The 5 second rule...

You have 5 seconds.
What will you do?

5 seconds to make a decision.
Will you stay or will you go.
Jump or not.
Laugh or cry.
Get active or stay still.

You have 5 seconds.
No time to think.
No time to worry.
No time to analyze.
No time to wonder.

You have 5 seconds.
Are you going to try,
Are you going to avoid,
Will you speak up,
Will you shut up.

You have 5 seconds.

Your life is built on a mountain of decisions you make every single day.
The lack of making a decision is exactly the same thing as making a decision.
It's a choice.
You made it in 5 seconds.

And then wonder,
What may have been.

If your child was in a burning building, would you analyze the situation or would you run into the building willing to die in order to try to save your baby?
Your decision would be made in less than 5 seconds.
Forget fear,
Forget worry,
You would do it.
And wouldn't think about it.

The rational person says regret is a larger devil than death.
The rational person argues that instinct takes over.
The rational person contributes the decision process is analyzed at lightning speed.

The rational person is not wrong.
But they are also full of shit.

Rookie skydivers are told they will jump on the count of three. They get pushed out of the plane at the 2 count. Instructors know there's a good chance the jumper is going to second guess the decision and grab for the side of the door somewhere between the count of 2 and 3. So they push the jumper out at 2.

Second guessing, analysis, worry, and fear is the greatest foe of action.

In most cases you don't have five seconds.
Most of us will never jump out of an airplane.
Nor will we have to save our babies from burning buildings.

If we put an urgency to everything we thought about or wanted to do with a 5 second mentality, could we create amazing results for ourselves.

Say yes to that crazy project and then figure out how you're going to do later.
Wake up at 5:30 am. Countdown from 5 and jump out of bed to get the exercise done.
Worried about that phone call you need to make? Pick up the phone and call the person without worrying any more about it.

You have 5 seconds.
What will you do?

If every decision you had to make was made with 5 second precision, what would you accomplish in one day?
What could you get done in one week or a year?

The hardest step in doing anything is the first one.
The second hardest step is the second one.
It gets easier with every step.

The whole concept comes from a book called "The 5 second rule" that my friend Michel recommended.

I've used the idea three times today with varying results.
But there's no more guesswork.
Things get done.

As my daughter used to say, "Maybes are for babies. Make a decision. And make one now."

5 seconds...

Walking through a wooded path

I'm in the woods.
The trees whisper to me.
The birds giggle with excitement as they wake.
The leaves dance with joy as their friend, wind, pushes them toward the tree branches.

I'm oblivious.
I have mine own problems.

I'm in the woods.
Working on a problem.

I don't see the magic.
I can't witness the beauty.
Until I reflect after it is over.
Is it ever too late?

I'm in the woods.
The trees don't talk to me,
I don't listen.
The birds giggle, not letting me in their jokes.
I don't laugh with them.
The leaves pirouette around not asking me to join them
I don't dance so they leave me out of their fun.

The wind caresses my face.
It takes away my breath.
I curse, or turn away not wanting to be touched.

I'm oblivious.
I have mine own problems.

The trees, birds, leaves and wind play while they watch me work.
They do not worry for us,
fore they know eventually we will join them
In life or death we will whisper, giggle, dance and play.

The question is WHEN?

A letter to Donald

Dear Donald,

I've heard you're the leader of the free world.
People say you're stupid.
Some say your politics are questionable.
Others think you don't deserve to be president.
They worry you're going to bully your way through the other super bullies.

I don't listen to most people.
Ask my parents.

I'm a non-conformist.
In a world of conformity, I stick out like a razor blade in a room of balloons.

I think you're really smart.
The posers focus on your failures not understanding that failure is part of the formula to success.
The liberals focus on your inability to be prepared when they don't realize that the time for talking is over. It's time to get shit done.

I don't think anyone can have success without identifying really smart people to do the super important jobs. Business is run by book smart people and owned by entrepreneurs.

You're an entrepreneur. But you've also been a leader for a long time.

We need you to be a leader.
I don't like the way you do things, but I will give you credit for creating a great brand in "Trump".

But you're also an ass.
And that's what people have paid attention to.

Use your leadership skills to bring the world to a better place.
You don't need to be bully.
You don't have to be a jerk.
Just get it done.
The time for anger is over.
The time for hatred is in the past.

Leadership is the ability to listen and then execute a clearly developed plan based on that listening.

I'm concerned about your plan.
Your inability to plan for a press conference has me worried that you're not thinking this world game of RISK out.

You have the power to bring the world to extinction.
You can go down as the worst leader ever.

It's your move.
Take care of my kids' future like you will your own.

I am depending on you.
And so is everyone else.

A letter to an old friend - my belly

You have been with me since I was born.
You are bigger than I want you to be.
That's my fault.

I like food...a lot!

It's time to put you back in check.
On Sunday, I tried to tie my shoes and I was out of breath trying to reach over you to get to my feet.

That's not the life I want to live.
It's not a life for you either.

On Monday, for the nth time, I decided to do something about you.
This time is different.
I say that every time, don't I.

But this time, IT is different.

I'm addicted to food.
So I'm going cold turkey.

Yeah that's right. I'm not going to eat for 14 days.
Don't worry. I'll still feed you. It'll be a different way.
You'll get the energy and vitamins you need.

But I'm going to force you to work a little harder.
You've been lazy.
I've spoiled you with excess.

Now it's time for you to see what it's like to have less.
No more welfare for you.
Get to work and burn all that excess I've given you over the years.

