by successfulbob | inspirational video, photography, success education, video
I found this video on Monday Morning Memo with Steve Jobs talking about asking for what you want or need… This is great stuff! It’s less than 2 minutes and I highly encourage you to watch it and take the message to heart.
From the MMM “Steve’s last words in this video are, “If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.” By the way, it was at H-P that Jobs met Wozniak. Watch the video.
By the way make sure you click on the Monday Morning Memo link and get signed up for weekly inspiration for your business. If you have a creative mind at all you’ll be glad you did…
by successfulbob | fine art photography, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography, photography education, success education
Picture yourself sitting on a stage in a trade show booth in front of everyone. You have an earpiece reminiscent of an FBI agent and a microphone worthy of Madonna attached to the other ear. They start to count down… 4, 3, 2 and point a finger at your host Frederick Van Johnson. You are now live on a Google Plus Hangout.
Nervous?? “NAAH.” I used to be in radio and TV AND one of my best friends, Skip Cohen, is up on the platform with me. Better yet we are talking about two of my favorite subjects, photography and fine art. It was a great show and I learned a lot because there were three other Internet guests sharing their ideas.
I don’t want to tell you what Skip said because that would spoil the surprise but I gotta tell ya that guy can say some pretty funny things! Hear the interview for yourself.
Frederick Van Johnson host of This Week in Photo on Google hangouts, yours truly holding center spot and Skip Cohen of Skip Cohen University. Live interview broadcast during PhotoPlus Expo in New York.
You can hear the other Lumix Luminaries and their interviews from PhotoPlus Expo in New York in the Lumix Lounge.
by successfulbob | photography, photography education, success education
I’m a big fan of Roy Williams and the Monday Morning Memo. In this memo he writes about a word I see in many photographers’ descriptions of why they decided to get into the business. And, also why I feel so many don’t make it… Is this you?
The Follow-Your-Passion Myth
One of the books I’ll write someday is a collection of true stories gathered from extremely successful people.
My business as an advertising consultant and seminar speaker has put me face-to-face with many of the brightest stars in the entrepreneurial sky. And rarely do I miss the opportunity to ask them,
“Can you recall that fateful moment when you chose the fork in the road that led you to where you are today? How did you first get into this business?”
Never – not once – has a successful person said to me, “I followed my passion.”
But this is the answer you will hear again and again from people who are serving time in prison.
The world is full of rich people who are not, and never were, successful. People who stole the money, inherited the money, married the money, won the money in the stock market or in the lottery, cheated others out of the money or were awarded the money in court, do not qualify as “successful” in my admittedly subjective opinion.
The “Follow-Your-Passion” myth is pervasive because successful people are usually passionate. But those people would have been passionate about whatever they chose to do.
Their jobs don’t give them passion.
They give passion to their jobs.
The same is true in successful marriages.
Moon-eyed dreamers who say, “I just can’t find my passion” always act like I kicked their puppy when I tell them that passion is not a magical ether that can be located and tapped into. Passion is the shrapnel that flies from a three-way collision of determination, commitment and action.
While we’re at it, let’s pull the mask off a couple of other myths:
(1.) Passion doesn’t always manifest itself as happiness. Passion is also behind deep grief. (2.) Passion isn’t always confident. Worry is misguided passion, fearful passion, but it is passion nonetheless.
Don’t do what you’re passionate about.
Be passionate about what you do.
Don’t follow your passion.
Let your passion follow you.
Passion is created when determination and commitment are joined by the nitroglycerin of action. Leonardo da Vinci said it 480 years ago and he said it in Italian. Here is the clearest translation:
“People of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They go out and happen to things.”
Listen to Leonardo.
Go out and happen to something.
When we hear the laughter and the dancing,
the crying and the grief, we will know the shrapnel is flying.
Roy H. Williams
I highly recommend you subscribe to the Monday Morning Memo. A great way to start your week… get a taste of Roy here in this weeks Rabbit Hole… (It’s a place where, well, you have to spend time there to understand it. Click on the image of each page to drill down further and further)
by successfulbob | success education
I’m a fan of Jack Canfield having read and worked with his book The Success Principles. (I highly recommend it) Here’s and article he wrote about pushing through in spite of negative feedback…
Life is a Laboratory by Jack Canfield
Everyone has a dream.
Many of us simply lose sight of it or let it go because of some earlier disappointment, rejection, or lack of progress. The natural tendency is to protect ourselves from getting hurt again, so we deny our dream, afraid to reach out for the people, resources, and opportunities that could support it.
I want to share a quick story about my friend Catherine Lanigan. She had earned a college scholarship on her strengths as a gifted writer. Catherine’s Harvard professor gave her an F on her first short story and convinced her she had no talent. She wrote nothing more for 13 years.
Then one day in her small Texas town Catherine visited a movie set. When she expressed her desire to be a writer, one of the scriptwriters shot back, “B.S.! If you wanted to be a writer, you would have written.”
When Catherine explained how her professor discouraged her, the scriptwriter replied, “An academic guy? What does he know? I write for a living. Tell you what. You go home and write something and send it to me, and I’ll tell you if I think you have any talent in the real world of commercial literature.”
A year later, Catherine finished her novel and sent it to the scriptwriter, who loved it and sent it to his agent in New York. The agent also loved it and asked to represent her work. Catherine’s first novel was followed by numerous others including Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, which became a major motion picture.
Is there a dream buried deep within you? If so, you owe it to yourself—and the world—to fully express it.
First you need to get in touch with your dream. When you get in touch with the essence of who you are and what it is that really wants to come through you, it propels you forward, allowing you to overcome any obstacle, no matter how big.
Secondly, gather feedback from many people (but don’t let someone else’s opinion bury your dream as Catherine did for so long). Whether you’re venturing into a new career, proposing a project in your community, or developing a computer application, get as much feedback as you can. Weigh it; then follow your own instincts.
Finally, try things you’ve never tried before to see what works. When we were kids, we’d try anything, but now? Today a child having a computer problem will hit every button to get it to work. Many adults fear touching the wrong button will break it.
Embrace a spirit of curiosity and playfulness in your pursuit. If one thing doesn’t work, try another. If that doesn’t work, try something else. This can be great fun. Imagine life as one big laboratory—and keep experimenting until your dream yields the results you want.
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at:
www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
