There is a powerful ancient wisdom quote that gets horribly misused, and it’s robbing people of valuable time, energy AND results!

Here’s the quote:

:Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Confucius inspirational quotes

A lot of people feel that if you love what you do, that must mean that you should want to spend as much time as possible doing it. 

But is it possible to love what you do, yet cause more harm than good?

Howard’s Story: He LOVES what he does…and so should anyone he wants something from!

Howard works from home and loves what he does. He doesn’t appear to be making much money at it, by the way, but he tries to give the impression of success.

There is so much he wants to know, and he’s willing to bother anyone at any time of the day or night to satisfy his needs.

No, he does not invest in himself or his business..

Howard has a habit of trying to pull people into Skype chats and conversations.  And he has no particular regard for anybody else’s schedule or availability.

He does not ask whether the person is actually available to speak.  He simply calls them up using Skype.

Since Howard has not set an appointment or even asked whether the lucky recipient has time, the end result is most definitely disruptive.

What happens with Skype is that a wide banner that spans most of the screen comes right up in the middle of the workspace.

Certainly the phone can ring at any time, and anyone always has the option either to answer or not to answer.  Skype calls are more “in your face” than a normal phone call.

Howard never considers what he does to cause a big disruption. He’ll intrude three and four times a day, given half a chance.

Howard calls at any time of the day or night. He LOVES what he does, so calling someone at 1 AM or 6:30 AM or anytime he pleases suits HIM well.

His attitude is that if you love what you do, then nothing is work, and thus it’s perfectly OK to have absolutely NO boundaries about talking business.

As a matter of fact, he expects any entrepreneur in his world to let him pick their brain (without paying them) at any time of the day or night.

His feeling is that because he loves what he does, he need not set any boundaries on his day.

It doesn’t matter to him what time of the day or night something crosses his mind that he wants to talk over with someone more experienced.

Therefore, it shouldn’t matter to anyone else, because they’re also supposed to love working from home and have no life beyond work.

 It doesn’t matter when somebody can meet, what they’re doing, or whether they want to have a balanced life…

…because he loves what he does, nothing else matters! 

He even said, “Well, if you really love what you do, time doesn’t matter.”

The implication is that whomever Howard wants something from should take his calls and answer his marketing questions any time of the day or night with no compensation —

—all for the love of it.

Ha!

People are blocking him from Skype and otherwise distancing themselves in order to avoid him.

Howard laughs at time management tools!

Howard feels no need for time management tools. He loves what he does and nothing else matters (at least until the house goes into foreclosure or he lands in the hospital or dies of a heart attack..

“There will come a time when we will sit down to dine at the banquet of our consequences.”

Robert Louis Stevenson inspirational quoteson success

Ah yes. Consequences.

Every choice brings consequences. Whether they will be a banquet of culinary delicacies or a mouthful of bitterness is the question.

Can Confucius’ beautiful words of wisdom about having a job you love lead people astray?

The message he is really delivering is that when you love what you do, you should let your entire life get way out of balance so that you can continue doing it at the cost of everything else in your life.  

According to this line of reasoning, loving what you do also includes using and devaluing other people and their time,

The Dark Side of Loving What You Do

Loving what you do so much that everything else in life drops causes numerous problems including:

1. Getting very much out of shape, physically and mentally, from sitting at a desk or on a phone way too much.

This causes physical harm, including poor air supply, bad posture, and not to mention, a big butt! 

2. Working longer actually decreases efficiency and quality by working harder, longer or more. 

Success does not mean working more, pushing through and slamming harder.  Ingenuity and creativity arise from a well nourished spirit.

3. Setting no work boundaries creates a habit of devaluing time–  both one’s own and others’.

By not setting time limits and boundaries on work, tasks expand to fill the day very quickly. This may seem productive, but looking at results, it is clear that spending more time does not mean better results.

Value Your Time and Get More Done Using Time Management Tools

Given no boundaries, tasks will expand to fill all available time.

Allow a fully focused hour to complete a task (such as writing an article or finishing a product) and it will get done in that amount of time.

