Take Permission

The Right Tools & Mindset For Success

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How I'm Confronting My Weaknesses by Going Through The Living Forward Process

Books are generous things. A team of people put hundreds of hours and often decades of experience into one book. We click a button and get it delivered in two days or sometimes instantly.

Accept it or Reject it?

Then we make a decision. Will we accept it or will we reject it? Every time we open a book, we get the chance to open ourselves to its message.

Living ForwardI’m opening myself up to Living Forward by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy. I’ve paid for my copies so don’t take this endorsement as a friend promoting his friends. This is someone believing and investing in a proven path.

I Need Direction

I am a man in need of direction. That may sound weak to you but it’s not. I have weaknesses, we all do. There is wisdom in knowing you need direction. There is strength in knowing your weaknesses. This book is going to help me take the steps to seek the direction I need. It will not tell me where to go; it’s not that kind of book. This is a choose your own adventure book.

The keywords are YOUR and ADVENTURE. This looks like another business self-help book but what I think and hope it is, is a tool I can use to stop being a wandering generality and start being a man who lives with purpose and joy.

All that for $13. That’s a generous exchange.

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I encourage you to get this book and then follow the steps it provides. It’s an easy read and a worthwhile process to walk through. If you follow Mike and Daniel’s advice you’ll end up with a map you can live by and revisit to tweak if necessary.

I’m 38, and I’m tired of drifting.

Average Isn’t A Worthy Goal

There are many things I do well. I provide tremendous value for my customers and I’m a good husband and father. The struggle is that good is average and average isn’t what we’re created to be.

I have a wonderful life, but God has more for me than I am experiencing and it’s not God’s fault I’m not experiencing everything He has for me. It’s time for me to stop drifting. My family deserves better. My friends deserve better. This world needs me at my best. I need to live a life I’m proud of.

Taking One Day

Monday I’m taking the entire day to go through the life planning process. One day that could help direct the rest of my days. That’s worth investing in for me and for you.

Click here to get Mike and Daniel’s book Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want

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How to improve your business

I’m all for bootstrapping but at some point you need to open your wallet if you want you and then your business to grow.   A danger of experiencing success is the temptation to stop learning. My business has grown tremendously in the past two years and the more success I’ve experienced the more I have invested in my business. They’re not expenses. They’re investments. Here are a few.

Build a Better Blog in 31 Days
This product by Darren Rowse (@ProBlogger) improved my blog tremendously. It’s more a reference tool than a quick read. I even spent another $20 to get it printed in a special binder so it ended up costing more.  If you blog then buy it.

Blog Coaching
Jonathan Milligan (@CPACareerCoach) gives away A TON of helpful info on blogging in his group on 48days.net. I’ve hired him to help me with my blogging.

World Domination Summit
Chris Guillebeau (@ChrisGuillebeau) is hosting this event in June in Portland, Oregon. It’s a really random group of people who want to dominate the world (in a good way, if that’s possible). It’s sold out, sorry.   [Read more…]

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How to go from intention to implementation

Image from http://www.joydekok.com

It’s universal.  We all struggle at some point with implementing ideas to improve our personal, professional or spiritual life.  Here are four steps to get what you need to implement your intentions.

1.  Accountability
No one likes accountability, that is unless you’ve completed your task you’re being held accountable to.  The question is, do you dislike accountability MORE than you like achievement?  Which do you have stronger feelings about?  That’s the one that wins.

 

2.  Steps
Create a web site is not a goal, it’s 78 goals wrapped into one statement.  You have to create achievable steps (goals) to reach your overall goal.  The smaller the step the better because you’re more likely to do it which brings you closer to your big goal.   [Read more…]

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There is no monster in your closet

Monsters in closets don’t exist.  They’re not real.  It’s an irrational fear fed by folklore.

Every time you don’t write something on your blog, record a podcast episode, send out a newsletter or start the first page of the book you want to write, you are believing in a monster in the closet.  You have an irrational fear.  The fear is real, the threat is not.  Get over it and say something.

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Why my best friends are all rich

Most of my very best friends are what you would consider wealthy. Why is that? Here are a few reasons why.

1. Successful people have better attitudes. They don’t blame the world for their success or their failures. They thank God for their success and take responsibility for their failures. It makes them easy to be around.

2. Successful people are generous. My friends like to share what they have. They aren’t identified by the things they own so they can hold them more loosely.

3. Successful people love what they do. One of my best friends owns a chain of Culvers, another sells life insurance and investments, another paints houses and one sells industrial cooling systems. All of my best friends like what they do for a living. Again, less complaining.
[Read more…]