Trizle

The more you stress yourself at X, the more capacity you build for X. (Researchers Tony Schwartz, Jim Loehr)

For instance:

• You build more muscles by lifting heavier weights.
• You build more endurance by running farther.

Similarly, you build more capacity to perform by working harder.

1. Troy Polamalu goes full out on every pass play.
2. Therefore, he builds more capacity to perform than someone who doesn't play full out.

Imagine your next 5 minutes of work as a football play. The more you push yourself in those next 5 minutes to perform, the more capacity you build to get more things done in future 5 minutes plays.

That is, for example, instead of finishing 1 task in five minutes, you see yourself finishing:

1. 1.5 tasks a five minutes set
2. 1.8 tasks in the next set
3. 2.1 tasks in the next set
4. Etc, etc, etc

SHABAMA YOU WIN YOU WIN

Working Harder

Here's one way to do it:

1. Shibobo sets a timer for 5 minutes.
2. Shibobo goes full out trying to complete as many things as he can.
3. Shibobo takes a quick break to regain full energy for the next 5 minutes.

Every set helps him get more things done in successive sets.

Be More Productive

Build more capacity to perform with 100% work sets.

You = Troy Polamalu.

HIGH FIVE

Stress sets.

Imagine a football team playing with no bench players.

1. A key player starts sucking.
2. No one fills the role of that player.
3. The team suffers.

A business with no backup plan in case a critical player underperforms amplifies its odds of failing.

For instance, say you have a vendor/partner who generates leads for your company.

• No leads = no sales.
• No sales = no operations.

What happens when the vendor responsible for generating leads consistently underperforms, misses deadlines, and becomes a freakish cost burden?

Your entire team starts suffering.

When you have no backup team to instantly replace the critical role, you prolong the S.U.C.K. much further.

No backup team means you either stick with the underperformer and settle for an unpredictable future, or expend ridiculous time/energy/money to find replacements -- stalling your company's engine.

Tips

1. List your critical roles.
2. Have a backup team ready to go instantly if a critical team member can't perform (e.g., underperforms, goes out of business, gets sick, quits, etc.)

For example:

1. Team Bob hires Vendor X, a web delopment company responsible for its website.
2. Team Bob also has interviewed and qualified Vendor Y, and has complete documentation ready for Vendor Y if Team X can't fulfill its duties.

Team Bob ensures its company engine/success will keep ticking if Team X ever suffers.

Risk management WIN.

Backup.

1. Help team members commit to goals that make the rest of the team soar like $&@%^* eagles.
2. Done.

Take Shibobibo.

Shibobo leads a team trying to build a website for a client. He needs a team of developers, coders, designers, and search engine optimization experts.

At first, his team members have no set expectations, so the team becomes uncoordinated:

1. He doesn't know when the design peeps can complete X ("just get it done as soon as possible" he says), so, he can't fully optimize the schedules of the rest of his team -- as well as his own.
2. Then when the design team completes X and hands over the design files to the coders, they remain idle with nothing critically important to do - driving up costs if they're full-timers (and opportunity costs --like time -- if they're not).

The goal in managing a team?

You're trying to make each and every member of your orchestra as efficient as possible, with absolutely zero downtime for any team member.

While Team X is fully engaged in one part of the project, Team Y is fully engaged in another.

That saves the team freakish costs, optimizes its productivity, and helps you provide as much customer value as $&&@^%^ possible.

How Do You Get There?

Set expectations by letting team members commit to a goal that makes every other team member as efficient as possible:

1. "J, can you complete 1 design per day?"
2. "G, can you code 1 design per day that J will send you?"
3. "B, can you buld keyword-rich articles that attract our target audience while we're building the site?"

When you let team members commit to goals (instead of setting goals without their input), the psychological pull:

• 'I like others to see me as someone who is always right.' (Cialdini's commitment study)
• 'Therefore, I will do everything humanly possible to make good on my promise."

And, when you conform those committed goals to make the rest of the team as efficient as possible?

Your team:

• Fully optimized.
• No downtime.
• Rocket completions.
• WINNNN.

Orchestrate your orchestra.

100% engaged.

Here's a pretty frickin awesome tip a reader just sent Trizzy, especially if you're somebody who wakes up at random times:

1. Choose a time you want to wake up.
2. Go to sleep only when you feel tired.
3. Repeat cycle.

That is, set an alarm clock, wake up at the same time each and every $&@^%+^ day, and see your body react when it wants to sleep.