Give no limits, and that article or that product may remain unfinished for weeks, months, or even years.

3 Simple (and free) time management tools:

1. Set SMART Goals: That means specific, measurable actions that are realistic and time-bound

2. Focus: Don’t multi-task. Turn off all messaging (phone, Skype, chat, email) for focused periods of time and watch results soar!

3. Value time. Get a life! Respect time – both yours and other people’s – because there is no way to get more hours in a day.

The surprising truth is that there are actually simple, effective ways to do LESS and yet accomplish more. It is the closely guarded secret of the super-successful.

Starting the day in a particular way sets up a pattern of success.

Avoiding three deadly time mistakes that are all simple to implement make all the difference.

You can start right away!

Claim The Time of Your Life now at www.ProfitableStorytelling.com/toyl.

This post is a bit of a rant – but with a comedic swing.

Every week or so, I go through my spam comments to make sure no truly useful comments slipped in there. I wouldn’t want a legitimate comment to be missed, after all!

Part of blogging success is increasing engagement, which means the involvement of the readers of the blog. It’s tricky business, and it can be time-consuming.

Bots Behaving Badly

I give a nod of thanks to the WordPress plugins Akismet and Bad Behavior. I added Bad Behavior to my spam-fighting arsenal because Akismet just wasn’t enough to keep the link bait whores at bay.

What –  you’ve never heard of link bait whores?

That’s my term for marketers who are obviously looking for backlinks to their site. They’re not, for the most part, giving thoughtful, insightful comments based on my brilliant posts.

Oh no. They’re using technology and spinners to mega-blast comments onto blogs they’ve never even visited.

For example, some people post a series of question marks and expect that to be accepted on a blog. Ha! Not happnin’.

Then there’s this comment from someone whose site I have never visited.

Hi, i think that i saw you visited my web site thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

It’s easy to tell I was never there because of the URL. And for the record, my blog is copyrighted, so “borrow” at your risk.

That thwarted comment wasn’t especially interesting or amusing.

But the comments that follow cracked me up. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Announcing…. the ProfitableStorytelling.com Spam commenter of the Week Award Winners

Hello. And Bye.

________________________________

You are my intake , I possess few blogs and sometimes run out from to brand : (.

________________________________

I your writing style truly loving this web site .

________________________________

Hell yes, i want write a clothes like this if it were not that that didn’t have life, may i repost this
Jul 1, 2011 June – Thoughtful Quotations by Site Visitors : remunerative Storytelling despite commerce & Personal bourgeoning

________________________________

I’m astounded, I have to admit. Actually seldom must i come upon your blog that’s both educative and also enjoyable, together with without a doubt, you have got come to all the nail bed around the travel. The notion is definitely fantastic; sixty a thing that deficiency of individuals are presenting smartly on the subject of. Now i’m happy that I found the around my try to look for a product on this.

What kinds of crack-pot comments have people tried to slip onto YOUR blog? Please add them below. (We’ll see who gets the joke!)

Do you ever wonder if people know how they come across?

I had a conversation today with someone who clearly is so enamored of herself that she has no idea how obnoxious she sounds. And she was asking me for a favor, as well.

She made a very obtuse, drawn out monologue, then when I added something, she countered, “What I said was deeper. I can go very deep. Yes, deep, deep, deep very fast.”

Oh. Was that you being deep? I thought it was you falling in love with your own words. “I didn’t realize it was a competition.”

And are you as deep as you think you are? Or are you, as Brendan Burchard would say, “drinking your own KoolAid”?

She added, “Well, I’m a coach, you know” in her most smug, self-satisfied voice

Here, Miss Narcissus, let me give you a mirror so you can gaze at your glorious self. I don’t know who your ideal client is, but it isn’t me and it isn’t anyone I’m likely to attract, even though I love and suport you as a person..

OK, I now lay aside my cattiness. I am, after all, just as floawed as any other human being.

There is no competition, truly.  If you do see competitioin, then you approach life with a feeling of scarcity, which means on a deep level you feel there is not enough to go around…

Not enough what, you ask?