My ears hurt from all the so called experts telling l me how to eat.
My knees are tired running 5 miles per day to eat what I want.

I'm not trying to hurt you.
You're going to get a bit of tough love for 14 days.

Then we will reassess at that time.
You take care of me.
And I'll take care of you.

It has to be a win win for both of us.
And right now I'm losing.
It doesn't work anymore.

So work with me.
And we'll get along just fine.

Unicorns are real

86 g of sugar...

The haters immediately jumped on the wagon where the band always plays.

The thing is gross.

I hate mangos.

It has too much sugar.

Starbucks is overrated.

These were the uninformed comments I had to endure after I posted a picture of my drink.

I have but one question. Did you try the latest frappacino at Starbucks called the Unicorn?

The Unicorn was supposed to be a spring time launch that was going to last one week. After one day, most Starbucks had run out of product.

The typical daily demand for the most popular frappacino  (Vanilla Bean) is 20. The Unicorn was purchased 527 times on the first day of the promotion at my Starbucks.

People attribute this demand to social media. Some say it was because of the limited time offer. Some say it was the media coverage it got. 

I go to Starbucks every day.

There was no "Coming Soon" marketing used.

The only reason I knew about it was because the staff let me try the nuclear powder when I asked what it was during their testing phase.

I did not google it. I did not see it on Facebook.

My friends didn't talk about it.

But I wanted one.

And when I went in the morning of its launch, I saw people ordering it like there was nothing else on the menu - seven at a time.

The Unicorn sold out in one day for a very simple reason.

It wasn't the marketing.

It wasn't the sugar.

It wasn't the price point.

One simple reason. You wouldn't think about it if I didn't point it out.

Colour.

The colour of a frappacino is usually white, pink, or some shade of brown. Mostly boring, normal colours.

The unicorn was a combination of purple, blue and red. It had the colours of magic. 

Unicorn - A perfect name for a magical drink.

Was it any good? 

I liked it, but it doesn't even matter.

It was magical.

My kids missed the opportunity and now they want one.

It was a magical day to see the Unicorn at Starbucks. 

I can't wait to see it or a cousin of the same variety.

Beware of the Marketing Weasel

A weasel is a furry clever little creature. He knows how to get in places where he doesn't belong. He's quick. He knows how to wiggle around and cause destruction. 

Weasels are like measles. 
They're itchy, twitchy and painful. 

The weasel will tell you that he can fix your business with highly targeted marketing. 
He will explain that there's nothing more important in marketing that a catchy slogan. 
He will use jingles and clichés and target market data to reinforce his point. 
If he's a really good weasel he will pull out research and he will explain why the key demographics feel the way they do. 

In the end he's not helping you. 
He is doing what he has been taught by other weasels. 
Weasels exist.

Don't blame them.
For they do what they've been taught.

We expect people to behave as we would behave. 
That's part of our problem.
Not everyone sees the world the same way.

One likes Donald Trump.
One hates him.
Who's wrong?
Only time will tell.

The weasel thinks everyone is weasel. 
Sometimes he's right and sometimes he's not.

I apologize if I've offended you. 
I believe in marketing because I have been taught by someone who is not than a weasel. 

Marketing is a long term investment. 
It is not necessarily clever. 
It touches the heart of the audience. 
The audience is everywhere. 
I have found 18-year-olds and 65-year-olds of both genders who have Facebook accounts. I have found that all types of people are interested in all types of things. The reason most marketing doesn't work is not because of the target audience. The reason most marketing doesn't work is because of a poorly crafted message. 

Weasels don't work on message. They use words like exposure, visibility, awareness, and branding.

I work on message. Exposure, visibility, awareness and branding are derivatives of messaging.

If you are tired of wasting time and money on all the weasels and its time to develop of clear and concise marketing strategy, you can contact me at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com.

An email to Seth Godin

This is actually an email I sent to one of my heroes, Seth Godin. He responded to me the same day.


Seth,

Let's not waste your precious time. I've read Purple Cow, Linchpin and The Icarus Deception. Love your work. You already know your work is great and so does so many others because of the amazing art you create. 

You've inspired me time and time again.

Today, I'm humbly emailing you because I discovered "small is the new big" at a used clothing store. Reading through your collection of blogs from ten years ago, has inspired me to start an entrepreneurial school. 

I've paid my own lunches for the past 10 years in business. But I want this business startup to be different. This time I don't just want to make money. I want to change the world - at least the entrepreneurial world. And the world is such a huge mouthful. No one can eat it in just one bite. So I want to start by taking a small nibble at it, in a relatively small area, learning, testing and refining until the product is ready to be eaten by every entrepreneurs world wide.

After reading your blog on NoBS, I would welcome your feedback, your ideas, and ultimately your support into such a venture that we change the way entrepreneurship is taught, manifested and developed in our new world economy.

Am I the right person to take it there? 

The honest answer is "I don't know". 

The confident answer is "Yes". 

The real answer is, "I'm taking a huge gamble, but life is a gamble. And whenever I'm forced to bet on something, I always bet on me."

Today I present an idea that may be perceived as impossible, until it isn't. I'm reaching out to Seth Freakin' Godin. This is the highlight of my week. 

If this is of any interest at all, please let me know.

If not, if you could kindly respond so I can gratuitously show everyone I had the guts to reach out to the Superstar of Thought, the Wayne Gretzky of writing and the Babe Ruth of blogging.

Thanks for reading,

Rick Nicholson