Skate to Where the Puck is Going

"I always skate to where the puck is going, not where it's been." -Wayne Gretsky

I always try to follow my own advice. If you see something that is working, do more of that. In your money making endeavors, you will find a lot of things that just don't work. You will find a few things that sort of work and even fewer things that work really well. You would be smart to continue to do the things that make money and if you are capable, you will do more of those things.

Of the things that are sort of working, you will want to adjust what you are doing and try to make them work better. You want to make those ideas make money for you. If you can't figure out why they are only making a little bit or just breaking even, maybe it is time to set that idea aside and skate towards something else that might have a higher return.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. I heard somewhere that the average person has at least three new ideas per day. The problem is that we don't act on them. We need to find a way to determine the profitability on those ideas and act on the ones that look like they will make money.

Do you have a pocket notebook? You should have one in your pocket at all times. Whenever you have an idea, you should write it down. I find if I don't write the ideas I have down, I forget them within an hour. For some reason, our ideas create themselves in our short term memory and most of them never make it to our long term memory.

A couple of times per week, during your slow time, take the time to look through your ideas and figure out which ideas you can act upon. This will lead you to more creative ideas.

Let's Make a Point

"Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy" ~Sir Isaac Newton

How many times do we speak before we think, then in turn lose a good friend or at least lose their respect. This is something that happens on a regular basis. All you have to do is look around and watch the relationships between the people around you.

That Old Wife's Saying, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." is a good lesson to live by. I find that if I hold my tongue instead of  speaking what is on my mind at the time I was thinking it, I am better off. If I give my mind some time to think about what I want to say and how to say it with more than just my emotions running the thought, then what I have to say will be more constructive than destructive.

Usually when you want to say something negative, you are more interested in putting the other person down or causing them the same kind of pain you are feeling when you want to make the comment. If you can keep your mouth shut, you will be able to allow the emotions of the moment subside. You will be able to think about the comment you want to make. I think more often than not, you will find the comment unnecessary.

If you feel the point still needs to be made. If someone has wronged you in some sort of way, giving the moment the time it needs to calm itself may be what you need to keep it from turning into something that will tear the relationship apart.

Think about what you want to say. Try to find a way to make the solution benefit both yourself and the person you are angry with. If you can make them an active participant instead of an enemy, then you will be more likely to keep them as a friendly relationship.