do less, be more

We've MOVED!

2007-10-20T17:23:00.000-04:00

Please be sure to update your bookmarks and feed reader links!

The new home of the blog is: http://www.chrisvenn.com/blog

The new RSS feed link is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InChrisHead

Change is Time Consuming, But Real Change is Instantaneous

2007-07-18T22:21:00.000-04:00

If you're like me, you've been going through a lot of change over the last little while. I won't bury you with the details of some of the stuff I've been handling recently (that will be in a future post), but suffice it to say that it has been significant, life altering, and full of joy and pain. It hasn't been easy, and it has been important to get done.

Over the past couple of years I've been making some important shifts in how I think and how I look at life and business. Most importantly, I've been making shifts in how I look at myself - and that's the real work.

What I found out along the way is that change is rather time consuming. There's a lot of internal debating going on, some world-class arguments with myself (I lost a couple), some research, checking in with other people, and then the shifting to a new way of doing something or thinking about something.

There's a lot of time involved in changing stuff - however, there's a catch. Change doesn't take time. Preparing for change takes time.

When the moment of change actually arrives and you don't resist it, massive changes happen immediately. There's no incubation period, no time delay - the shift happens and you become something else. The requirement, however, is that you don't resist the change. As soon as you give yourself to the growth, you change - in the very instant.

If you're looking for change - stop fighting it. Get your brain out of the way and let your body and spirit sort it out. They'll do a better job and it will be a lot less painful. Believe me on this one. You don't need to prove this one for yourself.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

Being your best requires more of You, and less of your Best

2007-06-28T00:11:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I'm saying it, it's almost like personal blasphemy.

I'm blessed with the opportunity to speak to groups on a couple of continents, and one of my favourite things to chat about is how to perform at your personal best when you need it most. Your best is important, in fact I think it's critical to finding your path through this life. And when I speak, I spend a lot of time talking about how to be your best. There's all kinds of mental kung fu you can do, and cool techniques that really work.

Guess what - that stuff is the tip of the iceberg. It's a little grain of sand parked beside Mt. Everest and, while I may have suspected it all along, I didn't want to face Everest - the grain of sand was less daunting.

So here's the deal. Emotions are more powerful than kung fu. All the techniques in the world won't help you a bit if you are scared to death. All the cool language will evaporate from your mind if your confidence is traumatized. All the truth on your tongue will sour if you can't speak it. Whether you want to believe it or not, the part of you that is driving most of your life, are your emotions. When they are out to lunch - you are too. Worse, you're in pain.

How do I know this? I've been in pain.

I love my left brain. My analytical thinking is great, logic is fun, math is cool, linear progression rocks, deductive reasoning is sweet, and speed reading and memorization are simple for me. Problem: they don't matter.

Now don't get me wrong - I don't think they aren't important (frankly, that would be treasonous to me). They are important. Build those skills - they're powerful tools. But they pale in comparison to the awesome, over-arching power of your emotions.

I've been going through lots of "stuff" recently, just like you probably have. We all do in varying degrees at different times. And along the way, I did a fantastic job of containing my emotions and dealing with things in a very logical fashion. It went well until I became a blubbering idiot as my emotions decided that they were done waiting. Wimp? Maybe. Honest? For sure. The point is that your emotions are a key part of You. If you hide that stuff, you just hide you.

Now here's the cool part. As soon as I started actually facing my 'feelings' about things, something shifted. Things were clearer. My perspective was different. I had a vantage point that was completely new to me. I may not have been at the peak of Everest, but I bet I was at Camp1 or 2 and had a view that was a hell of a lot different than when I was looking at that grain of sand. I started to understand where things fit, what was true for me, and it didn't matter if people didn't agree with it because it was me on the mountain, not them.

You're going to see a lot more on this going forward because what I'm figuring out is that if you can handle your emotions, you can handle all the rest. But it doesn't work the other way around.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

Greed is...

2007-06-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

I think a lot of people have a lot of different ideas about what greed is. It's typically considered to be a bad thing and something that pisses people off or annoys the crap out of them. I don't necessarily disagree. The thing is, what's the difference between greed and other things like selfishness, out of control appetite, scarcity or whatever?

Here's what I learned recently.

Greed is having a gift and not giving it.

I actually buy into the notion that everyone has a genius in them. I don't think it's in the form of genius that most of us might think - and Harvard is even now telling us that there are numerous forms of genius. The point is, everyone is gifted. Everyone has an instinctive talent that is "factory installed equipment".

Greed, is not giving that gift. Greed is not expressing your genius, giving your gifts and pushing your boundaries so that more people can experience it or it is expressed more fully.

Greed is having a gift and not giving it.
Give, and be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

The Power of Bull****

2007-06-12T14:37:00.000-04:00

First, I don't mean that bull**** is powerful (although it can be). And I don't even mean that you should go use it - that's your decision. I'm gonna ask you to think for a second, though - what bull**** has power over you?

Over the last little while, the word "should" has kept showing up for me. I should do this, I should do that etc. What I started to realize along the way is that whenever I was acting on "should", more often than not I was operating based on someone else's rules.

We do things all day long that are governed by "what's appropriate" or "what's comfortable" for other people. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with that provided they are your agreements rather than someone else's. The challenge, I think, is knowing the difference. How do you differentiate from what you think is your idea versus a lifetime of conditioning and socialization? Versus a lifetime of what is potentially bull***? It's a tough one.

I don't want to live my life worrying about what other people think, yet to a large part, I still do. My win, however, is that I'm aware of it now and things are shifting. As I get clearer on what I know is true for me, and where things seem to naturally flow, things have become easier for me. They've become graceful and a lot less strained.

Sure, we all probably need to share some common ground and fundamental beliefs (like we shouldn't kill each other), however, trust yourself. Use your initiative and intuition. Couple them with what you read, listen to and learn. You might be surprised at the results.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Counter-Intuitive

2007-06-06T06:38:00.000-04:00

You may or may not know this, but many of the most powerful things in our lives actually operate counter-intuitively than we might expect. There are lots of things that feel normal, that are completely unproductive, and many things that feel horrible that are precisely what we should be doing.

A lot of it has to do with what's 'comfortable'.

'Comfortable' is a tricky thing. When things are comfortable, I generally think it's time to change something. It's a sign of complacency. It's an indicator that we're not growing, which means that we are in decay (universal rule, not mine). At the same time, when things are really uncomfortable, it's an indicator that you're growing and so you're doing the right things.

There are all kinds of examples where doing things that feel uncomfortable are actually the right thing to do if you want to be a growing entity in Universe.

My friend Casey and I were talking about this and he cleverly said that you could sum it up like this:

There is no growth in our comfort zone, and no comfort in our growth zone.

Be uncomfortable (and outstanding).
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Going With The Flow Isn't For Wimps

2007-06-01T07:13:00.000-04:00

For most of my life, when I hear someone say "we just need to go with the flow" I couldn't help but try to suppress vomiting. It sounded like some of the most irresponsible, unaccountable crap I had ever heard. "Go with the flow" is tantamount to saying that you'll hope some great benevolent force will step in and make everything all flowery for you without you having to do anything except perhaps worship a candle or something. I thought it was a just garbage.

Problem: I think going with the flow might work.

Why is that a problem? I've had to let go of a belief. Technically, I actually have had to redefine it because my belief wasn't particularly precise (precision is important to me so this bugs me even more).

Here's what I've discovered through my own experience of late. First, I'm one of those mission-based operators in business and in life. Give me a mission and I'll complete it. I might exhaust myself until I'm sick and broken down, and I may bash my head against every wall I can find in the process, but the mission will be completed. It appealed to the rugged individual mentality that has been nicely socialized into me and frankly, I'm good at it. I'm pretty creative, pretty resilient and single-minded.

However, I've also done several projects and other things recently that occurred really easily. I mean, so easily compared to how difficult they should be, that it was ridiculous. It got me to thinking, why did those one's happen so smoothly?

Now here's where it gets weird. If we believe in God, Universe, the great spirit, divine energy or whatever you want to call it (which I do) and that there is a specific intention for our role in Universe (which I do), then perhaps things are easier when we're doing things that are in line with our purpose even if we don't know what that purpose is.

This wasn't easy for me to wrap my head around, because I like facing obstacles, overcoming them and winning the day. Yet, I'm seeing more and more evidence that things should flow. If they don't flow, then they may not be the priority at the moment.

There is a catch to all this, however, and it goes back to the "Manage By Hope" model that I've scorned all these years. Trusting, does not mean not working. To trust a process doesn't mean that you can then just shrug and choose to wait for everything to come to you. The same efforts are required to create results (maybe more, but that's another blog), however they need to be applied to the projects that flow. When things start to roll smoothly and quickly, you're on track. Put more energy into that, and then see what happens! It's the experiment I have underway and I'll let you know how it goes.

Final thought: my apologies to the "flow trusters" I've trash-talked all these years. You might be on to something!

Be outstanding!
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Time for Yourself

2007-05-18T09:33:00.000-04:00

There are times when you need to take time for you. Think of it like this: if you are a battery, you can give 100% of your effort. If that battery wears down to 50%, even though you are giving everything you have, you can still only give 50%. If your battery is down to 2%, even though you give every once of what's in you, you still can only give 2%.

So what? You need to take time, alone, away from work from time to time to recharge your battery. Sometimes we need to unplug, disconnect and do what we love.

With that in mind, I won't be blogging for about a week and a half as I head to North Carolina to go wreck diving on sunken German submarines. I'll be completely unplugged and will miss you. And I'll be back.

In the meantime, take a look back over some past postings (the old ones will seem like they're new) and I'm sure you'll get a whole new perspective.

Be outstanding.
Chris

www.chrisvenn.com

Death From Above

2007-05-16T06:24:00.000-04:00

The phrase "death from above" comes from the U.S. Army Airborne. The idea is that these guys parachute into battle, almost anywhere, overwhelm the battlefield and win. I'm not going to talk about war. What I do want to talk about is being overwhelmed by people you respect.

Have you ever looked up to someone? Have you held someone in high esteem only to find that they were quietly overwhelming you? It's actually rather easy for someone to slip into your thinking and float onto the battlefield of your mind and then start to make the battle shift their way, instead of yours.

It can be risky to hold people in such high regard that you no longer mentally inspect what they are saying or doing. Having a positive, supportive spirit while slitting your throat doesn't make slitting your throat acceptable. My point is that it's important to surround yourself with people who will support you, push you to be better, even teach you. And at the same time, you are still responsible for recognizing when they might be doing harm to you.

The airborne shows up quickly, quietly and in large numbers. But to know they are coming, you simply need to pay attention to what's above you.

Keep your eyes open, and hold yourself responsible. If you don't someone else will.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

47 People, 2 Hours, 1 Lesson

2007-05-10T06:42:00.000-04:00

Last night I had the pleasure of spending the evening with 47 people that wanted something. What did they want? They wanted more.

Now, I don't mean they were greedy - because they weren't. And I don't mean that they were selfish - because they're not. They were people who wanted to be their best, who wanted to be more than they were when they walked in the room. But even that isn't accurate. At the end of it all, they wanted to flip on the switches for all the 'factory installed equipment' that is already inside of them. They wanted to be able to perform at their personal best when they need it most.

I'd mentioned earlier that I was holding a free event and that event was last night. We spent about two hours together and although we covered a lot of ground, things boiled down to one lesson. You are powerful when you are present.

Being present isn't always easy. It's simple to get distracted or to let emotion overwhelm our ability to stay connected. However, we are powerful in the present. There is no fear in the present. The only time and place that we can affect change is in the present.

We had a lot of fun last night, and I did my best to share just a glimpse of some of the things that we can do to stay engaged and notice what's going on around us. Following the natural flow of things is a cornerstone to being powerful, and I know that that message made it through to a few people.

I want to thank everyone that attended, and I trust the time was well-invested to you. I also want to thank Sharon Marks for putting it together, and for a few of my friends who said a couple of words at the end - Dave Ruuskanen, Renate Weiler and Ian Barrett. It was an honour to have all of you in the room.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

The Deadly Volunteer

2007-05-08T22:27:00.000-04:00

What do you volunteer for? [excuse the preposition]

Do you volunteer for anything? What have you chosen to freely give your time, energy, money, attention, love, whatever to? [another preposition at the end? Honest, I apologize.]

I know people who volunteer for nothing. "If you pay me, I'll do it." They make very good employees. They'd probably also make good mercenaries now that I think about it, but I digress.

The real question, however, is "who has the power - the volunteer or the person who can command the $?" I'll go with the volunteer?

Now, when many people think about the word 'volunteer' they think about church groups, community organizations, school functions etc. However, there are other volunteers. As a matter of fact, in the military, you have to volunteer three different times before you can become an Army Ranger, or a Navy Seal. Now why would they do that?

This answer is this: There is nothing more powerful than a volunteer.

Volunteers do what they do because they choose to - because they want to. The deadliest people in the military are volunteers because they serve a higher purpose than money. The desire for cash disappears quickly when bullets are whizzing over your head.