Not enough whatever. In this person’s case, she feels a strong need to be the alpha, the top, and to demonstrate her superiority by putting others down. However, she probably does not see this in herself.

But what every person wants more than anything else is to be validated, recognized, and supported.

Blessings to you, Miss Narcissus. You must be wounded deep inside to play one-up in what was a friendly conversation iwht someone who is helping you. There is no competiton. With all my heart I send you love. .

I support you. I uplift you. I cherish you.

YOU are a gift to the world!

The latest cyber vandalism attacks are coming through Skype.

The first time I heard of Skype, this is how it happened. An Australian client wrote, “Do you Skype?” in an amail.

I, with my finely sharpened wit, asked, “Not yet. Is it fun?” Then of course asked him what that meant. I was instantly excited about being able to chat up anyone in the world.

Skype is a great way to talk with people all over the world without incurring long distance charges.

Naturally, although most of us use our powers for good, there are people who use this tool for nefarious purposes. (sigh) I wish it wasn’t so.

Skype is now a verb, by the way, in case you didn’t know. “Skype me.” and  “He Skyped me” are both perfectly valid sentences. So Skype has now joined the ranks of other company names that have become parts of speech, notably  FedEx and Xerox.

Someone I didn’t know wrote me through Skype “I send you a link ok?” He sent  me a link to click. I asked why. He said “it’s for me ok?” and I blocked him. He wouldn’t say what or why, and I didn’t know him. Seems I dodged a cyber vandal attack.

A savvy business owner friend of mine with a huge contact list got caught. Willie Crawford wrote about it on his blog. Apparently a friend of his known for sending cryptic messages sent him an email with a link. He, being a smart cookie, asked about it and was satisfied with the answer.

Apparently, my Skype account has been hi-jacked,
which means that my hundreds of Skype contacts
likely received a phishing message trying to get
you to click on a link, where upon you’ll be
prompted to log back into your Skype account,
and they will hijack the account

(snip)

Over the next hour or so, I got emails and phone calls

from a dozen friends telling me that they think my

Skype account has been compromised… and they based

that upon the REALLY poor English in the Skype messages

they were getting.

So even if you consider yourself smart and aware that these things happen, you could get caught. He has hundreds of contacts, so setting up a fresh account isn’t something he wants to contemplate.

Here is an excerpt from Marj Wyatt on the Get Income blog.

here is a dark side to Skype.  Hackers prey on naive online users.  Last year’s hacker game was to usurp an account and initiate contact with all confirmed contacts, inviting those people to accept files.  Even though I do not consider myself to be naive, I was duped into accepting and opening a file, in March 2009,  when a seemingly active client offered it to me.  When I lost access to my Skype account, I realized I had been hacked.  It took a few days to put everything back together and it was a real headache.I haven’t accepted any spontaneously offered files or clicked on any uninvited links since that time, even if the offer is extended by a long-term contact on my list.

This year’s hacker game is to hijack an account and offer a link that  looks like a Skype link to all confirmed contacts in that account.  With a slight amount of scrutiny, it is obviously not a link you should follow.  The link will probably ask you to login to your Skype account, at which point the hacker has your credentials.  If you have a Skype subscription attached to your PayPal account, the hackers can run up huge expenses for you.  Skype takes no responsibility for this.  Neither does PayPal.

The moral of this story? Think before you click.

Related articles by Zemanta

• WARNING – My Skype Account Was Compromised (williecrawford.com)

First, let me give a little background in case this is new to you.

A product launch, whether this is a book launch or the introduction of a home study course, event or anything else, happens when you make a big splash about introducing your newborn product into the world. Typically,  you get a whole bunch of

people to promote during a certain period of time (a day, a week).

OK, now you know what this is.

Getting other people to promote your stuff is a GOOD THING. In fact, it’s a MUST. It’s leverage, and it’s powerful. But what I observe happening way too often is that people don’t start recruiting affiliates until – well… take a look at the usual series of events and you’ll see for yourself.

The Problem with Product Launches

Here’s what happens.

