Thursday, October 2, 2008

The unexamined life isn’t worth living

The great Greek philosopher Socrates said that 2,400 years ago.
What do you think he meant? What is an examined life?
A sound piece of writing advice is to keep a journal.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to do this.
Super salesman and pro speaker Michael Aun keeps one.
Dr. William Carlos Williams kept one that became "Paterson, N.J."
Ernie Pyle turned his into dispatches from the WWII front lines.
Write in your journal as if you were Ernie Pyle.
Write as if the entire world was going to be richer from reading it.
Write every day. The more you write, the better you become.
John Steinbeck kept a journal when he was writing "East of Eden".
"A Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters" is worth reading.
There are three other reasons to journal, if that is, indeed, a verb.
1. Think about what is going on in your life.
To draw lessons from your mistakes.
To open your senses to your experiences.
2. Set goals and hold yourself accountable.
Write "What will advance my goals tomorrow" at the end of the day.
The next evening write "What advanced my goals today".
3. Leave a legacy for generations you will never see.
They can only see you through the prism of your journal.
I welcome your comments on your own reasons for journaling.
Meanwhile, for tips on living a great life, click here.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Last call to boost your bottom line

Our friend Bert Hull called from Kansas the other day.
Bert was one of the best advertising managers we ever had.
He manages the Lawrence, KS, Journal World’s niche publications.
I hope they know what a jewel they have in Bert.
Bert wanted to know if it was too late to send in a profit builder.
Heck, no, I said. Send us a cost-saving tip or two, as well.
Bert sent one of each. That means, he will get all that you send, too.
We are still compiling the results of this cost-and-profits survey.
We expect to have it ready for release later in October.
If you have a cost or expense saving tip to share, send it along.
If you have had success with a revenue builder, send it along, too.
As a reward, we will send you all the tips our readers sent us.
We will even give you credit for sharing your successes with us.
These are all field-tested strategies to boost everyone’s bottom line.
If you have not done it yet, please get with the program.
Friday is the cutoff to get the survey results and profit from them.
For more on bottom line boosting, click here.