“You can’t limit alcohol in college sports, you have to get rid of it” ~ Dean Smith
I totally agree with Mr. Smith’s assertion.
Asking a bunch of guys in their early twenties to drink responsibly is like putting Donald Trump in a room with Rosie O’Donnell, Hillary Clinton, and a disabled reporter and asking him to be respectful.
It ain’t gonna happen, Bubba.
Now, let’s talk about Dean Smith’s quote which is essentially about: “limiting” problems versus “eliminating” problems.
Alrighty, let’s do it.
Dean Smith is one of the very best basketball coaches of all time, and apart from being a maverick, I believe one reason he’s been so successful is his black and white, all or nothing mindset.
Many successful people have this mindset.
And it shows in the way they deal with problems.
You see, a successful person’s first instinct is to ELIMINATE a problem, whereas an average person’s first instinct is to LIMIT a problem.
Recently I read an article that was titled: 7 Ways To Limit Distractions.
Now that, my friend, is a real-life example of an average person espousing their averageness to others.
In my prideful opinion, the writer of that article is way off the mark.
And here’s why:
This writer is trying to limit a problem that should be eliminated.
I mean, if you truly want to be productive, you don’t want to go from being distracted to just a little distracted, do you?
No.
You don’t wanna be distracted at ALL, right?
Do you see how silly accepting a little distraction is?
I’ll put it this way:
Let’s say you ask your friend for a glass of water. You friend goes and gets you a glass of water and hands it to you, but, before you drink it, he says, “Oh, by the way, there was a big turd in the glass but don’t worry, I got most of it out.”
Now, would you be okay with drinking that glass of water?
Of course you wouldn’t. Even if there were only 0.05% of poop left in that glass you wouldn’t dare drink it.
Yet people think just a little distraction is fine.
Listen:
Distraction must be treated like the filthy turd it is.
Look, let’s get real.
There are no degrees of distraction.
You’re either distracted or you’re not.
To say you’re only little distracted is like a woman saying she’s just a little bit pregnant.
It’s no different with distraction.
Okay, lemme say a few things about productivity before I sign off.
I believe the secret to super productivity is this:
Sustained Focus On One Activity!
But if you tolerate even the smallest of distractions, you will never truly be productive.
I ask you: how productive are you?
A lot of people think they’re productive, but it’s my contention that if you work on projects (or whatever) with your phone near you…you’re kiddin’ yourself.
If you don’t let your, family members, colleagues (or whoever else that could potentially walk into your office) know what time of the day they cannot contact (distract) you…you’re kiddin’ yourself.
If you have social media website pages open on your computer while working on a project…you’re kiddin’ yourself.
If you work on more than one thing at a time, you’re kiddin’ yourself.
O.K. enuff.
My focus is waning.
Now, I know some of you are probably disappointed with this email.
I get it: you’re used to me spoon-feeding you sales and marketing info and this email contained zero sales and marketing info.
Well, here’s how I see it: if you haven’t yet bought my Email Playbook, you have no grounds for complaint.
And… if you have purchased my Email Playbook, then go through it again. I, The Email Marketing Maverick, still go through it. I know you think I’m kidding – I’m not. I need to be reminded of the things I teach, too. There is so much gold in there you can’t possibly mine it all in one go.
O.K.?
I will hear no further discussion on the matter.
I’m out.
Peace.
Kelvin Dorsey
Email Marketing Maverick
P.S. Aw, nuts. To be honest, I feel a little bad about not giving you some sales advice. Dammit, I thought I could get away with it, but I guess you caught me in a moment of weakness.
So, I’m gonna give you some sales teaching in the form of a David Ogilvy quote.
Here it is: “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.” ~ David Ogilvy
It always comes back to selling, doesn’t it?
P.S.S. Need to improve your copywriting? This is sure to help:
