Trizle

Motivational Manager Charlie: "We must get them to believe in themselves! Yay! Because, when they believe in themselves, they will do anything they set their minds to! Oh Yeah! High-five!!!!!!!!!!!111one" Believing in yourself sounds great; but:

• What if Charlie's employees hate him?
• What if they lack the resources to do their jobs?
• What if they feel they're underpaid?
• What if the company ignores their strengths and passions?
• What if the company creates an atmosphere of fear?

The company can motivate all it wants; but employees -- worried about external thing-a-majiggaz -- will still produce crap until their basic needs are fulfilled.

What People Need

Psychologist Abraham Maslow's legendary Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid:

• At the bottom, people's fundamental needs: breathing, food, water.
• At the top, transcendental needs: self-actualization (i.e. doing what 'I'm born to do')

Multi-million dollar athletes, Silicon Valley billionaires, and world-renown directors still do what they do because they 'must' perfect their crafts (i.e. they must self-actualize).

1. Pianists cannot be themselves unless they play their Moonlight Sonatas.
2. Designers must design their Mona Lisas.
3. Quarterbacks must write their Super Bowls.

Yet, to self-actualize and rock the jigga out their work: Peeps must first have their basic needs fulfilled.

Your People's Needs

Remember at one of your sucky-S.U.C.K. jobs:

1. Beginning: You came into it excited you could help the company.
2. Middle: Extrinsic things soon bothered you: the manager's distrust, politics, lack of supplies, the yaddas
3. The Result: You produced crap work: "My basic needs weren't fulfilled! OH-NO-NO!"

What do your people need?

• Everything that finally makes them say: "Now, I can fully focus on my work."

Fulfill 'Em Needz

Fulfill Johnny's basic needs; ask him:

• "List 5 things that sucks about the company."
• "What must we do so you can fully focus on your craft?"

The answers might prompt you to:

• Position him where he feels he can produce greatness.
• Pay him sufficiently, with sweet benefits.
• Mandate free speech without repercussions.
• Resolve the issues he has with company/management/etc.

Fulfill whatever people need so they're strictly concentrating on rocking the mutha-chicken out of their work. Result: Krrrazydiculous work. Booyah!

First. Needs.

• You procrastinate. Your day flies by.
• You fully immerse yourself into a project. You've barely hit noontime.

Why?

You stretch time when you're in the zone. Psychologically, you manipulate your perception of time because you're intensely focused on every little tidbit that helps you accomplish your goal -- not distracted by how much time has elapsed.

But When You Start Checking...

Distracting yourself every X minutes to see the time (1) destroys your "in the zone" levels every time, and (2) forces you to rebuild your full concentration power levels again, and again, and again. Your resulting production time: flat.

WT@!$^?!

Shouldn't time fly when you're having fun? According to Duke neuroscientists: NO!

• Time flies by because you're constantly looking at the clock to see how much 'time for fun' you have left.
• But if you had ignored your watches/clocks, your perception of time would've differed: "Hey, we're having so much fun! And, we've barely hit noontime. Yay! High-five! Booyah!"

The paradox: You prolong your perception of time when you say NO! to constant watch-checking. Stretch time by fully immersing yo-rad-@^^-brain into sumthin' sumthin'.

Zone yo-self.

Do this:

1. Pay Superstar Sally 1.5 times her usual average income.
2. Then, work her like she's two people.

Sha-bam! You get:

1. a motivated Sally
2. productivity at 25% cost savings

Nucor -- achievers of Krrazzy Employee Productivity -- inspired that concept (as researched by one of our favorite gurus). That is, you can rock the shizzlin' out of star performers to become ridiculous overachievers. (And, cut costs too.)

Why Challenge Performers?

You've been to the usual business office:

1. One dude's struggling to keep up.
2. The other star dude has already finished, and is now waiting, becoming increasingly bored, and anxious to do sumthin' sumthin'.

But, what do companies with those star players do after they've finished Task ABC? They give them busy work, like boxing up boxes -- draining their desire to work fab-taculous-ly. BOO!

