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How To Make Huge Progress Even When You’re Crazy Busy!

March 26, 2013 By deacon 17 Comments

Knocking out your toughest goals is all about momentum. The more you accomplish, the more success becomes a part of who you are. Pretty soon, everything you touch seems to turn to gold!

And no matter how busy you are, you can start gaining momentum in a BIG way.

Here’s how…

How the “Quarterback Method” Helps You Create Momentum to Accomplish Your Biggest Goals

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Like I said in the video, the last eight months have been crazy for my family as my wife and I tried to figure out this parenting thing!

And yet I was able to accelerate my progress rather than slow down. That’s a huge testament to how powerful the “quarterback method” really is.

What should you do now?

Now that you know how to build momentum to achieve your biggest goals using my “quarterback method,” it’s time to put it into action for yourself.

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How to Innovate at Work

September 29, 2011 By deacon Leave a Comment

Raise your hand to ask a question. Form a single file line. Color inside the lines. From the earliest age we’ve been cultured to follow instructions. We’re rewarded for following directions. But unfortunately those things that make a great student are holding you back in your career.

If you want to be valuable to your business you must become a innovator. If you want to become truly remarkable you must, must, must be the guy who moves things forward. This is the way you thrive in todays world.

Easier said than done, I know. I spent years of my career piling up great ideas in a box and never doing any of them. I was the guy who had a better way, but waited for someone with “power” to execute. Don’t follow this path and expect results.

You need to be indispensable – a linchpin. Your training starts now: [Read more…]

Be the Worst, Now

September 26, 2011 By deacon 10 Comments

I stared blankly back at the fourteen JV high school boys huddled around me. The game was set to start in two minutes and they wanted to hear what their coach had to say. It’s time for last minute instructions. It’s time to instill in them the confidence that they were prepared for this. But I had nothing. It was a really uninspiring moment for everyone involved.

I grew up playing water polo. I’d been to hundreds of practices preparing for dozens of tournaments. I played at the NCAA level. But right then, in that moment, in my first pre-game huddle, I was failing as a coach.

I can’t remember exactly what happened in that game, or the one after that. But I remember being confused.

Why did that go so badly? Why am I so bad at this?

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One Bad Idea Away from Hobo

August 25, 2011 By deacon 8 Comments

I’ve been thinking about doing some coaching through Life Stoked lately. I’m passionate about helping people succeed and it’s something I’m good at too. But then I thought some more…

What if I put myself out there as a coach and it doesn’t work out? Suddenly LifeStoked.com isn’t a resource helping people succeed, it’s a place to get pitched to. My readers and fans would all abandon me because that’s not at all what they signed up for.

My friends at work would probably get wind of it too. Wait, so this guy is a coach now? I thought he was helping us grow Invodo. We don’t need that kind of disloyalty here!

I’d be “let go,” to go find work that’s better suited to my desires which of course would be hard!

We’d probably miss a few mortgage payments before we finally gave up and sold the house hoping families would be willing to take us in.

All because I thought helping people succeed one-on-one could be a fun.

What Happened Here?

During which paragraph of that downward spiral did you start rolling your eyes? Second? Third? It’s crazy right?

Right. But just because it was so easy for you to recognize my paranoia and fear through that story doesn’t mean you’re not telling yourself these same stories. Jon Acuff said it best:

“I feel like I’m one bad decision away from hobo.”

I had to laugh when I heard that because I know exactly what he’s talking about. I fought through that feeling a hundred times. I fought it to launch this blog. I fought it to start Bedrock Coaching. I fought it to leave old jobs and start new jobs.

Of course the list of things I never did because of that feeling is much much longer.

The fear of failure tries to get you to believe that your actions are forever.

– Jon Acuff

Being Realistic

My wife and I have been laughing about this feeling a lot lately with some big decisions we’ve been making. It helps a lot just to acknowledge that fear and understand that it’s inevitable.

It’s our brains at work.

David Rock explains in Your Brain at Work that our brains will try anything to avoid uncertainty. They will conjure up terrifying probabilities to keep things the same. They will lie to us, deceive us, and persuade us to thinking that staying the same is the wise choice.

Outsmarting Yourself

And so you have to use the right word when you’re trying new things. Instead of “starting” something new, it’s time to “experiment.”

Calling something an experiment removes “forever” from your thinking and frees you to fail without consequence. If it doesn’t work out, no big deal. It was just an experiment. Just something I was trying on to see how it fits.

I can experiment with coaching. I can experiment with new ideas at Invodo. I can experiment with anything.

I can feel a new energy in old, tired ideas I’ve had chained to the fence for months. I’m excited about new experiments.

What about you? Have you ever felt like you were one bad decision away from hobo?

Where To Look To Find Your Passion

August 18, 2011 By deacon 14 Comments

To reach the highest levels of success you’ve got to be doing something you’re passionate about. No surprises there really.

To me that tip was always about as helpful as “you’ve got to be saving more if you want to be rich.” Yea. Thanks. But I’ve got a mortgage, car payments, and a family to feed. I need a little more to go on to be useful.

If you want to find your unique passion, stop looking OUT at the world and start looking IN at yourself. Click to tweet this.

Figuring out what you’re passionate about and then turning that into dollars isn’t exactly straight forward (at least for me it isn’t!).

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Start Here to Win Big

August 10, 2011 By deacon 8 Comments

Whenever I meet someone successful I always like to dig at the very beginning. I’ve heard plenty of success stories about people taking something small and turning it into something huge. But the piece I’m missing is the one before that.

