We’ll be coaching another coach soon, Lions.

We introduced you before in a blog post to our coaching giveaway winner, John Bergquist. We’ll be flying him into Jackson early next month to help him in discovering the path to a desired future.

Today, we’re letting you meet this Lion of a man yourself through this episode.

John is a communications expert who works with various teams as well as a man who helps companies and their employees figure out company culture and values and implement them effectively.

“I act as a coach in helping employees reach their greatest potential both here and at home in life and their dreams,” John says. “I’m always thinking about how that employee’s going to grow and reach their goals, even if they leave the company.”

That is a kindred spirit, Lions. He’ll be right at home as part of the Rusty Lion Academy family.

“Each of us is so unique and has just amazing potential if we can just understand that and discover the path.” @johnflurry via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Discovering the path for John Bergquist

This giveaway comes at the perfect time for John, who is about to move to China to teach English as a second language to university students who crave interaction with native speakers. He expects a lot from us after winning this coaching getaway, and we fully intend to beat his expectations.

John says going into a life-changing thing like this, he expects us to ask the hardball questions and not take casual answers from him. To expect the honest truth even if that doesn’t feel good.

He wants to come away with action items he can really change in his life. He says he spots blind spots in others, but knows he has them himself.

Just your luck, John. Identifying blind spots is our specialty, and we’ll be discovering the path together when you come out to Jackson Hole next month. It will change your life, just as your life is about to change.

We can’t wait.

Tune into this episode to hear John Bergquist talk with Bill and I about discovering the path and more:

• A family vision that includes multiple countries and lifestyles
• The one thing John does to help people progress in work and life
• Building an Everest-level life
• The three things John hopes to gain from winning this giveaway
• The core reason John is hauling his family to China for two years

Do this next:

Sure, we’re changing John Bergquist’s life through this giveaway, but we can change yours, too. One of the sure ways to build a better life is to envision your better life constantly. Start by completing our free video training for envisioning your desired future 25 years from now.

Andy Paul is a thought leader in sales, author of two books on the topic, a podcast host, and a keynote speaker. He has sold for a lot of companies, including a little one you may have heard of called “Apple.”

As a successful salesman, Andy has learned not to spout off things he doesn’t know. That mentality for selling honestly started with a job interview Andy calls “the shortest interview in history” with a man named Ray.

The man of few words sat him down and asked him one question about accounting. The position was in sales. Andy sputtered for a few moments before saying the question caught him off guard and he’d find the answer and get it back to Ray within 24 hours.

Ray left the room without a word.

One off-base question. One sweating interviewee.

Ray soon came back with his boss saying he’d like to hire Andy. The question had been a test to see if Andy would try to fool Ray into thinking he knew more than he did, a problem with many salesmen. That lesson in selling honestly has stuck with Andy ever since.

“Your success is not based on what you sell it’s based on how you sell.” Andy Paul (@ZeroTimeSelling) via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

The salesman is the first line of differentiation between your competition. Selling honestly is a major differentiator.

Andy has some other painful reminders of what makes a good salesman from throughout his career, and loves to share them with people.

You can hear these lessons and many more stories from this great salesman by listening to the episode below.

Tune into this episode to hear Andy Paul talk with me about selling honestly and more:

• The biggest differentiator of any company
• The one key attribute needed to perform as a salesman
• The one problem all customer relationship management software shares
• Two mindsets every salesman should have
• The one habit that will bleed discipline into all areas of your life
• The one mistake Andy made to screw up an almost guaranteed contract

Read these to enhance your life, sales and marketing prowess, and business:

“Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini

“Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies that Move Customers to Make Fast, Favorable Decisions” by Andy Paul

“Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company's Sales” by Andy Paul

How to contact Andy Paul:

You can email him, go to his website, or add him on LinkedIn.

Do this next:

Another key sales tactic is to be a great listener. If you can get your client talking about themselves, they will trust you much more. Learn to be a better listener by watching this free video training.

The cause of procrastination takes many forms. Fear of failure, fatigue, and perfectionism are some of the ugliest.

Fear of failure makes it feel like you’re moving toward something unachievable, and makes you question why you should even be moving at all. That’s why fear of failure induces some of the worst procrastination we’ve seen in our coaching clients.

