In 1937, Napolean Hill wrote the all time success classic, Think and Grow Rich. In modern day times it looks like those that will make hay can now read your thinking. I just read an article in Inc. magazine about Tan Le, a South Vietnamese refuge turned Australian citizen who has been collaborating with several top notch tech wizzes on a product that can literally READ YOUR THOUGHTS. No joke.
Her company Emotiv has been perfecting a software that has the capability to read your brain waves. Now, the technology to detect brain waves has been present for about 50 years, but deciphering what those brain waves mean was a whole other can of worms.
With their technology, users wear a metal head set which looks like the worlds most expensive set of head phones and on the head set are electrodes that connect to different sections of your head (these are the brain wave detectors). This device has the ability to tell your emotions, understand your thoughts and put them to physical form.
Just imagine listening to your favorite song and watching a screen that changes colors with your change in feelings, or watching a movie and knowing when your getting bored with it. Advertisers are licking their chops with the possibilities of market development.
Personally, I am excited to see the next wave of technology come. Although it may seem intimidating, just remember at one point people thought the first trains were a bad idea and that traveling over 20 miles an hour would stop the blood from circulating. Imagine the possibilities.
Committed to your Success,
John Izzy
www.johnizzy.com
P.S. What do you think about this technology break through? Pro’s and Con’s.
P.S.S. Read the entire Inc. article here: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20081201/reality-bites.html
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Putting Order in Your Court
“I will have order in my court” yells Judge Judy, as she puts the defendant in line on one of her latest Jerry Springer-esque court episodes. Although I only watch this show while my previous TV engagement is on a commercial break, her words stuck with me. “I will have order in my court”.
It got me thinking about high performance and the value of living an organized life. One thing that gives Judge Judy power in her position is the ability to “put order” in her court whenever she wants. Order is required if she is going to have the opportunity to get all the information she needs to make a clear, educated verdict. "Order" is not optional in high performance, it is a prerequisite.
What would your life be like if you had the ability to call order to YOUR court at any time? Would you be able to focus more of your attention on the task at hand? Would you be able to finish your work faster than you are now? Would you be able to spend more quality time with friends, family, or your significant other?
If you answered a resounding “YES” to all of those questions, don’t you owe it to yourself to take the time to organize your life the way any high performing individual would? (the answer to that one is YES also!) Here are 3 simple, actionable things you can do to organize your life in 2009:
Clean your car: Does your car look like the remnants of a scavenger hunt from 3 years ago? Consider bringing a laundry basket to your car once a week, unload anything that doesn’t need to permanently be in your car, and either put those things away or trash them.
Too busy for that, take my mom’s camping advice “Leave the campsite cleaner than you found it.” Every time you leave your car, take one thing out that doesn’t belong.
Clean your house: Have children and teach them to clean for you. Just kidding! Either create better habits and learn to do dishes as they hit the sink, or hire someone else to do it for you.
Organize your desk: I got this one from Jack Canfield. “Do it. Delegate it. Or Dump it.” If you come to your desk and consistently find things that are incomplete, you will have a hard time working.
If it will only take you a few minutes, complete it. If it will take some time, put it into a file and write in your schedule when you will complete it. If it’s something your hanging on to for some future, potentially, maybe, some day event, get rid of it. You’ll forget you had it and can move on with your life. Lastly, hire an asst. you are too valuable to be doing $10 an hour work, especially when there are starving college students who’d love to help you out. Believe me, I use to be one of them!
Committed to your success,
John “Izzy” Israel
Do you have any tips for keeping your court in order in 2009? Post it!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Commitment vs. Interest
Talk is cheap, especially when your paycheck is at stake. In my years of professional selling I have found that there are two types of people: those that do and those that talk. Those that DO…do. Those that TALK…don’t. We all have dreams, aspirations, and desires in life and for most people, unfortunately, that’s how they remain. You’ve probably heard the question, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” more times than you’d like. SO WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK FROM BEING WHERE YOU WANT TO BE? A good answer is ACTION, but a better answer is COMMITMENT.
