Hurricane Irma and The Eye of The Storm

In 10 years of living in Florida, last week was first time I had to deal with the impact of a hurricane directly. Kathy was assigned to Fawcett Hospital's (Port Charlotte, Florida) team 'A' and reported in for work on Saturday afternoon. We lost power at our home on Sunday. I watched the hurricane coverage from the hospital and was amazed watching Irma hit Naples, Florida. The winds and rain were intense then suddenly it was calm, the eye of the hurricane had hit. It reminded me how many people, when in crisis or perceived crisis situations, become consumed with drama and panic. Yet in those situations we need to be more like the eye of the storm - calm, confident and under control. Drama, panic and freaking out all diminish your performance. It prevents you from logical thinking. High performers stay calm during crisis and many times even thrive. Staying calm not only improves your personal performance but the performance of those around you. If you or your team needs that calm, eye of the storm confidence when things get tough, contact me at dougmyrick@gmail.com

Insurance can be complicated…but getting your claim paid doesn’t have to be.

Most people give very little thought to insurance until it comes time to submit a claim. More specifically, not until a claim is delayed, under paid or denied. While there are numerous factors that determine why a claim is denied or underpaid, the insurance company is obligated to disburse the funds in accordance with the terms of the policy unless the language of the policy indicates that a policy condition has not been met. Sounds complicated, right? It can be…but there are a number of things that can be done to help ensure a claim is paid in full.

A few simple steps can go a long way to getting your insurance claim paid: 

• There are time sensitive requirements for the notification, filing and documenting of any claim or loss. Notify your insurer promptly of any loss and understand the requirements and time limits for filing a claim.
• Pay your premiums on time. Delayed or missed payments could results in a denied or under paid claim.
• Complete all original applications with detailed factual information. If the adjuster assigned to investigate your claim finds anything questionable with the original application for coverage or with the claim itself, it is possible that your claim may be denied because of conflicting information.
• Know what your policy covers and excludes to ensure you’re getting the coverage you need. Every insurance policy has exclusions. If the cause of your claim is excluded from coverage in your policy, then you can expect your claim to be denied.
• Following a loss, take all reasonable steps to protect property and to mitigate the damage. The policyholder is required to protect insured property from further damage and to mitigate the extent of loss. Not taking reasonable steps to reduce the extent of the loss could be grounds for a denial.
• Document all damage and file a detailed itemized claim to your insurer. One of your responsibilities as a policyholder is to prove your claim to the insurance company. It is very important to document the damage done to your property accurately and with as much detail as possible.

Insurance claims can be a time consuming and challenging experience for most policyholders and the delay or denial of your insurance claim can have severe implications. Hiring a professional advocate, such as an experienced insurance broker, to walk you through the complexities of an insurance policy, provide advice, help file your claim, and negotiate with your insurance company, can be essential to prompt and favorable settlement of your claim.

I am Doug Myrick, Principal Agent for Insurance Policy Centres, LLC. You can follow me on LinkedIn and on Twitter to see more posts and insights on all topics related to loss prevention, risk management, and insurance.

NOTE: None of the information in this article is intended to offer legal advice. Regulated individuals/entities should ensure that they comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

Homeowners Insurance - What's Covered and What's Not

Do you know which perils are covered by your Homeowners Insurance and which are not?  In their 2016 Consumer Insurance Survey the Insurance Information Institute (III) discovered that many homeowners are not aware of what their policy covers and does not.  We thought we would create a list of questions based on the III Survey so you can test your own knowledge.

The Survey Questions

My homeowners insurance policy covers the following damages.  Answer the following questions “True” or “False.”

1. Damage from heavy rain flooding.
2. Possessions stolen from your car.
3. Hurricane storm surge flood damage.
4. Theft of your camera while you are on vacation.
5. A meteorite striking your home or falling airplane debris.
6. Medical payment for a visitor who is bitten by your dog.
7. Your child’s laptop is stolen while he/she is at school.
8. Lightning power surge damage to electronics.
9. Defense costs if you are sued by someone who is injured on your property.
10. Additional living expenses when your home is destroyed by fire.

