Let me begin by posing a question:

Am I the only person working this week?

This is an odd time of year. People often take off work between Christmas and New Year’s.

I’m not one of them. I love this time of year. It is perfect for reflection and planning.

And I’m not complaining that I’m working because I spent the week before Christmas in Kauai with my family and friends John and Laura Stack and their kids. Denver was cold and snowy. Hawaii wasn’t. It was a great trip.

It was at the airport my friend Laura made the comment about getting “back to reality.” And that reminded me…

Why do we choose the normal every day experience of life as “reality”? Why not the peak experiences?

I’ve written about this before. I believe our experience of reality isn’t based on our location. Our experience is based on our expectation.

I’m not going to get philosophical about the nature of reality except to remind you that reality is singular. You and I don’t have our “own” realities, despite common belief. We have our individual experiences of reality.

The way I felt in the warm, lush surroundings of Hawaii is the way I want to feel in the cold, snowy environment of Denver. I want to be fully alive, engaged and enjoying wherever I am doing whatever I’m doing.

I think we often need to reinvent our experience of reality. I’m not suggesting denial or some Pollyanna approach to life. I am suggesting that we aim higher and benchmark against the times we feel at our best and make that our “reality.”

Is working here in my office the same as being in Kauai? Of course not.

Is it as much fun? Actually, it is. I love my work and the opportunities it affords me.

Some would say, “That’s fine for you. I hate my job.” I’ve had jobs that I didn’t like so I did something really odd: I learned to like how I did the job (which is slightly different than actually liking a bad job).

If you can’t leave it, love it. Or at least love what you do, how you do it, why you do it or for whom you do it (which I talk about in my book The Encore Effect).

Life is short. Don’t dumb down your experience of reality. Reinvent it. Make it more purposeful, better  and enjoyable.

And that is the opportunity not of every New Year, but of every new day.

I wish you and your’s a New Year filled with health, happiness and prosperity.

How are you going to start the New Year? Share in the comment box below or connect with me on  Facebook and Twitter.

I skim, read and study hundreds of books each  year. Here are seven that will improve your leadership in various ways:

Ross Shafer has written a short but provocative book called Grab More Market Share. Read it if that’s what you want to do.

A classic I’ve referenced before and still in print is Fred Smith’s You and Your Network. Get it, read it and share it with your kids when they enter the world of work. It is packed with wisdom (I’ve given away dozens of copies).

Think work ethic is dead? And what can you do about it? Pre-order Reviving Work Ethic by Eric Chester. (I’ve read an advance copy.)

Do you get tired of boring meetings? Or are you guilty of holding boring meetings? Read Jon Petz’s book Boring Meetings Suck. It provides lots of ideas for  making your meetings better.

Bob Burg and David Mann have written It’s Not About You. This leadership fable reinforces key leadership principles I believe in.

The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World was just released by Harvey Mackay and if you sell, or lead sales professionals, you’ll enjoy this story-driven book of advice.

And my last “favorite” is from Joe Calloway, Work Like You’re Showing Off. This is a fun read that will most likely reinvigorate you.

Friday afternoon, end of the week: what will you do to “wrap up” successfully? You could squeeze in one more call or meeting, but maybe you’d be better served to reflect on the week. What did you learn? Who did you connect with? What was a waste of time? What returned dividends? If you don’t make time to reflect, you miss out on learning.

Someone once said if you never slow down, nothing good will be able to catch up to you. That is true of insight. For as much value as leaders place on speed, there are times when leaders are better served to slow down.

As  you start into the weekend, do you have clear intentions about how to spend your free time? Will you rest, enjoy liesure and renew on purpose or slog through the weekend only to arrive at Monday unchanged?

Why not use the same skills to get the most out of your workweek to get the most out of your weekend?

Manifesto (def): A public declaration of policy and aims.

What follows are my views about and commitment to work based on 30+ years of being employed and being an employer. These are philosophies I subscribe to and that I desire in those I work with and encounter in the marketplace. MHS

I work because I need to and because I want to. There is satisfaction in work well done. Good work produces value and isn’t just a means to an end but an opportunity to be a productive, contributing member of society. Work helps give life purpose and structure.

I don’t like everything about the work I do but understand that is the nature of work. Work often requires that we do what needs to be done as well as what we like to do. Doing great work is a choice I make; to do less cheats not just my employer and customer but myself.

Impediments to work are temporary. If my place of employment blocks my ability to be productive in an honest and ethical way, I will not sell my soul to continue working there. If my boss doesn’t understand the concept of a healthy work environment I will actively look for a different boss or organization that does. My current situation may not allow me to switch jobs or employers immediately but I refuse to resign myself to a work life of misery. I will endure for the short term with the goal of prospering in the long term.

How I do my work makes life a heaven or hell for others. How I treat colleagues and customers makes their lives better or worse. Neutrality is a myth as any attempt to disengage will appear to others as indifference, and that indifference is an insult to others.

