Loose Leaf Press

New Year, Zero Resolutions.

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:16:00 -0500

The new year is upon us and everywhere you turn people are making resolutions to fix one thing or another with their lives. Lose a few pounds, spend more time with your family, etc.

We all do it. We take the time to identify a few things that we want to change about ourselves. We take the time to do some introspection and pick the things that we most want to change and we resolve to fix them.

We start the new year and we half-heartedly attempt to fix our flaws. We know we need to lose that few extra pounds, so we resolve to eat better. By the end of the week, we are downing a pizza.

So this year, don’t make any resolutions. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Instead, take out a piece of paper and write down an action plan. Identify the one thing you most want to change this year and write it at the top of the paper.

Have you done it yet? No. Stop what you are doing and get out the piece of paper and do it right now. You will thank me later.

Now that you have your one thing you want to change written on your sheet of paper. I want you to start writing down the actions you need to take to change that one thing. Each step needs to start with an action verb and be as specific as you can make it.

If your goal is to lose weight your list might look like:

Throw away all junk and processed food in my pantry. No exceptions.
Write out a meal plan for the next week, sticking to organic dark leafy greens, legumes, and high quality meats.
Go to the grocery and purchase your groceries for the week sticking to your meal plan.
Prep your vegetables, beans, etc for the week. Pre-chop, store, etc to make meal preps as easy as possible.
Prepare the next days lunch so you can carry it to work.
Set out tomorrows meat in the refrigerator so it is defrosted for dinner.

You get the idea.

Be as specific and as detailed as you can. Then start at step one on the list and do it. Then on to the next step. Before long you will achieve your goal that you have at the top of your action plan.

So this new year, don’t have resolutions, have action plans.

How many times have you flinched today?

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:41:00 -0500

I just got through reading the wonderful book The Flinch by Julien Smith and it made me realize that most of my day consists of me flinching, or avoiding painful situations.

You need to take the time and download this FREE book and read it. It is the manifesto for getting out of your comfort zone and doing things that matter.

Again take the time and download it and read it. Then take action on what you find inside.

How have you made your own luck today?

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:36:00 -0500

You make your own luck. No one else is going to make it for you.

No that we have that out of the way, I want to ask you again:

How have you made your own luck today?

Did you wake up this morning with one thing you need to do to reach your goals?

If you did not, then you need to take the time right now and decide what is the one thing you need to do today to get you one step closer to your goals.

Maybe you want to get an article published on an A-list blog. Have you written the article? Have you contacted the blogger to see if they would publish your article? Have you even identified a list of A-list blogs where you would like to be published?

If you answered no to any of these then you need to stop what you are doing and take some action. Without action, you will never make your own luck. Period.

Making you own luck is easy, but it takes a lot of work. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Have a goal. Have an actionable list of steps to get you to that goal. Execute.

Sure you will stumble along the way. You will have unforeseen obstacles come up. Adjust your list to correct your path. Execute.

So stop reading this and go execute.

Do you take time to listen to the silence?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:19:00 -0500

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life we often forget to take the time and listen to the silence. The quiet moments where there is no one around but you and your own thoughts…

Do you listen to the silence?

I know I am horrible about letting my mind race and think about all the things I have to do and all the things I want to do. I find it hard, sometimes, to turn off the voice in my own head and listen to the silence.

We often forget how important the quiet times are. We spend so much time and energy slave to the have-tos that we forget about that untapped wellspring inside. That place you reach by the listening to the silence.

When you take the time and turn off the noise of the world and your own mind, amazing things can happen.

After taking the time to stop and shut out the world, I find that I am the most creative. The creative spark is given time to push through all the other noise and my conscience mind can tap into it.

Take the time today and go and find yourself a quiet moment and shut out the world. Shut off your internal chatter and just listen.

Let the silence talk to you.

Are you running on empty?

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 09:58:00 -0500

Many days it is hard to get out of the bed. The alarm sounds and you look at it wondering if you can get away with just crawling back under the covers. Then it hits you that you have a to-do list that could keep a small army busy. You make yourself get up and get on with the day. The whole time, you see that warm cozy spot calling you …

You are running on empty.

It happens to all of us. A product of the have-tos running your life. The great hampster wheel that we all seem to get trapped on from time to time.

Too many commitments. Too much routine. Not enough time for yourself.

Take a deep breath and relax. It is going to be okay.

Take a minute and think through your day. Pull out your to-do list and take a closer look at it. How many things on that list are time sensitive? Probably none. So put them on tomorrow’s list.

Pull out a new piece of paper and write down the things that help you recharge your batteries. Maybe it is crawling back in bed for a nap, or heading down to your favorite third place and read that book you have been saving.

Pick one from your new list that you can fit into your hectic day and …

Go do it!

Your life will thank you for it.

What are the things that matter to you?

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:38:00 -0500

That has to be one of the greatest and scariest questions that anyone could possibly ask you. It is the question that makes you evaluate and re-evaluate your life and create the list of what matters.

The answer is different for everyone, but it is truly telling of what a person’s real values are. What are the things that matter?

If you asked me this question back when I was a consultant, I would have given you very different answer than I would today.

The answer would have been: family, friends, and career. Things that can be measured and compared against everyone else. Family, so that you can show that you care about where you came from. Friends, so that you can show how great your personal network is. Career, so that you can show how you compare to others in your profession.

