I once worked for a man in radio who took over a highly listened to, but poorly performing station in Texas. They were selling most of their available commercials but were not making budget projections.

He decided to double the rates they charged for advertising. All of his sales people told him he was crazy and that advertisers wouldn’t pay that amount. His thinking was a bit different. He said he could make as much as they were making then if only half of the current advertisers stayed on, and they would have a lot more commercial inventory available for sale.

He raised his rates and advertisers were willing to pay them to have their commercials play on his highly listened to radio station. He solved the budget problem with one decision.

How much do you charge to rent room in your mind?

If you’re like most of us, you have a lot of freeloaders in there not contributing to the bottom line. You have low yielding thoughts that keep coming around again and again, and as long as they remain in place, there’s no room for a higher paying customer.

It’s time to set a new standard. You cannot control what thoughts apply for space in your mind, but you can decide how much time you’ll allot them.

The one decision you have to make is to notice.

Just take 5 minutes right now and observe your mind at work. What you will notice is that thoughts pop in from nowhere. You have no control over the next thought that pops into your mind, or the next. They line up outside of your awareness and then knock on your door to get attention. If you engage them, you allow them to take up room in your mind. If you simply notice them, without engagement, they go away.

You get to decide which thoughts hang around and which ones get to go away by the simple act of detached observation.

You have to decide what your thought inventory is worth and charge the appropriate rates, otherwise you’ll be stuck with the low paying thoughts you have and won’t progress.

Make a conscious decision to notice your thoughts. Each time you make the effort, you make space for something new and more rewarding to pop in.

Take a tip from my savvy old general manager – Raise your rates!

All the best,

John

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I remember when radio stations had “Battle of the Bands” Weekends. They would play two songs and ask you to call in and vote for the one you liked most.

Then, after the voting, the winner would go up against a new song and the competition would begin all over again.

Battle of the bands did two things:

1. It got the listeners involved and made them listen longer.
2. It gave the stations a barometer as to which songs were peoples’ favorites.

I am proposing a “Battle of Quotes.”

Below are my two top favorite quotes of all time. I request you drop me an email and tell me which one should win the “Battle of Quotes.”

1. “Talk Doesn’t Cook Rice.” – Anonymous Chinese saying.

2. “The reason life doesn’t work is because people don’t keep their agreements.” – Werner Erhard

You can just indicate the number – 1 or 2 in your email and I will tally the votes and let you know which one won in a future post. Email your vote for your favorite quote now to:

john-morgan@cox.net

You can also send me your favorite quote of all time. I would love to hear your favorite.

All the best,

John

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I did a “values assessment” the other day and came up with my top three.

I looked at a long list of suggested values and was instructed to write down the 10 most important ones to me. From the list of 10, I was to prioritize them and find my top three.

Here are my top 3 Values:

FAMILY
DEPENDABILITY
HONESTY

Your list will look different than mine, but it is useful to find your top values.

It gives you a glimpse of the base you operate from and it also shows the areas where you come in conflict with others.

When people don’t have your values on the same rung of the ladder, there will be friction. That doesn’t mean that your values are right and theirs wrong; it just means that you don’t value them the same.

It’s helpful to notice when your values get ruffled. Your conditioned response is often to go into conflict mode. That may not be conducive to interacting with another person who has different values.

If you notice, you can throw in the clutch and take care of your interaction so that you get the best possible outcome. If you don’t notice, you’ll go on automatic pilot and an undercurrent will be present in your dealings with others with different values.

This much I know for sure. A person with different values will never be in long-term harmony with you and vice-versa.

Do you have a family member that you absolutely love but friction ensues on a regular basis with them? Different values.

The tack we normally take is to make them wrong. They’re not wrong, just wrong for us. It’s the same with a spouse, a lover or a friend.

You can find common ground with just about anyone but finding common values is a rarer find.

Take the time to find your most important values and begin to notice what others value.

It will smooth out what could be a much bumpier ride.

All the best,

John

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I had my teeth cleaned last week. After the dental hygienist was done, she handed me a packet to take home. In there I found a new toothbrush, dental floss and some sample whitening strips to affix to your teeth.

The whitening strips got me curious about the phrase “I tried that.”

I wonder how many people tried the strips one time and were disappointed that they didn’t get a Hollywood smile. The instructions clearly say you have to repeat the application over a period of time to get results.

It amazes me the number of people who suspend logic and believe they took the action necessary by attempting something once, and then dismiss its effectiveness with the phrase “I tried that.”

How often have you heard this statement, “I joined a gym but that doesn’t work for me”? Do you realize how many people buy a gym membership and go only a couple of times. Yet in their mind, they believe they have no culpability for their lack of fitness because they say, “I tried that.”

It’s the ultimate responsibility shift from us to something else. How quickly we look for a scapegoat. I wrote the following blog a couple of years ago which points out how alive and well this shift is:

Some people abuse their power of discretion and it becomes a weapon that causes self inflicted wounds. This is a way of saying that many people dismiss something out of hand because they judge it in their head.

