Ignorance vs. Skepticism

By Seth Godin
Willfully ignorant vs. aggressively skeptical

Challenging the status quo is what I do for a living. Either that or encourage other people to do it.

But there are two ways to do it, and one of them is ineffective, short-sighted and threatens the fabric of the tribe. The other seems to work.

I heard someone screaming about death panels and how the government was not only going to kill his grandmother, but would take out Stephen Hawking himself if it had the chance.

The screaming is a key part, because screaming is often a tool used to balance out the lazy ignorance of someone parroting opposition to an idea that they don't understand. (If you want to write to me about this post, please write to me about the screaming part, not about whether or not you agree with the facts or the science. That's what the post is about, the screaming.)

If you want to challenge the conventional wisdom of health care reform, please do! It'll make the final outcome better. But if you choose to do that, it's essential that you know more about it than everyone else, not less. Certainly not zero. Be skeptical, but be informed (about everything important, not just this issue, of course). Screaming ignorance gets attention, but it distracts us from the work at hand.

It's easy to fit in by yelling out, and far more difficult to actually read and consider the facts. Anytime you hear, "I don't have the time to understand this issue, I'm too busy being upset," you know that something is wrong.

Brands face this as much or more than politicians do. I witnessed a knock-down fight between two teenagers over which operating system was best. There are generations of arguments between Ford and Chevy owners. Motorcycle gangs are often parochial in their choice of bike. And in each case, the less people know, the more they yell.

If you want to change what your boss believes, or the strategy your company is following, the first step is to figure out how to be the best informed person in the room.

Olympic Team and Juice PLUS+

Thursday, May 14, 2009 German Olympic Team Press ReleaseExclusive “Partner for Nutrition” with Juice PLUS+ until the 2012 Olympics

Wiesbaden, March 6, 2009: The Swiss business NSA AG with headquarters in Basel is the licensed partner of the German Olympic Sports League (DOSB) until 2011. The cooperation is expanded on a co-partnership until the 2012 Olympic games in London. NSA and the DOSB, representing Germany through its official marketing agency for sport marketing (DSM), made the announcement on Friday at a sales and marketing trade conference at the well known Wiesbaden Rhine-Main-Halls.

Juice PLUS+ will appear as the “exclusive partner for Nutrition” with its logo “Juice PLUS+”, and will show through the connection, the growing importance of well-balanced nutrition to top athletes – a concern, that also plays an important role in the DOSB: “fitness and healthy nutrition are central subjects that stand highest on the agenda. NSA will make a valuable contribution as a partner”, says DOSB general director Michael Vesper. Through the supplying of product, the athletes will benefit directly from the partnership.

“Juice PLUS+” consists of concentrated raw vine ripened fruits and vegetables in capsule form, and is available from the NSA partner. Research done by the company since 1995 regularly proved that the naturally active components in “Juice PLUS+” speed up the recovery processes and strengthen the immune system, among other things.

André Gerber, director of Sales and Marketing for NSA/Juice PLUS+, “We are proud when an official partner is allowed to collaborate with the largest sport association in the world to bring in our special competence in the field of nutrition research. Simultaneously we want to use the Olympics as an incentive for our sales and marketing and to open new opportunities.”

NSA with its products is also active in different areas of sport, internationally. Since the middle of July 2008 the company has been cooperating with the French ski association. Moreover, well known athletes such as the Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic and the Austrian luge pair Markus and Tobias Schiegl appear as spokespeople for the product.

Cycling and nutrition

The power of produce
http://books.google.com/books?id=L8UDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=vegetables+and+muscle+protection#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Never, ever give up

See if you can guess who this is before the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4qHUZxwC80

The growing productivity divide

By Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/the-growing-pro.html

Effort

On "Effort"...by Seth Godin (one of my favorite gurus)

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/is-effort-a-myt.html

Young Guns in the Juice PLUS+ Business

Listen and learn: http://www.keeppunching.com/jpvirtualtraining.htm

Kerry Daigle interviews three 20 somethings. This interview is two and a half years old (Feb. 2007) and as of Aug. 2009 these young guns continue to "crush" it.

- Dr. Eric Prather, a Chiropractor, just turned 30.
- Brad Gaubert, a 27 year old personal trainer.
- Travis Broussard, a 24 year old personal trainer.

• Desire, hunger
• Leadership broken down
• Grow daily and teach others how to too
• Willing to do what others won't over the next 3-5 years, so that for the rest of your life you cant have what other's don't.

Success characteristics and traits of business fulfillment

Think of questions you can ask to reveal these traits.

1. Hungers to change the dissatisfaction of their finances or career (Most make just enough money to stay put)
   ? Would an extra $1,000/month make a difference?
   ?Do you have any real plans to accomplish that?
2. Loves health, vitality and abundance and ‘getting paid’ to help others practice it too. Has a big (servant’s) heart who wants to leverage it in business.
   ?Do you want to take the passion you have, help others and get paid for it?
3. Works the plan. Commits to becoming a student of a tried and proven system.
4. Grows in mind, body and spirit. Has a lifelong commitment to personal growth (kaizen).
5. Surrenders to credible coaching & mentoring and applies their counsel.
6. Seeks solutions daily. Seek and ye shall find…ASK and ye shall receive. Entrepreneurs need to be interactive daily with a mentor/buddy.
7. Learns the power of delayed (financial) gratification (the sweat equity of building equity).
8. Invests in their business and themselves and does this habitually.
9. Perseveres. Lather, rinse, repeat...enough said.
10. Duplicates. Helps others do 1-9.
    
    Hungers, Loves, Works, Grows, Surrenders, Seeks, Learns, Invests, Perseveres, Duplicates…these are all “VERBS”!