And the Answers

1. A standard homeowners policy does not cover damage caused by flooding from heavy rain or a hurricane-driven storm surge. More than 20 percent of claims paid under National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies each year go to homeowners living in low- to moderate-risk flood zones.
2. 79% of policyholders recognize that their homeowners insurance provides coverage for possessions that are stolen during a home burglary. But policyholders often don’t recognize that their possessions are also usually covered when the theft takes place away from home.
3. This is another case for purchasing a National Flood Insurance Program supplemental policy.
4. See the answer to question 2. 
5. While the chances of your home being struck by a meteorite are pretty slim, standard homeowners insurance coverage will in fact be there for you in the case of this rare event.
6. A standard homeowners policy will pay medical costs if your dog bites or injures someone.
7. Your possessions are also usually covered when the theft takes place away from home.
8. Some homeowners insurance may pay for this event under certain circumstances. 
9. If you’re sued in response to the injury, your policy will likely help you cover legal costs as well.
10. Standard homeowners policies generally cover special living costs incurred when you cannot live in your home because of an insured loss. Covered costs include additional expenses for temporary housing, hotel bills, restaurant meals and other expenses.

Insurance Policy Centres

Another interesting note in this III report is that more than 69% of us shop our auto policies at each renewal point.  Only 44% of us will shop our homeowners insurance.  When you’re in the mood to check out your homeowners insurance coverage and pricing, give us a call.

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How I Stay Pumped up and Inspired

One of the best ways to have an amazing life is to stay inspired. For me, staying inspired is all about combining the following three items… Be energized, keep growing, and never stop learning.

So how do you do that? The easiest way is to keep “filling up your tank” with new material. Material that takes your thinking and your mindset to a whole new level every day. This material is all around us – most easily accessible in the form of books. Even if you’re not a reader you can have immediate access to this material through audible books.

Let me share with you my list of “must-have” books that I have accumulated over the years. These are the books that have done the most for me and continue to do so– they always will.

It’s a long list – 9 separate categories. Suggestion…pick a category and focus on that one to get you started:

Presenting & Speaking 

• The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – Carmine Gallo
• Slideology – Nancy Duarte
• The Exceptional Presenter – Timothy Koegel
• Practice Perfect – Doug Lemov
• Resonate – Nancy Duarte

  Being a Leader

• The 10X Rule – Grant Cardone
• The No Complaining Rule – Jon Gordon
• The Magic of Thinking Big – David Schwartz
• Wooden – a Lifetime of Observations – Coach John Wooden
• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John C. Maxwell
• The Power of Intention – Dr. Wayne Dyer
• Wooden on Leadership – Coach John Wooden

Powerful Story Telling

• Tell to Win – Peter Guber
• Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins  – Annette Simmons
• The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling – Stephen Denning

Mindset & Mental Toughness

• The Present – Spencer Johnson
• The Rules to Break – Richard Templar
• The Essence of Success – Earl Nightingale
• Stop Saying You’re Fine – Mel Robbins
• What Made Me Who I Am – Bernie Swain
• The Right Words at the Right Time – Marlo Thomas
• Get Motivated – Tamara Lowe
• Life Strategies – Dr. Phil McGraw

 Consistency & Your Routine

• The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
• The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy
• Execution – Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
• The 4 Disciplines of Execution – McChesney and Covey
• Grit – Angela Duckworth
• Relentless – Tim S. Grover

 Business Insights

• The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster – Darren Hardy
• The Next Level – Scott Eblin
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
• The 4 Hour Work Week – Timothy Ferriss
• The Success Principles – Jack Canfield

Lead Generation

• The Power of Focus – Canfield and Hansen
• Book Yourself Solid – Michael Port
• The Seven Levels of Communication – Michael Maher
• How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck – Steve Stockman
• The Game of Numbers – Nick Murray
• 10 Things I Learned from Bill Porter – Shelley Brady

 Money Management & Wealth

• Secrets of the Millionaire Mind – T. Harv Ecker
• The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
• The Richest Man in Babylon – George S Classen

Miscellaneous

• What to Say When You Talk to Yourself – Shad Helmstetter
• Anything You Want – Derek Sivers
• The Strangest Secret – Earl Nightingale
• The Platinum Rule – Tony Alessandra

Enjoy and be inspired. NO Excuses.

