“Calculus” is a label we might use to signify impenetrable mathematics, egghead stuff that only nerdy professor types can understand, let alone use.

No longer.

As of today, you will be using not just garden variety calculus in your day to day life but a special kind of calculus, vector calculus. You will wield it regularly and with ease. That’s right, vector calculus, “a branch of mathematics concerned with differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in three dimensional Euclidean space.”

You will find your inner genius and apply this vaunted knowledge in your very own life.

Vectoring 101

So which is it, you’re now laughing derisively or you’ve stopped breathing out of abject fear? Relax, there won’t be any exams. This is actually going to be pretty simple.

Let’s start with a definition: a vector is something with direction and magnitude. That’s not so hard, is it? Direction just means “which way”. Magnitude just means “how much”. If you don’t get “which way” or “how much”, just ask the nearest third grader, they’ll help you out.

Have you ever been on an airplane? Ok, you’ve at least seen an airplane, right? They vector all the time. That is, they start from somewhere, the pilot picks a direction, he picks a speed and voila! the plane is vectoring.

Right now you may be thinking, “I’m not a pilot and I still don’t like math. Why am I reading this?” Here’s where it applies to you. Every day you start from somewhere. You pick a direction. You put a certain amount of effort into going that direction. You, my friend, are vectoring.

Begin at the Beginning

Society puts great stock in the place you start from. It either respects you for it or it judges you for it. But one thing we all have in common is we start from where we are. Warren Buffett starts from where he is every morning, Brad Pitt does, and Bono does too. So does your garbage man, the MacDonald’s fry cook, and your worst enemy. So it makes no sense to judge starting points. Everyone starts from the same place: where they are. The beginning is the beginning. It doesn’t matter why it is the beginning at this point. No one controls it any longer, not you and not the President. It just is.

Where you have a choice, where you make all the difference is in direction and magnitude. So first, which direction will you choose? Will you choose a “more of the same” direction? Will you choose to head downhill? How about on a backward slide? You could also choose an upward climb or even straight up. It’s up to you.

What about magnitude? Will you head in your chosen direction listlessly, just puttering along? Will your effort be so weak that you don’t even move? Or will you rev it up and roar? Again, it’s your choice.

Opinions About the Irrelevant

You can allow the world’s opinion of your starting point to matter or you can even make it matter yourself. But there is nothing to be done about the starting point. The only action that can be taken now is on the direction you set and how robustly you will move in that direction. The same is true for others. Do you see them based on where they are starting or based on how they are vectoring?

Products and Sums

Another interesting thing about vectors in mathematics is that they can be multiplied, one vector with another. The result is a new vector, the one that truly determines where something is headed and how quickly it will get there. Let’s apply this to you. Are you vectoring both toward the gym and the 7-Eleven junk food aisle? Direction and magnitude are going to matter as to whether or not you end up with a great workout or a disappointing gaze at the bathroom scale.

Even vectors that are not at odds impact one another other. You vector toward loving your children and toward excelling in your career. The product of those vectors will reveal how your kids impact your career and your career impacts your kids.

“Now for some math you thought you’d never use” click to tweet

While the starting point is a variable in the equation, the vector is where all the action is. You can’t manage where you start. But it is completely up to you how you vector. So show those pocket protecting mathboys that you have vectoring down cold.

Tell us about your vectors by commenting below.

Photo credit: geko1973

In a recent article we talked about why systems may not have worked for you in the past. (The short answer: because you weren’t doing it right.) But you’ve read that article and you have it all worked out.

So now you need a system to apply it to. But which system will you use? It seems like there are so many for any given problem. They all claim to deliver rainbows and unicorns (or sports cars on the beach if you prefer). Is there a way to determine which system is the right one for you?

Start At The End

You can’t begin looking for the right system for you until you know what results you want. Take the time necessary to consider what you need — and what you do not need. Write it down! It is too easy to be vague in your own head. Written needs (and non-needs) have a way of focusing your attentions. Do not skip the non-needs list!

Here’s an example. Let’s call our system seeker Jeff. Jeff wants a system for staying fit. He’s not a couch potato but he’s not a triathlete either. He is not interested in winning any competitions. He does not want a body with less than 8% body fat. What he does want is to be limber and strong. He wants to look good in his clothes. He wants to feel good.

