HAPPY NEW YEAR

It’s been a strange year in many ways. It’s been one of the most challenging due to all turbulence in the world. From the financial market breakdown, recession and more I feel kind of guilty to say that it’s been my best year ever.

• I got married
• Done some pretty cool insight within myself
• Got an outstanding team to work with
• Clarified my Vision and Mission in life
• Simplified and improved the business

I can make this list go on forever but I’ll spare you and just round it off with an insight. All these “personal victories” are grown out of a big challenge and haven’t had any value without the strive before. Changes are sometimes frustrating but the breakthrough makes it worthwhile.

I wish you all an outstanding 2010 with many breakthroughs.

SQUIDOO

Squidoo is a really cool tool I’ve stumbled on after reading some books by Seth Godin. (Purple Cow)

Squidoo.  What a crazy name for such a valuable internet tool! However, it is time to stop laughing at the name and realize the pure power of Squidoo.  With proper resources and a proven Squidoo Guide, you too can feel the power of the Squid.

 

Try something new today, create a SQUID!

CONSISTENCY

In the age of multitasking CONSISTENCY and PRESENCE is rare. We are distracted and unfocused all the time. We are trying to talk to someone, answer SMS:s, update Facebook and Twitter all in once. As soon as we do all in once we simultaneous do close to nothing.

Media multitaskers pay mental price, Stanford study shows

Same goes for learning martial arts, it doesnt get better just because you try to learn everything in once. You still has to focus on one thing at a time and then do it again and again until it becomes a reflex. Depending on the complexity of the move, it takes 2-5000 repetitions to turn it into a natural reflex. So when you train all those different things in once you never reach the 5000 repetitions. To reach a 100 repetitions in 50 things wont make you a world champion and the lifesaving reflex is never gonna happen.

So lets get boring. Do one thing again and again and again. Then you can be a happy world champion. You just have to work with a hard and strong goal and create and outstanding plan to get there.

Be boring with a big smile on you’re face!

HERE IT IS, “THE SECRET”

IT’S NOT A SECRET!!

Everybody knows this and the intresting thing is that knowing and doing is far apart. To do what you are supposed to do demands a lot of personal leadership and self desciplin.

To know what you are supposed to do can be a lot harder than it sounds. I’ve been conducting several seminars and workshops in the topic and people are quite confused before they are finished with the process.

You have to be completely sure about your true identity which is another topic. I wount go there either for know. But as long as you know where you’re going and why, there’s only one thing to to.

Keep on working, never stop no matter what. And do it as often as possible. I have one word for it alltogether.

CONSISTENCY

 

The Secret Part III

Successful Investing

I had the opportunity to learn from the very famous Chuck Mellon. First time on a event called Wealth Mastery from the Tony Robbins Mastery University and second time in Montreau on a seminar called Advanced Investment Strategies. There’s a lot into investing and it all depends on how much you want to gain in comparison with your risk tolerance. I won’t go into that here even if I’m interested in the topic. What I will share here as a “Secret” that I have heard from many people in different fields of investing. It’s really boring and you will probably hate me for presenting this boring obviousness. But still most people don’t apply and there’s a huge different from those who do.

First you have to invest frequently and not rely on the big success a few times.

Secondly you have to stay focused and not lose the track.

Thirdly you have to invest the same amount of time as your expectations.

I know I know it’s really boring but I paid a lot of money to learn that but whats really boring is all these people out there who knows all about this, AND STILL DO NOTHING!

I know some people lika that and I have been like that myself in some fields. But never in my training though, that’s why I’ve been really successful there. And now it’s time to use that experience in more aspecs of life.

Apply these “secrets” and get yourself a lot of riches!

THE SECRET part II

Marketing and one of it’s secrets.

I have created a big interest for marketing during my life. Everything from starting up several companies (my own and others) as well as coaching instructors and club owners to succeed in their career. I was fortunate to have a private student who was a professional marketer to guide me until I finally went for a degree myself. I spent 2 very dedicated years at IHM Business School.

  DIHM Examination

Marketing is a very wide term and many misconceptions are made around it. This article will focus on one of the main things that many people foresee about marketing. I will describe it in conjunction with my former article about success so please read that first.

