Mark Sanborn - Up, Down, or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times Are Good, Bad, or in Between

Praise for Up, Down, or Sideways

At Zappos, one of our core training courses is built around The Fred Factor , so I was excited about Mark Sanborns latest book. If you need encouragement and ideas about how to succeed during challenging times, I recommend reading Up, Down, or Sideways .

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com and New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness

We all experience turbulence in our personal lives and in business, just like an airplane. Every pilot has been Up, Down, or Sideways. Mark Sanborn offers you a flight plan to prepare for and thrive in turbulent times.

Howard Putnam, former CEO of Southwest Airlines and author of The Winds of Turbulence

You are holding a life-changing bookit packs a walloping prescriptive punch! Mark poignantly invites us to gain wisdom from the crucible of personal and professional setbacks and guides us to savor faith, family, and friends. Read it, and the people you care about at home and at work will benefit from your journey through Up, Down, or Sideways.

Dr. Joseph Michelli, bestselling author of The Zappos Experience

Look for a better wave.... Marks book is filled with fresh and useful advice on reinvention and new ways to thrive.

Seth Godin, author of Poke the Box

No matter what state youre inUp, Down, or SidewaysMark Sanborn brings you back to the core principles that never change, no matter where you are. If you want to act on a good should, then you should read this book.

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, million-selling author of the New York Times bestsellers Mojo and What Got You Here Wont Get You There

Mark is an extraordinary speaker and an outstanding leader who speaks with conviction and experience on success. The practical advice and pearls of wisdom throughout this book are worth studying, contemplating, and dissecting. Learn how to apply them in your business and in your life to create sustainable growth and prosperity in all you do.

Dr. Nido Qubein, chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company and president of High Point University

Mark Sanborn continues to amaze with his relevant, why-didnt-I-think-of-that lessons for success in work and life. His latest great book, Up, Down, or Sideways , will help you keep all lifes ups and downs in perspectiveand youll love his concept of Sideways. Who needs to read this book right now? Everybody does!

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Lead with LUV

No matter where you are in lifeUp, Down, or Sidewaystheres no question that reading and following Mark Sanborns advice will have a dramatic impact on your greater personal and professional success. I read a lot of books, and I enthusiastically recommend that you read this one.

Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS magazine and bestselling author of The Compound Effect

Mark Sanborn is refreshingly commonsensical and characteristically right on the money with Up, Down, or Sideways . Every book hes written has influenced my thinking, but this one has inspired my doing . Each chapter prompted me to act differently, think differently, and see differently. Regardless of whether you are Up, Down, or Sideways, these timeless principles will propel you forward.

Dr. Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship, Oahu, and bestselling author of The Divine Mentor

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Visit Mark Sanborns website at www.marksanborn.com.

TYNDALE and Tyndales quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Up, Down, or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times Are Good, Bad, or In Between

Copyright 2011 by Mark Sanborn. All rights reserved.

Author photograph copyright April 2008 by Ray NG Photography. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jennifer Ghionzoli

Edited by Stephanie Voiland

Published in association with Yates & Yates (www.yates2.com).

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible , King James Version.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sanborn, Mark.

Up, down, or sideways : how to succeed when times are good, bad, or in between / Mark Sanborn.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4143-6221-2 (hc)

1. SuccessReligious aspectsChristianity. I. Title.

BV4598.3.S263 2011

650.1dc23 2011032759

To my father, Leslie Sanborn, who taught by example.

And to my sons, Hunter and Jackson.

I aspire always to do the same.

Introduction

The Good Shoulds

The Canadian punk band Simple Plan released a song a few years back titled Shut Up! The lyrics include Dont tell me what I should do / I dont wanna waste my time, and the chorus begins with So shut up, shut up, shut up / Dont wanna hear it.

Not exactly a feel-good song for the ages, is it?

Unfortunately, its easy to take that attitude when other people give us advice, even if most mature adults would never express the sentiment so bluntly. There are times when we all resist the advice that others offer us because it can feel controlling, and after all, we want to make our own decisions. We dont like other people telling us what we should do.

In resisting the shoulds in life, however, we often throw the baby out with the bathwater. While some advice can be critical or controlling, other advice is helpful and needed. I call the latter the good shoulds.

My mother, and I suspect yours as well, would say things to me like You should brush your teeth. You should look both ways before you cross the street. You should be kind to others. As we grow older, our parents, teachers, coaches, employers, pastors, friends, and mentors bring increasingly complex and specific advice to our burning ears.

Fortunately, informed and concerned people in our lives still give us things we should dothings that have stood the test of time and have proven to be true and valuable. Just because were adults doesnt mean we learn only from our experiences and not from the mistakes and successes of others. Why learn only from your own blunders if you can take a cue from someone elses and avoid a few missteps? Why not learn from the lessons and experiences of others?

This book is unapologetically a discussion about things you should doindeed, things all of us should do. I read books for insights, and I write books to share good ideas that I believe will help others. But these shoulds are borne of concern and my own life lessons and missteps, not out of a desire to control or manipulate. Its up to you to decide what to do with them.

Our doctors, accountants, attorneys, spouses, friends, coworkers, pastors, investment counselorsthey all weigh in on what we should do. And when we have good advice available to us, we should take it. Wise people seek out and act on good shoulds.

The mind-sets and methods in this book are based on principles, and principles dont change. They are true across time, culture, and context. What changes is the application. The principles of communication, for instance, havent changed throughout history. Communication happens when you express a message in a way that people know and understand what you mean and can act on it. The applicationsfrom longhand letters to faxes to e-mail to Facebookhave changed dramatically as cultures and technologies have advanced. But the core principles of communication havent changed.