doing this. We live in the information age and don't need to be told what you are going to say- just say it. And don't follow it up by telling me what you just said, I know... I was there, I will wonder if you were.

5. DON'T FOLLOW THE PREACHER'S MODEL - If you visit church, you will most likely find it is still customary to sit and listen as the preacher speaks for a period of time and then the congregation goes home. I don't know why this is still the custom or why it ever became one in churches. But in organizations, this is a bad idea. Nobody wants to be preached to or at. Communication is a 2 way street and learning through lecture is the least effective style of learning there is. Find a way to create a 2 way street, even if you have to give a speech. Texting, comments on social media, and asking questions are all easy ways to turn a lecture into something more effective.

6. DON'T IGNORE THE HUMAN ELEMENT - Many meetings in 2010 existed of tough conversations, and decisions that involved cutting, trimming, or furloughing people. Sometimes this bad news must be communicated, but ignoring or not placing a high value on the human emotion as it's communicated will destroy the culture and morale faster than lighting the place on fire. Never speak until you know what others are thinking, feeling, and experiencing before you open the can of communication.

Happy Friday!

Make it a great weekend and cheers to better communication in 2011!

Jon Bohm

5 ways to keep your Comfort Zone from Smothering You

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them." ~ Ann Landers

My family and I were on vacation in California, and it was the time of year right before fall when the vacation crowds are gone and the pool is on the edge of being too cold to swim in and enjoy. The water felt great in the mid afternoon, but once the sun went down it started to feel borderline icy. You know that scared feeling and anticipation you get on the edge of a pool when your anticipating the water might be cold enough to take your breathe away and you are about to jump in?

Well, don't jump in dummy? Right? Easy fix. I agree, except I had an excited 4 year old and 2 year old that had been waiting to go swimming with their Dad all day. This stinks. So, I knew I was going in, and before I could count to "1" my 2 year old was in the pool, it took her breathe away and she started swimming and having a ball. And splash, just like that my 4 year old was in and begging for me. Do you remember your younger days when your comfort zone was big enough to handle a cold pool? I do, vaguely. But, somewhere along the line I only started swimming when it was a perfect 85 degrees. I got so used to the comfort of warm swimming water in AZ, my comfort zone had shrunk in so far that I probably would not even be able to swim, at all, in my old state of New York. It's just too cold.

A funny thing happens if we aren't paying attention, just like a frog will not jump out of a pot of hot water as long as the temperature raises gradually, we get stuck in a forever shrinking comfort zone. We all do it, it's part of being human; to seek the comfortable, to walk the path of least resistance.

It used to be easy to jump in cold water, meet strangers, interview for a new job, run a mile, get involved at great risk to yourself for a leadership role, ask your spouse out, tell your friends they mean the world to you, stand up for yourself or someone else, put yourself out there, take a financial risk, or any risk at all for that matter, and the list goes on.

When did you quit jumping into cold water? What has your shrinking comfort zone stolen from you? Playing with your kids, a chance at a better life, new friends, passion? Whatever it is, it's probably more than you are willing to admit.

Here are a few things you can do to expand the comfort zone:

1. Jump in and quit thinking. We "over think" everything as adults. And often without progress.

2. When all is said and done. Be the one who did more than was said. Quit talking about what you will do someday and start being the one who did it, and then talk.

3. Do one thing every day that pushes you off the edge. You know when your on the edge. So, everyday jump in once for a few minutes - meet the stranger, take a risk, do the unexpected, ask for the raise.

4. Play. You can always find ways to play and have a good time. The older we get, it seems the more intentional we have to be, but you can do it. Have fun with life, even when the environment you're in doesn't seem to be "play friendly."

5. Pick up a new hobby. Even if it doesn't stick, pick it up and look at it anyway. Cooking, art, outdoors, biking, running, games with friends, pogo sticks :), support a cause, volunteer, and you get the idea.

Expanding comfort zones nationally and encouraging you to jump in before you get too comfortable to enjoy life,

Jon Bohm

Leading up the Ladder

Tom Landry, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said something that may be true of nearly any motivator: “I have a job to do that is not very complicated, but it is difficult: to get a group of men to do what they don’t want to do so they can achieve the one thing they have wanted all of their lives.”

At what point does someone become the type of leader that is worth millions to an organization or team? What does it take? There are many answers to that question that we could use to describe someone like Tom Landry, Jim Boeheim, Phil Jackson, John Wooden, or one of my current favorites Ken Whisenhunt.

One thing, they all have in common, is that they have the ability to motivate people and players to higher performance- to fight through pain and achieve at the highest levels of their potential.

