by Nathan Coumbe

The first thing to do when you get laid off…

I lost my job yesterday – nothing to do with me. Something happened with the company, and I was one of the casualties.

There’s nothing I can do about it but to accept the reality of the situation and figure out how I’ll respond, rather than react, to this setback.

And the first thing I did?

I went for a walk.

Even though I really didn’t want to. I did it anyway – and I felt better for it.

When something like this happens, the best thing you can do is to get in some movement. Any form of exercise will do:

  • A long walk
  • A few laps at the pool
  • A great strength session

Get the heart pumping, the blood flowing to your brain, and the endorphins storming throughout your body.

There’s another thing you need to do, too—take your daily dose of motivational vitamins.

I love to listen to Seth Godin and Zig Ziglar on a daily basis – the same messages over and over again until I can repeat them verbatim. Why?

Because when I start repeating what they say—when I can finish their sentences—it means I’ve changed the way I talk to myself. Their messages of hope and success become my thoughts on the same topics.

So, if you’re about to lose (or already have lost) your job, take these two steps immediately.

  1. Get in some exercise (and do something physical EVERY SINGLE DAY)
  2. Take your daily motivational vitamin

By the way, here are two great recommendations from Seth & Zig to get you started:

P.S. Check out my cute little video talking about this very topic.

by Nathan Coumbe

Improvement is ugly

One of my favorite quotes from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way is this:

“It is impossible to get better and look good a the same time.”

Often, how we think others view us stands in the way of making progress. 

If we’re worried about what others think, we’ll pretend to have expertise we don’t—and often make ourselves the fool we were so worried of being. 

Or we’ll fall to braggadocio instead of humility when faced with someone who can actually help us improve.

She continues:

“Give yourself permission to be a beginner. By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.”

Keep a beginner’s mind as much as possible. You’ll go much farther and faster if you do.

by Nathan Coumbe

We don’t write eulogies for intelligence

Kindness matters much more than cleverness.

The world at large might remember you for your brains if you’re an Albert Einstein or a Katherine Johnson.

But the people who actually matter to you will remember you for how you made them feel. 

Honestly, how many eulogies are written about a person’s brilliance? I’ve rarely (if ever) heard one.

At a funeral, loved ones share funny stories and tell of how they were loved and treated by the deceased.

Keep this in mind as you think about what’s truly important today.

by Nathan Coumbe

Create a reality from which you don’t want to escape

I can’t remember where I first heard something similar to that headline (it may have been Seth Godin…)

But the idea occurred to me that so much of what we do is an attempt to get away from our daily lives…

People do drugs or drink to numbness to escape reality…

They take vacations to get away from work or family or just about anything else…

And those moments just become these little blips of happiness on the radar. Not even happiness, really, but bursts of pleasure… 

But contrary to popular belief, pleasure and happiness aren’t the same thing.

I think the key to good living is this:

Create a reality from which you don’t want to escape. 

Easier said than done, I know. And plenty of people have real horrors they need to escape from (I know from way too much personal experience). 

But few of us rarely sit down for a few quiet minutes and take the time to think about what that reality would be. 

I’d encourage you to take a few minutes now— with pen in hand and a few pieces of paper—and write out any- and everything that comes to mind about the lifestyle from which you wouldn’t want to escape. 

Then ask yourself what the first step would be on the way to making that reality real.

Because no one else is going to make that reality for you. You’ve got to do the work yourself.

And it’s sad, but true, that you might be at a severe disadvantage compared to others due to things that are completely out of your control—or shouldn’t even matter. 

But that doesn’t change what YOU have to do to get what you want.

by Nathan Coumbe

Would they miss you?

“Stop interrupting what people are interested in, and become what they’re interested in.”

—David Beebe, VP of global creative & content marketing at Marriott International

The essence of permission marketing is this:

Build an audience that wants to hear from you.

Create businesses, products, and services for people that will actively seek you out instead of trying to avoid you when you come knocking.

You’ll know you’re doing it right if you can answer “yes” to the following question:

Would they miss you if you were gone?

by Nathan Coumbe

“Being” requires “doing”

You become a writer by writing.

You become a leader by leading.