The first few days you'll want to jump off a cliff, but your mind, body, and soul will adapt to your wake up time.

For example, take Shishkabob.

Shishkabob + Sleep

1. Shishkabob chooses a wake-up time of 4 a.m.
2. Shishkabob finds himself tired by 8 p.m. so he goes to bed: "Ooooh. I feel so tired now. Ooooh. Ooooh."
3. WIN.

Other nights, he goes to bed at 9 or 10 or whatevs, but he sticks to his 4 a.m. wake-up time, and listens to when his body tells him to sleep.

"No peeps bother me when I'm most energized!" Shishkabob screams, as Shishkabob starts finding his early mornings productively-awesome, getting more work done with exponentially less distractions.

The Good Sleep

We hear stories of superstars like Kobe, Buffett, and Gates waking up at ridiculous times, and then we all wonder HOWDOTHEYDOIT?

1. Choose ideal wake up time.
2. Stick to wake-up time like it's a one-legged juiced-up ostrich who just stole your breath mints and slapped your momma.
3. Sleep when fatigued.

YOU WIN YOU WIN YOU WIN

Set wake time. Sleep whenevs.

They tell you:

• Contact all your friends!
• Contact all your family!
• Contact all your referrals!

But, SUCK happens when you that.

• You'll quickly run out of leads.
• You'll quickly run out of ideal customers.
• You'll quickly run out of business opps.

A recession hits: BAM, you're out of customers. No one needs anything right now? BAM: out of customers. They don't have the budgets? BAM: no mo customers.

Relying on your connections makes your business unpredictable as you teeter off a cliff of destruction; you start relying on fate instead of taking master control of your success.

Businesses die because they depend solely on their connections, instead of pushing beyond their comfort zones to get new customers.

A sustainable business means a steady flow of customers buying from you.

How Do You Get a Steady Flow of Customers?

The two stepper to success:

1. Grab a list of prospects.
2. Pitch!

DONE!

Pitches can be cold calls (slaaaaappppp anyone who says cold calls don't work), or advertising, or anything else that gets your products/services in front of customers.

For example:

1. Bob gets a list of businesses in his area.
2. Bob calls them up: "Hi. I run a computer repair shop. Is there anything I can help you with?"
3. Bob does that over-and-over-and-over-and-

Rule. Thumb.

The simple distinguishing factor between a super sales company and Teh Suck Sales Company is one simple variable:

Pitch. More.

Happiness = relative.

1. I get an F on a test.
2. My teacher corrects the test score.
3. I get a C.

I'm happy.

1. I get an A on a test.
2. My teacher corrects the test score.
3. I get a C.

I feel horrible.

Make Happy

To make your customers happy, sprinkle the contrasting psychological principle sucka-goodness throughout every part of your customer contact points.

That is, underpromise and overdeliver in every $&@^%^*+ thing that your company does for your customers.

How Amazon Does It

1. Amazon does so by giving super conservative shipping times, and THEN BAM, the package shows up at your door several days early.
2. You = 'OMG OMG OMG I So HAPPY!! OMG OMG OMG!!'

More Examples

• 'Hey! Here's a complimentary cupcake for being such a great customer!'
• 'Hey! We just completed your project several days early so here it is!'
• 'Hey! I just took the initiative and listed your company on several directories so customers can find you better!'

Underpromise.

Overdeliver.

Make customers happier each and every time.

Systematize Happiness

1. 'Hey Billy! They gave me a free cupcake!'
2. Billy does get a free cupcake.
3. The contrasting effect: Billy = sad.

Don't suck; systematize how you underpromise and overdeliver, such that you consistently produce happiness for customers.

Examples:

• Give customers a free _____ after they purchase X.
• Give shipping times 5 days later than what we'll deliver.
• Provide an extra feature every time you meet a customer.
• Etc. Etc.

You start developing consistent happiness for every customer that touches your business.

(Keep the overdelivery system secret to your org, so you blast customers with the unexpected goodness.)

Rule. Thumb.

The more you surprise the freeeeeak out of your customers with over-deliver-goodness (i.e., customers experience totally unexpected highs from you), the happier you make your customers.

WIN.

Low. High. Happy.

In business, you have things that you repeatedly do that grow your company.

Call those habits.

The more that you develop those habits, the more that your business grows.

WHATWHATWHAT

Take this cycle:

1. Call prospects.
2. Provide demos to those prospects.
3. Close those prospects.
4. Do Work A. B, C, D, E, etc. for those customers.
5. Bill those customers.
6. Provide support.
7. Upsell.

