Personal Development | GROW GREAT

It’s hard to see yourself as others see you…as you really are.

Yes, that’s me in the mirror. I don’t think I look like that, but sometimes other people do.

The name of the game is awareness. Sometimes our awareness is hindered by our inability to see ourselves as others see us, or as we really are.

Let me give you three specific actions you can take to help you know yourself better. You can give yourself a better, more accurate picture of who you really are when you actively engage in all of them.

1. Use meaningful measurements
2. Seek wise counsel; ask others
3. Self-examination

Today’s show references these things:

• Fox News coverage of hurricane Irene, particularly Shepherd Smith
• Social Media Clubs, including the one in Dallas and the one in Ft. Worth
• Dallas is a pro sports town, particularly a Dallas Cowboys town
• Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo
• Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky
• Magic Johnson had great vision and awareness
• George DeJohn’s fitness radio show
• Episode 48 and others (I won’t take the time to list all the others, but you can search the term “strengths” here and find them)
• In episode 53 I talk about Dan Sullivan‘s concept, Unique Ability®
• One Person/Multiple Careers by Marci Alboher
• Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields
• A&E’s hit shows, Hoarders and Intervention
• The GEICO Abe Lincoln commercial

Subscribe to the podcast over at Apple iTunes.

Thanks for listening,

Episode 99 – Know Thyself (The Tough Work Of Seeing Yourself As You Really Are) Read More »

Episode 98 – The 8th Habit By Stephen R. Covey (Let’s Talk About It)

Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

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First published in 2004, Stephen R. Covey‘s “The 8th Habit” was a highly acclaimed follow-up to “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People.”

For weeks I’ve been staring at this book on my bookshelf. It’s now been almost 7 years since I read it. I’ve been tempted to re-read it a number of times, but for some reason I’ve been distracted with other reading. Juggling too many books at once is a lifelong habit, my 9th habit.

At long last, I’m now re-reading it and decided I’d share my thoughts along the way. No, it won’t occupy every podcast, but I’ll talk about it every now and then. I hope to share some insights and thoughts sparked by Mr. Covey. He’s pretty good at such things, but I confess I found this book a bit cumbersome to read the first time around. That’s why I wanted to re-read it. I suspect I missed some things the first time around.

I’ll discuss this 8th habit and riff on about a few things. Don’t worry, I don’t talk about how Mr. Covey and I share nicely shaped heads to house our big brains…but we do!

Mentioned in today’s show:

• Ryan Cantrell, my son; Joanna, his wife; Kinsley, their new daughter
• Chris Pearson, creator of the Thesis premium WordPress theme (aff link)
• Copyblogger, whose original killer design was provided by Chris Pearson
• Brian Gardner, StudioPress
• Aaron Wall, whose SEO Book website was my first introduction to Chris Pearson’s work
• James Dalman, a friend I reached out to about a WordPress design for a client (he’s an old school rock-solid design guy)
• Barron Cuadro, the one website design guy (not a friend) who was prompt and professional in returning an inquiry.
• Phil Simon of PhilSimonSystems.com, author/speaker/all-around-good-guy
• Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, blogger/social media expert/friendly-supportive-online-buddy
• One Bible illustration (even the heretics among us will have to agree the illustration is worthwhile)
• Winning friends and influencing people references a book by the famous Mr. Carnegie
• I am NOT opposed to selling things. In fact, I need to sell something. I help solopreneurs and small business owners with management and marketing issues. I sometimes accept payment for such help. 😀

Thank you very much for listening. I’d love to hear your feedback. You can call (214) 736-4406 any time, day or night and leave me a voice mail.

Episode 98 – The 8th Habit By Stephen R. Covey (Let’s Talk About It) Read More »

Episode 97 – I’m A Ramblin’ Man (Today)

Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

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No, I’ve not “gone” country (I do love Waylon though). Nor am I going to sing on today’s show. I am, however, going to ramble a bit about an important subject (or three).

“Create the life you want.”

Today’s show includes:

• Reference to my son, Ryan – Happy Birthday (August 17, 1980)
• Reference to the grand kids – Max, Jake and Kinsley
• Reference to Chase Jarvis’ show with Tim Ferris, which aired live earlier this week on UStream.
• Reference to “the butterfly effect”
• Reference to Rush Limbaugh, El Rushbo
• Reference to Bob Heil, inventor and maker of the Heil Sound products, including the PR40 microphone.
• Reference to my external hard drive creating an annoying rumble during my ramble.
• Reference to my firewire interfaces, produced by PreSonus.
• Finding the track, getting on the track and staying on track.
• Epiphanies require some searching.*
• HOV lanes in Dallas
• BMW cars, a Dallas favorite
• Lamborghini Diablo (last manufactured in 2001; I’ll take a Diablo Orange version)

* I didn’t refer to this book in today’s show, but wish I had – Why Epiphanies Never Occur To Couch Potatoes by Mark Amtower. Buy it. Read it. He’s quite bright.

Thanks for listening!

Episode 97 – I’m A Ramblin’ Man (Today) Read More »

Special Episode – Don’t Get Stuck In The Middle

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

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Finding the path to success is a common pursuit. Even successful people want more. We’re all given to discontentment and dissatisfaction. Distraction may be the deadliest “dis” of all.

