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February 28, 2007
Feel the Other's Point of View by Bob Burg
The 16th U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, was one of the most tactful people and effective positive persuaders of all time. When he was on the Illinois law circuit he often scored big points with judges and juries by using one very simple method of persuasion - he pointed out the other side's case before his own. He expounded on the feasibility of his opponents views, and allowed everyone to see him as honest, fair, and genuinely concerned with justice for all.
This is an excellent idea whenever you are engaged in a disagreement with someone either one-on-one, or within a group of conflicting ideas. The more you can first point out the legitimacy of the other's views, the more accepting they'll be of yours.
Suggestion: Go even one step further. Actually "take" the other person's point of view. Take ownership of their position. See the situation as you believe they see it. Feel it as you believe they feel it. Put yourself in their shoes, and in their mind. Imagine it's you who feels that way, and, in your mind, make their (your) case. Then, as mentioned earlier, make their case out loud.
One of two things will happen:
1. You'll ooze with credibility and open up this person's heart to being totally receptive to your point of view as well.
2. You'll possibly discover that you are not 100 percent correct (and, dare I say, even wrong) :-), and have learned something extremely valuable. Oh, how often it's happened to me!
Yes, actually feel their point of view, and make their case before making your own. Get into the habit of doing this on a regular basis and you'll become a WINNING WITHOUT INTIMIDATION machine!
Have an awesome WINNING WITHOUT INTIMIDATION week!
Bob Burg
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 27, 2007
A Positive Attitude Definitely Increases Productivity and Employability by Connie Podesta
While employers can teach people to do a job and provide in-service training so employees can update their skills, they can't mentor, teach, or coach employees to have a positive attitude. That's why working on your attitude daily and having a positive impact on your organization, customers, and colleagues is so important to your future employability.
Unfortunately, when asked to define a positive attitude, many employers find it difficult to put into words what they mean. Instead, they use words like "happy" and "enjoyable to be around" when describing a person with a positive attitude. Since our attitude affects our behavior, which in turn is demonstrated by our performance, it's no wonder that attitude is so important in the business world. It determines how we do our jobs.
Some employees may resist this notion, believing that no one has the right to tell them how to think. This is correct. Employers do not have the right to evaluate our inner thoughts and feelings. However, they do have the right to evaluate how we behave as a result of those thoughts and feelings.
Employers and organizations also have the right to expect that an employee's behavior and performance will have a positive impact upon their organization. Why? All would agree that an organization comprised of employees who have a negative influence on their customers and co-workers will not be in business for very long. But organizations whose employees have a positive impact on their co-workers, their customers, and their company will enjoy many years of success.
Separate Attitudes from Actions
Is it possible to display a positive attitude even if you're feeling sad, depressed, or angry? Of course. Employees constantly find themselves in situations where they simply cannot let their internal feelings influence their actions. Put yourself in these situations. Would you like your surgeon to be all thumbs because he was upset with his wife? Or a fireman to drive slowly when you called in an alarm because he was tired? Or your lawyer to argue your case poorly because she didn't feel like talking today? Or the lifeguard to daydream about getting a new job instead of paying attention while your child was swimming? These people are required to behave in a certain, prescribed way regardless of their attitude. And we certainly expect them to do that-no matter what.
But how do you stay enthusiastic and excited about your job if you've been at it for a while and things at work or at home are not going perfectly? Remember, when actors are on stage, they know they must be so good at what they do that their performance will set them apart from the rest of the cast and make them memorable. No matter how famous and successful an actor may be, he or she is always aware of an understudy waiting in the wings, eager to take over the role the moment that actor begins to deliver a performance that is less than top quality.
In today's world of downsizing and layoffs, we all have understudies-people who would love to take our place and play the part the job requires. To remain employable, you must make sure you are one of your organization's "star performers." Your customers also have the right to a star performance because they are your audience. After all, that's really what your paycheck is: a reward for playing your part well. Can your organization count on you, as a professional, to be a star performer?
Now, this doesn't mean you should be phony or just go through the mechanical motions of acting out your part. No employer wants an office full of robots, but they also don't want people who bring their negative feelings to work every day. Think of what a different workplace we could create if everyone came to work and focused on the job at hand instead of allowing our internal attitudes to affect our performance.