So, what higher purpose do you serve? What drives you? What are you willing to volunteer, and for what cause? It might be time to be a lot more powerful. Volunteering is a quick way to get started.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

15 Minutes of (minor) Fame

2007-05-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

As you probably know, I wrote a book last year called The Business Inside. If you didn't know that, take a peek on the left side of this page and there's more information there.

In the beginning of April, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Arizona Web TV on the Author Show. You can find that interview at http://www.arizonawebtv.com/ and then click on any of the micro-sites and you'll see a link for the Author Show.

However, if you're interested in seeing it now, you can just click here. I hope you enjoy it. I learned a lot in the process and it was great practice for the future.

Be outstanding,
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Exception to the rule....

2007-04-30T00:48:00.000-04:00

The conventional wisdom is that there's no such thing as a free lunch. The good news for you is that I like breaking the rules. I have something free for you - and something that won't be a waste of your time.

I'm very fortunate because I am business partners with one of the best teachers in the world (literally) and am invited to attend and sometimes speak at numerous seminars on professional and personal development. Do you know why I like going to them? It's because I learn so much. And over the last year especially, I've learned a tremendous amount about creating the life and success you want. I want you to have that information!

On Wednesday May 9th, at 8pm sharp, at the Best Western Voyageur Hotel in Newmarket Ontario, I'm going to share with you what I've been learning about recently. It won't be a waste of your time, I won't ask for anything but your time, and I know we'll be having fun there. So, come.

The room only holds 50 people so it's limited to the first 50 who respond and to register, just email me at cv@chrisvenn.com to reserve your spot.

Be outstanding by coming and spending a free evening with me.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

The Confused Mind

2007-04-29T10:13:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been confused? I know that I have. And if you're anything like me, you might find it to be not only frustrating, but annoying.

Now, confusion can come from lots of things - a misunderstood word, a misunderstood intention, not having a clue what the hell is going on, being too slow - all kinds of things. I don't really care where it comes from necessarily, but I do care how I respond to it.

Confusion poses a question, however, and that is, "what's the problem with being confused?"

Lots of people are confused often and they don't like it. I don't like it either, and I'll tell you why.

A confused mind always answers "No".

Why would that matter? I have goals is why that matters! I have outcomes to create! I have a life to live and none of us live in isolation. So if creating great results means working with a team, if I can't communicate clearly and handle confusion, everyone will tend toward "no" rather than "yes".

I didn't always understand this in my brain, but I think most of us suspect this is going on. So here's the challenge for you - be clear and check in with people to see if they are confused. If they are handle it.

If you don't, understand that the answer to whatever it is you're asking is likely "no".

Be outstanding,
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Book Report

2007-04-23T23:54:00.000-04:00

It's not really a book report. I'm actually still trying to decide if I liked doing them back in school - haven't decided yet.

No, this is a different kind of book report. This is a report on how things went with our event at Chapters book store on Saturday. I mentioned that they are carrying my book, The Business Inside, as a test and they had me in for a 'meet the author' event. It was this past Saturday, and it was a blast.

First of all, some very close friends of mine showed up which was an absolute delight. I was surprised and thrilled they were there. You guys know who you are...my deep thanks.

The room was full and we were spilling out into the next room. We had a chance to chat about change, standards, creating trust and just glimpsed a bit of how to perform at your personal best when you need it most. We had a lot of laughs, and I think everyone learned - I know that I did.

A few books were sold along the way (again, many thanks) and I made some new friends as well.

On top of all this, I had a chance to introduce some friends of mine who are also speakers local to the Newmarket area. Renate Weiler, Dave Ruuskanen, Doug Tardiff and Steve Hopkinson all said a few words. They, along with Ian Barrett, will be joining me to put on a two day seminar in June (on the 16/17) and you can get the details on my web site. The entire seminar will be devoted to Doing Less, and Being More. You will walk away knowing How to Perform at Your Personal Best When You Need It Most. Check it out.

My thanks to all those who sent emails, phoned me, skyped me and texted me about the event. It was a great success, and Chapters have already invited us back to do more.

An outstanding time.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Free Speech

2007-04-20T07:28:00.000-04:00

Ok, this one isn't a political rant about our rights to express ourselves - this is downright shameless self-promotion. Are you ready for it? Here goes.

You are invited. I'm having a private party for you [and anyone else who ever reads this or who has seen any of the advertising in Newmarket]. It just so happens it will take place at the Chapters Book Store in Newmarket Ontario tomorrow - Saturday 21 April 2007 from 1-3pm.

Chapters has decided to carry my book, The Business Inside, and so they're having a "meet the author" event and I'd love it if you could come. It is free. I'll be doing a short chat and then introducing six of my good friends who are speakers in York Region. These are some of the coolest people out there when it comes to playing at your very best - this won't be a waste of time.

The store is at 17440 Yonge Street in Newmarket and it's just south of Davis Drive.
Come!

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Being Your Best

2007-04-17T21:42:00.000-04:00

It's easy to think that being your best is about trying really hard, giving it your all, pushing to your boundaries - and to a large extent, that's what it's about. However, there's another side to it.

My question to you is this: What are you willing to give up in order to be your best?

Are you willing to give up smoking? That's rather an obvious one, but are you? Are you willing to stop eating garbage in order to be your best? Are you willing to stop watching Everyone Loves Raymond?

Go bigger. Are you willing to give up friendships? Are you willing to give up your profession? Could you give up a relationship that's important to you? Could you give up your home?

Being your best is about making decisions. Interestingly, the word 'decision' comes from the Latin phrase meaning "to cut off". Making decisions means you have to cut yourself off from something. If you are willing to decide to be your best, start by asking what you're willing to cut yourself off from before you aim toward what you're going to do.

It's not an easy path. It's an important path.
Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Hate is not the opposite of Love.....

2007-04-10T08:31:00.000-04:00

...apathy is.

People like to use the expression "love-hate" relationship as if it's some sort of balancing of opposites. Sometimes someone will say "I love ice cream" and the next person will say "I hate ice cream." If you think about it, they actually haven't said much different than each other.

Both love and hate are highly charged emotions. They are both (often) seen to be exclusive (this is the love of my life, I hate those guys). They both hold positions that are generally difficult to move people from. They're actually rather similar.

But the opposite of Love is not Hate, it's Apathy. Apathy is defined as "an absence of emotion or enthusiasm; a psychological state of indifference" - that is a problem state.

Now I know it may be tempting to want to trash-talk "hate", and believe me, I am not advocating it. The world needs no more of it. But my point is that if a person hates something, you can actually look to the other side of the equation and find out what they love. There is almost always something driving them that has a bright side. It may not be true in the case of certain extremists, but I think if we shift back to ice cream, the balance of the sentence might be "I hate ice cream, but I love brownies." There's almost always that "other side of the equation."

Apathy, however, is an emotion-killer. It's a state of non-commitment. It's a lack of caring about a specific issue/topic/noun. It's the opposite of love.

I'm OK with things if I get upset about something. It tells me what I care about - that's useful. Apathy, however, is a danger signal to me. It often shows me that I'm losing focus on what's important to me. If I "just don't care", and it's something fairly important going on, I need to wake up and take a stand on it.

There are certainly things in our lives that we don't need to care/worry about, and there are things that we do. When it's something we should have a position on, and we don't, check in on your Apathy Meter and if the measurement is high, get your head back in the game and start caring.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

The Curse of Knowledge

2007-04-02T00:17:00.000-04:00

OK, there's actually more than one curse, so technically this should be "The Curses of Knowledge" however, I'm only going after one. It's this: when you know something, you lose the right to be an idiot.

We all fight our own personal demons day in, and day out. They vary in intensity and frequency, but they are there nonetheless.

Now, I don't have a real problem with handling challenges that show up, generally they're great learning opportunities. Honest.

However, sometimes they are big enough, or there are enough of them that it gets to be a bit much. More specifically, when there's a lot of emotional charge on them, they tend to take on 'larger than life' qualities that start to piss me off.

So here's the deal: when you know how to handle them [more specifically, when you know how to handle yourself] you lose the right to not apply that knowledge. There are times (now, for example) when I'm just peaking with emotion, and have sadness, anger and frustration all at the same time, and I have to manage my state. I say I have to because I know how! Sometimes I wish I didn't so that I'd have a great excuse to be an idiot. I could be resentful, bitter and a jerk with impunity.

The fact is, though, I don't get that right. I know better. I know how. And most importantly, I know why I should aim to operate at my best. Do you?

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Be With It.

2007-03-28T23:32:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make: I'm impatient. It's true, I want things to happen quickly. I don't like lag, I despise gestation and I get really annoyed when things move too slowly.

In the meantime, I also recognize [and I've blogged about this before] that impatience is really an expression of anger. Don't worry, I'm not angry at you - I'm likely targeting myself on that one.

Back to the point though, I'm impatient. Dealing with that can be really frustrating sometimes. I don't know about you, but have you ever had days where you just wanted to fast forward your life by a few days? hours? minutes even? I know I have. And it begs the question, "How can you handle it?"

Here's the thought: be with your feelings. That's right, just be with your feelings.

Now I know this sounds like it comes from the deep end of the mushy pool, but believe it or not, it actually works. There are a few reasons why. First, your feelings are going to happen now or later. You can try to bottle them up, but that just means they'll build in power and ferocity and when they finally show up, they'll be over-achievers if you know what I mean. They can't be denied for ever, so you may as well meet them, get to know them a bit and hang out.

Second, your emotions have a message for you. Emotions are action signals that are designed to nudge you toward what will work in your life. If, every time you do something you feel horrible emotions, there's a good chance that they're trying to give you a lesson. Be with them so you can understand what they're telling you, and take the lesson.

Finally, moving on from experience to experience is how we grow - provided we learn along the way. If you don't, you're just going through a lot of crap for no real good reason. So if learning is the game here, then checking in with your feelings is part of understanding what's actually happened and a predictor of what might happen along the way.

How do you "be with your feelings?"
Think about it this way, be, don't do. I know it might be a foreign idea, but give it some opportunity. Take a seat somewhere and settle down. Let your brain slow down its commentary a bit and then ask yourself what you're feeling. Notice the answers and quietly ask yourself more and more questions until you understand what you're feeling. Once you do, you may notice a whole new clarity on items and issues that were causing you some real upset.

Check in and find out what your emotions are saying.

Be outstanding,
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Non-Existence isn't a Problem

2007-03-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a day where you felt invisible? Non-existent? I know I have, and I used to worry about it a lot.

However, one thing that I've heard over and over from the mentors I hang out with is how to handle non-existence. And do you want to know what's cool about it? It's easy.

The answer to non-existence is to serve.

When, for all intents and purposes you're invisible, the way to come into existence is to serve. Sounds simple, right? It is, but that doesn't make it easy. Serving when you feel like you have no game that is yours, when you are potentially without purpose, can be the last thing you want to do. However, stick with serving, and observing so that you can learn, and you can start to shift out of non-existence.

The question is, where will you shift to?
Be outstanding?
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Out of the Future

2007-03-26T03:34:00.000-04:00

The future is about creating an outcome, not an income.

I know too many people, myself included at times, who are interested only in creating income. They want money. They need money. If there's no cash in the deal, they won't look at it.

Now, technically, that's not necessarily bad business [indeed it's good business], but the key is what is driving it? When we have a desperation about money, nothing manifests because we're playing from a position of scarcity. No great goals are accomplished, and people don't play at their best when they're in this state.

However, when you're focused on an outcome, income typically follows. So, understand that the future is about creating an Outcome, not an Income.
Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

You Don't Rise to the Challenge

2007-03-21T23:58:00.000-04:00

"I'll rise to the challenge!"

I've heard it before - lots of times. Do you want to know the truth? People don't rise to the challenge; they sink to the level of their training. Blasphemy? I think not.

First of all, 'rising to the challenge' is a form of charismatic crap that people grab hold of primarily to prop up their ego, or to appear courageous in the eyes of others. Usually, they don't want to rise up, they'd prefer things to come down to their level.

What really happens, however, is that when things get tough, people sink to the level of their training. They do what they've been programmed and conditioned to do. Here's the problem: most people have not deliberately been programmed or conditioned to win! They've been conditioned to conform (which means to operate by someone else's rules). So my question is, what are you conditioned to do when the heat gets turned up?

I spent five years as an executive protection specialist - essentially a body guard, but with much better training. I also did years and years of Karate and spent some time as a soldier. I have programming. I have conditioning. And when things go sideways, that conditioning shows up.

I have also trained myself to handle adversity with a specific approach. Listen carefully, "I have also trained myself...." Understand that when we revert to our training, the world doesn't discriminate based on what training you have - it only cares about the result. If your training is weak, non-existent or ineffective, guess what kind of results you'll have?

Take responsibility for conditioning yourself to succeed. Take the time to think about what kind of habits (auto-responses) you want so that you can get the results you're looking for.

People don't rise to the challenge, they sink to the level of their training.

Is your training outstanding?
Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

And above all else, respect

2007-03-20T22:23:00.000-04:00

Difficulty comes, just as success. It's not necessarily a function of good or bad, right or wrong, it just is.

