I negotiated with myself today.

"I need to get the email out by 3pm today," I said to myself.

But then I caught myself. "Bad thoughts," I told myself. "How would Jim Camp approach this problem?"

You do not need it. You only want it.

It's true. I only wanted to get this email out by a certain time. I didn't need to get it out exactly at a predetermined hour.

I had a last-minute reschedule with a client a few time zones over. Torpedoed my need for my self-imposed publishing deadline.

The clearer the picture of pain, the easier the decision-making process.

I painted a horrible picture of pain of what would happen if I did not get this email out at all—letting the reader down. Not delivering.

Sure, there are plenty of folks reading (or not reading) who don't care in the slightest, but there are also plenty of people who get on my case when my emails don't appear in their inboxes.

My vision of such pain haunts me. Perhaps the pain is more noticeable with today's full moon?

The only valid goals are those you can control: behavior and activity.

You can't control if your day didn't go exactly as planned. I learned from coaching baseball to always have a plan, but that the plan never works out. It doesn't mean that the exercise of planning is not helpful.

To the contrary. President Dwight Eisenhower said, "Plans are nothing; planning is everything."

I can control whether I sit down at my computer and knock out some words. I have a choice on what my attitude will be when I'm doing it.

Radio Hall of Famer Jim Rome says, "Attitude is a choice and it is controllable."

Small wins.

Normally I plan to get the emails out closer to 5 pm my time, for no other reason than it seems about right. The online gurus tell you that you should email between second breakfast and tea or something. When you're sending emails across the world, keep in mind that people eat on their own schedule.

"Breakfast" is not only an arbitrary time in one's own time zone, but falls at remarkably different times across the globe. So, don't fall for the guru stuff.

And now for a late, late add…

Last minute negotiation with my 6-year old and his untoward behavior.

Mission and purpose drive everything.

My son was my adversary—or "respected opponent"—in this negotiation and it was my goal to stay in his world. I had no idea why he was acting the way he was. Neither did his mother, brother, or sister. My mission and purpose was to simply get him into another room so everyone else could enjoy some modicum of peace.

No assumptions. No expectations. Only blank slate.

Coming into this negotiation, I had no idea what his problem was, so I met him at his level. Literally. Sat down on the floor, then laid down on the floor across the room.

I started going through possibilities that may help him leave the room. "Want to come into the office and watch a movie or a show?"

Decisions are 100 percent emotional.

Immediate about face. Ran and gave Mom a hug and then perhaps a tougher negotiation ensued … figuring out what show to watch. We agreed (all agreements must be clarified point by point and sealed three times using 3+) that it would be a Marvel show or movie, his pick.

Aside from asking me a  load of questions that I cannot answer about Marvel characters, he is watching in peace as I finish up here.

Usually I am no match for the wits or behavior of children, but the Jim Camp system has been nothing short of life-changing.

When you use Camp's teaching as a lens, some seemingly insurmountable negotiations become rather approachable.

Jim Camp was not a "guru," either. He was a serious man who had serious things to say and developed a system of negotiation that applies…wherever in the world you may be and during whatever meal you may or may not be enjoying.

Michael Senoff interviewed Jim Camp extensively and packaged the discussions into 7+ hours of negotiating training, broken up into 9 mp3 files, that you will not find elsewhere.

Senoff charges $597 on his own website, but I negotiated with him to take over $400 off his price for our readers and subscribers. The screaming deal is only around until Saturday, midnight snack time.

As always,

Brian