Think Huge by Mark Arnold

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to Achieve More

Note: The following post was written by Taylor Wells, Communications Director for On The Mark Strategies.

We all have our pre-defined “comfort zones” as human beings. Depending on a host of factors, including genetics, experiences and education, there are some things we can easily do, while others come with more difficulty. For example, a phobia about heights (acrophobia) might make it tricky for someone to be a successful mountain climber. While I would love to scuba dive one day, my fear of sharks will more than likely preclude this from happening. Yes, I know I am more likely to die from bee stings or lightning than a shark attack, but those infamous notes in the Jaws soundtrack will always make me wary.

That being said, it is often not only a good but a necessary thing to expand our horizons and break out of our comfort zones, if we are to grow, personally and professionally. In our business lives, change is inevitable and adaptation is required in order to survive. Those of us uncomfortable with emails some twenty years ago must now face the reality (and convenience) of that technology in everyday life.

It is vital to challenge ourselves in some new way on a regular basis. The self-examination it takes to figure out what we need to learn, achieve or accomplish in this growth goal is not always easy. It requires a hard and honest look at where we fall short and what we could do better. Education is key. Do all you can to learn about the things you need to improve on. This might mean reading a book, taking a college course or making new friends and mentors that can help you along the way. Remember, a blade that is used often (like the human mind) needs regular sharpening to keep its edge.

We all want to achieve more, at home and at work. Often, the formula for expanding our success in both areas is the same. The question becomes, how hard are we willing to work to make this happen? Life is full of giants and the best way to face them down is by shedding our comfort zones and taking them on directly.

I may even try scuba diving, one day. In a pool.

Think Huge!

Driving in the Ruts

After conducting a strategic planning session last weekend for one of my clients I had to drive from the client’s business to Boston. No big deal, right? Actually, there were a couple of problems with the drive. Number one, I’m from Texas so I hate driving in the northeast where drivers are apt to give you a “traffic finger” instead of a Texas wave of the hand. Secondly, I was driving in the middle of a snow storm. And did I mention I’m from Texas?

Needless to say, it was a bit nerve racking. Unfamiliar roads. Multiple highway changes. Inches of snow on the roads. Snowing while driving. Despite those obstacles (which I’m sure are no big deal to you snow birds), I quickly learned an important lesson: drive in the ruts. Once I got on the highways and was able to drive where others had gone, the maneuvering became much easier. It was more like driving in slush or even clear roads instead of snow and ice.

In life (both professionally and personally) we often say “don’t get stuck in a rut.” How often have you heard that tired old saying? After my driving experience, I began to think maybe ruts aren’t all that bad. In fact, there are probably times when driving in a rut personally or professionally might help you. Here are two examples:

• During a crises—To me, that drive was a crises. I was stressed! There are times in life when you will be in a crisis at work or at home. If that’s the case, find some things you can do that you’ve done over and over again and don’t have to think about. We have routines at work and home. When we’re experiencing challenges, it’s not a bad thing just to do the basics (some call this “blocking and tackling). Do the basics in order to reduce the stress.

 

• During the unknown—At times during the drive, I really didn’t know where I was going. I was just hoping to end up at the airport. There are times in life when you won’t know where you are going personally or professionally; and that’s okay. In fact, not knowing every little detail about your life can be a good thing and cause you to stretch. This is also a perfect time to do what you do know (in other words, getting in those ruts).

I’m not suggesting you should do the same things over and over again. As you know, thinking huge is all about pushing yourself to do challenges you didn’t think were possible.  However, there are times when doing the routine—or driving in the ruts—can actually help you.

Think Huge!

Giving 100 Percent All The Time

Do you always give 100% to your family and to your career? If we are honest with ourselves, the answer is probably “no.” While the phrase “giving 100% effort” is a cliché, it’s something we should strive for every day. But the reality is we settle for less than 100% professionally and personally. After all, 90% is an “A.” So what’s the big deal if we just give less than 100%?