To Stay Positive, Avoid Negative People
Is attitude, whether positive or negative, contagious? You bet! From your own experience, think about how you feel when you have to work with a negative person. Do you remember times when someone else's negativity influenced your own performance that day? Even though you may love your job and you're proud of the products and services you deliver, you probably felt that you and your organization weren't doing their best. And if you had to work with a negative person for a long period of time, their poor attitude may have even made you want to quit your job. That's the power a negative attitude can have on us.
If you have to work with negative people, try to limit additional interactions. You are not obligated to carpool with them, go to lunch with them, or spend time with them after work. Part of your responsibility as a professional is to be the kind of employee that others are not trying to get away from, but rather, to be a positive person with whom they enjoy working and seek out.
With two thousand to three thousand people losing their jobs every day, now is not the best time to be perceived as having a negative attitude, so avoid those people who can cast that shadow on you. If you're going to become a positive influence on your co-workers and customers, you must take time to evaluate your interactions with others and their effects on your organization as a whole.
Your Positive Attitude is Your Best Motivation
You may not realize it, but your performance has the power to make or break your organization. Your attitude can be your greatest asset or your greatest liability. Unaware of that, employees often say, "My job is hard work. And my organization doesn't even try to motivate me to do my best." Today's organizations realize that it is not their responsibility to motivate employees because motivation cannot come from the outside. Motivation is "an inside job." This means that employees should not have to be coddled or coerced into working hard and doing an excellent job. A valuable employee, the kind an organization would work hard to hire and retain, is self-motivated.
The bottom line is that today's employers are looking for employees who:
-- Want to work;
-- Enjoy what they do;
-- Take pride in their organization, their products, and their services;
-- Care about their customers and their co-workers;
-- Are the kind of team player others like to be around;
-- Make work a better place by their good humor, dependability, integrity, and their ability to be a positive influence through their words and actions.
And finally, consider this: employers from all over the country believe that attitude is contagious. If that's so, is yours worth catching?
To stay employed, analyze your attitude and determine whether or not you're helping to create a healthy work environment. Do whatever possible to stand out from the rest and be easily recognized as an employee who has a positive influence on your customers, your colleagues, and your organization. By loving your job and playing your part well, your efforts will be rewarded with years of steady employment.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
Connie Podesta is an author, counselor, educator, humorist, playwright, consultant, songwriter, actress and trainer. She radiates a super-charged, high-energy presence that immediately involves people and has them responding to her exciting challenge to reach for the best in themselves!
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February 26, 2007
The Four Universal Principles That Can Bring You Uncommon Success by Loral Langemeier
I talk a lot about having a particular mind set when working on your business. It's the same wealth mind set I learned from my mentor, Bob Proctor. Some of you have seen Bob's stick figure drawings that show how we get the results we do in our lives. Essentially, your thoughts become an idea. That idea causes a particular emotion. The emotion alters your vibration, and the vibration is expressed through action. The actions create the results that show up in your condition, circumstance, and environment. The action in turn causes a reaction that again alters your results. This is the same cycle we run through daily, and it's why a person stuck in poverty stays in poverty, and the person finding incredible deals keeps finding more incredible deals.
The stick figure's "head" is split in two - the conscious and subconscious. The subconscious is by far the larger of the two, and is your power center. Any thought you continuously impress upon your subconscious becomes fixed, or in the words of Michael Roach, "germinate, then expand."
This is where the principles put forth by Roach really intrigue me. I see a lot of truth in these principles, and I'll explain each in my own words.
The Four Principles:
1. Whatever it is you are currently experiencing always matches the general content of thoughts that were at one time impressed upon your subconscious.
2. The strength of the original impression continuously expands in your subconscious until it flowers and forces you to have an experience that directly relates to that impression.
3. No experience of any kind ever happens unless there was an original thought that had been impressed that relates to the experience.
4. Once a thought has been impressed in the subconscious, it must lead to an experience. No impression is ever wasted.
I'll try to relate these principles to a practical application, so you can get a sense of their power. A young girl is told repeatedly that women don't have a good mind for business. This thought is impressed upon her subconscious, and grows throughout her teens. What she sees, and the experiences she has are in alignment with this impression and cause it to grow. She goes through college, finds a job, and moves to an area that is experiencing a real estate boom. However, all the houses she finds are bad deals, or she arrives too late. Her experiences match the impression in her subconscious that she doesn't have a good mind for business.
