Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
Alistair’s Newsletter
There is nothing that will make you feel richer than luxurious vacations. If you want to enjoy the best the world has to offer, to experience travel and adventure at its very best, you don’t need a multi-million dollar bank account. What you need are discriminating friends in great places — people who will…. Keep…
Read MoreThe Incredible Heaviness Of Being Successful
“Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.” – Jean Kerr A curious thing sometimes happens on the road to success. Things are moving along brilliantly (as my British friends like to put it). Your first success has led to others. Your career is skyrocketing. Your friends and colleagues…
Read MoreUsing Task Lists To Change Your Life
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” – Daniel H. Burnham A client and I met this morning. She said she was frustrated — that she had begun using a daily task list, as I had suggested, but wasn’t getting some important things done. “‘To-do’ lists just don’t work for…
Read MoreHow Pioneers Can (Eventually) Fit In And Prosper
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature’s inexorable imperative.” – H.G. Wells, (Mind at the End of Its Tether, 1946) As I said yesterday (in Message #475), your growing business needs both “governors” and “pioneers” — some leaders who can handle existing operations and others who can create new ventures. If you are managing…
Read MorePromise #10 For The New Year: To Be A Better Person
I’m truly impressed. It’s Friday, and you’ve been with me for 10 straight workdays. You have read and reread your resolutions countless times. Most importantly, you’ve had a chance to think about them in new and I hope deeper ways – and to add to them. You are in the top 5% of promise makers…and…
Read MoreTurn Your Job Complaints Into A Positive Plan of Action
“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed, but to those who have differed.” – Charles Caleb Colton (Lacon, 1825) Are there things about your job that you don’t like? Do you feel frustrated by them? In “Fearless Living,” Rhonda Britten has some good advice on how to turn those frustrations…
Read MoreCreate A Culture That Respects Money
“Men are divided between those who are as thrifty as if they would live forever and those who are as extravagant as if they were going to die the next day.” – Aristotle I am, as you know, a living depository of every negative, desultory, and deplorable habit ever devised by man. If it feels…
Read MoreCreating A Safe Haven
Dear Early to Rise Reader, We’ve been talking a good deal lately about America’s war on terrorism, the economic slowdown, and the tough times ahead. We’ve talked about how you can survive and prosper in the future. I’ve been doing all these things myself. But I’ve also been doing something else — I’ve been building…
Read MoreThe Miracle Of Compound Knowledge
“You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.” – Albert Camus (Notebooks, 1935-1942) I have a little gift for you. A simple idea that can make a big difference in your life. It can mean the difference between struggling through an ordinary life or being immensely successful. It is a very small thought that is…
Read MoreFour Things to Do Today From Goethe
Today’s Action Plan: Do these four things today. Enjoy some good music. Read an inspiring poem. Look at something beautiful. And have a good conversation.
Read MoreWhat You Should and Shouldn’t Do About Sexual Harassment
“Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them.” Thomas Fuller, M.D. (Gnomologia, 1732) As a consultant, I sometimes get to look at business problems from a variety of perspectives. I hear one story from the boss, another from the “victim,” another from the “culprit,” and still another from the personnel director. This recently happened in…
Read MoreMy Resume Biz
Dear Early to Rise Reader, As we move into what my bones tell me will be a major and long-term recession, prudent Early Risers are quickly moving towards developing second incomes. While you have to work hard and well to keep the job you have (by making yourself indispensable see ETR #439), you should…
Read More