“Well done is better than well said.”

 Benjamin Franklin

As a speaker/trainer, I get paid to talk.  I’m a competent talker, but I’m better at walking things out.  I have a phobia of being a hypocrite, you know someone who says one thing and then does another.  I have spent my life not ‘practicing what I preach’, but never preaching anything that I don’t already practice.

This phobia went into hyper-drive once I became a parent.  Nothing against the generation before mine, but as a whole, the “do as I say, not as I do” thing has been pretty prevalent.  So the following generations get it honestly.  Kids emulate behavior, not dogmas.  I am determined to BE and DO what I want my kids to BE and DO.  The same is true for each and every one of my coaching clients. Sure, we have open and honest discussions, and teachable moments, but what I say means something to my kids, and my clients.  The reason my words carry any weight is because they are congruent with my behaviors and actions.

As my wife can tell you, I learned how to “spin” from the masters of spin (check my bio for my teachers), but that’s a slippery slope into hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy is actually a word that comes from the ancient Greeks, it literally means “one who plays a role, an actor.”  I don’t play a dad (or coach) on TV, I am one in real life.

I try to keep my “talk” on the minor side, and my “walk” on the major side, of the balance that is my life.  Good talkers might be slicker, and get further faster than a solid walker, but in the end it always catches up with both parties.  Focus on BEING and DOING.  Let your actions and results speak for themselves.  Over deliver and under promise, it might take longer on the front end, but you’ll last longer on the back end.  (And your kids will be better for it.)

Boo Yah!!