Say NO! to The Tedious

Star performers:

• love work
• love rocking big goals
• love pushing themselves to excel

That's who they are. That's how their parents raised them. You give them a day to plan a company bike trip across state, and they'll give you:

1. a detailed map, with turn-by-turn directions, for the trip
2. maintenance checklists to ensure proper bike conditions
3. recommended dress attire, riding technique, and safety preparedness docs
4. anecdotes from the experienced with what to expect
5. a mini website with all resources posted
6. sweet little fanny-packs filled with energy bars, mini first-aid kits, sunscreen, water bottles, and other goodies for everybody

They're overachieving bastards who have an inner need to rock the bizattchi out of anything and everything. Their mentality drives them to exponentially complete more than the Average Joes -- oh-so-much-more.

Sidebar: How do you identify star performers?

Here's the difference between star performers and those little suck-ups who desperately want to make love with their bosses:

• Star performers seek excellence because they can't settle for anything less.
• Suck-ups want promotions.

Seek Superstars. Witness Magical Work.

Smaller companies filled with star performers will annihilate much larger companies any day of the week. They:

1. get a few folks who can accomplish more than larger competitors
2. generously pay those star performers
3. massively save on costs by steering clear of several mediocre peeps

Ideally:

1. Fill your company with only those star performers.
2. Pay them more than industry averages.
3. Challenge them with ridiculous work.

Then, witness massive productivity.

Reward challenge.

Announcer: "Hey, market your cheesecake company through word-of-mouth! Forget about everything else! Yay!" So, what do you do?

1. You use one marketing channel: word-of-mouth.
2. Unbeknown to you, you shrivel revenues because Tom, Jane, and Dick hang with a different crowd. Multiply that scenario by a kabillion, and your loss on potential customers: 9870987958609580905.

Boo. Instead:

1. Use additional channels to reach more customers.
2. Boost winning chances.
3. Repeat.

The more ways you market, the more peeps-who'd-go-oh-so-crazy-about-your-products you'll reach.

Leave Nobody Behind

Top Division 1 college football teams don't confine their recruiting efforts to within their own counties. Oh no. They'd end up sucking, like a Charlie-Weiss-coached football team. Zing! Instead, top teams search the nation -- from Woodside-to-Topeka-to-Raleigh-to-Buffalo-to-@^^%, finding those marquee recruits to add to their repertoires. Likewise, you won't reach the peeps you want by confining yourself to one marketing channel. A chunk of profitable customers lie beyond that one channel.

So:

Market Like a Constipated Chicken

For instance, when you combine:

1. word-of-mouth
2. direct mail
3. yellow-page ads
4. AdWords
5. PR
6. gifts to celebs
7. etc., etc., etc.

you do something crazy-fabulous:

• You reach out to as many potential customers as possible.
• You reach out to as many potential customers as possible.
• You reach out to as many potential customers as possible.

Ka-blingo! Now, the world sees Keyshia Cole praising your cheesecakes on the cover story of People, influencing her popular network, and growing your business like it ain't no thing but a chicken wing on a string. +1 to you. Empower your business by squeezing the living @^^% out of as many conceivable marketing channels as profitably possible. Win.

Diversify.

If John, Sue, Craig, and 99894875658649 other peeps did XYZ, would doing XYZ help you too? Not too much: At best, doing XYZ just evens the playing field.

How to Rock

Instead, rocking the competition takes doing something the masses are:

• too scared to do
• too ignorant to care
• too complex to understand

The Richest Paths

The richest companies/folks take constant detours down their lonely paths.

• Warren Buffet buys stocks the masses are overlooking.
• Garbage companies get rich because most want rosier surroundings.
• Salespeople get rich because most other peeps hate daily rejections.

Greatest value lies where nobody's looking. Challenge your company.

Do something different. Discover hidden jewels.

Think of a 6th grader.

• Her full-time job involves 8 hours of school a day.
• Then, she practices with her basketball team for 2 hours.
• She then has 3 hours of homework every night.
• And on the weekends, she has 5 hours of ballet.
• Don't forget her daily chores and acting as therapist to her BFFs in boy-crises mode all-day-everyday.

