Let’s agree that only part of this list is composed of topics that people are actually planning to read about. Many of the other terms are destination sites, like Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, Pandora Radio, and Twitter. Google’s made it so easy to search for one of these terms that it’s almost easier to simply Google the word, then click on the link, than it is to actually go bookmark the site you use every day, for example. Which tells you something very important about how well Google has done its job as a provider of a service that people need (or at least want).

And I think you and I both know that people are searching for the IRS because tax day (in the US) is only a month away, and folks are thinking (like me), holy @$^$#%$#!!, how much $$$ am I gonna have to pay the IRS THIS time?”

But what about the rest? I mean, dudes, are you really still so wrapped up in the results of the Super Bowl that you’re still Googling it, or is the term’s proximity to the term “Madonna,” an indication that its actually a bunch of teenage girls or desperate housewives searching for a video of Madonna’s bland Super Bowl performance to see MIA blithely flipping off the audience? Actually (hold on to your shorts), I just Google-checked this and even before I had finished typing the word “with” (as in “who performed wi….”), Google suggested the search phrase “who performed with madonna at the superbowl.” I don’t know if you know it, but Google suggests searches based on what people are searching for. That’s, like, proof, dude. People are freakin shallow, and they spend waaaay too much time reading about things like teenage performers flipping off the international TV audience.

So why are you still reading this? Are you looking for a hitherto unknown fact about LeAnn Rimes? Some naughty photos of Gisele Bundchen? (I know I am!) The latest interview with Katharine McPhee?

Other than the blatant pandering to the lowest common denominator audience that comprises this article, you won’t find any of that here. No, you should be working on your latest project! Move your mission forward and don’t spend so much time crapping around on the anti-intelligence device. There are so many wonderful things awaiting you if you just kick your ass into gear! Do it now!

If you’re the sensitive type, go click on the affiliate link over there and make us some money. If you’re not, stick with me for a bit, but know that there are cuss words coming! Sometimes, you just have to blow shit up.

I don’t actually mean putting dynamite in an old Chevette, tho’ that might be a lot of fun. What I mean is that sometimes you just have to take the set of notions you’ve been working with and chuck ‘em into the blender. Re-examine the assumptions you’ve been making about your work, relationship, hobby, mission, or philosophy. Or sometimes – and that “sometimes” is today for me, bub – you just have to shout at yourself at the top of your lungs. I mean, for Gosh sake, Suino, get your act together.

Here’s comes the yelling part:

DON’T START NEW SHIT!

I have enough cool stuff going on. I mean, really, I run one of the most awesome high test martial arts schools on the planet. I’ve got an online marketing business that’s growing almost faster than we can keep up with it. My co-conspirator on THIS site – the diabolical Ian Gray – and I have recently published a book and we’ve got about a million-dozen other great projects in the works at the same time. My wife is glorious, my daughter is amazing, and my hobbies make me giddy with excitement.

But still this mess of synapses and ooze keeps kicking out all these ideas that seem truly compelling. And the other bunch of junk inside the hollow brain casing keeps answering back with “dude, that’s a great frickin idea.”

I have too much on my plate. I love what I do and what I have, and I got to remember that it needs my attention. So my first rule of personal don’t-screw-this-up-mister is “don’t start anymore new shit.”

DO THE CURRENT STUFF WELL!
So with all that hoohah and Hamtramck going on, I need an accountability partner to whack me over the head on a regular basis and say “focus on the thing you’re doing, fancy-pants.” Pay attention, remember what you know, get your hands dirty, and do it well. The rewards you want will come with the quality of what you do. If you love it, do it, do it, and do it well. If you don’t love it, quit doing it.

ALWAYS PLAN A PRE AND POST MEETING!
I just need this item, folks, tho’ maybe you don’t. I need to spend a little time before all the meetings making sure I know what I’ve done and getting my notes in order. Flying by the seat of these Levi-Strausses is working, but it’s not working well enough to get me where I want to be. Prepare ahead, dammit!