So Jeff knows that a racer’s training system is not for him. Neither is a competitive bodybuilding system. He can probably write off any system that uses adjectives like crazy, insane or loco to describe itself. He can now focus on systems geared toward fitness, flexibility and health.

Know Thyself

How much structure do you need? Notice that I didn’t ask, How much structure do you like? It’s not about pleasing yourself, it is about knowing yourself. You may hate the alarm clock but that is precisely why you need an alarm clock. It causes you to do something that may not be to your short term liking but serves your long term pleasure.

This is not the time to be self-sparing. Are you willing to do something silly? Take a paper grocery bag, cut out some eye holes and put it over your head. Now go stand in front  of the mirror and look at this person. What is he really like? What are his weaknesses? Where does he need to be lead?

I’m serious about this. Especially if you truly want to see your own body for the first time, really do this exercise. If you stand naked in front of a mirror with a bag over your head, I promise you will see someone you have never met before. It may be a bit jolting but it sure is eye opening.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

It is so easy to get excited about the promise of a new system. Just make sure that you verify its claims. This doesn’t mean you have to be all cynical, it just means you don’t want to get caught up in the red and shiny parts.

Remember your lists. Having most of what you need may cause you to stop looking. But be certain: can you do without what it is missing? Or is that a fatal flaw for your purposes? It is not an indictment of a system to recognize it does not serve your purposes even if it does great for other people.

Systems usually take some time to learn and commitment to master. Make sure you have found “the one” before you make that investment of your time, money and hope.

How Much Is Enough? How Much Is Too Much?

Are you looking for a simple way to bake a cake? Then don’t be mesmerized by systems with “features” that you will never use. Don’t get bogged down in complexity that seems to broadcast capability but is overkill for your needs.

Maybe it’s not as simple as cake. Are you looking for a comprehensive way to run a successful bakery? Albert Einstein noted, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This is where your needs inventory and especially your non-needs inventory will give you a means of assessing.

Should I Go With Facts Or Feelings?

Have you ever seen a system that sure looks good on paper but you just don’t feel right about it? Such notions are worthy of examination. Shining the light of your attention on the matter may illuminate why you are discomforted. Of course the discomfort might be that it looks likely to work for you and you will therefore no longer have an excuse for failure. In that case, scroll back up and reread the “Know Thyself” section.

Your hunch may have another cause however. It may be that you recognize something that is not for you. Don’t play this off. Get comfortable or move on to the next system.

In other circumstances, the excitement may be there but the facts are just not backing up the feelings. Is it a mere lack of information? Then go and get that information. If however it is the information itself that is at odds with your positive feelings, you need to take a step back.

The opposite can also happen. If you find yourself being negative for no good reason, don’t let that block you from a good thing when you see it.

If your feelings positive or negative are starting to be insistent, stop. Take a breath. Set aside your desire to make this one work or to push it away. Put a “bag” over this particular system’s head and see it for what it really is.

Stick Or Pivot?

So you know what you are after, you know yourself, and you have examined your options thoroughly. You dealt with the data, you got emotionally present, and you made your choice. Now the rubber meets the road.

No system implementation goes without hitches. You have to learn new things. You may have to go against your nature on occasion. You may get new information or your circumstances may change. Oh no, did you make the wrong choice?

Before you decide to cut and run, remember your path to right here. Recall why you made the choices you did. Are you now making some assumptions about how easy this “should” be that are really not appropriate? Are you getting overemotional, flustered, or panicky? If so, take a step back. Go get your grocery bag again. (Who knew it would be so useful?)

Of course there are times when something is just not living up to its promise. Don’t let your investments (energy, focus, time, money) sway you to stick with something that is not going to give you the results you require. At the end of the day, that is the only measure. It all starts and ends with results. If need be, head back to the beginning and, with the new knowledge you have acquired, choose a new system that will deliver. Then work that system until you get your desired results.

“There is a system for picking systems.” click to tweet

No system can absolutely promise a result. Oh, it might offer guarantees but you don’t want your money back, you want what you paid for. But you have to jump into life. The outcome may be uncertain but the possibilities make it worthwhile. So do your homework. The right system can improve your odds considerably.

