Years ago, you’d walk the streets of New York and see homeless folks all over the place, many with mental problems, muttering to themselves, or talking loudly at no one or at everyone or at each person who passed.

It was disconcerting at minimum; intimidating, frightening or depressing at times.

These days, a lot of the homeless problem there seems to have gone away – I can’t tell you why. But they’ve been replaced by a better-dressed population who appear just as addled…they rush through the streets, all talking loudly, seemingly to no one. And this population has expanded from city streets to airports, supermarkets, theater lobbies, everywhere. Even public bathrooms.

Sometimes I don’t realize they are talking on their invisible phones and I think they are talking to me and I respond. They think I’m an idiot. I know they are.

People are now plugged in and connected non-stop from eyes opening to eyes closing, iPod in one ear, invisible phone in another, computer and TV integrated, text messaging, checking e-mail, ad nauseum.

They think that’s making them more productive. It is not, anymore than running faster in the wheel gets the caged hamster anywhere. In fact, it makes them less productive simply because they are less in control. Less in control of their time, their order of priorities, their very thoughts. Less in control of the environment in which they sell and communicate.

Contrary to simplistic interpretation, I am not anti-technology. I like using it to make money, solve problems or enhance productivity. But that’s not what’s happening for most people.

In his best and most important book, ‘Grow Rich With Peace Of Mind’, Napoleon Hill wrote of having his phone disconnected to shield himself from a rising tide of intrusion he could not control. He preferred using it only to make calls, not to receive them (just as I do, all these years later.) Imagine what he’d think of what the telephone has become: an out of control octopus.

Those who teach and sell “time management” often say ‘time is money’ and everybody conceptually concurs – although few actually treat it as such; and they often say that your income reflects your use and value of your time….but the precise truth is, your income reflects your control of your time. And you really want to pay close attention to who (or what) is in control of or interfering with your control of your time…your energy, your thoughts, your opportunity to perform whatever functions you perform at peak performance.

All successful people fight, constantly, to regain control they let slip out of their grasp from one day to the next, one relationship to the next, one project to the next. It gets away; I get it back. It gets loose; I round it up and fence it back in. That’s the way it is.

Within 12 weeks of deciding that every store needed an HR manager, Home Depot had interviewed 3,000 people, hired 1,300, trained them and had them in place. Also, during their peak growth year of 2004, they opened a new store every 48 hours. What do you make of such things?

Most of you know my favorite Iaccoca story, of impulsively having the roof removed by blow-torch, to test drive a new convertible. However, reading Iaccoca’s autobiography’s account of his turnaround years at Chrysler, you’ll find many more stories with three similar themes: speed; massive action; and many initiatives launched simultaneously….in his case, even while under financial duress.

At Glazer/Kennedy, in just 12 months, we launched the local advisor program, developed and launched the Gold+ online community, went from two to five events, developed and launched the new Peak Performers program – and the list goes on.

On the flip side, I see companies actually bragging about getting one new thing done all year. You’ll read their annual reports and discover they spent the whole year to get into the catalog business or get a web site up or create a slogan. These are companies to avoid investing in, or get money out of if you are invested.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about success: you do not get there as taught as a child…one step at a time.

One of the things I learned, in part, thanks to Dr. Maltz and his Psycho-Cybernetics work is that instruction and advice given to us as children may have been valid and useful at the time but needs to be jettisoned like old skin as we mature; it can be crippling if carried into adulthood, especially if you choose to be an entrepreneur or sales professional. “Don’t talk to strangers” is a classic. Good idea for an 8 year old; bad idea for a 28 year old. ‘One step at a time” is a very similar admonition. Useful for the toddler learning to walk. Crippling for the entrepreneur.

People often ask me – puzzled – how I get so much done. The answer is not comforting at all. I put all sorts of things in motion before I am prepared and ready to give them all due attention or they are fully crystallized as step-by-step plans, then I chase them. I over-commit myself, then press to juggle and honor the commitments. I create then complete; I don’t create complete. I rarely do one thing at a time. I never take one step at a time. It’s my observation other high-performers follow this same path.

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The Shadow knows. And so do I.

With another holiday weekend behind us, you may have encountered “friends”, family and relatives, and others with evil intent, conscious or not.

Some will attempt to slime you with GUILT. Simply because you are doing better than they, notwithstanding that you exhibit initiative and they exhibit none, they will attempt to guilt you into giving or loaning them money, paying their bills, repairing their car for them…or, at bare minimum, feeling queasy and uncomfortable about you own success.

They will advance their notion that you are “the LUCKY one” in the family, thus undeservedly more prosperous or happier than they. Whether they attempt extorting money or merely seek to “bring you down a peg” and s*** on your self-esteem doesn’t matter much.

Either way, they bear you ill will, they resent you. Welcome them into your home if you must, but dare not welcome them into your mind – or the mind of your spouse. (Incidentally, I encourage giving generously, but 100% voluntarily, and preferably to individuals who exhibit initiative.)

Some will attempt to tar you with DISRESPECT. Maybe it’s your brother The Doctor or his snooty trophy wife or pipe-smoking College Professor or the M.B.A., who is secretly jealous of your independence; who eagerly shines a spotlight on the odd and unexplainable nature of what you do as an entrepreneur or on the ugly, silly advertising and promotion you insist on doing.

