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.
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.
It is as common as stone. Just ask Cold Steve Austin.
The great rarity is the will to invest time and energy to develop your talent.
The will to work, sacrifice, and stay the course over a prolonged period makes all the difference. It transforms your talent into valuable skills and desired results. It is that investment that separates the masses from the wildly successful.
Key Takeaway
Everyone has talent. It is what you are willing to invest to develop your talent that makes all the difference.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
When I was a kid I recognized that there were people with whom I got along well, and others who were like a downer to my upper. Or oil to my water. Or plumbers crack to my suspenders. In other words, we just couldn’t exist in the same space.
As an adult, I am fortunate to have a lot of friends. But I still have people that don’t like me. I bet you have people who don’t like you too. It’s a sign that you are doing things the right way. Or that you are a psychopath. (If you are a psychopath none of the rest of this lesson applies to you.)
I have found that the people that clearly don’t like me have a different value system than me. For example, I think people should be honest and kind. While I find that most people I don’t get along with don’t value honesty and kindness. And neither do their feral children.
While I tend to make friends quickly, I make enemies just as fast. I don’t attempt to convert my enemies into friends. Instead, I think about getting revenge. And the best way to get revenge on your enemies is to constantly disappoint them.
How I disappoint my enemies:
I disappoint my enemies with my successes.
I disappoint my enemies with my continuous improvement.
I disappoint my enemies with my resilience to setbacks.
I disappoint my enemies by not responding to their invitations to stoop to their level.
I disappoint my enemies by amassing more friends who align with my values.
I disappoint my enemies with my indifference to them.
I disappoint my enemies by smiling, laughing, and enjoying every day, especially in front of them and their feral children.
Key Takeaway
Use your enemies to your advantage. They are excellent sources of motivation. Disappoint your enemies with your successes. It’s the sweetest form of revenge.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
In 2016 my family and I moved from Atlanta to Milwaukee. While Atlanta is a great city, it also has its not-so-great parts. By that I mean the ridiculous traffic problem. One of the things I love about living in Milwaukee is the lack of traffic. That and cheese curds 24/7.
However, right now, the 17 miles of I-43 that I drive on my commute to work every day are all under construction. They are adding another lane to the interstate in both directions over that entire stretch. Which means they also have to tear down and rebuild every bridge that crosses over the interstate to accommodate the wider freeway. I haven’t seen this much bridge destruction and rebuilding since I stopped watching The Real Housewives or Orange County.
One of the upsides of the slow-moving traffic is that there is plenty to look at. My favorite piece of equipment that I pass is the massive pile driver near Nicolet High School in Glendale. Every day I see and hear it pounding away in the median between the north and southbound lanes. It’s driving pilings for a new bridge support deep into the bedrock like Fred and Barney would do.
A non-WWE style pile driver, like the one I see on my commute.
A Role Model For Success
As I slowly drive by the loud, methodical bang, bang, banging of the pile driver and watch it make its mind-numbingly slow progress, I find myself inspired. Because that machine shows you exactly how you drive results in anything.
You just keep hammering away.
• Life has taught me that if you want to get stronger, you have to hit the weights, day after day, after day after day.
• If you want to create a successful business you have to keep pounding away at the fundamentals of business development, customer delivery, and employee support, day after day after day.
• To be a good parent you have to share the importance of good habits and good morals day after day for a minimum of 18 years. You also have to remind yourself not to run away and leave those children behind every day.
• To read a book you have to read word after word after word for days, weeks or months. There is no other way.
• If you want to write a 50,000-word book you have to write word after word after word. And then rewrite the book over and over again, like Nelly and Tim McGraw said.
• If you want a successful and happy marriage you have to work at it day after day after day until one of you dies.
• Athletic success requires you to put in the practice and training day after day for years and years.
• You become wealthy by steadily saving and investing your money and letting that interest compound day after day after day. (And if you accumulate too much you can always share it with me.)
Key Takeaway
Keep pounding. Success doesn’t come easy. Results don’t come overnight. The outcome you are after is built through a slow and steady accumulation of effort. Be patient. Be persistent. And just don’t stop. That is the simple yet proven formula for all great accomplishments.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Earlier this week my daughter Ava and I were at the gym lifting weights. She is hyper-focused on smashing her high school’s 44-year-old discus record next spring. (She was only 2 feet off the record as a junior.) I was in the gym because I don’t want Hans and Frans to pick on me.