The “SECRET” with successful marketing is so easy that most people can’t even do it. They try to go for temporary “quick fixes” and change it up just because of that. Here’s what you need:

• Goals – (become a world champion in stick fighting)
• Strategy – (to win by superior physical condition)
• Tactics – (to workout harder then anybody else)
• Business idea – (make it part of everyday life no matter what)

Ridiculous isn’t it? But when you have decided your goal and made sure that it is really important to accomplish, the hard part is to stick to the strategy and tactics until its accomplished. As long as you are heading towards your goal you don’t change anything, you just keep going. You repeat your campaigns and use your tactics again, again, again and again. You lock the direction towards the goal and just keep going, if you change to often and do to many different things people get confused, clients leave and goals get blur.

The only time you adjust is when you realizes that you are out off course, then you just steer back in again. This “secret” has helped me a lot in my business and career.

If you still wondering what the “SECRET” and commonality with investing and training are hang in there and come back to the blog next week. I will reveal the “SECRET” of successful investing.

THE SECRET

I recently figured out a common “secret” between success, investing, marketing, training and health. No it’s not the “The Secret” even if that’s a good one as well. This is a secret so well know that it’s hidden in the must, should and would of a hectic and stressful  average day. And the average person struggles to learn and apply this secret.

I will start with different stories where I learnt this secret myself, in these different fields.

Success

When I prepared myself for the world championships in Philippines 1993 I new there would be guys with more experience and skills than me. There was nothing I could do about that. But what I figured out was that many of them focused more on the techniques and skills and less on the physical conditioning. So I made up my mind that I should condition myself harder than anybody else possible could. The challenge with that decision was that I had started a new company that demanded 60-80 work hours a week, started a new club that demanded some hours every week as well besides my own training. On top of that I was on my way to become a father so I guess you can see the complexity of this situation.

To reach my goal (to become a World Champion) realized that I had to condition myself EVERY DAY. I had to run or skip rope and hit the tires on top of all the above. How I did that was to integrate those things in my everyday life. I always had the running shoes in my car, depending on the time of the day I stopped and ran on my way to/from work or to/from lunch or other errands. If I had little time I skipped rope instead, everything from 30 minutes down to 3 minutes many times during the workday. At the coffee break between phone calls or meeting whenever there were the tiniest slack. Same thing with the tires, if I had time for a proper lunch break (rarely) I spent an hour hitting the pile of tires. But same thing there, whatever happened I hit those tires EVERY DAY. Some days an hour,sometimes only 3 minutes but most of the time 3 minutes over and over again. This concept made me a World Champion in full contact stick fighting Cebu City 1993.

At that place and at that time nobody else had conditioned themselves harder than me!

If you still wondering what the “SECRET” and commonality with investing, marketing and training are hang in there and come back to the blog on Friday. I will reveal the “SECRET” of successful marketing.

Back to the roots

I was teaching at a Jujitsu camp in Lund/SWEDEN this weekend and it was really great for a lot of reasons. There where many different nationalities there and many well known masters. The organizer of the camp was Soke Jan-Erik Karlsson which was one of my early instructors as a 7 year old beginner, a true master with a lot of history. Soke Richard Morris I meet many times at Jujitsu seminars in young years. Those seminars where mainly in Denmark where I got many friends and the funny thing was that this year they where here as well. It was really great to hook up with everybody and I’m truly grateful for having this connection again after all those years.

To be able to appreciate today, you have to be grateful for your past.

THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

I was working at a project the other day and had to go for a daytrip and a meeting. I went for the road early in the morning to be there at lunch. It all went really well and we even covered a short training in the end. I was planning to drive all the way back in the late evening but felt really tired and decided to visit my parents who got a summerhouse nearby. To understand the beauty of this story you need to know how unpredictable the Swedish summer can be. This year we have the all time high rain record for the last 50 years. And the weather changes 20 times a day. When I woke up in the morning ready to leave early back to work it was a stunning weather. I just couldn’t put myself driving for 3 hours to get the rainy weather at home. So I spent all day in the sun, had a boat ride with my son, and some waterskiing on the lake. What a blast.

In marketing they often say that it’s more important to be at the right place at the right time to be successful, sometimes life is just the same.

Just when we where heading back home again it started to rain, and I just said “thank you” with a big smile on my face.

