You know, when it's 2015 we may still be here, and there will be NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER in our lives — except for the changes that we choose and take action to create.

A smart guy once told me that if he ran into me five years in the future, the only difference in me would have come from the books I had read and the people I had known.

You might want to think about what you'll read and who you'll choose to associate with this year.

Just a thought…

Seeya,

Tom

The words we use define our personal reality to ourselves as well as to others, and they have a very real effect on what we allow ourselves to think. The words we use are the way we tell ourselves what we deserve from life.

I was working at home while recovering from pneumonia. I took a phone call from Vikki's doctor. They asked me to have her call and make an appointment to "discuss her mammogram results".

That led to a biopsy then another wait for results, and then another call like the first one.

“The doctor wants you to come in…”

The biopsy was malignant.

When I was a teenager I wanted to be a cowboy instead of finishing high school. I was sent to work for a friend of my father who owned a ranch up in the mountains. I had no idea that the work I was about to begin would be so close to the job of CEO I had forty years later.

I've lived through eight recessions and run businesses during four of them. I've learned that some people thrive while the majority just panic. You don't have to roll over for this recession; you can create your own "upturn during the downturn". Then when the tough times are over, you'll be stronger and more successful than before!

It's just going to take more knowledge about human nature – both yours and the other guy's.

I guess I was in a bad mood to begin with. My wife and I had had a little misunderstanding in the morning just as I was leaving for my appointment and that never sits well with me.

Okay, I'm thinking "What can I possibly say about a New Year? Something that hasn't already been done by some professional columnist or talented blogger or — Shakespeare?"

Then I remind myself that I've seen a LOT of New Years, and have messed up at least as many resolutions as the next guy, have made many “new starts” that chugged to a halt by March or so.

So I’m an expert on what doesn’t work.

Uh oh. Another holiday letter.  If you throw this away unread you won’t miss much.   Just  my story about how Martha Stewart screwed up our holidays awhile ago.

Direct Response Marketing works because it fits the way that people think.

Trouble is, it's mostly not taught that way. Instead, most Direct Marketing skills are taught on the basis of "do this, do that"  — fine as far as it goes. But sometimes people don't get it, because they don't know the basic truths on which it is grounded.

Now we’re going to explore WHY it works – the RULES. Basic human psychology starts