Personal Development | GROW GREAT

Your Life As An Unrestricted Free Agent

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

pro hockey — Today is the first day of free agency in the NHL

What if many companies or people were clamoring for your services?

What if nobody wanted you?

Free agency in the NHL began at noon today.

Prior to that hour NHL teams could only interview potential unrestricted free agents. No offers could be made.

I don’t pretend to understand all the intricate nuances of NHL free agency. Every professional league has their own quirky rules, but basically most leagues have two forms of free agency: restricted and unrestricted.

Restricted free agency usually means the player can accept offers from other teams, but his existing team has the opportunity to match or best the offer and retain him. In that regard, he’s not completely free to go anywhere he likes.

Unrestricted free agency usually means the player is available to accept offers from any team of his choosing. He can decide for himself, for reasons of his own choosing, where to play next.

In both instances, free agency is typically based on years of service. That is, it’s based on how many years the player has been in the league. Each professional league has their own CBA (collective bargaining agreement) negotiated between the players’ union and the ownership to determine the rules of free agency.

A player’s value in the open market is determined by what teams think he can do for them.

Value in professional sports is determined by lots of things. Age, skill, mental toughness, injuries (or not) and much more. Teams determine a player’s value based on how well they think the player can help their team win.

Every season – in every professional sport that has free agency – fans anxiously watch their favorite team to see if they might snag the free agency prize and get that star player coveted by every team. The NHL represents my favorite sport so today I’m watching things carefully to see which teams land the best players available.

And as I watch, I can’t help but think about our lives. What about our value? We’re not pro athletes, but we’re free agents. We can take whatever job we may be able to get. We can start our own “job” and launch an enterprise. We can seek permission to be hired by somebody or we can blow that off and create our own. But no matter which course we take, we can’t succeed unless somebody wants us.

The NHL experts rank the free agents based on their subjective judgments. Here’s one such list. The point isn’t whether NHL fans or front offices agree with it. The point is, there is a ranking that goes on all across the league. Today, front offices likely have big boards in their “war rooms” where they’re watching and tracking the players they find most attractive. Each team has unique needs. GM’s all over the NHL will be doing whatever they think will best help their team for next season (and beyond).

The player can only do his best to build value in his own career.

This much is sure. If a player didn’t excel in a prior situation, it’s unlikely he’ll garner the highest rewards (or be the most sought after) when he’s a free agent. Teams will likely base their desires (and their offers) based on past success. Past failures and problems will only hamper the player’s ability to maximize his value on the open market during free agency.

I learned as a young man the value of “grow where you’re planted.” That meant, do the best job where you are because that will likely determine your future. It made perfect sense to me because I understood the value of habit. If I was in the habit of doing lackluster work, then I knew I was unlikely to do exceptional work if I were put into a different circumstance.

Sometimes players need a change of scenery. Sometimes they’re unhappy with a previous coach. Sometimes players get in a funk in one place only to blossom in a new place. It happens.

However, their stock – the desire for teams to want them – is only enhanced by their ability to soar wherever they are.

Are you waiting for a better situation? Maybe you’re a player who thinks, “If only I were on that team, then I’d show them.” But that team isn’t likely to want you because they don’t see the value based on your history.

Here in Dallas, we were blessed to have Bill Parcells coach the Dallas Cowboys for a few years. I loved watching his press conferences and it was evident the man knew how to coach football. He often said in his press conferences, “We are who we are.” He meant, our team is however successful we are based on our performance. Parcells didn’t much concern himself with potential. He was concerned about accomplishment and performance. Who cares if people (including players) think you’re a championship caliber team? If you don’t win more games than you lose, then you “are what you are.” It’s blindingly obvious, but brilliant, too.

You are who you are!

But, is that good enough? Is that good enough for people to want you? Is it good enough for customers to hire you? Is it good enough for companies to hire you? Is it good enough for you to succeed?

I don’t know. We each have to answer that question. We have to live each day doing the things that bring value to others so they’ll want us when we’re available.

Few things are sadder than the professional athlete who feels he’s got value to offer, but based on his past performance…nobody sees it. And he gets no offers. Nobody wants him. It’s the ultimate professional rejection and too many players end their careers not being wanted by anybody.