This requires conquering 3 levels of leadership.

1- They have climbed to the rung of leading themselves - this means they know who they are, they like the person in the mirror, and they have become confident internally with what they know they can do. They have the capacity to truly care for others and confident in the circle of people that care about them.

2- They have climbed to the rung of informal leadership - this is the behind the scenes leadership, locker room conversations about life and leadership, inspiring others through conversation and small group huddles. They can rally energy in others when they walk into the room.

3 - They have climbed to the rung of formal leadership - they can drive a team/organization by grabbing the energy of everyone involved, they recruit, train, develop, and strategize to surround themselves with smart high performing people and then rally the team to the cause.

A leader who has climbed this 3 rung ladder is the type of leader that an organization can not pay enough, support enough, or give enough too. They are truly priceless in a world of insecurity, disorganization, and dispassionate living.

Which rung are you on? Are you priceless to your organization? You can be, the secret is ....it never happens on accident.

Creating Priceless Leaders -

Jon Bohm

Business Owner today -Entrepreneur tomorrow

"Nothing is so successful that it can't be mismanaged. If you lose sight of what you are doing, it could be here today and gone tomorrow."- Jim Pohlad (Owner of the Minnesota Twins)

What are you doing? Whatever you do to pay the bills or take care of the family, what are you doing it for? Money, kids, to make a difference? This is a very important question and the answer to which must be kept front and center, or it will be gone.

Often, when business owners started their business they new they were doing it to build a better life, have more time, make a difference, etc. But, along the way they became not only the owner but the CEO, CFO, COO, manager, supervisor, and sometimes even the hourly wage worker. The ideals of a better life get swallowed with working harder and surviving and paying the bills. Without much thought, just like that, you can lose sight of what you got in this for in the first place. Same thing with being a Parent, a coach, or a teacher.

Since I can't speak to everything in a short blog, here is an overly simplified model to entrepreneurial success:

1. Solve the $ Step - If you don't plan and save to get far enough ahead to invest in others and better systems you will be left spending everyday and hour (every dinner with your spouse) not thinking about anything, except, how can I make more $ so I don't go out of business. Some people stay at step one their entire life- this is very sad to me as a coach.
2. Solve the time step - Use the money you saved or set aside in step 1 to buy yourself more time. Hire, delegate, create, and build new time saving systems.
3. Use the time you bought for yourself to find inspiration, new ideas, better ways of doing things, and creative energy to build your life and/or your business to new heights.

Where are you stuck? Which step is next? How are you going to get to the next step?

Of course, I'm here to help you do that. Just never lose site of what got you in this in the first place. Have fun!

Enjoy Life!

Creating Entrepreneurs everyday,

Jon Bohm

Can't Change the Game? Change the Players.

Playing a game as kids there is always someone who would bend the rules, make up new rules, or re-create the game on the spot if it benefited them. Man, did you hate that or what!? Unless, that was you ruining the ability to play fair for the rest of us.

We were always told - you can't do that! We hated on them and we called unfair or conspiracy, depending on how many people were trying to change the rules.

Now, here we are all grown up and those that have figured out how to change the rules of the game to benefit them are the winners. As an entrepreneur, if you can change the way the game is played - kudos to you- do it. Google, Facebook, online magazines, Tivo, Apple, netflix, etc. have changed the rules in their industry. In one way or another they are making the world play their game. And just like when we are kids - the people that hate you for it feel like you are making them lose and those that benefit love your influence.

But, what about most of us? Are we game changers? I hope so, we try to be. But, often we don't get to change the rules. We have to play the game by whomever is changing the rules.

So, we will have to pick one of 2 options:

1. Take our ball and go home= you will no longer be playing the game, or refusing to play the game will often get your boss to send you home as well if the marketplace doesn't send you home first.
2. Realize if you can't change the game- change the players. Starting with you.

In today's marketplace the rules are changing everyday.

Are you going to take your ball and go home or worse get sent home?

Or are you going to change the players starting with you?

If you think your industry isn't changing- beware you are probably inches away from being sent home.

If you can't change the game - change the players.

Changing players in every industry everyday,

Jon Bohm

Learning from LeBron

Or, maybe I should say learning from LeBron's choices and circumstances surrounding his move to the Miami Heat.

There is a lot of media surrounding what LeBron did, how he went about it, and even speculation on why he didn't tell Cav's owner (Dan Gilbert) before he announced to the world his decision to leave the Cav's and move to the Heat. The aftermath is hurt and broken relationships as bridges of trust and loyalty burn to the ground.

