Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20116390-37/steve-jobs-big-lesson-stay-hungry-stay-foolish/#ixzz1Zy4O9uvF

Broken things can be fixed many times.  Not always, but often.  It takes love, care and commitment.  It takes learning how to fix them, maybe without a manual or a guide.

Things we love are worth trying to fix.  Yeah, we can go get a new thing that isn’t broken…yet.  But the “old” thing has our memories and our love.  The new thing doesn’t and may never have it, and even if it does it won’t be the same.  The old thing might be fixed, and it will still have our love and our memories…probably more so.

Everyone has to have fuel to light the fire that ignites you, and sustains you as you go.  It’s important to know what that is and keep it in supply.  Without it, you’ll fizzle.

This is how you find your fuel:

1.  Begin with the end in mind. What does success look like?  What does it feel like?  If you don’t have a clearly defined goal, how can you have any direction?  Figure that out first, otherwise you’re in la-la land.

2.  What are your reasons for wanting to achieve your goals? WHY you want to achieve them is more important than HOW.  Answer the WHY and you’ll find a way HOW.  Know clearly what the rewards are and dangle these in front of yourself at all times.  I have pictures that remind me of my rewards strategically placed at home, in my car and my office at work.  It’s going to be tough to achieve your goals.  You have GOT to keep the WHY in mind always.

3.    Build your success team. If you can find someone who is already living the dream, someone who has already accomplished your goal, you should model their habits, techniques, patterns, etc.  Share your goals and plans with close friends, supportive relatives and likeminded colleagues.  Find, network and interact with others online and offline who can give you constructive feedback, ideas and share their expertise with you.  Beware the haters and naysayers – some people will be threatened by your ambition and confidence.  Some people believe success is all based on luck, looks and natural talent.  It’s a cop-out some people use to make themselves feel better.  Don’t let their negativity sway you from believing in yourself.  As James Cameron said regarding risk taking, “Luck is not a factor.  Hope is not a strategy.  Fear is not an option.”

With all that said, this is my fuel:

• Within two years I’ll be free to spend my time as I see fit and be where I want to be.  I’ll no longer be tied to a specific location and schedule in order to support myself and my family; I will have cut the tether between my time and my income.
• I’m doing this because it’s how I’m made to live.  I’m wired to be an entrepreneur, to operate by my own clock and find my own ways to be successful, and the more freedom I have to set my own schedule and create something of my own, the happier and more successful I’ll be.  I’ve always been the kid who refuses to do homework but knocks science fair out of the park.  I’m by no means better than anyone who works well in a structured environment and flawlessly executes precise instructions.  I’m just different.  The world needs both of types of people.
• I make the most of every day and I love what I do, even the things I do to make a living, and produce actual value for others, something I’m very proud of.  My accomplishments along the way toward my goal are excellent fuel.
• My success team is vitally important to me.  I have good friends to bounce ideas off of and their belief in me amplifies my confidence and enthusiasm.  I have a super-smart, type-A wife/best-friend/consigliere who gives me a reality check, sympathy and/or a good idea when I need it.  And I have models and mentors I follow, study and learn from.

Got fuel?

I’ve learned a lot in my tenure at the Pentagon so far. Here are three of the most important lessons I’ve taken in. These are especially important for leaders and business owners, but #2 and #3 are universal.

1. Meetings are expensive. They stop every participant’s work, which can cause delays in their projects. If their time is billable, they are charging for attendance. If their time is not billable, you are taking their time away from them. In either case, every minute each person sits in a meeting with nothing to gain or contribute is a huge waste.

2. Adapt to your environment. You are different from most other people. Not everyone communicates the way you do, has the same motives or shares your values. The people around you don’t share your experience and your expertise. But you need them to understand you and you’d better understand them too. You need to learn how to gain their confidence and trust, and learn how to motivate them. Unless you want to fail.

3. When the going gets tough, the tough keep smiling. Some leaders become threatening and unapproachable when things don’t go well or they are under stress. I knew one officer here who acted like a momma bear until something slightly bad happened or she got under a deadline, then she became a rabid grizzly. It worked against her. People avoided her at all costs. Because they were so afraid of getting chewed out, they waited for direction to comply with instead of taking initiative and using their ingenuity. She was often out of the loop on status, especially if the news was bad, and her people laid low waiting for their marching orders instead of owning their process and making it better.

