Dan Waldschmidt's Blog, page 20

Don’t Waste Your Life Being Reasonable.

Life isn’t reasonable.

It’s not reasonable that some people are born into a lifetime of abject poverty while others are birthed with a silver spoon in their mouth.

It’s not reasonable that bad people get away with horrible crimes while others who try to bring justice to the helpless are taken advantage of.

Life isn’t reasonable.

It’s not reasonable that mean-spirited, passive-aggressive business leaders gain influence and get promoted while those who work hard, inspire other, and lead quietly suffer through the grind.

It’s not reasonable that life takes the young and sweet from us too soon.

It’s not reasonable that dreams take more money and time to pursue then we imagine.

Life isn’t reasonable.

Your mistake is trying to be.

You believe that if you have a fair and logical plan and put a reasonable amount of effort behind that plan, that everything will turn out perfectly.

But that’s not how unreasonable works.

Life is full of glorious potential and opportunity for those who are willing to live unreasonably.

Your options are endless.

Be unreasonable.

Believe what you want.
Work harder than you feel necessary.
Laugh when you feel like crying.
Try when the last try didn’t work.
Have a purpose that defines you.
Be mission-driven.
Forgive the unforgivable.
Ignore the critics and cynics.
Invest in love.
Trust people.

If it sounds crazy, it might be that one unreasonable thing that catapults you closer to where you want to be.

Don’t waste your life being reasonable. You deserve better.

Your Bad Habits Are Costing You Greatness.

Don’t pretend like you’re interested in changing your life when you’re not willing to get up a little bit earlier each day to make that change start the stick.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that tomorrow is going to be any different than today if you’re not doing something different today that will change tomorrow.

Stop blaming other people for your own laziness, your bad attitudes, and the bad reputation you have because of the way you treat other people.

Just because life is miserable for you right now doesn’t mean that you get to take out your pain and stress and confusion on those around you.

And by the way, maybe you should take a closer look at your budget, your finances, and where you invest your wealth. How you spend your money is pretty telling.

If you can afford 900 cable channels but be too broke to hire a coach or buy a book, the story of your failure has already been written.

Bad habits and poor behavior will derail every bit of progress you’ve made in getting closer to where you want to be.

Some of those bad habits are just sloppiness. The rest are just baggage you’ve let build up over time.

You’ve been hurt and so now you’re hurting someone else. Life has been unfair to you, so you don’t care that it’s unfair to everyone else.

From time to time it’s important to stop and think about how your behavior is getting in the way of you getting to where you want to be.

Are you growing or are you slowing? More importantly, what are you going to do about it?

If you say that you truly want breakthrough in your life, then you must be open to changing anything and everything in that pursuit.

If you’re serious about success, take time to fix your bad habits.

The Superpower Hiding Under The Rubble Of Your Rage.

You can’t hold on to the past and move rapidly towards your future.

You’re living each day inside a rubber band that keeps pulling you back.

Just about the time you think you’ve moved forward and made progress you realize that you’re back in the middle of your anger and misery from the past. Snapped back from greatness.

Which is what you have to let the past go. You have to forgive.

Not forget. Forgive.

It doesn’t excuse what other people have done to you. You’re not letting anyone off the hook.

You’re not making it right with them. You’re making your life right for you.

You’re cutting the ties that keep pulling you back. You’re breaking the connection.

By forgiving, you find the superpower hidden under the rubble of your rage.

You thought that if you were angry enough, the world would find a way to heal your pain and despair.

You thought that if you obsessed about justice for that person who did you wrong, that the hole in your heart would begin to heal.

But you were wrong.

Looking back you see that over time, you’ve let that pain and frustration rob you of your destiny.

The only thing that breaks the tie to your past is forgiveness.

You have to let go. It won’t be easy. It’s not for them. It’s for you.

It’s not something you do one time and magically you feel better. It’s a series of purposeful decisions.

To begin, you have to relive the past. You have to go back to that moment when you were hurt and relive the experience. Feel the pain. Feel the shame.

And then you say “I forgive you.” Out loud. “I forgive you.” At first, the words won’t mean much more than a phrase.

Just a sentence. A few words.

But don’t give up until you feel the forgiveness.

What must have that other person been going through themselves to hurt you so badly? What emptiness and fear, panic and hate must consume them?

And so that right now, so that you can move on, it’s time to forgive.

It’s a purposeful decision for you.

Deliberate. Something you know you need to do.

Something you’ve been needing to do for some time now.

You’re making the decision that where you want to go is too important to be held back by the pain and fear you’ve been holding on to.

Forgive. Then move forward.