And yet, she still manages to:

• Eat a hearty dinner with her family, nightly.
• Hang out with friends at the mall.
• Watch her favorite TV shows.
• Chat up her little buddies online.
• See movies.
• And, still go to bed at 9 p.m. every night.
• ...to sleep a ridiculous 8 hours.

Oh, and she remains the same jolly-joyful-upbeat hip-hip-hooray kid we all know. @$%^$^@ &^@^&!

We Adults Suck

We're 5% as productive as kids, but think:

• "We have no time for fun because we have so much work to do!"

Boo.

Schedule Like a Kid

Set constraints for yourself.

1. Schedule more fun.
2. Sleep 8 hours.
3. Challenge yourself to bigger goals.
4. Increase your daily workload.

Then, see how you just "magically" become 9869048372581 times more productive, and a kabillion times more happy.

Work more. Play More. Live more.

What would you do?

• a) Learn what's more important for tomorrow.
• b) Learn what's more important for ten years from now.

But...what if you could do both (a) and (b)? That is:

1. You learn something that you could apply soon.
2. You learn something that you could also apply ten years from now.

You'd reach:

Peak Learning Goodness

You learn to the maximum-of-the-super-maximum by encompassing what you could apply for the rest of your ridiculously dope life. Advantage: You, for eternity.

Learning What?

Having knowledge that you could use for the rest of your life compounds your advantages for your future situations. We call that stuff your Lifelong-Learning-Knowledge Juice (LLKJs). For instance: Take Sue.

1. Sue learns about how managers make their employees excel.
2. Sue volunteers as a youth basketball coach.
3. Sue applies her management wisdom to Streetblue Ballers.

Or, a more direct business analogy:

1. Sue learns how to optimize her little 3-person-team performance.
2. Sue becomes CEO.
3. Sue applies her knowledge of rocking small teams by building hundreds of little teams -- each optimized for maximum performance -- and, collectively forming one ridiculous company.

Lifelong knowledge = Gifts that keep giving -- if you're looking. But where to look?

Where to Focus Yo-Self

Learn what's needed; but, dig deeper, and uncover what you can use for the rest of your life. For example:

• Learn how to cook Mushroom Risottos, but focus on delivering delectable meals.
• Learn the Python programming language, but focus on programming methodologies.
• Learn to give your introductory speech, but focus on communicating your message.

In other words: Learn what you need for tomorrow; but, focus on what you can grasp for a lifetime.

How to Exploit Your Juice

Think of a little compartment in your brain that stores your LLKJs. More of that knowledge juice gives you more advantages to rock out. For example:

Sue, who uses her several LLKJs, including knowledge of (1) optimizing teams, (2) managing egos, (3) handling conflicts, (4) exploiting individual strengths has a much greater basketball coaching advantage over Joe Schmo who starts coaching completely from scratch.

Win: Sue. The more you fill your brain with lifelong useful stuff, the greater advantages you'll give yourself. So, to rock out super-FAB-tastically:

1. Repeatedly fill up more LLKJs into your brain's compartment that stores them.
2. Use those juices liberally in anything you do to your advantage.

The result:

1. You exploit knowledge that took you years to accumulate.
2. Joe Schmos of the world would need years to catch up to learn what you specifically know.
3. Therefore, you increase your chances of rocking -- significantly.

Win.

Life-long-useful stuff. Scrumptious.

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr., June 1963

You're running the most technically-advanced company in the whole-wide world.

You're bringing in customers by the droves; Businessweek's calling wanting an interview; you've landed Oprah. OPRAH! But then! All of a sudden!

Mr. Master-Of-the-Universe-Of-the-Galaxy decides he wants his 12-year-old daughter to run your company.

OH NO!

He tells you: "You have 7 days. My daughter will take over your company, and it must run as efficiently as ever. Or else!" OH what COULD HaPpEn? OH NOOOOOO! But wait! Here comes:

Mr. Save-YOUR-Boo-Tay to the Rescue!

