"And then the cat said..."
If your cat told you a story, it would be awesome. It would be a helluva story, and you'd surely remember it. Even if the story was pretty dismal, it would stand out in your mind because it is a story told by a cat.
Meow. I wish I was your cat. Then things I wanted to tell you would be a bit easier since you'd surely be paying attention. But, trapped in my human flesh, I've got to compete with all the other humans that are busy blabbing away. Highly annoying.
In the summer of 2000 I was doing something very un-cat-like: driving to some sales calls. As usual my mind was wandering (perhaps more cat-like). It came to a sudden halt on the idea of writing a book. The thought of teaching the things that I learned along the way was interesting to me. While I had read and enjoyed many business books in the past, I wanted to do something different. (Meow)
As I thought about it, the idea was ever more appealing (this is very cat-like!). However, I felt many "success" books gave you a bunch of information that, while valuable, was not easily remembered. After a bit of thinking I decided to use the alphabet (already a well understood concept) so I could break down the "lessons" into nine acronyms that would make remembering them easier. (Stay with me...meow...)
Later that day I sat in my office and wrote out the following outline:
ABC - Always Be Committed
DEF - Don't Ever Forget (to say thank you)
GHI - Getting Highly Inspired
JKL - Just Keep Looking
MNO - Make Notes and Observations
PQR - Pursue Quantitative Results
STU - Start Teaching and Understanding
VWX - Value with X-factor
YZ - Yellow Zebra
While the book took over ten years for me to get around to writing, editing and finishing, (mostly due to the abundance of cat-naps) the alphabetic outline survived. The reason is simple. In the time between then and now, my opinion didn't change. Learning has to be memorable.
Will the book "make" you a success? No. That'd be a silly commitment to make. Will it make you better prepared to succeed? Absolutely. You'll have to put some work into it, but that's true of any approach to improvement. What's more, I think you'll be able to easily recall the essence of every chapter due to the acronym anchor provided for each one.
Now you have the challenge of taking action. Knowing about my book won't make you better, but reading it will. I did my part. Will you do yours?
(Meow...thus ends my cat-like wisdom)
Meow. I wish I was your cat. Then things I wanted to tell you would be a bit easier since you'd surely be paying attention. But, trapped in my human flesh, I've got to compete with all the other humans that are busy blabbing away. Highly annoying.
In the summer of 2000 I was doing something very un-cat-like: driving to some sales calls. As usual my mind was wandering (perhaps more cat-like). It came to a sudden halt on the idea of writing a book. The thought of teaching the things that I learned along the way was interesting to me. While I had read and enjoyed many business books in the past, I wanted to do something different. (Meow)
As I thought about it, the idea was ever more appealing (this is very cat-like!). However, I felt many "success" books gave you a bunch of information that, while valuable, was not easily remembered. After a bit of thinking I decided to use the alphabet (already a well understood concept) so I could break down the "lessons" into nine acronyms that would make remembering them easier. (Stay with me...meow...)
Later that day I sat in my office and wrote out the following outline:
ABC - Always Be Committed
DEF - Don't Ever Forget (to say thank you)
GHI - Getting Highly Inspired
JKL - Just Keep Looking
MNO - Make Notes and Observations
PQR - Pursue Quantitative Results
STU - Start Teaching and Understanding
VWX - Value with X-factor
YZ - Yellow Zebra
While the book took over ten years for me to get around to writing, editing and finishing, (mostly due to the abundance of cat-naps) the alphabetic outline survived. The reason is simple. In the time between then and now, my opinion didn't change. Learning has to be memorable.
Will the book "make" you a success? No. That'd be a silly commitment to make. Will it make you better prepared to succeed? Absolutely. You'll have to put some work into it, but that's true of any approach to improvement. What's more, I think you'll be able to easily recall the essence of every chapter due to the acronym anchor provided for each one.
Now you have the challenge of taking action. Knowing about my book won't make you better, but reading it will. I did my part. Will you do yours?
(Meow...thus ends my cat-like wisdom)
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