Phase 1: Product Creation

1. The Product: First, the product creator makes their product, and

2. All the other stuff that goes with selling a product: Creator writes (or hires out copywriting of) several webpages – partner info page, partner thank-you page, product sales page, thank-you page, download page, series of autoresponder messages (emails) –and let’s not forget graphics — and …

3. Buzz/promotion tools: Creator makes videos, audios, a acebook fan page, and whatever other promotional materials are needed.

All set

Now, the promotion MAY BE all ready to go. (and by the way most of this may not be done by the time they start seeking affiliates to promote)

Phase 2: Gathering Promo Partners

OK, now Creator has the product ready and wants people to promote it. Many book launches are set 3-6 months ahead of when someone looks for promotion partners.

Maybe Creator thinks an adrenaline rush is the way to work up a feeding frenzy, but honestly, the timeline for promotion is often WAY too short.

Here’s what happens all too often.  Creator sets up a launch time that is 2-4 weeks from today.

They want “Whales” (big names) to promote.

The Whales all have their promotions lined up 3-6 months ahead.

The Dolphins (what I call mid-sized list-holding promoters) are often booked 1-2 months ahead.

The Trout can often squeeze the promotion into their schedule but don’t have a big following yet.

The Minnows have plenty of space open in their promotional calendar, and they’ll readily sign up for a launch, but they don’t have any traction in the marketplace.

the Krill only know 5 people but they’ll tweet like crazy to try making a buck.

I have been reaching out for partners on a promotion with a short-term, fixed launch time, and some of the people who have the perfect audience for the product are booked for 3-6 months ahead.

If this were a “rolling launch” – meaning there might be one early push and then people can promote anytime over the course of a few months, the launch can be wildly successful, and it will build up momentum or “steam” for a longer period of time.

The BIGGEST problem with product launches

Short-term rushed launch = smaller profits because the bigger cats don’t have enough notice-  AND

Who said marketing should be done like a swimmer’s gulps of air along a race course?

How is that effective marketing? I truly do not understand.

One person I know of who had a 7-figure product launch made the mistake of buying a palatial home with a pool in the mountains. His monthly expenses are, naturally, very high. And rather than pay off the home he had been in and realize that this huge income was not going to be a continuing income, he blew a huge wad and now has monthly expenses that are more than what some people earn in a year.

So, why set yoursself up on a product launch financial roller coaster?

Would you rather have one burst of income followed by a 6-month dip…or would you rather work toward steady, sustainable income?

Launches definitely have their place, but

inviting – yeah, that’s it…INVITING

INVITING anyone who uses

testimonials to stop using results-based testimony – even though – let’s face it – those ARE someone’s actual results they say in the testimonial, and they are supposedly a citizen with free speech.

But this isn’t about freedom of speech, it’s about consumer protection. Maybe. There are enough smarmy marketers out there that Big Bro FTC decided they needed to save stupid people from themselves so these people wouldn’t mortgage their home to pay for a big ticket coaching program  Or saving people from yo-yo dieting because they see those TV commercials with the stars who get thin (for a while) using the expensive, pre-packaged meals.

Wow, the new ruling will truly have a huge impact on the diet industry, won’t it? but it doesn’t stop there.

Testimonials, endorsements and blogs are under the spy glass starting NOW.

This is something you need to know about. First, the release right from the FTC and then, commentary.

For Release: 10/05/2009

FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials

Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements

The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act.

The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980.

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

Celebrity endorsers also are addressed in the revised Guides. While the 1980 Guides did not explicitly state that endorsers as well as advertisers could be liable under the FTC Act for statements they make in an endorsement, the revised Guides reflect Commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. The revised Guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.

The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law intended to help advertisers comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act; they are not binding law themselves. In any law enforcement action challenging the allegedly deceptive use of testimonials or endorsements, the Commission would have the burden of proving that the challenged conduct violates the FTC Act.