Have you picked the right system? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Phil Venditti

You have worked all your life to become experienced. Congratulations! It worked. You now have a resume and skills and tools and methods.

But have you noticed that the more experienced you get, the harder it is to fit in something new? After all, you have all this stuff that is working, you wouldn’t want to rock the boat.

It gets to the point where not only do you have difficulty accepting anything new, you even have difficulty hearing anything new. Your perspective has become, in your estimation, an abundance of riches. There is not room for even one more precious gem. In fact, you worry that adding one more diamond will upset the whole cache of jewels. Yes, you believe your own precious perspective is an overflowing treasure chest of abundance.

You Know Metaphors Aren’t Real, Right?

Ok, I got a little heavy-handed with the descriptors there. But it was for a purpose. I want to shake you out of your reverie about your perspective. Your perspective is not some rarified, holy thing. It’s just a thing. It is not The Truth. It is not special. It is likely not even that unique.

Wait a minute, wasn’t the whole point of me getting all this experience to make my perspectives more valuable and accurate? Yes. However, it was never meant to make your perspective perfect or all encompassing. So now, in your experienced state, it has become even more important that you listen — and listen properly.

I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Bob Dylan wrote it, The Birds sang it — oh those hippie dippie ’60’s when youth reigned supreme. These are the appealing qualities of youth: freshness, energy and hopefulness. Some get stale, tired and cynical as they get older. But it is not required.

When one gets stale, tired and cynical, listening not only seems hard, it seems dangerous. “What are they babbling on about this time? I have work to do.”

Learning comes from everywhere

Just because someone has less experience than you doesn’t mean they can’t teach you something. Just because they are often wrong doesn’t matter either. You don’t learn because they are a great teacher, or even a teacher at all. You learn because you open yourself to learning — by listening.

Remember I said you don’t listen?

You may well have dismissed the title of this little essay when you first saw it. You may have opined to yourself, “Of course I listen. In fact, I’m a great listener!” So let’s put a little spin on it. Sure, you hear the words that come out of other people’s mouths. But you have a filter in place that takes the meaning and often strips it or even alters it into something unrecognizable to the speaker.

How did that happen? Easy, it was your perspective, your experienced, self-cherished, wizened outlook. You busily compared it to what you already think you know, what you already believe, and what popped out the other side no longer qualifies as listening.

Unfiltered is for real listeners

What if you just listened with the filters off? Is the very thought of this making you edgy? It certainly doesn’t happen automatically. It may have been so long since you last listened without a filter that it seems uncomfortable and unfamiliar. But you started off that way. We all did. No one was born with any filters installed.

It’s not hard. It’s so easy in fact a child could do it (and they all do). There is no process or method to it. Just leave your baggage (I mean perspective) at the door. Shut up…hear…don’t judge…repeat.

“If I told you you don’t listen, could you hear me?” click to tweet

You will notice it is mostly about what you don’t do. It’s all the stuff we wrap around listening that neuters it. Just let it be.

You can be fresh, just like you used to be. You can be open. You can be innocent. Give it a shot. You may be surprised what you hear.

What have you heard lately by actually listening? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Jonathan Powell

Is your head swirling with stuff…deadlines, reminders, goals, problems, dates, meetings, projects, people, places, things? Sometimes it seems like your head just won’t shut off. The thing is, your head is not made to run 24/7. How do you get off this merry-go-round?

Anxiety = Worry + Fear

If you are honest with yourself, most of those things “on your mind” are not required thoughts. They are rather indulgent thoughts. Indulgences like top shelf liquor and exclusive spa treatments sound great. But I suspect most of your thought indulgences are rather highly undesirable things, things like worries and fears.

Let’s take a look at those two things. Worries are concerns about the future. Will the shipment arrive on time? Will our main competitor win the bid? Will we make the quarterly sales quota?

Fears, on the other hand, are concerns about the past. Did I make a bad hire? Is the sales brochure good enough? Did I spend too much on that last inventory purchase?

Worry and fear only cause anxiety. Anxiety has the troubling impact of making it hard to think. So now you have clogged your head with a volume of thoughts that have the caustic effect of making what little room you have left for thinking more difficult.

The Wrong Things Are On Your Mind

Chances are you didn’t wake up today and ask, “What can I worry about today? Oh, and what fears can I recall? Let’s get this day started!” These thoughts usually show up of their own accord.