Now, that doesn't mean it's easy. Success isnt' always easy, nor is 'failure'. As a matter of fact, sometimes they hurt like hell. However, in all cases, no matter what manifests in life, and no matter who is involved, show respect.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Luck and Lose

2007-03-16T22:51:00.000-04:00

Happy St. Paddy's Day. Luck is not for winners.

Saint Patrick's Day always holds two things in store for me: green beer and conversations about Luck. Now let me say, I have lots of Irish friends, and they want to talk about green beer. It seems that it's everybody else that is looking for the 4 leaf clover.

So here is the deal about luck. You can win, with luck. Luck is for winning, but it's not for winners.

What do I mean? Here's the deal - when you hold out for luck, or attribute luck to be the cause of anything, you cop out. In that moment, good or bad, you're not being responsible. If you're not being responsible, I don't think you can be a winner. Now, you might still get the result you want. Indeed, you might get an amazing result far beyond what you imagined (i.e. win the lottery). But winning doesn't make you a winner. How you play the game makes you a winner.

Hold yourself responsible. Don't attribute anything to luck - in my experience it doesn't exist. Luck is an excuse that losers give to circumstance.

Happy green beer day - be outstanding!
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

A New Chapter(s)

2007-03-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I wrote a book last year entitled The Business Inside.

It was a labour of love and was really the sum of two things. First, I had some stuff I needed to say. How's that for a sales pitch! Really, there were some things on my mind that I knew were important, that I wanted other people to have access to. Secondly, I needed to understand what was involved in writing a book.

I'm pleased to say that it turned out to be "a fine book", as my brother Trefor would say, and thousands of copies have been sold.

Today, I signed a deal with the Chapters store in Newmarket to carry it, and I'll also be offering a free seminar in their store in April of this year. It's only one Chapters store, so technically that makes it a Chapter. (By the way, for those of you from America, Chapters is like a Barnes & Noble.)

Now, I haven't taken the "book retailing business" by storm, and I haven't created some tectonic shift in thinking about business, life and success. As a matter of fact, what I've done is far more important than both of those.

What I've done is set an intention, work at it, create a result, sell the result and create enough critical mass to get a larger player in the marketplace to take interest in it. I'm happy about that!

I'm also happy that my book is located in the Business Life - Motivation section! Now, I make a point each time I speak to ensure the audience is clear that I am not a motivational speaker. The problem with external motivation is that it evaporates by the time someone leaves the building. I want people - I want you - to motivate yourself! Success starts when you push your own start button - not when I do it for you. At the same time, I'm thrilled that someone who has read it (a Chapters employee) agrees that it is motivational.

Today has been a real win, and it's confirmation that sticking with your goals, and putting the action behind all those affirmations and positive intentions will create results.

It's a new chapter in my life.

Be outstanding!
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

Choosing Greatness

2007-03-14T18:25:00.000-04:00

I recently received an email from a gentleman who had attended a seminar I had presented and he made a really interesting comment.

He said, "I know I'm meant to do something great in my life, and I haven't decided if it will be in my business, with [a hobby] or [in some community work]." It really got me thinking.

First, it's good to know you're destined for greatness - I believe that all of us are. I also believe that most of us choose not to (sadly). Yet, everyone has a moment in their lives that Bucky Fuller called "a lick of the ice cream cone." What he was talking about was a great moment, an experience of excellence, a glimpse of our own greatness.

The real deal is, however, that Universe doesn't want us to have a lick of the ice cream cone - it wants us to have the whole thing. We're supposed to be great! We're supposed to have it all!

So to the question - where should we apply our greatness?
And the answer: everywhere!

Why would we save up our greatness for some great purpose later on in life? Here's a simple plan: be great in everything you do - everything.

There's no purpose saving it up, be great! Be great in cleaning the house. Be great in cooking dinner. Be great in traffic. Be great greeting people. Be great at work. Be great when you play with the kids. Be great.

Saving it up assumes that you know what you were meant to do. Yet, who says that what you're doing right now isn't the thing you were meant to be great at!? Who says that your day to day activities won't affect thousands, that they won't save lives, that they won't set examples that others anonymously follow?

Be great in everything you do - it's like blood, it's in you to give.

Be outstanding.
Chris
www.chrisvenn.com

All you have to do is.....fail

2007-03-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

WARNING: Any time someone in business says "all you have to do is...", it means they don't know what they're talking about.

Now this doesn't mean that their instructions don't have merit, or that what they are telling you won't work. What it does mean, however, is that they are focused on doing. Doing is important, but only after we handle who we're "being".

What am I talking about? "All you have to do is take on more debt and you'll be fine." Is this good advice, or bad advice. I'm not going to answer that - I'll let you do that by posting a comment, and that saves me from kicking people's butts to say what's on their mind.

Here's the rub, however: are you the kind of person to take on debt?

Trick Question! You are whatever kind of person you've decided to be! Sure, others helped mold you into shape (by accident generally), but you choose who you are. If you think you're the kind to take on debt, it's because you have a thought that it's good. If you're not, it's because you decided. You're not any "kind of person" except the one you chose to be. Be.

It's not about what you need to Do, it's about who you need to Be. If someone is giving you advice and in their thought process they haven't handled who you need to be in order to pull off what they want you to do - look out. It's a red flag about their experience in business.

Be outstanding (don't do outstanding)!
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

The Best You

2007-03-01T00:59:00.000-05:00

It's 0100hrs and I'm wide awake. I just got home from putting on my first free seminar that was filled to capacity - and I'm stoked. Speaking gives me a ton of energy, so it'll be a few more hours before sleep hits. There were many people who wanted to attend tonight, and couldn't because the registration filled so quickly and I'd like to thank you for your patience - there will be more to follow.

For those that were in the room tonight - it was a heck of a night. It was long (the maintenance guy was getting upset as we'd overstayed our welcome), the room was warm, and there was a ton of content dumped on them. To those of you who were there - Thank You. Thanks for your participation, your energy, your questions and for knowing that if you are going to change your life, you need to be willing to reach outside of the world you have today. We were honoured by your presence.

My guest tonight was Casey Combden and he did a fantastic job of explaining the "You Map". This is a comprehensive model of what all the drivers are that make us tick, and it was intense information. At the same time, we also got to have lots of fun playing with state changes, understanding our communication modalities and getting a glimpse of our genius (of which there are 11, rather than the 2 that we've been brought up with).

Also in the room was Dr. Fred Meek who gave us some great insights along the way about how fear insinuates itself into our thinking. We'll be hearing a lot more from my good friend, Fred, in the near future.

The real key to the night, however, was the Best Personal Preference Indicators. This checklist of optimal performance states gave the people in the room an instant reference to allow them to change any environment into a high-performance environment. The power of this is truly tremendous.

I think what everyone learned is that there is quite a bit more to how we operate than we knew, and tweaking it to be in our favour doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, we don't even need the 'right' answers to get results - we just need to know the right questions, and then the answers follow immediately.

Being our Best doesn't have to be difficult, it just needs to be done.
Be your best.
Be outstanding.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

Businesses Waiting to Win

2007-02-24T08:09:00.000-05:00

I had several conversations and there were a couple of comments on my last post, Waiting to Win - looks like we found an interesting one here. So I wanted to offer a few more thoughts on it.

The idea was that there is Lag between all events. Whatever state you are in now, in order for you to move to a new one, means that there will be a Lag period. The hook is that many people (most, in my experience) will quit during that Lag, even though they are doing the right things! The other part of the equation is that we have to arrange some simple conditioning for ourselves so that we really do set ourselves up to win - it has to be low impact, high frequency conditioning.

Sharon Marks made a great observation in her comment (well done Sharon), that queried the results in a business if employees were rewarded for results, rather than the amount of time they put their butt in a chair. She asked what it would be like if people were paid for their innovation and creativity instead of their time. I'm a business owner and I love her comment. What a great question - what a two edged sword.

Lag, conditioning, and rewards all tie back to Context. You can have all kinds of "stuff" going on in a business or life, and what all of that 'content' is contained in, is called your context. It would be your rules for behaving, the rituals in your life and at your work, and how you use time and space. Think about it this way, if you have a bunch of jam in a jam jar, the jam is the content, and the jar is the context. If you take the jar away, what do you have? You have a mess, which means the context is important! Without it he have messes everywhere. So the question becomes, what is the context?

In the example of creating a business space where employees arecompensated for creativity and innovation, that could be really cool. If I told you I'll pay you $10,000 for every good idea you have that we can implement (you have to show me how we can implement it and profit from it), you could hypothetically make as much money by noon tomorrow as you did all of last year! As long as we have the right context.

The context would have to be one of trust, honesty, mutual respect, action-oriented and forward thinking. Why? Because if it wasn't, I could just say "that's not a good idea, get back to work" and pay you nothing all year!

Some people would call it culture, I call it context. The suggestion I would leave is this: set up your own context where you reward you for creativity and innovation. That way you operate as a fired up individual that is making a difference and you no longer leave it to your employer or co-workers to make you feel valued.

It's your context - be responsible for it.
Be outstanding!
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

Waiting To Win

2007-02-20T08:27:00.000-05:00

Imagine this... you've read some great book, been to a cool presentation, somehow grabbed some big idea that you know, if you apply it, will change your life (even a little bit). Have you ever been there? Have you had that experience where it's "all I have to do is ______ and I'm going to get the results I want!"

I know I have, and if you're like me, I'll bet you even started acting on that great idea. Then something happens. At some point the great idea starts to become less novel, less interesting, less important - and we slip back to our old ways of doing things. Why is that?

Well, here's the good news: at least it's common - you're not alone. Here's the other news: when the great idea disappears, people often feel worse than they did before they even had it. Forgive me for the dark perspective; truth has a way of coming out like that sometimes.

So what's going on that makes that happen? There are two big categories of pressure going on here. First, to change our behaviour we have to change our mindset or attitude. To change our mindset, we need to change our conditioning. Here's the key: to change our conditioning, we need to do simple, small things often in order to reprogram it. A friend of mine summed it up nicely. He said that success is easy. Simply do massive amounts of the right things for an extended period of time and you'll win! The point is, what are the little things you can do over and over and over, to replace your old conditioning?

For example, if you want to work out in the morning and yet day after day you just turn off the alarm when it rings, make some little changes. Put the alarm clock in another room so that you have to physically get up to turn it off, and even consider putting your workout clothes on top of it or between you and the alarm clock. Little things, done over and over, become your new conditioning. Think about the small shifts that you can do repeatedly - they're the key to making new ideas stick.

The other thing that is going on is Lag. Lag is the space or gap between two events. You may be having an event going on in life that is called "out of shape." That event might involve a lot of familiarity with snack foods, sofas and Everyone Loves Raymond. You may want to move to an event in your life called "athletic." That event might be comprised of high activity, wholesome foods, drinking lots of water, meditation etc.

So let's assume we are moving from "out of shape" to "athletic" and you start working out a bit each day, eating better, drinking water - the whole list of healthy living that essentially everyone in the western world knows and very few live - yet, after a few days you see essentially no change? What happens? Most people quit.

Here's the catch - between all events, there is Lag. In all growth, there is Lag. In every business, there is Lag. In every relationship, there is Lag. The question is this: can you trust yourself enough to continue to do the things you know are "right", even when you can't see the results?

It's a massive question. It's questions your courage. It questions your belief in you. Do you believe? If you do, odds are you'll stay the course and transform into whatever it is you're creating, or you'll stick to a project until you get the result you're after. However, most people don't.

So, two thoughts for you:
1. Recognize there will always be some degree of waiting time for a win, even when you are doing absolutely everything right.
2. To keep yourself on track, figure out what the small things are that you can do repeatedly, perhaps several times every day, that will keep nudging you toward your result. Soon they will become automatic and you can add another small task. As you keep doing this, they will compound into some tremendous behaviour.

Most importantly, while you're waiting to win, have courage. Have courage in yourself. When you don't believe in you, why should anyone else?

Be outstanding!
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

First, You Give...

2007-02-17T23:57:00.000-05:00

In many blogs I have referred to the Law of Reciprocity and the importance of giving first. Indeed, part of my personal credo is "I serve first". Giving is a state of mind that creates opportunities for more to flow into your life.

With this in mind, I'm giving my first free public seminar on Wednesday, February 28th. Working with my good friend Casey Combden - a speaker, author, mentor and entrepreneur - we're going to share principles and practices for creating success in lots of areas of your life.

There are several simple, direct and immediate lessons that you can learn to create a change in your life. Having had the opportunity of speaking with audiences across Canada, in the U.S. and in Australia, I've learned a lot about creating positive change - and I'm still learning. Come and join Casey and I at the Best Western Voyageur at the corner of Yonge Street and Davis Drive in Newmarket,Ontario at 8pm on Wednesday, February 28th. There is no cost to you but your time and seating will be limited to the first 50 people (that's the max the fire marshall will let us have in that room!). Even as I write this, there are already 23 people who have reserved their spot. To register, just email me at cv@chrisvenn.com.

I promise you the evening will be entertaining and educational. It's about being "The BEST You" and you're worth it.