A second young girl is told that she can do anything she wants, and that she's got a good mind for business. Her experiences serve to reinforce this impression, and by the time she moves to the same area as the first girl, she's already created several businesses for herself. She sees incredible deals all over town, and jumps on them immediately.
Here we have two girls living in the same town. One sees great deals, the other gives up because she can't seem to find any decent deals. One believes she has a knack for business, and the other is convinced she's not good at business. The experiences they have and the circumstances that greet them on a daily basis match whatever has been impressed upon their subconscious minds.
How this Information can Change Your Life:
First, you have to realize that whatever it is you are currently experiencing is a result of thoughts and actions from your past. Current circumstances are no more or less than the expression of what has been impressed upon your subconscious mind. You are simply experiencing what you have prepared yourself to experience.
I see this as very good news, and here's why. If what you're currently experiencing is a result of past thoughts and actions, then doesn't it apply that your future experiences will be a result of your present thoughts and actions? Yes it does!
You may have heard me talk about the importance of being in action, and about compartmentalizing your tasks throughout the day. That is, when it's time to do email, you do email. When it's time to work on a particular project, that's what you do. This requires diligence and sometimes a great deal of practice to stay focused. When you act in this way, you start creating little successes in each part of your life. These successes and the focused attention create NEW impressions upon your subconscious. These new impressions will eventually surface in the form of new experiences.
Think of it a different way, and this will blow your mind. To experience what you want in the future, all you have to do is begin impressing into your subconscious the thoughts that directly relate to that experience today, then acting according to the feelings you have when you impress those thoughts. This is how you create new experiences.
Simply figure out what you want to experience, and work your way back from the experience to determine the thoughts and actions that will create the experience. This always works, without exception. Positive thoughts get reinforced through positive action, and negative thoughts through negative action. It's an incredibly simple concept to understand, but takes a lot of patience and persistence to get right, and you have to stick with it.
Here's a practical example. Say you want to get involved in flipping real estate, but your current experience is that everyone else seems to find the good deals, and that you always get there too late. Look back at your life to examine the thoughts and actions that were impressed upon your subconscious and resulted in your current experience. In "The Diamond Cutter", Roach goes through 46 business problems people face, and identifies the root cause and how to create new impressions.
It's likely that, if you're always behind or left out, you had this image of yourself impressed upon your subconscious early in your life. Maybe your brother or sister got all the attention, or you had to wear his or her old clothes. These thoughts create feelings of inadequacy, resentment, or jealousy. Actions are then based on these feelings, and reinforce the impression of "not good enough".
You have to break the cycle and create new, positive impressions.
What I like about Roach's approach is how much it requires very specific action to create a new impression in your subconscious. People who don't take the time to do a financial baseline or forecast are fueling the impression of lack - lack of time; lack of resources; or lack of money. To create the opposite impression in your subconscious, complete your baseline and forecast as a way of impressing the thought that "there is plenty of time to do what's needed for my business, and I believe I can make my targets."
It's important to understand that the simplest tasks often create the most powerful impressions. Knowing that you have over 60,000 thoughts in a day, what if you took actions throughout the day that required you to have mostly positive thoughts?
In the above example, the person who feels that everyone else gets the good stuff would benefit from having a mini-celebration every time she hears about another person's success. This impresses the idea that there are good deals to be had, and getting them is a very good thing. Yes, it's that subtle, and that easy to create new impressions. Remember to give it time, though.
Creating the impressions that result in building wealth and the expression of your power
1. Examine your current situation and understand what has been impressed upon your subconscious.
2. Create the vision of what you want to experience in the future.
3. Determine the thoughts and actions that will most likely result in those experiences.
4. Define the strategies and tactics necessary to impress the right thoughts and take the right actions.
5. Go into action.
More specifically:
If you haven't already created your 2006 baseline and forecast, do it as soon as possible to nurture the impressions of success.
Take the steps to protect your assets and your business. This helps to create the subconscious impression of your value and worth.
Develop real marketing plans for your business to impress upon your mind your ability to succeed.
Create or further develop your wealth team. Surround yourself with quality people you trust, and you impress upon your subconscious the energy or idea of quality. This results in quality experiences.
Celebrate in the success of your colleagues, and learn to collaborate instead of compete. Collaboration and celebration (and gratitude) create impressions of success in your subconscious, so that you may create future experiences in which you feel celebrated and grateful.