If 99.99% were good enough:

• 12 newborns would be given to the wrong parents daily
• 880,000 credit cards would have incorrect cardholder information
• 18,000 pieces of mail would be mishandled every hour
• 2 million documents will be lost by the IRS this year

Giving 100% personally is part of thinking huge. Give your best to your spouse, children and significant others. I don’t know about you, but too many times I give so much to my business that by the time I get home I have far less than 100% in the tank to give my wife and kids. They deserve my best. They deserve my 100%. Make sure you are listening, engaging and helping your family.

Giving 100% professionally is part of thinking huge. Give your best to your boss, your clients and your co-workers. Too many times we can let external matters affect our job performance. If we have a fight with the spouse before work we are in a bad mood all day and we don’t do as good of a job as we should. We don’t give our 100%. Work deserves my best. It deserves my 100%. Make sure you are completing your assignments, listening to your boss and helping your co-workers.

Your family and your career both need your 100%. And that is where it gets tough: giving 100% to each. If we split ourselves, then we give 50% to each. That would be an “F.” Instead we should give 100% to each while we are there. When we’re at home, be at home. When we’re at work, be at work. But don’t just “be” at those places. Give your all. Give your 100% to both work and home.

Think Huge!

Make the Last Two Months Count

It’s hard to believe we’re in November. Where did the year go? As Fall continues to roll along, many are enjoying one of their favorite seasons. Fall festivals, changing leaves, cooler temperatures, the first snow (hard to believe!), and Thanksgiving mark our calendars.

As November starts, we may already be thinking about the holidays and even planning for next year. From a business perspective, I’m already working on many 2012 plans. Personally, my mind is a bit filled with the thoughts of what 2012 will hold for our family as our oldest daughter embarks to college.

But the reality is we still have two months left in 2011! There are several things I can and still need to accomplish this year. The reality is November and December offer the perfect time to accomplish some key tasks.

Professionally, the last two months are ideal to complete unfinished business. If you’re like me, there are a few goals with your business you may not have reached yet. Instead of putting them off to next year, how about doubling our efforts and get them done now? For example, there were a few business books I wanted to read but didn’t get to; now is the ideal time to finish. I also was a little inconsistent on sending personal cards to people. I can play catch-up the next few months and make sure I write the right people.

Personally, the last two months are also ideal to focus on the home front. With the holidays, you typically get more time with family. Take advantage of those vacation days and plan special events for your family. Don’t dread the holidays—embrace them. For example, I travel a lot but by the end of the year the travel slows. So it presents the perfect time to slow down and catch up with my wife and girls. We were also a little lax as a family with our “think huge” projects. So we can play catch up in November and December to make sure we get them done.

Don’t tap the breaks on 2011. Remember the words and motto of Lance Armstrong: “finish strong.” While it’s never too early to start planning for next year (after all, one of the “Think Huge” principles is “think vision”), let’s live in the present.

Think Huge!

Letting Go Is Hard

Last month, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida. That is a total of 103 miles. If that wasn’t hard enough, keep in mind that Nyad is 62 years old. Through shark infested waters, this was Nyad’s third attempt at the crossing.

While the swimmer had completed 49 miles, she fell short of her ultimate goal. Due to multiple Man O’ War stings, continuing to swim could have proved fatal.

Is her lack of completing such a difficult task a failure? Hardly. Notice two of her quotes:

“For each of us, isn’t life about determining your own finish line? This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues.”

As she was coming out of the water she said, “I trained so hard for it….it’s a hard thing to let go of.”

Click below to see her how it ended:

    

There are times in life we achieve our goals. There are also times when we have to let go.  Either way, success is measured in the journey, not the destination.

Think Huge!

Building Your Base

 

I’m currently training to run The Hottest Half Marathon in a couple of weeks. Yes, it’s a half marathon in Texas in August. Sometimes, thinking huge means stretching and testing yourself. Anytime you run a long distance race (half marathon, marathon or ultra-marathon), you have to build your base.

A “base” for long runs means you build up to the eventual distance. You have to complete several 8 or 10 mile runs consistently before attempting a 13.1 race (half marathon distance). Without a strong base, you won’t achieve your goals.

When completing my final warm-up run (a 12 miler) two weeks before the race I realized my base is not as strong as it should be. I started training nine weeks before the race instead of 10. I took several training days off during our family vacation. I skipped a run or two when worked piled up. The bottom line is I didn’t take care of my base.