~ Uncle 'D"

Will the DOW ever DOUBLE again?

Well it happened. The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 20,000 for the first time in history.

That's double the remarkable 10,000 number from 1999. Remember that 10,000 was going to be "impossible?"  

No doubt there is a lot of enthusiasm in the market these days. And that's great for "the market" and for Wall Street.  

But what about you?  

How long will it take to double an investment in today's 20000 DJIA?

The Wall Street Journal had some commentary about that today.

Read here 

The answer is in the rule of 72. The Rule of 72 is a simple math formula that shows you how many years it takes to double your money in any investment.

Here is a short video explaining the Rule of 72:

Watch here

 

~ Uncle 'D'

Ways I FAILED My Way To Success - Happy New Year!

I expect to fail 100+ times in 2017. Some of these failures are going to be EXPENSIVE. Many are going to be PAINFUL. But all are going to be necessary. Why?

To achieve GREATNESS you have to risk.

To reach a high level of success, you have to be willing to mess up, fall down, and get dirty.

Now let me be clear. I don't like failure. But I do LOVE what occasionally comes INSTEAD of it. Those few times you hit a home-run, knocking that ball out of the park. The occasions when you stretch farther than you thought you could......and instead of missing you reach what was once an unthinkable goal. Failure is the price we all pay for success.

I wish you a Happy New Year. 

Stay focused on your goals - and don't be afraid to go for your dreams in 2017!

~ Uncle 'D'

The Art of Goal Setting

Your ability to create visions and set goals is essential to your personal and professional lives. Visions allow you to see yourself at some point in the future, while goals offer a road map to reach these visions. There is nothing more rewarding than having visions, setting goals to reach these visions and focusing in as the visions become reality.

Goal-setting is a powerful process of becoming clear about your ideal future, designing an action plan to get you there, launching into action and persisting until you reach your destination. The key to goal-setting is your ability to turn this vision into reality.

The Art of Goal-Setting is understood and appreciated by top athletes, entertainers and successful people in all walks of life. A person who learns how to set goals lives each day with a sense of clarity, confidence, purpose and passion.

I was first introduced to the Art of Goal-setting in the late 1980’s while maturing as an Underwriting Manager at Economy Fire & Casualty in Freeport. Rather than seeing goal-setting as a chore, I learned that the process of goal-setting was stimulating, energizing and rewarding. Goal setting made a lot of sense to me. Without goals, I would have no sense of direction.

The Art of Goal-setting to:

• ·        Decide what is important in my life.
• ·        Determine what I want to achieve.
• ·        Separate what is important from what is irrelevant.
• ·        Be motivated.
• ·        Facilitate my ability to benchmark progress.
• ·        Gain self-confidence as my goals become reality.

Think of goal-setting as your navigation system. Goal-setting allows you to identify what is important in your life and turn your thoughts and ideas into specific, actionable and measureable goals. Importantly, your goals will protect you from becoming distracted by other people’s agendas and expectations. In designing your goal-setting navigation system and charting your own course, you will have control over your destination.

Research on goal-setting and peak performance substantiates that most successful people are goal oriented. They have learned how to turn their vision into action. They have a knack of bringing the future into the present so they can take action now. Greg Norman, the legendary golfer stated that “setting goals for your game is an art. The trick is setting them at the right level, neither too low nor too high. A good goal should be lofty enough to inspire hard work yet realistic enough to provide solid hope of attainment.”