“Fear of failure can keep you from leaping off the cliff that has greatness at the bottom.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Oddly, fear of failure can be a motivating factor in life-or-death situations, so we’ve come up with some tools to harness that kind of fear to push you further. Heck, I’ve used it in my own life after I procrastinated for five years to make the scary leap.

“I jumped into the fear and it was the best thing I ever did. It opened up the world.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Fatigue can also drown out motivation in a death-spiral cycle. If you don’t sleep long enough or well enough, your whole world will suffer. Lack of sleep is never something to brag about, regardless of how much you think you get done.

We’ve got some rock-solid advice on beating fatigue too. Here’s a snippet of what to expect in this episode.

“Prepare to win at sleep like you prepare to win at business.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Perfectionism can also limit your ability to perform. If you expect too much of yourself, you’ll get caught up in a cycle of imperfection, self-blame, and inaction. This is called perfectionism procrastination, and we’ve got tools to break this cycle as well.  

Listen to this episode in the player below to get all these tools to beat procrastination and more. You won’t be disappointed unless you never get to it.

Tune into the episode now to hear Bill and me (Robert) talk about these facets of procrastination:

• The one act that makes procrastination harder to do
• Getting out of the swamp of procrastination to-dos
• The two words you need to beat perfectionist procrastination
• How Bill stopped procrastinating to lose 27 pounds in a year
• Why burning bridges isn’t a bad thing when it comes to procrastination
• The daily morning habit that staves off procrastination
• Medicine for the curable disease of procrastination

Do this next!

Perfectionist procrastinators can’t do it all to their high standards, so they often leave things undone. Perfectionists, therefore, need to be master delegators. Check out this free training on delegation that will give you ninja skills.

He’s a business lawyer, author, speaker, strategist, and educator with 30 years of experience now. But at age 13, a schoolyard fight turned nasty when his opponent stabbed him twice with a knife Eliot didn’t know he had.

That left literal and figurative scars that nearly made him repeat seventh grade. That is, if it weren’t for two people in his life that helped him forward. These people taught him what it means to be a friend, and it’s a lot more than liking Facebook posts.

“Friendship’s more than sharing, retweeting or sending prayers. You send yourself and you make the time.” @Wagonheim via @RustyLionAcad

One of the people that helped him graduate seventh grade while he was laid up was a science teaher who showed up in his Volkswagen every Tuesday and Thursday to recreate classroom experiments in the Wagonheim’s bathroom. That’s where Eliot learned the difference between a job and a calling.

“People who have callings don’t care whether it’s convenient.” @Wagonheim via @RustyLionAcad

His father taught him different lessons about callings. The man died in 2007, and Eliot hangs a red baseball bat in his office that he got from his father to remember two lessons.

Listen to this episode to learn what these two lessons are from a man who lived his fatherhood calling. You’ll also hear plenty of other great stories that teach Lions like you to live your own calling.

A man who lives in what he is called to do will find a lot more happiness, so listen to this incredible episode right now.

Tune into this episode to hear Eliot Wagonheim talk with me about these facets of callings:

• Callings and how to live them
• The significance of an empty hourglass
• The one thing a potential employer did that pushed Eliot to another job
• Lessons from a knife fight and a red bat
• The mindset that keeps things from bedeviling Eliot
• The thing that Eliot would walk through walls for (and did)
• Why he lets his kids direct the fun in his life
• The one thing he couldn’t possibly change, but did anyway

Read these books to enhance your life and business:

“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t” by Jim Collins

“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown

“Fire, Aim…Ready” by Eliot Wagonheim (Free bonus chapter!)

How to contact Eliot Wagonheim

You can visit http://farsightedbusiness.com or find him on Twitter.

Do this next:

Living your calling requires knowing yourself and the values you hold dear. Listen to our method for dialing in your values so you can better live your calling.

We were going to talk about procrastination last week, but procrastination got the better of us.

As you know, Lions, procrastination can suck the life out of a day. When there’s something huge looming over you that’s hard, unpleasant, or just plain big, it’s easy to put it off.

But as Lions, you also know that procrastination is something you just have to kick to live to your highest potential.