You have a choice however. Just because a bird lands on your head, you don’t have to let him build a nest there. I am not saying when you hear a train whistle blow that you should dismiss it and continue your picnic on the tracks. But if you are just wondering about a train that may or may not come and you might someday cross some tracks, don’t give away precious headspace to such thoughts.

Get the Right Thing On Your Mind

Notice I didn’t say “get the right things on your mind.” There is only one thing that belongs on your mind at any given moment: the one you are working on right now. Perhaps you are thinking, “But I have a bunch of projects going right now.” That may be true. But they cannot all be on your mind simultaneously. Thinking is a serial affair. So what you are doing (rather ineffectively) is rapidly switching from task to project to plan to event to…Dang, I forgot something AGAIN! Trying to do a bunch of things at once is a proven precursor for failure.

It is time to face the cold, hard truth: you are trying to do too much. And in so doing you are accomplishing less than you are capable of because you are taking your limited thought time and squandering it on topics that may be looming or nagging and yet are still not before you in this moment.

Do a little study of your past thoughts. How many of your anxieties have come to fruition? If you went straight to: “There was that one time when disaster struck…” you need to go back and reread the question. The fact is almost none of them came true. And that one time it did, did you notice your anxiety didn’t stop it? Before you add another anxiety to your mind (“How did he get in my head like that?”), understand I didn’t read your mind. This is the common human experience. Yet with all this collective experience, we still deny the mountain of evidence and continue to fruitlessly indulge in our anxieties.

“Get the right thing on your mind.” click to tweet

So wipe the slate clean. Be present to the task in front of you, whatever it may be. Before long you will notice that you are getting more done and your load is lightening.

Now that you have sworn off anxiety, what’s on your mind? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Craig Sunter

We all have our habits, things we do a certain way every time, mostly without even thinking about it. Have you ever found yourself pulling up at your job and realizing you can’t remember the trip that got you there? It’s like the car knows where to go. Actually, it’s your brain that knows where to go. There is a “go to work” groove carved into your gray matter so you don’t even have to think anymore.

Sometimes this works against you. Have ever been driving somewhere that involves a similar but different set of directions? You get to the light and…wait, I needed to turn left instead of right! What happened? The familiar place is to the right and if you weren’t being present at that stoplight, to the right you will go. It’s your pattern.

This Is Your Brain On Patterns

When you picture a brain, what do you see? Probably a gray mass with lines and grooves all over it. But that is not how your brain starts out. If you were to see a newborn baby’s brain it would be the same color but it would be smooth. Does that mean your brain gets wrinkles because it is getting old? No, the reason is different.

You brain actually changes physical form as you develop habits and patterns. To say that something is “etched in your brain” is an accurate physical description of what happens. The more times you do the same thing, the deeper and more visible the physical impact is.

This is why changing patterns can be so difficult. You are fighting gravity. But your brain is like putty, it can be reformed with a little regular effort.

The Young Need to Establish More Patterns

The young and smooth-brained need more patterns. This is why a child cannot be given the responsibilities of an adult. They just don’t have that toolbox of patterns established yet.

My then nineteen year old son was a great kid. But he used to drive me nuts in his mid-teens because you couldn’t count on him for anything. I don’t mean that he wasn’t personally reliable, I mean you never knew what he would do next — or not do next. He wasn’t deliberately lazy or flaky. When you pointed out to him, again, to do something a certain way he would go straight to it with a smile. He just didn’t have the patterns down yet.

Then practically overnight, it changed. Now at twenty two he is a far more predictable fellow. A few years of grooving on his brain has made all the difference. I’ve noticed this with all my kids: they are a kid, a kid, a kid…wham! they turn responsible. They reach a critical mass of useful established patterns.

Of course kids create dysfunctional patterns too. Fortunately their young brains are supple. Parenting is all about observing and molding their patterns with the objective of giving them the tools they need in the adult world.

The Mature Need to Fight Their Patterns

Here we are now in the adult world. Mom and Dad no longer have the say they once had. Our patterns are our most valuable possessions. Employers may look at resumes for schooling and work experience, but what they are really after are well-honed patterns. We do the same ourselves. We look for great patterns in the friends we choose, and the lovers. Yes, we become all about the pattern.

