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Change How You Think: Asset-Based Thinking vs. Deficit-Based Thinking

Age has brought with it a yearning. For simplicity.

A decade ago I began a fascination with minimalism. I’m a non-practicing minimalist. I love the idea. I just haven’t found the energy to do it. It still captivates me though because it’s simple. Easy. Void of unnecessary stuff. More of a distraction-free way to live.

Persuasion and communication have been central components of my professional life. Personal development, cognitive research and the power of the mind have been staple subjects of the book I’m most drawn to read. Today’s show is a short series of podcasts about a book I’m re-reading, “Change The Way You See Everything.”

Enjoy!

Mentioned in today’s episode:

– Zen Habits by Leo Babauta
– Jim Rohn
– Soar With Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton / Paula Nelson
– Change The Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking by Kathryn D. Cramer, Ph.D and Hank Wasiak
– Mat Kearney song, Closer To Love (“one phone call from our knees”) the video is below; buy anything Mat Kearney produces
– Early To Rise
– BulaNetwork.com/about (to see some of the WHO’s that matter to me)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:40 — )

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I no longer live in an area rife with pine trees, but I spent the bigger part of my youth amidst them. For me, there’s nothing like a nice stand of pine trees with needles covering the ground. It’s a natural insolation from the world. The smell. The feel. The serenity.

Sadly, my adulthood solitude hasn’t included pine trees. Mostly, it happens in random places sought out at the spur of a moment. It often happens inside a car. Today’s show was recorded in a car. Parked in a parking lot with windows lowered about 1/4 of the way. The sounds of nearby traffic and a clear blue sky over head.

Sometimes we need to find a place with a lower noise floor so we can think more clearly. Introspection demands a focus we don’t often get in today’s constantly plugged-in environment.

People regularly eat with a fork in one hand and their iPhone in the other. They don’t talk to the people two feet from them, often preferring to interact with people miles away who mean much less to them. Important conversations give way to Words-With-Friends, which is an ironic name implying that valuable words are exchanged with friends. Racket replaces relationships even though relationship building gets tons of lip service. Increasingly, it means connecting with people who can help promote us, or make us look bigger, more successful or more popular.

A moment arrives, perhaps out of the blue, and suddenly the urge hits us. We need an instant change of scenery. We need a quiet place to be alone. Away from the ordinary distractions. Including the Internet. And cell phones.

Alone. With just our thoughts. And perhaps our beliefs and convictions.

To ponder. To wonder. To let our minds help us find solutions or options.

These days I mostly find solitude from inside my car, parked in the exact same location where I recorded a podcast over at BulaNetwork about the death of my best friend, Stanley.

What does your solitude look like?

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:16 — )

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Breaking Bad concluded last night. I was captivated initially by the quality of the writing on the show. Throughout the series I’ve read many interviews with the writers. The writing room for that show fascinates me. Six or seven people in a room in Burbank crafting this remarkable story — clearly able to do some things together that none of them would be able to do alone!

When I was young President Kennedy had thrown down the gauntlet to put a man on the moon before the end of the 60’s. NASA accomplished that goal on July 20, 1969 with Apollo 11. Many of those young NASA engineers reported that it was the best work of their lives.

Both Breaking Bad and Apollo missions are a hard act to follow. People commonly report how badly they miss the collaboration. People miss working along side others toward a common goal. Working alone just isn’t the same.

Sometime in the late 1990’s while browsing through a bookstore I noticed a brightly colored book entitled, Working Solo: The Real Guide to Freedom & Financial Success with Your Own Business by Terri Lonier. Prior to that I don’t recall hearing anything about working solo. The term “solopreneur” wouldn’t arrive on the scene until much later.

Then, around 2001 another book caught my eye. Free Agent Nation: How America’s New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live by Dan Pink gave new meaning, at least to me, to the term “freelancing.”

I was a chief executive at the time, responsible for many people and assets. I was never working alone. Honestly, at that point, the thought never crossed my mind. But these two books prodded the gerbils to start running inside their wheels.

It began like most things – a daydream. A fantasy. A “wouldn’t that be nice?” kind of a thought.

Today’s show consists of my observations about working alone vs. working in collaboration with others.

Also mentioned in today’s show:

• Jay Leno’s Garage YouTube channel and Batman’s Tumbler
• BulaNetwork.com – my main hangout | a special episode about my best friend (our collaborations were special)

Thanks for listening,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:31 — )

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Grinding it out. That’s the stuff of success, but it’s not fun or glamorous.

It’s arduous. Lonely. Difficult.

In today’s show I want to talk with you about doing what’s next to take you closer toward the success you’re chasing. It may be that you don’t know what to do, but more often than not – I find people do know what to do next. They simply don’t want to do it. Because it’s hard.

We want the performance. We don’t want the practice.

But without the practice – the hard work of preparation – we never will get to perform. Or our performance will fail.

I hope you’ll embrace the good feeling and sense of accomplishment that comes with grinding it out by doing what’s next!

P.S. Just because…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:13 — )

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (illustrated to the left) isn’t the only list of purported needs. Famed American psychologist Edward L. Thorndike did his own research on the needs of mankind. And there are others.

Each of them have their merits, and proponents – as well as critics.

You’re always looking for an edge. Some insight. That’s what Maslow put at the top of his pyramid.

According to him, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got those four other things underneath your feet first.

Watch any survival reality show and the evidence is clear. They always go after the first two blocks of the pyramid. The basic essentials have to be in place before you can think about anything else.

No food. No safe place to sleep. Nothing else matters!

The guy talks about all his credit card debt. It’s approaching $10,000. He’s battling to find enough cash flow to buy food. Forget the house. It’s gone. The car? His mom gave him hers.

He’s got dreams of making it big. There’s a SasS (software as a service) business in his head that he knows can earn millions. Maybe. Maybe not.

So far, he’s got a bunch of notes, some drawings, a mindmap or two and seemingly, a lot of misplaced optimism.

Guys like him are all around. You see them on the Internet posting comments, clapping every time their favorite guru says something remotely intelligent. They’re the people in the stands who buy the tickets, enroll in the courses, cram themselves into conference rooms and look wide-eyed at the Internet celebrities who have “made it.”

It’s their credit card debt that may helping some marketers generate 5-figure monthly revenues.

As for our future Saas entrepreneur, he’s among the ranks of many I’ve seen in the past ten years. I watch with heightened curiosity, hoping he figures it out soon. I’m not optimistic though. Not because I’m a pessimist, but because I’ve seen this movie before. It just hardly ever ends well. It’s not a comedy. It’s a tragedy.

Lately, I’m not in much mood for tragedies.

He says he doesn’t want to work for anybody ever again. Nobody gets rich, nobody is successful if they work for the man. Or WOman.

He believes it. Evidence? He’s always worked for the man and he’s poor as Job’s turkey.

Today’s show is about two (just 2) big ideas. They’re not complicated, but they are profound. They may be just what you need, too – because there just aren’t very many of us who don’t need them.