I am often told I need to smile more. I grew up needing braces we couldn’t afford. I had bad teeth for a lot of years.

Finally got them all made over beautifully by a gifted cosmetic dentist. About 40 hours in the chair; I’m not the calmest, most cooperative patient. I imagine all the years of having a bad smile habituated me to not smiling. I have to do it very consciously.

So, I suffer the photographers – from pros to folks taking selfies of us – goading and cajoling me to smile. As you might guess, being told to smile bigger ‘n more does NOT inspire me to smile. It makes me wonder if not killing somebody you have every urge to strangle counts as saving a life. If so, they should make me a saint, even though I’m not Catholic.

A long-ago speaking colleague, friend, and inspiring voice, Mike Vance, once close associate of Walt Disney’s, often said that he differed with Dale Carnegie on the issue of smiling. The ‘How To Win Friends’ author’s advice was “Smile a lot.” Mike Vance said that was silly and artificial, when what people desperately want is authenticity. Mike, the smartest guy I’ve ever heard on “creative thinking” said…

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What do you do instead? This is just the start of the Monday Memo for Diamond Members this week and I share not only Mike’s suggestion, but how to tune it to become a high-performer with irritability. This memo is available now inside the Diamond members area.

If you don’t have access, don’t go smiling randomly at prospect thinking they’ll buy your stuff, instead use these weekly insights to gain the edge in your business. Join Diamond to get the best resources to grow your business utilizing a high value, high developed skill sets, including my monthly Master Classes, Live Q&A, access to 57 Courses and a Search Engine of every newsletter I’ve ever written.

If you’re already a member, your memo is ready in your members area and/or your fax machine.