Summary:
These are extremely powerful concepts. Yes, you absolutely need to learn about and exercise the fundamentals of wealth building. Develop your plan and strategy. Create your baseline and entity structuring. But, perhaps most importantly, begin creating the kinds of impressions on your subconscious that will eventually lead you to the experiences you want to have. I am constantly working on my mental conditioning, as should you if you want to join me at the head of the table.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
Loral Langemeier, author, speaker and founder of Live Out Loud is a pioneer in financial coaching who empowers people to build wealth and achieve financial success.
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February 25, 2007
The Criticality of Credibility by Tony Jeary
Dictionary.com defines Credibility as the quality of being believable or trustworthy, or the quality, capability, or power to elicit belief. In the presentation world, Credibility walks hand in hand with Rapport, but is a distinct quality. People will assign you their own rating relative to your power to elicit belief based on a wide range of inputs that include, but are not limited to, what you say at the front of the room on a given day. Some of the unspoken "test questions" include:
1. Does he know what he's talking about? (Understanding of the subject matter, accuracy of facts, understanding of the situation, etc.)
2. Can I take what she says at face value? (Truthfulness, candor, absence of hidden agendas, etc.)
3. Can I trust his recommendations? (Solid logic, consideration of all critical factors, feasibility and practicality, etc.)
We headlined this article "The Criticality of Credibility" simply because your presentation won't get anything done if you don't have Credibility. People may listen politely and even give you a warm (but disingenuous) "good job!" at the end of your pitch, but will NOT do what you've asked if you aren't believable. You will have wasted your time and theirs, and won't have a happy ending.
As with Rapport, work on building your Credibility starts with homework to understand your audience. With a good idea of the participants' backgrounds and issues about the topics you'll be covering, you can identify what needs to go in your "credentials" package for the event at hand.
Here are 8 specific suggestions on what information you may want to convey to build your credibility and how to go about it:
1. Set up your "Authority". Early on, explain why you have the right to talk to them on the topic by highlighting relevant elements of your background:
a. If it's a technical topic and you were trained as an engineer, say so.
b. If you've been working in the field for the last 2 years, say so.
c. If you've studied the subject in depth and interviewed experts, say so.
d. If you don't have direct but do have parallel experience, say something like: "when I was working in (this other field), I had considerable experience in (the topic) that I believe applies here...".
e. If you can arrange to use a Host Introduction to present your "credentials package", you get a bonus in the trust transference from the person handling the introduction.
2. Demonstrate Understanding. Prove that you know what you're talking about by:
a. Quickly recapping the preparation you've done for the session.
b. Using the audience's language. Learn and use the terms your audience knows to facilitate understanding and demonstrate that you took time to prepare. Be careful with acronyms and jargon - the terms can help move you along if all have a shared understanding of the meanings, but can cause you a credibility loss if you're perceived as "speaking in buzzwords".
c. Acknowledge that there may be people in the room that know more than you do about some aspects of the matter at hand, but that your study gives you a good grasp of what needs to be done.
3. Establish Facts Both Verbally and Visually: Identify the source of the information you are using (e.g. "the sales report for the month just ended shows..."; "the data from the field test conducted in Pittsburgh last month indicates..."; "the recent research survey of XXX customers in the Southwest concludes..." Your visual aids should clearly identify the origin of data used in charts and graphs.
4. Defuse Candor Issues: Clear statements of your objectives and desired outcomes can help a lot to avoid questions about hidden agendas. Even some humor (e.g. "of course, your view on this may depend on whether you're buying or selling...") can position you as being honest about your point of view, as can emphasis on finding "win/win" solutions that are compatible with the needs of all stakeholders.
5. Tell the truth. This one is pretty simple. Your audience will never really trust you if they catch you in a lie. Avoid the temptation to pretend to know the answer to a question and fake it. It's better say "I don't know" and find the answer from the group or commit to research the issue after the session.
6. Be yourself. Trying to be someone you're not is almost as bad as telling a lie. It's also a lot more work. You can, however, take up a temporary role to illustrate your understanding of the views of others by using introductory phrases such as:
a. "If I was the parent of a teenage girl, I might be thinking...."
b. "An engineer I spoke to the other day said that we ought to consider...."
c. If we were walking in the shoes of the customer, we might..."