In this episode, Bill and I talk about two major reasons for procrastination: disorganization and difficulty of a task. We’re procrastinating telling you about some of the other reasons until next week’s episode.

People often recognize difficulty as a reason for delaying a task, but few recognize disorganization as a major source of procrastination. Without disorganization, we might just not have a business.

“One of the reasons we have a successful coaching business is people are not taught how to be organized in school.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Disorganized people can’t seem to get organized well enough to break large tasks up into smaller chunks, which makes them fighting to find a time period large enough to conquer an entire Goliath-sized task in one sitting.

You really need to deal in milestones to break up big tasks.

“As you set, then hit milestones you’re basically eliminating procrastination.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Listen to this episode in the player below and you’ll find some absolutely killer tips that will get you more organized, more able to set milestones and generally boot procrastination from your life.

Don’t procrastinate. Listen to this episode right now; it could change your life and pull you out of the procrastination cycle.

Tune into the episode now to hear Bill and me (Robert) talk about these facets of procrastination:

• An amazing trick you could use to tackle dreaded tasks (like taxes!)
• Why procrastination could kill your business
• Why time disorganization keeps us in business
• The two words you need to use often to beat procrastination
• Why procrastinating starting your day hurts many areas in your life
• The antithesis of procrastination
• The magical thing you can do to eliminate procrastination

Do this next!

If you wake up as late as possible before work, you’re a resident of procrastination land! Go through our Weekday Warrior video training to see how to implement mornings that will keep you from procrastinating all day.

When Marty McDonald told people his dream of playing golf a couple times per week and making money, almost everyone laughed at him.

Except his mom. She told him it sounded like a good idea.

“That was a dream that wasn’t suppressed,” he tells me in this episode. “And other members of the family were laughing at it – literally laughing at it.”

Years later, Marty has achieved that goal—he plays golf a couple times a week as he’s ramped up his personal freedom by running his own business.

He says he drew on the pain of having others laugh at his dreams to help make them come true.

But they still didn’t come easily, and he weathered a lot of rejection along the way:

“If you don’t have multiple failures, you’re probably not trying hard enough or you didn’t do anything.” @martymjm via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Marty isn’t a professional golfer, but he still achieved his freedom dreams. Here’s how.

As a former headhunter, Marty grew a great network of people who knew he wouldn’t forego his integrity to make a connection.

“I stuck out like a sore thumb because I wouldn’t chase the dollar as a headhunter,” he tells me. “I did very well by not chasing the dollar.”

That led to more opportunities that dollar-chasers didn’t get.

He then used that career as a launch-pad to start Bad Rhino, Inc., a social media marketing agency that sees new marketing as a throwback to traditional marketing.

Here’s what he has to say on that :

“Social media is a new medium, but it’s taking marketing back to a personal relationship.”   @martymjm of @BadRhinoINC via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Listen to this episode to get tips on how to follow your freedom dreams like Marty has. There will be sacrifices along the way when it comes to entrepreneurship, but you’ll figure it out:

“You have to make sacrifices but you have to make sure you’re sacrificing the right things.” @martymjm of @BadRhinoINC via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Then maybe you can golf several times a week too.

Tune into this episode to hear Marty McDonald talk with me about:

-        The secrets behind turning a hobby into a career

-        How to build social media relationships

-        How—and why—to follow your freedom dreams even if people laugh at you

-        The reason Marty started his own business

-        How to attain and maintain a life of freedom

-        The one piece of advice that makes it all doable

Read this to enhance your life and business:

“Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History” by David Meerman Scott

How to contact Marty McDonald:

You can visit badrhinoinc.com or email him here.  

Do this next:

Meeting your freedom dreams requires discipline, especially in setting goals and then meeting them. We want to give our listeners the knowledge to do just that with our free eBook: “9 Keys to Unlocking Goals.” It will help you find the keys to unlocking the door to a life full of freedom.  

 

Digital tools can tie you to your business wherever you’re at – even on vacation. The secret is knowing how to unplug and untether while on vacation so you can truly recharge.

“You need to recharge on vacation so you can charge ahead when you get back.” Via @RustyLionAcad

Remember that, Lions. If you’re browsing your emails or checking your Slack channels while you’re at the beach, there’s something wrong, my friend.

