Your best just got better

Getting better, a half-hour at a time

Yesterday was "PresentationCampLA." Wow, what an amazing few hours

If you ever get the opportunity to attend one of these ( http://barcamp.org/ ), it's worth it. Today's charge, $10! I got to do SO much creativity...I even got to write on the office walls - they are all windows!

So, for those of you who are reading this AFTER the event, and for those of you who did not get to attend, here are my couple of awesome take-aways:

1) Run programs in 30 minute chunks. The time is enough to get an idea out, have the audience engage, ask and answer a few questions, and move on...

2) Work backwards during the rehearsal period. I've always practiced, but now I want to practice with the idea of "rehearsing" the beginning, the middle, the end, the Q&A period, even "coming back from a break!"

3) Step up...y'all! If you're thinking of upleveling you, find a way to surround yourself by other people upleveling themselves! Sure, you can watch a video, read a book, or write some notes in your own journal...But, there's nothing like surrounding yourself with other people as dedicated as you are to the journey.

Enjoy!

Set...A...Bigger...Goal!

If you've never accomplished something a little bigger than you...

'Tis the season...Triathlon season that is! This year, I plan to complete 6 triathlons, another half dozen running races, and one bike ride from Marin County back to Ojai, CA (let me know if you're in...We always get a group together for the 4 day journey!).

There are at least three "-tions" you will experience when you set a goal a little bit bigger than yourself...Innovation, Inspiration, Information...

Innovation: Setting a goal, by very nature of you thinking about something you don't yet have, or have not yet experienced, gives you the opportunity to "think outside the box." For years now, I have practiced goal setting in all sorts of places other than my office desk. You see, if I am in a bookstore, on a train, sitting in a conference room of a hotel, or in a movie just 10-15 minutes after it just ended...I'll have different thoughts about what I want to be, do and have.

Try it out...Grab a pen and a notebook and go sit on a bench, go to lunch at a "fancy" restaurant, or simply sit on the floor. Then, on the top of the paper write down, "In the next 6 months I would like to be, do and have..."

Inspiration: Now, be careful, because if you really do this activity with full intention, you're going to write down more than you can actually do in the next 180 days. So, the real trick is to turn potential into action...To turn opportunity into focus...To turn overwhelm into intention.

Inspiration is a special effect...Just think about the first time you saw the movie Star Wars (ok, I was only 5 when it came out, and I remember the lasers and light sabers were simply out of this world!). Inspiration is something that resides inside that needs some outlet, needs some action to match so that what we think about...We do.

Information: And, what pulls (and holds!) it all together is gathering, processing, and sort the information we will use to continue our momentum. Whether digital (audio/video presentations, e-mail, PDFs, etc) or physical (books, magazine articles, mentors, etc) the information you have around you will play a significant role in getting you from here...To there.

Here's a hint: Write down a 7-9 month goal on a 3X5 note card and tape it to your bathroom mirror. Each morning, wake up and write down AT LEAST one resource (person, building, book, author, website, etc) you could look into that would move you toward completion.

• Want a quick start? Go to the bookstore, and subscribe to at least 2 magazines about the topic you are inspired to take on. Just think, if each magazine only had 2 articles that were relevant, in the next 12 months you would be 48 times smarter in your area of interest!

Whether in work, or sport, family or play, set a goal a "little bit" bigger than yourself and see how the BIG 3 [Innovation. Inspiration. Information.] come together for you!

Can you be ready "on call?"

"What do you do...for a living?"

Say you're on a vacation in the mountains, sitting in front of a fireplace, sipping on a latte, and next thing you know someone asks you what you "do" for a living.
Imagine that what you do is not just a job or career, but a calling as well...as if you're sure that you're on the planet to be engaged in that particular area, industry or profession.
For the entrepreneurs, solopreneurs or intrapreneurs who read this weblog (I know you're out there, I read your emails!), what you do and who you are probably seems to blend into a day-to-day experience of engagement, opportunity, growth and learning!

Well, we have had that opportunity twice this week, here in Tahoe City, CA. Last Friday, Jodi and I facilitated a 90-minute conversation with a very successful mortgage group here in town. The team from O'Dette Mortgage Group invited us in, and we discussed productivity, performance and technology-organization topics in the form of a large group discussion.

On Monday, we work with Jeremiah Nelson - arborist, poet, and actor - as he steps into his next level of business planning and development.

And, one of the overall topics of discussion this "get-away-cation": next month, we're visiting the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley to run a program on time management and workplace productivity for health-care leaders throughout the San Francisco Bay Area...yes, this is a land of incredible opportunity!