You must expect more from yourself. You must be honest in your work. Bring value every day. Grow where you’re planted. Be highly sought after.

Your Life As An Unrestricted Free Agent Read More »

It’s Great To Hack Learning, But How About We Hacking Doing Instead?

Personal Development, Video / By Randy Cantrell

Yep, change this format to HD if you like. Red and Splotchy are even more vivid in HD. It’s only 8:38. I think you can stand me that long in HD.

Mentioned in today’s video:

• The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast! by Josh Kaufman
• Josh appears to be quite bright. I even call him brilliant, but I’ve been known to dole out that adjective with reckless abandon.
• The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton
• I’m fond of applying Pfeffer and Sutton’s lessons to personal living, too. Not just to companies because I don’t much care about companies any more.

It’s Great To Hack Learning, But How About We Hacking Doing Instead? Read More »

Day 20,503 Won’t Be Nearly As Great As Day 20,504

Personal Development, Randy Cantrell / By Randy Cantrell

I’ve done the calculation before, but it was years ago. I think I was in my 30’s but I’m not sure.

Then, the other day I was wondering around the interwebs and visited the site of Robert D. You know Robert D, don’t you?

Well, I do. He doesn’t know me, of course, but that’s beside the point.

I read his blog, but I don’t remember ever visiting his home page. These things happen when you subscribe to a blog via RSS or you stumble onto somebody’s site because a link got shared via Twitter or Facebook.

On his home page he has a Day Calculator that will tell you how many days you’ve been alive. I’m betting you tried to enter them over there at the left didn’t you? Go ahead. Admit it. I can’t blame you, but that’s just a screen snag of what it looks like over at John D’s site. Go over there and enter your birthdate and you’ll get what you’re looking for. I’ll wait for you.

I’m betting your number is lower than mine. Am I right?

Forget that 10,000 hour rule. It’s time to have a new rule. The 20,000 day rule. I don’t know what that rule would be except I did do the math. It would mean you were 54.79 years old. Yeah, I know. That doesn’t tell you much.

It’s just a number.

I’m a John D fan and I think it’s a really cool device he’s got there on his home page. And even though I know it’s just a number I was thinking of how numbers define us. I started to say, “How we allow numbers to define us” but that’s not entirely true. Numbers DO define us. In so many ways.

And not just our age.

I’m betting the most important number in your life has a dollar sign in front of it. I don’t know what that number is, but it’s important to you. Maybe it’s the number of dollars you have in the bank or investment accounts. Maybe it’s the number of dollars you still owe a mortgage company. Maybe it’s the phantom number you think you need for a killer retirement. I don’t know. But I know it’s a number.

I’m also betting it’s monumentally important to you. Maybe more than you’d like to admit. Probably more important to you if you’re a guy, than if you’re a gal. I could be wrong, but I’m betting I’m not.

And I’m betting if you’re a guy past 45 it’s a number that is weighing heavier and heavier. Right? Sure I am.

Because maybe I’m beginning to see the 20,000 day rule after all. By the time you’re 45, you’re only 16,425 days in. You’re in deep enough to be scared. Really scared. Scared you’re not going to make it to your number with a dollar sign in front of it. Scared your wildest dreams really aren’t going to come true. But you’re driven to press hard. Not yet wise enough to chase the most important things, but wise enough to know time is running out.

Enter mid-life crisis…the quest to escape reality. For some a red sports car. For others, a younger woman. For yet others, a Harley. And still yet others, a desire to revert back to what you were good at as a kid.

If you’re like me, you suppressed that desire. Mine was that last one. I sat on it for another decade before I’d actually do anything about it. A decade!

Ten years. Think of it. I chased money and career for another 10 years because like you, I had a number with a dollar sign that defined me. Sure, it changed constantly. But that’s the thing about a number with a dollar sign. It’s not a definite number. It’s always on the move. You’ll never pin it down. The dollar sign is like a wild card. It gives the number the power to become whatever it needs to become. In this case, it becomes elusive!