No matter what, how, or why LeBron did what he did. One thing is for sure- any loyalty that may have existed between LeBron and and the Cav's is gone, and any relationship that may have existed between Gilbert and LeBron is also gone.

So, was it worth it for LeBron? For Gilbert? Who knows? And only time will tell.

The takeaway from all of this is that loyalty is good business. From Gilbert's perspective, had he fostered a deep loyalty in LeBron, it's more likely LeBron would still be with the Cav's. And, if LeBron had fostered loyalty and relationships with the team and Gilbert he would be more marketable, and he may have left without burning the bridges so many fans were standing on.

Loyalty exists when expectations are exceeded, period. What we can learn from LeBron is at the end of the day- relationships, loyalty, and expectations is the basis for decisions made in business. Sure money is an issue, contracts, and price all get into the game. But relationships, expectations, and loyalty trump every time sooner or later.

Obviously, LeBron's expecations either grew or were never met with the Cav's (he took a pay cut to go to the Heat.) Gilbert's expectations either grew or were never met with LeBron (LeBron accomplished nothing towards a championship). This causes a relationship breakdown and loyalty comes apart at the seams.

Is your business exceeding expectations? Are you creating loyalty and relationships among your internal and external customers? Do you even know?

In your personal life it's the same way. Marriage? Friendships? Work life and piers? Are you exceeding expectations?

Our challenge is not in how, what, or why other people do what they do. Rather, our challenge is where we set the bar in our own life, and how high we are willing to jump to create loyalty and relationships that will eventually trump everything else... sooner or later.

Exceeding expectations,
Jon Bohm

Reinventing Yourself - What next?

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential, for the eye which , ever young and ardent, sees the possible.- Soren Kierkegaard

I was hanging out with my 4 year old son the other day and I was impressed with the excitement he finds in all the little things in life like learning a new word, understanding how something works, the adventure of playing in the backyard, and eating a new food. His energy and adventure is contagious. As we get older, and we have lived a full life and tried everything under the sun. We can have the tendency to write off all the things we don't like and embrace what we do enjoy, this causes the excitement and passion for life and new adventure to fade.

For example, I would love to get my pilot's license and then fly the country in my own airplane. This is an adventure and it would be an incredible thrill for me. My Dad, on the other hand, has had his pilot's license - he has been there and done that. The excitement has worn off, so what's next? Maybe for my Dad it's time to get some buddies together and build their own plane, time to take a passion and reinvent it. Re-create it with fresh perspective and new skills.

Once you have traveled the world, fought in 2 world wars, lived, loved and know yourself well. What is left? What excitement, challenge, and fervor for life and adventure is there? Maybe it's time to re-invent yourself?

Is it time for you to get some new energy from an old passion? Is it time to date your spouse again? Renew your vows? Check an item off the bucket list? Build something? Find a new talent? Or maybe the greatest reinvention is to plant seeds off your tree of experience into the life and mind of someone else?

Enjoy this true story:

Anna Mary Moses loved to do needlework. She had been enjoying it since before she was married. But as she began to get older, she started to lose some of the dexterity in her hands through arthritis. By the time she was eighty, she could no longer perform even the simplest stitches. Therefore she decided to try something different—painting. The brushes were easy enough to handle, even with her arthritis, so she took it up full time, mostly painting farm and country scenes.

One day a traveling art collector stopped for a bite to eat in her town and saw her pictures in a drugstore. He decided that he liked them, and in a very short time the name of Grandma Moses was known throughout the art world. Although Grandma Moses didn’t even start painting until she was eighty years old, she was able to create over fifteen hundred works of art in her lifetime. She had an international following, and prominence as a world-class painter.

All this because she was forced to quit her favorite pastime and take up a new one.

Success cannot be measured in time, or what anyone else thinks. It's personal and powerful when you are reaching your own goals. Never stop learning, dreaming, and re-inventing the wonderful life you have been given. The world is a playground, and there is always something new to explore. Sometimes the greatest exploration is done inside your own mind and life.

Dream it, find it, and live it. After all... this is YOUR one shot at life.

Jon Bohm

A Star is Born

"Many an opportunity is lost because a (wo)man is out looking for four-leaf clovers." ~ Anon

I was reading my son is bedtime story and it happened to include an interesting story about how a star is born in space. It requires 3 major elements for the star to be born; gas, gravity, and timing. Read more about the science behind this here.

What a great metaphor for each of us. We all want to be "stars" in our own world, family, industry, or peer group. We want to make a difference to bring the right things together and maybe the biggest motivator - we want to be recognized for it. We want to shine, brightly!

It's easy to think that this is a function of luck.