My partner Bill even gets in trouble with his wife if he brings his phone to the back patio to watch the sunset. Imagine what having that thing out throughout an entire vacation does to your relationships. It’s demoralizing to your wife and family. It also destroys the relaxing vacation you could have had.

“Working on vacation will drain you far more than a day at work because you’re in two places at once.” Via @RustyLionAcad

In this episode, we’ll walk you through the steps leading into vacation and throughout your time in paradise that will free you from your business. At Rusty Lion Academy, we’ve been able to coach our clients to take unplugged vacations and it’s been transformational for them.

Guess what? The wheels won’t fall off your business if you follow our guidelines for unplugged vacations.

And even better, your relationships and fulfillment while on vacation will be much higher because you implemented these strategies.

You can thank us from the beach.

On second thought – wait until you get home to do that.

Tune into the episode now to hear Bill and me (Robert) talk about:

• The one vacation mistake that fills us with regret
• Why ditching Wi-Fi on vacation will enhance your relationships
• Why being tied to your iPhone is like driving the tractor into the farmhouse
• The saddest statistic we’ve seen about vacation in America
• A to-do list worth doing on vacation (Hint: It doesn’t involve work)
• Dealing with a legitimate emergency while on vacation
• The one thing you suck at if you can’t take an unplugged vacation (It’s a biggie)

Do this next!

It’s not worth working on vacation. In fact, it’s not even vacation. One of the secrets of having a good vacation is building a team of leaders. If you haven’t already, click here to sign up to be part of the Rusty Lion pride by joining the Lion’s Den for free. Then you’ll be able to access a 30-minute video presentation on delegation that will help all areas of your leadership, including your ability to unplug during vacations.

Everyone would like to be the hero of their own story. But when it comes down to it, even heroes need support.

“Don’t try to be Superman. Even if you are pretty good, hire somebody that can help you do it better.” @DrPhilCarsonRx via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

There was a time when Phil ran his pharmacies as if he were Superman. It nearly cost him everything.

In 1999 he opened up his own pharmacy for the first time, and followed customer feedback to eventually specialize in natural pharmaceuticals. He did that despite doctors and others “cussing him out” for straying from traditional medicine.

Luckily, he let the harsh criticisms roll off his back because he understood from personal experience the difference natural treatments could make to his own health.

In 2006, he opened his dream pharmacy – one of the biggest accomplishments of his life. But when the economy tanked, it took his dreams with it. By 2009, Superman had to hang up his cape and lock the doors on his dream as a bankrupt man. He lost everything but his house.

“My business failed because I thought I could do it all by myself. I didn’t ask for help.” @DrPhilCarsonRx via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Phil waded through a deep trough, leaning on his faith in God and repeating often to himself the following mantra, even when it wasn’t true.

“I am happy and I am healthy and I am whole. That just kept coming out of my mouth.” @DrPhilCarsonRx via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Years later, he can say it truthfully. He climbed out of the bankruptcy abyss and has since been part of a seven-figure deal. He’s rededicated himself to his natural pharmacy, and now hosts a podcast titled “The Feeling Good Podcast.”

With life always running full circle, Phil has hung up his Superman cape. Yet he shares a superhero story on his podcast every week about someone who has improved their life by doing something natural.

For listeners of this episode, Phil is giving away a free guide on living more fully titled “7 Keys to Live Happy, Healthy, and Whole.”

Tune into this episode to hear Dr. Phil Carson talk with me about:

• How to heal after bankruptcy forces you to hang up your cape
• How to avoid being a captive of your own body
• What kind of fallout happens when doctors find out their pharmacist went natural
• How going natural has changed Phil
• The one thing that Phil did to change his life for good (We like this one as coaches)
• How superheroes really work

Read this to enhance your life: “Fully Alive: Lighten Up and Live - A Journey that Will Change Your Life” By Ken Davis How to contact Dr. Phil Carson:

You can visit carsonnatural.com, listen to his podcast or follow him on Twitter.

Do this next:

The real workplace Superman knows how to delegate. That’s why he’s so super. If you’re a member of our Lion’s Den you can click here to watch our free video course that teaches the art of delegation. Then get out your cape – you’re going to need it.

