I've just come back from Dubai as guest of Sheikh Maktoum.

As you can imagine, with such a generous host, I experienced some magnificent moments.

But one of the most interesting occurred in my hotel room at the plush Madinet Jumeirah Resort.

Returning one evening, I noticed that sitting on my bed was a little booklet entitled 'Herbal Pillows'.

Opening it up, I discovered this hotel was offering me no less than 9 different kinds of pillows!

The Hangover Pillow, with a blend of juniper, mustard and peppermint inside it, used by traditional healers to reduce headaches.

The Tranquillity Pillow, with chamomile, ginger and spearmint.

There were Love Pillows, Dream Pillows, and Energy Pillows. And Meditation, Stress, Eye, and even Sun Sign pillows.

Now isn't that an amazing thing, I thought.

I am in one of the most expensive, opulent and spectacular hotels on the planet.

Yet one of the most impressive parts of this palace is a tiny booklet, promising me an extraordinary range of pillows.

It cost them hardly any money at all to create this unique service.

But it sets them apart from almost every other luxury hotel in the world.

Surely we all could come up with something like this for our own businesses. Something relatively cheap, but surprising, delightful and memorable.

What could be your equivalent of this Dubai hotel's pillow menu?

Sleep on it.

Yesterday I read a quote that made a huge impact on me.

It was from Charlie Chaplin, surely one of the greatest entertainers in history.

Here it is:  "You have to believe in yourself. That’s the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street
trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world."

The reason it struck me so powerfully was that it made me wonder whether I was seeing myself as I am now, or as I want to be.

Throughout the last 1000 years, great people have given similar advice, from the Persian poet Rumi to Henry Ford: we must behave
as if we already are the person we want to become. We must act like we are, before we truly are.

It's tough to do, because it demands an act of blind faith. And even arrogance.

Yet the frequency with which outstanding achievers throughout history have offered the same counsel, makes me certain that it's a
more effective strategy for success than being 'humble', and downplaying our strengths to ourselves. And others.

We cannot create a brilliant future by seeing ourselves only in the present.

If your mind is the clay of your future, what are you creating with it?

One of the worst jobs in America is 'Sign Holder'.

You see them on the streets, holding up a sign pointing to a shop or car park.

For hours a day they stand there in the wind, rain or burning sunshine, holding up their trivial sign, bored out of their minds.

For anyone with a speck of self worth, it's the ultimate demeaning job.

Which is why I was stunned recently when I was driving along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

There was a sign holder performing a highly skilled, electrifying dance routine, balancing the sign at all angles, twisting it around his body at high speed.

Motorists at the traffic lights were transfixed, and so was I.

This guy had taken a terrible job and turned it into something magical, delighting thousands of people every hour.

So many of us are stuck in jobs we don't like, and make the mistake of doing them half heartedly, drudging through them miserably. But acting that way doesn't make our work easier, it does the opposite. Time marches more slowly, our mood stays dark and we never get a promotion out of that job because we're not doing it well enough.

If only we performed our job brilliantly, in a way far above what anyone could expect, we would feel so much better about ourselves, make greater progress and enjoy life far more.

As the great football coach, Vince Lombardi said, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour".

Whatever job we have, the secret is to do it superbly. Not just for a chance of promotion, but far more importantly, for our own self worth.

Choosing to be excellent is a better way to live.

Recently I went to one of L.A's hottest restaurants, Giorgio Baldi, in Malibu.

The place was packed. Stars hobnobbed, kissing cheeks and patting backs (I spotted Drew Barrymore,
Robert Duvall, and a smattering of rock stars).

This place certainly didn't need any more business, that's for sure.  But as we left, there was a
waiter standing at the door, wishing us good night and handing us a business card for the restaurant.

Even though this place was making a fortune, the owners were still trying to maximise profits by
giving the restaurant's phone number to hundreds of diners a night.

There are two lessons here.