Join us on the 28th as we pay it forward.
Be outstanding!
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

Love Stinks

2007-02-14T15:38:00.000-05:00

...when it's withheld. Yes, it is Valentine's Day - allegedly named for Saint Valentine who was apparently a thoughtful fellow. And as much as I'm not into the particularly frilly and mushy side of life, today I write to honour the tradition.

Love is a good thing, perhaps the best of things. It's difficult to measure or quantify, yet most of us seem to have some sort of scale against which we measure it.

Notwithstanding how loved we feel, however, what is more important is how much love we give. It goes back (once again) to the Law of Reciprocity that says "Give, and you shall receive." The sequence is specific - first you give. So I'll say it, give love.

Don't wait for someone else to earn it, give it.

Don't wait for you to be in the mood, just give it.

It is not a scarce resource - it doesn't have limits that we're aware of. Think about it. When a parent has a baby, they love it with all their love. When they have a second, they don't divide their love - they have twice as much to give. We always have enough.

The only time love really starts to be a problem is when we hold it back and don't give it. It's not like gold, it's like lettuce. It decays if you don't use it.

Use it! (and be outstanding).
Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2007-02-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

Why I Blog.

Bill Tully tagged me with this, and now I have to reply. I'd actually been holding this thought back for quite a while because, as public as a blog is (billions get to see it if they choose), it's a personal thing for me. There's a lot of exposure that goes on in this process, so saying "why" I blog is taking it a step further.

Here's the truth.

1. It's therapy. There's a lot of stuff that goes on day-to-day. I've been through a pretty tremendous discovery of who I am, and why I do what I do over the last year, and it hasn't been easy. Indeed, it's been painful. Blogging has given me an opportunity to vent with my words (use your words chris) and express what's going on for me. I'm an auditory learner, so blogging works for me. Also, it helps me get clear on what I think about things. When I have to put it into words, my thoughts become clear.

2. It forces accountability. I don't know how many people read this - I have an idea, but no precise numbers. However, I do know many people who do. Now that they do, I hold myself accountable to delivering what's going on for me and what I notice happening around us in a way that's meaningful and applicable. I'm on the hook now.

3. It's a proving ground. Have you ever had a thought that you believed was simply outstanding? And when you explained it to someone else, they looked at you like you had a toaster on your head? My blog gives me a space to test ideas. People can comment. Good or bad, I'll post them. I want the feedback, it's the only way to learn - trial and error.

4. I'm planning another book (or 2). My blog is a great place for me to take different thoughts and park them. There's a theme forming along the way that may just turn into something meaningful. Stay tuned.

5. To serve. Over any other reason for blogging, I do it to serve. The Law of Reciprocity is simple - it says "Give, and you shall receive." It is also very clear on the sequence - first you give. My blog is a space where I can give, where I can serve others through sharing my experiences, my thoughts and what I've learned through trial and error (maybe you won't have to go through the same errors to get the lessons I got along the way). I trust that it's meaningful and useful for you.

I'll keep blogging. I trust you keep reading (and commenting).
Be outstanding.

Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2007-02-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

Swords Into Ploughshares

Learning is a funny thing. I find a lot of people think that learning comes out of books and from other people. And when I ask those same people "what's the best way to learn" they invariably say "by experience".

The hook is that they don't like the experience. They don't like the pain. Let's face it, who goes looking for pain? I know that some people do, however I don't think it's the common pass-time of most.

So we know the best learning comes from experience, and we don't want to learn that way because it hurts. Have you ever gone through an experience that you thought was horrible or frustrating or annoying and, while you were handling it, you didn't see the lesson? And later on, when you had settled down, were you able to get some perspective and understand it a bit? In those moments, we can turn our emotional swords into ploughshares. We can take the things that, emotionally, hurt us and transform them into something that helps us grow and creates fertile mental ground for growth. The catch is that you have to get the lesson.

If you can't get the lesson, you lose. To get the lesson, you need to shift your perspective. To shift your perspective, you have to choose - and you don't have to wait. You can get the lesson now, and skip the incubation period if you decide to. And then you can get rid of the emotional swords that are cutting you up inside.

Experience isn't necessarily easy, but it is necessary to growth. Get out there. Get some experience. Don't be a loser, get the lesson and move on.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-31T08:23:00.000-05:00

An Unfair Advantage.

I had a surprising realization the other day. While everyone seems to be working to give everyone an equal opportunity to succeed (socialism perhaps), I recognized that the wealthy actually create unfair advantages for themselves.

Now I don't mean that they screw people or do dastardly, underhanded things. What I mean is that the wealthy people I know read like crazy, go to seminars, listen to CD's of clever stuff and end up with a completely different context around how they view things.

It's like meeting a martial arts expert. You might never know they are some kung fu master until you get physical with them, and then look out! Unfair advantage.

Successful people create an unfair advantage for themselves by mastering their own brain, their own mind, their own little voice, their own emotions.

That's unfair, and I love it.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-24T19:45:00.000-05:00

Pandemic !

Ok, I'm tired of the word.

A year ago, I'm not convinced many people knew the word 'pandemic', and today, it's a common word used to strike fear into the hearts of many.

A friend of mine gave me a brochure from a financial services organization and the entire brochure (8 page 8.5" x 11") is committed to the idea of "Are you prepared for a PANDEMIC?".

They immediately cite the avian flue (H5N1) where 73 people have died. Now, I'm not un-empathetic. However I am annoyed. Over 100 people die every day on the roads in the U.S. - is that a pandemic? 27,000 people die in the U.S. annually due to crime - is that a pandemic? 23,000 died in 1992 as a result of AIDS - is that a pandemic?

If you get what you focus on (which I subscribe to), then for God's sake, can people stop pumping the pandemic!? It makes good news ratings, but outside of that, fear keeps the populace in place.

Think about it.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

Risky Questions

I do quite a bit of speaking in front of organizations and groups. I love it - it fuels me. And along the way, I tend to ask a lot of what someone recently termed "risky questions".

They saw them as risky because they challenge people, and don't cross the line of being confrontive. They push people without bullying. And it's true, sometimes they are annoying. Sometimes people get annoyed at the questions and they'll express it to me (often times rather enthusiastically). I don't mind it, because they're really expressing their frustration with themselves - and that's a good thing.

I googled "risky questions" and started chuckling as I saw all kinds of notations on web sites about public speaking that encourage one "not to ask risky questions" so as not to make their audiences feel uncomfortable.

The thing is that no change happens until we're uncomfortable!

Ask risky questions. Don't be a jerk about it, and ask nonetheless. Change your context and help people win - it all starts with questions.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-17T01:11:00.000-05:00

High Ground

Years ago I spent a short time serving with the Queen's York Rangers, and armoured recce unit in the Canadian military. In my time there, one of the really important things I learned was the value of 'high ground'. I had forgotten much of what I'd learned about high ground until some recent events re-engaged my memory.

I attended a Goals workshop this past weekend. Now, I don't mind saying that I approached it with a certain degree of resignation. I needed another goals workshop like I needed a bout of dysentery. However, this was a very different game.

It was run by Jayne Johnston who is a close friend the Rich Dad organization, and she did a tremendous job of not just walking us through coming up with a list of goals - but prioritizing that list based on what our sub-conscious wants.

Throughout the weekend, Jayne had us do several exercises or processes to prepare our thinking and along the way, I started to get a whole new level of context or perspective on my goals, and my life. When that happened, it was as if I had taken high ground on the battlefield. Instead of being caught up and consumed with the battle I was fighting, I was seeing all the different roles, battles and engagements going on and recognized that, with perspective, powerful decisions can be made.

Consider this: if you can step back from the drama of activity going on day to day and see yourself as the being you really are, then the pressures of what we think is important in the moment diminishes.

Try it. You're bigger than your circumstances.

Be outstanding!
Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-12T02:05:00.000-05:00

Trusting Friendship

Trust can be a tricky word. It puts the onus for the act of trusting on you, and responsibility for delivery on someone else - not necessarily a pretty picture. Yet trust is a foundational principle that I've had to embrace. The reason I say "had to" is because I want a great life - and that doesn't happen on your own.

When it comes to friendship, the trust game gets even bigger. I trust that my friends, the people in my life who care the most about me [and I, them] will tell me the truth. They will hold me to a high standard. They will pressure me to win. They will push me to be my best. I count on them for that. The downside of wanting that, is getting it. Sometimes it sucks - usually when I'm being an idiot.

Who do you trust? Who do you count on to kick your butt? Do you have a team? These are important questions to answer, so give it some thought.

...in other news, I'm in Phoenix at the moment and will be here for about a week and my good friends from Australia, Kelly and Anna are living here at the moment. Here's friendship: they scooped myself, Michael and Lori and said "no hotel rooms for you guys, you're staying at our house." Just like that. They've shuffled their family around, fit 7 of us at a table built for 4, and have welcomed us as family. It feels like home right now.

That's the other side of trusting friendship.

Be outstanding.
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

There is no such thing as "ordinary"

I said this to a friend the other day and they looked at me like I had a toaster on my head. They said "there's tons of 'ordinary' all around us, how can you say there's no such thing?"

And here's how I answered....

We are surrounded by things that are extraordinary (outstanding in my lingo), and things that are invisible. There is no 'ordinary', there is invisibility in its stead.

If you consider the number of ads, materials, conversations, emails, websites, blogs, signs, cars, houses and dare I say people that you see/meet/experience every day that you have no knowing memory of once an hour has passed, you might find it incredible how much of life is invisible. Things that disappear from my awareness in a few minutes, are invisible.

The real worry is this: are you invisible in the minds of others? Do your words fall into the grey background of life? Are your ideas deleted or generalized into the swarm? Or are you extraordinary.

Don't underestimate this. You are extraordinary, or you are invisible - choose.

Be outstanding!
Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2007-01-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

Cynics and Skeptics...are you enjoying the fear?

It's a new year and it is truly tempting to write some standard "welcome to New Year's and let's talk about goals". Luckily, I'm not going to do that. There's lots of brilliance (and garbage) about making your New Year's Resolutions stick, so I'll leave it to others to comment on that one. I'm curious how many blogs of that nature popped up in the last week though.

Nope, here's what's on my mind. When it does come to doing something new, or achieving something great, there is a small army of cynics and skeptics out there - and it really is an army. There are ground troops that seem to amass quickly and precisely in front of you to tell you that you're full of crap and what you're aiming for can never work. There are snipers, hidden away, people that are seemingly on your side until you make progress. Once you break away from the crowd even a little bit, you become enough of a target for them to safely take you out without injuring anyone else along the way. And there are the saboteurs - the one's that sneak in behind your lines and turn your allies against you.

They piss me off and make me sad, all at the same time.

The frustration comes from the fact that they seem to feel it's their responsibility to get in the way of other people trying something new - and I still haven't figured out where they get the right.

The sadness, however, drives from this: cynicism and skepticism are simply ways to act out fear. These are people that are so afraid of making a mistake or being wrong, that they actually create an escape route (this will never work) even before starting something!

Have the courage to make mistakes. Have the courage to fail. And for God's sake, have the decency to shut up when someone else aims to be better than they were yesterday.

Welcome to a new year ;)
Be outstanding.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-11-04T09:33:00.000-05:00

Stop being afraid - it's selfish.

Have you ever been afraid? I know that I have. Sometimes things that have scared me have been very real, very life-threatening. And most of the time the things that I've been afraid of have been almost entirely imagined.

Here's the thing, however. When you have fear, you tend to draw everything in toward you. In that moment, the world is all about you - your fear, your worry, your psychosis. You are taking energy, attention, time and just about any other resource you can from those around you.

The challenge is, Universe works on reciprocity - you give, then you receive. When you take, especially out of fear, you get nothing but emptiness. You get less.

fearfulness is selfishness. The antidote is love, and abundance.

Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2006-11-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Relationships are largely about focus

You think I'm gonna talk about boys and girls, don't you?

No such luck, but that is where this one started. I spent the day on airplanes today, traveling from Toronto to Phoenix to attend Robert Kyosaki's 2-day book study and then 3 day Instructor program. And on the way I ended up talking with two guys that are in university and are busy solving the problems of the world.

It's always fun chatting with guys in their late teens/early 20's because there's often a mildly warped view of the planet going on. To illustrate, we spent some time realizing that being a passenger in a plane is like living in a communist country - think about it sometime.

Anyway, they were talking about chicks, then it got serious and they were talking about true love, and the purpose of relationships. My belief is that the purpose of a relationship is to magnify the experience. When things go great - what do you want to do? When things go bad - what do you want to do - usually share with someone you love or trust (hopefully they are the same person).

But I said this wasn't about boys and girls and it's not! This is about numbers.

One of the first things to understand if you're going to make Hard Stuff Easy, is that measurement will be important. So, while I was on the plane, I recorded a podcast about it. Click here to listen to it and understand, you have to focus on the right numbers!

Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2006-10-19T22:24:00.000-04:00

Can Hard Stuff Be Made Easy?

Amazing. Change the name and you get feedback, I love it.