When You Should Give Up On Your Ice-Cold, Crazy Ideas.

It was at a dinner shortly after the wedding that the idea came up. One of Frederic’s younger sister had just married the most eligible bachelor in town. Chilled drinks were flowing. And so were the ideas.

As Frederic’s rich older brother William joked with friends, out tumbled one of those ideas: ice for everyone.

Why not harvest the plentiful New England ice, currently only affordable to the rich and famous and sell it to the masses in the steamy Caribbean? It was clearly a joke. The ice would obviously melt along the way.

But that joke of an idea became a burning question for Frederic.

Why not bring ice to the masses?

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that he could pull it off. Using what he had learned from his apprenticeships and calling on his contacts in the Caribbean, this idea could make him seriously rich.

So it was on August 1, 1805, he inscribed in his journal—a journal bought specifically for this grand new business venture—his determined outlook:

He who gives back at the first repulse and without striking the second blow despairs of success has never been, is not, and never will be a hero in war, love, or business.

And quickly those blows of despair landed.

He couldn’t pay enough to get a boat captain to take him seriously. The first captain he tried to hire brushed him off. He wasn’t interested in being part of that failure. And neither was the second. Or the third.

Frederic decided to take matters into his own hands, spending $4,750 (or over $90,000 in today’s money) to buy his own boat, called the Favorite.

With 130 tons of ice on board, he left dock on February 10, 1806 — to the ridicule of the press. The Boston Gazette reported, “No joke, ship full of ice sets sail for Martinique. Let’s hope this doesn’t prove to be a slippery speculation!”

His friends laughed at this insane notion. His own dad called his new venture “wild and ruinous”.

Turns out they were all absolutely right.

Twenty days later he arrived in Martinique, located in the Caribbean. Most of the ice on his boat had already melted. The business partners he sent ahead of his arrival had failed to drum up much interest. They weren’t able to sell the wild idea of having a chilled drink on a hot day.

In a little over 3 weeks, he had lost just over $50,000 in today’s money.

But that was just the beginning.

His own brother (and business partner) bailed out on the business. Quit. Left. He wanted no part of his insanity.

If that weren’t bad enough, the warehouses used to store ice could not stop the ice from melting.

And then life happened.

A few month after the launch of his grand idea, the Embargo Act of 1807 made it illegal to trade in foreign ports, cutting him off from his Caribbean market. That was followed by the War of 1812, which tanked the business.

Frederic was broke. And he went on the run from his creditors.

When he couldn’t outrun his creditors, he was thrown into debtor’s prison. And when he got out, he was thrown back in. A second time. And then a third time.

Humiliated. Broken. Beaten. Destroyed by his own crazy joke of an idea.

And every day, while his world crashed down around him and he logged one failure after another, he saw these words written so many years earlier in his journal:

He who gives back at the first repulse and without striking the second blow despairs of success has never been, is not, and never will be a hero in war, love, or business.

It took a decade of despairing blows before he finally started to get it right.

And then that bit of success seemed like a stroke of luck.

He started hauling a cooler of ice into the eating area at the boarding house and convincing his roommates to try their first iced beverage. At first they laughed him off, but then they started clamoring for more.

And that was the spark that changed everything.

It was all-out hustle. He and his salesmen would travel the country convincing bars to experiment with chilled beverages to see which would sell better. They even went so far as to offer some bars free ice for a year.

He taught restaurants how to use his ice to make ice cream.

He pioneered the practice of chilling meat, fruits, and vegetables to ship them longer distances. He convinced doctors and hospitals to use ice to cool down feverish patients.

He developed an insulated ice house that kept his product cold by trapping a layer of air between two stone walls. He put those houses in Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta — literally, all over the world.

He continued to perfect his process, harvesting ice in ways that produced more uniform ice bricks, allowing them to be stacked tighter and higher. Some as high as 80 feet tall.

With that hustle came the success he envisioned so many years earlier.

People began to want cold drinks. Queen Elizabeth herself refused to drink any other kind of ice but Frederic’s.

By 1856, Frederic was at the center of an industry that was shipping 140,000 tons of ice to China, Brazil, Japan, India, Australia, and 38 other countries.

He became known around the world as the “Ice King”. He had fought his way from debtor’s prison to a fortune worth over $200 million dollars in today’s money.

And all because of a single sentence penciled into his journal:

He who gives back at the first repulse and without striking the second blow despairs of success has never been, is not, and never will be a hero in war, love, or business.

“The sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well. The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges,” penned Henry David Thoreau as he watched Frederic’s men harvest the ice on the famous Walden pond.

His ice melted, but not his impact.