7. Doing what you say you will do. If you say you're starting at 8:30 a.m., then start at 8:30 a.m. If you promise frequent breaks, allow for frequent breaks. If you say you're going to take all questions, do so. If you say you're going to get people out the door by 3:30PM, make it happen.
8. Speak with conviction and enthusiasm. Say it like you mean it, and your audience will believe in your words. If you sound tentative, people will book you as "squishy" and question your commitment on the matter. Eye contact is extremely important.
Establishing solid credibility improves your chances of success in several ways:
a. It works to solve two key tensions (Audience vs. Presenter and Audience vs. Material)
b. It allows the group to listen to what you have to say without having to spend time wondering who you are or where you got your information
c. It sets a "trust" level that will allow people to seriously consider and then act on your recommendations.
d. It builds your reputation for future presentations and everything!
Action Plan:
a. Do your homework before your next presentation - study the topic, get the facts, vet your logic with experts, etc.
b. Know your audience - define a "credentials package" that will set you up as an appropriate authority. If possible arrange for a strong Host Introduction.
c. Rehearse with real people, and ask them to give you candid feedback on things you do and say that impact your credibility.
Tony Jeary - Mr. Presentation - has conducted hundreds of training events worldwide for a variety of clients including Daimler Chrysler, New York Life and Texaco. Among his personal coaching clients are Peter Lowe and the president of Ford Motor Company.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 24, 2007
The Indispensable Quality by Brian Tracy
Dare to go Forward:
Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues because upon it, all others depend." Courage is the chief distinguishing characteristic of the true leader. It is almost always visible in the leader's words and actions. It is absolutely indispensable to success, happiness and the ability to motivate other people to be the best they can be.
Follow through on Your Vision:
In a way, it is easy to develop a big vision for yourself and for the person you want to be. It is easy to commit yourself to living with complete integrity. But it requires incredible courage to follow through on your vision and on your commitments. You see, as soon as you set a high goal or standard for yourself, you will run into all kinds of difficulties and setbacks.
Refuse to Compromise:
You will be surrounded by temptations to compromise your values and your vision. You will feel an almost irresistible urge to "get along by going along." Your desire to earn the respect and cooperation of others can easily lead to the abandonment of your principles, and here is where
courage comes in.
Stick to Your Principles:
Courage combined with integrity is the foundation of character. The first form of courage is your ability to stick to your principles, to stand for what you believe in and to refuse to budge unless you feel right about the alternative. Courage is also the ability to step out in faith, to launch out into the unknown and then to face the inevitable doubt and uncertainty that accompany every new venture.
Avoid the Comfort Zone:
Most people are seduced by the lure of the comfort zone. This can be likened to going out of a warm house on a cold, windy morning. The average person, when he feels the storm swirling outside his comfort zone, rushes back inside where it's nice and warm. But not the true leader. The true leader has the courage to step away from the familiar and comfortable and to face the unknown with no guarantees of success. It is this ability to "boldly go where no man has gone before" that distinguishes you as a leader from the average person. This is the example that you must set if you are to rise above the average. It is this example that inspires and motivates other people to rise above their previous levels of accomplishment as well.
The Attack of Alexander the Great:
Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, was one of the most superb leaders of all time. He became king at the age of 19, when his father, Philip II, was assassinated. In the next 11 years, he conquered much of the known world, leading his armies against numerically superior forces.
Lead the Action:
Yet, when he was at the height of his power, the master of the known world, the greatest ruler in history to that date, he would still draw his sword at the beginning of a battle and lead his men forward into the conflict. He insisted on leading by example. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome. The sight of Alexander charging forward so excited and motivated his soldiers that no force on earth could stand before them.
Action Exercises:
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, set big goals for yourself and force yourself out of the comfort zone by acting boldly - even when there is no guarantee of success. Go boldly where no one has ever gone before.
Second, resolve to act quickly and decisively when you are confronted with a difficult or dangerous situation. Dare to go forward. Practice audacity in all things. Acting with courage builds your courage and confidence higher and higher.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 23, 2007
Create That Winning Feeling by Bob Proctor
I believe we would all agree that having a winning feeling is prerequisite to achieving outstanding results. A person can't possibly expect to win if they're constantly focusing on failure! The real secret here is to capture that winning feeling of success as often as you can to create the environment necessary to succeed.