I changed the name of this blog to Hard Stuff Made Easy because that's actually how I look at life. And amazingly, or perhaps not so, I immediately got the question or remark that "Chris, some things can't be made 'easy', and things are hard because they are hard!"

I get the point, that tells me someone missed the message, and since communication is the response you get, let me take responsibility for being clear.

Stuff in life isn't easy - lots of it is difficult, it's hard. That's the point! Things are meant to be hard so that we grow. However, many things are meant to be graceful and done with ease as well. So the question is, how is it that some people seem to handle life with grace and ease, and many of us 'fight' and 'do battle' and 'struggle'? That's what we're going to answer.

I recently ran a marathon. It was hard. That's why I did it. BUT, there are techniques, preparations and secrets to making it a bit more manageable - that's what we're about here.

Bucky Fuller said that we are information harvesters and local problem solvers. That's exactly what I plan to do here.

Enjoy - or struggle elsewhere. Either way, I honour your choice.

Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2006-10-17T22:34:00.000-04:00

A New Home....

Ok, not really, but a new name.

I've been blogging for a little while now, and it's been rather interesting because, as a guy that processes most data using auditory channels, I tend to figure out what I think about things by either speaking or writing. So blogging is a handy tool for me.

Here's what I figured out along the way. I was doing the wrong job. I'm an entrepreneur, but I wasn't doing the things that really let my genius creep out. We all have it by the way, genius that is. And mine shows up when I'm speaking and writing. So now I speak and write for a living - and I love it.

I was trying to get clear on what it is I actually speak and write about, and by looking back at my blog, it turns out that I spend most of my time making stuff that's hard to deal with or handle, easier. So now we're called "hard stuff made easy".

I'll be blogging and podcasting a lot more in the next little while and trust that I'll be able to give you all kinds of good stuff to think about, leverage, and use to accelerate, short cut and circumvent your way to great results.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Chris Venn
www.chrisvenn.com

2006-09-30T21:30:00.000-04:00

Telling the truth is an Extreme Sport

The truth is, that we lie all the time - mostly to ourselves, but lie we do. Now it may not be the outright, in your face deception. It's likely a more insidious kind of lie that undermines our own personal power, our confidence, that's polite and 'nice' to others (nothing in me cares enough).

So with that in mind, when we think about telling the truth, it get's a bit fancy. I'm not an advocate of telling "the brutal truth" except for in a few circumstances. The reason is that people who say that are usually more interested in being brutal than anything else.

I am, however, interested in telling the truth and the reason I think it's an Extreme Sport is because of how it feels sometimes.

First of all, if you look at most extreme sports, they generate a certain physical reaction. There is sweating, heavy breathing, accelerated pulse and a rush of adrenelaine. Have you ever confronted someone with the truth and felt those symptoms? Have you ever been confronted with the truth and felt them? I have in both cases.

Also, we often have to psyche ourselves up before an extreme sport, we're really in the moment while we're doing it, and there's a sense of accomplishment and a big win after the fact - or broken bones depending on how things went. Telling the truth is pretty similar. Usually the thinking ahead of time is a lot worse than what goes on when it happens. Sometimes things feel great afterwards, and other times there are some bruises and injuries (both of which heal over time).

In any case, I think telling the truth is a good measure of one's fitness - both physical and emotional. Ever try doing something mentally/emotionally demanding when you're out of shape as opposed to when you just finished working out? You might notice you have a very different level of power between the two.

Think about your truth-fitness. Are you working out?

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-09-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

And the winner is .....

Do you know what the number one skill is in business (and in my opinion, life)? It's the ability to sell. Now I'm not necessarily saying that you have to be a plaid suited, slick talking, loud mouthed salesman - since that's the most common description I hear about sales people. But you do have to be able to sell.

The real key here is that you must be able to sell to the people who need it the most. And do you know who that is? It's you.

The most important sales you will ever make, the biggest deals you will ever close, are with yourself. Think about it for a minute. Do you work out regularly? No matter what your answer is, I'll still ask you "why?" You sold yourself on the idea either way.

I'm running the Toronto International Marathon in a few weeks and tonight, I didn't want to go do my training run. So you know what I did? I did my training run. I sold myself on who I would Be, and what I would Have - and I did the run. Did I want to go out in the dark, and run 800m and 1600m sprints for speed training in a cold wind? No. I didn't want to Do the run. But I want to Be an athlete. I want to Be a winner. I want to Have the internal pride of doing what a fraction of the population will ever do. I want to Have the personal reference point that builds my confidence. And to get all that, I had to sell.

Selling is an exchange of value. What value are you delivering to you. It's worth thinking about.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-09-18T21:51:00.000-04:00

It's time to take stock

I was putting some materials together for my chrisvenn.com today - specifically I was preparing a book list of recommended reading because people are always asking what they should read, or where did that idea come from etc.

At any rate, the whole process got me thinking about taking personal inventory. I do it fairly often, but I'm curious - how often do you take stock of your life? Every day? That sounds like a lot. How about every week or month? Many people will reflect once a year like on their birthday or at New Years. I'm thinking that the more frequently you can think things through, the faster you can succeed.

Life is about being in motion, and then correcting. It's not about being right all the time. So, the more often you check in on how things are going, the faster you can correct. What kinds of things should we be thinking about? Well, I can hedge a bit and say that only you know what's really important. But, I'm a bit bolder than that.

What do you weigh?
Are you happy?
What does your balance sheet look like?
What are you doing to create passive income?
What have you learned recently?
What have you read?
Who do you love?
Do they know it?
How often do you laugh?
Who are your friends?

Measure frequently. It's the only way you can correct.
Be outstanding.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-09-13T23:08:00.000-04:00

You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

It's true, I'm skeptical. There are lots of cool ideas out there about how to be all that you can be, achieve amazing results etc., etc. And I don't mind saying that my first reaction is that a lot of it is a bunch of hooey (I've never used "hooey" before).

But over the past couple of years, I've read a ton of books, and taken a pile of courses, seminars etc. and have discovered some interesting stuff.

First, there's a bunch of hooey out there. Second, there's a bunch of stuff that appears to work for no apparent reason. And third, there's a school of thought that has some pseudo-strange stuff in it but is based on the physics and truth of how Universe works, and voila, it delivers results.

So it got me thinking...do I actually have to "believe" in things for them to work? Now I'm not suggesting you don't believe in things, but I am wondering what if you simply complied with quantum physics etc. and did the tasks, but didn't really buy into it?

I found two things:
1. It works whether you drink the kool-aid or not.
2. It works better if you drink the kool-aid.

I took a bunch of practices like visualization and affirmations and did them - and amazingly, achieved some excellent results that I didn't think were particularly likely. I did it quite dispassionately and with reservation, and it worked.

Then I did visualizations and affirmations and put my gut into it, I really connected emotionally to it and believed in what I was doing. Result? Bigger, faster.

It was down right entertaining to discover that you don't have to believe it, you just have to do it. But if you believe, you're unstoppable.

Be outstanding.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-09-08T01:17:00.000-04:00

The Law of Requisite Variety

How often have you heard from other people that “ change is good, blah, blah, blah?”

It’s kind of a catch all “why don’t you get over your pain and suffering’ sort of statement and is usually a polite way to say “I don’t want to hear your problems, I have my own thank you.” Personally, I don’t buy that “change is good” at that level.

What I do think is that sometimes change is good, but more importantly, change is necessary – without it, you’re dead. (Incidentally, equilibrium is a death sentence, but we’ll save that for another time.)

There’s this cool law in cybernetics called the Law of Requisite Variety that speaks to this. What it says is this: the survival of any system [you are a life system] depends on its ability to cultivate variety in its internal structure.

Now think about that for a minute; it is talking about variety, which is change. First of all, this is a matter of survival. It’s not a matter of comfort, or of having fun – it’s survival. Second, it says it’s our ability to CULTIVATE [a.k.a. invent by ourselves], not just to tolerate variety. And third, I like to think of our internal structure as being our thinking.

This law tells us that if we don’t deliberately introduce changes into our own thinking, we’re toast – just like that.

I don’t think it means we’ll be struck down by lightning, but I do think that it means we’ll be shut off from our ability to experiment, to discover the universe around us, and ultimately to know ourselves.

The variety is requisite – it is required. Live it.

Chris Venn – www.chrisvenn.com

2006-08-23T22:28:00.000-04:00

Perspective is a function of space

I'm a big fan of change - mostly because failing to change means you'll be toast before long, but I'm a fan nonetheless. Recently in my business we've been having lots of changes and there are more to come in the next few days and weeks. They are the big sweeping "holy crap" changes and frankly, I like it.

One thing I became clear on, however, is that our perspective or context overrides most logic we might throw at the equation and can either make us a hero or a zero in the process. And in learning about this, I recognized that in order to make a shift in perspective, we need some space.

Sometimes it's lots of space - people need to go on vacation, hide at home or whatever. Other times it's just a little bit of space, even a deep breath that can create that gap that lets us change. But notwithstanding its magnitude, it requires space.

Until some sort of opening is created, it's difficult to put a new idea into play. It's like trying to shove more food in your mouth when it's already full - it's messy and usually someone chokes.

As you handle change (which is most of the time) create little spaces of time or thought where you can grab a quick bite of perspective. Look at things from a different angle. You'll likely see opportunities or benefits that might have been obscured otherwise.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-08-20T16:36:00.000-04:00

Decisiveness

I know that making decisions can be difficult. There can be lots on the line and at risk, or sometimes it's just confusing and tough to figure out the right thing to do.

But here's a quick hint for you - decisiveness has nothing to do with being right. As a matter of fact, lots of great people make horrible decisions all the time, the difference is what they do about it. The game is simple - correct as fast as possible.

If you are willing to make changes, and if you are willing to be at risk, then it doesn't matter if you make the wrong decision because you'll be able to recognize that it's the wrong one and adjust quickly. Despite the fear that might accompany this approach, it is far more productive than being immobilized by indecisiveness and not acting.

You can do it. Decide. It boils down to doing anything is better than doing nothing - just notice if it's working and correct.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-08-14T21:46:00.000-04:00

Growth or Decay - Pick One.

Do you know what a generalized principle is? A generalized principle is something that's true in all cases. For example, the first law of thermodynamics says that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. There are no exceptions, no variations - it's just the way Universe does it.

(As a side issue, why did I say Universe, rather than The Universe? Good question. The word "the" is a definite article and an article is used before singular and plural nouns that refer to a particular member of a group. "Member of a group" is the key here. There is no group of Universes, there is only one, therefore we say Universe, not The Universe.)

So, one of the generalized principles has to do with States in Universe and there are two - growth and decay. Now lots of people (including scientists, some teachers etc.) will tell you about stasis or homeostasis which is essentially a state of balance. And that being the case, there must be three states - growth, stasis/balance/neutral/whatever you want to call it, and decay. However, the world is constantly changing, so if you stay put, you'll find that while the rest of the planet is growing you are, in effect, decaying. Therefore, we're back to two states - growth and decay.

The hook is that there are lots of things we can do that make us feel like we're doing good and right things, but they aren't necessarily growth. If you are not acting on your life, creating improvements in how you earn your income, in the state of your health and fitness, in the quality of your relationships, and in the condition of your spirit - you are in decay.

Now, you don't have to grow. Growth is not a requirement. But understand that if you're growing, you're staying in sync with Universe and at some level, you don't age as fast. What I mean is that where there's more growth, there's less decay.

Take some time and look at your life. Look at how you spend your days and answer the question "Are you growing or decaying?"

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-08-09T10:25:00.000-04:00

For God's sake, would you make a mistake?

Mistakes. We're terrified of them. As much as people say "hey, I make mistakes", they don't usually make them willingly. Now I'm not talking about wandering around the countryside looking for things you can screw up. What I mean is that we need to be willing to try things, to risk something, and know that you might be wrong. And if you are wrong, then that's when all the magic begins.

Think about this: humans have learned only through mistakes.

One of my favourite books is Intuition by Bucky Fuller. I'm gonna quote you a piece of it. Take your time reading it cause he's a bit tricky in his sentence structure. Bucky says...

Witnessing the mistakes of others, the preconditioned crowd, reflexing, says "Why did that individula make such a stupid mistake? We knew the answer all the time." So effective has been the nonthinking, group deceit of humanity that it now says, "Nobody should make mistakes," and punishes people for makeing mistakes. In love-genearted fear for their children's future life in days beyond their own survival, parents train the children to avoid making mistakes lest they be put at a social disadvantage. Thus humanity has developed a comprehensive, mutual self-deception and has made the total mistake of not percieving that realistic thinking accrues only after mistake making...It is only at the moment of humans' realistic admission to selves of having made a mistake that they are closest to the mysterious integrity governing the universe. ....Mistakes are sins only when not admitted. Etymologically, sin means omission where admission should have occurred.

Bucky is telling us that the moment we are closest to God, the Great Spirit, the Universe - whatever you want to call it - is when we make and admit our mistakes. It is the moment where we are the most in line with the integrity of how the universe operates!

I've made a lot of mistakes. I've made some real doozies. I've been ashamed of some of them, sad about others and just downright embarassed about the rest.