A common acronym for setting goals is SMART. The S stands for Specific. M is for measurable. A stands for achievable. R is for realistic. T stands for time bound. Think of a goal as a dream with a timeline. Every goal needs a target date for completion.

If you do design SMART goals, do not lose sight of your “big picture” goals – your future vision. SMART goals can help you climb the ladder of success step-by step, only to find that it may be leaning on the wrong wall. I would like to offer the following 5-step strategy for effective goal-setting.

Step 1 – List your goals A to Z.

The Art of Goal-setting begins with writing your personal and professional goals from A to Z. Don’t hold back. Write down whatever comes to your mind. Go nuts and take pride in the length and diversity of your list. This exercise will give you energy and motivation. It is also fun.

Some of your goals will be short-term while other will be futuristic. Don’t worry about that. Just focus on writing down goals that are important to you. You may wish to ask yourself the following questions: 

• ·        What is my purpose and mission in life? 
• ·        How do I want to focus my time and energy? 
• ·        What are my developmental needs at this point in my life? 
• ·        What does my ideal lifestyle look like?

Your goals will cover a wide range of categories including family, career, education, financial, physical, spiritual, community service, etc. The A to Z exercise will allow you to establish a “Big Picture” of what is important to you and what you want to do with your life. Many of your A to Z goals will be “lifetime goals.”

Step 2 – Prioritizing your goals.

After you have gone through the A to Z exercise, begin listing your goals on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being most significant to you at this point in time, and 1 meaning it is not a priority right now. Here are a few questions that should help you prioritize your goals:

• ·        Which goal(s) will give me the most energy?
• ·        Which goal(s) am I most committed to?
• ·        What goal(s) offers the most value to me?
• ·        What goals are fully within my control?
• ·        In five years, how important will this goal be to me?

The process of prioritizing your goals will allow you to break down your A to Z list into smaller targets. You should gain greater clarity through this exercise.

Step 3 – Setting your execution strategy and achievement timeframe.

By prioritizing your goals, you have set the stage for an execution strategy through which you are able to define the following plans:

• ·        Lifetime plan
• ·        Five-year plan
• ·        One-year plan
• ·        90-day plan
• ·        Weekly plan

Your Lifetime and Five-Year Plans represent your vision of the future – essential points of your long term destination. These “big picture” plans are vital. However, it will be your ability to execute the weekly, 90-day and one-year goals which will launch you to your ideal future.

Your one-year goals should be power-packed, the kind that require you to stretch your capabilities, increase your resources and make meaningful improvements to your personal and business lives. Your one-year plan should include meaningful, relevant, motivational and realistic steps to your long term vision. The 90-Day Plan supports the one-year goals–an essential means to benchmark your progress, reevaluate your priorities and make sure that you are focused on what matters most. It is difficult to reach your one-year goals without 90-day Plans.

As I look at my career, the Weekly Plan is an essential key to my success. I have made it a habit to come to work each week with a Plan to accomplish specific objectives that support my 90-day and one-year plans as well as my “big picture” future vision.

Step 4 – Visualization.

Mental imagery is essential to goal-setting. Your ability to see yourself at the point of goal actualization is a key component to successful goal-setting. Goal-setting breaks down unless you have great clarity about your vision.

Step 5 – Goal Actualization.

When you achieve a goal, take time to enjoy the satisfaction of what you have accomplished. Celebrate the moment and absorb the implication of the goal as it relates to your future self. If your goal is a significant one, reward yourself appropriately.

On occasion, you will not accomplish a specific goal. You must not lose confidence or get frustrated. The failure to actualize a specific goal is not important as long as you learned a lesson from the process and gave it your best effort. Walter Cronkite once said, “I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.”

The Art of Goal-setting may be one of your most important life skills. The process will ignite your passion for the future.

Good luck and have fun!

~ Uncle ‘D’