I also need to spend a little time afterwards processing what I did in meetings. Do one or two of the simple tasks you assigned yourself to get the processes moving. Organize your notes into a simple plan for getting things the fuck done. Send a thank you email to the folks at the meeting, except for that one guy who kept talking about useless sheee-ite.

YOU KNOW THE SYSTEM – DON’T INVENT A NEW ONE – USE THE ONE YOU KNOW, DAMMIT!
I have to say I have a fairly complete understanding of things like marketing, client relations, and business operations. So at this point I really don’t need to keep inventing new ones. I mean, enough already! Use the ones you know. Like Ian keeps saying, sometimes you just have to sit down and do the work. It might be quicker than trying to invent yet another new “system” to do it for you.

If you’re still reading, I bet you’ve tried before to create some method for doing a task you don’t necessarily love. But I also bet you’ve once or twice spent a whole lot more time trying to create the system than you might have if you had just done the gosh-darned work!

You haven’t? Then you ain’t human, sister.

But I have, and I’m tired of it. Don’t invent a new system, Suino. Use the one you have, dammit!

ASK: HOW DOES THIS ADD VALUE TO MY LIFE?

And more than anything else, ask how the next thing on your agenda is going to add value to your life. If you have any control over how you spend your time, spend it on the things that really matter. Spend it with the people who help you be most productive. Spend it in the places where you feel most alive.

Luckily, I’m pretty darn good at this last one, and I suppose that’s why I get to be around such terrific people and do such rewarding work. But I could be a lot, lot better about asking the question when I think about starting yet another business or project. Whenever the answer is anything less than a resounding “this adds a LOT of effin value,” I’m gonna turn the thing down.

Listen, folks, now that I’m about done yelling at myself, let me say this to you about that: life is incredible, wonderful, all encompassing, challenging and exciting. But only if you really dig in and do what you were put on this earth to do. And that thing might not be so obvious here amidst the din of commercialism and cynicism that is American life in 2012.

How ya gonna find your mission? I say, start doing things, and doing ‘em big. Try the thing you think you want to do, and once you try it, try to grow it. If it turns into something else when it grows, why fight it? That new thing might be the thing. Or once you know the thing you’re doing ain’t the thing you should be doing, get the hell out. There are lots of folks who won’t ever heed this warning – let them do the book-keeping.

You and me, we got a lot of great shit to do!

Beside being a remarkably creative and energetic person, Rob is fascinated with how the human mind and nervous system work. When the subject of healthy eating and weight loss came up, he told me about the studies he’s read that relate to willpower. In a nutshell, Rob said, we have only a limited amount of willpower in each day, and once that’s exhausted, we’re likely to fail on any decisions that require it. That’s why so many diets are scuttled by the last hour or two of the day – when you’re tired from work, family, household chores and you’ve exhausted your daily quota of willpower, you’re much more likely to give in to temptation calling out to you from the refrigerator or pantry!

That’s one reason that weight management systems like Weight Watchers work better than simply “dieting.” Depriving yourself is fine, but besides the fact that your metabolism will reset itself to accommodate fewer calories each day, you are likely to run out of willpower before bedtime. Too much day left at the end of the diet! But regimens like Weight Watchers provide you with meals, desserts, and so forth, so instead of having to eat nothing, you get to eat something, even if it’s not exactly what you might be craving.

I eat a modified version of the Paleo Diet, Atkins Diet, or South Beach Diet. What that means is that I eat very few processed carbs, few grains, and lots of vegetables, meat, nuts, and mushrooms. I really don’t struggle much to stay on the diet, because I don’t deprive myself, I just substitute. At the end of day, when I really crave sweets (baked goods and ice cream are my favorites), I simply eat as much as I want of other “snack” items – apples, oranges, carrots, kiwi, blueberries, walnuts, cashews, and almonds. I usually go to bed feeling full, but my weight, I’m happy to say, is almost exactly where I want it to be.