• If I had their background, looks, luck, than I would be a star too
• If I had bought when they bought I would be rich too
• If my daddy owned "x" company I would be in the right circles
• If my kids were born without that disability

The more I work with people in a behind the scenes capacity with widely successful people the more I realize there is no four leaf clover, there is no lucky situation, and there is no lottery ticket. The magic bullet to success doesn't exist.

What appears to be lucky timing or lucky resources is not luck at all - it's simply preparation, passion to find resources, and the ability to expect opportunity (timing.) 3 ingredients that happen out of purpose and direction. To the skeptical outsider it appears to be lucky. But, it's not.

You want to be a star? 3 simple ingredients must exist to shine brightly -

1. Prepare yourself to become who you want to become. You want to be a star, act like one, now.

2. Find your passion and you will find the resources. Trust me, if you want it badly enough you will find the resources- or they will find you.

3. Look for opportunity with an expectation, a certainty of someone who knows the sun will rise tomorrow.

Stars are born everyday, in every economy, industry, and family. The only question is: will YOU look inside for the opportunity and put the ingredients in place or will continue to look for four leaf clovers and lottery tickets?

Expecting great things for you!

Jon Bohm

Are you Haunted?

Have you ever had a feeling or a thought you couldn't get away from? Like it was haunting you?

We typically think of this as a bad thing that occurs after a tragic experience or from the pain of a previous choice. But, I have found that most of the dynamic, driven, and high performance people are haunted by something.

Something that salts their life with passion, purpose, and drive that goes deep within them and pulls their emotions off the sideline and into the game of life.

I have a stress dream (nightmare) I had when I was battling cancer in which I was dying and all of the dreams I had for my future were dying with me, untold speeches, unwritten books, unchanged lives, and a mediocre life for myself. That one nightmare changed my life forever, it has haunted me ever since. I can't wake up and live without urgency, passion to make a difference, and emotion that drives me to an extraordinary life. It is my "why" to get up in the morning and it haunts me every day of my life. That nightmare was a gift that keeps on giving.

Do you have something that haunts you? That drives you to passion, purpose, that gets you actively and emotionally living your life? If not, find it. Look for it in daily life when you find yourself engaged, enraged, or just happy. Be haunted by your future successes and the fantastic life you have waiting for you, however you measure it.

George Eastman, inventor and founder of the Eastman-Kodak Company, often said that he never set out to become rich. Nor was it specifically his intent to promote photography. Eastman had lost his father while he was still young, and he was forced to watch his mother struggle to provide the bare essentials for George and his two sisters. Memories of his mother mopping floors and washing clothes for other people haunted George like a bad dream throughout his life. Consequently, he vowed to make enough money so that his mother would never have to work again. - One Minute Motivator

Actually, he made millions, and he revolutionized photography—but his real goal was to make a comfortable living for his mother. And that is the power that compassion for another can have.

May we all be so blessed to be haunted by compassion.

Enjoy YOUR Life!

Jon Bohm

Dog Cakes on the Path to Success

"Your sweetest successes always come after some of your most sour mistakes."

Confusing a mistake for a failure is a common thing to do. We often (mentally or emotionally) think and feel that a mistake or a trial and error is a failure to some degree, but really it's just a part of your next success.

You haven't failed until you quit making mistakes, and therefore quit moving forward.

A client of mine told me a great story of Saturday pancake breakfasts at his house growing up. His Dad would be up earlier than everyone else and his Dad would start to make pancakes for the family. The smell would fill the house and by the time they got up, there was coffee brewing and a giant stack of perfectly golden pancakes. The family dog was normally a beggar, but never begged on Saturday mornings. Because, as it turns out, every Saturday before the family was up- Dad would burn the first batch of pancakes, which he gave to the family dog. These were the "Dog Cakes."

The "Dog Cakes" had to be made, they had to burn the oil off the pan before you could ever get to the golden brown beauties that came next. The "Dog Cakes" were a right of passage, an important part of the journey towards a perfect pancake.

When you start a new venture, launch a new product, make your first cold calls, try to connect emotionally, give a speech for the 1st time since high school, or anything else- be ready and willing to have some "dog cakes." But, don't confuse a few "dog cakes" with failure.

"Dog cakes" are not failures, or even mistakes, they are a part of the process to the perfect success. Don't be afraid of them. Don't run from opportunity because of them. Rather embrace them.

Believe me, your greatest successes will come after a short stack of "dog cakes." The faster you burn the oil off the pan the faster you will taste sweet success.

Hungry for Life-

Jon Bohm

The Choice YOU have to Make Today

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

I went for a hike in some of the mountains near my house the other day and it got me thinking about all the comparisons that can be made between a hike in the mountains and life. One in particular jumped out at me.