The first is that a little thing like handing out a business card can dramatically increase profits
over time (I for one kept the Giorgio card for future dinners).

The second is that no matter how successful you are, or no matter how many people you feed, it
pays to stay hungry.

Just got back from Hawaii, first time in years.

While we were getting ready to snorkel in beautiful Hanauma Bay, I noticed something really interesting.

The walk to the beach is a long one, so the authorities have thoughtfully provided a bus to take you up or down the hill.

But not for free.

It was 75 cents to take the bus down the hill. But a dollar to take it back up!

Smart. And it got me thinking.

Is your pricing right? Are you charging too little for services that people really value?

What is your equivalent of the uphill bus ride?

Charge more for it. If people need it, and value it, you'll be amazed how much they are often prepared to pay for it.

Far more than you are probably charging now.

Hanauma Bay has over 1 million visitors a year. That extra 25 cents really adds up.

I was Christmas shopping at The Grove, an outdoor shopping mall in Los Angeles recently, enjoying the warm weather, when something amazing happened.

It started snowing.

As adults smiled and kids screamed with delight, I looked up to see that the owners of this outdoor mall had installed snow machines that sent down crisp, light snow on the hour.

It was magical.

It got me thinking how important it is to inject surprises in our dealings with our customers, employees and even in our personal relationships.

Have your relations with others got too predictable?

Do people always know what they are going to get when they interact with you?

Consistency is great, but a level above is consistency with the occasional pleasant surprise here and there.

Like delivering a job early.  Sending a handwritten Thank You card or gift.  Taking your partner out some place crazy.

Humans love nice surprises. If every month you look for ways to do the unexpected for those around you, you'll be surprised by what an impact it makes.

What's the hottest film studio at the moment?

Paramount? MGM?  Dreamworks?  Think again.

In the view of many Hollywood big wigs it's Relativity Media.

Never heard of them?  Few have.

Yet Relativity will produce as many as 35 movies next year.  35!

How did they get into this position of industry dominance?

By making films with an obsessive eye for the numbers. Before a film is green lighted at Relativity, everything is measured:  the lead actors’ audience pulling power, the director's previous box office success, revenues of similar films and much more, all using sophisticated financial algorithms.

What can we learn from this?

Well for one thing, just because we may see ourselves as creative and free spirited, we should always remember that usually things improve when measured.

Measuring performance by the numbers may seem a chore, but it gives us clarity, knowledge and confidence about our next steps.

It makes us think about areas of our business (and our life) with a tougher, more objective eye.

Measuring our performance will make us better.  Faster.  Smarter.  Wiser.  Dominant. (Just ask the folks at Relativity Media).

Are you measuring enough areas of your life?

I woke up this morning to see a small fire in an apartment across the road.

The fire was quickly put out and the occupant's cat quickly saved.

But what was amazing was the resources the Fire Department brought to the scene: no less than 8 different fire trucks arrived, a multitude of fire men, followed by the closing of the entire street.

I was struck by how useless it was to have so many people and so much equipment devoted to a tiny kitchen fire that had already been put out.

It got me thinking, how often are we guilty of dedicating too many of our resources to a project? Right now, is there something that you are simply giving too much time to, or too much mental space inside your head?

Many projects don't deserve the time and effort we're giving them.

It's often far better to rush these relatively unimportant jobs, even cutting corners here and there, so that we can get onto the few things that really matter.

The challenge is that sometimes, like that little fire, they are urgent. In which case, yes, solve them, but do it with one of your fire engines, not eight.

Hi guys and gals, and welcome to my first ever blog.
I'll be blogging about anything and everything to do with success, achievement, entrepreneurship and high performance.
I'm a huge believer in the awesome potential we all have inside us to be extraordinary.
To me it's the ultimate challenge to develop ourselves to our full potential, mentally, financially, spiritually, vocationally and physically.
Every few days or so, I'll bring you research, stories, tips and discoveries on how humans can perform better, achieve more, and maximise our time on this planet.
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