I don’t watch much TV and when I do I usually just turn on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, or I am watching a game.  There are very few shows that I watch but, my wife and I like to watch America’s Got Talent.  We don’t even watch it on the night that it is shown but we watch it on Hulu a day or two later.

Last night we watched the results show for this year.  The winner was Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. a throwback crooner who had a great voice and a great story.  He is a great talent, he has a great background story, he is a very likable person, but he is not the best talent.  So why did America vote for him?  Because we are nice.  We love a good story.

I make this short post because I don’t see what others are saying about us as a country.  We may come across as arrogant.  We may have an air of superiority of the rest of the world.  We may even look like bullies to others.  But as a people we are not.

We love the underdog.  We love the rags to riches story.  We want to see people succeed on their own terms, through their own hard work, and with perseverance.  We showed that with our voting for America’s Got Talent.  The big winner with the show is America; we finally showed that we are a nice and caring nation.

Congratulations USA, you did not vote for the best talent, but you got it right.

It is amazing how things have been sneaking up on me. I have twice now realized my dreams and have been completely unprepared when I got there. In this case being unprepared has been a wonderful and exciting surprise and is currently opening up massive possibilities.

Let me catch you up a little bit on what has been going on and where I now stand. I know that I have not been blogging much and most of my posts have been substandard for me. I apologize but I have been having a lot of fun living. Here is a little list of what has been going on:

• I spent 8 months living in Taipei Taiwan teaching English to 5-6 year olds. Total easy job but I was deported after having discovered that I started working before my paperwork had been processed, a big no no. I am serving the 3^rd year of a 5 year ban from the country.
• I spent 6 months living on the beach in Miami Beach and working like a dog (with some really outstanding results) as a Business Development Manager for ActionCOACH Team Sage. All of a sudden I woke up one day (while driving) and realized that I was living on the beach, commuting to work through palm trees every day. Exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately was was not being paid enough to enjoy things and my wife could not find work. The result? I quit before I got divorced or had a mental melt down. Location was spectacular but the JOB was still just a JOB. 50% on my way to my designed life but not quite there.
• I came back to Nashville and sulked my way back to teaching, only to have 96% success rate for my students on the Algebra I test, and double the success rate on the new “standards” (or trick questions as I like to call them – totally unfair for the students but I digress), then I promptly quit after 18 months because I can no longer justify working in an industry where the employees believe that it is OK for a teacher who did less than I did (I was the Math Chair, DASH Chair, presented the the entire middle school principles, led a technology seminar, tutored every morning, sponsored a web design class) and had worse results was paid more than me just because they were older, and there was no chance at changing this. JOB acceptable, time off and benefits acceptable, PAY no where near acceptable.
• Started a career as a football official. I know it doesn’t sound nearly as glamorous as a coach but I really enjoy it. It also runs in the family as my Grandfather and father were officials. Plus it is more pay with way way way less time. And I get to be involved in one of the sports that I love. Looks like a win for me.

So what has happened now? We spent the month of July traveling with our baby daughter. I was sitting in a log cabin in the Smoky Mountains when it yet again hit me. I have created the perfect scenario. To borrow a bit from Edgar Allen Poe, I am on the edge of a precipice.

Before I think that I just was not ready mentally to take on the challenge of true lifestyle design. Now I am. I realized after picking up and beginning to reread the 4 Hour Work Week book by Timothy Ferris that I had finally accepted and developed all the tools necessary to get exactly what I want out of life. It is all there for me, time to react. Previously I would have been scared and overwhelmed. What do I do? How is it all going to work? How am I going to live without a full time JOB? What the hell am I doing? Not now. Somehow I have developed all these great skills that all give me a portable income.

A Portable Income is my number one goal. I love to work, I feel so accomplished, so alive, so young. I have no problem with authority. I actually quite respect people who have earned their way to the top and always take time to consider their suggestions. What I despise is being told that I have to be somewhere when there is nothing for me to do. I just can’t stand it.

I have developed skills as a Web Designer, and a Social Media Marketing and SEO Guru. Wow where did that come from? I don’t know but I got right to where I want to be. I now have the time to create what I want how I want it, and I have the abilities to do so. It was a bit of a rocky road, it was not easy, but now I have it. It is so exciting.