When I started my hike, I had to choose which path I would take. The trail map showed a rating for each trail based on:

• Ruggedness of terrain
• Elevation height
• Elevation change

I chose, as I often do in life, to take the most challenging trail. I want the one with the highest peaks and the lowest valleys, I want the one with the hardest trail that can take my breathe out of my lungs and replace it with a burning sensation, the one that makes my legs ache and burn. But, this trail also offers me the greatest breathtaking views, the greatest sense of accomplishment, and the greatest overall rewards.

We have to make this same choice everyday. If you get married you are choosing a path with much higher highs and much lower lows than a single person will have. If you open a business, likewise higher highs and lower lows. If you step out and volunteer to give that speech, to write that book, to handle that challenging situation at work, to commit to a workout program, to ask that person out...you get the idea. Anytime we choose to step into the ring and pick the rugged trail in life with the most elevation change, you are picking a different life than the majority of people who are simply content to go for a stroll on a smooth flat path that will never experience the breath taking views nor the pain of the climb.

Which path have you chosen in your life? Which path will you choose in the future? Which path will you take today?

As for me, call it a curse, but I have to take the rugged trail to the top, the view is just to amazing to pass up on.

See you on the trail, I hope to see at the top!

Enjoy the Climb!

Jon Bohm

Reflect back and plan forward....

2 weeks into the New Year, are you rolling? Are you on your way to making 2010 truly better than '09?

The start of a new year is always a great time to reflect back and plan forward. Here are some great questions to springboard that thinking. (Remember; you're more likely to achieve something if you plan for it and write it down, so ... get your pens ready! Here goes:

As you reflect on this past year, what were your two or three most significant accomplishments, breakthroughs, and/or achievements?

1.
2.
3.

Looking back over the year, what (if anything) blocked or held you back as you moved toward your goals/objectives?

Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently? (While we can't change what was, we can use this input/learning as we move forward.)

As you look forward to next year, what are your three most significant goals that you wish to accomplish within the year? What will be different? How will YOU be different?

1.
2.
3.

What are the top two or three things about your business that you most want to be different next year?

1.
2.
3.

What two or three changes do you most want to see in your personal life?

1.
2.
3.

What do you want your practice/business to look like one year from now?

What actions are you prepared to take to reach your goals and objectives next year?

Having gotten clear on what you want to achieve next year, the next step is to develop the strategies and actions that will move you to reaching your desired outcomes. And if you don't yet have a coach or an accountability partner to keep you on track ... GET ONE! (... we happen to know a few good coaches!)

Let's prepare to make 2010 our most exciting, rewarding, and personally fulfilling year!

Enjoy Life!

Jon Bohm

(Adapted from my friends at Resource Associates Corporation)

Networking 101- Add Value!!!!

Every group contains 2 types of people, "givers" and "takers."

Givers are always focused on what they can give to help others, to make the world a better place, to grow their business, to have bigger impact, and to add value.

Takers are always focused on what they can take to help themselves, to make their little (I emphasize little) world a better place, to grow their business, and add value to themselves. The irony is that by doing so, they lose value, shrink their business, and lose influence in the world.

Networking can be hell or it can be heaven. It just depends on who you are networking with... "givers" or "takers."

Take this little allegory as an example:

A man spoke with the Lord

about heaven and hell.

The Lord said to the man,

"Come, I will show you hell."

They entered a room where a group of

people sat around a huge pot of stew.

Everyone was famished,

desperate and starving.

Each held a spoon that reached the pot,

but each spoon had a handle so much

longer than their own arm that it could not

be used to get the stew into their own mouths.

The suffering was terrible.

"Come, now I will show you heaven,"
the Lord said after a while.

They entered another room, identical to the first -
the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons.
But there everyone was happy and well-nourished.

"I don't understand," said the man.
"Why are they happy here when they were miserable
in the other room and everything was the same?"

The Lord smiled.
"Ah, it is simple," he said. "Here they have learned to feed each other."- Heaven and Hell, The Real Difference by Ann Landers

If you want to be a great networker, grow your business or life, make more money, reach your dreams, and have a bigger impact than you have to learn to be a giver and network with other givers. Which one are you?

An honest test: 1. Make a list of everything someone or something has done for you. 2. Now, make a list of what you have done for others.

How can you add more value to the world and your clients? Answer that everyday and watch your success explode.

Be a giver!

Jon Bohm

When You are in a funk... H.A.L.T

Anger is a secondary emotion. You have to kill the root.

On a regular basis I have a client or a friend, kids, or myself that have a day you could put in the funk category. A day when you are not firing on all cylinders so to speak.