Viva Las Vegas

Just got back from a trip in Las Vegas. That’s an interesting place for many reasons. I will write some more insights from this trip later on but right now a short list what you can do in Vegas. (we did)

1. Get married anytime anyhow
2. Get lost in the palaces (hotels)
3. Walk around 12 km in 45 degrees Celsius
4. Crazy roller coasters
5. Get sunburned without  being in the sun
6. Go to great shows
7. and a lot more……………….

RESPONSIBILITY

I got a question the other day about important features and values for success. In my opinion RESPONSABILTY is a major one. You are responsible for your own health, happiness and success. It’s not easy though and  many people  prefer the easy way even if it got a price to it.

The easy way is to make a story why you are not healthy, happy and so on. Then you give yourself an excuse to say it’s ok not to be healthy because bla,bla,bla…….. This makes it easy for the moment but the price you pay are mediocrity.

Or even worse, blame somebody else for your personal downfall. I can’t succeed because he/she did this or that to me. This creates the scarcity mentality because after a while everybody expect to be blamed and you will be alone without someone to blame. That’s scary!

To avoid these traps and pay the high price from above you have to make a tuff decision and make this statement truly yours. You are responsible for everything from the smallest to infinity as long as it includes you.

When you find yourself in a challenge ask these questions: What can I do about this?, what’s my part in this?, how can I avoid this in the future?.

So let’s go find yourself a challenge and give answer to these questions. Any blaming or stories has to be punished severely.

The Date with Destiny

I just got home from a very exiting week at the Gold Coast. It was the Tony Robbins seminar "Date with Destiny" which sounds really dramatic and fatal, and in a way it is. They started all the 2500 participants with the words "whatever reason you think you came for, it's not it" which I of course doubted because I believe I got myself pretty good figured out.

After a couple of days I realized that I learned so much about myself that it felt like I had one breakthrough a day. It made me really exited because new insights is my bread and butter within my researches at work. I could go on and on with all this but I will pace myself to say some of my conclusions after this week.

• How can I even more appreciate and love the challenges I face on my true path in life.
• The purpose of my life is to be an outstanding role model, enjoy every moment and create miracles for myself and others.

If growth is important for you I recommend to go for this seminar.

Live with Passion as Tony Robbins use to say.

The Sun is Shining

There’s a lot of people struggling now for different reasons. Many of my friends are challenged financially by work and personally by some circumstances. Which makes it easy to start thinking what’s the purpose of it all and why is this happening and so on. Your regular paradigm is shaken and your focus goes in different directions.

Some people get into solution mode and others dig themselves into the problem hole and get overwhelmed. Neither is right or wrong but personally I prefer solution mode because the “problem hole” has a tendency to keep you longer than healthy. However you need some kind of high to manage one or the other that's why I wrote the headline.

We use to joke about it especially when there’s a lot going on around us. We nag about our challenges and in the end we just say “But the sun is shining” meaning at least there’s something positive going on. It doesn't have to be the sun it can be anything, the slightest glimpse of something good.

I don’t want to sound like “Mr. Happy Camper” but the people I know who impressed me most during the years have all had this attitude in common, even in the most absurd situations. Bosses I worked for, Star Sales Managers I learnt from and close friends because it’s the warrior spirit.

So go and look for something positive right away, with or without problems.

And you know what, today the SUN IS SHINING in Gothenburg SWEDEN!

Friday the 13th is nice

Last Friday I had a very odd day full of variety. Morning coffee really early in a snowy Gothenburg, Breakfast in a rainy Copenhagen, Lunch in a Sunny Roma and Dinner in a Warm Sardinia (compared to Sweden).
Even if it was a day with a lot of waiting and many flights it was still refreshing to have all of these differences in one day. At Saturday the sun was shining and the people was smiling. We had a great lunch and went to the sea for relaxation and some pictures at the beach.

Sardinia is really  nice and I like the people here. Did I mention I love my work.

Appreciate life and keep looking for opportunities.

Your Body and Your Stories

I often hear the expression “I will do that when I got better time” or There’s to much stress for me to train right now. And then you start to think how it’s possible to make those contradictions in your life. I mean, everything we do in this world are depending on our body. No matter what, physical activities as well as deep solid thinking are done by our body. So when you let your body degenerate by not taking care of it and then give yourself a story why you can’t do it right now you are actually telling yourself (and maybe others)that you’re not here to do your very best. So if you think about it for a short time when you last gave yourself or someone else a story like “I can’t train right now because…………….”´, was it really true or where there in fact some possibilities to manage your own personal maintenance one way or another.

