So as soon as you get your greenlight, you're gonna do it, right? You'll register that business, get that professional photo taken, sign up for that course, talk to a travel agent, get your passport, do a hot yoga class, go to the community theatre meeting or write that donation check. As soon as you're sure. As soon as you have permission. 

Here's the deal. Read more »

Ever go on a diet and gain weight? Ever promise yourself to cut back spending to the bare minimum and find yourself shopping online? Ever find yourself pining over someone you're not supposed to date? The good news is that it's not because you're a weak person with no willpower, no matter what you say to yourself, it's simply that you haven't learned to manage your will power and intention in a way to help you succeed more easily. There's all kinds research to back me up on this....the idea that what you resist persists! Read more »

Why do you think we need a National Speak Up & Succeed Day? I think it's because we spend too much time hiding behind email and texting. Seriously. Speak up. Get on the phone. Go to Mrs. Big's office. Speak up at the meeting, even if it is boring. Sit next to the leader of the meeting.

People who speak up are seen as more competent, even when they're not. Read more »

Irreplaceable, essential, priceless. Or...irresistible, alluring, dynamic. You get to choose who you want to be. But for heaven's sake, decide yourself and go for it. For Seth Godin, it's  "The goal, no matter what you sell, is to be seen as irreplaceable, essential and priceless"  And I'm like, "Okay, buddy, that sounds great, but how do I actually do that?" and he responds, "Of course, the realization of what it takes to create value might break your heart, because it means you have to specialize, take risks, create art, leave a positive impact and adopt generosity in all you do. It means you have to develop extraordinary expertise and that you are almost always hanging way out of the boat, about to fall out." Read more »

Which natural resource is vanishing today faster than any other? It's the resource required for you to have more impact; it's the attention span of your audience. Distractions have always been there, but today people's attention is constantly being pulled in dozens of different directions. As you read this post, if you make it through, your mind will probably visit at least 20 different places before you get to the end. It's the combination of communication clutter, infinite choices and the global marketplace. Read more »

Va va voom is sex appeal. Let us pause for a moment and celebrate that for the first time in 3 and 1/2 years the Mixonian blog now includes the word "sex"! (Maybe now we'll go viral!) Mixonian Institute is all about powerful and effective leadership communication and Va Va Voom is what can energize your communication, if used appropriately. Photos of cleavage are not considered appropriate unless you're in the breast augmentation business. The best Va Va Voom communicator I know personally is my grandmother. How many 93-year-old ladies do you know who still enjoy the company of enthusiastic gentlemen callers? My grandmother's Va Va Voom is so strong that you're always glad you had contact with her.

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If you're like me, the economic headlines have this weird deja-vu quality about them. 

The truth remains: what's important is how you look at the economy, not the economy itself. Right after the last stock market meltdown, in talking to my brother who's the Maximum Technology Guy in a multibillion-dollar funeral home business, I asked him how the so-called recession was affecting his business. (I say “so-called” because I know many great fortunes were made during the Depression of the 1930's so it's all relative.)

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Most of the time the answers you seek, or at least the first step in the right direction, is right under your nose. The trouble is being the fish in the water you can't always see it. This exercise, if you do it, will expand your vision of what is really possible for you and vastly improve your interpretations of life around you. You can also use it to come up with new ways to make your presentations more engaging and compelling. This exercise is a variation on one suggested in The Architecture of All Abundance by Lenedra Carroll, a book I highly recommend for expanding your sense of prosperity.  Read more »

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" Albert Einstein.

Have you read a business magazine lately, like Inc. or Forbes? Have you noticed how the typical new gazillionaires are all about 10 years old!?!?!?!?!? Seriously.

The thing is, these kids are not locked into obsolete ways of working and imagining. They lack the conviction that the path to financial security is getting a job for heaven's sake. They're too young to know any better than to try things that you and I know for sure are not going to work. Read more »