What’s Wrong With the World?

At the turn of the nineteenth century, The London Times once asked readers, What’s wrong with the world?

Can you imagine the volcanic explosion of response if we asked this question today?

“Schools and education”

“The environment”

“Politicians”

“Racial inequality”

All true by the way.

What’s interesting is this answer from G.K Chesterton, writer, philosopher, lay theologian, literary art critic.

“Dear Sir: Regarding your article ‘What’s Wrong with the World?’ I am. Yours truly,”

G.K. Chesterton

Friends may we find more freedom in starting with ourselves as we engage questions like these. Asking ourselves, “How might I be contributing to what’s wrong with the world?”

Keep going,

Aaron

I Want You To Know About the Mistake I Made

Always Be Closing-Alec Baldwin

Yep, I’ve just recently learned how I single-handedly created a lost opportunity.

I choose not to listen to conventional wisdom.

I choose to chart my own path.

I choose to experiment and try something that went against the grain.

I choose to politely listen to other people but to ignore their advice.

What was my mistake? 

I gave away my eBook for six months and asked nothing in return from my reader.

I did not require an email address or a sign up for my blog updates.

I simply gave it away.

I choose to run an experiment to see if the content was worth a trade.

At first I was not sure.

I’d never written or created anything like this before.

Truthfully I didn't really know if it was any good.

In some ways by giving it away for free I was testing the populous to determine it’s worth.

It felt less risky to say; here you go I hope this encourages you without requiring anything in return.

What drove my decision? 

Now, six months later, I realize it was my own self-doubt that drove my decision.

Second to self-doubt was rebellion.

I am not an aimless follower.  I never have been.

I am generally more comfortable charting new trails than trying to walk the heavily traveled wide-path.

As a result I can be a real pain-in-the-ass.

Take one part self-doubt, combine that with one equal part pioneer and an extra dash of rebellion and you get this decision.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy being me.

And some days I come with a list of resulting challenges and limitations.

Here is what I learned

1. Have ten trusted people preview your work.

If they say it’s good-trust them. 
If they say it needs more work-trust them. If they say it’s better for your own personal enjoyment-trust them.

  1. 2. Don’t ship until you are ready to put your name on it.  

I picture this like a see a trade show exhibit.

If I were the only guy standing in 10 x 10 booth along an aisle of 5000 other exhibitors would I be proud to stand in front of my work?
If not, fix it before you ship.

3. Don’t dismiss the current wisdom of the day.

Use the proven method that produces a desirable result.  Don’t try and create a new method.
My method was, if it is any good they will come back for more.

Guess what?  They didn’t, they don’t and they won’t.

The truth of the matter is that people are busy and there is always another guy with a blog and an eBook.

In the great words of Alec Baldwin from the movie Glengary Glen Ross “ABC. Always-be-closing”.  

Take the opportunity to close the deal when you have the opportunity.  In sales you never come back tomorrow, you close it now.

4. Being generous is good

I am proud that my experiment of giving away my eBook was also rooted in generosity.
I was genuine in my desire to help change the world I live in by allowing my idea to be transmitted freely.

I want my experience to benefit other people regardless of whether or not I get anything in direct return.

What now?

Staring last week, you will now find a sign-up form in order to receive the download link to Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

I hope this encourages you in your own journey as you sort out which road to choose today.

Keep going.

Unravel What the World Has Taught You

Madness or Brilliance?
Madness or Brilliance?

Do you remember watching the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire ?

Remember Tom Cruise playing the slick sports agent whose career implodes in a single afternoon?

In the first three minutes of the movie we get the Cliffs Notes of his life. He has spent years working for the most successful sports management company of his day. He is fierce and suave, and he is dying inside.

In his words, he had become “another shark in a suit.”

One night, just before his corporate conference, he finds himself at a moral crossroads, a point of breakthrough. During his wrestling—his epiphany—he does headstands in his hotel room and unravels what he had previously learned about the world.

He starts writing a mission statement

He is not merely writing a memo, he realizes, but a mission statement. A suggestion for the future. In it, he advocates a provocative concept to his coworkers: charge less money, take on fewer clients, and give more personal attention. In the next scene we see him running 110 bound copies of his manifesto, title page and all, and stuffing them one by one into his colleagues’ in-boxes.