As a quick wrap up to get us all back on the same page. Life has surprised me but only looking back. I was living in the tropics (Taiwan and Miami Beach), I was living on the beach (Miami Beach and I still can’t believe I moved), I regained a significant amount of my time (teaching) but there was always something that was not quite right. Now I have the tools and the options to make it all happen. Stay tuned for the excitement.

Oh and thanks Tim. If you have not read the 4 Hour Work Week read it! Re read it! And read it until it all sinks in!

So that brings up the next logical question. Why is it so difficult for you this time? The answer is because I am not just making a lifestyle change, or a mental attitude change, but I am making both a lifestyle and a mental attitude change at the same time. It has only been recently that I have realized that I need to have both in order to get to where I want to be. You can check out my Bio to see where my changes have been in the past, and although the changes have been significant they were not as big as the change I am making now.

The change that I am going through is a mental change to get to the next level. That has been an ongoing change for me for a long time. I have been holding myself back because it is difficult. I am going to a whole different level and I am leaving some people behind, that is difficult. They are either going to have to change with me or they will only become acquaintances and friends forgotten. I am also having a more difficult time meeting people with the same beliefs and thoughts as me. I find that I am becoming a mentor for a few people who don’t want to be left behind but I am having a difficult time finding my own mentors.

The next change is moving up in a social and financial class. That has become even more difficult than I could have imagined. I will still be a sports loving, beer drinking, outdoor enjoying average guy in that respect, but now I will be choosing micro brews, hanging out in more secluded beaches, staying at nicer hotels, and driving fancier sports cars. I know that the limitations I have been setting on myself are self imposed, but I also feel that there is a little resistance moving up in money and class. People seem to be a little more closed off, more reserved. So is that me and my perception, or is there truth to that and that is how people have gotten to where they want to be? I don’t have that answer yet, but I think that it is a self imposed glass ceiling that I will break through soon.

Ok Coach so what is the point? The point is that the more difficult the change the better. The difficulty does not mean that you can’t do it, the difficulty means that it is worth doing and worth sticking with it until the change happens.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/self-directed-effort.html

Beer and Ice Cream Diet

As we all know, it takes 1 calorie to heat 1 gram of water 1 degree centigrade. Translated into meaningful terms, this means that if you eat a very cold dessert (generally consisting of water in large part), the natural processes which raise the consumed dessert to body temperature during the digestive cycle literally sucks the calories out of the only available source, your body fat.

For example, a dessert served and eaten at near 0 degrees C (32.2 deg. F) will in a short time be raised to the normal body temperature of 37 degrees C (98.6 deg. F). For each gram of dessert eaten, that process takes approximately 37 calories as stated above. The average dessert portion is 6 oz, or 168 grams. Therefore, by operation of thermodynamic law, 6,216 calories (1 cal./gm/deg. x 37 deg. x 168 gms) are extracted from body fat as the dessert’s temperature is normalized. Allowing for the 1,200 latent calories in the dessert, the net calorie loss is approximately 5,000 calories.

Obviously, the more cold dessert you eat,the better off you are and the faster you will lose weight, if that is your goal. This process works equally well when drinking very cold beer in frosted glasses. Each ounce of beer contains 16 latent calories, but extracts 1,036 calories (6,216 cal. per 6 oz. portion) in the temperature normalizing process. Thus the net calorie loss per ounce of beer is 1,020 calories. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to calculate that 12,240 calories (12 oz. x 1,020 cal./oz.) are extracted from the body in the process of drinking a can of beer.

Frozen desserts, e.g., ice cream, are even more beneficial, since it takes 83 cal./gm to melt them (i.e., raise them to 0 deg. C) and an additional 37 cal./gm to further raise them to body temperature. The results here are really remarkable, and it beats running hands down.

Unfortunately, for those who eat pizza as an excuse to drink beer, pizza (loaded with latent calories and served above body temperature) induces an opposite effect. But, thankfully, as the astute reader should have already reasoned, the obvious solution is to drink a lot of beer with pizza and follow up immediately with large bowls of ice cream.We could all be thin if we were to adhere religiously to a pizza, beer, and ice cream diet.

Happy eating!

School of Physics, University of Sydney

Hey if Berkley can steal it from University of Sydney I can steal it from Berkley.