The beginning.

The very beginning. Where do I start to build something small. I’ll worry about turning it into something big later!

One of my favorite resources to help answer that question is the biography channel. It’s a chance to get a behind the scenes look at some of America’s most successful icons. The best part is the first 15 minutes when they talk about the how it all started.

The starting place is never a “Eureka” moment when they discover an untapped idea that could never fail. They weren’t gifted a secret formula from the heavens. And they were rarely born with a super-human quality that predestined them for unmatched greatness.

More often than not the starting place is passion. Milton Hershey fell in love with candy making as a teenager. Jack Daniels was obsessed with distilling a better whiskey. Beyonce Knowles loved entertaining. Bruce Lee was determined to be in the best shape possible.

Passion is the foundation on which to build success. Whether you choose to be an employee or strike out on your own passion for you work is what separates the truly successful from the just really good. It’s the fuel that will drive you harder than anybody else.

Working for money is not enough.
Working to attain a prestigious position is not enough.
Working to support a lifestyle is not enough.

To truly separate yourself from the pack you’ve must do work you’re passionate about.

Do your work because you can’t not do it.
Do your work because the world needs your work.
Do your work because it’s who you are.

Are you passionate about your work? Do you think it’s possible?

(photo credit)

Ensure a Balanced Life

June 9, 2011 By deacon Leave a Comment

The first time I went through Darren Hardy’s goal setting process I was surprised where it started. It wasn’t with a brainstorming session or answering questions about where I wanted to be in 10 years. But instead we started with an assessment of where I am now.

But I want to get to the good stuff Darren! Let’s go! I’m ready to make some serious progress now!

I went along with the process impatiently (because let’s face it, he’s the master goal achiever) and began my Life Assessment. In retrospect I’m grateful for the road it’s led me down! My life is more balanced and complete which is helping me achieve even more.

Why Assess Your Life?

Have you ever known someone with a rock-star career but a pitiful social life? How about a wonderful family man who struggles to rise up the ranks at the office? It’s all too common isn’t it? Using a systematic method to assess your life can give you a quick glimpse at how you’re shaped and highlight areas of too much or too little focus.

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Here is a free Life Assessment that I use courtesy of Darren Hardy’s book The Compound Effect:
Life Assessment Worksheet

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Following Darren’s example I assess my life along 8 axis: physical, financial, business, lifestyle, mental, spiritual, family, and relationships. My initial life assessment looked something like this:

Certainly not ideal and lots of room for improvement.

“If you want to be a complete success you’ve got to become a complete individual” – Zig Ziglar

How It Helps Me

This chart is also useful in my monthly goal setting routine. It highlights obvious deficiencies and places where I’m spending too little (or too much) effort.

For example, one area I’ve always tended to scrimp on is “Lifestyle.” My wife and I bought our first home about 18 months ago and as a financial coach my personality wants to pour all the cash we can into paying it off and investing for the future. My poor wife had to work pretty hard to get some pretty basic house stuff into our budget!

My Life Assessment along with identifying some of my core values (more on that later) helped me realize as badly as I wanted to invest for the future I wasn’t able to relax and enjoy the home I was working so hard for. I value a nicely painted and furnished bedroom where I can unwind. I needed a pleasant office where I could work towards my goals.

2011 has been different. We set a big goal to have our house (v1.0) finished by September 1: Painted, furnished, and ready for guests! We’re making great progress so far and it’s already a great lifestyle boost!

That’s just one example of how using this systematic approach to evaluating my life has helped me become a more balanced individual. I’ve only been using this approach for about 7 months now and I’ve already seen big impacts on my life! Having a nicely painted, organized, and comfortable bedroom to retire to each night helps me relax and wake up ready to attack the next day!

As they always say, what gets measured gets managed.

My Story

June 6, 2011 By deacon 4 Comments

I’m Deacon Bradley and I’m the brains of this operation. Okay I’m the only member of it too, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

My story starts out like many others. I was raised in a typical family in central Texas. I grew up playing competitive sports and was lucky enough to compete in college as well. I always dreamed of going to college, graduating, and then landing a job as some sort of engineer.

From there it’s a typical script: Work as hard as you can, get promoted, repeat. Always working toward that next milestone: a bigger house, a new boat, a Hawaiian vacation.

I thought that was the only way.

A New Direction

About three years into my career I was introduced to Dave Ramsey the personal finance guy. Dave’s message wasn’t what I was used to hearing. He taught people to live debt free and build a life of purpose.

I was fascinated by the stories of people living this lifestyle. They were regular people, with typical jobs, and they were millionaires living out their life’s purpose. Without the constant need for a steady flow of income they were free to chase their dreams.

This is how I got started. I wanted to live a life filled with purpose and I wanted the freedom to pursue my dreams. I started reading and discovered more and more people who were building the lifestyle they wanted and not just following the typical path.

– Dan Miller taught me how to discover the work I was meant for and do it passionately.

– Darren Hardy taught me how to set and achieve goals effectively.

– Jim Rohn taught me the importance of education and refining my personal philosophy.

– John Maxwell taught me how to become an effective leader.

I’ve learned a lot over the past few years, and I still have so much further to go.

Life Stoked is about my journey to make the most I possibly can out of myself. It’s about investing the five talents God blessed me with. I’m excited to share that journey with you!