At a certain point in life, you have patterns for pretty much everything you do. You have a pattern for how you walk the trashcan to the curb and how you design the next propulsion sub-assembly for the whosywhatsit, if that’s your line. You even have patterns for how you handle things you don’t have patterns for.

The young have a green field, a blue sky, an empty whiteboard. They can just plop a new pattern in there any time with room to spare. But when you are more experienced, these patterns start to rub shoulders and sometimes they rub each other the wrong way.

It can be very disruptive to establish a new pattern at this point. Beginning a new habit like going to the gym first thing in the morning may interrupt your sleep pattern or when you have breakfast or even what you have for breakfast. It can be unsettling to have our existing patterns ruffled.

Patterns also have a shelf life. A pattern that used to work great can break, or it can become no longer applicable. It can be hard to let go of something from which we have so many fond memories of success. But let go we must.

Everyone Needs to Challenge Their Patterns Sometimes

Do a pattern inventory. Be mindful as to which patterns serve you and which do not. Are you settling for “good enough” when a superior pattern may be worth the effort to embody? Are you accepting “I’ve always done it this way” when maybe it shouldn’t be done at all?

Create some space. Unplugging the television (or the internet or the cellphone) may give you room to establish a new pattern of reading regularly. Clearing the junk food out of the house might make the option of a piece of fruit more appealing. Some patterns while not harmful might just not be worth keeping. Sweep the driveway without hosing it down. You’ll develop a new habit of saving water. Make some room for the next pattern you haven’t even thought of yet.

Commit to something new. Developing a new pattern comes down to intention. Do you intend to establish a new habit or are you just going through the motions? Are you on a “diet”, secretly longer to return to “normal”? If you don’t get your intent right, you may be succumbing to fooling others or even fooling yourself. Save yourself the time and disappointment by getting your head and your heart in the game first.

“Are your patterns helping you or hindering you?” click to tweet

The rhythm of life happens in familiar cycles. We enjoy the safety and reliability of things we can trust. All humans need certainty in their lives. But we also need variety. So break some molds and set some new ones. Build up a useful set of patterns but always be willing to set one down and pick another up. You are going to have a wrinkly brain so make sure they are the wrinkles of your choosing.

Where have you creating a new, beneficial, empowering pattern? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Lola Rossi

Everything changes. Even seemingly inert things change, if on a geologic timescale. The fact is nothing is permanent. This is especially true of living things. Living is practically synonymous with changing.

Just like you yourself, your business is a living thing. It is swimming in a sea of other living things too: customers and prospects, suppliers and vendors, employees and contractors, local, state, federal and international authorities, communities and cultures.

Fighting change is like fight the tides. It is both foolish and fruitless. Embrace change — or become irrelevant. Here are the three necessary levels of change you must adopt:

1) Change by Necessity

We start with changes imposed upon us by the outside world. A competitor launches a product. Technology improves. Laws change. Customer expectations demand more.

The most timid will change for nothing else. But change they must, because at this level it is change or die.

2) Change by Probability

Next are changes that arise by opportunity and serendipity. A new location becomes available. Labor markets loosen. Technology improvements bring lower costs. A competitor abandons a product or a market.

These are the changes made by the ambitious and the achievement-oriented. Just the fact of the change is not enough. Action must be taken and investment made to take advantage of it.

3) Change by Design

These are the changes born from your inner world. They go beyond change by mere probability to creating new possibilities. This is the realm of invention and market testing, of creativity and excellence.

“You’ve changed — thank goodness.” click to tweet

If things look like they looked last year at this time, get on the change train now. If you can see ways to get better results, take action. If it is within your reach to grab the brass ring, grab it. Time waits for no man, woman or child. Change is no enemy. Its intention is to keep you alive and thriving.

What have you changed? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Moritz Schulz

It may come as a shock to corporate marketing departments everywhere but when marketing to an email list, the real objective is to communicate. Sure, measurable conversions to engagement or even sales are great. But when we lose track of the fundamental fact that on the other end of that email campaign is a person, a human being, then we are going to get poorer and poorer results.