The Commission vote approving issuance of the Federal Register notice detailing the changes was 4-0. The notice will be published in the Federal Register shortly, and is available now on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release. Copies also are available from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Betsy Lordan
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-3707

STAFF CONTACT:

Richard Cleland
Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-3088

(FTC File No. P034520)
(endorsement testimonial guide.wpd)

E-mail this News Release
If you send this link to someone else, the FTC will not collect any personal information about you or the recipient.

OK what this means in plain English (ooh CommonCraft folks…you need to do the video “FTC Testimonial Rules In Plain English)

Sorry…my mind works that way sometimes…Waht this all means in plain English is that you USED to be able to say “Results not typical” anytime you shared a testimonial from a customer who said something like, “I lost 87 pounds in 3 months with the ___ program.” or “I wrote my book in 12 hours” or “I made $793 in 17 minutes with this program” type of claim. Not so with the new ruling, effective December 1, 2009.

Doing an honest business is far from enough. Honesty and integrity are neither the baseline nor the measuring stick of good business, according to this new FTC mandate. Testimonials that are true and accurate from customers who used your stuff to get an honest result are not going to protect you from the strong arm of the law.

Your results – the results you the buyer get from using a product – now become the responsibility of the one who sold it to you under the new ruling. Want an example? Consider this.

Say I’m a diet company; I can’t say anymore that you can join me and you may get atypical results of rapid and long-term weight-loss with stories from exceptional but real people. I cannot any longer say that what you put in your mouth and whether you get your @ss off the couch is your concern. I as the diet company would become responsible for saying, “Get your hand out of the d@mn potato chip bag NOW and get off the couch and work some of that @ss off now, you lazy sloth!”

So that means everyone who joins WW or JC or eD or any other program must now have a support person arrive at their home to keep them on-program. Or…they just have to stop using any results-based testimony from real clients.

How does the new FTC ruling  affect you?

This is a snippet of what Jason Fladlien, a really awesome entrepreneur i just met name, wrote on his blog about the ruling:

If you think that you’re an honest person with a quality product and run an ethical business, and that’s all you need to be safe – you’re dead wrong.

This law isn’t about honesty. Every testimonial I’ve ever used was honest. It’s about “typical”. There’s a difference. While it’s my not my responsibility beyond giving you what you need to guarantee your results (YOU have to apply it!) I am liable for you now under the new laws.

So now a product creator, coach, mentor etc., according to the new ruling, has to not only take charge of creating the best product possible and doing an honest business. You also have to take responsibility for people who buy your stuff to get specific results. And it doesn’t matter whether or not they take action, you, the product creator – the coach – the diet company or whatever – become responsible for the consumer’s ACTIONS (or lack thereof.

Maybe that sounds reasonable to you. It probably does. Only about 10% of people who buy an online product or coaching program even start the first lesson. And only 3% finish. So according to the way most people think, “it’s not MY fault if I bought a product, did nothing (or not much) got little or no results, because YOU sold me the stuff, so it’s YOUR fault that I’m still fat, broke, lazy and loveless.”

I’ve been in the coaching industry, and the biggest problem is that a buyer will plunk down money for something, maybe not use it or only just barely get started, and then blame the coach for the fact that you didn’t make a million overnight or you didn’t get your business started or you didn’t get that book written in 12 hours or you didn’t meet the love of your life in 90 days – even though you probably didn’t attend a single call or read the book or take action in any way on the program….

Because in your eyes, if the product/program were that great it would have turned your life over simply by downloading the file or adding the mentoring call to your calendar (without you having to actually DO anything to cause the change you supposedly want to happen.

Automatic Results

So what we need to find a way to create is an auto-results-on-demand system whereby simply plunking down money for a product or service in and of itself causes a cascade reaction that brings about the desired result without you yourself having to do anything. Then we the product/program creators will be SAFE from the law.

How to Protect Your Business from the New FTC Rulings on Endorsements and Testimonials

1. Avoid results-based testimonials from now on. Rely, rather, on character-based testimonials and endorsements.

2. Since complaints and not policing will cause a business to be in the cross-hairs, put systems in place to ensure the highest possible degree of customer ssatisfaction so nobody will have cause to complain to the FTC for any reason.

