Author: Adam Albrecht

Adam Albrecht is the Founder and CEO of the advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry. He believes the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human mind. He is the author of the book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? He also authors two blogs: the Adam Albrecht Blog and Dad Says. Daughter Says., a Daddy-Daughter blog he co-writes with his 16-year old daughter Ava. Adam can be reached at adam@theweaponry.com.

Enjoy the great results of taking just a little action every day.

Success is a stacking exercise. It is about taking a little action every day. (The way Elvis Costello wrote the book.) Just take a little action, day after day. And watch the results stack up.

Here are the types of actions you should take every day.

Reading. Read a page a day, 5 pages a day, or 10 pages a day. At 5 pages each day you will read over 1500 pages in a year. At 10 pages you will read 3650. That’s a lot of knowledge gain in the membrane.

Exercise: Exercise strengthens your body and helps you burn calories. By taking a little action every day, you stack strength gains and weight loss, or weight control. And look better naked.

Meet Someone New. If you stack a new person into your life every day you will meet 365 new people this year. That would transform your life, both personally and professionally. It would also increase the cost of your Christmas cards. And you would need a bigger budget for ham sandwiches at your funeral. But the rest is upside.

Reach out to someone in your friend circle or network every day. Make contact, rekindle a friendship, or start a conversation every day. That’s relationship maintenance. And it’s just as important as making new friends, in the same way that it used to be important to not just take pictures, but get the film developed back before digital photography came along and ruined my analogy.

Write. A journal, book, plan, blog, play, movie, whatever. Writing a little each day will help you create. And it will help you improve your own thinking. Writing my ideas down helps me more than it helps those who read what I write. Sorry.

A step on a master plan. You have a big plan, goal, or idea. I know you do. Commit to taking one action towards it every day and that master plan will come to life. That’s exactly how I built my business, The Weaponry, from dust. It’s how I wrote my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? And it’s how Eric B. and Rakim went from thinking of a master plan to getting paid in full.

Play an instrument: Playing an instrument every day for just 5 or 10 minutes will stack into a valuable and enjoyable skill. Anyone can do it. You can teach yourself with learn-to-play books and online videos. Start now and you’ll be able to play Christmas songs by Christmas time. Especially if you play a kazoo.

Learn a new word in a different language. When you travel internationally you realize how many words there are to know beyond your native tongue. If you add 365 new words in Spanish, Chinese, French, Norwegian, or the language of your choice each year you would add significantly to your understanding of the world and your ability to communicate with people. Plus it’s the best way to avoid ordering Veau or Escargot if you are not into such things.

Key Takeaway

The rewards of simple actions, done every day, stack into huge and powerful piles of value. Just like money saved and invested. And little by little, they transform your life. So start today. It doesn’t take much. It just takes a little every day.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why it’s so important to have competition in your life.

When I was a kid I competed a lot. First on the playground and in the yard playing games with my friends and sisters. Then in school, I played football and a little basketball. (The amount was little, not the size of the ball.) I competed in 10 different track and field events in high school. And in college, I competed in 4 track & field events at the University of Wisconsin,

Those years of athletic competitions were not only great fun, they were motivating. When you are competing you are testing yourself. You are pushing yourself to improve. You are either getting better or getting worse. And when there is always a win or a loss in the balance your actions and your days have meaning. (Even without Webster.)

A common theme among athletes is that they feel lost and struggle with their identity after their athletic careers end. Because their field of competition was central to their self-identity. Their life was set to the seasons of competition and preparation. And the competition gave them purpose and direction.

But I never felt lost without athletic competition. Even before I had Waze and Google Maps on my phone.

After Athletics

Today, I am a long way past my college athletics. But I still experience that competitive drive every day. In fact, my life is filled with more motivating competition than ever before.

11 Ways I am competing and keeping score today:

The first thing I do when I get out of bed each morning is weigh myself. I track my weight every day. Knowing that I am competing with the scale each morning drives my exercise and eating behaviors every day. This morning I weighed exactly what I weighed when I graduated from college.

I compete in reading. I always try to read more this year than last. I am currently on pace to read 40 books this year, my best year ever. My reading also feels like I am winning my competition to get smarter. So every time I sit down to read a few pages (I never read standing up) I feel like I am winning.

I compete with my net worth. I track it, grow it, and set goals for it. I enjoy this personal competition and the positive returns it provides.

I compete in book sales. I track the sales of my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? And I think about actions that help move more books. I get a score every month from my publisher. This is a fun competition with myself, and Dr. Suess.