Have you ever had a day like that? We all do? The occasional emotional setback. No big deal, right?

Depends, I guess on the day. If you spend your day in a funk instead of landing that new client it could have long term effects. I tell every client I have, if you are going to be an entrepreneur you have to embrace the fact that you don't get the luxury of a crappy attitude, self pitty, or even a funk for very long if at all.

So, how do we avoid the funk? How do we keep the funky day from becoming a funky week, month, year, or your life? I can't cover it all in a little blog post but I will give you this. In almost every situation when you find yourself in a funk it's because 1 of 4 things; you allowed yourself to become too:

H.ungry

A.ngry

L.onely or

T.ired

Next time you feel yourself slipping into the funk, stop (halt) and ask yourself; "Am I too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired?" The answer is yes 98 % of the time. So, stop and fix it, or take regular daily checks to keep the funk at bay.

It turns out my Mom new how to keep the funky days at bay with sleep, the right diet, good friends, and emotional health. And that alone can be a great New Year's resolution.

Happy New Year and Cheers to the good life.

Live a great story in 2010!

Jon Bohm

PR, Tiger Woods, and you...

“There are 2 primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them.”- DENIS WAITLEY

Did Tiger mess up? Yes. I think we would all agree, especially his wife, "yeah, he messed up."

But, that is not really the question we have to wrestle with the question we have to wrestle with is "Now what?" What do we do as sponsors, what do we do as the public with an icon, forerunner, and elite hero like Tiger when they mess up?

We know better than to crucify someone for messing up, we know we don't ever want to be the one to be casting any stones, because we know that we all mess up to one degree or another. We know that forgiveness is stronger than bitterness and we know that to love someone's strengths and despise them for their mistakes isn't love at all. And we love our heroes, don't we?

So, how do we handle this? How does Tiger handle it? How do we avoid it? And how should we think about it?

As for "how does Tiger handle it?" The experts and press have beat this one to death. We all know, he needs to step out front and own the fact that he is a hero and continue to act like a hero by taking responsibility for it. But, that isn't our call, is it? This whole things is actually none of my business. All we can really think about is how are we going to deal with it? How should the sponsors deal with it?

I have found, I deal with it in a very simple way. I hope and pray he finds the right help to get healthy and live a great life with or without golf. I hope he finds the people and the tools to reach deep and get healthy emotionally so he can enjoy this one chance at life we all get. And money isn't the answer, we all know that. Happiness come from within, and clearly Tiger needs to reach within.

So, that leaves really only one question left to deal with. What do the sponsors do? What do you do? To support or not support those products? or Tiger in front of the kiddos?

As for me, as a consumer, I don't buy products because of who sponsors them. So, I won't NOT buy them based on who sponsors them either.

As for the sponsors, what a tough decision! They have one of the greatest athletes to ever live partnering with them to promote their livelihood. Incredible. But, I don't see how they can still use him as a sponsor, it's down right ironic how difficult it will be given the nature of Tiger's bad decisions. Woods’ sponsors include Gillette, Gatorade, Accenture, Nike and AT&T. So here is why I don't think they can keep him. Wood's apparently had multiple sexual affairs with a wide range of women over a large portion of the country or maybe event the world and listen to the tag lines of each of his sponsors:

• Gillette "The Best a man can get."
• Gatorade "Is it in you?"
• Accenture "High performance. Delivered."
• Nike "Just do it."
• AT&T "More bars in more places."

It's unbelievable isn't it? Almost hilarious, and I'm probably missing a few good ones. When you build a brand, your company will rise and fall on how much positive attention the consumer is willing to give to you. So, of course attracting attention is half the battle and the other half is keeping it positive. If it's not positive, then you can't keep something in your brand.

So, in the balance of standing on the rock solid foundation of a great product and the thin ice of public opinion, where is your brand? You have a brand whether you know it or not. Personally you have one. When I google your name, what do I find? Your business definitely has one. So, how strong is your brand? Or better yet, how much positive attention does your brand get? How much negative attention needs to be dealt with? It may not seem like a big deal, but it is. It's the unspoken piece to the puzzle every company needs to pay attention to. It is directly connected to your success personally and professionally.

Do you dress? Speak? Act? Walk? Type? Live? as the person you are becoming? As the person or company want to be? Does the world see the real you? Does it see your company in the right light? Is it a pretty picture, or could it use some polishing. Sometimes a little polish goes a long way.

Give us a call if it's time to get some positive attention or do some polishing.

Live the dreams you have imagined! No nightmares allowed:)

Jon Bohm

Are you living a STORY?

