Antbag.com

About a month ago, I had a post asking if you had a mentor, and shared some of my thoughts about being assigned the roll of a mentor. On the flip side, a mentor can be a super positive thing.

First of all, what role does a mentor actually play? Well, my definition would be someone you trust and/or admire who is available to you for counsel and advice. That could really be worth a lot, huh?

The problem is, it may not be that easy to find such a person! Here, let’s discuss a couple of tips for finding that person who can have your back when you need advice or motivation.

1. Know what your looking for. I think the first step is to know exactly what you are looking for in that person. What kind of advice are you seeking? Business?…….Relationship?……..Spiritual? This is important, because you’ll want to get good advice and counsel, and the mentor will probably get something from the role as well.
2. Actively seek someone. In my opinion, the best mentor relationships will just happen. But you can’t sit around and wait on that. You may just happen to meet the right person who takes an interest in your success, then again, you may not. Don’t hope to find the right person, make it happen.
3. Know where to look. Sometimes the best mentors are not in the most obvious places. Take for instance, the movie the Karate Kid. I’m sure Daniel wasn’t hoping he would find a handy-man at his apartment building to become his mentor. A good mentor could be a successful neighbor, someone on the management team where you work, someone you go to church with, or someone who is just one of your friends who you think could help you. Keep an open mind, but only consider those whom you think know their stuff. Everyone has had a mentor at some point, whether realized or not. What kind of person were they? What was your relationship to them? That may be a good place to start.
4. Ask someone you admire for a referrel. You may know someone you have a lot of respect for, who’s not really available for any number of reasons. They can likely pass you on to someone else, who could be just the right person. You don’t have to say “I’m looking for a mentor”. Tell them your obstacles, and that you need some advice. That’s where the whole relationship begins.

Regardless of how you find a mentor, I think it’s important to have one. Everyone is faced with decisions that are hard to make, and situations that are hard to deal with. Having someone who wants to see you do well, there guiding you along can keep you motivated and confident!

In my family, I come from a long line of traders. My dad, my brother, others in my extended family, like to buy and sell things. Preferably to turn a profit. This includes almost anything, but mostly cars, boats, etc. I instinctively want to do the same thing. It’s in the blood-line.

A year or two ago, my dad bought a bright red Chevrelet Silverado that I’ve admired since he got it. Well, now he has another vehicle, and this one’s for sale. I really like this pick-up truck. I can afford to buy it, but it would set me back on reaching my other goals.

Ok……..I admit it……..I have pictured myself driving it!

The truth is, my other goals are more important than some vehicle. I think this is a perfect example of keeping your eye on the prize when you have your goals set. Financially speaking, there always are, and there always will be “opportunities” to get you off track. The bottom line is, I never really considered it, because the decision was made at the time I set my financial goals. I’m not upgrading my vehicle, until I reach a certain point. I still like the truck, though.

Do you have a hard time staying on track?

At some point, we’ve all had to deal with a real “nut-job”. That is unless, of course, we’re the “nut-job”. Hopefully that’s not the case. People who seem to be impossible to deal with can frustrate you in a way that death seems like the easiest and most sensible solution. Of course, that’s not the case………but it’s the way our mind can over-exaggerate a situation if we’re frustrated enough. The best thing to do is to learn how to deal with these people before they get you on your wits end.

The Facts….

1. You have to accept that you can’t deal with this kind of person the same as everyone else. It’s just impossible! That’s what led you to realize how impossible they were in the first place. They may be crazy, or maybe your personality doesn’t mix with theirs, but either way, you have to be very direct when you have to communicate with them. Sometimes you have to treat them like children, being extremely gentle with your words and ever aware of them being how they are.
2. You have to figure out for sure if it’s them, and not you! Most likely it is, or you would have these problems with almost everyone, not just this hot shot. The fact is though, that this can be confusing, because impossible people like to blame everything on someone else. So, you may be the target of that blame. Just always replay the situation in your mind and make sure you aren’t the problem. Be ready to admit it if you are.
3. It’s much easier said than done, but stay cool and don’t let anger get you bent out of shape. People who act like children should be treated as such. If they become angry and start yelling, it’s best not to engage them. Let them have their say, but assume they are just venting. Don’t take what they say personally, just remember if the conversation needs to continue, let it wait until they can act like an adult. At some point, you may need to even tell them that.

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 15:1

Google Homepage now has seven different themes to choose from which look pretty good. The themes look somewhat animated, but what’s cool, is the colors change to match the time of day in your zip code.

I never have really used the “homepage” up until recently, but it’s cool because you can get your RSS feeds, your email, and a host of other information brought straight to your homepage, like Netvibes. I even like the way the built in Google Reader works.

All you do to get to this page is go to Google.com. Go to the top right hand corner and click on “Personalized Homepage” and you can set it up however you want.

While making my way through the local McDonald’s drive-thru the other day, something in the background caught my attention. This drive-thru is one of those where the first window is where the financial transaction occurs, and the second window is where the customer is rewarded with the food they’ve paid for. In the first window, I noticed two signs on the wall which served to remind employees of the goals. The first sign read:

Obviously, no big deal. It’s good that they have goals to keep things moving. The drive-thru is not a place where the customer wants to sit and wait. I’ve been under the impression that the whole purpose was the speed. The sign that hung just below the first read:

Again, not a big deal to me at all. The faster we can exchange the money, the quicker this whole deal can go down. Let me pay you, you give me the food, and we’re done. At this point, the customer has to drive up to the next window to retrieve the food. I was interested to see what the “Order Fulfillment Goal” would be. Unfortunately, there was no sign hanging on the wall in the second window. At least it wasn’t visible to the customers as the signs in the first window were.

I’m not on an Anti-McDonald’s crusade. My impression was that them taking my money was much more important than delivering hot fresh food in a quick and orderly way. Unfortunately, the first two objectives, order-taking and money-exchanging, were the fastest parts. When I got to the second window, I waited for 3 or 4 minutes until I was asked to pull forward……where my order would be brought out to me as soon as it was ready. I guess they didn’t want me to hold up the line……and no, my order was no complicated order with “special requests”. A simple combo meal as it comes “stock”.

So, is McDonald’s missing the point?

When I started blogging, I noticed that a couple of posts seemed to bring 90% of the traffic from search engines. I realized that these posts were apparently the ones that actually helped someone and provided answers to their questions. Since that time, I’ve also realized if I could create more posts that accomplished the same thing, my blog would quickly gain more momentum. I never realized there was a term for these posts.

….enter “Killer Flagship Content”

When I subscribed to Chris Garrett’s blog a month or so back, I received a free download to his excellent e-book, Killer Flagship Content : How To Create and Promote Truly Compelling Blog Resources. In the book, Chris points out:

• What Flagship Content is
• Why you need Flagship Content
• How to generate Flagship Content Ideas
• Success Factors for Flagship Content
• and How to Promote your Flagship Content

The book is a great resource that provides clear-cut ideas to help you drive your blog to success. With less than 20 pages, it reads like an extended blog post, and doesn’t take that long to read. In today’s busy world, that’s a major plus! You get great content and ideas, without having to read through a ton of hype. And the price?……..FREE!….that’s right……all you gotta do is subscribe to his RSS feed, and the link to download is at the bottom of each post.