Just liking running a long race, you have to take care of the bases in your life. You have both professional and personal bases.

From a professional standpoint, you can’t get ahead of yourself. For example, you can’t spend 6 months at an entry level position and expect to be a manager. You have to build your base. It takes time to develop your professional chops. You can’t even go from mid-management to upper management without first mastering those management skills.  It takes time to build your professional base. Sometimes time and experience are the best teachers.

From a personal standpoint, you must take care of your base. That means taking care of your family. For example, I can’t work 10 or 12 hours a day, think about work all the time and then expect to connect with my wife and daughters. It just doesn’t work that way. I have to take care of that home base by investing energy and engagement at home (which I struggle to do at times).

So I’ll still run The Hottest Half. But the reality is I probably won’t attain a personal record because I haven’t built my base. If you don’t build your base professionally and personally you probably won’t hit your desired goals in those areas either.

Think Huge!

Think Huge Lessons From Dallas Mavericks

Note: My one “claim to fame” is I’m an original Dallas Mavericks ball boy. Yes, that means when the Dallas Mavericks were first formed some 31 years ago, I was one of their ball boys (for the first three years of the franchise, in fact). So I truly am a Mavs Fan For Life (and biased).

Last week the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship. It was a proud moment for this original Mavs ball boy. While I wasn’t jumping on the sofa, I was cheering loudly as the final seconds ticked by. Then I stayed up late watching all the postgame coverage.

One thing that particularly struck me was a few Think Huge principles Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said in his postgame news conference:

 

Think Perseverance

“Dirk and Jet have had to live for five years with what happened in 2006 and as of tonight those demons are officially destroyed.”

Every sports fan knows back in 2006 the Mavericks collapsed against the Miami Heat in The Finals. But no one felt it more so than Dirk Nowitski and Jason Terry. Notice they didn’t get back to The Finals the next year. Or the year after that. It took five long and painful years to even get the chance to redeem themselves. They endured. They persevered. And eventually they triumphed.

It’s the same way in your personal and professional life as well. There will be times when you fail. There will be times when you have to fight through shortcomings. But true champions endure. If you are thinking huge, you are thinking perseverance.

Think People

“Our team is not about individual ability; it’s about collective will, collective grit, and collective guts.”

In this year’s Finals, team trumped talent. The Miami Heat had more stars. The Miami Heat had more talent. But in the end, it is the Dallas Mavericks who hoisted the championship trophy. Why—because they trusted each other and played together. As Gene Hackman said in Hoosiers: “Team, team, team. No one individual more important than another.”

For many businesses, its’ the same as well. I’d much rather hire for attitude (and train for skill) than hire for skill (and train attitude). Intangibles matter in sports—and in your personal and professional life. In your life, are you more about others or about yourself? If you are thinking huge, you are thinking people.

So learn from the world champion Dallas Mavericks by thinking perseverance and thinking people.

Think Huge!

You’ve Probably Been Through Worse

 

A few weeks ago I was traveling from Dallas to New York via Chicago. When I stepped off the plane in Chicago I realized I had misplaced my wallet. It had everything in it—credit cards, cash, driers license. You name it and it was in my wallet.

Once I realized I was without everything you need while traveling, I did what most anyone would do—panic! To say I was “upset” is putting it mildly. Immediately, a thousand questions raced through my pea-brain: how was I going to make a return trip with no id? How was I going to rent a car when with no driver’s license and no credit card? How was I going to eat with no money?

Here are a few of the texts and voice mails I sent my wife when I realized what was going on:

“Please pray…I have lost my wallet!!”

“This is bad!! What am I going to do?”

“I can’t believe I did this!!”

My wife’s response? “We’ve been through worse.”

Wow—that summed it up. She was exactly right: we had been through worse. Her mom’s death. My dad’s heart attack (and subsequent death). Personnel issues at work. Indeed we had been through worse. My wife’s gentle reminder put the entire situation in perspective. By the way, one of my daughters later added, “It’s not like the plane crashed.”

