I’m an Apple fan myself, from starting out on Macintosh computers in high school more than twenty years ago. And while it’s been fifteen years since my primary computer was a Mac, I still have my Classic II (black and white screen with a whopping 80MB hard drive!) at home, waiting for the time when I can display it in my office as a conversation starter.

It’s a shame that Steve is ill, and I sincerely hope he gets well again. But the world is wondering if Apple will be the same now that he’s not at the helm any longer.

The financial pundits are quick to tell us that Apple’s product pipeline is all about Steve for the next 18-24 months. Assuming that’s true, does that mean that Apple won’t start falling apart until then?

I hope not. Yet I wonder if Apple, the company Steve loves, has his DNA in it or not. In spite of all of his innovation, will Apple be the same company post-Steve?

I certainly hope both Steve and Apple survive. I know for sure that one day (a long time from now I hope) Steve won’t. The question is, how long will Apple survive without Steve?

There will always be superstar CEOs. Sometimes they just have what it takes to run a company while wooing the world. But is that the best business strategy?

Should CEOs be such a vital part of a company that their companies cannot exist without them? At what point is the line crossed?

Zeno of Elea (great name!) was a Greek philosopher from the 5th century BC. He is famous for creating philosophical paradoxes documented by Aristotle. I first heard one of them in an algebra class in high school, and it’s stuck with me ever since. It basically goes like this:

Suppose I wish to shoot an arrow at a target ten feet away. In order for the arrow to hit the target, it must first travel half way, or five feet. But in order to travel the five feet to halfway, it must travel half of that distance, or two and a half feet. It must always travel half of the distance first, dividing in half to infinity. Therefore, the arrow can never reach the destination, and is in fact, motionless.

Of course, we all know that an arrow can travel the ten feet and hit the target. That’s what makes it a paradox. It can both hit and not hit the target based on logic and observation.

The answer lies in Calculus, a subject I never mastered. Basically it has to do with dividing an infinite distance with an infinite time to get a finite result or something. Try Google if you want a better explanation!

What I love about this paradox is not the paradox itself, but the concept of breaking any task into smaller tasks. If I have a major goal, I can move myself halfway to that goal. And before I can get halfway to that point, I can go halfway still. Eventually I get down not to infinitesimally small steps, but realistic and doable steps.

The division of the steps may be different to different people, depending on our skills, talents and abilities. But at some point, we look and say that the first step of our journey, not matter how small, is doable! And therefore, the big goal, no matter how big, is therefore also doable if we will only take each step on the path to achieving it.

Before you do, we need to dissect the question.

We start with what you’ll be doing: What is the product you produce or the service you provide? Why do you want to do it? What makes it enjoyable or productive? Why is your world or the world around you better because of it?

Next is payment. Oh, yeah! Profit is a good thing…bills to pay, wife and kids to feed, stuff to buy. Getting paid when you add value isn’t greed– it allows you to keep working and to keep serving.

The intersection of what you want to do and what someone is willing to pay for is where your passion meets your income. Going off and doing whatever you want is fine (moral, ethical and legal limits apply). The trick is that someone has to be willing to pay for it!

Examine the extremes:

• Do what you love and no one pays you for it = Fun hobby at best
• Hate what you do and make a living (maybe even get wealthy) = J-O-B and a numb soul

Now you can answer the question: What do you want to be paid for?

If you can, congratulations! You’ve uncovered a real mission statement for your work or business.

If you can’t, what are you going to do about it? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Talk with your spouse, parents, a friend or pastor
• Read a good book on significance or purpose (I recommend Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People or Robert McGee’s The Search for Significance to start)
• Engage with a coach (it works or I wouldn’t say it!)
• Join a relevant community like 48Days.net or FreeAgentAcademy.com (they work too!)

Whatever you do, don’t do nothing!

Note: This article originally appeared in July 2010 issue of the Tri-City Review.

It’s not enough to have a good idea. You must be able to implement your idea to make it real. You must take action or it will die from starvation and lack of attention.

Planning and strategy can seem daunting, but plans don’t have to be complicated to be effective. In fact, simple plans are often more powerful because they are more tangible.

What’s ONE thing you can do today to move your business forward? To help you achieve a big goal? To make your dreams a reality?

