Peter Shallard

The term “Lizard Brain” has been thrown around the blogosphere a whole bunch lately thanks to Seth Godin’s phenomenal new book Linchpin.

I first heard the term from international direct response marketing legend John Carlton, who has also been harping on and on about Lizard Brain Fear (and why entrepreneurs must overcome it) for years.

From a psychological point of view, Lizard Brain Fear is a fight or flight reaction sent by the most ancient part of our brain.

The reaction tends to pop up when we attempt to do something extraordinary…. in business or life.

Protection in the jungle:

In an effort to protect us from the dangerous predators of ancient times, the Lizard Brain pumps us full of fear as we attempt to leave our comfort zone. For us entrepreneurs, leaving our comfort zone can (and should) be a daily occurrence!

“Leaving our comfort zone” used to mean leaving the safety of our caves. In a dangerous jungle, Lizard Brain reactions were not just appropriate, but mighty useful.

In the concrete jungle of today, Lizard Brain Fear is seldom warranted or helpful.

Seth Godin’s big message (for Linchpins and entrepreneurs) is to feel the fear and do it anyway.

I want to take things once step further with a practical technique for understanding and overcoming Lizard Brain Fear.

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I get to meet and hang out with a bunch of people who are teetering on the edge of the entrepreneurial dream.

They know that they want the freedom, wealth and happiness that small business success can bring. Some of them are keen to build an empire!

They also have read books that drill in the “be passionate about what you do” message.

Problem is, these people still end up utterly stuck and frustrated. Sound like someone you know (perhaps really well)?

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Beating procrastination starts and ends with your thinking. Let’s lose the intro and just get on with it:

1. Give yourself a real incentive

Working towards your ultimate business/life goals is tough going sometimes. Give your latest project a deadline and give yourself a tangible reward for achieving it. Anything from a snack to an overseas holiday works. Be strict.

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Who challenges you to be the very best… and then a little better?

For most people, it’s our spouse, parents, mentors, siblings or maybe even our boss.

I’ve been lucky enough to hang out with a small handful of super successful entrepreneurs. Plus, we’ve all read about the mega-stars – Richard Branson, Trump, Bill Gates, Buffet and more…

Yesterday I tweeted about the 5% of Branson’s day that makes him different from all the wannabes.

The reality? It’s probably more like 1% and it revolves around this simple principal:

Expect more from yourself than anyone else could possibly expect

You can and must challenge yourself to be better than the best.

Living up to someone else’s expectations sets your “personal best” right at the place where they get fulfillment, happiness and maybe wealth.

Do you want more?

This morning I sat down for the first of 17+ days of professional development.

Actually, I’ve committed the 28 days of February to this development – but for 17 days, I’ll be attending a super high-level (read: Jedi) NLP training.

The trainer (and good friend) Heidi Heron, astounded me with this simple congratulation:

“You’re giving yourself 17 days of deliberate, focused learning out of 365. That is rare.”

And it is. When did we, as adults, decide that our focus was “work” and no longer “education”. Regretfully, I’ve been putting off this training for years – simply because I refused to give myself 17 days.

What would you do, if you took a month off to learn?

PS Blog updates will continue as normal – if anything, they may get better

PPS Photo above was taken from my bedroom window, here on Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast.

Occasionally we stumble across the phenomenal.

An artist’s vision realized, a revolutionary product, music that changes you or perhaps coffee really worth talking about.

In this instance, it’s an extraordinary video that inspires. Take a two minute and seventeen second break to watch something that will change your entire day:

Told you…

I recently stumbled across a rare (and incredible) video interview (watch it below) of two of the most revolutionary, technological magicians of this age: Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Right at the end of the interview, an audience member asks for advice and both Gates and Jobs touch on an issue that is central, critical and revolutionary to every one of my clients, blog subscribers and friends.

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Two game-changing launches have/are happening this week. They’ll both send major shockwaves through the world of business, entrepreneurs and more.

The first is Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin – Are you indispensable? which is all about shaking up the way you think about what you do all day… and how you do it.

The second is Apple Computer’s launch of their (revolutionary) Tablet device, to be formally announced in San Francisco at 10am tomorrow (local time).

You’ll be talking about these two products and the ideas they create for years to come, guaranteed. If you haven’t already, click the links (blue) above and be among the first to get the scoop.

I’d love to know how you think either of these will affect your future – in business or life in general. Leave a comment below.

- Peter

This is the final instalment in a series of articles on Sales Management – for people managing their own sales (every entrepreneur is), corporate team leaders or anyone in between.

So far, I’ve revealed an outline, covering off the essential steps: Great Beliefs, Reasons to Act, Outcome Clarity and Wilful Action.

The total acronym (for memory-ease) looks like this: GROWS

The S stands for “Skills” and it comes last because sales skills are not important.

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Sometimes chunking huge goals down to microscope tasks does wonders for motivation.

I just finished up a session with a client’s Business Development Manager (sales rep).

We simply worked out that they could be well on track to an exciting six figure annual income – if they would just spend two hours a day making calls to new prospects.

Previously, the very thought of the 40 to 50 massive, business-to-business sales they’d have to make (over the year ) was absolutely overwhelming.

Conservatively connecting the dots between two hours on the phone and the pie-in-the-sky annual income goal is like a caffeine jolt to the motivation muscle.

How can you chunk your impossible goals into bite-sized fun?