Tag Archives: 15-Second Principle

15af – Video 01 – Introduction

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Here’s the first YouTube video in the ’15 and forgiveness’ series mentioned in the ‘15af for career changers‘ post.

‘Just5Rules‘ is my YouTube channel for personal growth and career change material.
By clicking the YouTube ‘Like’ button you increase the chances that the video content will be seen by others.

Part One: 15 And Forgiveness – Introduction

Below is the embedded video, and underneath is the transcript.
Enjoy! (And please remember to tweet this post to help get the message out.)

15af – Introduction – Edited Transcript

Hello and welcome to markmccluretoday.com.

This is Mark McClure and I’ve got a special treat for you.

It’s an interview I did with Al Secunda, the author of ‘The 15-Second Principle‘.

I’ve called it ‘15 and forgiveness.’ (15af)

And when you download and listen to it, I think you’ll find out why.

But just before we start the interview, I’d like to introduce you to Al and his work,
and why it had such a big effect on me.

And how I think it can help career changers and people with major life changes, in
fact, make progress towards their dream goal or vision.

Some people dream of making big changes for the better in their life or career, yet create only ‘castles in the
air‘. Others set specific goals but avoid ever taking action.

One man who has faced all the above in his own life and finally decided to do something
about it, is motivational speaker, workshop leader coach, and author of ‘The 15-Second Principle’, Al Secunda.
(Al’s wonderful book is available on Amazon.com and really helped me keep going when I began my mid-life career change journey some years ago (2005).)

In fact, I found his approach so helpful in moving forward that I finally plucked up the courage
and asked him to do a telephone interview, my first; so you can imagine I was a little nervous.

(The interview’s) all about using the 15-second principle.

In just under two hours, Al Secunda shared freely from his experiences and knowledge, and we covered a lot of topics, and had a bit of fun too. I’m going to read out just five highlights from the first thirty minutes:

    • 1) Connecting fifteen and forgiveness with your dream goals.
      (This is probably the crux of the whole interview really.)
    • 2) The Zen-like answer to, “what can you do in fifteen seconds?”
    • 3) Why pleasure before precision helps learn a new skill.
    • 4) Discover how ‘faithing’ and ‘taking action’ go hand-in-hand.
    • (5), Getting comfortable with discomfort; what he calls the ‘inclusion factor’.

Now, there’s a whole lot more in the remaining hour or so, so you should (probably) get a pencil and a note pad out, if you’re wise, and take some notes.

(Because) It’s really valuable information.

As far as downloading the interview is concerned, I recommend if you have a cable broadband or faster internet connection, you should be able to download it no problem.

It’s a twenty five (25) megabyte file and it took me about five minutes to download the same (file) sitting here in Japan, with the file on a server in the US. So, if I can do it over (under?!) the Pacific, I think you should be able to do it with a cable broadband connection, if it’s reasonably reliable.

Now, before you start listening, I recommend that to get the very best from the interview, you first think of a big goal or dream you’ve been putting off starting for ages.

So, typically for career changers, it is in fact making progress on figuring out what they can change their career to, or moving on to something different.

Apply Al’s 15 and Forgiveness Approach Today

Have that in mind – what’s holding you up, what that dream is, then listen to the interview, and then right after it, as soon as the interview is finished, NOT the next day, not two hours later, but right away, apply Al’s 15 and forgiveness approach, and see what happens.

And if you want some support, or you want to let others know how you are getting on, just drop by my blog, at markmccluretoday dot com, and let me know. Leave a comment in one of the posts, the latest post, and i’ll see it. And if you’ve got something useful to share, I’ll make sure everybody else knows about it too.

Okay, let’s start the interview now. Enjoy.

- Mark McClure

PS: The Original 2 Hour MP3 Interview with Al Secunda

The original ‘15 and forgiveness‘ audio interview is available here:
http://www.markmccluretoday.com/fifteen-and-forgiveness.html

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15af for Career Changers

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This is the opening post in a series designed to highlight the wisdom and experience of motivational author, Al Secunda. I first wrote about Al over four years ago in this post titled, “15 and Forgiveness in Action“. His book, ‘The 15-Second Principle“, is one of my favorite personal growth books, partly because he’s been up close and personal with very successful A-list Hollywood stars, as their some time tennis coach.

Al’s counterintuitive approach to goal setting has as its premise a seeming contradiction.
I’m roughly paraphrasing here but “either you don’t really want this goal OR you’re scared to death of it.”

Career Change Faint Heart

There’s a lot of nonsense talked by so-called gurus and coaches who trumpet the “do what you love” mantra to often unhappy people looking for direction in their choice of vocation.

It’s nonsense because it appeals to people who dream of career change but would run a mile if they actually had to engage critical thinking skills, and then do it. Alas, some of them get caught in subtle co-dependency marketing webs spun by ‘teachers’ whose primary aim is to build their own streams of income, usually at their clients’ expense.