Ava had a leg day workout, and she had reached the most challenging part of her training week. She had already done 3 sets of power cleans and had finished 2 sets of squats. Which meant that her last and heaviest set of squats was next. If you are the type to throw up while working out, this is a good time to have a garbage can within spewing distance.
At this point in your leg day workout, you are as tired as you ever feel in the gym. Yet you still have one more set to go. It’s the toughest part of the day. The toughest part of the week. It’s when you search your music playlist for your most Eye-Of-The-Tigerish song to help you Rocky up.
I asked Ava, ‘Are you ready for your last set?’
She shot back, ‘No, but I’m going to do it anyway.’
As Ava’s Dad-Coach, I swelled with pride. Because that comment, those 8 simple words, demonstrate that Ava has the mindset required for great success.
Go Anyway
Life does not often present ideal conditions. And when you’re trying to do hard things, you often put yourself in positions where you feel not yet ready for the next task. But to be successful you have to go anyway.
I know that mindset. I had to rely on it in athletics when I entered major competitions after a rough week of practice. When I was fatigued, sore or mentally drained.
I have tapped into that mindset at work after promotions that stretched my skills and abilities. And when I was about to undertake a daunting Blair Witch-type project.
I embraced that mindset when I wrote my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Because I didn’t know anything about writing books, or how to get a tiny printer inside a fortune cookie.
And I certainly adopted the not-ready-but-I’m-going-to-do-it-anyway mindset when I launched The Weaponry, the adverting and ideas agency I started in 2016. Because the key to entrepreneurship is taking action even when you don’t feel ready to entre or preneur.
The secret to success is not to be fully prepared. It is to be fully prepared to go anyway. To go when you don’t feel good, informed or ready.
Simply stepping into the arena, conference room, or squat rack will force you to focus and summon your best effort.
Remember, it isn’t always Ready, Set, Go. Sometimes it is Set, Go, Ready.
Oh, and not only did Ava crush her last set of squats, she added extra reps too. Because big goals and strong desires are great fuel. Especially when you are running on fumes.
Key Takeaway
You won’t always feel totally ready for the challenge in front of you. Go anyway. The challenge of the moment will often ready you as you go.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
My home project this morning is cleaning out our gutters. We recently had roofers replace the worn and missing cedar shingles on our house, in the middle of our street. They then treated the roof to extend the life of the cedar shakes. In the process a lot of little shingle slivers collected on the roof. After a recent rain, those slivers and bits washed down and collected in our gutters. Which is why my mind is in the gutter this morning.
Today is a beautiful, sunny day in Wisconsin. There is no chance of rain. Or snow. So the accumulated debris in my gutter won’t create any dam problems today. That’s why today is the perfect day for this eager beaver to clean the gutters out.
Get Ahead To Get Ahead
Success requires you to do the work when you don’t need to. Not when you do.
It is the off-season work that makes the difference in sports.
It is the relationship-building you do when you don’t need anything that makes the difference when you really do need a friend, favor, job, or sale.
It’s the regular dental cleaning that prevents the cavity. And the accompanying Cavity Creeps.
It is the process that you create and implement that ensures that all future jobs are done right, every time.
It is the money you saved and invested that accumulates interest while you sleep, Van Winkle.
It is the colonoscopy that prevents the polyp from becoming colorectal cancer. And you don’t want anything going bad with your colorectals.
Key Takeaway
Take action before you need to. Your preactions are far more valuable than your reactions. Preactions accumulate and create opportunities and success, while your reactions focus on problems that already exist. Often those problems could have been avoided or minimized by acting earlier. Remember, hard work is the easy work you didn’t do when you had the time. Get ahead of the work and you will get ahead in life.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
On the 4th of July, we take a moment to reflect on our freedoms. That includes our right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, our freedom to wear skimpy American flag swimwear, and our freedom to protest beer companies who get too un-beery.
But today it is important to think about your pursuit of happiness. This inalienable right, as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence, is the most important freedom of all.
It is not only your right but your responsibility to determine what makes you happy.
That includes:
Surrounding yourself with people that make you happy.