If you've been a little down in the dumps, feeling insecure or perhaps not feeling as confident in your ability as you'd like, I have a great tip for you. My suggestion to anyone looking for a success track to run on, or to a person who is looking to get back on one, is to start capitalizing on short-term victories. That means specifically focus on tasks you can achieve daily. The principle is to start with an adversity over which you can succeed, and gradually take on more and more difficult tasks. Nothing succeeds like success.
Another technique used by many people in developing or maintaining a winning feeling is what we call the reflection method. Think back during a time where you were really successful at something we all have times to which we can relate. It could have been a sale, a particular speech, a school play, or standing up to the town bully. Each one of us can reflect back on a moment in time to recapture that winning feeling.
Professional sports coaches often replay winning games of the past for their team prior to a big game to stimulate and create a winning feeling!
Years ago, a good friend of mine had left his job and a company that he had worked with for many years. He was one of the top VPs with his company and had done extremely well. He had left because he wanted to start his own business. I told him he could use one of our offices until such time as he was ready to open up his own office.
In any event, I happened to be in the office one afternoon and Grant, who normally was very upbeat and positive, was really having a difficult time. After a few moments of small talk, it became apparent what the problem was. Grant had hit the terror barrier and the possibility of starting his own company was overwhelming him he just didn't think he could do it. Here's a man who had risen to the top of his field, made a high six-figure income for years and yet was still having doubts as to his ability to start his own company.
I asked Grant to go home, get a notebook and start to write down all of his accomplishments, as far back as he could remember. The look on his face was priceless I'm sure he thought I'd lost my mind. I told him that the accomplishment could be small or large it didn't really matter. The point was to focus on something positive. I still remember him asking, "Well, what if I only fill half a page." I just smiled and asked him to do his best and start writing.
Monday morning came and Grant was back in the office with a notebook full of accomplishments. I smiled and said, "You must have been fairly confident, you picked up a good sized notebook!" We both had a good laugh. Grant went on to build a multi-million dollar financial planning company and later franchised the operation to extend across Canada and the US!
This is a great exercise for anyone needing a bit of a boost. What would give you a winning feeling of pride and satisfaction? Remember a winning feeling is a confident feeling and one that forgets misses, and reinforces successful attempts.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 22, 2007
As We Sow, So Shall We Harvest by Denis Waitley (excerpted from The Seeds of Greatness Treasury)
Our true rewards in life will depend on the quality and amount of contribution we make. From the Scriptures, to science, to psychology, to business, the documentation is the same. "As we sow, we reap." Life is an unfailing boomerang. What we throw out, will come back full circle.
The way we can build self-reliance is to recognize the number of alternative choices we have in a free society. And for every choice we make, there is a consequence or reward of that decision that we must acknowledge as our responsibility. Gods Law of Cause and Effect is forever the ruler.
During debriefing interviews, returning POWs from the wars in which we have fought during the past century said that what they missed most of all was their freedom of choice. There are two primary choices in our lives: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them.
To attain emotional security, each of us must learn to develop two critical capabilities: the ability to live with uncertainty, and the ability to delay immediate gratification in favor of long-range goals. Losers let life happen to them. Winners make it happen for themselves and others. Losers engage in pleasurable activities, with no purpose or result in mind. Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension-relieving. Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.
A number of research studies during the past decade indicate that the happiest, most well-adjusted individuals are those who believe they have a strong measure of control over their lives. They choose more appropriate responses to what occurs and they stand up to inevitable changes and daily setbacks with less apprehension. They learn from their past mistakes, rather than reinforce or repeat them. They spend time taking action in the present, rather than fearing what might happen in the future.
To be self-reliant adults, we need to get some guidelines:
Be different, if it means higher personal and professional standards.
Be different, if it means being more gracious and considerate to others.
Be different, if it means being cleaner, neater and better groomed than the group.
Be different, if it means putting more time and effort into all you do.
And be different, if it means taking the calculated risk. The greatest risk in life is to wait for and depend upon others for your own security. The greatest security is to plan and act, and take the risk that will ultimately ensure your personal freedom and independence.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 21, 2007
Rules for a Perfect Day Author: Tom Hopkins
Just for today...
I will try to live and delight in the reality of being alive. My past is forever gone, my future an uncertainty, so I will be happy and thankful for each moment.
I will not allow negative input into my mind...happiness is a choice and I choose to be happy.
