One RecomMONDAYtion (and Reflections on a Heartbreaking Defeat)

On Mondays, I usually send you “RecomMONDAYtions.” Today, I share just one recommendation — for a book I love and encourage you to read. But first, a story to set the stage for the book…

Last night, my hockey-lovin’ heart was broken. Shattered, really.

The 7th and deciding game of the first-round NHL playoff series. My St. Louis Blues were leading the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 with less than two minutes remaining when…

Winnipeg scored with 1:56 left to make it 3-2…

…and scored again with less than THREE SECONDS left to tie the game…

…and scored again in the second overtime period to win it.

Blues lose. An epic collapse.

During his postgame press conference, reporters asked Blues coach Jim Montgomery to break down the collapse.

He offered a brief explanation, but when reporters asked for more, Montgomery said: “I don’t want to continue to talk about (it).”

Then the coach focused not on the game’s final minutes but on the team’s growth over the past three months and how to carry it forward:

“What we did here in the last three months is we changed the culture… to be able to grow and get better. We need to continue – to have a great summer as an organization on and off the ice so that we can continue to build off this… The exponential growth going through something like this is only going to help us for next year, but it’s incumbent upon us to do the work to get better.”

Defeated? Devastated? Heartbroken? Maybe.

But the coach CHOSE to focus on the future and how this can help them grow – if they do the work.

After the game and the postgame interviews, I chose to put the game aside and read myself to sleep.

Chapter Four of “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Getting Your Shit Together” by John Carlton.

It’s all about stress and failure and how we deal with it. Carlton says he’s “slaved at the bottom of the pile” and been on the mountaintop. He’s seen it all and, he writes:

…One thing I did during this entire life-long odyssey is pay attention to the nuances of how everyone around me chose to live their lives.

Key word there: Chose.

Life is about choice.

And easily the most infuriatingly-unnecessary choice too many people make… is to allow STRESS to dictate how they live their lives.

Here’s a bulletin: Stress does not make you more efficient or more productive.

Rather, it is a mental disease that will not only chew up your ability to think straight… but it is also a biological bomb that will devour your health.

And the kicker is this: In every single case of over-the-top stress I’ve witnessed…

…it’s clearly a CHOICE made by the hand-wringer himself.

They don’t recognize it as a choice. It feels like something thrust upon them.

And they often cannot believe there could possibly be another way to handle things.

I stand accused. Been there. Done that.

I’ve let stress rule me, and I’ve let defeats paralyze me – as if they’re irresistible forces thrust upon me. As if I have no choice.

But over time, I’ve changed my “culture.” I’ve embraced the idea that I DO have a choice.

It’s easy to forget that. It’s easy to slip.

That’s why I read (and re-read) books like “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Getting Your Shit Together.”

So I can dictate the terms for running my business and living my life.

So I can build on defeats, not be destroyed by them.

So I can think straight, handle stress and heartbreak, and be more efficient and productive.

Read this book!

John Carlton may be the galaxy’s greatest living copywriter. But “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Getting Your Shit Together” is not a copywriting or marketing manual.

If you want that manual, read his masterpiece “Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel.”

“Ther Entrepreneur’s Guide…” is more of a playbook for navigating your life and business. How to…

Overcome fear and self-doubt.

Stay resilient through failures.

Embrace risk and discomfort.

Think like a hustler, not a victim.

Develop “street smarts” in business.

There’s plenty of valuable marketing advice AND many great stories from the trenches.

It’s a great book.

That’s why Ted Prodromou and I chose it for the Mastermind Book Club.

Every month, Ted and I choose a great book for Club members to read and discuss.

On Thursday, June 5 at 2:30 p.m. ET, we’ll meet on Zoom to discuss the book.

You can join the Club for free at MastermindBook.club.

As we get closer to the meeting date, Ted and I will send meeting reminders and the Zoom link to members.

Note: We usually meet on the fourth Thursday of each month. But we can’t meet on the fourth Thursday in May so we’ve shifted this meeting to June 5.

I hope to see you there.