Toronto, October 28, 8.10am

Last night, I did my daily workout at the Toronto Athletic Club. It’s an upscale gym whose members are drawn primarily from the surrounding downtown professional service community. Besides the gloomy atmosphere created by the TV report on the global stock-market meltdown, I also noted that there were less people working out. The usual  5.30pm rush wasn’t materializing. Could it be that people are less motivated to work out when they’re less motivated in general? Could it be that people  have less energy in a downturn? Do crises drain people of their discipline? When people are anxious, do they take less action?

Maybe. Determined action requires concentrated energy. If the energy is a function of the environment, then it will decline when the environment declines. Look around you. You’ll see there is less energy around. Worry wears away the spirit. Fear weighs us down. It’s hard to think, laugh and be creative when we’re focused on how-much-worse-it-will-get-before-it gets-better. The new normal is more sombre, sober and serious. It’s heads-down, not heads-up.

Here’s my message of the week: Brighten-up. It’s better than you think it is and you’re bigger than you think you are. The best performers are fuelled by an inner optimism, irrespective of circumstance. Obviously, boom times make it easier to be optimistic. When the tide is rising, everyone is lifted. It’s when the tide momentarily turns against us that we need to consciously dial up our commitment to being preeminent.

Preeminence means being the best that you can be in that moment. Some moments are more difficult than others. Your pre-eminence today may be different to your preeminence tomorrow. You take most out of the situations that take the most out of you. So wherever you are, be aware of who you are being. Be aware of how you’re acting. Be aware of what you’re saying. Be aware of your impact on others. Be aware of where you’re looking and what you’re finding.

Here are Lipkin’s Five Questions to help you trigger your pre-eminence:

·         Is this the best I can be right now?

·         Is this the most I can do right now?

·         Is this the most I can give right now?

·         Am I inspiring others right now?

·         What am I learning right now?

“Right Now” is the only thing that counts so make it count. If you want to stand out, be outstanding. Raise your energy, heighten your impact, expand your contribution. The wins will follow…

New York City, Sunday, October 19 2008, 10.50pm

Even the Motivator needs to be motivated. I just spent the weekend with 1000 people learning to reinvent myself, my business and my environment. Why? Because it’s going to be a long hard winter. The credit crisis is rippling out into the general economy. Trading conditions will get worse before they get better. The market for almost everything will shrink before it grows again.

So don’t bank on things getting better, bank on yourself getting better. I’m banking on things deteriorating. I’m preparing for the worst, while I prepare myself to be at my best. I’m pessimistic about the market but I’m optimistic about my ability to thrive in it. It’s the paradox called Pessimistic Optimism: anticipating negative external conditions, but expecting positive personal responses and results.

Does that make sense to you? Think about it: how could it help you by anticipating a brutally difficult environment over the next six months? What would you have to do to prepare yourself to be successful? How could you help the people around you do the same? How could you ensure your own peace of mind? How can you do your best work and achieve your best results ever? Who are the people you need to magnetize to you to attract success? These are the questions I’m asking myself.

And here’s Lipkin’s Top Ten List of Effective Actions to Thrive in Brutal Times:

1.      Be excited by your prize. Know what you want to achieve by April 30 2009. See it. Believe it. Achieve it. I want to deliver 60 seminars, talk to 50000 people and sell 25000 books. That’s massively motivational to me.

2.      Talk to as many people as possible and make every conversation count. Every meeting with every person needs to be a masterpiece. You need to earn the right to have another one. OPT – Other People’s Time is the ultimate resource that we’re all competing for.

3.      Accept the current reality. It is what it is. It’s tough. It could be painful. But it’s your life right now. Let go of the past so you can get where you’re going.

4.      Re-examine your value to the most valuable people in your life – your family, your friends, your colleagues, your customers, your community. Deepen it. Make it demonstrably superior to anything you delivered before. Tell people about how you’re raising your game. Dramatize your benefit to them. Be top of mind or you’ll be left behind.

5.      Learn exponentially. Discover the “Game-changers” that are reshaping your industry. Then master them. In my case, it’s insights into thriving in tough times, web deliveries, new media-management and highly effective team coaching. I’m pursuing pre-eminence in all these areas with a little help from my friends.

6.      Condition yourself to perform like Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods or Albert Einstein. See yourself as a world class athlete and train like that. I’m 50 and that’s how I’m training. Without wellbeing, nothing else works. Life is a mental, physical and emotional triathlon. You can’t finish if you’re not ready to start.

7.      Be grateful. Love who you have. Love what you have. Love the Power and the people that gave them to you. Love the struggle. Love the victories. Love the defeats. Love every breath. And spread it around.

8.      Be aware of yourself and your actions. Reward yourself when you’re being magnificent, repair yourself when you’re not. Be unfailingly courteous to others. Celebrate their success, coach their slip-ups. Be consciously compelling.

9.      Make every day your life in miniature. Chunk down. The past is a memory. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is magical. Relish it.

10.  Laugh about it now. Man’s wisdom is God’s folly. So don’t take yourself too seriously. Travel light.