Michael Hyatt is the CEO of a large publishing company. Is there some sort of secret to his success? What did he do to get to where he is now? He is often asked questions along these lines, and he responds to the secret to his success:

I’m not sure I could boil it down to one thing. Life isn’t usually that simple. But if I really, really had to boil it down to one thing, I would say this: responsiveness.

So many people I meet are unresponsive. They don’t return their phone calls promptly. They don’t answer their emails quickly. They don’t complete their assignments on time. They promise to do something and never follow through. They have to be reminded, prodded, and nagged. This behavior creates work for everyone else and eats into their own productivity. Sadly, they seem oblivious to it.

Now certainly, success isn’t simply based on responsiveness, but it is an essential ingredient. It’s also important to be consistent. Remember that if your inbox is flooded with emails, you don’t have to write an essay to respond to each of them. Keep others informed of your progress and work hard. When the ball comes into your court, do something with it.

For a good summary of how to stay on top of your email inbox, partiallobotomy.com gives a few tips on overcoming email overload.

Customer service skills are essential. If you can’t put yourself in the shoes of those you serve, work with, or otherwise come in contact with, you should ask yourself what your priorities really are. For example, when someone calls you to ask for information about a project that your whole group is working on, you shouldn’t just give an answer based on what typically happens. Situations can change, and you’re helping no one if you response is inaccurate. Take the time to find out exactly where that project is at, or give them a way to find out for themselves. If you try to blow your customers off, they may come back, but if they do, you definitely won’t want to deal with them then. Smile! Be nice! Remember that it’s only because of the customers that you even have a job to begin with.

You don’t have to work in sales to have customers.

When learning how to do things on a computer, I tend to learn best by example. I remember borrowing library books and entering BASIC code into our Tandy 1000 computer when I was younger, later tweaking the code so that I could make my own games. Programming is the same for me today; I like to find a good example, use it, and then tweak it and make it my own. With the ever-changing state of the Internet, however, it’s not easy or practical to find a library book with examples for website design. Instead, a good resource to learn CSS by example is at Dynamic Drive. The CSS section of their site is well designed as has many good examples. Give it a look!

I like May. It’s a pretty good month. Here are a few reasons why:

• It’s our anniversary
• School’s out for summer!!!
• NBA Playoffs
• NHL Playoffs (go Avs!)
• Baseball on TV
• It’s too early in the season for the Royals to be eliminated
• Spring!!!
• A new X-Men movie

I could probably write a whole post on each of those, but maybe I’m too busy enjoying some of those things to write much. All in all, it’s a good month!