Are You Living a Story worth telling?

I am in the middle of a great book by Donald Miller "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years."

Great book, and it's all about "story." What makes a great story? What makes a story worth watching, reading, or even living?

It got me thinking about my life..... am I living a story? Would anyone watch it as a movie? Would anyone read it? Does anyone care? Or, would I have to add a bunch of things to my boring life to make it a real "story?"

I have concluded, I am living a story. I don't know that anyone would watch it, but it is an epic story. What about you?

Are you living a story?

Every great story meets the following criteria:

• It has a character that wants something so bad that they are willing to overcome any obstacle, run through any wall, and conquer any mountain to get it. Without that, you don't have a story. You are the character in your story, are you on an adventure towards something you want? What is it? Are you willing to overcome the obstacles to realize your dreams?

• Every story starts with a look into the character's life and mind. The story shows you that the character is a "good" person, a person making in a difference in some way. Why? Because, nobody cares if the character wins in the end if we don't know they are a "good" person, making a difference. Are you making a significant difference? Does the world see an impact because of you in some big or small way? Do people want you to win in the end? Do people rally around you and your cause? Or, are you standing idly by?

• In every story the character doesn't really and truly make changes towards the life they want until something makes them move. Someone loses a job, loses a spouse, loses an opportunity, loses a life, a friend, or focus and they are finally forced or driven to change. Are you saying you want to do, see, get, or be someone someday? What is it? Why don't you have it yet? Are you waiting for an event to make you move? What has to happen in your life before you are willing to go after the life you want? What can you do to make it happen now?

Just some thoughts. So, are you living a story?

Let me tell you; I want you to win in the end. I want you to make a move now. I want you to want something so bad you begin to really, really live a story.

The pages are blank moving forward, it's time to start writing your own epic. If you need help putting pen to paper and make your move, just give me a shout. After all, you only get one time around on this life? Don't stand idly by.

Live YOUR STORY-

Jon Bohm

What do you WANT?

Living your entire life always doing what you SHOULD can give you a safe predictable life that leaves you completely disappointed in the end because you never answered the honest and simple question of “What do I WANT?”- Jon Bohm

What do YOU want?

I mean really what do you want, not what you SHOULD want, but what do you really WANT?

Sometimes those things are the same. I should go to work today and I WANT to go to work today. Great! That is an important distinction. When you live your life the way you should instead of the way you want your heart, emotions, desires, and mind are sitting on the sideline as you live your dutiful existence moving through the motions without passion.

What are you doing in your life that you SHOULD be doing?

What are you NOT doing that you SHOULD be doing?

I should go to church. I did go to church because I SHOULD.

I should go home and hang with my family. I did go home and hang with the family because I SHOULD.

I should make that sales call. I made the call because I SHOULD.

I SHOULD take my spouse out. ETC. ETC.

What is it that you do without emotional passion and desire because you SHOULD?

Now, don’t take me wrong I’m not saying we all need to ignore whatever we SHOULD be doing. Instead of ignoring, we have to make the mental and attitudinal shift to quit saying I SHOULD and change it to I WANT to do this.

Most of the time it’s as simple as catching your self in the middle of a SHOULD and simply replacing the word SHOULD with WANT. It’s time to get YOUR passions and emotions off the bench and into the game of life.

The bottom line is you have an incredible life to live. Start living it because you WANT to and stop living it because you SHOULD. It’s time for YOU to get emotional involved in YOUR life. If you need help making the switch, please contact me anytime!

May we hit the ground living the life we WANT to live today!

Enjoy Life!

Jon Bohm

The Most Powerful things in Life are SIMPLE BUT NOT EASY

"Everyone needs someone to help them take action on the simple things in life, because simple is not EASY."- Jon Bohm

In high school I wore a baseball cap that had the name brand "SIMPLE" on the front. SIMPLE is a great clothing and shoe manufacturer. I had a boss that would always make fun of me for wearing that hat. His jokes always themed around the idea that to be simple is to be slow... and basically a moron.

As you can imagine, I'm over it now- ok I still have a little resentment :). As a matter of fact, I couldn't disagree with that assumption (that "simple" means you can't even tie your own shoes) more! The mark of a brilliant person is to be able to take complicated ideas and make them simple enough to be useful and practical.

The greatest things in life are simple:

• Love
• Friendship
• Compassion
• Making Money
• Saving Money
• Starting a new healthy habit in the New Year
• Quitting an old unhealthy habit
• Staying active
• Eating Healthy
• Improving your quality of life
• Raising truly great kids
• Developing greatness in others
• Making the world, or at least your world, a better place

Maybe, as you were reading that list you started to disagree with me? What do you think? Simple? Is it simple to love your spouse? Is it simple to raise great kids? Is it simple to make money? To eat healthy, make the world a better place....etc?