Finding work that contributes to your happiness.
Discovering your happy places, and spending more time there.
Recognizing the activities that enhance your happiness, and finding more time for them.
Discovering and enjoying your happy meals, with or without Grimace and The Hamburgler.
Happy doesn’t mean easy. Or stress-free. The things in your happysphere can be strenuous or even grueling. But ultimately, they make you feel happy for having completed them. This could include hard work of all sorts, from physical exercise to mental, emotional, or psychological activities that lead to exhaustion before they lead to happiness.
Today, consider the great undertakings of your life that you have not yet started or completed, that will increase your happiness. Think about the travel you always wanted to do. Consider the business you always wanted to start. The organization you wanted to create. The book you wanted to write. The great challenge you wanted to take on. Or the music you always wanted to make. And make a plan to pursue it, and the happiness that comes with living the life you imagined.
Key Takeaway
Eliminate the limiting beliefs that prevent you from pursuing your own happiness. Surround yourself with people that help contribute to your happiness. Fill your mind with things that contribute to your own happiness. Remember, no one else on the planet is responsible for your own happiness. It should be your number one priority. And it is one of the core beliefs that our great nation was founded on. Happy 4th of July! (Emphasis on happy.)
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
There is one thing about me that people comment on all the time. It’s not my very subtle good looks. Or my intelligence. Or my sense of humor. It’s not even about my hair.
I get a lot of comments about my energy. In fact, recently, in a 24-hour span, I was asked where my energy comes from, I was told that my energy is even more noticeable in person than on the phone, and that my energy is just what my fellow elevator passenger needed that day.
Last week as the keynote speaker at an energy symposium in Dallas (thanks to David and Molly Sengstock), I gave a talk on how to energize your life. After my talk, the entire audience stuck around for 20 minutes asking more questions. This was despite the fact that my talk ended at 6pm and there was free alcohol and appetizers awaiting them just outside the room.
What makes this energy thing even more exciting to me is that I am in the last 10 days of my 40s. So as I approach my 50th birthday with energy that makes people comment I expect I am doing something worth knowing.
So lately I have been evaluating my personal energy inputs. I have collected a list of 10 things I do that contribute to my energy. But before we get into them it may also be worth noting that I don’t drink coffee or energy drinks. And I have never drunk alcohol. I don’t know the actual effect of the things I don’t do. So the rest of this is focused on things I do do. (I just dropped a do-do…)
10 Ways To Increase Your Personal Energy.
Sleep. I make sleep a priority. I think of sleep like stopping at a gas station to fill your car with gas. Your sleep is doing the same thing for your body. (Except you can’t grab a Slim Jim and a 64-ounce Bladder Buster soda pop in bed.) Every night you should fill your body with as much sleep fuel as you can. Note: I also like to nap. Especially on the weekends. And when talking to boring people.
2. Eating. I make sure to eat 3 good meals a day. I prefer not to snack. But I have snacks around in between meals to keep me going. Together, sleeping and eating provides a great foundation for my energy. But I have also implemented a policy of only eating until just-full. This helps prevent me from feeling sluggish and chunky. I have lost 16 pounds over the past year with this approach. Being less fat is definitely more good for my energy.
3. Exercise. I exercise about 5 days each week. Exercising for energy is a paradox. Because while it is easy to feel like you are too tired to exercise, the exercise itself is energizing and ultimately increases your go. Within the past year, I have added significant exercise resources to my home gym. This includes a treadmill, elliptical trainer, Rogue Monster rack, bench, and about 600 pounds of free weights, and dumbells up to 90 pounds. I found that I had plenty of will to workout, but often lacked the time to get to the gym during normal operations. So the home setup has helped me get my workout on. And all that weight and equipment in my basement should make my house less likely to get sucked up in a tornado.
4. Work I Love. Your work is a major part of your life. Finding work you love adds significantly to your daily energy. When you look forward to going to work, performing the tasks required of your day, and when you are challenged in a healthy and enjoyable way, it fuels you. Rather than dreading work, your work becomes exciting and interesting. You start loving Mondays the way other people love Fridays. Or Applebees on a date night, eating Bourbon Street steak with the Oreo shake.
