David Herz, Coach

It's a new year, and for many that means New Year's Resolutions. The problem with those is that without a plan, they aren't much more than a wish and hope list. I offer the following eight questions as the opener for a year that will make a difference in your life.

1. What emotional state would you like to achieve at the end of 2015? (how do you want to FEEL!?)

2. What helps you achieve this state? (money? clients? time with loved ones? volunteering?)

3. How would you like your life to look at the end of 2015?

   I invite you here to be as specific as possible. The clearer you can see it, the more likely you'll produce it. For instance, you could say I want a decent job, or you could say I'd like to be making $50,000 a year helping people optimize their websites to build their customer lists and grow their businesses. You can see how the second already suggests the actions you'll need to take and the people you ought to contact to make it happen.

4. What do you really want in or during 2015?

5. How will you get this?

6. What obstacles have gotten in the way in the past, or will need to be hurdled in 2015?

7. What structure will you create so that you stay in action, on track, and winning throughout this year?

8. How will you know you’ve achieved your intentions?

Give yourself some time, maybe do this with a friend or spouse, and once you've done that, take one step today. Celebrate that. Then think about what your life will look like 365 steps from today, and start putting those in your calendar, even if it's only one day at a time.

And then consider if a coach might help you win the game you set out for yourself. As in sports, top performers know that they'll make the most headway with a coach to push them forward and keep them accountable. And if you think I might be that coach, I'd be tickled to go over your plan with you and set you up to win.

Some Thank Yous for the Year that Was

So I am ended 2014 on a high. I got clear on a lot of things, topmost being the value I provide to others, and while I am still working on marketing that well, I can't help but see opportunity almost everywhere I look.

For that I should be thanking people: Scott Dinsmore has been insisting that I am the average of the company I keep; so I've started keeping better company, much of it virtually. David Wood and his CoachMBA program have given me a huge boost in acknowledging the difference I make and making me a better coach. I've taken that out into the world and made people's lives better. I love doing that.

James Altucher constantly reminds me that one can reinvent and reimagine a life at any moment, and as long as one is willing, he will stay young. He agrees with Scott by the way. His last post, Who Is In Your Scene? makes the same point about the company you keep.

People like Ramit Sethi, Tim Ferris, and Jason Fladlien keep me present to the fact that everything in life can be “hacked,” and that a creative mind, one like mine, can provide amazing value.

And while I have been reinventing myself and learning to hack life, I attended Marisa Murgatroyd's Business Superhero Summit, and now I am helping people and companies optimize their websites to drive business in addition to coaching.

My Takeaway

I've also learned a lot, but the biggest lesson is that I can't do it all, as much as I'd like to. I've had a website and some form of blog for two and a half years already. And I tend to be cheap; so I figured I'd learn to code the damned thing myself. I got the basics down (HTML, CSS, some PHP, JavaScript, Bootstrap etc.), but I just can't make a website do what I want. I used to append a “yet” to that statement, but I finally internalized that time is my most limited resource, and I'd much rather spend it rocking people's lives.

So I'll never code this site, but I'll soon find someone who can do it better, faster and more efficiently than I could hope to. And letting that go, and getting off dozens of lists, deleting thousands of e-mails and getting my inbox under control, has given me the space to finally play the bigger games I'd like to.

Sometimes you just get one of those e-mails you have to share. Here's a particularly good one from James Altucher:
How I Learned To Be The Most Selfish Person Alive (Or... What I Learned From Podcasting This Past Year)

What you can accomplish in the next year, or ten, and what can we do to make that happen?

I start with the old saw that “people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” I think it's a good point of departure. Some of us start on big projects, become overwhelmed, and give up. Others drive ourselves, regardless of the impact on other areas of our life, to accomplish what we said we would. But some, and these I consider wise, recognize that any project, big or small, is just the sum of many smaller steps all designed with that particular goal in mind, and if we take just a few steps every day, in a year (or ten) we'll have come quite far.

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I had a conversation with a good friend of mine this week. He's a very successful lawyer, one of the best I know. He's so good that business comes to him. He's also well read and enjoys literature. I invited him to take me on as his coach.

He hasn't taken me up on my invite yet, but he did choose to share with me, and I was impressed; so I share with you.

About two years ago, he was offered some business, six figures worth. He looked into his life, and how he was spending his time, and said to himself, “I could take this on, or I could spend this time reading and exploring literary criticism.” He chose the latter, and since then, he's set aside some time for himself every week to do just that.

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So I was speaking to a programmer friend of mine the other day. She works on a web site for a company that provides mail handling services. As I was on the phone with her, I looked at the most recent iteration of the website.

It's pretty at full size, but I scaled it down to see what would happen. By the time it got down to even tablet size, the site became unusable. (I know, I know, this site has the same flaw; I'm working on it.) This company helps people manage their mail and allows remote access, thus saving time and providing peace of mind. I mentioned to my friend that it doesn't scale, it doesn't look right on a smaller screen. What went on in my mind is that if a prospect comes to this site on a mobile device, he'll leave before this company can deliver its message, make its offering, or make a sale.

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