Define the ONE thing…and then do it.

Do ONE thing each day…and after a year you’ve done 365 things.

I guarantee you’ll see progress looking back a year. And probably every day as well.

Confession time.

In February I didn’t declare millions of dollars I gained upon returning from Dan Miller’s No More Mondays Cruise. Lock me up and throw away the key…

Actually, the title is true, but it wasn’t illegal. When we returned to the Port of Miami, I had to fill out a customs declaration form based on the value of the items I was bringing back into the US. I put about $180 down to cover the gifts I purchased in Jamaica and aboard the ship.

But I didn’t, I couldn’t and I wouldn’t declare what I really had of value. It was hidden out of site…in my cranial cavity!

The past year has been a period of personal growth and discovery. Instead of staying where I was (stuck), I bit the bullet and started spending money to achieve my dreams of self-employment. It began with a visit to Dan Miller’s (of 48Days.com) Sanctuary in Franklin, TN (sounds cult-ish when I put it that way…it’s not, but never mind) for 48 Days Certification training. Just spending time with Dan, his family and the others in attendance convinced me to do more.

So I joined what is now known as the Free Agent Academy. FAA is run by Dan’s son Kevin Miller and uber coach Chuck Bowen. FAA is all about helping entrepreneurs/solopreneurs and wannabe’s grow their businesses in order to live life and work on their own terms. It is the single best self-employment resource on the planet (I’m biased…more on that at the end).

That led to attending FAA events in June and September, and again in January of this year. Each time I made new friends and further refined my business ideas. But I left the January event empty. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Attendees - No More Mondays Cruise 2010

It was during a presentation by Chuck that I had an epiphany. In an instant, I was able to connect all that I had been learning over the last year, and actually the entirety of my life. In one moment, everything was crystal clear. I am a strategist, gifted by God, and my purpose is to help others achieve their goals and dreams by making their paths clear and productive. A late night discussion with Chuck on the last night of the cruise nailed it down.

I didn’t get a single million dollar idea on the No More Mondays Cruise. I got a bunch of them. I just didn’t tell customs!

My head was spinning during the 12 hour drive home from Miami the next day. Since then, I’ve continued to refine my business approach and started getting new clients and leads. I’ve even become a part of the leadership team at Free Agent Academy as the new Professor for Strategy and Planning (our Roadmap group).

So if I disappear in the weeks following this post, you’ll know the men in black came and deleted me (and this post probably…you better print it for evidence!).

If I don’t disappear, you’ll probably find me on the next No More Mondays Cruise in February 2011. Perhaps I’ll even be invited to present…

Dan? ;-)

Can’t wait for next February to advance on your business?

Join me in Colorado for the next Free Agent Academy event!

May 21-23, 2010 -- Hosted by Kevin Miller & Chuck Bowen

Watch the preview from Kevin:

Click Here for Details & Registration Info

There are two extremes people fall into when making plans: not doing it and overdoing it!

For those who don’t plan, I’m not talking about the apathetic but the action oriented. These are people who are so eager to execute their ideas that they simply go, go go! This approach can be great for small tasks and surge efforts, but typically results in a lot of errors and backtracking.

Those who overdo it don’t have that problem. They simply plan and plan and plan, never getting around to execution. Eventually the planning effort kills their idea before it even gets started.

I have to admit I lean toward the overdoing it crowd. I want things to be perfect, and that can be paralyzing. So I force myself to plan and execute, even when I’m not quite ready.

Welcome to my new site and my new strategy regarding strategy. It’s a work in process and probably always will be.

This journey is too complicated to explain in a short post. It involves hours of study, prayer, anger and frustration…birthing pains for something new. It involves visits to Dan Miller’s home in Tennessee, intensive retreats in Colorado and even a brief stop in Jamaica and Key West (more on that later)! And involves the investment of great friends, mentors and coaches who saw the diamonds in me that I had overlooked as simple rocks.

In Seth Godin’s incredible new book Linchpin, he describes superheroes explaining their powers. And in an instant, I discovered my superpower: seeing order in chaos and helping people make realistic plans to achieve incredible things.

I’ll skip the tights and cape for now.