Action is the engine that drives your achievement machine, while commitment is the fuel that feeds the engine. If I were to ask what you are committed to in your life right now, you might be able to tell me what you are interested in, but not necessarily committed to. Tony Robbins says, “there's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” I define commitment as honoring your word by doing what you said you would do by the time you said you would do it. Think about it. What would your life be like if it were driven by commitment? Here's a sneak peak:
1) Decisions become easy. Life begins to appear more as a series of choices rather than a symptom of circumstances. My friend and mentor J-Brad Britton once said that there are only 2 answers to any goal related decision: YES or NO. Yes, I will do what I must to follow through on my commitment, or NO, because…(insert any excuse here). Everyone has setbacks which come up and certain priorities that conflict with each other. The reality is that most of us use those things to excuse us from fully taking responsibility for our results. Humans are unique individuals in that we can reason our way in to or out of anything. Reasons are driven by fear. Fear is an emotion to keep us safe, but it is also an emotion that paralyzes us when we know we should act. There are no guarantee's in life, but when you're committed to honoring your word you cut out the possibility of reasoning with your feelings.
2) You become courageous. Fear is what drives people most of the time, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The fear of death keeps us from walking in the middle of the street, while the fear of failure keeps us from venturing out, taking risks, and achieving our goals. This is an inauthentic fear. Living a life that is commitment centered requires that we follow through on what we said we would do even when (or especially when) it requires us to be uncomfortable. Look at your greatest fears about failure and imagine what this year could look like, not if those fears didn’t exist, but if you took on the challenge of overcoming those fears.
3) Your growth becomes exponential. Have you ever looked at individuals who have achieved major success and wonder how they got there? Unless you look up to those who won the lottery, tremendously successful people don’t get where they are over night. I remember hearing someone say, “Success occurs from simple decisions, and simple disciplines practiced every single day.” Each success builds upon itself and at the end of every success is a greater opportunity. Before you fly off the handle about having your best year ever, consider having your best campaign, your best month, your best week, and your best day. If you can learn to stay focused and stay committed to those tasks, you can’t but have your best year ever. So, make tomorrow count. Cheers to your 2009.
Committed to your Success,
John “Izzy” Israel
www.johnizzy.com
Action is the engine that drives your achievement machine, while commitment is the fuel that feeds the engine. If I were to ask what you are committed to in your life right now, you might be able to tell me what you are interested in, but not necessarily committed to. Tony Robbins says, “there's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” I define commitment as honoring your word by doing what you said you would do by the time you said you would do it. Think about it. What would your life be like if it were driven by commitment? Here's a sneak peak:
1) Decisions become easy. Life begins to appear more as a series of choices rather than a symptom of circumstances. My friend and mentor J-Brad Britton once said that there are only 2 answers to any goal related decision: YES or NO. Yes, I will do what I must to follow through on my commitment, or NO, because…(insert any excuse here). Everyone has setbacks which come up and certain priorities that conflict with each other. The reality is that most of us use those things to excuse us from fully taking responsibility for our results. Humans are unique individuals in that we can reason our way in to or out of anything. Reasons are driven by fear. Fear is an emotion to keep us safe, but it is also an emotion that paralyzes us when we know we should act. There are no guarantee's in life, but when you're committed to honoring your word you cut out the possibility of reasoning with your feelings.
2) You become courageous. Fear is what drives people most of the time, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The fear of death keeps us from walking in the middle of the street, while the fear of failure keeps us from venturing out, taking risks, and achieving our goals. This is an inauthentic fear. Living a life that is commitment centered requires that we follow through on what we said we would do even when (or especially when) it requires us to be uncomfortable. Look at your greatest fears about failure and imagine what this year could look like, not if those fears didn’t exist, but if you took on the challenge of overcoming those fears.
3) Your growth becomes exponential. Have you ever looked at individuals who have achieved major success and wonder how they got there? Unless you look up to those who won the lottery, tremendously successful people don’t get where they are over night. I remember hearing someone say, “Success occurs from simple decisions, and simple disciplines practiced every single day.” Each success builds upon itself and at the end of every success is a greater opportunity. Before you fly off the handle about having your best year ever, consider having your best campaign, your best month, your best week, and your best day. If you can learn to stay focused and stay committed to those tasks, you can’t but have your best year ever. So, make tomorrow count. Cheers to your 2009.