I wish I knew where that quote came from, if you do let me know in the comments section.  This quote really sums up what makes a good athlete (or business person, or student, or person) into a great athlete.

How does this quote work so well?  It handles defeat in a gracious manner and learns a lesson from it.  It reduces jealousy of success and begins to work on your own.  The quote also lets you be humble and ask for help.

Everyone has setbacks.  We all lose from time to time.  The greatest coach of all time, John Wooden, won 10 NCAA basketball championships.  He went 4 years without a loss, but he did lose from time to time.  He did not get mad, he learned why they lost and made the team better.  He was always looking for the little details that would make the team better.  John Madden was the same way.  Everyone knows him as the NFL commentator and the Video Game producer (which is by the way the most popular all time game now), but did you know he has the best winning percentage of any NFL coach with 10 years or more?  Why did he win so much?  Like John Wooden he learned from his losses and always looked at every small detail to find out why he lost and tried to make his team better.  They did not get bitter, they got better.

Living by this motto helps free yourself from being jealous of success.  There is one sure way to ruin a good run and that is by becoming jealous of others success.  It gets you distracted from your own goals.  Being jealous of others success begins to put negative thoughts in your head.  It begins to make you think that the world is not abundant enough for the both of you.  You begin to think of them as an opponent.  You lose focus on your goals and once you have lost focus on your goals you begin to fail.

In reality the only place with one winner and one loser is in sports.  In real life there is a lot to go around, there are a lot of Win-Win deals out there.  By constantly trying to get better you begin to run into opportunities.  You focus on yourself your goals and how to get to where you want to be.

To get to what you want you have to ask for help.  There has never been a great athlete who has not had a coach.  Everyone needs help.  There is always someone who has some knowledge that will help you.  They have thoughts on how to achieve your goals even if they have not done it before.  Instead of getting bitter from a defeat and focusing on how to get better you begin to realize that you may need some help.  Asking for this help is a huge step.  Let others help you to focus on your goals and you will reach them faster and with less pain than you could have ever done on your own.

So next time life gets you down, and you don’t know what to do, Don’t Get Bitter, Get Better.

Since the Secret stormed out of the Oprah studio and took many of you by storm there has been some debate and some let down to the principles taught in the movie.  There are some interesting factors that people overlooked.  The biggest is the difference between Optimistic Thinking and Positive Thinking.

I think that the reason that the Secret is so powerful and why so many people love to watch it is that it is on some sort of different level, and it is.  The problem that comes with watching the Secret is that too many come away from the secret thinking that all they have to do is think positively and the world will change to their favor.  Fill your world with positive thoughts and positive things will happen to you.  That is correct, but it isn’t at the same time.  Here is the difference

Positive Thinking

With positive thinking people say only good things.  They always look to find the positive meaning in something.  They go out convincing themselves that if they think positively then good things will happen.  Thinking positively usually has people saying it out loud “the economy is down but there is only one way for it to go.”  Positive thinkers often times come on too strong and it puts people off, and pushes them away.

Optimistic Thinkers

With optimistic thinking people they only feel good things.  Everything always has a good side to the optimistic thinker.  No one can ever convince an optimistic thinker that something is negative once the optimistic thinker has made up their mind.  Optimistic thinkers tend to keep their thoughts to themselves, there is no need for them to tell anyone that they are optimistic, people just know.  People tend to follow optimistic thinkers, and optimistic thinkers tend to attract more people to them.

So with that description what is the real difference?  The difference with Positive Thinkers and Optimistic Thinkers is that one just thinks and the other one does.  Do you know the difference?  Can you see the significance now?  Of course the Optimistic Thinkers act on their optimism.  They continually see things in an optimistic mind and are able to see opportunities.  This is what the Secret really tells us.  Once we get our thinking in the right perspective we are able to act on it and manifest what we want.  It starts a domino effect.

Not sure what you are now?  There is an easy way to get started.  Simply be a positive thinker, but don’t tell anyone.  Just be one for yourself.  That is another key that people miss in the Secret.  Be a positive thinker for yourself and you will begin to become an Optimistic thinker.  At first you will have to force yourself to see the positive in something, then suddenly it will come naturally.  You will see more and more positives.  You will become the Optimistic person that has success thrust upon them.

