I am always thinking about what I’m going to write next. I have ideas for about five different books.  I also am focused on getting out there speaking again.  The process of booking me is long and takes time to build a machine that will fill my schedule with paying gigs. In the past I have not fully committed the resources or the time into this task. Over the years, one thing I learned is patience. If you asked me about patience a decade ago, I would have said, “Why be patient? I can’t wait!”  Part of being patient is knowing when to let life’s ebb and flow take over.

What I’ve learned about success is not running to a safe haven when things don’t happen right away. In the past, I ran to marketing when things were not happening as quickly as I wanted them to. Or, I would say to myself, “I need to write another book. That will do it.” I love writing and I love marketing but that’s only two pieces of the puzzle. The problem is I really can’t do my own selling. Imagine a guy with a speech impediment calling an organization, “Hey, you want to hire me to speak?” My role is to give my manager Linda the tools she needs, the time she needs and give her motivation and support.

How often do we run to something safe when things are not going well?

I’ve been thinking about the fact that no matter how much we may love what we do, work is still work. Work divides into three brackets. The first bracket is what we love to do. The second tasks are those we feel indifferent about. We don’t hate them, but given a choice, we’d rather not do them. The third is the stuff we absolutely hate to do, the tough conversations, dealing with disgruntled customers, so on and so on. Everything in life has these three brackets, even love and raising kids.  In order to grow and prosper, you need to spend time every day on each bracket.