I will not actively or passively inflict pain. While the bad behavior of others might make it tempting to do so, I will choose to play by a higher standard. I will do what I can to make working with me enjoyable.

I do not control how others act, but I completely control how I act. When others act inappropriately to me, I will respond professionally but will not accept and thereby condone the inappropriate behavior. I will politely but directly address the inappropriateness.

I understand that others come to me for solutions to problems and that is what I am paid for. Therefore problems, as difficult as they can be, are not an impediment to my work but often they are my work itself.

I will take responsibility rather than place blame. If I can’t fix it I will either live with it or leave it. There are no other rational options.  I understand there is no perfect workplace, but refuse to make where I work worse by my own apathy or lethargy. I won’t let the poor attitudes and behaviors determine my own choices. I know that I often succeed at work not because of but in spite of undesirable circumstances.

In a time when not all who truly desire work have that opportunity, I am grateful for the work I have.

Note to readers: If you were to summarize your views on work, what would your personal manifesto say? What would you add to what I’ve written? What would you change?

Ever dance the tango?

For novices, it can intimidate with its seemingly complicated precision and timing that moves a couple in a graceful but formal and crisp flow around a dance floor. It only takes one lesson, however, to learn the basic steps. It takes lots of practice to become great at the tango, but only 30 or so minutes to learn enough to survive it.

Two things I know about how to make the tango look good: One, the male lead must provide a strong upper-body frame, especially with his right arm. Two, the couple takes the basic steps belly-to-belly.

If we want to succeed regardless of the external circumstances around us, we can learn a few things from the tango, because the tango is all about a creating a relationship — a connection — that achieves its objective (grace, style, pizzazz, all within a prescribed structure).

It starts with support, a strong frame. In other words, how are you supporting the people who are important to you (friends, family, co-workers, customers, et al)? Do you give them something they can hold tightly and with confidence? Do you lead with authority and confidence? Do you move them without aggressive force or pressure?

Next, it requires closeness. You might not want to be belly-to-belly with everyone in your life, but you want to create trust and appropriate levels of transparency. You want to be approachable, even in more formal relationships. You want to connect in non-physical ways.

Creating and caring for the connections in your life prepares you for success regardless of the circumstances that come your way. I cover more of the basics for doing that in Up, Down, or Sideways, because I’ve learned that the basic steps become the foundation for a truly remarkable dance.

Do you know anybody who could benefit from “dance lessons” when it comes to making and  keeping connections? How well do the people on your team do with customers and vendors? With each other? And do you have any room for improvement?

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com.

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I was deeply saddened by the loss of Dan Wheldon yesterday. Dan was a two time Indy 500 winner and talented Indy Car driver. He was involved in a horrific crash at the Las Vegas Speedway and died shortly after.

Whether or not you like or watch auto racing, you can empathize with the pain his wife, two small sons and friends are going through today. These terrible tragedies should remind us of the value of life and its brevity. Like Steve Jobs famously remarked, knowing you are going to die is a powerful motivator for doing great things with you life.

I often hear well meaning people say that someone (like Dan Wheldon) died doing what he loved. Certainly Dan knew the risks and accepted them. And by all accounts, he loved racing very much.

The bigger point, to me, is to live doing what you love. How often do we defer joy? How often do we mistakenly think that circumstances or monotony can really prevent us from loving what we’re doing?

We choose moment to moment whether to love our work, our circumstances and our lives. It is a choice that too frequently falls off our conscious radar. The loss of a human life is a terrible thing, but in pausing to reflect, we can at least extract some good.

RIP Dan Wheldon. I didn’t know you but was and am inspired by your example, and the excellence you brought to your work.

And may we all spend today and as much of every day we can living what we love.

LinkedIn, the popular social-networking site, went public May 19 with shares for its initial public offering priced at $45 each. That put the company’s value at around $4.3 billion. Before noon on the day of the IPO, the stock price had climbed as high as $92.99 a share.

So what’s a share of LinkedIn really worth?

Whatever someone’s willing to pay for it.

LinkedIn spent about eight years building its value as a company, then tested that value when it went public. Like all companies, how well it holds its value over time remains to be seen. But as individuals trying to define and achieve success, the best place to start is like a company working toward a successful IPO — by building our value.

If your core values are rock solid, if you produce outcomes that other people value, and if you value other people, then you’ll find yourself positioned to prosper regardless of the circumstances around you.

For instance, if you are always involved in important projects within your organization, you’re providing value that can’t be ignored. When times are good, you’ll see the rewards (probably in higher pay and/or fast-track promotions). When times are bad and your organization or your customers are cutting back, you’ll find yourself on the “can’t cut” list. The opposite? You’ll be like those “nonessential government workers” you read about when Congress can’t settle on a budget — the first to get laid off.

