There is a Zen story that I like a lot about the man in a rowboat who saw a distant ship on the horizon.

As it got closer, he thought, "Hmm, it's heading toward me; that's strange."

Then it got closer, still. "Hey, you, what's up? Turn away!"

Still closer, he screams, "You're going to hit me! Turn away, turn away!"

The next thing he knows, he's spitting water, wondering what happened. As he looks at the ship, continuing on its course, he notices it doesn't have a pilot.

He wasted all that time shouting to no one. He would have been better off changing his own course slightly, than trying to get the attention of a phantom.

Yet, this happens all the time, in business and in personal life: We try to impress the wrong people.

Let me give you an example.

It's a lot of fun being on radio and TV, but all in all, these media have yielded less management consulting and success coaching business to me directly, than trade publications in the fields of sales, customer service, and success and entrepreneurship.

Despite the fact that the audiences are huge, radio and TV deliver a different type of audience that is in a different mood. Plus the transience of the medium, the fact it's on the air and not on paper, makes writing down my name, phone number, and web site, difficult.

There are other benefits, as I've stated, but for delivering coaching or consulting prospects, you can forget about it.

It took me years to appreciate that impressing the wrong people is a waste of time, whether it's in business, or you're trying to outdo the Joneses, next door.

Review your activities at the end of today or this week, and ask yourself, how much time and energy did I squander doing this? And what could I accomplish if I redirected my focus into impressing the right folks?