Hard Work and Remarkability

I'm a big fan of Dan Miller at 48days.com. His life-coaching stories are inspiring and the lessons are transferable. I think he does a good job at utilizing a freemium model by giving away things like his weekly podcast and e-newsletter (as well as PDF copies of his books) as a way for people to buy his print books, audio books, coaching and seminars. Dan believes that everyone can find the work they love and they can act on it right now. In the new economy, the skill to figure out what you want and how to make it profitable will be extremely valuable.

In this week's newsletter, Dan has a few blurbs of wisdom and he recycles a great tool from Seth Godin. A few things that I like:

• A now famous Yale University study reported that 15% of the reason for a person’s success is due to technical skill and knowledge, and 85% of the reason originates from that person’s personal skill; attitude, enthusiasm, self-discipline, smile, tone of voice, desire, and ambition. - This ties in well with a word of wisdom from Larry Huang (a founder of Ciena and the donor of the executive education wing in the GT College of Management).  Larry told me that his success is certainly a result of luck, but it is more a result of hard work and dedication. He recommended "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin.
• Dan also sent out Seth Godin's "99 Cows" - a collection of 99 "remarkable" ideas to spark creativity and enthusiasm. I found Cow #63 to be particularly insightful (maybe because it has to do with recruiting MBA's). The moral of Cow #63 is to make your resume and first-impression clearly communicate rock-star status. It's not the generic, well-rounded people who get the job. It's the remarkable (and memorable) individual. (my paraphrase)

So today and this week and the rest of this soggy month will be dedicated to hard work and remarkability. (I realize, of course, that this will need to be an ongoing dedication.) :)