Of course. It is SIMPLE. However, it is NOT EASY. Somewhere a long the line I believe just about everything in our culture has confused simple with easy.

For example, if you want to stop smoking it's not complicated. All you have to do is not put another cigarette in your mouth, don't light it, and don't puff on it. This is not rocket science. If you want to eat healthy all you have to do is put healthy food into your mouth, chew, and swallow. Again not rocket science. But NOT easy either.

So, let me ask you. If you could change anything in your life and improve on some things, what would you change?

Take a moment....ok got it?

Now, let's be real honest, is it a simple change?

I would be willing to bet all 3 of those things could realistically change in the next 12 months. Could they? If so, than why haven't you changed them already? What is getting in your way? What simple thing has become complicated or difficult and why?

Let me ask another question? Are you becoming more and more, everyday, the person YOU WANT to be in the future? Are you pulling your future into your present? If you are stuck in a rut, or if you know what simple things you need to change, than change them and don't make it complicated. Or, reach out for help. I help people every single day accomplish SIMPLE but not EASY things that they never thought were possible!

If you need help, reach out.... to family, to friends, to a professional like myself, or all the above and get your life moving. Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy, and it doesn't give you an excuse to just keep saying that "someday" I will be different and quit smoking, start a business, love my spouse better, make more money, etc."

Enjoy your life and make changes NOW, because "Someday" never comes without changing things NOW.

Jon Bohm

Be a Stuntman...not a Dare Devil

I am a lucky, lucky person. - Evel Knievel

Are you a lucky person?  Or are you unlucky?  

Have you ever noticed that how much luck someone has is directly proportionate to how much risk they are willing to take?  

Why do some people have the midas touch? 

While the touch of so many others seems to turn things into ashes?  Have you ever noticed that some people just seem to be luckier than others?

Take scenario one:  you become a "dare devil" and jump out of a perfectly good airplane with no plan, without the knowledge, and without the hard work in preparing for your jump. If you survive, well than, you are lucky, maybe even miraculous to some degree. 

However, take scenario 2:  if you plan and bring a parachute, than you learn how to use your parachute, and you work hard to prepare for your jump on the ground or in a wind tunnel than your odds of being lucky  and surviving are dramatically better than the first scenario.

In both situations you jump from the same plane.  In both situations your risk is the same.  But in scenario number 2, your chances of getting lucky are very high.  Because, you planned your risk with meticulous work like a stuntman who strategically thinks his stunt through, not a daredevil who just jumps.

So, what about business and getting lucky?

The entrepreneur that takes a gamble and opens a widely successful business in the worst recession our country has seen since the great depression, lucky?

The investor who fires his financial planner and takes matters into his own hands, and turns a profit of 40 k a week instead of losing it when everyone around him told him to "Buy and hold."  What do you think, lucky?

The stay at home mom who opens her own on-line store, only to get so many orders she can't keep up.  Lucky?

My answer is....Yes, very lucky.  

However, my definition of luck has an equation.  Luck doesn't happen to everyone.  Why do some people seem to be luckier than others?

Over the years of working with many people, in many industries, I have found what I believe to be the equation to how lucky an organization or person may become.  I trust it so much, that I consider it to be a fortune telling equation on how lucky someone will be.

Stop and think.  What is a new adventure or thing you may want to try?  Ok, got one in mind?

Using a scale of 1-10.  1 being poor and 10 being excellent.  Rate your future idea in each of the following categories:

• 1-10 - How much risk is involved?
  
• 1-10 - How strategic have I been?  And how many resources have I put into my plan for success?
  
• 1-10 - How hard have I worked toward my success?
  

After honestly rating your new venture in each of the above categories, you have a possible 30 points available.  Simply add up your total score and divide it by 30 and that is the percentage I give you on getting "lucky" and succeeding.

It is a law of the universe.  The more you risk, the better you plan, and the harder you work... the "luckier" you will be.  Is it possible to get "lucky" with a 10% chance?  You bet.  But, you can increase your odds of getting lucky in every situation with some hard work, high tolerance for risk, and a great strategic mind.

So, how lucky are you?  I guess it depends on how bad you want to be lucky.  And how much effort you put into increasing your odds. 

It seems to me... that the harder I work, the better I plan, and the more risk involved, the luckier I am.

May you become one of the "luckiest" people around, and when all the unlucky people watch your life, they just won't be able to understand why YOU are sooo lucky.

Enjoy Life!

Jon Bohm