I think that most of this stems from the Bible and other great books.  I am no scholar of the Bible but I can’t imagine that God or anyone else would want us to not have the best life that we could possibly lead.  With all the great things that are on this planet why should we be forced to do without?

I think that we have gotten this bad image of rich people from the media and movies.  The villain is always the rich person who will squash everyone and everything in their way to become richer.  They live posh lives and never share their money.  There may be one or two of these people around but they are certainly not prevalent.  If you work hard for what you want and you get it you should enjoy it.  I do think that we should all share, but how you do that is up to you.

I actually think that it is worse to be a person of without and expect a hand out from someone who has.  There is no reason that anyone should be in this position.  There is no reason that anyone should expect to have a handout.  Sure we have all landed on bad times.  We have all had our setbacks.  That is life and that is what makes life great, but we should all be willing to work our way back to prosperity.  There just is no reason that I can think of to give anyone who just sits around and waits for a handout anything.

But it is these people who think that they deserve something that are the loudest when it comes to the evils of money and wealth.  It is the people who have little and thinks that everyone should be in the same position that moan and complain about those who are successful.  I could go on but I would rather stay positive.

So on the positive side I say this to you.  Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t deserve something.  You deserve to have your hard work pay off.  You deserve to create your own prosperity.  You deserve to set high goals, and have high standards, and get them.  You deserve to be able to have enough to share with those who you feel are truly deserving.  God knows there are a lot of people out there who are deserving of charity.  It feels very good to be able to share some of your prosperity with those in need.  It feels very good to share some of your prosperity with yourself.  Go ahead and splurge on yourself you deserve it.

Yesterday I outlined what the Toyota Way was.  I also subtly gave you a little homework assignment to go to Wikipedia and see what they have to say about the system.  Now it is my turn.

Base management decisions on long-term philosophy even at the expense of short-term financial goals

Sound like something we could have learned about a year ago? Sound like something that has gotten us into the financial mess?  How does this apply to you? Sometimes we have to take a little hit, a loss, or a setback to achieve our long term goals. These little hiccups are not necessarily a bad thing. They can be a very good thing if we learn from them, they may even be part of the process that our success has to go through. But always keep the long-term goals and philosophy in mind.

Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface

An easier way of saying this is to focus on one task until it is completed. Do not multi-task, a lesson that I have recently learned. Multi-tasking leads to mistakes, time wasting, overprocessing, poor work, over action, and low creativity. Those are taken directly from the definition of the Toyota Way. None of us want to waste time, and that is what most of us get frustrated about in our jobs. My best job ever was mowing fairways at Leland Country Club. Why? Because I could get out on the mower in the early morning, have my cup of coffee and my radio/ear protection and just be in my own little world. All I had to do was mow fairways. I may take me until noon, or until the late afternoon, but that was my one task. I could concentrate on it and do it well. And I did do a good job, Actually I did a great job. I was probably the best fairway mower they had ever had. I could mow a straight line, make any type of pattern and do it in an efficient matter. Concentrate on one task an you will see your quality of work increase, and your creativity get sparked.

Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction

This may seem to apply only to manufacturing something but it does not. What this tells us is only use the resources that are needed. No matter if you are running a business or writing a blog there is no reason to do more than is needed, and use more than is needed. Make things simple and you will reduce waste. Wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted materials will go right out the door and you will never worry about them again.

Level out the workload (heijunka)

Work like a tortoise not the hare. This does not mean work slowly and inefficiently, it means quite the opposite. Maybe the best way to say it is to take time to do a good job instead of rushing a job to get it done. Trying to rush to get things done simply causes mistakes. Instead manage your time so you have enough to do a good job.

Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time

Don’t pass over a problem just to keep working. This is a huge problem for lots of production people and lots of self employed people. But it goes beyond that. Your employees, your co-workers, students, whomever you are in contact with should be praised for finding a problem and pointing it out. They should not be shunned. Finding problems is a good thing, it gets us closer to a high quality of work, production, and success.

Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.

Having a system to work in is great, but if that system is not working it needs to be changed. Having the ability to change a system and continue the process is hugely important. Again anyone who you come in contact with should be encouraged to point out ways of improving systems.

Use visual control so no problems are hidden

Obama likes to call this transparency. There is no real reason to hide most things. Leave work and processes out in the open so that all employees can see what is happening. Let your customers, your loved ones, and anyone else know what is happening. This will only develop trust, cooperation, and greater success.

Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes

Hummm very interesting. A company and a culture that seems to be gadget happy is instead saying don’t use something if you don’t need it. Talk to Timothy Ferris of the 4 Hour Work Week about this. You can certainly have way to many gadgets, fancy equipment, and technology that will hurt production, lead to greater time wasting, and frustration. Make it spartan. Work with the minimum. If the technology is not working don’t keep it around. Be willing to make the change, or to take away things that are not efficient.

Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy and teach it to others

This is why MLM companies are so successful. People want to attach themselves to a philosophy (look at the growing number of churches) that lead to success (see MLM and Work from home businesses). Through this philosophy it is clear that leaders can develop. There is a goal that can be achieved. When you have good leaders teaching others it inspires them to do more.

Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy

The most popular sports are all team sports. Why? Because everyone wants to be a part of something. There are very few and rare individuals who do things for their own good. Develop the team mentality, reward the entire team not the individuals and you will see production increase in all areas.

Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve

Everyone needs help. By challenging your helpers and helping them to do a better job you end up getting better. Sometimes you have to give free advice and free help to benefit you in the long run.

Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (Genchi Genbutsu)

You can’t know how something works until you get your hands dirty. Get out there and get involved. Do the things that you teach, lead, and want others to do. Suggest things only after you have experienced those suggestions first hand. It is a very important step. You can never know what the other one is experiencing until you experience it yourself.

Make decisions slowly be consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly (nemawashi)

Sports teams do a great job at this, Government does a terrible job. Get together with your most trusted people, identify the problem and work together to find the solution. This does not have to take long to happen. Why do you think that football coaches always wear headsets on the sidelines. Is it to have the other coaches point out what is happening? No the coach knows what is happening. It is a way to collaboratively figure out what will work from two different perspectives. Once the options have been weighed and the decision is made what to do next then it happens. This usually happens within 20 seconds each play during a football game. Now take this and do it with whatever you want to be successful. You will see that it becomes easy.

Become a learning organization through relentless reflection (hansei)  and continuous improvement (kaizen)

The only way to get better is to continually learn. There is thousands of years of history to learn from, and many lifetimes could never learn all the lessons that there are. But by continually learning you can continually improve. But taking a little time to reflect on what you have learned and how it can apply to your business, your sport, your success you will be able to implement change and improve. Sounds complicated and simple at the same time. It is neither, it should be something that is done because you like it and because you understand where it can take you.

So there you have it the 14 Principles of the Toyota Way broken down Coach Kip style. I hope that you can take many of these principles and apply them to your life. I know that I will be doing so.

The last post What Happened Detroit started out as this post but I had to get a few things off my chest.

As stated in the previous article the thing that is setting the Asian companies apart from the American companies is that they have taken our system and made it better. They have been doing this for a long time starting with electronics. Remember when Sony was seen as a totally inferior and cheep alternative to anything else? Now it is one of the best and one of the most affordable in the electronics industry. There was a time when something like the iPod would have been made in the United States due to quality control, but now they are made in Taiwan, which by the way produces 80% of the worlds laptops. Now they are doing it with cars, and they have been for a while. If Toyota is not the biggest car company on the planet, it soon will be (there seems to be some debate as to whether they have over taken GM or not).

So how did Toyota do this? Look at the Toyota Way. It is a set of 14 principles that are the management and production system of the Toyota Company. It creates not only a vision of the company that everyone involved can buy into, but it creates a company philosophy. Something that Detroit has been unwilling to do since Lee Iaccoca left.

Here are at the 14 principles

1. Base management decisions on long-term philosophy even at the expense of short-term financial goals
2. Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface
3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction
4. Level out the workload (heijunka)
5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time
6. Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment
7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden
8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes
9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy and teach it to others
10. Develop exceptional people and teams who follow your company’s philosophy
11. Respect your extended network of partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
12. Go an see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation (Genchi Genbutsu)
13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering all options; implement decisions rapidly (Nemawashi)
14. Become a learning organization through relentless reflection (hansei) and continuous improvement (kaizen)

Lets break these down into how these can help you as both workers, managers, and leaders. For more of an explanation of these see the Wikipedia post.  Tomorrow I will break it down Coach Kip style.