Deliver the Right Message

There are examples we can draw from everywhere. I saw a commercial truck the other day emblazoned with these inspiring words: “Delivering retail snacking solutions”. Wow. What part of that phrase did the copywriter think would be motivating to an actual buyer? I have a snacking problem? Perhaps I need a self-help group rather than your “solution”. The copywriter seems to be operating under the misconception that his customer is a “retailer” in search of “solutions”.

His customer is not a retailer, he is a human being who works for a retailer. His customer’s boss isn’t a retailer either, not even if he’s the company owner. The company itself is the retailer, and it’s an “it”. An “it” isn’t buying, a person is.

How about this instead, “Does your store, office or facility need snacks? We got ’em and see this truck right here? We deliver!” (I noticed a lot of whitespace on that truck, a few more words wouldn’t hurt at all.)

Email marketing is much more personal than what is effectively a space ad on a truck. If you think that speaking in a warm and friendly voice won’t work because your email list is comprised of a bunch of serious people like lawyers or doctors or bureaucrats, you have forgotten that these fine people do not think of themselves as only their workplace stereotypes. They get inundated with stiff, even clinical communication all day long. If you want to be buried in that pile of dry leaves, email them something like everyone else. But if you want to get noticed, appeal to the part of them that others are ignoring: the warmblooded, breathing part.

People Recognize Corporatespeak When They Hear It

Voicemail can even teach us something else we can apply to email marketing. Have you ever called a company, been put straight on hold and heard a syrupy voice say, “Your call is important to us, we appreciate your patience”? I don’t know about you but my general response is, “No it isn’t and I’m not being patient, you gave me no choice!” Of course no one hears this response because I have been put on hold automatically by a machine.

No one is being fooled by such words. Don’t start doing what the “big boys” do in their email campaigns because you think it will make you look like you are a big boy too. People aren’t stupid. They don’t even believe the big boys in spite of their big fancy marketing budgets. Instead, you need to take a different approach.

Get Personal

What if your email read like a personal letter? What if you spoke to them in the first person? What if you talked to them like you were sitting down, face to face? This is a business communication so you aren’t going to have your feet on the table. You aren’t going to talk with food in your mouth. It’s just you will talk like you are actually interested in them.

Let’s take it one step further. Don’t talk like you are actually interested in them, be actually interested in them and then talk. Get your head in the right place before you start preparing that email. Check your intent to be sure that you have your reader’s best interests at heart.

An Email Copywriting Lesson from an Economist?

John Nash is a Nobel prize winning economist whose life was chronicled in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russell Crowe. The basis for Dr. Nash’s Nobel prize selection (and a lot of the movie) surrounded his astounding discovery that the marketplace does not function most efficiently when each individual does solely what is in his own best interest. Rather, the market is most efficient when each person does what is in the best interests of both himself and the group.

“Don’t talk to people like they are prospects, talk to them like they are fellow human beings.” click to tweet

Here’s how you can apply that Nobel Prize winning wisdom to your email campaign. When you write the copy for an email, have in mind that it is not about you, or at least not entirely. It’s not about you looking good or sounding professional or some other self-serving end. On the other side, it is not all about them either. It has to be good for both of you. What this means is you get to ask them to do something for you (like buy what you are selling) but only after you have made it abundantly clear that doing this thing is even better for them.

It’s Working Right Now

You’ve already been seeing this in action right here in this article. I am speaking to you in my own voice. I have been a little funny (I hope), and I haven’t been all uptight and academic even though I have mentioned economists and Nobel prizes. I have persuaded you that following this advice is good for you. When you agree, you will probably look at my bio and check out my web site. See? I have considered both your interests and mine. So hold in mind the person who will be reading your email when you write the copy for it. If you do, you can persuade them to take the actions that benefit both them and you.

How have you made your emails more personal? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Joe The Goat Farmer

It seems like we could use a language lesson. Or maybe it’s a communication lesson. No wait, it is an awareness lesson. People don’t seem to understand the difference between metaphors, similes, and synonyms.

Back in 7th grade English, we learned about similes and metaphors. The difference was demonstrated simply: “Johnny is a pig” uses a metaphor whereas “Becky’s hair was like a razorback hog’s” uses a simile. A metaphor says something is something else, a simile says something is like something else. In either case, it is understood to be a comparison, not a statement of fact. In our example, if Johnny is a boy it is a metaphor and if he is a saddleback hog it is not.