Far, far better for these “castles in the air” dreamers to discover by themselves, and mostly for free, that career change is probably NOT for them.

Al’s book is a guide to helping you ditch goals you thought you (or often, someone else in your life) wanted to achieve before much harm is done, or time and money ‘wasted’…

… leaving you freer and happier to pursue those goals that really DO scare you to death!

15 and Forgiveness now on YouTube

Although the original two-hour mp3 audio interview still gets downloaded, I want to present the content to a much bigger audience than this blog. I also want to add a transcript for people to skim through.

I will therefore be adding the interview to YouTube as a multi-media series with a link to each transcript on this site.

I encourage you to share these YouTube videos with your friends and followers using social media tools such as FaceBook, Twitter, Google Plus and others.

15af – Video 01 – Introduction

This video introduces Al Secunda and his book, The 15-Second Principle, setting the scene for the interview itself.
The video is 4m 47s and the transcript is around 700 words.
Click ‘15af – Video 01 – Introduction‘ to watch this video and read the transcript.

The Original 2 Hour MP3 Interview with Al Secunda

The original ‘15 and forgiveness‘ audio interview is available here:

http://www.markmccluretoday.com/fifteen-and-forgiveness.html

- Mark ‘scared-to-death goal setter‘ McClure

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The 15 Second Principle – Quiz Answers

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Here’s the followup to yesterday’s post on Al Secunda and his 15-Second Principle.

I created an 8 minute YouTube Video to highlight the relevance of Al’s approach to slipping past the procrastination giant. (The answers to yesterday’s quiz are also shown underneath the video here.)

1- For many people their biggest DREAMS remain FROZEN FANTASIES.

2- Al’s purpose is to help people ENGAGE with their goal and keep RETURNING to COMPLETE it.

3- Unexplored DREAMS can leave a HOLE in your SOUL.

4- The premise of the 15 second principle is either you don’t really CARE about your dream goal or you are SCARED to death of it!

5- If it’s not FUN, stop DOING it.

- Mark McClure

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Defrosting Frozen Fantasies With Al Secunda’s 15 Second Principle

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Yesterday’s post referenced my all time favorite book on slipping past the (sometimes well intentioned) procrastination giant. It’s subtitled: “Short, Simple Steps To Achieving Long-Term Goals” and is available on Amazon.com.

frozen-fantasy-dream

I’ve read and lent Al Secunda’s book out so many times that the pages are coming apart! And he’s such a great storyteller that you may find his messages strolling the corridors of your mind and even taking up residence, if you’ll but open the door.

QUIZ:

Here are 5 key concepts I got just from the first 3 chapters of the book.

To make it a wee bit more of a challenge please fill in the blanks (my suggested answers will be included with tomorrow’s post.

1- For many people their biggest —- remain —- —-.

2- Al’s purpose is to help people —- with their goal and keep —- to —- it.

3- Unexplored —— can leave a —– in your ——.

4- The premise of the 15 second principle is that either you don’t really —- about your dream goal or you are —- to death of it!

5- If it’s not —- stop —- it.

What’s any of this got to do with successful career change?

Perhaps everything!

You see, our biggest dreams can remain frozen fantasies throughout life – mere blocks of unsculpted (n)ice thoughts. Or, with attention and effort, they can start to take on form and meaning.

Either way, the ice will melt.

I want to discuss this further in tomorrow’s post.

- Mark McClure

QUIZ CLUES:

dreams hole soul

care scared

fun doing

dreams frozen fantasies

engage returning complete

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Start Taking Mini Actions

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My career coaching and mentoring work is guided by what I wrote about in just five rules.

But isn’t it ironic that Rule #1, “Take Action”, is the one which often causes people to hesitate! Maybe because they’ve been conditioned over many years by the advice of such popular wisdom as:

  • “Fools rush in where angels fail to tread.”
  • “Look before you leap.”

Of course, there’s certainly an element of truth in both statements. Reckless and poorly thought out choices and actions can and do have serious consequences.

And there’s no absolute guarantee that taking even well planned actions will lead to a desired result. There’s always a risk that things will screw up – though with planning and care (hello goal setting!) some of those risks can be identified and their probability of occuring reduced. (Notice I didn’t say “eliminated”. Stuff happens and none of us are immune to the outcomes.)

But “taking action” is still key to most successful outcomes and experiences in life – as Woody Allen apparently said: “80% of success is showing up”.

A method I often recommend is the habit of taking “mini-actions” around a big goal – such as a successful career change.

Mini-actions relieve the pressure because you’re no longer fixated on the stress and tribulations of achieving a major result in a short time. In fact, you’re not specifically focused on any result. Just on showing up.

Yes, if you have a big dream, keep it in mind from time to time. But focus on taking the very smallest of actions.

Exactly how small?
Oh, how about 15 seconds or so.

I shall return to Al Secunda’s wonderful book (“The 15-Second Principle”) in tomorrow’s post.

- Mark McClure

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