I will be thankful to God for my health, my loved ones, my business, and my country. I will also be thankful for any pain in crisis that helps me grow because God has said, be thankful in all things.
I will take care of my body, realizing the importance of the words moderation and balance, knowing that as I bring my flesh under control, how much easier it will be to control my will and my actions.
I will treat everyone I meet today the way I would like to be treated. I will strive to have them like themselves better when theyre with me.
I will avoid gossip, jealousy, and negative thinking. Most people dont think about what they think about. Today, I will make a conscious effort to hold loving and beautiful thoughts in my mind.
I will write down my priorities; thinking of my loved ones and my responsibilities. I may not get everything done, but I will do the most productive thing possible at every given moment.
I will strive to humble myself before others, controlling my ego and making other people feel important.
I will spend time in study, learning how to better serve my fellowman. I know my growth in all areas is in direct proportion to the service I give to others.
I will not take rejection personally. I am first and foremost in the people business and, thus, realize they can only reject my proposal and not me. I will keep on keepin on.
I will spend time in prayer, asking God to let others see the light of His shining love through me.
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 20, 2007
The Day Before You Go on Vacation by Zig Ziglar (Excerpted from the 2001 Jim Rohn Weekend Seminar with special guests Zig Ziglar, Jeffrey Gitomer and More!)
How do you achieve employment security in a world where there is no employment security? I start with a question. How many of you consider yourself to be honest and at least reasonably intelligent? Can I see your hands, please? Okay. How many of you honest, intelligent people, as a general rule, get about twice as much work done on the day before you go on vacation as you normally get done? Can I see your hands, please? Well Glad to see so many honest folks. Now I am going to ask you a long question, so stay with me all the way through. If we can figure out why and learn how and repeat it everyday without working any longer or any harder, does it make sense that we will be more valuable to ourselves, our company, our family and our community? Does that make any sense at all? The answer is "Yes".
I want to make it crystal clear that I am going to be talking to you about you, not going to be talking about anybody that's not here, but to you about you. You have already confessed that you are honest and intelligent. Now how many of you on the night before the day before vacation, got your laptop out or a sheet of paper out and said, "Now tomorrow, I've got to do this and this" How many of you did that? Can I see your hand? We coined a very clever name for that. We call that goal setting. So, you set your goal. Then you got them organized in the order of their importance.
Let me encourage you to make one slight change there. If you have got to go give Charlie the worst possible news, and he is the 5th on the list of gotta do's, when you finish the first one, the next order on your mind is "Gotta talk to Charlie."
Finish the second one, "Gotta talk to Charlie." See Charlie first. Get the disagreeable things and difficult things out of the way first. Free your mind, so you can concentrate on what else you have got to do. You got it organized. You accepted responsibility. You made the commitments. You know some people are about as committed as a kamikaze pilot on his thirty-ninth mission. They just don't make it a serious thing.
Now commitment is important whether it is to get your education, make one more call, whether it's to keep the marriage together, whatever. Commitment is important because when you hit the wall, not if, when you hit the wall, if you made a commitment, your first thought is, "How do I solve the problem?" If you haven't made the commitment, your first thought is, "How do I get out of this deal?" And we find literally what we are looking for. When you make that commitment, things happen. It shows that you really care about the other people there. It demonstrates that you are dependable. Even though you're leaving town, you're not going to leave an unfinished task for the other people to do. Your integrity comes through.
Now the beautiful thing about integrity, when integrity is part of you as a person and is part of your life, you do the right thing. When you do the right thing, you have nothing to feel guilty about. With integrity you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide. Now think about it, with guilt and fear both removed from your back, doesn't it just make sense that you can function more effectively? You will be freer to do the right thing always. Not only that, but that's the way you take steps up. You know Emerson said, "If you would lift me up, you've got to be on higher ground". And truer words were never spoken. You also, when you look at this, what you decide to do is you're going to work smarter; and you're optimistic you're going to get it done.
How many of you ever participated in organized, team sports? Can I see your hands? How many of you ever went home one night and said to your parents, "Mom or dad, you can't believe the game plan the coaches worked out. Man alive, it was incredible. We're going to kill those suckers tomorrow. You can count on it." You were optimistic simply because you had a plan of action and so you were optimistic that the next day you were going to be able to get all of these things done.
