Motivation: Boys & Their Toys

By Jim Cathcart 

What motivates you?

Last weekend I rode my motorcycle, a Yamaha FJR1300, from Thousand Oaks, CA to Phoenix, AZ and back. I was there to attend a conference of the National Speakers Association. I'm a past president of NSA. 

The motives that caused me to attend were:

• The need to stay up to date on developments in professional speaking
• Concerns about the economy and seeking ways to deal with it 
• A desire to spend time with my trusted colleagues and friends 
• and an excuse to go for a long motorcycle ride. (Probably in that order.) 

I met with publishers, speakers, authors, internet marketers, trainers and humorists. We all compared notes on what we were doing differently in this volatile marketplace. It was well worth the trip. 

While attending this event I got in 17 hours of motorcycling (much of it across the vast Coloradoan Desert), borrowed the guitar from cowboy guitarist Doug Smith, and played about twenty oldies songs for my colleagues at one of the dinner events. 

I also met with my buddy John Schaefer and got to see his Titan Custom motorcycle. Take a look at these photos! His bike cost more than twice what I paid for my first home! 

Mine is the blue Yamaha, his is the extreme custom. I don't know whose Lamborghini that is but I'm grateful for the eye candy of having it there. 

No, I didn't ride in my business clothes, and I'm not telling you this story to brag. Well, not completely anyway. What I want you to notice is how much fun I was able to have while attending a business conference. You can do the same in your own way. 

Look at the events you have coming up: business meetings, outings, projects to work on, assignments to complete, etc. Then ask yourself, "How could I incorporate a little fun into the experience?" (And maybe save some money at the same time. My ride cost me hundreds less than a plane trip with all its attendant expenses.) 

Could you do the work in a more enjoyable place?

Could you involve some other people in the experience to increase your learning or ease your workload or change the nature of your experience? (I once had a book to read for work and my sister and I read it aloud to each other alternating chapters. We both learned and it was more fun.) 

Could you combine your workout with a needed discussion, maybe meet a colleague for a run or visit to the gym? 

Are there some uncommitted times available for you to insert a bit of fun into your work? 

Would it help for you to take the long road to the event so that you get some "windshield time" afterwards in which you can reflect on what you've learned? 

Is there a free evening where you could go to dinner with new friends or colleagues and build some relationship assets? 

The key to all of this is for you to be pro-active. It only gets better when you decide to make it so. Now, get out there and have fun...whistle while you work. 

P.S. Stay tuned to www.cathcart.com for the big changeover. We will be converting my website and my blogs into ONE new website with blogs and videos galore. 

Storytelling to Teach Success Principles

By Jim Cathcart

I recently spoke at the National Speakers Association convention in New York City to about 200 of my peers on the subject of using stories from your own life experiences to teach the lessons in your speeches and seminars. 

It was just over 9 minutes long and is presented here for your enjoyment. 

Feel free to pass this along to others. 

Drop me a note once you've seen it and let me know if ever I can help you craft your own presentation or deliver a speech to your organization. 

To schedule me for your group contact your favorite speakers bureau or contact my management team at info@cathcart.com. 

To see all of my topics, video clips and books visit www.cathcart.com. 

B.F.O. - Blinding Flash of the Obvious

By Jim Cathcart

I just returned from a motorcycle ride over the Santa Monica Mountains and along the length of Malibu. It's Labor Day weekend and tens of thousands were at the beaches. But I was lost in a world of thought. I've been pondering ways to describe more succinctly what it is that I do. 

This is a process I've been involved in for three decades now. How do I explain simply and easily how I help others? I've tried "Business Growth Specialist", "Professional Speaker and Trainer", "Business Advisor", "Executive Coach", "Psychological Researcher", "Business Author" and simply "Consultant." But none of these quite clicked for me. All were accurate but none truly captured the whole picture. 

Well today I had a BFO, a blinding flash of the obvious. 

I'm a Motivation Expert. 

For 31 years I've done motivational speaking all over the world, written 14 books on personal and professional development, conducted training on Relationship Selling and Customer Loyalty, owned a psychological research firm and collaborated with a team of researchers to help people understand how to make better choices in business and in life. I've earned every designation and award that a professional speaker could aspire to and yet, it has eluded me that I am and have been simply "A Motivation Expert." (duh!) 

I know motivation better than most people because I've studied it for more than 35 years. I've also practiced it in direct applications with client companies and my own teams around the nation. I know and am known by all of the top experts in this field and have the professional credentials and body of knowledge to back it up. How do we miss these things????? 

I've consulted with colleagues on hundreds of occasions and I seem to have a knack for defining what they do and how they can best communicate it. Why not for myself? I don't know, but I am humbly grateful for the insight God blessed me with this day. 

Now, I can finally answer the question, "what do you do?" 

