An anagram is a word created from another word by rearranging the letters.   

DORMITORY — DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN —  BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER — MOON STARER

DESPERATION —  A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES — THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH — HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE — HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES —  CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY —  IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS — LIES – LET’S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS —  ALAS! NO MORE Z ‘S

A DECIMAL POINT —  IM A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES —  THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO — TWELVE PLUS ONE

MOTHER-IN-LAW — WOMAN HITLER 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Message From The Universe to Jim Hance

This is an actual email I received:

“I don’t like to make predictions, but the way things are going, James, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this year you have a ball, go to a ball… and put the pics up on Facebook. You are so poised for the time of your life.” – The Universe

The Universe must have heard that I will be attending Hooray For Hollywood Hustle, Swing and Salsa Dance Festival in LA. Of course, I would have the time of my life. Jane’s going too.

Do you find yourself becoming distracted, wasting time, losing money and being less successful than you want? Do you have nothing to aspire to except the daily grind of work? Are you constantly reactive to life’s daily changes? Want to be more involved with things you are passionate about? Want to direct your life more?

Perhaps it is time to write or re-write your business vision statement.

A business vision statement is an inspirational, energizing idea that you can use to excite yourself, and others, about what you want to do into the future. And simple vision statements are the most effective. They are easy to remember and easy to communicate to others. If your vision statement becomes something you believe and truly want with passion, creating it can propel you to success. It is your statement of intent about the difference you and your business will make in the world. Wow!

Here are some suggestions for creating a vision statement:

Think about what excites you about the future. Think about where you want to take your business. Think about what you want to get out of your life’s work. Write as many ideas down as you can think about the positive outcome you want to see. Then, put all those ideas into one bold statement you can remember each day.

Simplicity, clarity, authenticity and inspiration are the cornerstones for a good vision statement. Enjoy the process.

I am a new subscriber to Brian Johnson’s Philosopher’s Notes podcasts and downloads, but I am really enjoying his takes on the “new age” philosphy of authors like Eric Butterworth, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and T. Harv Eker. Every day or so I have been receiving an emailed invitation to download his podcast, about 15 minutes in length, which I copy into iTunes, and sync with my iPhone. I have all of my collected Philosopher’s Notes in a single playlist. My 3-miles hikes through my very hilly neighborhood while listening to Brian Johnson makes the trek seem to melt away in just a few moments.

Brian does a superb job of nailing the “big ideas” of these books, and expressing them in his unique, exuberant style. He doesn’t just read from the featured tomes, but gives his own insight on what these big ideas mean to him. Here Brian is commenting on a big idea by Eric Butterworth, “Why Be Average?”

“…why be an average person? All the great achievements of history have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.” [Eric Butterworth]

Love that. I’m smiling as I remember the times in my own life when the “experts” I consulted told me I couldn’t do something. 

The most vivid memory: I was a 24 year-old law school drop out in 1998. The only thing I knew I wanted to do (besides burn my resume was coach a Little League Baseball team. I did that. In the process, I had a vision that within 5 years every team and league in the US would be using the web for everything–schedules, standings, directions to the field, pictures Grandma and Grandpa could check out if they missed the game, etc. I wanted to get 1 million (!!!) teams using a web site I would build. I thought I could do that within 5 years. I talked to some smart, successful mentors who told me it was impossible. How would I, a 24 year-old law school dropout with no business experience, no money and no connections do that?

Just the feedback I needed to get to work. (In a way, they were right, though. It took us 4 years, not 5 to get our first million teams using our site, eteamz.com. [Brian Johnson]

I really hate the idea of being average. In things I can’t be great at, I want to be at least “different,” but not “average,” please. Yes, as both Butterworth and Johnson discuss, we each have the potential to accomplish “the impossible.” But we each have the gifts of a different perspective, different skills, different knowledge and something uniquely special which we bring to our work, our social lives and our associations. Once you get to know someone, how can they ever be “average” again?  [Jim Hance]  

If you’d like to subscribe to Brian’s free newsletter with podcast downloads, direct your browser to:

http://philosophersnotes.com/newsletter/new

I suspect you will become a fan too.

“What can I do for you?”  Simply asking the question can provide you with an opportunity to steer valuable business to people you know and trust. 

In the course of our business and social lives, we encounter people in all types of professions, many of whom we know are very good at what they do. We are each a valuable resource of information for referring people we meet to people we happen to know provide great products and services. Asking the simple question, “What can I do for you?” is all it takes to start a conversation to learn how you can refer valuable business to someone you know and trust. When you refer business to others, they will refer business to you. So, what can I do for you today? 

“If you knew that you could always get more of the great things that life has to offer, with less effort and cost, would you be interested? If you could find a simple solution to your problems by following a way that always works, would you be interested? If you could work a two-day week, and yet get much better results and pay than you do for a full week now, would you be interested? If that way applied not just to making a living, to money, or success, but also to the even more important areas of life – the people that you love and care for, and your happiness and fulfilment – would you be interested? You can transform your life if you follow the 80/20 Way.” That’s from Richard Koch’s Website and books at www.the8020principle.com.

The idea is that only 20% of our activity is producing 80% of the desired (or undesired) results. There are a lot of anecdotes from our lives which follow this ratio: 20% of the clothes in our closets are worn 80% of the time; 20% of the criminals account for 80% of the crime; 20% of motorists account for 80% of automobile accidents; 20% of streets get 80% of the traffic.

In business, identifying and focusing on the critical 20% often makes or breaks a business. 20% of clients often account for 80% of profits. 20% of product flaws account for 80% of problems.   

A good goal for the new year is to identify and focus more attention on the 20 percent which gains us the rewards we want. A wise person said, “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” Focusing on what matters most–the 20 percent of what I do which is really effective–will make the most difference in my level of success. 

Koch says know what you want and be “unreasonable” in setting out to get it. George Bernard Shaw said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”

According to Koch, “The 80/20 Principle is the key to controlling our lives. If we can latch on to the few powerful forces within and around us, we can leverage our efforts to multiply effectiveness. Most of what we do has trivial results. A little of what we do really matters. So if we focus on the latter, we can control events instead of being controlled by them, and achieve several times the results.”

Another way of putting it: “Think 80/20, and act 80/20. Those who ignore the 80/20 principle are doomed to average returns. Those who use it must bear the burden of exceptional achievement.” 

That’s a burden I will gladly accept.

Here’s a complementary idea which Carole Osborne has at the bottom of all of her emails: ”To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” — Confucius

Frances Cole Jones in her book, How To Wow, lists 13 words which she says are most persuasive. Those words begin with “you” (though she is careful to explain that putting the word “I” before “you” as in the statement, “As I remember our conversation, you agreed to be in charge of X,” is important as well.) The other 12 most most persuasive words include money, save, new, results, health, easy, safety, love, discovery, proven, and guarantee.

Individuals at a client organization of hers play the game of trying to get all of these most persuasive words into each of their business presentations each meeting. “Because they are financial-types, the word ‘love’ was giving them trouble. The day they solved this they were so proud they called me up. Their solution? When they get to a particularly intricate slide on their PowerPoint handouts, they say, ‘I love this slide!’”

A couple of other interesting tips: only 7 percent of your impact comes from the words you say — 38 percent comes from your tonal quality while saying it, and 55 percent comes from what your body is doing while saying it. And when you give your listeners a “because” for your decision, you increase buy-in from 60 to 94 percent.