Have you checked with your employer lately to see what he or she values in your work? Have you asked that person how you might increase your value to the organization? You ask the same questions of clients and customers.

None of us are irreplaceable, but all of us can produce value that sets us up for success.

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or for ordering information.

“I’m waiting for the recession to end.”

“I’ll be glad when things get back to normal.”

I hear these two statements or a slight variation thereof frequently.

I have two suggestions: first, don’t wait. I don’t know when the “recession” or economic doldrums will end and frankly I don’t want to depend on something I can’t control. Recover now. Do what needs to be done to improve your situation. Increase your effort doing those things that you know will improve your situation.

Second suggestion: get past “back to normal.” As I recently blogged, there is no “new normal” and whatever “normal” we encounter in the future will most likely be short lived. Make flexibility and agility your goal. Change as fast or faster than the conditions around you. Never become complacent and believe you’ve reached a period where vigilance and change are no longer necessary.

So what are you waiting for?

“Ultimately motivation is an inside job, but there are many things we as leaders can do to help others become motivated.”

That’s Mark Sanborn’s take on motivation. He acknowledges that it is up to the individual to choose to be motivated but unlike some, he doesn’t think managers, leaders, parents and others are without influence when it comes to motivating others.

“In 24 years of professional speaking, I’ve never called myself a motivational speaker,” Sanborn explains. “Often my clients call me a motivational speaker because that is the single most used description of a keynote professional speaker like myself. Speaking 70 times each year to sales meetings, association and corporate events, well–many consider that motivational speaking.”

“My goal is to educate, first and foremost. I give audiences actionable ideas they can use to improve their businesses and lives. But here’s the key to increasing motivation: it isn’t enough for people to know what to to do and how to do it if they don’t have compelling reason why they should do it. The reasons why are the source of motivation.”

“One of the hardest jobs of leadership is getting to know employees and understand what motivates each individual. Generic lists aren’t very helpful when it comes to motivating specific people.”

“In customer service, service reps need to understand as much as they can about the needs and desires–the motivation–of those they’re assisting. Knowing what is important to each customer is key to empathizing with and serving them well.”

“Of course the implications for sales professionals are critically important. You can’t match features and benefits until you’ve uncovered buying motives.”

Sanborn’s work with over 2400 clients has given him a broad and often unorthodox perspective about what it takes to master motivation.

Mark is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab for leadership development.  Leadershipgurus.net lists Mark as one of the top 30 leadership experts in the world.

In addition to his experience leading at a local and national level, he has written or co-authored 8 books  and is the author of more than two dozen videos and audio training programs on leadership, change, teamwork and customer service. His book, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. In it, Mark explains how to create an army of lions where every employee knows two things: first, when is it appropriate to lead and second, how to do it.

He is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE). Mark’s YouTube channel features videos recorded both live (in his keynote leadership presentations) and in studio that teach how to lead, or lead better. He also writes a leadership blog.

Mark’s book, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary is an international bestseller and was on the New York Times, Business Week and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. His latest books include You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference and The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do. His newest book, Up, Down or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad or In Between was released in October 2011.

Mark is a past president of the National Speakers Association and winner of The Cavett, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. In 2007 Mark was awarded The Ambassador of Free Enterprise Award by Sales & Marketing Executives International. 

If you’re interested in taking your leadership to the next level, click here for a list of free resources.

Find more information about motivation, motivating others, leadership, customer service and remarkable performance at these websites:

www.youdontneedatitle.com

www.theencoreeffect.com

www.marksanborn.com/uds

A friend read a story in the newspaper about how the long-struggling housing market was showing signs of a recovery. For my friend, however, that news brought only frustration.

“It’s not recovering,” he said, “until my house sells.”

My friend had gone through a divorce he didn’t want and ended up with a home he no longer lived in, didn’t need, and couldn’t sell. So when you asked him how he viewed the housing market, he saw it through the lens of the You Economy.

Like my friend, most of us are far more interested in our personal economy — the You Economy — than the economy at large. The economy is impersonal. Your economy is personal. As I explore in my new book, Up, Down, or Sideways, both economies impact our chances for success.

The You Economy and the world’s economy aren’t always in sync. You can be Up when the world is Down, or Down when the world is Up. And like the world’s economy, the You Economy isn’t always predictable. However, it is marked by at least three things that we all should understand:

Dumb Luck — the times when you do the wrong thing and it still works out.

Informed Misfortune — the times when you do everything correctly and things still fail.

Sustainable Success — the results you get by consistently adopting the right mindsets and practicing the methods that are important, regardless of whether times are Up, Down, or Sideways.

The lesson: Don’t grow frustrated in times of Informed Misfortune, don’t feel empowered during times of Dumb Luck, and never take for granted the things that give you the best chance at Sustainable Success.

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com.