Bruce Turkel’s Blog

Sailing used to be a means of transportation ruled by time and tide, but today, things have changed. These days, sailing is a journey rather than a destination, a state of mind more than a way of getting anywhere specific. What I discovered sailing in the Keys last week is that sailing, whether actual or metaphorical, is something we should all do more often.

Want to know how to get what you want. My new book is titled Is That All There Is? It’s about people our age who reach a level of success in their lives and then decide they want something different. To write the book I interviewed over 45 people who have successfully pivoted their own lives and then featured detailed stories of 14 of them. Is That All There Is? explains why these people were dissatisfied with their lives, (HINT: It’s almost always one of the Nine Ds). What they decided to do about it (HINT: You can’t GET what you want until you KNOW what you want). What worked (HINT: You’d probably be surprised how many different paths there are). What didn’t work (HINT: You’d probably be surprised how consistent the no-nos are). And what proven and actionable ideas they recommend.

Oscar Wilde wrote “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Because we can’t count on others for this, it is our job to be scrupulous about the choices we make about how we’re going to spend our time, whom we’re going to spend it working for, and what we’re going to charge for that work. Simply put, to increase your value you must know your value.

All companies have to offer some degree of function, or they wouldn’t be in business. But your function is cost of entry. And after the generic requirement of function has been met, it becomes the “What’s in it For Me?” factor that makes the difference, makes the sale, and makes your day.
What this means to you is that it’s time for a sober, gimlet-eyed look at your business’ messaging to make sure you’re not simply listing your features or cataloging your benefits but instead are making a clear and concise argument for how you make your customers’ lives better.

Is it True That Practice Makes Perfect? The key to mastery is to develop the various talents that are an intrinsic component of who you already are, so that not only isn’t practice something you HAVE to do or even something that you WANT to do, but something that you do without planning to do it or even think about it. You do it because it’s a part of who you are. The saying in Spanish is “eso le nace,” meaning “it comes from within you” or literally, “it’s born in you.” Accomplish this, and practice makes perfect.

Charlie Chaplin’s best-known song, Smile, distills his positive outlook on life into a simple but profound masterpiece. And even though it was written almost 80 years ago, its message seems truer and more necessary today than ever before.
“If you smile through your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You’ll see the sun come shining through, for you.”

There are lots of reason why a company’s stock price can fluctuate. But what if it’s Tesla’s brand, and more specifically, how the CEO’s actions have affected that brand, that’s causing the drop in shareholder value? In other words, have Elon Musk’s actions on Twitter and off, affected Tesla’s brand, resulting in a 55% drop in shareholder value?

How do you prepare for the new year? Preparing for the upcoming new year gives us all an opportunity to look back over where we’ve been and what we’ve done while we also look forward to where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.