So, 3,650 days later – give or take – and the proverbial wall began to inch closer for me. It’s there. The wall. I don’t know how close or far away from it you are, but it’s coming. Just wait for it. Or run headlong into it like I did. Either way is fine really cause you can’t avoid it. It won’t kill you. You may wish you were dead, but the wall won’t ever kill you. It’s just another number, a moment in time defined by something you did or something that happened to you. Or an epiphany. Those are rare. I know ’cause I’m constantly looking for them. I’m like a bird watcher except for epiphanies.

For me, the latest wall came into view at about the 20,300 day mark give or take. What’s a day or two when you’re talking about approaching a wall. Another wall. A new one. By the way, they’re all new. That wall you hit last year won’t likely resemble the one you’re gonna slam into tomorrow. Different day. Different wall. Different number.

Life has many walls. I stopped counting sometime around wall number 57 I think. No, they’re not all huge. Some are really like those enormous speed bumps that you can’t go over without ripping the muffler off your car. Others are small enough you sort of go over them like you would railroad tracks. But then others stop you cold. You’re going along like nothing is the matter and BAM! Right out of Stephen King’s “Under The Dome” you hit something you never saw coming.

I’ve been laid out, knocked out, dazed and confused. At other times I’ve been embarrassed like when you stumble up some steps in a public place. Walls have degrees of hardness.

Today my number is 20,503. Well, to be more accurate, based on John D’s calculator, those are my days alive.

I don’t know what my dollar sign number is any more. I’ve had so many of them I decided to let them go.

I don’t know how high my days-alive-number will go. Today is day 32,777 for my father. So, if I live to be as old as he is today, I’ve got another 12,274 left before I expire.

Maybe.

Sure, in light of recent events I’m thinking of days. And hours. But not really the numbers.

More in how the numbers are invested. More in trying to come to grips with what am I doing with them.

Here’s the big difference – well, one of the big differences – between your number of days and the other numbers that define you. Especially those dollar sign numbers that you’re busy chasing.

The numbers that define us really are the numbers we’ve got. It’s who we are right now. That’s what matters. Who are you today? What are you today?

That lake house you think would be cool to own doesn’t matter ’cause you don’t have it. So are you gonna waste your life sitting around looking at nice photos of lake houses? Are you gonna stay at the office a few hours extra so you’ll have enough money for the lake house? How is lusting for a future lake house going to make you better today?

You know what I’m gonna do?

Me neither. But tomorrow is day 20,504 and I can tell you I’ve got big plans!

Day 20,503 Won’t Be Nearly As Great As Day 20,504 Read More »

Special Episode – Blue Is The Color Of Melancholy, But What Does It Sound Like? (Finding Profit In Setbacks And Disappointments)

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Podcast, Randy Cantrell / By Randy Cantrell

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:16 — 52.8MB)

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Melancholy

Noun: A deep, pensive, and long-lasting sadness.

Adjective: Sad, gloomy, or depressed.

How long is long-lasting? From my experience, it’s always too long. But I can be given to feeling melancholy.

A friend recently described his own family as being prone to feeling blue. Instantly, I could relate.

Amazement is the only word to describe my feelings toward people able to remain upbeat under the saddest circumstances.

When I was younger I was more stoic, but even as a child I was prone to bouts of melancholy. It might be something others thought stupid. Like the time a distant cousin took shots at a turtle in the yard with his BB gun. Shooting it repeatedly in the head until he made sure it was dead. The cruelty of it overwhelmed me. I didn’t cry, but later when he got some old boxing gloves out and wanted to box – I bloodied his nose.

Maybe that’s a key to overcoming melancholy – physical exertion or aggression. Surely not, but when I was a kid and boxing gloves were around, it was a viable option.

Melancholy has value I think, but I also think it can become too close of a friend. A friend unworthy of our love or kindness.

Let’s be clear. I’m not talking about depression, at least not in the clinical sense. That’s a very different malady.

I’m talking about feeling blue. It can range from momentary feelings of sadness to hours, maybe days, spent feeling sorrow or even heartbroken.

Music has almost always been part of my melancholy. Not a cause and effect part, but the music in my life has often been chosen because of my mood. I confess that I rarely select music to jolt me from my melancholy mood. No, I usually embrace it and feed it the sounds that seem most fitting.