No more. I've admitted my mistakes to myself and I'll continue to push toward living in line with the inherent integrity of the universe - part of which involves me making mistakes. The core of it now is how quickly they are recognized, admitted, learned from and how quickly I correct.

Admit your mistakes to yourself - then move.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-07-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

I am a verb.

I always thought I was kind of a "man of action". Indeed, in an earlier posting I talked about a warrior being a man (person) of action, guided by reason and motivated by love. But this is a bit different.

Now it may be easy to jump to the whole idea that I'm talking about staying busy, staying in motion, always be pushing forward on your goals etc. etc., and while I think that's important, it's not what I'm talking about.

What I'm saying is that I, as a tangible entity, am a verb. Let's think about this for a minute. Physics has already proved that there are no solids. Everything is primarily made up of big spaces [compared to the particles] organized into vibrations. Also, physics tells us that there are no continuous surfaces, so I'm not solid that way either.

What physics does tell us is that everything vibrates, and everything is made of energy and information, compressed into a specific time space. So, in a sea of tension, I am a compression of information and energy, vibrating along and doing my thing. I am a verb.

I thought I was a noun. But since everything is really more of a potentiality than a thing, I'm not. Think about it this way. If you were to put a camera on a tripod and point it a fireworks display, at the end of the display you would have a photo of a big blob of bright light. That's not a bad explanation for how we see the world. But if you filmed it, you'd be able to see each individual detonation event happen, it's trajectory, colour, shape and movement - that's what is really happening.

Now let's say you didn't know about the ability to record the fireworks, and the only thing you could see was our colourful blob photo - it might be hard to understand what caused it, but that doesn't mean that it didn't.

We're like the fireworks. If events in life happen so fast you can only see the result long after it's over, it doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just means you're too slow.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-07-18T21:08:00.000-04:00

Quit being in such a damn hurry (because it likely means you're angry)

Ok, here's a thought I tripped over the other day. When we are impatient, it is a sign of anger.

Now, when I thought about that, I said "what a crock, I don't have time for this psycho-babble.", and then I realized, maybe I was being impatient right then. Maybe I was angry?!

In principle, I don't have a problem with "angry", it's like any other tool - sometimes it's useful and appropriate, and other times it's not quite the right approach. But I started to think that if I was a doctor, and the only thing I knew was to prescribe aspirin, I'd prescribe it for everything from scraped knees, to birth control. Sometimes it would work, and sometimes it just wouldn't make an impact.

What I'm driving at is that when we get impatient about things, it's because we think the world should be working in some other order (ours typically) and it's not complying. We think that the people around us "just don't get it" and could use some "behind the bus enlightenment" (also administered by us). The thing is, the universe doesn't quite run on our schedule. It delivers outcomes based on a whole lot of different drivers which we'll save for another chat, but it doesn't mean that we can control everything.

Now this doesn't mean you get to slack off. It does mean, however, that when our focus is working on the process of whatever it is we're doing, then we're on track. As a matter of fact, even if we are doing the wrong things, we are still on track because at some point we'll notice that what we're doing isn't working, and we'll change.

I'm typically in motion and moving quickly. I didn't think that made me impatient, but I realized that the difference is usually circling around why I'm moving quickly. If it's because I'm working through a learning process quickly - cool. If I'm hustling because everyone around me seems like a bonehead that day, it's likely that I'm getting impatient.

At the end of all of this, it's not usually fun to be angry. I'd like my life to be fun. Net result? I have a choice to make here. I can be responsible and focus on the right outcomes, or I can deny, lay blame and justify my way along as I scorn the slow-pokes in the world.

Which one are you choosing?

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-07-12T23:24:00.000-04:00

You slothful and lazy servant...

The New Testament (don't worry, I'm not going to preach to you) has this story about an entrepreneur that gives "talents" to each of his three servants. Now "talent" is a fun word because it was a measure of money but has a good double meaning to it.

So the guy gave his best servant 5 talents, his middle servant 3 talents, and his "entry level" servant 1 talent. After a year, the first guy had made a big profit and was greatly loved. The middle guy had done a bit with his and grown it, so he was still on the team. But the lowly servant played things out in Loser mode.

He buried the talent so that he wouldn't botch it up.

I think every now and then we realize that we're burying the talent. And we're losers until we get the lesson (then we become learners).

I've been burying some talents for a while and have finally realized it. But that's not the lesson.

Here's the lesson: as soon as I recognized what the talent was, and decided to dig it up and use it, all manner of great things started to happen. It's as if the planets aligned, the gods smiled, and the wind was at my back all at the same time. The universe got onside, decided to stop running me over with Mack trucks and is now going out of its way to set me up to win.

Stop and think. Think about what you're good at. As a matter of fact, my friend Kelly Ritchie in Australia was talking about the magic formula to this. You have to Care, you have to have Pride, and you have to have Passion. What do you do or what are you good at where you really care, where you really have pride when you do it, and that you're passionate about? Think hard and figure out what that is because I'll argue that that is your talent.

Dig it up. Invest it. Profit from it and don't be a slothful and lazy servant.

Chris Venn - www.chrisvenn.com

2006-07-10T22:47:00.000-04:00

Chance

There's an interesting distinction between synchronicity and pure chance. At first I thought it was something obtuse and weird - "it was meant to be". But really synchronicity is actually simpler, more profound and simultaneously more complicated than I thought.

Now, I'm not going to dig into the quantum physics of all this, I'll do that another time because it really does need to be done. What I will say is that the fundamental difference between synchronicity and chance is the meaning we assign to it.

The same conditions and events can happen to two different people and one will see massive synchronicity in it all, while another person will just call it Monday. The real issue is do we recognize patterns, value and meaning out of an event or a string of events.

I got thinking about this because I've had some stuff on my mind about who I want to be when I grow up, and then just as I started to get a few ideas about it eight different people across 2 weeks have all made independent and non-solicited comments that support what I was thinking. To me, it's synchronistic. It has meaning, the timing is unique and I see value.

What's fascinating is that until we have some sort of "seed thought" that gets us pointed in some sort of mental direction, it's difficult (impossible?) to recognize synchronicity. If that's the case, we're just leaving it up to chance.

Point your mind at something.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

Three Faithful Friends

I have three faithful friends. Their names are Delete, Distort and Generalize.

Why are they faithful friends? Well first, they are always with me. They are constantly at work in the depths of my sub-conscious shaping the way I see the world. Often I think they've left and are leaving to my own devices, to perceive the truth and see the world as it is. But then I discover that they haven't left at all. They've overwhelmed all my senses and have taken full possession of my information processing such that my reality is controlled by them!

If you've seen Matrix, you have an idea of how these three work. They create a complete reality or psychological construct that is so believable that I assume it's real. But, every once in a while, something will put a tear in the fabric of my reality and let me glimpse beyond it - see what's behind the curtain. In those moments of truth, I am liberated and betrayed.

Delete, Distort and Generalize - are they your friends too?

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-26T23:33:00.000-04:00

Single Minded Purpose

The other day I was chatting about Power and the idea that it can be defined as taking a position, holding a position and knowing when to change. Now, this was not something I came up with, but is certainly something I agree with. There are lots of places to experiment with Power, and a great place is in business.

A friend of mine is a great business man. He's built several large businesses, has met with Donald Trump, has some really cool projects underway and is a mentor of mine. I was at dinner with him the other evening and there were two other very bright, business-savvy fellows at the table and, as always, our discussions were about business.

What was interesting was that, during the conversation, there was a difference of opinion on something that was fairly minor in the big scope of the world, but my friend absolutely would not back off from his position. It had to do with some marketing ideas and they were fairly innocuous ideas. I was in the conversation a bit at the beginning, but with guys like these, it's cool to just listen and learn. In this case, I started out wondering why there was such a defensiveness around the point at hand. And it took me about 10 or 15 minutes before I realized what was going on.

My friend who was defending his position wasn't hung up on the decision - he was protecting his confidence. He was exercising his power and was going to hold his position to ensure he was unwaveringly committed to his course. His single minded purpose had nothing to do with what anyone else thought. Interestingly, I learned through the conversation that he had done a bit of probing and consideration of his options, and then had decided. Once decided, he took a position and was not going to move from it.

One of the lessons I picked up along the way was that a business owner or a leader, once having considered the options, must fix on a decision and pursue it with unwavering commitment through to its success. What was really powerful was recognizing that this decisiveness has nothing to do with what anyone else things. Other opinions are interesting, but not particularly relevant.

What I recognized is how often and how easy it is that I can be moved off of my position - and I'm not a pushover. The fear of offence; the concern with other's opinions; the trepidation to make a mistake all conspire to get us to moderate our positions - but that would be the mistake.

Be on the edge. Take calculated risks. And then, for god's sake, stick with them. Defend them. Make them yours. Honour their value. And don't let anyone push you around. Show a single mindedness of purpose in whatever you do.

Chris Venn - www.inventirenetworks.ca

2006-06-24T08:06:00.000-04:00

Be Powerful

Over the past three days, I've had the pleasure of taking the second installment of three days of Robert Kyosaki's Instructor Certification Program. My role in the room has been to document what happens and then be able to share that information with all participants in a digital format immediately following the event.

It's a cool exercise in digitality, speed and compression - but we'll save those for another time.

What I wanted to talk about was a principle I learned about power.

Since we were learning about being Instructors, a lot of the content focused on how we were 'being'. Specifically, how powerful we were in front of the room and in our communications with others. Along the way, Robert invited Jayne Johnson to talk about our spirit and how that impacts power. Here's the cool definition I got along the way.

Power is the ability to take a position, hold a position, and change when it makes sense.

I think there's a lot to this definition. First of all, it applies to our physical position, our intellectual position and our spiritual position on things. Second is that it is not about being right, it is about being convicted. Taking a position does not mean that we are or will be 'right'. It has to do with how important the issue is to us and the single-mindedness of our purpose. Finally, it recognizes the fact that things change, we change. And along with those changes, our position may change. What I find interesting about it is that changing our position has nothing to do with weakness - it is part of being powerful.

My confidence is usually pretty high, yet I don't always feel very powerful. This way of looking at Power gives me a new context that truly lets me be more powerful.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-18T22:37:00.000-04:00

The Mirror Holds Betrayal

Let me start by apologizing. I have the honour of working with some amazing people. At Inventive Networks, we are a small team comprised of some of the finest people one could ever hope to meet. In my work at SalesPartners Worldwide, I'm priviledged to work with a group of committed professionals who have a gigantic. I apologize because I have been operating from through a filter that has been a damaging one - and I had no idea.

I recently read Leadership and Self-Deception and had some big "a ha's" along the way. Here was the premise at the heart of it.

Whenever we have a feeling, or feel we should do something, we are presented with a choice. The choice is to honour that feeling, or betray it. Sounds simple, but it's not - it's a bit complicated.

The thing is that when we choose to betray a feeling, we have to justify our decision and by doing so, our relationships with others become tainted. Let me give you an example. A husband and wife are lying in bed and their young child begins to cry. The husband wakes and thinks "I should go take care of the baby." But, then he remembers he has a big meeting at the office in the morning, and he's taken care of the baby the last three times he cried, and his wife does not have a career outside of the home so she can deal with it.

In that moment, the husband has betrayed his feeling, chosen not to do what he originally thought he should and has more than simply justified it, by extension he has framed his wife as lazy. More than this, he has also set himself out as more important, harder working and who knows what else.

Now, taking turns is not wrong. As a matter of fact, asking his spouse to take care of the baby may be entirely the right thing to do. However, if he is doing this in order to justify himself, or protect the "story" he has in his head about who he is, and who his wife is, then he's betraying himself.

This is a simple example, and I'm not explaining it well, but I realized that I've done this often. I'll get caught up in my stories - who I think I am - and then will act in ways that justify those stories and protect them.

The thing is, I'm not my stories. I'm much more than that. And when I collapse back to protecting my stories, rather than building up my team, then the people I'm around just become objects to blame, not partners in success.

Betrayal is close at hand. There's good news though. First of all, there are no fancy techniques or skills that are required to avoid this betrayal. There is only one thing to be done - see people as people. The words I say to an individual can be justifications, or just facts. The difference is in how I'm looking at it - am I protecting my stories, or simply acknowledging what's going on. By seeing people in all their glory and frailty (and recognizing mine at the same time), I can live with the freedom of truth by honouring myself, and by extension those around me.

Live honourably.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-14T21:09:00.000-04:00

To The Best of My Knowledge...

Want a short cut to generate instant frustration in me? Be vague.

This showed up in the office today. We were dealing with some finance issues that were the result of some imprecise communications. We were handling a technology decision that was being based on a big assumption. We were guessing what was going on in the mind of a prospect without having any real idea what they were thinking.

The bottom line? We were making stuff up!

Two nights ago a spoke to a group of about 80 people about this exact issue. The example I used dealt with what we think when an ambulance goes by. Many people think that some trauma or disaster is inside that speeding vehicle. But when I was growing up, every time an ambulance when whipping through our town of 400 people, my mom would say "Oh look, someone's going to the hospital to have a baby!"

Now was it true? No. But is it a happier lie than the other ones we could be making up? Yes!