You become a doctor by doctoring.

You can learn the principles and the ideas behind these fields from books and courses. But the skill to do them is only developed through practice.

Zig Ziglar said: “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.” That’s where you must start.

Anything worth being only comes about as a result of doing.

by Nathan Coumbe

Your brain only has one core

The term “multi-tasking” didn’t arrive on the scene until the 1960s. But it was used to describe computers, not people. 

And if you think about it, even computers don’t do multiple things at once as well as they do one thing at a time. 

Imagine your computer running multiple apps, windows, and other software all at the same time. What happens?

The fan kicks on, each app runs slower than it would otherwise. If you’re using a Mac, you’ll probably get that bouncing pinwheel of death…

In simple terms, what’s happening (at least in modern multi-core Macs) is that the different cores of the processors “split apart” to run the different “threads” separately. Each core has to work on its own to do a different task. This is known as multi-threading.

But if you just run one app at a time, the cores can all work together to accomplish that single task faster and more efficiently. This is single-threading.

The human brain works the same way. It does ONE THING very well and multiple things poorly. It’s not designed for “multi-tasking.” 

If computers can’t do it well, what chance do you have? 

It’s cliché to say it, but do one thing at a time until it’s one for better results.

by Nathan Coumbe

Ruining a business is simple

It amazes me how one person can have such a tremendous effect on a business’s success or failure.

I’m talking, of course, about the experience someone has when they interact with any one individual employee of a business.

If the customer has a bad experience, the obvious thing that’ll happen is they’ll swear off the company completely.

“Well, I’m never going back to that place…”

And the funny thing is this: after a few months, or even a few years, that person who delivered the horrible experience is probably long gone…

Yet you STILL never go back. 

They don’t just ruin things in the moment – they ruin them long-term… Possibly forever. 

And let’s not forget the fact that if the employee threw a tantrum in front of lots of other customers, they probably won’t come back either.

But it goes even further than that.

Do you know what people love to talk about even more than a great experience?

The worst experience they’ve ever had!

That’s why all the reviews for every single business you’ll ever read are 90% one-stars. 

Nobody ever writes about a decent, 3-star experience they had… And we rarely take the time to write about the great experiences – it’s too much work.

But when we’re angry, fuming, and vengeful, nothing gives us more satisfaction than to feel like we’re ruining a business.

So we tell the others. And word spreads. And those people who’ve never had a bad experience with the business decide not to patronize it… For fear of having a bad experience. 

Here’s a simple idea for all of us in business: adopt the ideas of Victor Krulak, the former commandant of the US Marine Corps. 

He wrote about the “strategic corporal” which insists that the entire outcome of a war rests solely on the lowest paid, most beaten-down, hardest working Marine on the frontline. 

That Marine bears the brunt of the fighting. And if they do something terrible, they ruin the image of an entire nation… Especially now that everything is seen by everybody.

The solution is to treat your lowest paid, frontline employees as the most important part of your organization. Because they absolutely are!

Those who deal with customers on a daily basis are the strongest marketing force you have, aside from the customers themselves through word-of-mouth.

Treat them as the most important people in your company, compensate them well, and train them to represent the brand you want your business to embody.

by Nathan Coumbe

Here’s how to know if you’re manipulating someone…

If they knew EXACTLY what you knew about your…

  1. Product
  1. Service
  1. Idea

And knowing exactly what you know, they wouldn’t…

  1. Buy it…
  1. Use it…
  1. Believe it…

Then, yes, you’re manipulating them. 

On the other hand, if they knew exactly what you know, and they STILL wanted to engage with it, you’re doing something right. 

Don’t create or sell things you aren’t proud of. 

by Nathan Coumbe

Voting for others’ needs

How would you vote differently if you took your wants and desires out of the equation?

What if—instead of voting based on the promises politicians make that make your life better—you considered how those promises would affect others? 

The people who are different from you…

Those that have less than you (or more)…

Would you still believe that those policies were the best for everyone? Or do they just help you?

And do they actually help you? More importantly, do you believe they’ll follow through with them when so many don’t? Most of it’s just rhetoric after all.

Would you demand more, and better, from your elected officials?

Something to consider when the time comes.