Have you tried to diet? Have you used any of the branded diet systems? What did you find was the hardest part of the day? And, most importantly, what dietary regimen made you feel the healthiest, most energetic, and most alert?

Did you know that you can DECIDE to be happy? I know it sounds crazy, but I did, and my life has never been better.

About 12 years ago, I found myself at a job I hated, with a boss who had some very serious mental issues, and who, together with the office manager – who happened to be his ex-wife – was embezzling serious money from clients and from the owners of our business. At the same time, this awful pair was doing everything in their power to blame the theft on the rest of the employees, myself included.

I reported them to the owner of the business, but the old man just couldn’t find the energy to chase the criminals out of his business. We found out later he was fighting late stage lymphoma, so that may have affected his judgment and his energy level. I got out of the business as soon as I could, but for the two and half years I was there, I struggled with serious anger and mild depression. Now, for a guy who’s normally irrationally optimistic, the bad feelings were very uncomfortable. So I started to read every book I could find on the subject of achieving a positive attitude.

Twelve years later, I think I may have read almost every word every written about happiness and person success. I’ve read Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and hundreds of others. I’ve really studied the art of positive thinking. But, you know what? What’s important is not that I’ve read all those powerful writers. It’s not the number of books I’ve read that made the difference for me. It’s a decision I made at the beginning of my journey through the art of attitude change, and it’s a decision you can make, too. Here’s what I decided: I was going to do more than just read these writers.

I was going to try what they suggested, however crazy it seemed

I was going to actually, sincerely, genuinely TRY what they suggested. As long as what they told me didn’t seem acutely dangerous or absolutely insane, I was going to try it. In fact, I was even going to try the insane stuff! After all, I was unhappy with my mental state, and most of these writers were known for their expertise. So instead of being cynical and reluctant, I was going to really, really try to adopt the attitudes and behaviors that were supposed to lead to happiness.

And that may have been the most important decision of my life.

Because I discovered something that may be the most powerful personal development secret you’ll ever learn. I know it has been for me. That secret is this:

Action is the key to happiness

If you don’t like where you are, take action. If you don’t who you’re with, take action. If you don’t like what you have, take action. If you don’t like how you feel, take action. And, if you don’t like the way you think, take action. Fix your mind on the person, place, thing or feeling you desire, and take action in the direction of your goal.

The beauty of this secret is that you don’t have to know how to achieve your goal when you start out. You can be completely unaware of what it’s going to take to get to the place where you’re happy, successful, healthy, and making the big bucks. Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter.

The only thing that matters in the beginning is that you take some action

Once you start yourself moving in the right direction, you’ll begin to get it. To move, get moving. Whatever you do, do something. Step out of your routine and into some action that takes you toward the person you want to be, and you’ll be on your way.

I’m out of time for today, so I’m just going to list the Seven Decisions. Next time, I’ll go into a bit of detail on each decision, and share with you some of the insights that help keep me feeling so optimistic about life! Here they are:

Decision Number 1 – Decide to be happy
Decision Number 2 – Decide to overwhelm negative thoughts
Decision Number 3 – Decide to practice
Decision Number 4 – Decide to get help
Decision Number 5 – Decide to replace your “friends”
Decision Number 6 – Decide to dwell on your successes
Decision Number 7 – Decide to enjoy the feeling of success!

And, by the way, have a GREAT day!

Staying hungry helps you stay hungry!

No duh, you say? Well, I just don’t hear a lot of people talking about this benefit of restricting your carbs, but I notice it every time I go on one of these regimens. When I’m hungry in the literal sense – as I usually am when I don’t eat carbs – I stay hungry in the figurative sense. And I bet you would, too.

