“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, “What’s in it for me?”

— Brian Tracy

You did not want to go to work today, but you did anyway, why?

Could it be something other than the fear of a boss or to pay the bills? Something higher than yourself?  May be out of a sense of responsibility or moral integrity? Maybe not?

Have you bought into the latest and the greatest—the biggest and the loudest–you?-Is it all about you? You in everything? Are you watching out for number one at the expense of others?

Answer a simple question. Tell me if you agree with this statement.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it does not hurt anybody else.

Sound familiar doesn’t? If you agreed we have a problem. It’s you. You can lie to yourself long enough and may be even believe it, but it does not make it right. It does matter what you choose to do and what you choose not to do. It’s called responsibility.

Pardon the digression, but I fear that we are not progressing, because each of you (no not all of you) are digressing. Because it’s becoming more and more about you and less and less about us.

“You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem?” –Eldridge Cleaver

There’s a new trend in America today—may be an old one that it has become polarized in recent years. You guessed it, it’s you.

No not me. It’s you. Although blaming you when we are talking about me is still part of the problem, but it still comes back to you and me depending who is doing the talking. Historically, we call it selfishness, the me-syndrome, A-Number-One, King of the Hill and all that good verbiage to define a deflation of values.  The power to influence to get what you want.

Pardon another digression, but take self-proclaimed pick-up artist and NLP magician Neil Strauss and his book The Game, helping the hopelessly hard up you get what you want– some action of the feminine persuasion. Sorry I don’t plan to read it. But the point is clear, it’s helping you get what you want by taking what you want through using persuasion, manipulation and trickery. Just because you want it, you can have it and have it all!

Now more than ever the bestsellers lists are littered with snake oil salesmen trumpeting the quick fix. Your need to quit your J-O-B, (your Just Over Broke). To escape the rat race and become an overnight millionaire. Trick your boss, go skiing in Colorado via remote work arrangements and get ahead by dumping all your responsibilities on someone else at the expense of others

Why not? Corporate America did it? The me-syndrome capsized the economy after shipping millions of American manufacturing jobs over seas and for what? Short-term gain. I am not an economist or a financial expert by any means, but I do know that short-term thinking for momentary pleasure has cost America its prominence in the world. We have celebrated and glorified rampant individualism at the expense of the greater good. And the quintessential me-syndrome has killed the soul of America’s greatest chief asset, the American work ethic. We have stifled creativity by outsourcing and downsizing it.

To be perfectly frank with you, if you have a secure staff job today, instead of pooh-poohing it, you should be grateful to have anything in these uncertain times. You owe it to them to at least to show up for work and do your best at the job, while you look for or pursue better opportunities on your own time.

Our society, our country our world cannot continue to exist if it continues to revolve around me, it has to be about we.

Real change starts with the individual. Real leadership starts with the individual, it’s personal, I call it–Personal Leadership and that’s what Success GPS is all about. You can decide from this point in your life to hold yourself to a higher standard, to demand more from your life than anyone else ever possibly could. You can start by taking responsibility for any and everything you do in your life.

Questions for You

• How can you begin to take responsibility ?
• How important is integrity in your life and in your relationships with others?

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.” — Jack Welch

David Allen recommends keeping useful lists to help us maintain control in all the key areas of our lives. I have begun to make lists in the area of finances. How many of you actually keep lists of your debts and your expenses at the bare minimum? How many of you actually have a financial plan for your life?

Understand anyone wrestling with getting out of the avalanche of debt today can find any form of budgeting to be both a traumatic and a highly painful experience. However, simply taking an audit of your debts can be the first stepping stone to getting out of the quicksand.  It begins to calm your mind since you begin to have an inventory of your financial challenges that can allow you set yourself free from your obstacles.

How do you create a financial plan? Believe it or not adults with ADHD face insurmountable difficulties in this area and the National Resource Center on AD/HH Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder published an amazing article valuable for anyone trying to get started with financial planning for their life: http://www.amecrit.org/?p=334

My questions for you:

How do you personally recommend people start with financial planning? What do you do to manage your money?

“The iPhone is a new type of device – a true hand-held computer – that we’ve never had before,” User Experience Consultant Mark Hurst said in an interview with me. “I think the iPhone is the most significant new digital device we’ve had perhaps since the original launch of Macintosh over 20 years ago. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this little device.”

Mark Hurst’s quote inspired me to interview one of the founding fathers of the personal computer himself, Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple computer with Steve Jobs and who created and engineered the first Macintosh. I wanted to find out how the iPhone compares with his creation of the Apple Macintosh.   My team felt this was the best interview to begin the Brainbites Show launch with, as Wozniak is always an engaging and an inspiring role model and inspiration for others.  We hope you enjoy the interview.