Story Hour

It started with the parades and the marching bands before becoming a familiar and popular TV show. One that generated millions of viewers and followers. It was one that people watched during dinner; they streamed it at work, and spoke about it online.

It was as real as reality could be.

So why, then, was Gerry unhappy?

He was the number one celebrity in a celebrity driven society. He was ubiquitous, like air, and felt like he could float like lithium on water. Or more accurately, he felt that he could jump into a pool of water and explode on contact like caesium, that every thing he did had an oversized reaction by his fans.

 He had everything, and everybody, watching his every move, mimicking every tic and mannerism, they even recited his catch phrase "Domo Sorry-Gato" at every chance in solidarity to his inane characterisms.

So why, then, was Gerry so unhappy?

There were whole cottage industries dedicated to his celebrity. TMZ followed him around like mosquitos in Florida and even Facebook streamed his every public act for everyone to see.

He had all the money he could ever need; in fact, he had more money than anyone in history would ever need. He bought cars, planes, islands. With his wealth he "diversified" into other investments in his portfolio, being an angel investor in tech to investing heavily in startups specializing in advanced tech. He even bought, through legal and paralegal means his own countries. He didn't buy countries outright, he just spent enough money on elections that he was able to influence the outcomes to meet his particular tastes and desires.

To wit, Gerry, born Gerald P Wolt had everything, was everything. But he was unhappy.

At 5 years old Gerry began performing for friends and family, dancing The Charleston, quickly followed by a quick tip of the hat, and wiggle of an imaginary cigar. Quickly he learned that he could make those people around him happy, but more importantly, he learned that his dancing would get him anything he wanted. It was a quick lesson and one he understood even at such a young age.

As he got older, Gerry realized that if he smiled a certain way, he'd get the obvious cheers and accolades, but if he tweaked that smile just ever-so-slightly, he could elicit a kind of euphoria from his fans. It was as if the parts of their brain that held individuality, conscious thought, reason, and rationale all got lobotomized and all that was left was the limbic lobe, the part of the brain that controlled happiness. In other words, Gerry learned at a very delicate age that by making others laugh, he could control them. Like the fungi Ophiocordyceps that controls the carcass of the invaded ant, Gerry could invade his audience through his performance and make them servile to his wants and whims.

So why, then, was Gerry so unhappy?

3 Tips To Help You Stop Failing And Find The Success You Deserve

Why You Suck And Will Fail Every Time 

Goal Setting Is A Process Toward Success, But First Slay Your Dragon Of Distraction 

Whether you're looking to run a marathon, write a book and publish it traditionally or through resources like Kindle Publishing, or simply improve performance, it's important to get rid of distractions.

It takes conscious, sustained effort to the finish line.  Like a runner, one foot in front of the other is the surest path to get there.  But if you don't have a plan to where you're going, the one foot strategy will just get you lost.

It's easy to get lost in the world today.

From Facebook and Twitter, to smartphones that you can watch Netflix on as well as check email, it's really easy to get distracted.

Learn how to prioritize your time and your responsibilities to get the most out of your day! 

Conquer Your Dragon Of Distraction

Distractions can consume your most precious commodity - time - if you don't know how to conquer it.

Like a dragon, the imaginary reptile that would horde riches and defend them against all challenges, distractions can overwhelm you before you know it. It will steal your time and destroy your dreams.

Like any major obstacle, the key is get the task down to manageable size.  You can't eat a pizza in one bite, so why do you think a major task can be done in one sitting?

It also gets WAY more difficult when you allow distractions to enter into the picture.

We all know how easy it is to turn on the TV, check Facebook, email or other ways to fall down the rabbit hole of doing everything but what you need to do.

Why do you think horse trainers put blinders on their horses?

It's too easy to get distracted.

So conquer your dragon of distraction by creating a plan, get more focused and you'll meet your goals.

You've Slain The Dragon Now Improve Your Productivity Even More

Before we discuss the tips to help you improve upon your productivity, and move you closer to your successes, we need to define a couple things first.

• Goals are the designated finish lines for your work. They're the end point for what you want to accomplish.  They are the outcomes of necessary steps to get to the finish line. 

and

• Process is planned action. It's the necessary steps taken to move toward your goal - it's the foundation that builds the path toward success or failure.

finally,

• Success is the outcome of proper practice - it's the tangible reward for well-planned hard work. 