The point is, since we're inventing crap in our heads all the time, why not make up stuff that empowers us rather than makes us fearful, kills our confidence or limits us.

So when I hear things like, "to the best of my knowledge..." what I understand is that the person doesn't know. Here's a thought. Say "I don't know" and then follow up with "and I'm going to go find out." It's useful. It's honest. And I hallucinate that there are other people out there that feel the same way I do, so you'll make them happy in the process.

Tell the truth.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-10T21:01:00.000-04:00

It's a Shame We Like Pain

Bold statement? Perhaps - or maybe just a keen recognition of the obvious.

Day to day, many people I know live life like they are bobbing along in the ocean. Sometimes their heads are above the water and they can breathe, other times their heads are just below the water and they're suffocating. It's not so bad really. We can breathe most of the time. We suffer the rest of it. Good days and bad days - that's life, good and bad.

It begs the question, however, why do we stay that way? Why do we accept it? Is good good? How bad is bad?

Now, we don't stay in 'Good and Bad' all the time. Let's return to the ocean for a moment. We're bobbing along, minding our own business and we start to sink. It's ok for a bit, but the longer we're under and the deeper we get, the worse things get. We go from Bad, to Ugly. Ugly is when we start to take action.

The tragedy isn't that there's Ugly in the world. The tragedy is that we have to wait until things get Ugly before we get in motion!

Stop and think about your days. How much pain is there? Do you wake up easily? Are you keen to go to work? Do you enjoy time with your co-workers? Are you building the future you want? Is your body and health the way you want it to be? Are your relationships rich? Does your car annoy you? Does traffic piss you off?

Think about it - many people I know live in a lot of pain and accept it. I'm going to ask you not to accept it anymore.

Don't wait for Ugly. But if you were at Ugly, what would you do to fix it? Whatever that is, do it now.

Here's the win. If Good/Bad is our average, and Ugly is the difficult stuff, then the upside of it all is Greatness! One of your fastest ways to Greatness is by simply not accepting a life of pain anymore.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-06T21:52:00.000-04:00

Urgency

My good friend, Kelly Ritchie, has a great expression: "Why do something in 5 minutes, when you can do it in 5 days?" It's a sarcastic truth about the classic conflict between a business owner and an employee.

Now let me be very clear, the backbone of any business, municipality, country or economy is built by employees. I'm going to say some things that you may not like. But they are not things that I will say out of aggression, arrogance or ignorance for that matter. They are things I will say out of my experience, and consensus with some of my peers.

So here we go. Many employees are prone to taking 5 days to do a task when they could do it in 5 minutes. I'll give you an example. I was recently in a conversation planning a small project, and right away there were discussions about preparing plans, lead time, incubation period etc. It was quickly turning into a conversation to justify a 5 day roll out of a 5 minute project. Now understand that the "5 days" and "5 minutes" are arbitrary and are not a direct correlation. However, they are illustrative.

A sense of urgency is very different than urgency. There are many things that are not Urgent, but that should be approached with a sense of urgency and often times business owners have the best 'sense of urgency' around.

If we consider ourselves as our own economy (I chat about this in my book at chrisvenn.com), then we really need to consider the sense of urgency that we have in generating results. Business owners often have a good sense of urgency because if they don't they're broke. If they don't, they lose staff. If they don't, they're bankrupt.

A lot of things don't need a lot of planning - they can simply get done, quickly. Now don't assume that I mean you shouldn't plan. What I mean is you need to pick your moments, and plan when it makes sense. However, business and the marketplace deliver precise feedback. If you don't deliver value, you don't make money. If you can't sell, you don't have clients. It's actually rather simple. The thing is, to get the answers that take you to success require that you act. And the faster you act, the faster the feedback. Again, I'm not talking about reckless activity - I'm talking about a sense of urgency. Instead of looking at how many tasks you have to do and how long it might take, stand it on it's head and ask "how quickly could I get this done!"

On average, we live 700,800 hours. What are you doing with yours?

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-06-04T21:02:00.000-04:00

You Don't Have To GO Anywhere (to get centred).

First, no, it's not a typo. I'm Canadian and we have a cool habit of inverting different letters in some of our spelling patterns just to annoy the heck out of our neighbours (with a "u") to the south.

To the point - Centre. Last week I committed a telecommunications faux pas (french for a 'screw up'). I left my cell outside overnight. It rained - a lot. When I finished draining fluids from it in the morning, it was clear that my beloved Motorola Razr was kaput.

The good news? It's time for a new phone! Now I've been resisting a converged device for a while, but I finally broke down and bought an HP iPaq 6515 that will allow me to cell in style. What was really cool, however, was the integrated GPS. I needed to add Microsoft Streets and Trips, but it is cool. Open PocketStreets, turn on the signal and BAM - a little symbol in the middle of the map shows me exactly where I am no matter where I go.

It may seem trifling, a GPS is not a new thing. Mobile email is not new. Carrying all my contacts is not new. Wireless internet access so that I can Google (yes, it's a verb now) at will isn't that new. Having Word and Excel, my calendar, and about a dozen other tools isn't new. What's cool is that it's in my phone. I'm at the centre of my digital world, as indicated by my iPaq!

Here's what's interesting in our digital world. First, the size of it is almost beyond description while simultaneously being about the size of my hand. The majority of the network economy is fully accessible on my highly portable iPaq.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the important principle of centredness. Consider - a network has poorly defined boundaries and no discernable centre. In the network economy, things operate on the rules of the network. That being the case, finding the centre is a challenging thing, and herein lies the problem. There IS no centre to the network economy - at least not the way we're used to thinking about it.

Many people are used to thinking of the 'centre' of something as a location, some sort of geography. But in the network economy, the centre is not somewhere you go, it's something you do. Being centred is more along the lines of knowing who you are being and what's important to you.

So it begs the question, who are you being? I don't mean in some wierd candle-worship manner. What I mean is when you act, you act in a way that makes a statement about who you are. And when you act, how you do things speaks volumes about who you are. That's an expression about who you are being.

A cool statement by Budda was, How you do anything is how you do everything. We show our personal truths through how we act - in everything we do.

If you feel off balance, don't go looking elsewhere to get centred. Take action, and know that HOW you act, shows your centre.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca
Check out my book at www.chrisvenn.com !

2006-06-02T20:11:00.000-04:00

Momentum - Friend or Foe?

Momentum is usually considered a good word. It is a good word. But like most things, unity is plural - I'll save that for another time. What I'm saying, however, is that because it is normally considered in a positive light, doesn't mean that it's positive. Momentum actually has no inherent positiveness, or negativeness (is that a word?).

Look at it this way, high speed says that we move quickly, but velocity is speed with a direction, so it actually takes us somewhere specific. It's great to want to get somewhere in a hurry, but I'll argue that moving in a deliberate direction is far more important than moving quickly at random. You can be racing full out toward "nothing", or you can be moving a bit less quickly toward a destination that's meaningful to you. I'll take the deliberate route over the speed any day, as long as I'm still in motion.

Momentum is a bit like speed - but not identical. I think of momentum more in terms of acceleration. Consider a snowball (I'm Canadian - snow related analogies come easy). If you were at the top of a large hill and rolled our snowball down the hill, snow that is on the hill starts to stick to the snowball as it rolls. It grows in size and mass, and gains momentum.

Now, once our snowball is in motion, it's tough to stop. It has mass, and speed. In the case of our snowball, its vector is downhill. Is that a good thing? Maybe, maybe not. The thing is, momentum carries things in its initial direction unless A LOT of energy is applied to change its course - like trying to make our snowball roll up hill.

Where's all this heading? Momentum isn't good or bad, but it sure carries a lot of weight! Many people I know, myself included, have momentum. I'm heading various directions in life and in some areas I'm gaining some momentum, and in other areas I'm not. I know, I know - no mass jokes please. The point is, if you are not happy with where things are going, start applying pressure quickly. A lot of energy is going to be needed to make big changes. Consistent redirection toward goals you want to have happen can eventually manifest themselves as big changes when momentum is working for you.

Don't assume momentum is good for you until you know whether or not it is accelerating you toward something you want! But understand that once you know what you want, you can build momentum on your own behalf. There's a world of resources out there to help you do that. Read. Listen to CDs. Associate with people who will support you. Build momentum so that it works for you.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-05-26T22:26:00.000-04:00

The Power of "Comment" (and not being a Loser)

The Universe gives us only one way to learn; it's called trial and error.

Think about everything you know. All of it, every shred of what you provably know, came from experiments (which is code for Mistakes). It's tempting to think that we learned from books, from teachers, from CNN (ok, don't get me started on that one), or from seminars and school. But functionally, those are conduits to learning, not necessarily the source of the knowledge.

Off the cuff, this might seem a bit obvious, however, the hook is that most people I know are down-right terrified of making mistakes. The challenge with this is that it parleys into being terrified of learning - really learning.

We're not very well conditioned to take risks, to make mistakes, or to be willing to make a gaff of things in front of others. When the top ranked fear in the Western World is public humiliation (a.k.a. Public Speaking), it's no wonder that people don't want to apparently look like fools by making boo-boos.

There's a problem with all this though. The problem is that if we stop pressing and experimenting, we slow our learning. By inhibiting our learning, our lives move toward a growth doldrum. Nature only has two states: growth and decay! When we stop learning, we move toward entropy.

So what's the point? Here it is: comment. Comment on what you hear, and search for it's truth. Comment on what you read, and share your take on things. Comment on what you feel - it's true for you.

I know that there aren't that many people who read my blog (so far), but here's what I know for sure - there are only a few that comment, and in my mind, they are the learners. Take a risk. Learn. Be willing to make a mistake - as long as you're willing to take the lesson.

My friend and business partner, Blair Singer, talks about how there are Winners and there are........Learners. To me, there is a third category, called Losers. They are the ones who are not willing to take the lesson. That's not a hit on their value, it's an acknowledgement that they Lost the opportunity to Learn, and Grow.

Be a Learner. Or be a Winner. But for God's sake, take the lesson and don't be a Loser. (And comment on my blog!)

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-05-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

I Had An Original Thought Recently - sort of...

Have you ever had a thought that you believed to be original, only to discover that someone else has already had the thought, or at least a similar one? Well, it happened to me.

It's an interesting scenario. You start down a train of thought, come up with something reasonable cool, and then......google dashes all your wildest dreams of fame and glory. Ok, my dreams are not dashed, but you get the idea.

Here was the thought. Specifically, it's the idea of TQ, or Time Quotient. My premise on it is simple: TQ is the measurement of time that has flowed from the time you recognize you should do something until the time you actually act on it. I think that a sense of urgency is one of the defining principles of success. And with that, I believe that most people don't carry a functional sense of urgency. By functional, I mean a properly directed sense of urgency that contributes to meaningful goals. What I don't mean is some sort of uber-obsessive Type A frenzy that is all activity, but directionless - we have to have velocity, speed AND a vector or direction.

As it turns out, someone else uses TQ but in a different context. At thinktq.com they look at the idea of TQ being Results divided by Time. Now, this doesn't invalidate what I'm thinking. As a matter of fact, I find it encouraging on a bunch of levels. Part of it is that it confirms it's a cool idea, even if they are slightly different. More importantly, however, is the idea that good ideas are all over the world, and prevalence breeds growth.

I'd rather share, magnify, optimize, collaborate, or expand an idea rather than control, limit, minimize, or hoard useful thoughts.

I like what I'm thinkin' about the Time Quotient. I like what the "other guys" think about it, and I imagine there are many others with identical or similar thoughts. My lesson through all this? Don't try to own ideas, live them.

Chris Venn- www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-05-19T22:58:00.000-04:00

Technology for the Brain.

There is technology all around us - and I love most of it. But the technologies I like the most aren't the ones that necessarily require power cords, processors and batteries. The ones I like most are technologies for the brain.

This past week, I haven't been blogging as I've been immersed in very long days of training - much of it on accelerated learning by Sarah Singer [you can find her at www.singerlearning.com]. And it was cool, tres cool.

Here's what's most interesting about the whole thing: there are technologies that we inherently have installed in us, that we generally don't realize that we have.

What do I mean by that?
Think about it this way: if you have the most powerful laptop on the planet, but don't know how to use the cool functions and only ever play with Windows Calculator [Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft], you'll only be able to perform very limited functions with it. However, if someone actually showed you all the features and functions of it, then you might discover you have a Tablet Notebook where you can write on the screen, annotate in real time, wirelessly connect to just about everything and that it's made of titanium!

Besides learning some amazing techniques and disciplines to let me make better use of my own brain and communicate more clearly with other people's brains, the whole process kinda opened me up to the idea that there is all kinds of latent power, tools, capacity, and possibility just dormantly waiting to be released around us.

During the course, I had done a presentation that was [in my mind] interesting, but came off as being rather flat. What I found out through Sarah's program was that I was simply delivering in my very biased, auditory process. I had another presentation to do later that night, and it was a very different event. I was painting pictures, speaking to people's thinking, helping them get a good feel for the information and Bang! A great presentation - even at 2200hrs.