Just as a reminder, I eat a LOT! The martial arts portion of my professional career requires me to exercise between 20 -25 hours a week, so I need calories to keep going, but I try to make sure to get them from unprocessed, whole foods whenever possible. I eat 4 – 5 meals a day containing modest portions of beef, pork, venison, poultry or fish, at least three types of vegetables at every meal, lots of fruit, and lots of nuts. As a result, I almost never feel stuffed, but instead find that I’m hungry again within 20 minutes.

And as a result of being hungry, I’m hungry for results, too. I find that I can focus quickly on tasks, especially those that are clearly geared toward getting results. It’s as if I’m replacing the drive for food with the drive for accomplishment. I think that’s called sublimation or something. All I know is that it keeps me from sleepily meandering through tasks. I’m getting a lot done.

I like it!

I know this is not a marketing website, but I’ve had so much fun lately teaching people about QR codes that I’d thought I’d share a few thoughts. On Friday (along with a friend of mine whose business I’ll plug at the end of this article) I gave a presentation on QR Codes (pictured above) to a group of business people. The presentation was well received, but hardly because the information I provided was difficult to find, hard to understand, or highly challenging to implement. In fact, getting a QR code that directs mobile users to a web page, Youtube video, or Facebook page is child’s play. And if you have a smartphone, installing an app that allows it to read QR codes is about as easy as anything you can do on the phone. So why did the business people at my presentation get so amped up?

I think it was because of all the time we spent giving them ideas on how to use the QR code to promote their businesses. We started out with the obvious ideas, like business cards and magazine ads, and then explored the virtually unlimited possibilities, including QR codes on t-shirts, wine labels, greeting cards, books, and training manuals. Basically, you can put a QR code on any physical item that relates to your business, and have it direct your clients’ smartphones to any compatible information that can be posted on the interweb.

As much as I think the QR Code is only a nifty step on the way to the singularity (the total integration of computers and the internet into the human mind), it’s got some really fun possibilities in the meantime. Suppose you send a gift to a friend with a QR code on a label inside. They scan the QR Code and a video of you opens in which you talk about your experience buying the gift and what aspects of your relationship you were thinking about when you were shopping. Or suppose you send your resume to a prospective employer with a QR Code that takes the HR person to a video resume, complete with past employers singing your praises and live action images of your doing your thing. What if you send your customers a monthly card that looks like a book cover, and the QR Code embedded there takes them to the actual pages of an online book or novel?

Anyhoo, I am going to use the QR Code in a variety of creative ways in my businesses over the next few months, and I plan to have a ton of fun doing it. I hope you will too.

If you’re interested in a way to send greeting cards and timely gifts without having to actually do any work, check out my co-presenter Sharon Lagina’s site at SendOutCards.com.

I didn’t think so.

I usually don’t either. But at the beginning of this year I rededicated myself to a very low carbohydrate dietary regimen, and as usual, the results have been great! I was inspired by a wonderful TED lecture given by Dr. Terry Wahls, about how she essentially cured herself of multiple sclerosis. If you have 17 minutes to spare, I encourage you to watch the lecture, but if you don’t have time, here’s the basic message:

Eat a Paleo Diet or a very similar diet, with at least 3 dinner plates of vegetables every day, including lots of dark, rich vegetables like kale and spinach as well as brightly colored vegetables, grass fed meats, organ meats, nuts, roots, and berries. Eat very little food containing carbohydrates and none that contains highly processed carbs like white flour and high-fructose corn syrup. A few years ago I tried what Tony Robbins called a “fat burning diet” which is very similar.

In both cases, I lost weight, felt less fatigue and joint pain, had more consistent energy throughout the day, and required less sleep. My skin is clearer, I’m thinking better, and, maybe most important of all, I’m walking what I talk, which is that the proper dietary regimen (not a “diet” since I didn’t set out to lose weight) can help boost all your other success efforts.

I was talking with two business clients yesterday, and they were both struggling with the fact that their businesses are stuck on a plateau. Despite all their efforts, they just can’t seem to get their businesses to grow. After reviewing all their marketing efforts (both what they were doing to attract new clients and what they were doing to serve their existing clients), we talked generally about the process of running a business like a personal mission.