The same could be said for you. So don’t give up on your crazy ideas.

Even when people say your idea is stupid.

Even when people tell you to back off, to be reasonable, that it’s okay to “move on”, that “it wasn’t meant to be”.

Even when people tell you “no”. Even when they tell you “no” a second time. And a third time. And a hundred times after that.

Keep fighting. Do the next thing. That ice-cold determination to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes is exactly what it takes.

Whatever you do, don’t give up.

As Frederic Tudor so boldly wrote: “He who gives back at the first repulse and without striking the second blow despairs of success has never been, is not, and never will be a hero in war, love, or business.”

When You Talk About Wanting To Achieve Greatness.

Greatness isn’t a status. It’s an attitude.

It’s not one particular thing you achieve. It’s the consistency with which you maintain momentum heading towards your goal.

It is measured by the focus you apply to perfecting the details. It’s magnified by the speed and sincerity with which you apologize for your mistakes along the way.

Great men do not usually achieve greatness.

It is the small and insignificant person, unwilling to give up on his ideals, who is most likely to achieve that status.

Greatness demands hunger and resolve.

You must be willing to change anything and everything in the pursuit of it.

Ego is a limitation.

So too is anything less than superhuman effort.

So when you talk about wanting to achieve greatness, make sure you know what you’re wishing for.

Greatness is a magnificent destination but a lonely journey.

Your Facts Are Just A Bad Perspective.

Your reality isn’t a fact. It is just your perspective.

What you consider to be ordinary and normal, other people are guaranteed to see as obscure and special.

Your perspective is shaped over the years of your life. Your specific circumstances and upbringing play a major influence in how you interpret the world around you.

A bad day for you in a first world country might be the dream of a lifetime for someone in a third world country just trying to stay alive.

Success is one of those matters of perspective.

It’s not a fact.

You might have a lot of money but not a lot of joy. Can you call yourself successful then?

And what about your job? You say you hate it. But at least you have one. And it pays you enough money to take care of the people that you love.

It provides you an opportunity to thrive.

And is it really a fact that everyone is out to get you?

Maybe you’re just going through a few bad days.

But maybe, in reality, you’ve been so obnoxious to everyone else around you that you’re just getting in return what you’ve dealt to so many other people.

When you separate facts and reality and perspective, you become powerful. Because you stop blaming other people for where you are in life.

You stop pointing the finger at circumstances that you could change right now.

You realize that your life is just a series of choices that you get to make. And remake.

There are no facts, only current realities. If you don’t like your reality, change it.

That’s always a possibility. No matter from what perspective you look at the situation.

You’re only limited by what you believe to be possible.

And that’s a fact.

The Story Of Your Success.

You wouldn’t laugh at an apple seed that you just planted in the ground, calling it a loser because it’s not delivering bushels of ripe apples each season.

You just planted it. It’s still a seed.

In time, with enough water and sunlight, fertilizer and proper attention, it will begin to grow into a skinny wisp of a tree trunk. So thin that it seems the wind will blow it over at any time.

You must protect it until it can gain strength from deeper roots and a stronger base.

Over time, that tree will become self-sufficient.

Its bark becomes tougher. Its limbs reach out further. Its roots tunnel deeper through the earth in search of the best nutrition.

Over time, that wispy tree trunk has become mighty, delivering bushels of fresh fruit.

It’s big enough for you to climb on it. Tough enough to be used as the foundation for a child’s playhouse or rope swing.

What was once just a tiny seed, is now an impressive sight to behold. No longer mocked because it is just a kernel buried over its head in the dirt.

That seed and that tree are the same things.

They are an apple tree. You just didn’t notice the tree until it was big enough to consume your full attention. It was there the entire time, digging its way inch-by-inch out of the dirt.

That tree is your story of success.

You’re going to start your journey covered in dirt and muck. Most people won’t see you. Some will step on you.

You have to protect your seed of success at all costs. Feed it the sunlight of possibility. Protect it from the ravaging floods of skepticism and negativity.

Take care of that seed every day.

You fight for it. You cheer for it. You do whatever it takes to make sure that seed turns into a stem. And then into a mighty tree.

Strong enough to take care of itself. Tough enough to protect the seeds other people are planting for themselves.

Success is a mindset long before it is something that other people can see.

5 Choices Successful People Always Make.

It’s all on you. Your results. Your recognition. Your chance at greatness.

You decide how far you’re willing to take your dream. You make the decision whether to press ahead, in spite of the obstacles holding you back, or to change course and move on to something else.

Every day, you are presented with countless opportunities to impact your destiny. How you respond to those opportunities every day ultimately decides the full measure of the greatness that you achieve.