I also compete as a speaker. Writing a book has created a lot of speaking opportunities. I try to speak to as many people each year as I can. I talk at schools, to companies, teams, conferences, trade shows, Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce. (Which my son Magnus says sounds like a Harry Potter thing: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commerce…)

I compete in the gym, lifting weights, trying to get stronger than yesterday. (Like the Beetles said.)

I compete in business at The Weaponry. Not only do I work to grow our business, but our team competes to help our clients grow and win in their industries too.

I compete as the coach of my son Magnus’ 7th grade football team. As the defensive coordinator, I compete each week to help our team stop our opponents. I spend a surprising amount of time in my late evenings watching game film of 7th graders playing football in order to win this competition.

I compete as the girl’s track team throwing coach at Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin. My daughter Ava is on the team. I compete to help my girls set personal records, win meets, win championships, and rise on the school, state, and national rankings.

I compete for quality time spent with my family. Meal time, conversations in cars and kitchens, time coaching, helping with homework, watching movies, and taking walks. They all add up. And they are all valuable.

I compete to get this blog written and published 3 times per week. It is not easy to keep a blog going. You have to make it a competition. This is my 916 blog post.

But Why?

All of this competition gives me a competitive fire every morning when I get out of bed. The same kind of fire I had as an athlete. I look forward to each day, energized, like a drumming bunny toy. I take on each day with a scorecard for success that covers many areas of my life. And each night when I lay down to sleep I know whether or not I won the day.

Key Takeaway

If you want more meaning, more energy and more fire in your life, find areas to compete. Physical, business, reading, relationshipping, volunteering, coaching, playing, or weight loss. Anything that you want to do well and keep improving. Set benchmarks and keep raising them and pushing yourself. It’s an exciting way to feel like you are winning at life.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

An important reminder to get started because you learn faster by doing.

One of the great mistakes we make in life is waiting to act until we know everything there is to know about a subject. It seems we want to know everything there is to know about running a business before we start one. We want to know everything there is to know about investing before we commit our money. We want to know how to write a book before we actually write a book. And we want to know everything there is to know about raising a child before we ever have sex*. (*My kids may be reading this.)

Most of this quest for knowledge is simply procrastination. Starting the process is the greatest teacher of all. Because standard-issue humans learn best by doing.

When you take the first step the next step reveals itself. (Unless you are Eddie Rabbit, in which case you take that first step, ask her out, and treat her like a lady.) You will get better and smarter faster by starting than by studying alone. Until you take the first steps you don’t know what you don’t know. However, once you begin you quickly learn what you need to know next.

A Case in Point

I had thought about sharing some video lessons from my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? for a long time. I knew that the summaries from each chapter would translate into good shareable video messages. But I never acted on it. Because I wasn’t clear on the best way to do it.

Then one morning when I got to work I talked to Taylor Amann, our social media manager at The Weaponry (and resident American Ninja Warrior) to help me get started.

Here’s What happened.

  1. We set up her phone on our ring-halo light tripod.

2. We explored recording the video standing up and sitting down.

3. We placed my laptop behind the phone so I could read the script.

3. We found a teleprompter app on my computer that allowed us to scroll the script like the teleprompter a newscaster uses to deliver lines directly to the camera. (And, yes, I reminded San Diego to stay classy.)

4. After getting a take we liked Taylor found a good app that automatically translated my spoken word into words on the screen. So viewers could read the words I was saying as I said them. This is not only great for reinforcing the lesson I shared, but it made the video fully digestible with the audio off.

5. Then we discovered that the app, also had a teleprompter. Which would lead to an even better sightline to the camera than the laptop teleprompter offered.

6. Finally, we rerecorded the video, on the halo light tripod, using the new app, which turned Taylor’s phone into a perfect teleprompter/camera combo. The app automatically added the supers so you could read what I said in real time.

The Learning

What stood out to me about this process is that by getting started we kept getting smarter and smarter. Within 30 minutes we went from never having tried to record a video like this to having discovered the perfect app that made it simple to combine the recording, the teleprompter, the supers, and even add music, or a zany slide whistle.

The video is not perfect. My shirt is all scurzumpled. I don’t have the energy I’d want for a shareable recording. But we quickly went from nothing to knowing how to create the video we wanted through a simple progression of testing, learning, and improving.

Key Takeaway

Don’t wait to get started until you know everything. Condition yourself to take the first step sooner. Because the first step is the kindergarten step. All other learnings and lessons come as a result of that first step. What you learn from a book, class or video is just theory. The application is where the quick and useable lessons kick in. So get going. Get smarter as you go. And get back to me when you realize how useful this approach is.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

When you are mean to others you ultimately drink your own poison.