3. Continue creating fabulous, life-changing products.

4. Most important of all, expect things to go right  Never live or work from a place of fear.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Important Information for Bloggers who give Endorsements or Testimonials (brassandivory.blogspot.com)
• Why I’m Complying With the FTC Regime for Bloggers Even Though I Don’t Have To (socialmediatoday.com)
• New rules on blogger payola and relationships (vator.tv)
• FTC to bloggers: Fess up or pay up (news.cnet.com)
• FTC to Fine Bloggers up to $11,000 for Not Disclosing Payments (mashable.com)

Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE getting something valuable to me for free, and I love giving valuable free resources to people, but I’m noticing a trend.

I keep receiving messages with nothing more than something like, here’s a free gift worth $97” plus a link.

Maybe it’s worth $97 to you, but it’s worth ZERO to me unless it’s something I actually can use…something I truly WANT.

I was at a low simmer until just now, when I went to full rolling boil.

An email I just received from a professional in the network marketing industry just about drove me over the edge. he’s has a terrible tendency to  “show up and throw up.” Meaning he has this habit of talking to his list as if they’re a herd (when one person at a time reads an email). And he basically pukes his stuff all over them. It is so NOT appealing!. BLECH!

When I tell him he needs to focus not on the volume of his stuff and not to insist that it’s good stuff, he ignores me and sends out messages like one you’ll read shortly.

“blaaaaaaaaaap – here’s a huge pile of MY free STUFF – and it’s GOOD STUFF too – no…really…take it…please…PLEEEEEEEEASE!

he even sent out a message with a subject line of  “plEEEEz” or something close to that one day, which made me want to vomit. It makes him come off as a simpering idiot desperate for sales rather than as a professional in his industry.

Begging and slinging your free stuff at people makes you seem desperate, which I can only assume you are when you plead with people to look at your stuff.

Here’s one message i received a few minutes ago:

“Thanks for being my subscriber. Here’s a link to great free stuff.”

I’m not your anything – and how about saying the VALUE of whatever it is you’re giving me. I’m not about to download crap just because you fling it at me.

Now, as promised, here is the barf bag email of the day award winner…

Hi everybody, it’s ____…

… with a whole bunch of “good & cool stuff” for you.

> Free stuff
> Cheap stuff
> Expensive (life-changing) stuff

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

Your barf bag is in the mail.

Case in point. Someone was signing up for a piece of software. I even stayed on the phone while she filled out the form (where it says name…you put your name…where it says buy now…you click it and follow instructions to pay). She was then to send specific information to the techie guy who was setting up the software. Instructions said exactly what information was needed and even where to find it (in the emails that come with order confirmation). First she was looking in her mailbox for software that was to be installed on a website…then she said she never got it installed. And it turns out she never got the info to the techie guy so he could set her up. DUH! READ the freaking’ directions!

Another guy said his software wasn’t working right. I of course have nothing to do with the software at all and of course the guy couldn’t be bothered to go ask his questions on the tech call designed for that sort of thing. So when he told me what was wrong, I said, “Aha! You didn’t follow the directions!” I pointed out the tutorial video.

“I watched it,” he said.

“Well…since you didn’t do what the video said to do, you might want to go back and review. Load the file the way the video says to load it and everything will work perfectly.”

Which of course it did.

So why does it take a blind woman to show sighties how to do things even when it’s not my software, not my job to teach you to run it, and when all the instructions are clearly listed on a website (and even in big print)?

Perfectionists would disagree. After all, there is so much fault to find with others. So much “wrong” that should be “fixed.”

I often think that if perfectionists took as much time getting themselves into act

ion as they do nit-picking everyone else, they could REALLY

get somewhere in life.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Someone complained to me about the way I linked to her website. With or without a “the” in front of it, the link works. Both go to the exact same place. So who cares which one you use? Didn’t you have anything better to do with your time, I wonder? How about building relationships with key people in your industry instead of picking things apart that aren’t broken?

Someone mentioned that the same tinyurl in a blog post leads to 2 different places. Well, both went where intended, so why does it matter? How about using your valuable time to move your business forward?