How to maintain focus and achieve results

Constant, vigilant (*attentively or closely observant), dedicated practice is perhaps the least "energy-intensive" way to go about getting from here...to there.

Carefully identifying some of the "areas of focus" for goal setting and goal achievement takes but a few moments of time. In fact, purposeful and directed focus can actually take some of the stress of "thinking about thinking" out of the picture!

Here are just a few things to consider...

1. BARRIERS: represent blocks, excuses and reasons. They sometimes lead to blame...
2. POSSIBILITIES: represent the "choice" side of goal setting. They include potential, and when pursued often lead toward celebration.
3. GOALS: are made up of specific objectives with "due dates." They can incorporate purpose and intention to continue the motivational (intrinsically) push to continue moving forward.
4. CHOICES: are the things we "make" when we prioritize. At the beginning of the day we create a plan (our intention) and at the end of the day we have an experience (our attention). 

Continue to balance the "Thinking/Managing/Doing" aspects of your work to bring together hours, days, weeks, months and quarters more in alignment with where you think you'd like to be...identify the results you hope to achieve, and make daily choices - of your action and your focus - to move further...faster.

If there is something getting in your way of focusing on the MITs (the Most Important Things), write it down and filter it through the 4 areas of focus above. Then, over the next week, see how you can move forward, from where you are to where you want to be.

Need a reason to train? www.CarpinteriaTriathlon.com

Well, one of my favorite events of the year (the Carpinteria Triathlon) has a brand new look on their website. If you are:

1. Interested in learning about triathlon
2. Looking for a little inspiration to visit the CA coast
3. Wanting to hear me talk about the why behind the racing...

Just click here for the Carp Tri Website

My central park 9-miler last week

For an overview of one of my favorite runs this month, click here!

It really was a great day! I started off by leaving the hotel around 4:50am, as I was hoping to meet with a triathlon/entrepreneur buddy of ours in New York City, Peter Shankman (you've GOT to see his site: Help a Reporter Out).

I wound up running solo, starting at the Mac store on 5th Avenue (which was open at 5am, by the way!) and headed into the park while it was still dark. The only one running along some of the trails, over the next hour or so I joined the hundreds of other people training - cycling, running, walking and roller blading. It was a nice morning...click on the picture below for the map of the run.

Quick, we need a few [local] triathletes!

Ok, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties we need some help! I got this note from Ann Meyer (she manages one of my favorite races of the year - the Carpinteria Triathlon) and we need a few more athletes. Please pass the word!

I know this is short notice, but I was wondering if you would be able to participate in video we are going to be doing for NewsPress TV this Sunday, August 10?

The video will be web based and is going to focus on our event and the sport of triathlon along with the training involved.  I am seeking athletes that would like to be filmed training (staged) and interviewed.

We will meet at the end of Linden Avenue at 9:30am.  We are doing it on Sunday because at 11am a large group of swimmers train off Ash Avenue Beach and are planning to film that as well. 

Are you interested? Bring your bicycle and/or running gear.

Day 7 - BTC - Cortez to Durango (our last day, going home tomorrow!)

Well, and all good things need to come to a close...for now! So, I'm off to CA in the morning.

June 28, 2008
45 miles
Cortez to Durango

Heading home! After yesterday's long ride, today is shortest day for 2008. We will be passing by Mesa Verde National Park. The BTC, as a "bicycle tour", is unable to enter the Park because of the Park's stipulation: "No bicycle tours allowed in the Park", so, if you decide to go into the Park, you are on your own. Then, onto the place where the BTC began just the week before, Durango, to enjoy the tour-end celebration. You did it!

Day 6 - BTC - Naturita to Cortez

Oh, wow...a long one! I'd imagine it'll take a good 7 hours to ride this (ok, maybe 8 if we stretch our mid-morning coffee break!).

June 27, 2008
95 miles
Naturita to Cortez

Uncharted territory for the BTC. Ride on (and on and on)! Today's near century ride is the longest day of the 2008 BTC, but you might want more miles when the day is done. We cross Gypsum Pass at 6,100', a 4-5 mile climb, ride through dramatic slick rock canyons, and pedal past the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. When you get to Southwestern Colorado's westerly town of Cortez, your riding day is done.

Day 5 - BTC - Telluride to Naturita

It's all downhill from here! (For today, anyway...)

June 26, 2008
56 miles
Telluride to Naturita

Loads of fun. Today we start at 8,750' but finish at 5,431' with a good four mile climb up Norwood Hill, part of the 120 mile bicycle race route from Telluride to Moab. We roll along Highway 145, one of Colorado's scenic and historic byways, to the small Southwestern town of Naturita.