I agree that if someone told you that parrot saliva was the cure for arthritis, you probably would be justified to raise an eyebrow. But if there was a long, documented history of people getting results with this method, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t investigate further, especially if you have arthritis.

So let’s pretend that you saw an ad for a product in Parade Magazine and then hobbled down to GNC and bought the product called “Pollyspittle” because you were curious. You took it home and then you chose not to use it. It seems counter-intuitive, but the reality is lots of people do that. It’s the next piece of behavior that is mind boggling and counterproductive.

You hop on your computer and dash off a nasty-gram to the manufacturer saying, “This stuff couldn’t possibly work,” and add how disappointed you are. What’s wrong with this photograph? You judged it in your head.

No one’s claiming that you are not entitled to an opinion. We all have them. But when you put the onus on someone else because your untested belief won’t allow you to take the recommended action, whose problem is that?

This type of head judging has no bearing on IQ. You could be Mensa material or dumber than a stump and still be guilty of this practice.

How many of your New Year’s Resolutions have already failed? How many of those failures will you justify with “I tried that?”

It’s a mindset that is pervasive and it never works. It’s much more honest and effective to say, “I haven’t figured out how to do that yet.” It keeps the responsibility where it belongs – with you. AND it keeps the door open to the possibility of accomplishing that which you haven’t figured out yet.

“I tried that” has had a long and storied career. Let’s buy it a gold watch and send it off to play shuffleboard and bore the pants off of people telling them about the good old days when it was the most popular phrase on earth.

All the best,

John

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It seems to me that the adventure is in the seeking and satisfaction is in the finding.

It’s a careful blend that even Starbucks hasn’t figured out.

There is a conundrum wrapped in an enigma about the proper mixture of the two.

Too much seeking leads to too little finding. It becomes a game unto itself. We become seekers. And just like the playground prattle of “finders keepers, losers weepers,” we get lost in the act of seeking and miss finding what was there all along.

You can find without seeking as well as seek without finding. There doesn’t seem to be any rules.

Adventure is what many are looking to experience all the time. They’re really not interested in finding because, if they do, their white water rafting life runs into a rock. Constant adventure seekers are running away from who they are. It scares them to be alone with themselves. They are deathly afraid of finding themselves.

That’s because they’ve confused who they are with who they think they are. Who they think they are is someone to be loathed, and they keep running away from that person in the direction of the numbing drug called adventure. Truth be told, that scary person doesn’t exist. It’s an imaginary collection of conditioning that keeps us on the run.

Finding happens when you cease seeking.

The “strive to arrive” is the biggest hindrance to finding peaceful satisfaction.

Once you recognize that the unlovable person you made up isn’t you, you find something worth staying home for – yourself.

Yes, it is responsible to own your actions, but even more noble to disown your illusion. In the process of dismantling your made up self, the real you comes shining through.

There is no adventure seeking that compares with finding yourself.

All the best,

John

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How do you know when to pay attention to something that comes from out of the blue?

Have you ever been struck with an idea that just seemed so right? You weren’t thinking about it but there was a part of your mind working on it and delivered it when you least expected. That’s what I’m describing as “out of the blue.”

The whole concept of my weekly Grasshopper Note is based on “out of the blue moments.”

It’s as though someone else, besides you, is delivering the message.

So how do you know if it’s something to act on or not?

It’s a matter of training your feeling apparatus to differentiate between “impulse” and “inspiration.”

My sense is that it feels different for everyone, but as a barometer, this is what happens with me.

When I get something unexpected, I pay attention to the feeling. If there is “excitement” attached, it’s usually an impulse. “Yeah, I should buy that high end camera that’s not in the budget.”

Inspiration usually has a warm feeling for me, not “white hot” like impulse. There isn’t any debate for me when inspiration arrives. Impulse always has me going back and forth as to whether to act or not.

Inspiration wants to be shared; impulse wants to be enjoyed.

There is a curiosity generated with inspiration; impulse wants action.

I’m thankful for both impulses and inspiration and I’m delighted that I can tell the difference.

It seems that impulse comes from conditioning, and inspiration is an unconditioned thought. They both have feeling components. That’s how to tell the difference. Find out what those feelings are for you.

There are two benefits to knowing the difference:

1. You’ll have the peace that goes along with inner knowing.
2. Your credit score will remain high.

Impulse or Inspiration? Check with your body before acting and know for sure.

All the best,

John

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I was awakened in the middle of the night by Snuffy the Black Nosed Beagle who wanted to go out and take care of business.

I groggily walked to the door and as I let him out, I looked up and saw the brightest star filled sky. The first thing that caught my eye was the Little Dipper.

After admiring its sheer beauty for a moment, it dawned on me that this was the exact same little dipper I was first introduced to as a little shaver.

My next thought was, “It’s been there before I was thought of and it will be here after I’m gone.” It’s timeless.

It got me to thinking about something truly timeless – Our animating spirit. Not only does it animate me, it’s the same energy that animated my ancestors and it’s the same energy that will animate my heirs.