You're going hysterical. There's absolutely no way you can hand over your business to a 12-year old and have it running in tip-top shape in a week -- you think. Mr. SYBT slaps you. He asks:

1. Him: "If you somehow climbed mountains in the Himalayas for several weeks, could your company run without you?"
2. You: Umm, no.
3. Him: "Well, you're a disgrace to all of mankind, chump."

You cry. He slaps you again. Then, he goes on his teaching trip:

"TOP SECRET: Mr. SYBT's Business How-Tos"

Mr. SYBT's meticulous speech:

Point ^1: Automate your business.

Build a company where you can step away -- anytime you want -- and still have it run efficiently as ever.

Point ^2: Focus on automation.

How does McDonald's hire high schoolers to be the public faces of their kabillion-dollar empire? It's because those sons-of-@^^%^ automate the freak out of their business -- where pimple-faced Billy can run the joint.

Point ^3: Standardize processes.

Automate your business through standard hiring/training/management/manufacturing/deployment/the-yadda procedures. Have a set approach to handle employee and customer feedback. Standardize innovation. Ask: How would you want your company to run if you were out climbing Mount Kangchenjunga?

Point ^4: Can you leave effortlessly?

If your company can run without you, you've accomplished the hallmark of business: You're making money by exhausting none of your time or energy.

Point ^5: Expand value.

With newfound freedom from your company making money without your presence, you've opened up a can of kick-ass new opportunities -- which you can also automate -- to grow your business even more. Capitalize on your business -- exponentially. Make it grow. Give it hope. See it soar. (Mr. SYBT is very deep.)

So, for the Next Week..

Knowing Mr. Master-Of-the-Universe-Of-the-Galaxy means business, you start automating your business to its core.

1. You create steps on hiring folks: where to prospect, traits to hire, standard forms to fill, et. al.
2. Likewise, you create detailed-but-simple steps on managing folks, getting the most out of folks, generating new customers.
3. You explain how to source vendors, respond to competitors, build product XYZ, handle customer inquiries, steps to ridiculously innovate, the yaddas.

Granting access: Senior managers, employees, consultants, vendors, and contractors will have access to individual sections/pages -- helping them do their jobs to-the-max. You then preface the secret book to its keepers:

"Note: This manual and its pages will continually change to optimize its value. I've included a section on how and when to change sections to make it even better."

And Then...

With a solemn bow, you hand over your secret book:

• You: Miss-Princess-Of-the-Universe-Of-the-Galaxy, with great honor, I present to you our company's secret manual.
• You: It will show you step-by-step how to run our company in very simple language.
• Her: "That's awesome."
• You: Soar.

Automate.

You set your sights on completing 9869530 items. Night time arrives, and you've completed 1 item. Boo.

"How do I complete more stuff?!?!"

Try this:

1. Set an ambitious 30-minute goal.
2. Imagine you're a coked-up ostrich on 'roids.
3. Go!

There, you've just:

1. completed what you would've taken you the entire day.
2. barely caused a dent to your fabulously productive day ahead.

You do two of those 30-minute chunks in your day?

Whoop-de-doo:

• What normally had taken you two days takes you a collective 1 hour of work.

Hip-hip-horaay!

You'll Go Faster, and Faster, and Faster

If you've efficiently battled some ridiculous 30-minute goal, you'll feel = exhausted. You'll then want to relax because you'll be like, "Oh. I so tired." Unbeknown to you, chill-axing replenishes your energy reserves to the max, helping you complete even more stuff.

The Power of Relaxation?

1. Your brain regains its full power.
2. Your creative subconscious kicks into high gear.
3. You'll regain your vivacity.

Kabbbbbbbooooooooooom! Your work-relax-work-relax-work-relax-yadda chunks exponentially increase your productivity.

Think of it this way

While other people are crawling dreadful 10 foots-per-hour on their marathons, what are you doing?

• You're using perpetual 20 miles-per-hour sprints to blow past all those %^@$^!@%!&$ in your way with exponential ease.

Say goodbye to Senor Boo-tay! High-five!

Think 30-minute chunks.