There are a handful of decisions that successful people all make the same way.

They all do these things in their pursuit of greatness:

1. They give massive amounts of value.

They are valuable. Not just for what they know or for their generosity.

They create value by what they give.

Instead of being focused on their own needs and wants and goals, they go out of their way to give.

They take their best ideas and give them away. They don’t hoard awesomeness; they make sure everyone else around them has access to it.

2. They don’t quit when things get tough.

They want to. They think about it. But they don’t.

They have something deep within them that drives them to keep pursuing their dream.

They have grit. They have resolve. And they’re not going to be pushed around by bad luck, an unfair situation, or circumstances that just don’t go their way.

They don’t quit because it’s more painful for them to abandon their goal than it is to endure the uncomfortableness they feel at the moment.

3. They say “No” to great ideas.

They are intrigued by all the options being presented to them.

They like the challenge of learning something new or trying something different. But they understand that their resource of time is limited.

They understand that money and emotion and focus are quickly exhausted.

By saying “No” to things that are interesting, good, or even great, they have much more time to focus on things that will turn out to be awesome.

4. They stay busy pursuing their goals.

They work hard. Really, really hard.

They don’t angle to work smart. They know that hard work is the smartest work possible.

One of the core differences between people who successfully achieve breakthroughs and those who seem to stay stuck is the amount of time they work at it.

There is no substitute for hard work. Success demands it.

5. They are willing to make big mistakes.

They aren’t so afraid of failure that they play it safe. They try things. Dangerous things. Scary things.

Most of those tries end up in failure, often with uncomfortable consequences.

They look at failure as an opportunity to get better — not that they are inferior or that what they are attempting isn’t likely to achieve success.

To win big, you have to try big. Which sometimes means you’re going to fail big.

Successful people keep failure in context and learn, grow, and do it better next time.

It’s on you to change if you want to be awesome.

If you want to build something new. If you want to point your life in a new direction. If you want to achieve those goals you’ve been talking about until now.

No one else can determine your destiny for you.

The choices you make today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of your life are what lead to those magical outcomes you’ve been dreaming about.

It all comes down to a few smart decisions. Give more. Don’t quit. Say “No”. Get busy. Try big.

It’s You That Is The Problem.

Most business problems have nothing to do with business.

Most leadership problems have a little to do with leadership.

Most of these challenges stem from personal flaws.

In other words, the greatest benefit you can give to your business is to grow yourself. To round out your rough edges.

The bad habits and poor behavior that strangle your personal ambitions are the exact same vices that end up derailing your business goals.

It’s not good enough to put on an act. It doesn’t work.

You can’t pretend long enough to be successful being something that you’re not. Eventually, your true nature comes out. Those flaws cripple you.

Get in shape physically. It will help you get your business plan in shape financially.
Take responsibility for your actions. It will show your employees that you expect the exact same from them.
Do the hard things that scare you. You’ll end up leading an inspired business along the way.

Remember, if you’re not growing, you’re slowing.

The bad habits you tolerate today are they same things you’ll be whining about later that come out of nowhere to throw your business into turmoil.

It didn’t come out of “nowhere.” It was inside you the whole time. Festering. Growing. Building into the problem that it appears to be right now.

So suck it up and stop whining. Take responsibility for your actions and attitudes. And just be a better you.

Why You Need Better Friends.

Your friendships determine your destiny.

Who you are as a competitor, what you achieve in life, and how you react to everyday circumstances — these are all reactions shaped by the people you surround yourself with most.

Your friends. Your family. Your mentors, co-workers, peers, and fellow competitors.

Those relationships will either make you or break you.

Those people who you allow in the closest places of your intimacy either push you relentlessly towards where you want to be or they ensnare you in a web of unending distraction and soul-crushing malaise.

Which is why it matters who you choose to spend your time with.

It matters that you seek out people who inspire you to be your best. It matters that you deliberately avoid negative influences and people who always seemed to bring you down.

It matters that you ask for help from people who are qualified to give it.

You are right now or soon will be the average of the top five people you’re hanging around right now.

And if you don’t like what that looks like, it’s time for you to change your company.

Look for people who are already doing what you want to do — and doing it well.

Look for people who you admire. People who do that one thing so magically well that you can only describe it as being awesome.

Surround yourself with people who have a chip on their shoulder — people madly driven to achieve despite the frustration and uncertainty.

Relentlessly avoid the skeptics and cynics who wish to keep your feet on the ground.

Your destiny isn’t about being reasonable. It’s about the pursuit of awesome. So make it that.

Find awesome friends. Be an awesome friend. Success demands it.