Even more amazing is that it’s the energy that infuses everything. We all have something in common, no matter how many ways we attempt to prove we don’t.

We’re all driven by the same kind of fuel; we just all call it a different name. Even more interestingly, we fight over the name in the name of religion, race, national origin and a whole host of other names.

Once you label something, it loses its full essence. When we attempt to corral it into a concept, we exclude all that can’t fit within the confines of a narrow idea. Then we find people who agree with our idea and go to war with others who have a different labeling system.

It just all seems pretty silly when you’re taking in all you can drink from the Little Dipper.

All the best,

John

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As we head into the weekend, I’d like to offer you a measuring stick that will yield more precise results.

It’s an easy measurement to take. Just compare your beliefs to your results.

What you believe is irrelevant if it doesn’t deliver results. I’ve mentioned it before, and it bears repeating now, if your religion isn’t working for you, it’s time to find a new religion.

Religion, in this context, is anything you fervently believe in that just isn’t delivering results.

Because you believe in something doesn’t make it true. It just means you believe it. I’d like to change the word “true” to “useful” in the last sentence, that way we won’t argue about unsubstantiated truth. So the real question is: “Are my beliefs useful?”

Seems we rarely examine our beliefs; we just throw them out there as though they are true. They may be true to you but the question remains: “Are they useful?”

The interesting thing about beliefs is that we inherited many of them. They really belonged to someone else but became ours through social, cultural and parental conditioning. That means that oftentimes we are arguing for someone else’s limitations. It’s hard enough arguing for our own.

So it’s an easy drill. Stop and notice your beliefs when they turn up; then make an assessment if they’re getting you results.

If you need a question to ponder this weekend, may I recommend this one: “How useful are my beliefs?”

All the best,

John

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The Grasshopper visits at the oddest times. I was retiring for the evening and reading a book about photography when I heard him say this:

“You cannot not accept reality.”

It then became clear to me that the choice of acceptance is an illusion.

There is no choice. We made it up.

Reality is always accepted because there is no other real option. If you say you don’t accept something that has happened, think for a moment how crazy that is.

Acceptance is synonymous with reality. Reality doesn’t have an opposite, and neither does acceptance.

When you say you cannot accept something, you are playing a head game that has nothing to do with reality.

“I cannot accept that my daughter has married a _________.” (Fill in with your favorite prejudice)

The reality is your daughter married that person. There is nothing to accept. It happened no matter what your head tells you is “unacceptable.”

When you believe there is a choice about not accepting reality, you have fallen into a very dark hole – one that’s difficult to accept.

Don’t accept what I tell you on faith. Investigate it in your own life. What reality are you resisting? That’s called, “non-acceptance.” You are resisting that which reality has already accepted. Sorry, you weren’t consulted because you have no say whatsoever – other than to play the head game that you have a choice.

When you say you cannot accept something that has happened, you are denying reality and living an illusion.

You certainly have the choice not to like something that has happened, but that has nothing to do with acceptance. I don’t like that there are evil people in the world, but I accept it because it’s a reality.

“Unacceptable” is a report on what you don’t like, but it never has anything to do with true acceptance which is recognizing reality.

All the best,

John

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I have an expression that I have used for years. It’s “You can be on my island.”

It’s my version of “You can pack my parachute.”

Imagine that you’ve been shipwrecked and you and a group of people have washed up onto an uninhabited island. (Think Tom Hanks in “Cast Away.“)

What kind of people do you want on that island with you? Put the romantic/sexual fantasies aside for a moment and consider who you would really want there in order to survive and thrive.

Would you want a malingerer in the group? A prima donna? A complainer? A “Can’t be done-er”? My guess is they wouldn’t make the cut if you had anything to say about who would be on your island.

I bring this up for two reasons:

1. To acknowledge those who make your life more pleasurable.
2. To get curious about the people you surround yourself with.

Is there someone who goes unsung that you would deeply miss if they rowed off your island? Let them know before they go. And if they do exit your life, for whatever reason, let them know how much you appreciated them when you were together.

Alternately, is there someone draining the life force out of you and kicking up too much sand for your comfort? Build them a rowboat.

If you have a choice, and you do, wonder about those who get too much of your attention with too little return on investment. Reminds me of a story . . .

Many years ago I was attending a management workshop and the group leader asked this question: “Who do you spend more time with, the people who are winning for you or losing for you?” Sadly, most people answered, “Losing for you.”

He then went on to tell a story about the football coach, Jimmy Johnson. He cited Jimmy’s winning record in college and his two Super Bowl victories with the Dallas Cowboys. He then told us what Jimmy answered when someone asked him this question: “Coach, you have such a great winning percentage wherever you go and your players always seem to be on the same page. Is there some secret formula you use to make that happen?” Jimmy Johnson answered, “Yes, I shoot the losers.”

My friend, Ned Kraft is working on a book called “The Friendship Myth” and in one of the chapters he encourages you to “Fire your friends” – the ones who take too much of your effort.

Luau or Lunch Pail? You decide. It’s your island.

All the best,

John

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