I got some friends with career, family, kids and the hole enchilada still never miss a training. I also now people who I wonder how they fill up their schedule and they miss a lot of workouts. It makes me curious.

Me and one of the trainers at the club did a 12 week regimen one and a half year ago there we worked out Monday to Friday every week. We where both really busy this period but we never missed out one single workout. Believe me, we where really creative. I went to Thailand and had to do squats back in the plane because it was Friday/Leg day. Both of us where travelling and got back late a Monday night, driving to a dark and cold soccer field at 11.30 pm, unloading a lot of iron to complete the workout of the day I’m happy nobody else was there. They would thought we where completely insane, and maybe we where…..

But most importantly, we promised each other and our self to complete this regimen and we did, without any stories or excuses. Every time you fulfill your promises and take care of yourself and your body you raise your standard.

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Stories don’t!

Goals and Expectations

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Many times in my life I have seen people talking about different ways of running projects. Where to start and what to do first and so on. I have realized and learnt first you have to define the vision and the specific goal. Without that any kind of project is doomed.

I have been accused heavily for being dishonest, steeling and not fulfilling tasks and so on. (see former posts) The irony in this though is that I really tried to clarify our vision and goals many years ago. Most of the time the feedback was “I don’t know”, “we have to start the basics first” or “you do it”. I realize now that I shouldn’t have let it go because now the other one claims that it is all wrong, we shouldn’t be where we are today and there’s all the money?

I can in one way understand the frustration of not being where you want to be but on the other hand, if you don’t steer the ship from the beginning don’t expect to end in the right harbor.

So the earlier you define your goals the better you will work to fulfill your expectations. That’s the same principle for a person, a coach or a team.

ROLES AND GOALS

When I was in the Navy we once had an interesting challenge. We were out doing night navigation which means you are going quite fast in a narrow environment without the regular visibility. The captain has special marks you have to follow really strict and it’s a lot of teamwork. Our ship was running router with another ship. Our sister ship had an accident and smashed pretty badly out at sea in the middle of the night. A total chaos erupted and now our skill and training went to trial.
The captain managed direct orders, sailors started to administrate “tubes” thru the ship, the machinist started the pumps, divers went into water to cover the hole and slow down the water. Our ship was right behind and went for assistance A.S.A.P and supported to keep the ship floating.
Afterwards I evaluated what did happen and it was really interesting. We found one guy at his locker packing old cassette tapes and when we asked him what the f--k he was doing he answered “do you know how much time I spent recording these……” he was panicking and completely useless for handling the crisis. We put him to the side and kept working. Altogether we worked like a team and it all went well. The broken sister ship had to go to repair and our ship still had a mission to fulfill so our captain put us back on course.
This is very similar to crisis in companies and groups. There will always evolve different crisis and these personalities always show themselves during the chaos. The guy who starts to do something completely meaningless has to be put out of the way from the people who take initiative and fulfill their missions. If there would have been rats onboard the lame ones in the bottom of the ship doing nothing will probably drown there, the rats that jumps off the ship before fixing the predicament will be swimming alone in the big dark sea. The team who takes responsibility and fight to survive will probably be even stronger afterwards. The captain still floating will get back on his course and reach his goal and the other captain will be put on hold and getting nowhere until the team has fixed the ship and the new goals have been set.

The Me or The We in a Brand and a Team

Many times I have had discussions such as “I did this you didn’t do that” and so on. In my opinion that is ok if you are a one man band, but if you are a team that’s not the way to communicate.

So the question you could ask then is. Who made “Volvo” and who is it today? Is it the guy who designed the emblem back in the day’s or one of the car models of today. Or is it the car salesman who talk to the customers or maybe the repairman who take care of problems that occur? You can make this list longer and then you start to look at it the first statement (I / You) looks really misplaced. I truly believe that a Brand or a Team consists of a group of WE! Where everybody strive in the same direction and tries to bridge over to each other to fill up all the gaps between the different department.

Lesser the gaps stronger the team. And maybe I can build some kind of car myself but WE can build racecar and  make it a famous brand at the same time.

Bring the Me out of We and the Team will Grow