Career Coach. Management Consultant. Writer. Marketer. Accountant.
A few days ago, I told you how I fell in love after a business dinner.
What I didn’t tell you is that I received an award earlier that night. In fairness, I almost forgot about until I pulled it out of my mobile office backpack today.
It’s the illustrious baby’s bottom award, for being “smoothest in times of crisis”.
I bring this up because it highlights a key lesson that people overlook far too frequently. And that lesson is…
[Read more…]You ever heard of Flavor Flav?
If so, I’d bet you probably know him from a painfully bad reality show — Flavor of Love (so painful I watched every season).
But what you might not know is that Mr. Flav is also an inductee into the Rock N Roll hall of fame as part of the iconic group Public Enemy.
I’ll get to why you should care about this in a minute but first I want to share a story about a phone call I had today.
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Just in time for Valentine’s Day…
“Play the best songs by AC/DC”. That was me this morning as I started my 1.5 hour drive from my dentist. (If you think that’s long, consider it’s a 5 hour flight from my house.) Up until last night, I never thought I’d say those words conjuring up an AC/DC playlist.
If I’m being all the way real, the only AC/DC I knew involved alternating and direct currents. (Yay for science!)
Anyway, here’s how it happened, which was so fast you might even day I was … Thunderstruck.
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It’s almost 11:30pm pst as I sit down to write this. I’m back in my hotel — and for the 3rd time in as many nights my mind is taking me to the same place.
Kobe Bean Bryant aka the Black Mamba.
In case you’re not familiar, Kobe was a retired nba superstar who will be going into the hall of fame as one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball. I say “was” because he died over the weekend in a helicopter crash, along with his second oldest daughter GiGi.
Tributes have been pouring in from Kobe’s friends, mentors, and fans all over the world.
Some people have come out against all of the tributes because of his widely publicized sexual assault case that was settled in 2005.
To the second group of people I say, people can be two things at the same time. And sometimes people can evolve into different things overtime.
That doesn’t change the past or any harm done, but that is a part of humanity. Each of us has to decide what we do with that fact.
It’s always strange how people react when they have to confront their own mortality. So while I never considered myself a hardcore Kobe fan (I grew up more of a Michael Jordan fan), his death has me thinking about a couple of things.
First — his impact on his profession and how to apply that in other fields. Or to put it more simply…
I’m thinking about The Mamba Mentality.
If I had to describe this mentality, I think the best way is an unwillingness to let anyone outwork you. No exceptions.
If you take that commitment… that obsession… and apply it to whatever you do, you will always outperform your peers.
Think about that the next time you don’t want to do that next self-study course or go to that conference.
Second — and more importantly — I’m thinking about family. Kobe left a wife and three other daughters behind.
GiGi left a mother and three sisters behind.
And there’s no amount of money that’s going to take their pain away.
So while I’m all about grinding and climbing to the top of your career, remember why you’re doing what you do. Remember the loved ones around you — and make time to create forever memories with them. And do it in whatever way works for you.
That’s the most important advice I can ever give.
To your happiness,
EB
“How do you all keep from getting weak mentally to keep driving on?”
That was a question posed in one of my Facebook groups and it couldn’t have been more timely.
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Feb 11, 1990 in Tokyo.
Buster Douglas went down in the 8th by way of a right uppercut, and then bounced back to take Mike Tyson down for a KO in the tenth with right uppercut left, right, left hook.
42:1 odds against Buster Douglas.
Time and time again we see these upsets in sports and they are only possible because someone gave themselves a chance by showing up.
You have the promoter who does the marketing and makes sure it’s a fight people want to see.
And then you have the delivery of the product, which is the fight or game itself.
Make no mistake — these are two completely separate skills, although they complement each other nicely.this guy getting knocked out has everything to do with your next career move
Here’s why I bring this up.
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So here we are in the year 2020 and no flying cars or jetpacks.
That’s the first thing I thought entering the new year. The second thing I thought was I hate New Years resolutions. You should too.
And here’s why…
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Imposter syndrome can do a number on your confidence.
You know what I’m talking about — that feeling when you volunteer to step into something new but you don’t know exactly what you’re doing.
You’re afraid of failing because you’re exposed as maybe not such an expert after all and you think everyone else around you knows more than you do.
If you’ve ever felt this way, I’m sure you thought having this feeling was a bad thing but I have some news for you.
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Have you ever been around a little kid where they blurted out the 100% truth and the parent responds by saying “he doesn’t know what he’s saying”…
… or reprimanding the kid by saying “we don’t say things like that.” or ‘that’s not nice.”
I learned a different perspective on this last week.
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There’s an epidemic amongst us.
And I’m worried you might be suffering from it too.
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