John Prine's 1971 debut album — John Prine’s 1971 debut album

I was 15 when I first heard John Prine. There were many things for me to love about him. For starters, he wrote some great pensive, sad songs (Hello In There, Sam Stone). But he also wrote some sarcastic, snarky songs, too (Illegal Smile).

As I look at the sounds of melancholy in my life some of my favorite records of all time are steeped in sadness. In fact, one of my all-time favorites is a record by Jackson Browne, Late For The Sky. The title track and Fountain of Sorrow have been lifelong favorites.

For me, the lyrics, the story and the melody are integral components of the sounds of melancholy. Nobody typifies them better than Prine and Browne.

100 dollar bill — Money isn’t the only measurement of profit.

Setbacks. Disappointments.

Business disappointments are not unlike other disappointments. They range in severity from devastating to annoying.

We all have them, but there are two kinds of disappointments that sting the most: the ones we didn’t see coming and the ones that represent the enemy of something we really wanted.

The more personal the disappointment, the more it hurts.

Disappointment doesn’t care who you are or how much power you’ve got. It doesn’t knock. It just blows the door off the hinges, comes right in and camps out where you can avoid it. It may hit people a bit differently, but it hits everybody. Sometime.

Disappointments can be sometimes be measured in time, distance, money, impact and recovery.

Time.

I remember the day the phone rang. It was the worst kind of setback. A death. Of our founder. He was only 32. I was in my 20’s. His life was gone. Mine was changed.

We thought we had more time to build more stores. To grow our business. Together.

We were wrong. Time ran out and there wasn’t anything we could do.

Distance.

When my children were quite small I found myself mired in a bad circumstance. We lived in one city, but I was working in a different city. The real estate market was pitiful at the time and we had to live apart through the week, looking forward to very short weekends together. It was painful disappointment.

I hated it, but like so many disappointments in our lives, I had to endure it until I could figure out some solution. Disappointments wouldn’t be so bad if you could fix them…and quickly. It’s not always possible.

Money.

Missed sales goals. Lost bonuses. Frozen compensation. Increased insurance premiums. Elevated lease rates. Money disappointments are endless.

Because business is all about generating sufficient profits to sustain the enterprise, money tends to be the end-all, be-all. Most of us measure success or failure with a dollar sign.

An advertising campaign that we felt sure about falls flat. A landlord tells us the lease renewal demands a 20% increase. Our insurance rep informs us that workman’s comp insurance is going up 15%. Meanwhile, our profit margins are stretched because vendors aren’t taking less, but customers are giving us less. It’s the ying and yang of business. The push/pull tug of war that every business owner or leader feels constantly.

Impact.

When a founder dies in an automobile accident the impact is sudden, unexpected and irreversible. Depending on the size of the business, it can be vast, too. Vendors, financial partners, suppliers, employees – everybody hurts.

Some business disappointments impact us in the moment, but it’s more like ripping a Band Aid off a scab. Painful at first, but it’s over before you know it.

Recovery.

Recovery is tied to impact. The more severe the impact, the more difficult the recovery. The lower the impact, the quicker (and easier) the recovery.

A devastating blow might just do you in. Failure to meet payroll can be deadly. Failure to meet payroll habitually is sure death.

So with all these facets of disappointments and with all the varying degrees of disappointment, how can we possibly find profit in them?

Can we always find profit in them?

I think so.

That’s literally the bottom line for today’s show…finding ways to profit from our disappointments and setbacks. That’s what I intend to do by tapping the brakes for just a bit. Lord willing, I’ll be back soon. Recharged. Refreshed. Reenergized.

Be safe. Take care of yourself. Take care of business. I’ll be talking you soon with one more pre-hiatus episode.

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Special Episode – Blue Is The Color Of Melancholy, But What Does It Sound Like? (Finding Profit In Setbacks And Disappointments) Read More »

Special Episode – So Broke I Didn’t Have $1.25 To Get Through The Tollbooth

Personal Development, Podcast, Randy Cantrell / By Randy Cantrell

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:25 — 39.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

toll_booth — I needed $1.25 to pay the toll, but I didn’t have it.

I was following people in another car. We were headed to a gentleman’s office. It was business.

I didn’t know a toll road was involved, but I was faithfully following along in my own car. Alone.