“A” in the diagram represents the starting place. Sadly, for too many it also represents complacency or being stuck in the middle. It can be an exciting place from which our future success is born. Or it can be a place of paralysis.

The circle represents goals, targets, achievements, accomplishments. So many different directions. So many different choices. “B” could be 360 different choices represented by the degrees of a circle, but we know there are an infinite number of choices really. That makes it difficult to choose. It’s often easier to avoid making a choice and remain stuck in the middle.

Today’s special episode is intended to provide you with encouragement to develop the zeal and tenacity necessary to get on with it. Today, I want to help you lift your eyes from “A” and make a definite choice. Select “B.” Make it by anywhere you’d like, preferably a direction that suits you best. Choose wisely, but choose. Then, get on with it. Start the trek toward “B.” Do it today. Don’t take your eyes off of “B.” Be precise. Be targeted. Be persistent.

When you reach “B” everything changes. Momentum shifts in your favor. Opportunities present themselves. Learning happens that helps you in new adventures. There’s compelling evidence that merely making up your mind to pursue a precise goal changes everything. No doubt a sniper rifle has greater precision than a shotgun. Live like a sniper rifle.

As the Scottish mountaineer William Hutchinson Murray wrote in 1951 (no, it wasn’t Goethe, Germany’s version of Shakespeare):

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Yes, begin it now. And don’t stop until you’ve reached the outer circle. That’s where you’ll find success, momentum and greater opportunity.

• Grandsons Max and Jake who have now learned to swim. Here’s a video of Max. Here’s the video of little brother, Jake.

Special Episode – Don’t Get Stuck In The Middle Read More »

Episode 96 – Time, Distance And Fuel: 3 Components To Successful Business Building

Entrepreneurship, Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

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Life is one big fuel problem. How long will it take to achieve success? How long will I live? Am I smart enough to reach the goal?

These problems indicate how fuel is tethered to time, energy, distance, momentum, tenacity, brain power, wisdom and a host of other variables.

Every successful endeavor contains time, distance and fuel.

A friend is completing law school. It’s taken him a few years of dedication and tenacity. He had an idea how long it would take (time). He had an idea, when he began, how much effort it would take (fuel). It’s likely demanded even more fuel than he suspected, but he predetermined that the burn rate would be worth it. Distance was a component that involved both time and fuel, but it also required some family and work sacrifices, too. Worth it? Sure. That’s why he went in that precise direction.

Many of us have no idea how long success will take. Nor do we know how far we’ll have to go. Or how much fuel it might take. We plan and engineer our course as best we can, but if success was a definite spot then everybody would likely achieve it. Because it’s not so easily seen, or mapped out – it’s hard. Doable, but hard.

Think about what you most want. Take a precise aim. Head in that direction and devote yourself fully to it. Burn your fuel wisely by going in a targeted direction. Keep going until you reach the goal because when you reach the outer circle of achievement everything changes! It’s called “momentum.”

I hope you reach your goal. I’d love to hear how it’s going for you.

P.S. I’ll update you on some things happening with me in the next episode. I ran out of time in today’s show. Sorry.

Episode 96 – Time, Distance And Fuel: 3 Components To Successful Business Building Read More »

Does Feedback Determine Your Direction?

Communication, Personal Development / By Randy Cantrell

Feedback in a public address system is annoying. It may be an indication that the mic is too close to the speakers. It may be that the volume is too high. Whatever the cause, it needs to be fixed. An adjustment needs to be made.

Luther experienced feedback from the PA. He also got some feedback on his speech. “Atta boy, Luther!” He’s a terrible public speaker who doesn’t need to be encouraged. The applause and shout outs might have caused him to think he was headed in the right direction though.

Feedback can let us know what our next step should be – what adjustments need to be made so we can improve. Or it can derail us, delude us and frustrate us by robbing us of clarity.

Daily we’re surrounded by feedback. Twitter, blog comments, Google +, Facebook, YouTube comments, Flickr comments and a thousand other services provide some way for people to communicate with each other. Feedback.

Does feedback change your course? Which feedback do you find most useful in helping you figure out your next step?

In “The Design of Future Things” author Donald A. Norman writes of technical design, but stretch your application of what he says.

Today, many automatic devices do provide minimal feedback, but much of the time it is through bleeps and burps, ring tones and flashing lights. This feedback is more annoying than informing, and even when it does inform, it provides partial information at best. In commercial settings, such as manufacturing plants, electric generating plants, hospital operating rooms, or inside the cockpits of aircraft, when problems arise, many different monitoring systems and pieces of equipment sound alarms. The resulting cacophony can be so disturbing that the people involved may waste precious time turning all the alarms off so that they can concentrate on fixing the problems.

In the design of smart cars and homes and other forms of automation, Norman argues that we “need to transition toward a more supportive form of two-way interaction.” The key may be that term, supportive. Feedback should have a benefit. That doesn’t mean it must always be, “Atta boy, Luther!” It shouldn’t just be noise. We need feedback to help us figure things out. Or do we?

Does feedback determine your direction? Do you alter your course based on feedback?

Does Feedback Determine Your Direction? Read More »