He calls it “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business.”

Jerry Maguire is alive again.

His mission statement makes him famous, but for all the wrong reasons.

His peers smile as they make eye contact from across the conference room while making sure not to stand close enough to catch the career-suicide bug that they knew had surely infected him.

Soon Jerry is fired and leaves the office with his mission statement in one hand and the goldfish, his only heretic recruit, in the other.

OK. To be fair, the cute secretary comes with him, as well. She can’t resist a man of principle.

What does Jerry Maguire have to do with me? 

Everything. What you are reading now is a mission statement. Not merely a memo, but a suggestion for the future. You awoke to your in-box stuffed full of my sweat-stained declaration of independence.

This is a manifesto. A coup d’état. A sudden illegal overthrow.

I am inviting you to unravel what the world has taught you about your work, your career, and your future.   

I may end up being the lonely guy holding a goldfish with no one following me. But, like Jerry, I’m willing to run the risk.

I’ve lived too long following the rules and expecting the outcome to match the promises.

It hasn’t worked.

*Expert from eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

For your complete free copy download here.

Free eBook: Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

Download Your FREE copy

This is an invitation to unravel what the world has taught you.

Early praise for Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss.

“This absolutely beautiful book is a true whack of the truth on the side of your career.”

Seth Godin, Author The Icarus Deception

“I loved this book. Reader beware: this book will call you out and into your best work.”

Jeff Goins, Author, Wrecked

“This brave book helps you cast aside the unwritten contract of compliance and take control to start living the life you really want.”

Clay Hebert, co-founder WorkHacks

“Revolutionary. McHugh pulls the string that unravels a person and leaves them only with hope.”

Morgan Snyder, Author, Become Good Soil

Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss. is for you if…

1. You want to enjoy going to work each day.

2. You feel confident that your career is too important to approach with apathy.

3. You want to gain greater influence at work.

4. You’re ready to explore new alternatives for finding recognition for your work.

After reading, you’ll be able to:

1. Establish a unique strategy for firing your boss.

2. Know how to obtain the freedom to offer your best in any job.

3. Understand why quitting your job won’t help you.

The Free offer

I am giving this book away for free.

No strings attached.

Yes, absolutely free. That means:

  • No email address required.
  • No hoops to jump through.
  • You can forward it to anyone you’d like.

And yes, I know this is a bad way (in theory) to “build a platform.”

If you want more, you’ll come back.

CLICK HERE

Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss. (Instead)

I know you already don’t believe me.

DOWNLOAD FREE EBOOK HERE.

You could hardly read the entire title before you rolled your eyes and said yeah right.

What if it were possible?  Yes, to actually fire your boss.

Download Your FREE copy

Coming Soon – January 2013

I’ve been toiling over this storyline for many years myself

And I believe I’ve found a crack in the foundation that exposed a weakness in the system.

My creative team and I are applying the final polish coat, but I want to squeak out a little teaser.

Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss. is for you if…

  • You want to know how to enjoy going to work each day.
  • You feel confident that your career is too important to approach it with apathy.
  • You want to gain greater influence at work.
  • You’re ready to explore new alternatives for finding recognition for your contribution.

A couple of experts

Before you push the eject button, think of the hassle of brushing up your resume, looking for a new job, going through the interviews, evaluating benefits packages, and comparing compensation.

Let’s face it: The biggest gain in changing jobs is that you will restart the clock on a new set of challenges, a new pairing of relationships, and a new boss.

  • What if I told you that this is not the answer that you are really searching for?
  • What if the solution is that you actually need to fire your boss instead?

The unwritten contract

Most people sign an unwritten contract every day. They trade a paycheck for predictability.

Here is the trade most people make: Boss, you give me a predictable every-two-week paycheck, health insurance, projects to work on, lunch breaks, and a Christmas party, and I’ll give you my will, my dignity, my freedom of choice, my security, my sleep, and my future plans for my life.

I am looking forward to sharing the rest of Don’t Quit Your Job. Fire Your Boss. with you next month.

Any reactions would be helpful to hear.

Thanks-Aaron 

*Disclaimer-This is not a pitch for buying my (whatever) for three easy payments of $19.95.  

Plain and simply a helpful guide for everyman.