Ever had a day that seemed like everything was going wrong? Odds are you have. Your boss yells at you. You miss a deadline. You have an argument with your spouse. Your kid gets in trouble at school. You get in a fender bender. There are times when these things all happen on the same day.

One of the principles to thinking huge is thinking perseverance. You are going to have hard days. You are going to have days when it seems like everything is going wrong. But keep it all in perspective. More than likely, you’ve been through worse.

Think Huge!

Unbroken is Story of Perseverance

I normally don’t do a book review until I’ve completely read it. I’m going to make an exception now—as soon as you have time be sure to read Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I’m only halfway through it and I can’t put it down. I won’t give you a complete book review with this post. But I will tell you this: read Unbroken.

One of the six Think Huge principles is think perseverance. When it comes to perseverance, the true story of Louis Zamperini (as told in Unbroken) is remarkable. Time and time again as I’m reading Unbroken, I’m thinking, “you’ve got to be kidding—how did he survive and live through that?” Crashed at sea and left for dead? Persevered. Stranded on a raft for over 45 days? Persevered. Starved in a Japanese prisoner of war camp? Persevered. Beaten to a pulp too many times to count? Persevered.

A good story makes for good reading. And Zamperini’s story is not good—it’s great. As Hillenbrand says in the video clip below, “Louis’ life is a lesson in perseverance.  Louis never gave up on the idea that he could get through what he was going through.”

  

Let’s be honest: there are times when life gets us down. Times when we feel like we can’t handle one more crisis or adversity. Our business struggles or fails. We lose our job. A spouse dies or leaves. A child disappoints. Sometimes we feel like we just can’t persevere.

There were many times in Louis Zamperini’s life when no sane man would have gone on: when sharks were circling his raft for days, when his raft was strafed by enemy bullets, when he was knocked unconscious by guards’ beating. But Zamp (as he is sometimes called) persevered. And if we are truly thinking huge we will persevere through our challenges as well.

So when you have a chance, pick up a copy of Unbroken and read Louis Zamperini’s story.

Think Huge!

Writing Down Goals Increases Your Odds of Achieving Them

 
 
  

Note: The following post was written by Colleen Cormier, of Cameo Marketing

 “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”—Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Last week, a friend of mine was telling me some of her goals for 2011. One of them involved major home improvements. She said her goal was to do one home improvement a month, if she could afford it.

“Write it down,” I said.

“Write what down?” she asked.

“Write down your goals,” I said.

“I don’t need to write them down,” she said. “I already know I want to do them. I just don’t know if I’ll have the money. What’s the point of writing them down if I don’t know what our budget will be?”

I clearly struck a nerve, and at that point, I decided it was best to change the subject. But, there’s a part of me that wishes I had finished the conversation. The answer she needed to hear can best be summed up by the quote above: “A goal with a plan is just a wish.”

There is true power in putting your goals down on paper. It holds you more accountable. You form a connection between what is in your head/heart and what you will actually do. Writing them down removes ambiguity and lessens doubt about your ability to achieve them. It makes you more committed to following through. It turns your wish into a plan.

My friend didn’t want to write down her goals, because she wasn’t sure she’d have the money. If she doesn’t write down what she wants to achieve, how will she know how much money she needs in the first place? If she doesn’t write down what home improvements she wants to make, how will she know what supplies she needs, how much she can do herself and which projects she may already have the money to complete?

When leading NFL rusher Emmitt Smith was inducted to the Football Hall of Fame, he said writing down his goals was on of the life principles that made him so successful. Here is an excerpt from his speech:

There's a difference between merely having a dream and fulfilling a vision. Most people only dream. I not only had my childhood dream, but I did everything in my power to fulfill it.

For example, I wrote down my goals and how I was going to achieve them, because Dwight Thomas used to tell us, ‘It's only a dream until you write it down, and then it becomes a goal.’ By the time I was 20, I wrote,’ I want to play in the Super Bowl, be the MVP, become the all-time leading rusher, and finish college, because I promised my mother I would.’

Over the course of my career, all of those things came to pass, and I know that writing down my goals was an essential strategy.

Many of us are in the process of making and refining our goals for the year. Increase your odds of success by writing them down.