Promise. Action. Inspiration. Discipline.

Here is a PAID secret: Don’t do what others tell you. Do what you tell others.

Hi this is Mike Lipkin and I have a powerful message for you: talk is back. The phone call is the money call.

According to the New York Times, September 21 2014, cellular voice volume in the United States grew 14 percent last year. Although people have a wider array of communication options, they are increasingly choosing “voice interaction.” Talking to others, or even talking to machines, is much more adaptive to our always-on lifestyle.

Thomas Gayno, a tech entrepreneur, says, “The next generation of computers won’t have keyboards, they will work from a voice interface.” Talk communicates nuances of emotion and meaning in a way that text-based messaging never can.

In the same issue of the New York Times, Thomas Friedman says, “The diffusion of communication technologies and globalization is making all forms of top down, autocratic control weaker, obsolete or more expensive.” The future belongs to those who understand subtlety and empathy in equal measure.

So here is my PAID secret for increasing your share of voice in a hyper-connected, super-accelerating world: Promise, Action, Inspiration, Discipline.

Promise big. Commit to great. Declare your delight. Express your passion. Say what you feel, but feel what others say. The champions with whom I run are vocal. They talk a lot. They talk because they have something to say and they are the ones willing to say it. They talk to get others to talk. They talk because they know the word is the seed of the deed. They reach out and touch a lot of people.

Sometimes you will make a big promise that you don’t even know how to fulfill. That’s when you prove your power: you find a way or you make a way when others say there is no way. That’s how breakthroughs happen. Try it. Make a big promise to someone, beginning with yourself. Set a deadline. Make it happen.

Act now. Act decisively. To quote Leonard Cohen, “act the way you want to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.” Action is the only thing that the world rewards. Without action, intention is just a daydream. Action is how we get ready to take action. Every act is a cause set in motion. Action is its own language. It says, “You can count on me to make it happen. I will get it done. I will take care of you. Barriers are what I eat for breakfast.”

Procrastination is the enemy. Even the word suggest something crusty growing in our minds and bodies. Yggh. Yet, procrastination is an epidemic. The more distractions we have, the more excuses we have to procrastinate. The American psychological association estimates that 20% of Americans are “chronic procrastinators”. Is that you? Well break the cycle now. Do what you gotta do now. If it’s worthy, it’s never easy. But it’s never as hard as you fear. The great actress Helen Mirren says, “I still suffer terribly from stage fright. I get sick with fear. You just have to cope with it – take it on the chin and work through it, trying to use the adrenalin to perform.”

Inspire others to raise their game. We all live in symbiosis with each other. You’re part of my ecosystem and I’m part of yours. Without you, I have no reason to do what I’m doing right now. So I’m becoming you and you’re becoming me. In fact, we all become the company we keep. I need your inspiration. I need your encouragement. I need your energy. I you’re your example. Seriously. I can never get enough. And neither can anyone else. Koby Bryant says, “I love learning from people who take on giants and slay them.” According to a recent poll of NBA general managers, he is also the player they want to have the ball when the game is on the line – 10 years in a row. That’s what I’m talking about.

Another sporting great, Derek Jeter of the Yankees, paid this tribute to New York: “You’ve been with me for the past 20 years. Your grit fuelled my will. Your history strengthened my resolve. Your scrutiny exposed my flaws. Your expectation was my inspiration. From my first at bat until my final out, you helped make me who I am. For that I am forever thankful.” What tribute could you write that would recognize the community that has made you amazing? This entire video is my tribute to the world that has given up its secret to me.

Promise. Action. Inspiration. Discipline. That’s how you get PAID.

Discipline is the price we pay to play at the level we want. It is the conditioning that keeps us going when the going gets brutal. It is the preparation for a neverending marathon of high performance. It’s what enables us to come back strong when we’re down and almost out. As Chip Kelly, the coach of the Philadephia Eagles said, “no-one rises to the occasion, you always sink to your level of training.”

Discipline is the infrastructure of sustained excellence. It sets you free to fly because, to quote RedBull, it gives you wings. As the great coach, John Wooden, said, “Discipline yourself so others don’t have to.” Self discipline is the only one that lasts.

I want to give the final words to Alice Munro, the Canadian writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature, “I want the reader to feel something is astonishing. Not the ‘what happens,’ but the way everything happens.” Astonish others through your Promise, Action, Inspiration and Discipline. It’s the way you do it that counts. This is Mike Lipkin and I really approve this message.