So there's a question that deserved to be asked over and over; one that deserves to be put under the magnifying glass and explored in detail. The question is: what could I do if I were using ALL the technologies available in my life?

I'll let you answer it - and learn something.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-05-10T21:54:00.000-04:00

Playing to Win

Way too often for my comfort level, I see people who aren't playing to win - they are playing not to lose.

Where did it come from? I don't quite understand it. It's not that I think it's all about winning, because it's not. I think it's all about playing to win - playing full out and giving your all. Playing not to lose is a very different game entirely.

Playing not to lose is about hedging, it's about minimizing risk, it's about not being willing to risk offense. Now, I don't advocate being offensive either! It's about being willing to risk. Remember, you can't be a leader if you're not willing to take a stand.

I guess what I'm saying is that "playing not to lose" isn't a growth strategy, it's an immobilization strategy. Playing to win, is about being in motion, being willing to commit, and then giving everything you have at whatever it is you're doing.

When you "play not to lose", your loser wins.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-05-09T21:34:00.000-04:00

SPAM isn't always a bad thing

A SPAM event is an opportunity to learn. I kicked off this blog a few weeks ago, and although there hasn't been much traffic, I was pretty excited when someone posted a comment! It's a moderated blog, so I get to see the comments before they go live (mostly because I want to respond quickly to them), and lo and behold, there it was, SPAM. Now on the surface of it, I could have taken it at face value and assumed that someone really did want me to get a Degree, and felt that 2 weeks was an acceptable amount of time to earn one.

I could have been a bit more cynical about it, and thought that this was a shot at my intelligence and that this spammer felt my blog warranted some refining! Or I could have seen it more like a "drive by" spamming. I was the innocent victim of a random event and happened to be in the line of text when someone hit the Enter key.

Perhaps the truth, however, is that I deserved to be spammed. Perhaps my business, my articles, my blogging is SPAM to somebody. It may be a perspective issue. Maybe the context and worldview that I have is offensive, annoying and appears without invitation in different arenas. Maybe.

However, SPAM is more than just offensive, and it's more that just unsolicited. There is a mens rea to SPAM, and that's where what I might write fails to qualify as SPAM.

All of us say things that offend sometimes, and all of us offer opinions that are at some time, unsolicited. What guides you though? What is your intent? Are you guided by mens rea, or are you guided by a higher purpose.

I've always thought of myself as some sort of modern warrior - I can't quite explain it. And I once read that a warrior is a person of action, guided by reason, motivated by love. The pieces here are:

the ability to act (physical fitness, strength, endurance, coordination etc.)
guided by reason (you need to be able to analyze, interpret and decide)
motivated by love - this was the tricky part for me.

The whole "motivated by love" thing seemed pretty mushy to me. Can't I be motivated by something cooler? Bolder? At least that's what I thought years ago. As I grow and learn (and age) I'm realizing how powerful love is. The issue is, what drives us? Does it carry nobility? Is it respectable? Do we know?

Most people I know want to know What they need to do, or How they need to do it in order to get ahead in their lives. They are the wrong questions though. Why, is the question. When people know Why, everything else becomes possible. When we write, Why comes out in our words, our semantics and our syntax.

Motivation is the difference between SPAM, and truth. Getting SPAM is an opportunity to remember which is which.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-30T21:22:00.000-04:00

The Power of Growth

I don't have the market cornered on understanding the power of growth, yet I get to witness its power over and over in the world of technology, and in the other lives I live.

What's powerful about growth is that it only goes one direction - out. The world lives in expansion and contraction, out and in. As a matter of fact, technically there is no up and down, only out and in. Up and down refer to life in a flat world - we live on a sphere. Growth only goes out. The power to this is that one can almost immediately spot growth.

Knowing what's growing is important for two big reasons. The first is that it's easy to become confused or misled about something if you don't know the truth about its state. If someone shows you a great business opportunity in a contracting market, it is likely not a great opportunity. The second reason is that if something is not growing, it is decaying - there is not stasis in nature. If life is not moving out, if your awareness is not expanding out, if your trust and finances and relationships are not growing - they are decaying. That's worth knowing.

A final thought on growth...
Someone new just joined the Inventive Networks team - his name is Ian Barrett. Ian brings a ton of experience, integrity and a real live commitment to revealing the truth about technology to our clients. I'm proud to have him join our team and have him become a part of our growth.

I'm Chris Venn from Inventive Networks - we're growing.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

Getting the Lesson

Technology is a funny creature because I believe that somehow, it mirrors our lives. When we have our game-face on and are really making things happen, systems usually seem to run well. When we're a mess, so are the tools we're trying to use to make progress.

Now I'm not saying that there's some cosmic metaphysical link between me and my notebook (or you and yours), however, I think that patterns repeat themselves and we tend to express what's going on in our heads in the space around us. Ok, maybe it is a cosmic metaphysical link. But that's not my point.

Here's my point: lessons don't always (perhaps rarely) come from happy learning situations. They usually come in the form of a kick in face with steel-toed boots and are followed by a solid thud onto a dirt road.

It's great to think about learning as positive - and it is - but recognize that the learning process often sucks. In my experience, it usually involves a lot of high blood pressure, a bit of a bulging vein on the left side of my bald head, and a good dose of stomach acid that leads to...well, you get the idea. I even get emotional about it sometimes - honest.

The thing is that the reverse of what's going on is often the lesson. I was chatting with a good friend of mine the other day who is in a junior leadership position, and her boss is a mess. Now, she had an opportunity to work elsewhere at a department that has an awesome leader running the show. I suggested that she should do that so she can learn about leadership, but she went another direction. The interesting piece is that, although it drives her nuts, she's getting some of the best lessons I could have dreamt up about how NOT to lead - and she's learning from it! I think more so than if she were with uber-leader right now.

So what does this have to do with technology? Maybe not a lot. Yet, when our systems go bad, we pay attention. When they sail along without disruption, we usually take them for granted. It's the deep dark moments of downtime, data loss and corruption frustration that deliver the best lessons - make sure you take them to heart so they don't happen again. If you don't, the cosmos has no choice but to visit you again and make sure you get the point.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-23T11:06:00.000-04:00

Forgive Yourself

Forgiveness isn't necessary (though recommended) for others, but it's downright critical for yourself.
Have you ever had someone do something for you and they screwed it up, or did something to you and it hurt? It might be a supplier, a friend, a member of your family, or a complete stranger? I hallucinate that you have. It seems that somewhere along the way, people let us down, and when they do, it can be painful.

Now, I believe it's important to forgive, and I believe it for a pile of reasons. It promotes better health, you waste less energy holding on to something that has passed and only remains because you keep it with you, it consumes power that you could apply to other things, life is too short, etc., etc. Forgiving people can be tricky sometimes because it's different than excusing or pardoning. Forgiveness usually applies to some sort of serious harm/wrong that's been done. What's important, however, is that it's a choice. I don't believe it's an "unable", I think that when someone doesn't forgive it's because they're choosing to keep "it" alive. So to sum up, I think it makes more sense to forgive people than to hold on to the offence for ever - but it's your choice.

Here's the real thing, however - forgiving ourselves. Most people I know are much tougher on themselves than they are on strangers. How easy is it to look at a mistake you've made, and then hang on to it for dear life. To be saturated by it and not forgive yourself. Notwithstanding whether the person you annoyed/injured/offended/generally pissed off forgives you, I know person after person, myself included, who hasn't chosen to forgive themselves for the act and learn from it.

The learning is the fulcrum. If we don't take the lesson from "it", then perhaps it's not time to forgive, perhaps we're supposed to keep having the pain prick us into action and into awareness.

In our business we don't screw things up too often, but it happens. I've recently had to deal with two client issues where things simply didn't roll out as smoothly and gracefully as they should have. It hurts. I'm certain they're frustrated, and I (and my team) take personal pride in their work, so when it goes wrong, we feel it personally. Disconnected, impersonal business relationships aren't really the Inventive style. We like people. We generally do business with people where we can connect and have a real live, long term relationship. We're interested in their businesses succeeding, not fixing their technology and monitoring their systems - that's HOW we do it, not WHY we do it.

So when things go wrong, do your best to fix it. More importantly, however, once you understand the lessons from the event, forgive yourself.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

Encryption
Swordfish. It's one of my favourite movies - I'm watching it as I write this. Travolta, Berry, Jackman, Cheadle - a great cast and hell of a story.

Now, there's no question that it's mildly far-fetched from a technical perspective, especially when they get chatting about encryption. But at the same time, the explosion at the bank is one of the most creative little blasts and best shots I've seen in a movie in a long time. But I digress.

My point is encryption - it's in our lives and we know almost nothing about it. The server that hosts my blog uses encryption. Your cell phone uses encryption. My notebook uses some really cool encryption and comes with a finger print scanner. My portable USB drive uses encryption, the computer in your car uses encryption (yes, there's a computer in your car), and the list goes on.

What do you know about it? I mean, beyond the fact that you hate passwords, what do you know about how important encryption is?

Consider this...You log on to your computer at work and then leave for a meeting. Someone else in your office goes to your desk and with your email account, sends an inappropriate or inflammatory email. You're in trouble - maybe big trouble. But, you argue, I was at a client meeting, I couldn't have sent it! Ok, I accept. However, I'll simply use Outlook to schedule to send the email the next time you log in so that you are at your desk when it's sent.

Or another scenario. You leave your computer logged in, and I'll access files that you have access to that I don't, or delete files that shouldn't be. It seems a waste of worry for the sake of using a bit of encryption.

Did you know that overwhelmingly, the highest security threat is always INSIDE a business, not outside? These ideas may seem fantastical to you, but it's not unrealistic, and far more technically possible than what you seein Swordfish. More importantly, it requires no technical skill on the part of the attacker. All that for the sake of not securing your workstation, or not using a real password.

Speaking of passwords, which is a whole subject in and of itself, most passwords can be cracked in a matter of seconds by free software downloaded from the net. So please, in the interest of personal protection and in the spirit of encryption, for goodness sake, would you please use a real password?

Here's the rule: 8 digits minimum. Mix of caps and small letters. Include symbols like *&^$.

Encrypt yourself, and relax.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-16T17:34:00.000-04:00

The Need for Speed
Speed, not drugs, but the ability to move rapidly, is quickly [no pun intended] becoming the most competitive factor in business.

I was registering a new domain name today, chrisvenn.com. Now it's not just a vanity site. I recently published a book and need a place to share my postulates and be able to sell it, give people a chance to ask questions, invite me to speak etc. Why I bring this up, however, is that while it took months to write my book, and weeks to print it, I registered chrisvenn.com in literally, less than one minute. [It still takes 24-72hrs for the domain name to propogate across the net if you notice the link isn't working yet.]

From the time I opened my browser, registered for a hosting account (that included an ecommerce engine by the way), registered the domain, and entered the billing info, it was less than one minute! The provider I used had really thought out their provisioning services so it was incredibly easy to get things setup and going. Using the Autofill on my Google toolbar, filling in the forms was just a click away - credit card info nicely secured by a password.

It gets me to thinking how convenient my company's services are. It's easy to think that we're convenient, but I just don't think we're fast enough. Don't get me wrong, we don't drag our heels and we love to respond to our clients. But, reflecting on how quickly I clicked through some rather complicated transactions makes me think it's time to use technology once again to accelerate what we do.

What should you be doing faster? This isn't just a business question either - it shifts toward the metaphysical. Are we responding to change fast enough? Is speed working for us, or against us?

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2006-04-12T18:27:00.000-04:00

The Truth
I'm new to the world of the blog, but luckily, I'm not new to having an opinion!

I've spent over a decade working with businesses to help them get the most out of their technology. In that time, I've seen some complete I.T. debacles, and some amazing wins. And through those hundreds and hundreds of projects, what's become very clear to me is that the key to success is telling the truth.

Over and over, technology decisions are made based on stories, rather than based on data - and it's a fundamental flaw. But my real point is not that I think people are deceptive, as a matter of fact I think that people are fundamentally good and honest. However, I believe that all of us inadvertently lie to ourselves about what's going on around us.

I recently dealt with a client project where I had a lurking feeling that things might not be 100%, but I didn't dig into it and ask all the annoying questions of my team. It was a mistake - and at the end of the day, my suspicions proved to be right and now I need to work through the result with my client. It's an expensive lesson, albeit not a debilitating one. The opportunity now is to learn from it.

Chris Venn - www.inventivenetworks.ca

2004-05-07T23:13:00.000-04:00

Creating a business that has value isn't easy...it can be downright painful. But as I looked forward at business, technology and clients I had worked with for years, it was difficult to ignore the pain that small businesses are facing.

In an economy that is built on the foundation of millions of small businesses, little is done to support them in their decisions when it comes to technology. With this in mind, Inventive Networks was born.

It's more than business, however. This is a holy sh*t, change the world proposition. If the world economy is, in large part, driven by small business; and if I can support small businesses by helping them make better use of their technology, then we're saving the world!

OK, maybe a bit over the top - but enough to get you up in the morning.
Look out world, it's time for some Inventive Networks.
www.inventivenetworks.ca