The topic of constant improvement came up (as it almost always does). I mentioned the simple-sounding idea that opportunities seem to come to those who are ready to take advantage of them. It sounds kind of dumb stated that way, but here’s where the conversation went – if you don’t at least TRY to get something done, you are unlikely to be in a position to take advantage of opportunities, much less recognize them. Here’s an example:

Pamela Wants to Write a Book

Suppose Pamela has always wanted to write a book, and one day she decides to get started. She begins by writing at least a page every day, and after a month, spends a part of every work session editing the work she’s done so far. A couple of months later, while checking her Facebook, she gets the idea to look up self-publishing, and finds CreateSpace. She opens an account, takes a look at their templates, and on a whim inserts all the pages she’s written into a template she likes. Just like that, she realizes she has essentially completed the first draft of the book she’s always wanted to write.

Compare this to:

Pete Has Always Wanted to Write a Book

Pete has always wanted to write a book. He decides to get started, but only writes when he remembers to do so. After a month, he has 17 pages of text, much of it disorganized notes about the book he wants to write. A couple of months later, while checking his Facebook, he gets the idea to look up self-publishing, and finds CreateSpace. He considers opening an account, but since he hasn’t gotten any real work done on his book, he decides to do it later. He gets busy with other work, and at the end of year hasn’t made any real progress on the first draft of the book he’s always wanted to write.

So Many Reasons, So Few Big Successes

You might think these examples are simplistic, but the fact is I meet dozens of people like Pete every week. There are those who dream about doing something without taking any concrete steps. There are those who have started something but who don’t do it regularly or with any discipline. There are those who have been doing something a long time without really committing to it. There are those who profess not to know what to do next, or how to do it, so they end up stuck in a rut. And lately, there are lots of those who blame the economy for their lack of growth, when the real problem is lack of effort, either because it’s more convenient to blame the economy than to get to work, or because it they fear failure.

If You Don’t DO, You Ain’t Gonna GET

My Amway acquaintances always say, “If you don’t A – S – K, you aren’t going to G – E – T.” But my point here is that if you don’t DO, you ain’t gonna get. You gotta do something in order to be in a position to get results. And even though I am one of the world’s biggest advocates of DOING SOMETHING BIG when you do something, I am willing to accept smaller action any day as long as you do SOMETHING rather than nothing. And even wrong action can give rise to opportunities or be the genesis of right action. Here’s an example of how just doing something can get you into a lot of opportunities:

So You Wanna Play Professional Golf

A friend of mine, let’s call him Birdie just for fun, decided that he wanted to play golf on the Senior Tour. Never mind that he was little more than an average golfer, he resolved to start practicing at least three times a week, and to do whatever he could do get good enough to actually play professional golf, starting at the age of 51. He started going to driving range. While there, he met people who played in local tournaments, and asked them for pointers, both on his swing and on how he could go about getting into tournaments. The owners of the driving range sponsored a local tournament, and so he got an entry form from them as well as a list of other regional tournaments, and soon he was entered to play in several tournaments.

One day, while Birdie was getting his teeth cleaned, he told his dentist about his plans. His dentist was an avid golfer, and invited Birdie to go to his swing coach, and also recommended a great local guy who made custom golf clubs. The swing coach fixed a couple of serious flaws in Birdie’s swing, and when he got a new set of clubs from the custom club maker, Birdie was well on his way. He won one of the three tournaments he entered, and got admitted to a regional feeder tournament that potentially qualified him to play in a Senior Tour Event.

When You’re In It, It’s Around You!