When we say something is synonymous, we think of it as a story or a parable. When we say something is metaphorical, we often see it as so similar that it is essentially the same. “Hog” and “swine” are metaphorical to most of us. To someone in the pig-raising business there is a difference however. Yet as a group we will not take the position of the more informed pig farmer, we will go with the understandably more ignorant position of the general populace. It’s easier to go with the opinion of the crowd.

It’s ok to fit in with the crowd, so long as we embrace its views as synonymous or even metaphorical but not as literal or real. Johnny is not on four legs rooting for corn kernels. Becky is not a hog with a bad haircut. Maybe it’s laziness, maybe it’s the relentless pressure from society but reality gets lost in the process.

“Don’t allow language to get in the way of communication.” click to tweet

The greatest teachers mankind has ever seen use metaphors, similes, and synonyms and yet they reveal to us reality. These tools are means to the perfect end, truth. If we stop along the path we may have heard some entertaining stories but the final prize, the only thing of real value is lost to us.

Where have you successfully used these tools in your life? Share your experiences by commenting below.

Photo credit: Neil Mor

You have a solution and it is whiz bang. You know the one. You started your business to share it with the world. This solution of yours is valuable and it addresses a big, prevalent, important problem. The world will be a better place with this problem finally eradicated and you know exactly how to make it happen. Let’s call this your target problem and the people who have it your target audience.

The thing is, you have a big frustration. Most of your target audience isn’t looking to solve your target problem. In fact, many of them don’t even know or care that they have it.

Have you encountered this dilemma in your business? It isn’t because yours is not a worthy cause — it is because yours is an unknown cause. But you’ve figured that out already. So you have decided to enlighten everyone about the target problem. That process is proving to be a bit arduous however.

You could spend all your time and treasure educating the marketplace about the target problem but that is turning out to be a long and treacherous road. What if there was a way that paradoxically was not as direct and yet shorter? Instead, what if you were to focus on another problem your target audience has, a problem they are already motivated to solve? We’ll call this the portal problem.

You don’t have to sell your target audience on their having the portal problem. They are already achingly familiar with it. You don’t have to sell them on it being worth their while to solve either. They are highly motivated to get rid of it. All you have to do is establish that you can solve their portal problem in an acceptable trade.

So solve it for them in such a way that you deliver good value. Wait, am I telling you to give up on your solution to the target problem in favor of a more commercially viable (and boring) solution to a different and far less interesting portal problem? Not at all.

There is a reason it is called a portal problem. It opens a door for you. While solving their portal problem you are also going to make certain to solve their target problem. Nail that sucker.

Afterward, enlighten your delighted customer as to their additional problem you solved after the fact. Show them what they missed. You already have their trust. After all, you did what you said you would do for them regarding their portal problem. And now here you are, going the extra mile. If your target problem is real (and you know that it is), they should by now be basking in the benefits of its solution. It is delight upon delight for your customer. There is no better education you could provide than the revelation of a former and now solved problem.

We could compare this to the way many companies sell add-on warranties, only with the injection of far better intent. It is well documented that add-on warranties are high profit sales for sellers and yet low value purchases for buyers. Therefore many companies push them without regard for their customers’ well being out of their own selfish desire for higher profits.

But what if those companies threw in a warranty at no additional cost because they knew it would solve a long term problem for their customers of which they are presently not aware? As people start to rely upon those warranties and recall the generous way in which they received them, long term customer loyalty would be locked in and reputation among new potential buyers would skyrocket.

That sounds pretty good but imagine how things would go south if these companies were to lead with the warranty. Customers would think, “I don’t want to buy a warranty, I want to buy a television / a washing machine / a pickup truck!” The Warranty Store is not going to do very well compared to the Automotive/Electronics/Appliance Store.

You need to be the Portal Solution Store. At the beginning of the relationship, your target audience will likely view your target solution as incidental. But you know better. If you care enough about your target audience to lead with the portal problem of their concern, you will then and only then earn the privilege of solving their target problem.

People didn’t know they needed a computer that was design wonky. But Apple Computer did. People didn’t know they needed fast food made from ingredients that were never frozen. But In-N-Out Burger did. People didn’t know they needed a bottled tea with less sugar. But Honest Tea did.