Now that we've established the groundwork needed, the key to meeting your goals and finding success, you need to have a detailed plan.  

The 3 Best Tips To Improve Productivity To Meet Your Goals And Find Your Success

1) Have A To-Do List: 

Think about everything you need to accomplish and everything you'd like to get done for the day.

Next make a list of tasks you need to accomplish makes it easy to stay on track.  You can use a piece of paper - I know, a little old school, but create two columns. In one column place your most important items to accomplish, and put everything else in the other column. 

Having a list allows you to check off the important things, gives you a sense of completion and allows you to see what you started your day with and what you finished.  

2) Keep Your List To The Rule Of Three: 

In a recent post at the blog Paid To Exist, Jonathan Mead wrote about how to maximize your day by creating to-do lists but emphasized that you need to keep it to a manageable limit - his suggestion?  

The list should abide by the Rule of Three.  

Simply, make your list, keep it small and check off what you finished. Depending on the specific tasks, three items a day can be much easier to accomplish than worrying about everything you need to get done. 

3) Wear Blinders, Then Allow Yourself Distractions

You have your list and you've limited it to the rule of three.

Finally you need to wear blinders.  And allow yourself to be distracted. What?

It's true you need to put away potential distractions in order to get the work done.  It could be blinders from social media, TV, whatever, but you need to block out anything that gets in the way of your progress.

Look, we all get distracted. It's natural.  We only have a finite amount of willpower to conduct disciplined tasks, the kind of tasks that "the process" requires.

At the final drive of the Superbowl XXIII, Joe Montana famously is said to have looked up into the crowd during a TV timeout, saying to teammates, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?"

At that exact time, he was distracted - some say he was unaffected from the pressure of the moment, but he was distracted.

But once the ball snapped, he was able to block out all the distractions, driving the team to a touchdown and winning the game.

Had Joe Montana been distracted a play or two later, the game could've ended much, much differently.

But when the time to be focused was there, Joe Montana blocked out the distractions and exceeded his preparation.

So put blinders on and focus. It doesn't have to be for long periods of time.

Joe Montana is the essence of the Pomodoro Technique.

He was focused when it mattered and allowed himself to be distracted and relaxed between periods of focus.

Finally - Don't Worry About Failure: 

Easier said than done, obviously.

We all worry about doing something and falling on our face, of standing out from the crowd, of failing and being laughed at and shunned.

It's so high school, but we all share in the fear of falling on our face.  But why? 

Because we're social animals and on an intuitive level we know that being shunned by the community could have been deadly.

Luckily we don't live in caves with wild, feral predators stalking our every move.  We can agree that society may have some problems, but we can also agree that living in one is a huge benefit over our ancestors.

It's nice to know that we don't have to fear being thrown out of the tribe and have to fend for ourselves.  

Now we just get laughed at.

When I say don't worry about failure, it's not that we can fail without repercussions.  But what are those repercussions?  If you're working a job, and your family depends on your income, fear of failure, of losing your job should be a concern but it shouldn't overwhelm you.  

Failure is often a great learning tool. It's reaching our limits, finding the edges to our capabilities that we learn what we're capable of.

The key to success is pushing your boundaries to their limits and that's how you'll find your limitations.

By knowing your limitations you can better operate within your capabilities, and you'll improve your productivity and eventually find the success you're looking for.

Slay the dragon of distraction, make a plan and set your goals, keep it simple and you'll find the journey of achieving success both enjoyable and easier to accomplish.

You'll stop sucking in no time. 

Kindle Publishing Journey - Are You A Chicken Or A Pig? How To Increase Productivity By Making Bacon

Kindle Publishing Tips: Increase Productivity By Making Yourself Accountable 

This week, the process of my Kindle Publishing journey is about finishing.

Everyone has ideas, some are great, others aren't so much. 

The difference between what separates writers from authors is finishing and the difference between great and not so great can only be achieved after you finish. 

And the best way to finish something?  You have to start. 

You have to stay disciplined.  

Have a schedule of your time and stay dedicated to certain tasks during those times of the day and week.  

You can read about how to compartmentalize your writing and improve your productivity in this post (Get Off Your Ass And Write).

Part of the trick to staying on task is telling others what you plan to do.  Commit to the idea, take the necessary steps and follow through.  Then let your group challenge you some more.  

That step-by-step process is one great way to define productivity and improve your output. 

Everyone Needs A Tribe

Athletes train with a team.  It's how they push and challenge themselves to get better.

