Greetings friends and fans:

It's a new year, so I've updated the header for this mailing list. Go 2018! Yes it's true that months and years are arbitrary measures, but so is much of life. It's a silly reason not to do or use something. Which means I'm pro resolutions because I'm pro any reason anyone decides to try and better themselves. And in that sense I hope if you have any goals for the year that they're still going strong (and if you took my advice, you only have one or two). 

I have three goals for the year (breaking my own advice it seems):

1. Learning to Draw. My skill nemesis for years has been drawing, and I have a stack of unopened books on learning to draw to prove it! But so far, every day this year I've been drawing. And it's fun! I'm using You Can Draw in 30 Days. 
2. Rebuild my speaking business, as 2017 was one of my worst in terms of bookings and inquiries. For 12 years I've been fortunate in not having to do much marketing at all, as momentum from all my past books and keynotes generated more than enough interest, but times have changed! I'm now following my own advice (well, we shall see).   
3. Officially launch my speaker coaching and workshop services. I've been coaching speakers for years, quietly by request, based on the lessons from Confessions of A Public Speaker. But very soon I'll be opening this to all. So if you want to hire me to coach you, or to teach your team to be better presenters, that's coming soon.

Habit tip: whenever I have new goals or habit I want to form, I clear the whiteboard near my desk and make a grid with a slot for each goal and each day. 



Then I have a visual reminder I see every day, an easy way to see how I'm doing and to get the satisfying reward of ticking the box. Highly recommended. If you can't see your goal, you can't do your goal, you know? 
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Show me your books! To win more books! 

I'd like to do much more in 2018 to reward you fans out there. An easy place to start: a contest to win a bundle of all 7 of my books personally signed to you and a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate so you can buy even more books (or other nice things).

To enter to win:

1. Take a fun photo of your Berkun book inventory (you need at least one :) Print or digital are fine. 
2. Post it to Twitter, FB (public, otherwise I won't find it) or Instagram - use #berkuncontest
3. Or if you're afraid of social media and/or think it has destroyed humanity, just send me a link to the photo (reply to this message) 

The photo enters you into the contest and by entering you give me permission to reuse the photo, OK? Winner will be chosen in a semi-random method of my choosing  (but photos that are creative or make me laugh will have extra odds of winning). 

To inspire you, here are two fun photos from a similar contest we did for the release of Mindfire:


 

Best posts of the month 

I'm posting at least every Tuesday, every week, every month. I want to write for you! So tell me what to write about by going to this link or drop me a line.

1. Why Remote Workers Fail (Hint: blame the boss,  which is good advice in general) 
2. The Last Jedi and Suspension of Disbelief - how do we decide on our expectations for films? I think we're all kind of crazy in the rules we come up with.
3. How Can You Tell A Wise Person When You Meet One? It's harder than you think.

You can help - please spread the word

Most of the words I write are free and I hope to continue doing this forever! Yet I have bills to pay - and my only income is speaking engagements and book royalties. You can help me keep going by:

• Forward this newsletter to others and suggest people join the list
• Share posts I've written with others in your world (Facebook, Twitter, or good old email)
• Suggest me as a keynote speaker for events and conferences you know about
• Write a review on Amazon.com of one of my books (let other potential readers know what you thought)
• Thanks for your support! I literally could not do this without you.