It takes a tough person to show confidence in their team and be the leader they need under pressure. Weak leaders don’t have the fortitude to withstand the heat so they redirect it to their team.

This past weekend, I visited my friend Bryan and his family in South Carolina. Bryan and I served in Iraq together, and he is at the top of a short list of comrades who helped me get through my tour of duty there with my sanity intact.

In Bryan’s neighborhood, a suburb of Columbia, everyone who passes by connects with one another. Some of the reason may be that they’re neighbors, but where I live being neighbors means you live next to each other coincidentally, and you may never speak unless you happen to be sharing an elevator and one of you is next to the buttons. In Bryan’s neighborhood, if you are within 20 feet you are someone to talk to. It’s not just a perfunctory reflex greeting either, it’s a real message. The people there are kind to each other, but it’s not a politeness contest. It is genuine respect and friendliness, very warm and communal. Weird.

I say “weird” because it was so foreign to me after living in metropolitan Washington DC this past year. People here are officially polite, but there is no depth to it. It’s more like their Facebook status is “polite” than that their nature is polite. People here are on a professional or personal mission of some sort – for promotion, status or pedigree. (I’m on a personal mission too.) It is a beautiful city, and I have some good friends here for sure, but most of the people I meet here are completely inwardly focused, looking toward others just to see how they compare.

Maybe it’s better that I live in DC for the time being. In spite of all there is to see and do here, there is no social net pulling me to the myriad opportunities to do something besides work on my business. If the inhabitants of DC were like the people in Lake Carolina, I might not have any time to blog or run a business because I’d have too much fun. So I guess it’s for the best that my neighbors would not recognize me in the hallway. I am pretty busy these days.

But I am hoping that once I have time for a social life again, I will find myself in a place with the art, culture, cuisine and adventure of DC, coupled with the warmth and friendliness of Lake Carolina. Sure, I’m achievement-oriented and I am driven to succeed. But I’d rather be appreciated than envied. I’d rather be trusted than validated. And I try to surround myself with others who are the same in that way.

Have you ever been asked to go somewhere or do something interesting or fun with a friend, significant other, family member, etc., but didn’t go because you “didn’t feel like it”?   I know I have before.

Or have you known about an event happening, or thought it would be fun to go hiking in that park an hour away from where you live, but chose to do something “comfortable” instead, probably the same routine stuff you do all the time?  I sure have.

But how about this:   Have you ever decided instead to GO, get out there and SEE the place and DO the thing and BE with your people and take in that experience?

I have. And I’ve hardly ever wished I’d stayed at home and done the routine time-sucking activities instead of going and doing.

Why don’t we go and do more often? Why do we cheat ourselves of excitement, adventure and memories with those we love? Do you wish you’d get out there more? What’s stopping you? (Or, should I say, who?)

Since I didn’t have any good ideas yet I started moving forward with executing my so-so ideas. I just couldn’t take the analysis paralysis anymore and felt like a total loser. I’d had it.

Something weird happened when I just decided to execute. Better ideas came to me. Suddenly. I had to pivot a little toward the better direction. Then it happened again. I have been on a creative charge for a couple of weeks and the ideas keep coming. Now the challenge is for my left brain to keep up with my right brain and keep producing. The cool thing is, I find it so fulfilling to execute a plan I’m excited about that producing is more fun than dreaming ever was.

So I’m keeping a lot of late nights and early mornings as usual, but now instead of a pen and an idea journal in my hands, I have mockups and working prototypes and market research.

Instead of hope, I have strategy.

Don’t hope. Produce.

More minor tweaks and additions are coming, and of course I’ll be adding more “stuff” (content) now that my time isn’t as sucked up with the design and programming fun.

How do you like/unlike what I’ve done?

I’m writing this blog post on my short lunch break, and it’s a deposit in my future because writing this exposes my dream to the world a tiny bit more, and the act of doing this helps me stay on track.

Little deposits add up to a big pay-off. Watch and see.

Production is the only act that produces anything. Research gets you ready. But only creating, designing, constructing, testing and shipping brings any idea into reality.

There is a synergistic balance to be found between research to prepare you and production to get it done. I’m closer to finding that balance in my own life than I have been in a very long time and the results are very pleasing.

Are you producing, or just “researching”?