I love Annie Duke's work. Her first two books, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts and How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Decisions, put the process of understanding decisions and their results in an entirely new context. Most of us (as I did before reading her books) look at the results and from there determine whether our decision was good or bad. Actually... Key Point: Doing that is a counterproductive way to go about the process and will often provide an incorrect (and potentially harmful) context for future decisions. After all, sometimes we make good decisions that turn out bad. Other times we make bad decisions that turn out good. If we look only at the result and judge the quality of our decision based on that result, we are providing ourselves with incorrect information. According to Ms. Duke, “Best decision plus luck = outcome.” We could even replace the word “luck” with “life." The Important Distinction: It’s *not* about *depending* upon luck but rather making the correct decisions to the best of your ability, placing the odds of the desired outcome as much in your favor as possible, and then still realizing that we can never actually predict the future and that luck/life (either good or bad) may or may not come into play. This allows a person to know that, so long as they do their best to make the right decision (based on doing the best they can do in terms of research, thought process, etc.), they never have to have regrets...regardless of the outcome. Today's Exercise: Think of some past decisions you’ve made as well as their results. Now go back and review the thought processes behind them. What were the factors that went into the results themselves? How much was the result of the decision-making process and how much of it was luck/life? From this point on, begin staying consciously aware of these two elements. You can learn more about Annie and her books and subscribe to her Substack at https://www.annieduke.com/

See life as a gift! “How to be a coffee bean“ By Jon Gordon and Damon West

Do you have a habit of interrupting? I used to. It was horrible. I didn’t even realize it until many years ago, when *thankfully* someone pointed it out to me. While I totally cringed in horror upon recognizing that it was not just an occasional thing but a constant thing, it was exactly what I needed to hear and accept in order to make a huge change. Yes, I suffered from...“Interruptus Maximus Obnoxious.” It seems safe to say that... Key Point: There is practically nothing that will cause frustration — even anger — in a person more than being interrupted while they’re attempting to make their point. And it will typically cause them to completely shut down to anything you have to say following that interruption. Suggestion: If interrupting is a weakness of yours (and please know I’m not saying it is), my suggestion is to make it your number one priority to become interrupt-free. It can be difficult at first, but you can do it, and it is so, so, so very well worth it! Yes, I still catch myself relapsing from time-to-time, but I usually stop myself before committing the act. And when it actually does happen, I *always* recognize it, apologize immediately, and continue to work on it. Great pleasure is taken in knowing that most people would no longer say that "interrupting" is something that Bob Burg does. Today’s Exercise: Just as we discussed in breaking the Gossip Habit, one must first be *aware* of the problem. Then make an effort to stay mindful of this during your conversations. Monitor yourself. After your conversation, do a “debrief” to review how you did. Every night before going to bed, do a daily recap and check your progress. Rinse and repeat the following day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Eventually, it *will* become a habit of the past. Best regards, Bob Burg Subscribe to Bob Burg's Daily Impact Emails HERE Get Your "Walk In Your Value" Go-Giver Journal HERE

Looking forward to seeing everyone that can make our virtual Rachel’s coffee house happy hour tonight from 7 to 8 PM Eastern. Just go to the calendar and click on the link to join at 7. See you then.

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who let you do practically all the talking? Didn’t you come away from that conversation saying to yourself, “Wow — what a fascinating conversationalist that person is!?” ;-) If you want to be a great conversationalist... Key Point: Let the other person talk while you genuinely listen. Keep in Mind: Something I learned more than 40 years ago when beginning my sales career is just as true today: Nobody ever hangs up the phone on you...while THEY are talking. :-) Same on Zoom. Same in person. So let them talk...about themselves and THEIR interests. Today's Exercise: Being “other-focused” doesn’t necessarily come easy, as it is somewhat counterintuitive to our human nature. So in every conversation today, consciously remind yourself to focus on that other person and on *their* interests — on their story! Allow them to share with you — well, whatever they’d like to share with you. Just be ready to be spoken of by that person as the most amazing conversationalist they’ve ever met. :-) If you’re excited about the idea but a bit concerned that you don’t know what questions to ask that will naturally and authentically gear the conversation to them, please know that’s exactly what we’ll discuss in our next email. Best regards, Bob Subscribe to Bob Burg's Daily Impact Emails HERE Get Your "Walk In Your Value" Go-Giver Journal HERE Steve Eanes Website Here