Meanness is a poison. And not in a Bret Michaels, CiCi Deville, and Rikki Rockett kind of way.

When you are mean to another person it is like serving poison in an Alice Cooper kind of way. Drop by drop, action by action the meanness cup fills with the toxic and lethal liquid.

But in a karmic plot twist, the person who spits the venom is the one who drinks the cup.

Because when you are mean to another human, you are the one who is poisoned. (Insert Nelson from The Simpsons’ signature ‘Ha-ha!’)

Your mean words and actions create ill will and hate towards you. (Wasn’t Ill Will a Garbage Patch Kid?)

So you end up ingesting your own venom. The more venom you serve up the more you drink. And you will end up drinking every drop you spew, spray, and spit.

However…

When you spread kindness the giver and the receiver both benefit. The receiver is energized and empowered. They are lifted and loved. They are supported and strengthened. In turn, and in kindness, the receiver shares thanks, goodwill, positive feelings and kindness with the giver.

When kindness is shared, everyone drinks. Because positive energy, support, and strength overflow the cup.

Key Takeaway

When you serve up meanness and hate, you are the one who is poisoned by it. But when you are supportive and kind both the giver and the receiver drink.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why it’s so important to protect your Golden Eggs.

Our creative team at The Weaponry meets once a week to talk about our Golden Eggs. Yes, Golden Eggs. I realize that sounds like something from a fairytale. Or maybe something you use to make a McMuffin at the Golden Arches.

At The Weaponry, our Golden Eggs are our great creative opportunities.

The name Golden Eggs is important.

First, the opportunities are golden. They are valuable. Special and rare. Like Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia.

But they are also eggs. Which means they are fragile. And easily destroyed. Especially if they sit on a wall and have a great fall.

We Must Protect These Eggs!

At The Weaponry we realize that we need to protect the Golden Eggs. We need to keep a watchful eye on them. Guard them. Defend them. We need to focus on them. And treat them as if they are special and fragile. Because if we don’t, they will crack, splat or spoil.

Paying special attention is the only way to ensure that your valuable opportunities transform into valuable results. Because success is like a manufacturing line. At the beginning of the line, you have raw opportunity. Then you run that opportunity down the line, through a process to transform that opportunity into a successful result.

But you need to start with an opportunity.

Everyone Has Golden Eggs

You have Golden Eggs too. Yes, you. These are your great opportunities. The ones that you need to protect, defend, and guard to make sure your opportunity is not lost, wasted or destroyed.

Your opportunities may be related to your work or your career. But Golden Eggs can also be that special person that walks into your life. They could be free time with your children. A date with your spouse or main squeeze. Golden Eggs can be that book you should read. The opportunity to exercise, converse, or learn. Golden Eggs come in many shapes and sizes. So don’t be surprised if your Golden Egg is not actually shaped like an egg.

Key Takeaway

Learn to identify your Golden Eggs. Protect them. Give them the special attention, focus and energy they require. That is how you ensure that you get the valuable gold from them.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The greatest power a team offers is making you feel like an insider.

The great thing about being on a team is that you are different than everyone else. It’s not about the number of eyes, arms, or heads you have. Although that would be pretty cool. The differences are on the inside.

There are different rules that apply to team members than the general population. Your values are different. Your commitments are different. Your language is different. Your culture is different.

When you are on a team your standards and expectations are higher than those of the rest of the population. You expect more of each other. You accept less or no deviation from the standards set. And hopefully none of the other types of deviants either.

The best way to become great at anything is to join a great team. Because a great team demands a level of commitment, hard work, dedication, and technique that are greater than those outside the team. Plus there are secret handshakes. And who doesn’t like a good secret handshake? (Probably handshake deviants.)

A great team has a distinct insider vs. outside dynamic. The insiders really feel different than the rest of the world. And if you don’t live up to their behaviors and expectations, you are an outsider. It is the contrast between what ‘we do’ and what ‘they do’ that makes being part of a team special.

One of the best things you can do to create a great team is to create a clear set of expectations and behaviors. Declare Our team does this. Our team does not do that. The Does/Does Not List marks the fence that surrounds your team and defines who is let in and who needs to get out.

Key Takeaway

A team offers a great sense of belonging, unity, and purpose. Because the expectations of team members are higher than those not on the team. Circle up your team. Choose members carefully. Create a culture that encourages all to strive for higher standards. Weed out members who don’t fit or won’t commit to your behavioral standards. That’s how you create a great team.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more on building a great team culture check out my book The Culture Turnaround I wrote with Jeff Hilimire. For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

All successful results are a product of these 2 simple factors.

I have competed all my life. As an athlete. As a businessman. And as a coach. I have seen how some teams and businesses always generate great results, while others never do. (Coughing: Cleveland Browns.)

I have learned what it takes to achieve great results. And like Bennifer, Hall & Oates, and Gin n’ Juice, successful results are a product of two things.

The System and The Subject.

The System is the way of doing things.

It is the process. The expectations. The values. The technique. It is the school of thought. The philosophies. It is the declared purpose and priorities. It is the tolerances permitted. It is the culture. It is the rituals and norms. And the people with other names besides Norm.

The Subject is the person being coached, led or taught.

Subjects vary in skills, talent, commitment, attitude, experience, determination, resolve and grit. They vary in natural ability and capacity. They vary in tolerance for pain and suffering. They vary in height, weight and speed. And subjects vary in loyalty, royalty, and the price they are willing to pay.

What This Means.

The system will determine how much you can get out of the subject.

The subject will determine how much you can get out of the system.

A better system will generate better results for a subject.

A better subject will generate better results within a system.

Key Takeaway

For the team to create the greatest results, continuously improve your system, and attract better subjects. For the individual to achieve the greatest results, find the greatest system.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

5 Fast reads to get you fired up the day after Labor Day.

The day after Labor Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s not because we no longer have to wear sunscreen. (We don’t, right?) And it’s not because wearing white pants is now the sweetest taboo.

I love this day because it is the real start to the new year. All students are finally back in school. Football is back at all levels. And today, offices return to full strength after being down players throughout the summer.

From today until Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice joins the realm of gold, frankincense and myrrh the way Neil Young once joined Crosby, Stills and Nash. (Side note: Did you know Neil Young is now married to Daryl Hannah? How weird is that?)

I have written a lot about how freakin excited I am about this real new year. If you need a little motivation to kick off your September-centric year, here are a few quick and timely reads I suggest checking out.

5 Motivational Post-Labor Day Reads

  1. Why September 3rd is the real New Year’s Day.
  2. Why September 6th is the most important day of the year.
  3. Right after Labor Day is the best time for all professionals to do this.
  4. Two questions to refocus your career every Labor Day.
  5. Why there has never been a better time to wear white.

Have a great day! Have a great year! Keep rocking those white pants. And enjoy the no-sunscreen days! (Unless you value your skin health and prefer to avoid those avoidable diseases.)

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

One of the keys to accomplishing a lot is lazy time.

Like Morris Day, I am trying to make the most of my time.

So I try to stay busy and do a lot of stuff.

  • I am an entrepreneur. (TheWeaponry.com)
  • I write a blog and publish 3 new posts every week. (adamalbrecht.blog)
  • I have published 2 books and am working on a third. (You can find them here.)
  • I travel the country as a professional speaker. (That is still awesomely weird to write.) 
  • I coach youth football in the fall.
  • I coach high school track in the spring.
  • I have 3 kids that I try to parent right.
  • And I have a great wife that I love spending time with, and that I really want to keep.
  • Plus I try to work out at least 4 times per week.
  • And I am trying to read 3 books every month.

During my talks I am often asked how I get so much done.

Ironically, one of the keys to doing a lot is rest. (Although, like Alanis Morissette, I may have used ironic incorrectly here. Maybe it’s a paradox. Or maybe even 3 dox.)

Rest

Rest means getting good sleep at night.

It means taking quick naps in the afternoon or evening when I can.

And it means enjoying downtime. 

Sometimes downtime means a lazy few minutes, or a few lazy hours. 

Sometimes it means a lazy day.

Or a vacation.

Regular rest allows you to sustain your efforts over a longer time. It helps you avoid burnout, Spicoli. And it helps you look forward to getting back to work.

I plan to take some lazy time this weekend to rest, recharge and prepare for a strong push to the end of the year. I encourage you to too. And if Bono and The Edge are reading this, I encourage U2 to too. 

Key Takeaway

Rest is an important part of any success program. It may be counterintuitive, but rest allows you to maintain a stronger, faster and more sustainable pace.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to be wildly successful through 7 seconds of effort.

This fall marks my 6th year of coaching football. I never had any interest in coaching. I started when my son Magnus’ flag football program needed parent coaches. It was only a Saturday morning commitment back then. But like the mythical slowly boiled frog, who forgot to jump out of the pot, I am now the defensive coordinator for Magnus’ 7th grade tackle football team. Which is an everyday-in-August commitment. Oy.

As a coach, I am really a student. I am trying to learn as much about football as I can to help my players play well, have fun, and be safe. But like Uncle Rico, I still have a strong desire to win.