5. Smiling. The smile is like the pilot light of the human body. When you put a smile on your face, everything seems to catch fire. Your body feels the energy and responds appropriately. The people around you smile back and add their energy to yours. It’s remarkable. And overlooked. I smile a lot. Smiling is my favorite.
6.Goals: I have a lot of goals. Both having goals and making progress toward your goals are energizing. They excite, inspire and encourage you to bring more to every day. My goals keep me busy and focused. I suspect that my goals are one of the greatest sources of energy that I tap into that others don’t. So get yourself some goals that you really, really want. Like a Spice Girl.
7. Surround Yourself With Great People. We feed off the energy of others. I am no different. I love to be around ambitious, energetic, and successful people. I am inspired by the success and undertakings of others. They push me to do and accomplish more. I am always seeking more world-beaters to spend time with. Their appetite for work, accomplishment, and adventure is like positive peer pressure. Which is better than an appetite for destruction, Axl.
8.Time Scarcity: The lack of time I have left to achieve my goals and experience all that I want provides a great source of energy. It creates urgency in each day. That urgency makes me go. I know that time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future. Which means it is always go-time.
9.Optimism: If nothing else, I am optimistic. I believe that good things are coming. And I can’t wait to greet them. Or make them happen. I believe both me and the world around me will be better tomorrow. That belief is exciting. And energizing. I believe that hard work pays off. I believe I will reach my goals if I just keep working toward them, and I don’t get hit by a bus or a mosquito carrying malaria. I believe that new friends are around every corner. And I believe my friendships are getting better and deeper all the time. Those are great reasons to get out of bed every morning.
10. A Healthy Home Life: I really enjoy my home. I enjoy my relationships with my children Ava, Johann and Magnus. I am blessed with a wife I love talking to and spending time with, even after 23 years of togetherness. A healthy, happy and supportive home life helps feed and reinvigorates you.
Key Takeaway
Tap into your own energy sources. Start with the basics of sleep, food and exercise. Then discover the people, situations and activities that energize you. Set goals you really want to achieve. Work toward them every day. Smile. Believe in yourself, in others, and in the world. Share your energy with others. When you do, it will multiply and come back to you.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Careers are journeys. They have a starting point, a middle, and an end. Which direction you travel, and how far you go are up to you. But setting your career goals is important because it tells you how quickly you need to paddle and which turns to make.
But if you’ve never been in a canoe, think of your career like an airplane flight. That flight starts with an origination and a destination. The interesting thing about commercial flights is that they are off-course for 95% of the flight. This is because of the air highways that pilots follow, weather, traffic, the fact that the runways are not lined up like Evil Knievel ramps, and occasionally because the pilot didn’t ask for directions and took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
But knowing where you want to end up paints a vision of your ideal carer path and allows for a constant set of adjustments that allow you to reach your destination. And with that in place, you can use it to make the following 2 valuable career decisions.
1.Opportunity Evaluation
Opportunities of all shapes and sizes will come your way. You need to decide which ones are right for you. But how do you know? The career goals tell you if the next opportunity is aligned or misaligned with your goals. It is like choosing rocks to step on as you try to cross a stream.* Does the rock opportunity take you in the right direction? Your path doesn’t need to be a straight line. It just needs to add to your skills, knowledge or experience in a way that will serve you on your journey to your goal. (*If you are not hunting ghosts it’s okay to cross streams.)
2.Pace Evaluation
Your career won’t last forever. This is true of your work career, athletic career, music career or whatever other career you may have in high school, college, or after graduation. Although if you are sentenced to life in prison, that career will last as long as you do.
Because you have a finite amount of time to reach your goals, you need to keep yourself moving and progressing at a minimum pace. Unless you are a monk you can’t sit in any one position too long, or you won’t be able to make it to your goal before the career buzzer sounds.
Size Matters
Don’t set your goals too small or you won’t challenge yourself enough. Don’t let anyone tell you not to set your goals too big. Because big goals help you grow. And even if you don’t reach them, they will push you to go as far as you can. Which is the goal of an aggressive goal. Which is totally meta.
Key Takeaway
Establish your goals. They will keep you moving in the right direction. They will force you to think about your pace and progress. They will force you to think about the skill development work, self-education, and training you will need. And goals provide a scorecard and progress indicator that make your career a fun and interesting game to play.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Adam Albrecht Blog 