As we entered the toll road I was desperately looking for signs to tell me how much the toll might be. Why?

Because I was broke.

I didn’t have a single dollar on me.

Panicked, I opened the center console hoping to find some loose change. I did. Just not enough. Not nearly enough.

45 cents. I wasn’t even half way there.

I couldn’t pull the car over to the shoulder and scour under the seat cushions or the floor board for more money because I was following another car. I certainly wasn’t going to let them know my situation.

I felt sick at my stomach. How in the world had I gotten to this point? What sort of horrible decisions had I committed to drag me down this low?

Today’s show is about coping with despair, defeat and the bewilderment of wondering, “Will I ever escape this?”

If you’re feeling down and out, this show is for you. If you’re feeling all alone, this show is for you. If you’ve ever felt like you couldn’t fall any farther, this show is for you.

Okay, you’re right – today’s show is for EVERYBODY because this is a universal experience!

Hang tough.

Special Episode – So Broke I Didn’t Have $1.25 To Get Through The Tollbooth Read More »

Get Real. Stay Real.

Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

I don’t visit the gym. I go there and workout. I’m not angling for 6-pack abs or a 30″ waistline. And my pecs aren’t worthy of flexing.

But that’s not why I go to the gym. At 55 (almost 56) vanity left me long ago! 7 years ago I got real about my fitness. Driven mostly by being there for my family and reducing the risk of being a burden to my wife as grow older…I knew it was high time to take it more seriously.

When I started working out – after years of hardly doing any physical activity – it wasn’t congruent with who I was. I was in the process of changing. Getting real is the start of positive change (aka improvement). It’s important, but it’s just the start.

Daily I walked into the gym knowing I wasn’t faking it, but I knew it was filled with people who were more comfortable being there than I was. I didn’t know my way around the place. Those little illustrations on the machines puzzled me. I hadn’t used any of these machines before. Operating a simple treadmill felt like trying to fly a jet. I was out of my element. Dropped into surroundings that were completely unfamiliar. I felt like the new kid in school unsure where to go, or what to do.

It lasted a few months. Just walking into the gym felt uncomfortable. And I was even more uncomfortable during the workouts. I felt like I was an out-of-shape spectacle. Mentally, it felt like the entire joint was dark and big spot lights were shining on my bald head!

It was just part of the process of getting real with my commitment. I felt like a wannabe for the longest time. Surrounded by guys half my age and 75% less body fat, I felt and looked like a person who’d be more comfortable in a La-Z Boy. I was certain people glanced at me and thought, “Look at that poor fella. He won’t last.”

But I did.

My body had not yet caught up to my mind. I made a decision that my outward appearance hadn’t yet manifested. It would take some time. And a lot of hard work. But it would happen. I knew I’d have to stick with it.

My mind was made up.

That’s the critical part of getting real. Some punk teenager could have approached me and said, “Get real, old man” and I’d have put a choke hold on him before he knew what hit him and said, “I am getting real. This is real.”

Weeks turned to months. A month turned into a year. Then another. And another. Gym managers, trainers and other employees came and went. Customers who I had seen regularly when I started disappeared. Today, I can count on one hand the people I see working out who were there at my start. I’m the tortoise who won the race! All the hares have fallen by the wayside.

What has this taught me?

What we manifest in our lives must first exist in our mind. We’re unlikely to accomplish anything that we’ve yet to achieve in our mind. The longer we can hold it in our mind – fully embracing it in the form of true commitment and unwavering devotion – the more real it gets!

But it never ends.

My fitness began to improve. It kept improving. I dropped some body fat. I lost some inches. My lungs gained increased capacity. My heart got stronger. My energy increased. Mission accomplished. Done?

Nope. Entropy pushes us to stay real. Or regress. I wasn’t about to go back – ever again!

You have to maintain that devotion after you’ve paid the price to get real because it can fade over time. Fitness. Business success. Relationships. Everything in life will fade if you don’t put in the work. And keep putting in the work.

There are likely things in your life waiting for you to address. Fix. Repair. Start. Finish.

Get real.

Make up your mind. Commit. Follow through. Establish the habit.

Stay real.

Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about what others think or say.

Get Real. Stay Real. Read More »