What are you asking for?

I’ve got one person in my life who has this “thing” for attracting picky people. She must really enjoy the difficult people, because she keeps calling them to her, and  like dogs to the dinner bell, persnickety people run from every direction to find her. So far she isn’t making the connection between the vibe she’s putting out and what is showing up in life.

I’d like to send both of these people a complimentary enema so that you can get things moving in the right direction.

If this post makes you mad – it obviously applies to YOU!

What really rankles me is how much time and effort is spent micro-managing the business of others rather than taking a long, hard look in the mirror. Then if the perfectionist is picking something apart, it’s your own reflection for a change instead of everyone else around you.

But I suppose that will never happen. I guess for some people, it’s fun to look for everything that is WRONG around you.

What’s RIGHT?

If you are a perfectionist, there is hope. Start each day – and even each conversation – asking yourself, “What’s WORKING in this situation?” In other words – what’s RIGHT?

The next question to ask in any encounter is how much whatever you are so uptight about really matters. This is the question, “In a year, will it matter?”

The cure – a deep breath, a laugh, and a good poop!

Take Action – revise later. NOTHING is perfect. Indigenous cultures worldwide know it.

“Winners take imperfect action while losers are still perfecting their plans” – Kevin Nations

I invite you to experience an Extreme Thought Makeover!

Because you will find one single fast fun activity to do each day that will overhaul your way of thinking and being. Dr. Rick Schaefer has put together a 37 day program that is loads of fun. You’ll go on a rampage of appreciation. You’ll turn your shower into a self improvement zone, and you’ll make subtle, simple changes that will help you take massive, imperfect action and be a true winner!.

Since I wanted to go to the Impact event a couple days early for some Florida fun, and since the hotel conference h hotel – the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort – was RIDICULOUSLY expensive, I needed to find an affordable solution for the first couple of nights. I truly HATE having to switch hotels. It is a chore for anyone, but more so when you have extra difficulties navigating and are traveling with a guide dog.

Now imagine this. I’m mostly blind. I’m traveling with a guide dog. I obviously don’t drive, and therefore I have some very specific needs and questions.

That being said, I called Hotels.com and first got a guy who said his name was Albert (yeah right), who barely spoke English.

Feeling less than confident in what I would get from him, I asked my specific questions, which were these:

1. Is there a hot tub, and is the hot tub working?
2. Is there a shuttle service to Discovery Cove? What times does it run?
3. Is there a shuttle to Sea World, and what times?
4. Is there a restaurant on property?

“Albert” put me in a hotel called the Imperial Swan Hotel & Suites, which was cheap. However after the call, I discovered that customers had given the hotel ratings of 1 out of 5 from guests. Gee thanks. Just what I need. I don’t require a luxury resort, but I don’t want a dirty dive either.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter all have a simple procedure to upload a picture, and it’s the same thing you would use to put a picture anywhere. You just browse for a picture and click upload.

So then why oh why are there so many  on Twitter? It drives me NUTS!

And did you realize that you can even see your lovely face on this blog when you make a comment?

Unless you’re blind or visually impaired, or unless you have some other adaptive need, you cannot imagine how difficult it is to get a cell phone.

Anyone else can walk into the store, pick out the phone you want, and go about your business.

Not me.

Making a cell phone talk is a tall order – or, I should say, an expensive and frustrating one.

I spent 3 hours in a T-Mobile store trying to get a T-Mobile G1 “Google Phone”. That was a huge waste of time. The software that supposedly makes the phone talk requires you to have eyesight in order to make it work.

I’m now officially on the war path with regards to adaptive technology for cell phones.

This is ridiculous. It’s 2009. The American’s with Disabilities Act has been in effect for a LONG time. It shouldn’t be this hard, nor should you have to “settle” for something because the adaptations you could get (only on certain phones by certain providers when the moon is in a certain position in the heavens and the cow jumps over the moon!

I filed a complaint with the FCC about the T-Mobile G1 phone issue. What happened?

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