I had the privilege of hearing the late Charlie “Tremendous” Jones several years ago, and he is famous for saying…

“You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things, the books you read and the people you meet.”

I’ve read quite a few books, and I want to keep reading more and more to learn…and pass along those learnings. I’ve started giving away books to the incredible people that I serve through 8TRACKstudios. Yesterday, I ordered several books through Amazon, and they arrived today. Rather than simply handing them off in their nakedness, I wrapped each book in kraft paper and jute string, and then I attached a typed, personal note.

Books I’m Mailing Tomorrow

Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends
Tim Sanders does an incredible job of teaching us how to be a lovecat – sharing our knowledge, network, and compassion.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace
After spending years at the hairball called Hallmark, the author shares how to survive in a corporation without losing your soul.

The Red Rubber Ball at Work: Elevate Your Game Through the Hidden Power of Play
Kevin Carroll is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever heard speak. All of his “red rubber ball” books give me a tingly feeling inside.

Current Books I’m Reading
Right now, I’m reading these books and look forward to passing (some of) them along to other clients…

The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated
I’ve read this book by Tim Ferris about 5 times, and I get something new out of it everytime. I LOVE this book. It continues to illuminate my mind to new ways of “working” so that I’ll actually enjoy life…and not just work it away.

Rework
This book sucked. Don’t buy it. It’s a business book by the people at 37signals, and it’s common sense.

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
I just started reading this, and it’s proving to be good so far.

How about you?
What are you reading?
What are you giving away?

I had the opportunity to hang out with a passionate leader today who is seeking to make a positive impact in the city of Riverside, CA. For over five hours, we talked about vision, strategy, and resources as we drove around the city. I loved how focused he was on his vision, and yet he was still looking to get even more focused.

Without a focused vision, there’s no telling where you’ll end up.
Do you care where your life, family, or business is going?
My guess is that you do…but do you have a vision?

A vision is simply a mental picture of a preferable future.

Without vision, your life will…

• Generally consist of surviving and not thriving.
• Usually be focused on living for the weekend.
• Often get stuck in a rut or bounce around from one thing to the next.
• Rarely be satisfying or enriching.

With a vision, your life will…

• Consist of living for something bigger than yourself.
• Be focused on something that gives you purpose.
• Make a positive impact on the lives of others.
• Be fulfilling and meaningful.

Do you have a vision?

Is it to raise amazing, gifted kids to be creative leaders?
Is it to start a business and provide hundreds of jobs?
Is it to revolutionize your industry?
Is it to transform your neighborhood?
Is it to start a non-profit to change a village on the other side of the world?

What is it?

There always seems to be something on a to-do list that’s been there way too long. You know the one. It’s that task or project that’s face is darkened and seems to be hiding around the corner. You know it’s there, but you’re scared to death what will happen when you step around the bend and look it in the face.

Ironically, the face of that task always seems more vicious when you haven’t seen it in the light of day. What holds you back from peering around the corner is called procrastination.

For me, that’s recently included…

• Completing a complex business proposal – I felt like it was going to take forever and that I wouldn’t be able to price it appropriately…not true…it only took me 2 hours.
• Fixing the shower – The shower in our master bath has been unusable for years, and I just finally hired a contractor to re-model it.
• Writing a book – I ended up writing two books last year, and I’m finishing up my third one next month.
• Re-designing the 8TRACKstudios website – I was weighed down by the idea of starting over.
• Prepping our taxes – um…this one is still around the corner…gotta knock it out this week!

Over the past year, I’ve come to the realization that it’s just never as bad as I tell myself. I think it’s going to be unbelievably painful, take an enormous amount of time, and potentially derail my entire day. Rarely is this actually true. 9 times out of 10, I finish the project way faster than I ever imagined.

How to Overcome Procrastination

1. Don’t think about it – just get started!
   The worst thing I can do is start “thinking” about a project without actually getting started. It’s like standing outside the room of the project with the door closed as I envision how horrible it’s going to be. If I think long enough about how painful the task is, the longer that door will remain shut. Just jump in…whatever that means for the project!
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2. Break the project down into smaller tasks.
   Open up a document and start making a list of the different components of the project. Even though all these tasks may be in your head, getting them down on paper will free you up to see that you’ll actually be able to accomplish them. A list of tasks is much more “doable” than a giant project living in your head.
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3. Prioritize which tasks should be done first.
   Start numbering those tasks now. Which ones need to be done first? How about the ones that can wait until the end?
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4. Ask for help!
   If there is something that someone else can do, ask for help! Ask for a volunteer. Call in a favor. Hire someone! Do whatever it takes to get people on your team to knock out the project. At the very least, just call someone to talk over the project to get some support.
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5. Set a timer.
   Determine a set amount of time that you’ll work on the project for that particular day. If all you can handle is 15 minutes, set a timer, and get started! Or, maybe it’s 2 hours like me…and you might actually finish it early.

Procrastination sucks the creativity and life out of anyone. If we want to prevent getting stuck in life and business, we need to learn how to overcome the short-term discomfort. It’s rarely that bad.

When I was a kid, I loved to re-arrange my room. I’d pull out a piece of paper, and I would start plotting out the most strategic location for each piece of furniture.

• What position should my bed be in? Near the door? In the corner? Under the window?
• Should my stereo be next to my bed or under the window?
• And, most importantly, where should I put my baseball collection?

I re-arranged my bedroom every couple of months for years! It was probably an adolescent sickness, but I absolutely loved it. I loved the creativity and the strategery. (That is a word, right?)

Then, I grew up.
I got married.
We decorated.
And, everything pretty much sat there.
Nothing moved.

