I would like to share an email that I received from Fred Gleeck.  Fred Gleeck is an internet marketer and provides newsletters on marketing.  I am posting the portion of the email for your reading and benefit as it provides a good insight on purpose.

Advice from a C.E.O.

So I’m traveling from Columbus to Dallas on yet another American Airlines flight and I’m seated in the back row of first class. First class because I fly enough that my upgrades are FREE and the back row because on an odd numbered flight I get to choose my meal first.

I get to talking to the guy next to me and he’s a C.E.O at a company called Sterling Commerce.  A $700 Million subsidiary of AT&T. They operate in 40 countries and they have a LOT of employees.

Or at least a LOT compared to MY company. That would be just me! 

As we are talking I’m doing my traditional thing. I basically end up interviewing people like him informally.

I find out that he started his career with I.B.M. At IBM they would always have you ask yourself the questions: What? Why? How?

Before we get to that he tells me about how he runs his business. He gets his direct reports together and goes through their list of “to-dos” with them. When he hears their list he then asks them to cut the number  of priorities in half. Take only the most important 50% of the list.

After doing that, he asks them to cut them again and AGAIN! Until everyone is down to just 2 or 3 things max. He then tells people to “gray out” – on their computers, all of the other tasks they had written down.

He’s nice enough to go through that same exercise with me. On my computer sits a file I call my “BIG PIC”. It has all of my important stuff to do and various key contacts and info that I might need all in one text file.

On the VERY top of my Big Pic file sits a list, very similar to the list that his employees come to him with.

My list as we speak is this:

• Fred Radio Show
• Finish writing my new Info Product Marketing Book
• Rewrite my existing books
• My seminars and bootcamps
• Speak more at other people’s events
• Do more Coaching
• Write a song
• Write my Screenplay that I’ve almost outlined
• Take a Documentary Film Class
• Reading
• Writing

I read the list out to him. He then tells me to pick the TWO most important ones. As it turns out, mine are the two at the top of the page. He says: “OK, now spend all of your time working on the top two. BUT, on your calendar at some reasonable time in the future put a note on a specific date to see if you can PROMOTE one of the grayed out items.

When I complete the one of the top two I can then promote one of the other items which has been grayed out.

But, he’s not done with me yet.

He asks me WHAT I want. I tell him that I want to: NET $1 million a year with no employees. He then asks me:

WHY? I tell him so that I can be completely debt free including EVERY asset I have including mortgages.

He keeps drilling down deeper and asks: why that? I tell him because I want to live a relaxed, stress free life and only work with clients I LOVE.

Again: WHY?

My answer to this drilling down ends with the same results of the exercise I do at virtually all my events. Although for some reason I did NOT do this exercise in Columbus this last Sunday when I spoke.

The answer is to live my ideal day, every day which consists of:

Getting to:

• Read every day for an hour or so minimum
• Watch a movie everyday
• Play with my dogs everyday
• Have a massage every day – real person or a machine
• Exercise aerobically for 30-60 minutes
• Spend quality time relaxing/talking/hanging out with friends/family

What? Net $1miillion a year

Why? So I can live my ideal day every day

How? Finish and publish my book and get a radio show

I’m glad I struck up a conversation with him!

BTW, we started speaking because I saw him reading a book by Wally Lamb called “The Hour I First Believed”.

What? A business guy, reading fiction? Isn’t that a criminal offense in some States? You would think so from the way some business people respond.

After showing him my Kindle and having him assure me that he’d be getting one I then asked him if he reads any non-fiction business books. He says: NEVER!

A C.E.O. of a major company NOT reading any business how-to books? Should he be arrested?

According to him, he doesn’t need to. It all comes down to: What? Why? How?

If you think about it, this makes a LOT of sense. Will I stop reading business books. Nope. But, I will take to heart his lesson of doing just 2 things and GRAYING out everything else.

There you have it.  What do you think?