Did you watch the Super Bowl yesterday?  About 100 million people did.  The game was entertaining and fun to watch.  New Orleans won 31 – 17.  Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback was the Most Valuable Player, and he endeared himself to the country by bringing his little boy – who was wearing noise reduction headphones – on to the field and carrying him around after the game.
I bring up the Super Bowl because you can learn a lot about branding from it.  If you notice in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, big …

Self confidence is one of the four pillars of career and life success in my Common Sense Success System.  I discuss it in detail in several of my books: Straight Talk for Success; Star Power; I Want You…To Succeed, Your Success GPS and 42 Rules to Jumpstart Your Professional Success.  If you want to become interpersonally competent, you need to do three things: 1) become an optimist; 2) face your fears and act; 3) Surround yourself with positive people.
A while back in a post I did on optimism and self confidence, I mentioned a quote …

The other day, I was at a workshop and one of the speakers was clearly nervous.  He began his talk by telling the old story about the survey that asked people to name their greatest fear.  Public speaking came in first, by a large margin.  Death was fourth.  So, if you believe the results of this survey, most people would rather die than stand up and give a talk.  He was one of them.  He urged us to be kind to him because he was nervous doing this talk.
He was suffering from what is known …

Yesterday I wrote a post in which I quoted George Bernard Shaw, my favorite playwright.  I showed how his words related to two of the four pillars of my Common Sense Success System: clarity of purpose and direction, and commitment to taking personal responsibility for your life and success. 
After I wrote the post, I came across a Japanese proverb…
Vision without action is a daydream.
Action without vision is a nightmare.
“Great,” I thought.  “Another twofer.”  And a twofer on the same two pillars – clarity and commitment. 
“Vision without action is a daydream” goes to the heart of …

Yesterday, I quoted George Bernard Shaw in my post.  He is one of my very favorite playwrights.  I always enjoy a production of one of his plays.  Today, I’d like to quote him again, as he makes such a great point about how important a personal clarity of purpose and direction is to your career and life success.
“This is the true joy in life; being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the …