Back to School

2 weeks ago I had a great opportunity to learn some new things about the game of football. On Varsity Day, Coach Tom Price, President of Cardinal Football, brought the local Varsity football players from Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin to practice to work with the 5th-8th grade players in the Cardinal football program that feeds players into Homestead. While the high schoolers were working with our athletes, one of the outstanding Homestead football coaches on Head Coach Drake Zortmans’s staff talked to the Cardinal coaches about football.

The coach, Dan Juedes, is a 70-something who is not only in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame, he is in the National Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He coaches at football camps across the country, including at many of the Big Ten schools. In fact, Dan has been coaching so long that when he started the Big 10 conference only had 5 teams.

Coach Dan Juedes looking very coachy.

Dan’s Lessons

As the novice coaches gathered around Dan, he shared a few gems about coaching football. His first lesson had been passed along to him by the legendary Bo Schembechler, the former head football coach at the University of Michigan. Dan told us:

‘The average football play lasts 7 seconds. All players look pretty much the same during the first 2 seconds. What separates great players from the ordinary is what they do in seconds 3 through 7.‘

-Coach Dan Juedes

When Dan shared this I felt like I had heard Einstein explain the Universe with E= MC2. Because Dan’s 7-second rule took a very complex game and broke it down into a very simple formula for success.

Coach Juedes carried off the field, presumably because he was tired from coaching so hard.

Josh Hunt, our 7th-grade teams’ head coach, and I couldn’t wait to share this valuable insight with our players. So once we were reunited with our athletes (and it felt so good) we eagerly shared our new insight with our team. And we have been resharing the 7-second secret every day since.

Applying the 7-Second Success Formula

On Saturday we had our first game of the season. The last thing I told the players before they took the field was to give a full 7 seconds of effort on every play and great things would happen.

But the much bigger opponents overwhelmed our team out of the gate. They ran around us and over us until they were knock, knock knocking on the endzone’s door.

But with our backs to our own endzone, defending a first and goal play from the 6-yard line our team gave a 7-second effort. My son Magnus fired across the line from his defensive end position and engaged with a tight end. He shed the blocker at 2 seconds and attacked the opposing team’s quarterback. What happened over the next 5 seconds changed everything.

Magnus sprinted after the quarterback, and not only did he tackle him deep in the backfield, he punched the ball out of his hands in the process. Our middle linebacker Jaden Daniels was also giving a 7-second effort and pounced on the loose ball. This meant that we went from our opponent having the ball on first and goal from the 6-yard line, to our team having a first and ten at the 17-yard line. Boom!

Then our offense became a 7-Second Squad. We put together an 83-yard scoring drive that led to a 6-0 lead.

It turns out that’s all we needed to win the game. Because thanks to our 7-second efforts we held our formidable and much bigger opponent to 0 points. A shutout.

Me and Magnus after our opening game win.

The 7-Second Life Lesson

Dan’s 7-second rule teaches us to go hard to the end of every play. While everyone starts out doing the right thing on nearly every play, at some point, most people stop giving maximum effort and forfeit the advantage to those who go hard until the whistle blows.

But the 7-Second rule doesn’t just apply to football. The basic concept applies to success in all areas of life. Most people start out strong. But they give up too early. They stop or quit just when their effort is needed most. It is true in sports and in your career. It is true in marriage and in parenting. And it is true anywhere effort is needed to create results.

Key Takeaway

The difference in life is not made at the start. It is what you do after the start. Don’t stop 2 seconds in. That’s when most people let up, thinking they have done their job. Don’t fall into that trap. True success comes from your effort during seconds 3 through 7. So play the full play. Give a full effort every time. That effort and the advantage it creates compounds, play after play, day after day, year after year. Play until the end. And the end will be sweeter than you could have imagined. Just like the donuts I will bring my team today to celebrate the donut they put on the scoreboard on Saturday. Boom!

Final Note

Over the weekend as I reviewed the game film to provide feedback, I saw the 7-second rule over and over again. The great plays were made by those playing hard for 7 seconds. The best results of all came when the entire team played hard for 7 seconds. And as a proud Dad-Coach, I saw that Magnus had 3 sacks in the game and the game-winning tackle on 4th down in the 4th quarter. All of which came from giving full effort all the way to whistle. And I was amazed as I counted to 7 seconds over and over on our biggest plays. It turns out that Dan and Bo really know what they are talking about.

Also, I want to note that Dan Juedes and Tom Price have been a great help to me as track and field officials running the shot put and discus events at Homestead’s home meets in the spring. Thanks guys!

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.