Distraction in modern society is ­– hold on, let me check this notification that just came in...

I’m back! It was nothing important. What was I saying?

I think you get my point. Even the strongest Lion can be distracted.

Distractions come from smartphones, email pings, coworkers, and many other places in the physical and digital worlds.

You need to learn about the science of distraction to fight back. That way you can beat distraction designers at their own game. These guys are getting paid a pretty penny to get your attention when they want it. And stealing your attention is just a distraction to you.

If marketers were honest, notifications would be branded for what they actually do.

“Notifications should be called distractions. Turn them off!” Via @RustyLionAcad

In this episode, we reveal some of the secrets behind the science of distraction. We walk you through their methods and equip you with powerful tools to play by your own rules.

This episode will give you the power you need to distract distraction. Once you’ve got that down, you’ll be present and fulfilled.

“Send distraction down the rabbit hole rather than yourself.” Via @RustyLionAcad

One other thing. If you implement this episode, you’ll be a little less narcissistic, too.

Enjoy this episode and get your … oh look! A notification!

Tune into the episode now to hear Bill and me (Robert) talk about:

• How distraction science screws with athletes
• The one time that distraction is almost always a good thing (think cute kitty posters)
• Why you should drill fewer holes, but go deeper
• How sneaky people steal your life (and how you can steal it back)
• Tricks anyone can use to avoid distractions at work
• The one key practice that will keep you from being distracted at home

Do this next!

Distraction sucks. It also sucks your life away. Anything that steals focus is a problem. Knowing that, we created two powerful video presentations that give you the Life Hacks (and more Life Hacks) you need to stay on task. This valuable training is absolutely free for members of the Lion’s Den. So check it out right now or sign up for the Lion’s Den for free  so you can.

Sometimes it takes seeing the worst conditions in the world to make the entrepreneurial rollercoaster seem rideable. For Brendan Ridings, that moment came when he visited Haiti at age 24.

Brendan is the co-founder of Posture PT, which produces an ergonomic support that promotes good posture. But it’s his memories of Haiti, the death and real problems faced by people there, that have supported him through the down cycles of the rollercoaster.

“It kind of eliminates hypothetical fears created in your head.” @ridings_brendan via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Entrepreneurship? Easy.

Comparatively.

Even amidst some of the worst problems the world has to offer, Brendan saw that the people in Haiti had joy. That taught him something powerful.

“It’s not an external factor that makes you happy. It’s self-derived.” @ridings_brendan via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

So he has done his best to cast aside fears of things that have no real meaning to figure out what he can do by chasing what really matters.

This Lion knows his prey.

As an award-winning power lifter, Brendan knows the power of dopamine, the chemical your body produces that gives you a sense of euphoria. It often comes from exercise. The only other activity research shows you can get it from is meditation.

He tells me in this episode that anyone starting a business or large project needs plenty of dopamine. Since he is involved in several businesses and some large projects, he meditates and exercises regularly.

Beyond that, he’s learned the hard way to never trust his own experience. That gives him the ability to do things as if he’s never done them before.

“Assuming you’re great at something is when you get sloppy.” @ridings_brendan via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Still, sticking to it and just getting going is the most important thing someone can do, Brendan tells me.

“Everything you avoided because it was risky or tough is going to become a regret later in life.” @ridings_brendan via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Listen to this episode now to get some of the calm, clarity, and sharpness that Brendan enjoys.

Tune into this episode to hear Brendan Ridings talk with me about:

• Killing entrepreneurial fear by encountering bigger problems
• Turning yourself into a dopamine factory
• The product he created that will boost your confidence
• When to ignore people’s advice
• Doubling your brain’s activation
• Riding the entrepreneurial rollercoaster
• Not letting ego get the best of you
• Getting more hours in a day with better sleep

Books and Resources mentioned that will enhance your life:

• “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future” by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
• “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph” by Ryan Holiday

How to contact Brendan Ridings:

You can visit his confidentposture.com or contact him at his email address.

Do this next:

Go here to get our take on making the most of your mornings. It mirrors what Craig has to say and is available to you for free as a Lion’s Den member.