Something changed when I moved back in with my family a couple of years ago. I re-decorated parts of our home, and I start taking photos and displaying them in matted frames and a creative hanging system. And, I started moving stuff around every few weeks.

Recently, I’ve found myself…

• Buying an old set of lockers and placing them in our living room as a functional decoration.
• Digging out a mid-century modern coffee table out of the trash in LA and using it.
• Using an old stereo credenza to place our flat screen TV on in our living room.
• Growing plants in a couple of glass terrariums.
• Buying new accent pillows for the couch.
• Displaying a number of my vintage cameras.
• Placing tall religious candles along our front walk way and unmarked tall candles around our home.
• Picking up interesting objects at a local home store and thrift stores and moving them around in different arrangements throughout our home.

Each time I place or move an object, it’s a moment of creativity. I’m enjoying the transformation of the moment, and I’m training myself to enjoy “change.” Rather than getting accustomed to the same ole thing, I’m enjoying the fluidity of our living space.

Not only do I want that for our home, but I want that for my life.

I want to hold things loosely and allow fluidity in my life. Things come and go. Experiences are here one moment and gone the next. People are here one day and not here soon after. Because of this reality of life, I don’t want to take anything for granted. When I allow things to fade into the background and just sit there, it’s like they become invisible. That’s why I like to move stuff around.

“Moving stuff around” means that I’m not seeing the world or people in the same way. I look at things from a different angle and think about things in a different way. What would it look like to move some stuff around in your life?

• What about re-arranging your schedule?
• How about re-arranging your priorities and calling someone that you haven’t talked to in a long time?
• Maybe you could re-arrange your home or move things around in your office at work.
• Perhaps you should re-arrange your desk and embrace a new organizational system.
• How about if you re-arranged when or where you exercised?
• Maybe you could re-arrange your mind and pick a new restaurant that you’ve never been to before.
• What if you re-arranged your closet and purchased a different style of clothing just to mix it up?

I don’t know what it would look like for you to move stuff around, but I bet you’ll feel a little off balance which will make you see things and experience life from a new perspective.

Move something around today…re-arrange life.

I’ve never really thought of myself as a creative person. I like things to be “just so.” I want to know what my schedule is, and I enjoy routine. I don’t enjoy messiness, and I thrive on strategy. Yet, I’m learning day by day that I’m a creator at heart. When I’m creating something, I feel renewed and restored.

• I work with clients to create marketing strategies and all the deliverables.
• I enjoy capturing moments through photography.
• I put together written and audible words to tell stories and share ideas.

The term “creative” has so many connotations that don’t seem to fit me, but I do love to create. In fact, people now pay me to be creative.  They don’t pay me to do something that someone else can do. They pay me to do something that only I can do…something I was created to do…create things the way that I see them.

Did you know that you are a creator?

You were designed to create things…kids, businesses, dinners, moments, and much more. In the very essence of who you are, you are a creator! Unfortunately, many of us have the creativeness sucked right out of our souls as we grow into adulthood and do things that adults are supposed to do…like sit in cubicles from 8am to 5pm (and then take work home).

That creativity is still inside of you. It just needs to be stirred up. It’s not a waste of time, because it will actually feed your soul. You’ll be more in touch with your Creator and more motivated to live out your purpose…or actually find it if you’ve lost it in the process of “growing up.”

Here are three ways to stir up your creativity…

• Take a photo walk around your neighborhood.
  Grab your digital camera, and clear off all those photos from 2007. Put on your walking shoes and head out the front door. You have no agenda other than to photograph what captures your attention. Don’t just snap images from a standing position. Bend down. Get close. Zoom in. Turn the camera at a weird angle. Shoot the same object or person from all different angles. When you get back home, download them all to your computer. Take a look. You’ll toss a bunch of them (like I do), and you’ll find some that capture your imagination. Don’t just keep them on your computer. Print them at Costco or some other place for super-cheap. Put them on the refrigerator or on a corkboard or in a frame. Look at them and remind yourself that you created that moment. (For a look at my recent photo walk in NYC, click here.)
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• Make up a story and tell someone.
  I love to tell my kids fantastical stories as they’re getting ready for bed. I’ll ask them to give me a place, an object, and a color. They’ll dig deep into the recesses of their brains and come up with the wackiest combination, and my job is to interweave them into the story. I usually include both my kids as the main characters, and they do something heroic in the process. If you don’t have kids, make up a story for a co-worker. Don’t lie to them…just make up some hilarious, outlandish tale. Ask them, “If you were king for a day, what would the world be like?” They’ll look at you like you’re crazy and say, “I dunno…” That’s your chance to say, “Well, I’d…” That’s when you tell an amazing story that stretches your mind and theirs. I bet they’ll love it.
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• Buy a typewriter and start using it.
  While I was in NYC last week, I bought a 1970′s Omega 30 typewriter from a man without a home. All it needed was a new ribbon, and it works perfectly. Although I learned to type on a manual typewriter in junior high school, I had long forgotten the amount of pressure needed to actually get that ink on the page. I’ve been collecting fortunes from Chinese restaurant over the last couple of years, and I’ve been waiting for just the right time to use them. So, I tore out a sheet of 8.5×11 paper, and I started typing random thoughts to accompany certain fortunes. I bought a display frame from the local store, and I mounted everything with simple straight pins. I “created” it, and no one has anything like it in the rest of the world…that I know of. It’s all mine, and I love it. It’s sitting on our table in the entry of our home, and you’re welcome to read it at any time. I also typed two small notes to different clients on 3×5 notecards this week. They were shocked to get a typed note. Typing on a manual typewriter slows me down and makes me crystal clear about what I want to say and how I say it. It’s deliberate and creative.

How about you? Do you think you are a creator? Are you willing to stir up your creativity? If so, tell us how it goes!