I'm a motivation expert. I am an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and coach who focuses specifically on how to get people to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done whether they feel like it or not and still do it well. So I write books and articles, create training systems, deliver keynote speeches, conduct training programs, advise and consult with executive teams, and coach individual executives and top performers. I help them motivate themselves, their coworkers, their prospective clients and their families. I teach "Intelligent Motivation for a Challenging World." 

(I just captured the domain name: "themotivationexpert.com" to stake my claim a bit more firmly.) 

So, my friends whenever you need assistance in getting people (including yourself) to do what needs to be done, I'm your guy. I always have been, but now it's easier to explain it because I just noticed what the rest of the world has seen for decades. I'm a motivation expert. 

Now, go out there and do something that matters. :-)

Jim  

In Praise of Rock and Roll & Guitars

By Jim Cathcart

Dan Clanton was my college room mate and best buddy back in 1964-5-6. We met during registration in our freshman year at "Arkansas State Teachers College." Ironically, though neither of us originally intended to ever become a teacher, both of us ended up as trainers and speakers.

An important element in Dan's profile is He Plays Guitar! Even back then, he knew enough to help me learn to play a few songs I enjoyed. I ultimately bought a broken guitar for $1 and later a nice Classical Guitar for $60 and followed Dan's instructions. At that time I was in my late teens through early twenties and music was everywhere! I listened to the radio and played "records" (I know, I'm a relic!) every day.

The Beatles were the big hit and Elvis was still at the top of the charts. Folk music had become big and groups like Peter, Paul & Mary, The Kingston Trio, The Four Preps and The Mommas & Poppas were getting more popular every day. The "British Invasion" of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Animals, Herman's Hermits and the Kinks all had hits around that time. (Baby boomers are saying "Man, Yeah!" while GenXers are asking "Who?") Yes, The Who were big also. :-)

I played almost everyday and regularly gathered my friends together for an evening of singing a beginner's version of what was on the radio that day. As you'd expect my skills improved and before long I was performing in clubs and lounges for pay. Not much pay but they gave me an audience and a chance to hone my skills "live and in person!"

For a short while I had a two man group called "The Harper Brothers" (we made up the name) and my partner played an upright Bass while I played guitar and banjo. Three nights a week in beer joints for a net of about $600 a month each. One place paid us $15 each per night plus tips. We didn't care, we were "musicians" and we had an audience.

My goal at the time was a career as a singer/guitarist. I was going to leave Little Rock, Arkansas and move to Nashville, get a day job, take music lessons in the afternoon and play the clubs at night until I got "discovered" and then became famous. Nice plan, but life had other designs for me.

When Paula and I married in 1970 I was playing the lounge at Steak n' Ale restaurant "The Jolly Ox Pub" and during the day I worked as an investment salesman for IDS. Business paid off more than singing so I left the entertainment business for many years and just played and sang at home. And then...

A few years ago, here in Lake Sherwood, California, one of our friends invited us to a "Hot August Night" party at their home and requested that I bring my guitar. :-) Oh, Yeah!
In preparation for the party I got a Neil Diamond songbook and started practicing songs from his Hot August Night album. One song led to another and I ended up playing guitar almost every day. By party time I had a repertoire big enough to keep a crowd singing along for most of the night. My skills were minimal but the parties were great fun. We held a "Guitar Night" at our home and then another. Then a neighbor started hosting them and now it's part of our social calendar about once a quarter. We play in the parlor, on the beach and anywhere we can gather a group.







My son and I both play and we stimulate each other to learn even more. Some good friends have joined in the fun and our social calendar has expanded in very exciting ways.
Naturally, I don't know the more recent music but happily my son knows and loves much of the music from my era. So, he's teaching me guitar techniques now.











Last year I did a speaking engagement for a music company and acquired three high quality guitars (acoustic electric Takamine's and an Ovation Adamas 12 string). Now I'm happily playing for a half hour or more every day. In my office there are two guitars on stands and in our living room is another plus two music stands with stacks of songbooks from my favorite artists.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to see the enormous joy it brings to my life and then think about what might bring that kind of joy into your life. It may not be music but whatever it is, it should challenge you to keep on learning, while giving you enormous happiness as you pursue it. Luckily my "hobby" increases my contact with others. Some endeavors tend to isolate you too much for my tastes.

Think about what gives you joy and what you'd like to become much better at doing. Don't wait till you have lots of spare time, just start doing a little of it every day. Put your "tools" in a handy place so it's easy to get started and to stop if other needs arise. Stretch and grow, find some people who can be your teachers and role models. And Rock On!

PS Dan Clanton is now touring with a group of singer/guitarists and has released a recent CD of his own original songs.
PPS I wrote a song about motorcycling back in 1968 and recorded it in 2004. It is on my website. The title is "Riding Free." And I'm even adding a song or two to some of my speeches when appropriate. The first photo in this article is of me on stage at Opryland in Nashville playing in front of 1,000 people at a convention during my keynote speech.