As Mrs. Roosevelt said: no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. But that won’t stop them from trying. The cocktail party at your neighbor’s house might very well be infested with desperate, empty shells of men, vying for superiority by making others inferior. Small people try to be bigger by making others feel smaller.

Some will be eager to rub everyone else’s noses in their latest accomplishments – could be having remodeled their game room or traveled to Italy or bought matching new BMW’s or some such thing. When you hear it, think: DEBT. Unlike us, most of what these pompous show-offs’ll be showing off is financed to the hilt. Such one-upmanship is a juvenile game. Act as you would if playing chess or Monopoly® with a mere child; let him win.

Genuinely bright, successful serenely confident individuals play none of these games. They prefer talking about IDEAS, and seek out others who do the same. Find them and spend your time with them. And beware the rest.

Very Good News: You can finally, completely stop worrying about Al Gore’s global warming. We are all destined to die of something else instead.

A front page headline on USA TODAY read:

90% of the ocean’s edible species may be gone by 2048, study finds

Having North Korea, Iraq, Iran, etc. isn’t enough. They have to devote half their front page to scaring us about the potential scarcity of Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks forty-two years from now.

Since I will either be dead or eating mush, this matters little to me. For many of you, though, it’s permission to cease all worry about global warming. The lack of crab cakes will kill you first. Hooray!

It might interest the boneheads behind this survey and those reporting on it as fatalistic gospel at USA TODAY that I have, in my files, news reports of academic studies projecting the end of seafood by the year 1967…..the melting of the polar ice caps and drowning of us all by 1959…..and, well, you get the idea.

Scientists, psychics, cult leaders, politicians and ignorant, irresponsible journalists have frequently predicted the end of life as we know it – via over-population (a scare popular in the 60’s), under-population, starvation and famine, flood, asteroid attack, the earth veering from its axis, killer bees, or – the latest – mad cow disease, etc. – and they have all been wrong.

Eventually ONE will get to say “See, I Told You So.” But this is a charlatan’s game, and nothing more.

For some, it gets taxpayer monies to support all manner of silly research. For others, it sells books or newspapers.

It’s hard to tell Stanford’s much hyped ‘doom research’ from the plot of an old Star Trek episode. One is no more credible than the other.

Why should you pay attention to any of this? That’s the point – you shouldn’t. In fact, you should be pretty rigorous about NOT paying attention to anything that doesn’t advance you toward your goals, enhance your important skills, or inspire and motivate you to be your best self and achieve your greatest ambitions.

Unless it is your hobby, be that golf, football, gardening, or ulcer assured, politics.

All else ought be filtered out. Blocked. Ignored. Just because USA TODAY feels compelled to fill its front page with silly, decidedly unscientific drivel, with scary stuff about the future-without-fish, does NOT mean you must swallow it.

I even choose most of my pure entertainment with some purpose, to extract from it some useful ideas or content or examples, in addition to being amused or entertained. I don’t need distractions provided by silly soothsayers looking 40 to 400 years into the future.

I’m perfectly capable of manufacturing sufficient distractions of my own! Success requires FOCUS. You have to guard the gates of your mind. You have to ask: what will I gain by paying attention to this?

This is one I am writing for myself. You can read it if you want to, but it’s really for me. (I’m toying with starting to write all these for myself. I need a lot of counseling, so it seems like a clever and efficient way to use this time.)

Many moons ago – a phrase I find appropriate with frightening frequency – I took one year nearly off from business and made a living betting on horses . To bet horses at multiple tracks or at the big-handle New York tracks, you had to go there physically; this was before simulcast.

So, every Saturday and some weekdays I flew from Cleveland to New York in the morning, drove to Belmont or Aqueduct, bet the thoroughbreds there until I won $1,500.00, then immediately left – even if after just one race, flew home, and most nights got to Northfield in time to do the same thing there with harness races.

I did just fine, I made over $50,000.00 that year, and that was in the early 1970’s, and I was young. But it took all the fun out of it. Losses were of monumental importance because too many in a row would wipe out the bankroll, and it is impossible to make money gambling without money and the courage that comes with it.

The wins came devoid of joy or satisfaction because they were a necessity. It was a grind. Doing anything to make money – or doing anything else, for that matter – without frequent celebration makes Jack a very, very dull boy.

And I do not celebrate enough. Maybe you don’t, maybe you do, I don’t know. But I know it’s easy to start taking all your successes and achievements and victories for granted, as just what you do.

For me, making $100,000.00 delivering a speech or closing a $100,000.00 copywriting contract or contemplating taking or rejecting a proposed arrangement to conduct a coaching program for a client for $750,000.00 or seeing my book on a shelf or a bestseller list or giving somebody strategies and copy that brings in $500,000.00 from a zero start in 90 days – well, that’s just what I do.

The other night it briefly occurred to me this deserved some recognition and a toast. A few days before Bill reported on a new product promotion that topped $500,000.00. Same thing. Days later, I thought – gee, maybe that ought to be celebrated.

So, my advice is: don’t become too impressed with yourself, but don’t become too jaded either. Recognize the amazing nature of your progress and accomplishments. Celebrate your victories with whoever’s in your life that matters. Be more cognizant of others’ accomplishments and generous with recognition and praise. Celebrate good times, c’mon.