The cycle = Your Wheel of Habits.

If you call more prospects, your business grows.

You want to get your company to develop that habit to NOT SUCK.

Now, your baaaaadddd self could do it on your own -- but when you focus on something else (e.g., demo'ing for a prospect you just converted), your business suffers because no one is calling prospects.

• Opportunity costs: BAMBAMBAM.

To combat that beeeyotch, hire dedicated peeps to call prospects.

Your business starts growing as you develop a MUTHA$&@"$&@ HABIT of calling prospects each and every minute of your ridiculous work day.

Then Can't Fulfill Demand?

Once you're bringing in oh-so-much business and you can't demo fast enough, hire dedicated peeps to fulfill the demand.

Habit ^2 develops.

SHWIN SON.

And on, and on, and on.

The point of hiring: To get your company to do things repeatedly that grow your company.

HIGH FIVE!

The Repeats.

1. Loan the dog to the potential buyer for a week.
2. Done.

Hooooooraaay!

The psychological effect:

• We value something more when we can create a sense of owenership around that thing.

For instance:

1. Bob gives his Toyota a $10K value.
2. Sam gives Bob's Toyota an $8K value.
3. Bob, because he values his things more, places a greater value on his items.

A Duke research study, according to behavioral economics expert Dan Ariley, found that those who won lottery tickets to Duke basketball games were willing to sell their tickets for $1800; others who had no tickets were willing to pay $350 to get them.

1. Own it.
2. Value it more.

Selling something?

Try these:

• 30- day trials
• Loan X free
• Money-back guarantees
• Test drives
• Etc.

Lucrative infomercials freakishly promote their money back guarantees because:

1. Emphasizing guarantees help get those products into the hands of peeps.
2. So, when peeps have those items, they start creating a sense of ownership around those products.
3. Therefore, they place higher values on those items (more than the $19.99 they spent), and end up keeping them.

SHABAMSONNOWYOUTHESTAR

Create ownership.

(Strictly from a business perspective.)

What's happened for Tiger's sponsors over the last week?

• Bigger audiences.
• More pitch opportunities.
• More buys.

Win.

Bad publicity = Good publicity.

For instance:

• Popular celebrities intentionally seek bad publicity (e.g., most scandalous videos/pics = staged).
• Popular radio hosts intentionally try to anger the masses (e.g., say something offensive, pretend you're serious, attract more people).

It's the cheapest marketing trick in the book with the biggest returns.

You get your brand in front of people who wouldn't otherwise care about you.

Marketing rule ^1: It's a numbers game.

• The more pitches.
• The more buys.
• The more sales.

(A "pitch" for example happens every time a person looks at an ad, or sees a company logo, mentions a name, or hears about the brand, etc., etc.)

The Ingredients

Though Tiger's incident wasn't a publicity stunt, it had the ingredients to make a publicity stunt great:

1. Beyond the realm of ordinary
2. Massive appeal
3. Highly controversial
4. Mysterious (continues the conversation)
5. Relatively innocent

Responsible for 90% of Tiger's earnings, the sponsors saw themselves in the middle of massive free publicity with a much brighter light shining on them.

Tiger's incident will also attract a massive new audience to the PGA Tour when he returns.

The gossip mags/blogs will bring an entirely new audience sector that Tiger and golf couldn't attract.

• Big win for his sponsors.
• Big win for golf.

America loves comeback stories and will forgive you in time.

Tiger and his amazing family will bounce back.

Pub.

1. You're don't move.
2. You age quicker.

BOO!

The Remedy

BAM:

1. Exercise.
2. Every.
3. Body.
4. Part.
5. Simultaneously.

Look, stay, and feel younger.

Get more energy.

Build a better business.

The new research:

Compared to people who did not exercise, elite runners in the study had cells that looked much younger under a microscope. Specifically, investigators measured the length of telomeres -- the DNA on either end of thread-like chromosomes. Just as the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces keep the laces from fraying, telomeres protect the chromosomes that carry genes during cell division.

Each time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter. When telomeres get too short, cells can no longer divide and they die. Researchers now believe telomere shortening is critical to aging, making people more vulnerable to diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Too busy?

• Sprint in place.
• Do shadow boxing.
• Dance like it's 19-%@^-99.

You're trying to get more oxygen flowing throughout your entire body.

Have the crappiest exercise form? BAM: DOESNT MATTER.

As long as you're moving and getting more oxygen pumping throughout every part of your body = GOOD.

(Measure heart beats.)

Every Part