Apple didn’t lead with design, they lead with ease of use. In-N-Out didn’t lead with unfrozen, they lead with a simple menu. Honest Tea didn’t lead with less sugar, they lead with better taste. But they have all managed to deliver and get people excited about their target problem and more importantly their target solution.

Are you an business owner who feels stuck? Are you overwhelmed? Do you feel like you are spinning your wheels? These are the problems we solve at Vera Claritas every day and we solve them definitely. But as important as they are, they are merely the portal problems. Do you want to know the target problem we make it our business to solve? You’ll just have to work with us to find that out. But rest assured, both portal problems and target problems fall before us because we are on a mission to help business owners take their target solutions to the world.

“You’re solving the wrong problem.” click to tweet

If the world needs more of your target solutions, let’s talk. We regularly provide free consults. Sometimes those consults result in an offer to work with your company. We are clear about who we can help. It all starts with a conversation. We offer it at no cost but it isn’t free. It will take some of your time and it may challenge some of your assumptions. Let’s solve some portal and target problems together.

Photo credit: Alene Davis

You Are Not Your Job

If you ask the typical American who they are, after their name they will likely tell you what they do for a living. This is one reason why the loss of a job is so hard on people. It’s one thing to lose your income, but losing your identity is nothing short of catastrophic. And yet, unemployed, you are still here. So you cannot be your job.

You Are Not Your Body

Another place you might go is to figure you are your body. But consider this, if you lost a leg would you still be you? How about both legs? You are still you? Ok then, how about both legs and both arms, your eyes, your ears, your tongue? Short of losing your head, you would still be you. So you cannot be your body.

You Are Not Your Mind

So what about this “losing your head”? If you are not your body, perhaps you are your mind. But consider the pattern here. You have a job, you have a body. Do you also have a mind? If you are your mind, then you surely must control it. So here is a simple test to see if you are your mind: stop thinking.

How long did you make it? Thirty seconds? Sixty? Unless you are some sort of master meditator, you probably can’t count the gap in minutes. And when a thought finally arose, did you choose that thought? No, this mind is more like a pet, and a self-willed pet at that. So you cannot be your mind.

You Are Not Your Past

So Bob (can I call you Bob?), there is this social contract that we have all accepted. We all agree that we will attach the label “Bob” to your collection of experiences, accomplishments, and misdeeds. However do I, the knower of “Bob”, know about all of those things? I probably have big gaps in my knowledge of this collection and yet I am still so bold as to say, “I know Bob.” I might have a different take on some of these doings than other people might, even a different take from you, Bob. It is possible you may be proud of something I assess as a failure or ashamed of something I estimate is a success. This is a pretty shaky foundation on which to build your very being.

Furthermore, you are free at any time to take a completely different path, renounce your past, put on a new personality, take up badminton, who knows? Nothing about your past is permanent. No, the past is not changeable. But it remains where it is, gone. So you cannot be your past.

What Is There Left To Be?

You must be something. After all, there is no denying you are here. In fact, not only are you here, you are now. Here and now describes you just perfectly. To put it in one word, you are present. The past is history and tomorrow’s a mystery. The present is the singular moment that you have to be. You can do anything with this moment. What will you do?

Yes, you may do your job, or workout your body, or train your mind, or draw from your past. But all that is just context, within that context you command the moment. You could be highly committed to being a doctor or hate your clerking job at 7-Eleven. You could be proud of your physique or sad about your ill health. You could feel well educated or clueless. You could rest on your laurels or be living down your past.

The key word in all of that is “or”. You have options, even infinite options. That doesn’t mean you have all options however. Don’t get caught up in desiring an option you don’t have. After all, the options you don’t have aren’t you. Do you know how you know? They aren’t present. Since you are present, they must not be you.

Still, your horizon stretches in front of you. The creation of the present moment is your gift and your obligation. You will create this moment like you did the last and the moment before that. If you want to change, enough of those new moments strung together will convince even the alleged “knowers of Bob” that you are indeed transformed. Or maybe the past moments suit you just fine and you wish to reinforce them further. So go, do, be, because this is who you are.

“You may not be who you think you are.” click to tweet

So…

You are not your job.

You are not your body.

You are not your mind.

You are not your past.

You are only your present.

What did you learn? Tell us about it by commenting below.

Photo credit: Ivana Jurcic