We are taught from an early age that the measure of a person can be determined by some great social measuring stick. If your values are not aligned to something that can be directly measured, throw it out until your version can be held up to it.

The answer I give you today is the polar opposite from my previous answer.

What are the things that matter to me?

Live Simply. Create Passionately. Prosper Immensely.

The things that matter to me can’t be held up to the great social measuring stick. They are about a state of being. They define and sustain me.

Live Simply.

Live life on the simplest terms you can.

I don’t own a lot of stuff. In fact, most of what I own will fit in a backpack. I have never been very materialistic, but today I find myself a refugee from the consumer economy. If I don’t need it, I don’t own it.

I make it a point to love the people in my life with a full heart. I am not the best at showing it most of the time, but my family knows that I would lay my life down for each and everyone of them. No conditions. No reservations.

I enjoy the little things in life more. Nothing is more rewarding that wasting away an afternoon playing Legos with my 4 year old nephew. Or taking half a day preparing a meal for my extended family because someone mentions they would love to have something particular to eat for dinner.

Living simply is about balance. Dump the stuff. Spend more time with your family and friends. You will be the better for it.

Create Passionately.

We all have a creative spark that lives inside us. The problem is that most of us don’t give it the passion that it needs to grow.

I create something everyday. When I am creating, I pour all my passion into it. It could be sitting at the computer writing or making a meal for family and friends. When I am creating, I am.

Doodle on a piece of paper. Write a poem. Take an interesting photo. No matter what your passion, you need to take the time and create. Creating is the stuff that nourishes your soul. Give it your passion and let it consume you.

Prosper Immensely.

True prosperity is when you can take your creative passion and make a living from it and keep the rest of your life in balance.

The ability to pour your passion into the things that you love and at the same time put food on the table is beyond rewarding. It gives you the ability to truely live your life.

What are the things that matter to you?

I would love to hear from you on what are the things that matter on Google+.

Do you treat your writing like a business?

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:21:00 -0500

There is a debate waging in the book publishing world over self-publishing vs. traditional publishing that borders on a religious war.

The two camps say they are the way to nirvana, and if you follow their one true way you will achieve enlightenment and success as a writer.

The self-publishers will tell you that you will make more money in the long run with self-publishing. However, the self-publishers don’t like to come out and tell you that in order for the self-publishing nirvana to work, you have to have a lot of work to publish. If you have one book that you want to publish, self-publishing might send you to Starbucks a few times a month.

The traditionalists will tell you that for your work to be considered legitimate in the real world, then you have to go to the big 6 and let the gatekeepers bless your writing. What they gloss over is that you have to already have a large following before the big 6 will even look at your work. The big 6 are more interested in your Twitter following than the quality of your writing.

Both sides need to grow up and realize …

Writing is a business.

While writing can be a reward in itself, you can’t eat the warm-and-fuzzies. If you want to pay your mortgage and send your kids to the right schools, you have to make your writing make you the most money it can. Period. Depending on where you are in your writing career, this can mean self-publishing or traditional publishing, or something entirely different.

Writing is writing. You have to build an audience, write a lot for that audience, then mobilize that audience to profit. You can be a blogger or a book author, it does not matter.

When I launched this little digital imprint of mine, I knew what my monetization strategy was going to be. I did not start down the path and then decide how to make money from it. I know that if I stick to the strategy that I will make a living from my writing.

On day zero, I knew how I was going to make a living with my writing. Do you know how you are going to profit from your writing?

In the coming weeks I am going to spend a lot of energy working on and writing about my implementation of the 3 P’s.

I hope you stick around and follow along as I get this micro-imprint off the ground.

Want to discuss this topic in more depth? Join the conversation on Google+

Do you live the life you want to live?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:38:00 -0500

A very powerful question. At the same time, one that is very hard for most of us to answer.

You have spent your life doing all the things that you think you should do. School, career, family, friends. Check, check, check, check.

If you take a few minutes and ponder: how much of your life is the way you want it to be? How much of your life is what others have expected of you?

Seriously, take a few minutes out of your life and really think this over.

We all get caught in the trap of living other peoples lives. I know I went down that path and have been unhappy for the better part of my adult life.

All that time and energy spent living the life others thought you should live is quite exhausting and unrewarding. Along the way you lose sight of what you want your own life to be.

Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants for you to wake up to this fact.

My dad recently had a series of minor strokes. He is doing okay, but the event really drove home with me that I am not living the life that I have always wanted for myself.

I have been living someone else’s life.

I have been sitting and listening to my dad a lot and it really struck me that he has done most of the things that he has wanted to do. He has lived the life that he wanted to live. No real regrets.

I am a poster child for regret. I regret all the things that I wanted to pursue that I let slip through my fingers. No more.

I have made one key decision in my life. I am going to live the life that I want to live and everyone else be damned.

So today starts the first day of the rest of my life. That is why I am launching this little digital imprint.

I am going to live my life and write the things I want to write.

I am going to make that creative output pay for my way through life.

Loose Leaf Press will be an ongoing journey in micropublishing. I will share all my successes and all my failures along the way. When I learn something, I will pass on what I learn.

I hope you enjoy the journey.

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