Especially in those moments when they want to stop, quit and walk away.  

But they make an agreement with each other.  If they need support, they have each other.

When they need a challenge, they're going through the struggle of training together.

It's what gets them out of bed in the early morning when they're sore, tired and unmotivated.

It's what gets them to run that extra sprint or lift that extra rep. 

That's one of the reasons why Boot Camps, as a form of after hours training, are so popular right now. 

People come together, agree to meet at the same time every day, and support and challenge each other. 

This commitment is one that is NOT to be broken.

That's what accountability is about, not letting those who count and depend upon you, down.

Currently there are two short stories in the pipe-line with a non-fiction concept in development.  The goal is to finish the stories this week and begin the writing phase of the non-fiction ebook.  

The ebook is dedicated to the step-by-step process I'll take to Kindle Direct Publishing of the stories I've written.

This is me, telling you, what my goals are for the week.

In order to accomplish them I needed to shout it loud here.  

My hope is that by telling you my goals, I'll have to put up or shut up.

Credibility is a hard thing to gain, and very easy to lose.  It's a form of trust between us. 

So that makes you, my imaginary audience, my group for the week.  I have to maintain the trust you've shown by reading this blog to stay on task.  

Are You A Chicken Or A Pig? 

In Johnny B. Truant's post at Sterling and Stone - What Defines You, he writes about the idea that as story tellers we need to be engaged with our own stories.

Even though it takes discipline to finish, and the topic of this post is all about finishing, the BEST way to finish something is to become committed and engaged with it. 

Writing should not be like sitting in a dentist chair, numb from novocaine and getting drilled.

You may be engaged, but you're not committed to the process.  

I've heard it said a different way - a coach asked his team about their commitment to the team with the following metaphor about the animals involved in their breakfasts:

If you had eggs and bacon for breakfast, what separates the chicken from the pig?

The chicken is dedicated, the pig is invested. 

So, you're my tribe.

And I'm a pig. 

Join me in the process and become bacon as well. 

Kindle Direct Publishing: Conquer Your Fears And Just Get Started

My Journey With Self-Publishing Through Kindle Direct Publishing Is Like Riding A Bike 

To accomplish something, the first thing to do is get started.

Getting started is the hardest part.

We don't like to fall, it hurts and stings.  It can be embarrassing.

And nobody likes being embarrassed.

But falling is how we learn.

Most of us don't remember learning to ride a bike.

We don't remember the training wheels coming off. We may remember a specific crash or accident, but we don't remember the countless times it surely happened.

We can see that process in action in our lives even today.

We've all see kids trying to learn how to ride a bike and have often see them fall over.

It's painful to watch them, but eventually they learn how to balance without falling over.

In a recent post, we discussed why I took my ebook down from Kindle Direct Publishing ( You can see it here: Why I Deleted My Ebook From Kindle Publishing)

As I wrote, the reason why was because the ebook was getting zero traction on its own and I needed to rethink the process.

I needed to add some more content - so I've been editing a couple other stories.

Obviously there should be a marketing idea in place - so I've been researching what other indie writers have attempted with their platform with Kindle Direct Publishing.

In A Nutshell, My Marketing Plan Is Simple

I plan on creating a number of avenues to funnel traffic to the books.

The plan includes using some additional stories as other vehicles to drive traffic to the collection of short stories.

The idea is to take think of the book like a hub with spokes.

On its own, a spoke is weak, it will break easily, and can't support a tire.

With a hundred spokes, each centering to the hub, the tire is supported and can easily support the weight.

So each of these kindle ebooks will be a spoke, centered around a hub.

How To Get Ideas For Content - Take Off The Training Wheels

A great resource guide, aside from Write Publish Repeat that we discussed in an earlier post. ( See it here: My Journey Into eBook Publishing)

But another great writer in the field of self-publishing is Steve Scott.  While a non-fiction writer, Steve Scott offers many different tactics and ways to get an ebook up and running as soon as possible.  

A great ebook to start with is his ebook on developing great ideas for content generation. If interested you can check it out on Amazon through my affiliate link.

By using my link, you'll get some great suggestions, tips and know-how from one of the best of the best in the Kindle Direct Publishing field.

I'll get a small commission from Amazon for your purchase, but it won't cost you a dime extra.

Check it out here: How to Discover Best-Selling Nonfiction eBook Ideas - The Bulletproof Strategy