I have made it no secret that I believe that success comes from doing things on Purpose.

But Action requires the inspiration to get started and the motivation to keep going.

Where do you get your Inspiration and Motivation?

This blog post is a departure from my typical articles.  In this post I’d like to accomplish two things.

First I want to share some examples of things that inspire me, and second I want to share some Azzarello Group news.

I’ll be back next week with practical ideas on finding your inspiration and motivation, and building your business and career success on purpose!

But for now, enjoy these, and check out the news below.

Fran Woofenden, an 83 year old water skier.

Just watch the first 15 seconds, you’ll see what I mean.

and…

Matt Harding: Where the hell is Matt?

This is one of the b

est things I have ever seen on the internet.  Matt Harding has reminded me with this project and this fantastic video that:

• The World is Big and Interesting and Beautiful
• It’s Important to Enjoy Life
• We All Share things as Humans

Azzare

llo Group Updates

I also wanted to give you some updates about Azzarello Group.

This BLOG:

First thank you for all the comments and feedback on this blog.  I really appreciate it!

People ask me all the time, “Is it OK if I forward your blog to others?” YES!

I write this blog to share the useful stuff I have learned about building business and career success, and I want to share it with all who would benefit.

If you want to get  my blog updates emailed to you or in your RSS reader, just click here to subscribe.

And please pass this on to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to sign up too!

My Book – OFF the ORG CHART

Many of you who read my blog have asked me “When are you going to write a book?”  The answer is I am doing it now!

You can check out a preview here.

I’d appreciate your vote of interest, so please let me know by getting notified when it’s published. (There is no obligation.)

Membership Update

Membership is FREE to Everyone until Oct 1, 2009

Those of you who are members of Azzarello Group have been enjoying access to a valuable set of resources targeted at helping you take action to grow your success on purpose.

Monthly webinars, podcasts, presentations, worksheets and a Coaching Hour with me help you keep focused on on those important topics which make the difference between getting ahead and just working really hard.

If you are not yet a member and you would like to join, you can learn more or Join here for free.

Get Free Membership till 2010

To continue delivering this value into 2010 and beyond, I am going to start charging for membership on October 1.

If you purchase your membership by October 1,
you will get the rest of the 2009, 3 months, FREE!

Participation in the live webinars will remain free to everyone in 2010.

I’ll let you know later how to purchase your 2010 membership, what the program includes, and how it will all work so stay tuned…

Thank you again for all your interest, feedback and support!

I’m breaking form in this blog post to bring you something “off topic” which I found fascinating.

This is a summary if an interview I heard on NPR’s
Fresh Air with Michael Pollan. 

Michael Pollan talked about the need to change our agricultural policies if we wanted to solve our oil dependency, environmental issues, healthcare issues, and economic crisis.

First the back drop (things we know):

• Our farmers are subsidized to mass produce corn and soy – ingredients for highly processed, unhealthy, non-food, vs. real food. 
• If farmers accept the subsidies they are forbidden from growing anything else, and are unable to raise animals.
• This subsidized large scale commercial farming uses fossil fuel in two key ways:  fertilization and pest control. 

Some of the key points (things I didn’t know!):

• It takes 1 gallon of fossil fuels to grow and produce 1.2 gallons of ethanol.  I knew it was inefficient but – wow!
• 30-40% of the recent increases in food prices come from diverting corn from the food supply to produce ethanol.
• Traditional farms with crops AND livestock don’t exist in combination much any more because of these subsidies – so the large farms need fossil fuel based fertilizer to grow crops, instead of using solar energy (sunshine), and natural fertilizer (from livestock).
• Also because of this, now animals are raised on giant feed lots instead of farms, so even more fossil fuels are needed to transport and/or process their waste.
• (Alternatively, Michael Pollan gave an example in Argentina where a farmer was able to do a rotation and raise cattle for 5 years on the land, and then grow crops on that land for 3 years with NO additional fertilizer.)
• Crop rotations impossible in the subsidized, single crop farms, also have proven to dramatically reduce or eliminate the need for pesticides (Apparently, the pests get confused and don’t show up if you alter the crops.)
• We are no longer using solar energy to grow food.  It’s too slow, we prefer the fertilizer. And because of the subsidies, we have farm land sitting unused for months out of the year “wasting solar energy.”
• Food Miles: We raise chickens in the US and ship them to China to be cut up and packaged and then ship them back here to eat them.

Green Jobs

He closed in saying that for all the talk and interest in green jobs, the most sophisticated and important green jobs of the future are farming real food without fossil fuels!

More Info

I certainly have not done justice to the topic. 

If you are interested you can find Michael Pollan’s Open Letter to the Next President on this topic which was recently  published in New York Magazine. 

or listen to his interview on NPR

Great Stuff

I have created a new Category in my blog that I have titled simply “Great Stuff”, and I over time I will put links to a variety of things such as this here.