The writer Carlos Castaneda said We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” In business, you have to decide what you will work on, who you will work with. Your choices either make your business stronger or weaker, make you more productive and fulfilled or unproductive and frustrated. It’s vital to embrace the idea that these outcomes are the fruit of your own choices — not random or uncontrollable events or circumstances.

One of the things I like to do each year, toward the end of the year, is make or up-date a list of things and people that are annoying me or sapping my energy, then actively work to rid myself of them during the 12 months ahead. It’s sort of a ‘Hit List’ approach to new years resolutions and goals. I also try to be decisive and ruthless all the time, about getting rid of such things, so I’m working with a short list, year to year. This is just one example of choice.

If there is a person, place or thing in my life, I had to unlock my door and let it enter. It was my choice to do so. Same for you. No client or customer or employee or associate or vendor shows up with a gun or court-order that compels you against your will to let them into your life, nor to remain there. You are king of your kingdom. You get to choose who and what may enter and stay or must go elsewhere.

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com

Marty Sklar, a Disney executive and Imagineer says: “Don’t try to solve a problem too quickly. Let it evolve. Simmer.” One of my business principles is: nothing is ever as bad – or as good – as it first appears. Most every time I react too quickly to something, I wish I’d waited and thought about it a little.

You do want to be decisive. But not impulsive. Or stampeded into action before you’ve had time to weigh options, pros and cons. When you rush to judgement, you don’t give what Dr. Maltz called the “creative mechanism” an opportunity to work for you. It’s sort of like eating too fast and gulping your food. You don’t give your magnificently engineered digestive system a chance to do its job. It lets you know with indigestion.

Your “creative mechanism” is also beautifully engineered. It includes your subconscious mind’s unlimited memory and retrieval system, its navigation system locked on your goals, and its innate ability to process confusing and complex collections of ideas and information to a point of clarity, sometimes felt consciously as a “blinding flash” or a fully formed “idea out of the blue”.

Thomas Edison made a point of telling his subconscious all the information he knew about a problem, then going off and doing something completely different and relaxing…sitting on his pier with his fishing pole, taking a walk, or taking a nap…to give his “creative mechanism” sufficient time to provide him with the answer. If that sounds a bit mystical, you ought to know that this is how most of the inventors, advertising writers, and entrepreneurs I know actually work.

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com

Eric Hoffer wrote: “There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement.”

I’ve often pointed out that the person very adept at making excuses is rarely also adept at achieving goals or making money.

Also, a person you’re doing business with who is good at offering up excuses will prove very bad at reliable delivery of goods and services. I very consciously and deliberately work at NOT making excuses, directing blame. I prefer emotionally and verbally taking responsibility, because that’s the only real way to get what you want in any aspect of life, including business. In my NO B.S. BUSINESS SUCCESS BOOK, I provide this simple equation: RESPONSIBILITY = CONTROL; CONTROL = RESPONSIBILITY. They are inseparable and proportionate.

I don’t necessarily like this equation. I’d rather have 100% control and 0% responsibility. But it doesn’t work that way.

There’s no power in thinking about what others have done to create a particular situation. There’s no power in talking about the circumstances that have created a particular situation. There’s no power in worrying about what others might do or what circumstances may evolve.

The only source of personal power is thinking and talking about: “What can I do to affect this situation?”

— Dan Kennedy

Dan Kennedy is an author, consultant and business coach. Additional information at www.FreeDanKennedyNewsletter.com