Committed to your Success,
John “Izzy” Israel
www.johnizzy.com
Laws of Listening
To be a professional salesperson we are not only called to be masters of the art of selling, but also the art of communication. Contrary to most peoples’ belief, effective communication (emphasis on effective) begins with how open each party is to receiving information from the other, not just talking. Talking, in relation to communication, is as important as batting is to baseball. It’s an aspect, but as we all know, teams don’t win merely through offense. Listening, on the other hand, is as important to communication as the actual baseball is to baseball. The game can’t be played without it. So, to help you succeed in the game of effective communication, and ultimately the world of selling, I am going to share with you the 3 laws of productive listening.
Law #1: Listen with your ears, eyes, and body. People can tell how much you care about them or what they are saying by your non-verbal communication. If you're trying to listen while shuffling through papers, checking your text messages, or looking at what's going on behind the other person, you are communicating to this person that what they are saying isn't that important. In Dale Carnegie's best selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he states that the greatest desires of humans is to be appreciated, respected, and understood. How do you feel when someone half listens to you while diddling on their cell phone, or sifting through mail? My girlfriend can tell when I talk to her on my cell phone and work on the computer at the same time. She hates it. Now I try and call her back when I'm off the computer, or simply stop working for a few minutes when she calls. I know she appreciates it.
Law #2: Listen with the intent to understand rather than the intent to respond. Most people ask questions and instead of listening to understand the other person, they listen while thinking of what they want to say next. They want to sound witty, smart, or simply to look good while sacrificing the opportunity to really connect with the words that are being said, who's saying them, and why they are being said. When you listen with the intent to understand, you take a step into the other person’s world. You begin to notice things that you didn't notice before. You begin to see that the person on the opposite end is just like you with wants, needs, fears, and desires. Although they may say some things that contradict your own beliefs, ideas or standards, it’s important to understand that effective listening requires an open mind.
Law #3: Listen with out judgment. Every person you meet comes from a different place in life. We are all a result of our life experiences and it's important to respect that you don't know what their experiences in life are. Sure their beliefs in comparison to your life experiences may not match up, but that's irrelevant when you're listening to understand people. You'd be amazed at what you can learn by simply being open to seeing the world from someone else’s perspective.
Just remember these rules during your next conversation with a client, friend, or family member. People love to reciprocate what they receive. You'd be amazed how open they are in listening to YOU when it's your turn to talk.
Committed to your success,
John "Izzy" Israel
www.johnizzy.com
Law #1: Listen with your ears, eyes, and body. People can tell how much you care about them or what they are saying by your non-verbal communication. If you're trying to listen while shuffling through papers, checking your text messages, or looking at what's going on behind the other person, you are communicating to this person that what they are saying isn't that important. In Dale Carnegie's best selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he states that the greatest desires of humans is to be appreciated, respected, and understood. How do you feel when someone half listens to you while diddling on their cell phone, or sifting through mail? My girlfriend can tell when I talk to her on my cell phone and work on the computer at the same time. She hates it. Now I try and call her back when I'm off the computer, or simply stop working for a few minutes when she calls. I know she appreciates it.
Law #2: Listen with the intent to understand rather than the intent to respond. Most people ask questions and instead of listening to understand the other person, they listen while thinking of what they want to say next. They want to sound witty, smart, or simply to look good while sacrificing the opportunity to really connect with the words that are being said, who's saying them, and why they are being said. When you listen with the intent to understand, you take a step into the other person’s world. You begin to notice things that you didn't notice before. You begin to see that the person on the opposite end is just like you with wants, needs, fears, and desires. Although they may say some things that contradict your own beliefs, ideas or standards, it’s important to understand that effective listening requires an open mind.
Law #3: Listen with out judgment. Every person you meet comes from a different place in life. We are all a result of our life experiences and it's important to respect that you don't know what their experiences in life are. Sure their beliefs in comparison to your life experiences may not match up, but that's irrelevant when you're listening to understand people. You'd be amazed at what you can learn by simply being open to seeing the world from someone else’s perspective.
Just remember these rules during your next conversation with a client, friend, or family member. People love to reciprocate what they receive. You'd be amazed how open they are in listening to YOU when it's your turn to talk.
Committed to your success,
John "Izzy" Israel
www.johnizzy.com
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