Have you ever thought about the architect of your life and who that person really is?  Is it God, is it you, or is it someone else entirely.  Here’s my take…

Today, I read an interesting quote from Epictetus. “There are three areas in which the person who would be wise and good must be trained.  The first has to do with desires and aversions—that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into what repels them.  The second has to do with impulses to act and not to act—and more broadly, with duty—that a person may act deliberately for good reasons and not carelessly.  The third has to do with freedom from deception and composure and the whole area of judgment, the assent our mind gives to its perceptions.  Of these areas, the chief and most urgent is the first which has to do with the passions, for strong emotions arise only when we fail in our desires and aversions.”  —EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.2.1–3a

Have you ever stopped to think about all of the resources we each have at our disposal? It’s one of the things I’ve been reflecting on as I’ve been building out a resource page as part of an email welcome sequence. Soon, anytime someone joins Reflections, they’ll get a 7-day welcome sequence designed to deliver pure value to the reader. It’s a simple exercise, but it’s really challenged me to think about what things have value for those joining the list. One of those things is a list of resources, tools, and books.

Goals are good things to have.  In fact, statistically speaking, nearly all top performers in every field have goals. But there’s a big difference between focusing on the goal itself vs. focusing your mind on the direction you want to travel.  When you focus on the goal you’re focusing on a fixed point or a specific achievement.  But once you reach that goal then what? 

One of my superpowers, yes you have them too, is the ability to learn from other people's examples. Good examples, bad examples, it doesn’t matter. It’s a gift I likely picked up from my mom as she was the youngest of five kids, and I was the youngest of four. I can vividly remember times in my life when she’d pull me aside to point out something one of my siblings did well or well… not so well.

As you might imagine, I’m a big fan of sales. Not just dollars and cents sales, although who doesn’t love those, but the actual profession of sales.  Like many of you, it’s a passion of mine.  That’s why, when I heard that Peter Drucker said the two things a company needs to be successful are marketing and innovation, I used to disagree. Adamantly!