Keith Goodrum

Ryan Healy the other day listed on his blog The 12 Books That Changed My Life. He wrote that he loves to read and track each book he reads.

In fact, I began logging every book I finished starting in the 8th grade, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Every January, I close out the prior year, print my log, hole-punch it, and put it in my book log binder.

It’s nothing fancy, really. Just the book title, author, a few sentences about the book (including what I did or didn’t like), and a rating.

Wow, that’s impressive. I’m lucky if I can keep track of the bookmarker while reading a book.

Anyhow here are my choices of the books that changed my life.

1. Never Give In by Stephen Mansfield

This book is an excellent study in the leadership skills of Winston Churchill. Many of the leadership lessons I strive to follow.

2. The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton

The principles taught in this book are simple, yet effective. The story is entertaining, and a quick read. When I was done, I realized that the story had taught me the fundamentals of financial planning. Stuff I still to this day use.

3. The Tough-Minded Optimist by Norman Vincent Peale

I had been around people who practiced “positive thinking”. They would run around saying… everything’s great… Nothing was negative & the glass was always half-full. This attitude always seemed odd to me. It came across like you were suppose to stick your head in the sand, ignore the situation and everything would magically fix itself.

This book showed me that it was OK to recognize things for what they were. Then get tough, deal with it and move on. Changed my way of thinking.

4. Theodore Roosevelt An Autobiography

I like to read autobiographies of great leaders, and Theodore Roosevelt was one of our greatest leaders. Many people do not realize that he laid the foundation that made the US the superpower it is today. It was inspiring to see the obstacles he overcame to become president.

5. The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey

This is the book that converted me to Christianity. I never understood the true meaning of salvation until I read this book. I could go on about this, but it’s as simple as the last 2 sentences.

6. The Ultimate Marketing Plan by Dan Kennedy

My Window cleaning business was slowly circling the drain until I picked up this book at Kinko’s. This book was a radical paradigm shift in my way of doing business. I can clearly point to this one book as the reason I built a profitable business.

7. The Bible

If I was stranded on a desert island & could only take one book, then this would be the one.

8. Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller

The one thing that got Harry Truman into so much trouble was he spoke his mind. Because of that trait he is probably one of the most under rated presidents of our time.

The buck stops here was on his desk while president. Taking responsibility was a strong theme throughout his life. That principle left a strong impression on me.

9. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This Pulitzer Prize winning book was required reading in high school. It made a huge impression on me concerning race, and standing up for the right cause… no matter what others around you are saying.

Those are the books that greatly influenced me. I’m glad that Ryan wrote this post, and asked others to put up their list. It was fun to sit down and write about why these books influenced me. In fact I’ve decided to read the books on this list again. It will be interesting to see what I get out of them this time around.

OK, what about you? Make your list; post it on your blog, and link back to Ryan’s post. It will be interesting to see the books that have influenced you.

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James Brausch was nice enough to send the first copy of his Testing Newsletter. I got home yesterday, and there it was sitting in my inbox. I downloaded it, and printed it out to read. I noticed that several people who have reviewed this also printed out their copy.

This edition is 15 pages chock full of testing results with James giving a summary of each test. The best part is that all the testing results come from one sales page. I like this because you get to see each test conducted, not just the ones James liked.

There is a lot of information to digest, and I have already read it over several times. Each time through the letter adding more notes in the margins. Good stuff…

The one thing that surprised me was that his intern program has a lifetime customer value. But, his explanation makes perfect sense.

I’m a big fan of testing, and this newsletter really delivered. He breaks each test down by variable and includes the results. And it gave me some great ideas on how to apply it in my testing.

I found his last page to be very thought provoking with the questions he asks.

The big question is can you afford not to test? Reading his newsletter further cements my answer to this question, which is no.

If you want to see behind the scenes of James Brausch’s testing, then this is the letter for you. You will learn a great deal about testing, and grab ideas to apply in your business.

You can get a subscription to his newsletter here http://www.diegonorte.org/testing/

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Tomorrow is the last day to join the One Page A Day contest. Eric Giguere over at MEMWG The Unofficial AdSense Blog is running a contest for the month of February.

The rules are simple… all you have to do is publish one new page of content for each day in February. A page counts as a web page, blog post, article, comment and even a video. And this month only only need 29 pages.

Now you don’t have to create something everyday, but at the end of the month you need 29 pages. Eric is giving away prizes to anyone who can complete the challenge.

My goal for the month was to create a blog post Monday - Friday. So, that meant I would only have to come up with 8 more pages for the month to complete the challenge.

I figured that would be a great way to motivate me to reach my goal for the month… So I joined. I chose to make my plans public because it creates accountability.

I know for me this is an excellent tactic to get me off my duff and do the work. It’s still tempting to check email, surf the net… I mean research. So, I needed something to help me stay focused.

It’s also a way to get me to push across the finish line.

I also know that I might be tempted slack off at the end, and would rationalize it by saying: “At least got I 80, or 90% of my goal accomplished.”

That’s a conversation I didn’t want to have with myself.

So, what tactics or strategies do you use to get yourself motivated to accomplish a tough goal?

Let me know.

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Jim Sansi over at The Kaizen Business blog has released a new prouduct. It’s called; “Business Procedures Vol 1 - Put Your Traffic Generation On Complete Autopilot”. Jim was kind enough to let me review a copy of his new DVD last week.

Two thumbs up on this one. Jim does a great job explaining the steps to take with each prodecure. Each video was clear, and easly to follow. You will be able to do these yourself, outsource it to an intern or a virtual assistant. This is a great way to systemize your traffic generation. Jim has done all the lifting for you by making these DVDs.

The best part is Jim is having a weekend special going on till Monday 9am (GMT-8). The price is only $35, and then it will go up. I suggest you get on over there and grab a copy, before the special is over. Here is the link to Jim’s weekend special.

Enjoy your weekend,

Keith

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