Look, when you’re in it, it’s around you. When you strive to better yourself, your brain thinks of ways to do it. Sometimes your brain will give you lousy ideas, sometimes good ones. But even the lousy ideas can give rise to better ones. And being in the environment of your passion helps you notice opportunities to get better. If you aren’t getting better today, that might just mean you’re on a plateau, and that you have to keep trying. If you’re absolutely sick of being on the plateau, there are a lot of things you can do to try to get off it. Here’s a short list:

Go back to basics. Ask for help. Organize. Read a book. Look for the opportunities that are all around you. Listen, and listen carefully, to those around you. Do a survey. Hire somebody. Remember your initial purpose. Teach others. Start a business doing the thing you’re struggling with. Put on some inspirational music. Spend time in the redwood forest. Drink a lot of caffeine. And most important …. Have fun!

Occasionally over the next few months, Ian and I will be riffing on a theme from our recently published book 101 Ideas to Kick Your Ass Into Gear. You can find many elements from this article in its pages, sweetie!

Okay, this is a little embarrassing. Normally, I don’t like to talk about myself or toot my own horn. Well, at least not more than once or twice an hour and not in front of more than 100 people. But in this case I’m sort of trapped by the topic I’m writing about, which is “Your Personal Elevator Speech.”

Recently, in our Daily Fix column, I wrote about how you can leverage your hard-wired responses to your own name to increase the positive effect of your personal elevator speech on your psyche. You can see that post here. But we all understand things better when we can see examples, so I thought I’d share a personal elevator speech I wrote a few weeks ago when I was trying to get my ass moving on a project and having some doubts about whether I would be able to get through it.

I have to warn you, it’s nauseatingly positive. You can hate on me in the comments if you want, but keep in mind the purpose of the speech – it’s for me to tell myself in moments of self-doubt, and to leverage the sound of my own name. Here’s goes:

“Nick, you are smart, hard working, and successful. You can do anything you put your mind to. You know how to team up with creative and productive people, Nick, and how to get the best from them, and this time will be no exception. You entered law school on a bet, became an editor on the law review, and graduated with the top students in your class. You opened the Japanese Martial Arts Center after putting together a group of investors and built it to 100 adult students in record time. Nick, starting with a list of suggestions from your friend Don Prior, you learned the SEO business, mastered it, and now you have a successful SEO business that provides a really valuable service to business people all over Southeast Michigan. You’ve written five books, Nick, including 101 Ideas to Kick Your Ass into Gear that you co-wrote with Ian and Budo Mind and Body which made Black Belt Magazine’s list of Essential Gear. Nick, remember all the great things you’ve done, and how you set out with passion and determination. You can do anything you put your mind to, Nick, and this latest project is no exception. Nick, now is the time to get started!”

That’s it. You know that funny feeling you get when you address yourself by name? That’s your nervous system responding from a very deeply programmed place, just like it did when your parents said your name when you were about to be punished, or when your lover coos your name in the candlelight. It’s a very powerful tool, and it can help you remake your self image. Use it wisely, and it will help get you to a place where you can do anything you set your mind to!

Each week for the next few months, Ian and I will be riffing on a theme from our recently published book 101 Ideas to Kick Your Ass Into Gear. This week’s theme is “Tell Your Story”

Ian and I have been writing all week about telling your story. The funny thing is, you can leverage your hard-wired response to your own name even when you talk to yourself. Write your story, and dwell on the positive. Make sure you include your accomplishments, your happiest days, and the times when you’ve been most effective. When you’ve got a decent version of the story written, edit it down to “elevator speech” length (that’s a speech about yourself you can give during a 30-second elevator ride).

Then, make sure the speech is addressed to YOU! That’s right, you’re gonna tell yourself your own story in the form of an elevator speech, and you’re gonna use your own name. Then, tell the story to yourself whenever you have a free moment – in the car, in the shower, first thing in the morning, or just before you go to bed. If you don’t end up liking the way it makes you feel, we’ll give you double your personal baggage back!

Check our  Success Page for an example of a personal elevator speech! Each week for the next few months, Ian and I will be riffing on a theme from our recently published book 101 Ideas to Kick Your Ass Into Gear. This week’s theme is “Tell Your Story”