Now some of us are born optimistic, and some are born pessimistic. For your information the 1828 Noah Webster does not have the word pessimist in it. It has the word optimist. Now I am a natural born optimist. I really am. I would take my last two dollars and buy a money belt with it. That's the way I'm put together; but the good news is if you are a natural born pessimist, you definitely, emphatically, positively can change. You are a pessimist by choice because you are what you are and where you are because of what's gone into your mind. You can change what you are; you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind.
Anyway, the next day, you not only got there on time, you were a little early, and you immediately got started. You didn't stand around and say, "Well, I wonder what I ought to do now." You couldn't wait to get after it. You wanted to do the right thing, so you really got started in a big hurry. You were enthusiastic about it. You were highly motivated. You decisively move from one task to another. Now I am going to camp on this one for just a moment.
As a general rule, how many of you have noticed that people who have nothing to do want to do it with you? Can I see your hands? Okay. Now, on this day before vacation, when you finish one task, you move with purpose to another one. And people will not block you for that two-minute gossip session or four-minute or five-minute or six-minutes. I am absolutely convinced, no doubt about it that the listener has more to do with the gossiping than the speaker because if you don't listen, you're not going to have the guy or gal talking to you. They just aren't. When you move with purpose, people will step aside and let you go.
I will absolutely guarantee you, you will save a minimum of an hour a day in two-minute, three-minute, five minute things. An hour a day is five hours per week is 250 hours per year. That is six weeks of your life that you've wasted and six weeks of combination time that you have wasted with the people who were giving the gossip to you. What could you do with six extra weeks every year? You focus on the issue at hand. You are disciplined to stay with it until you finish, and the neat thing about discipline, Cybil Stanton gave me the best definition of it I have ever heard in her book, The Twenty Five Hour Woman. "Discipline isn't on your back needling you with imperatives. It is at your side encouraging you with incentives."
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 19, 2007
The Two Choices we Face by Jim Rohn
Each of us has two distinct choices to make about what we will do with our lives. The first choice we can make is to be less than we have the capacity to be. To earn less. To have less. To read less and think less. To try less and discipline ourselves less. These are the choices that lead to an empty life. These are the choices that, once made, lead to a life of constant apprehension instead of a life of wondrous anticipation.
And the second choice? To do it all! To become all that we can possibly be. To read every book that we possibly can. To earn as much as we possibly can. To give and share as much as we possibly can. To strive and produce and accomplish as much as we possibly can. All of us have the choice.
To do or not to do. To be or not to be. To be all or to be less or to be nothing at all.
Like the tree, it would be a worthy challenge for us all to stretch upward and outward to the full measure of our capabilities. Why not do all that we can, every moment that we can, the best that we can, for as long as we can?
Our ultimate life objective should be to create as much as our talent and ability and desire will permit. To settle for doing less than we could do is to fail in this worthiest of undertakings.
Results are the best measurement of human progress. Not conversation. Not explanation. Not justification. Results! And if our results are less than our potential suggests that they should be, then we must strive to become more today than we were the day before. The greatest rewards are always reserved for those who bring great value to themselves and the world around them as a result of who and what they have become.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 18, 2007
Ten Steps To Goal Getting by Zig Ziglar
These ten steps will help you achieve your goals in 2007.
1. Make the commitment to reach your goal. "One person with a commitment is worth a hundred who only have an interest." Mary Crowley.
2. Commit yourself to detailed accountability. Record your progress toward your goals every night, and list the six most important things you need to do the next day. Daily discipline is the key to reaching your goals.
3. Build your life on a sold foundation of honesty, character, integrity, trust, love, and loyalty. This foundation will give you an honest shot at reaching any goal you have set properly.
4. Break your intermediate and long-range goals into increments.
5. Be prepared to change. You can't control the weather, inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Change your decision to move toward a goal carefully--but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.
6. Share your "give-up" goals (i.e., give up smoking, being rude, procrastinating, being late, eating too much, etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they're going to encourage you.
7. Become a team player. Remember: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
8. See the reaching. In your imagination see yourself receiving that diploma, getting that job or promotion, making that speech, moving into the home of your dreams, achieving that weight-loss goal, etc.
9. Each time you reach a goal your confidence will grow so that you can do bigger and better things. After accomplishing any goal, record it in your journal, Weekly Planner or Palm Pilot.
10. Remember, what you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals--what you will become is the winner you were born to be!
Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement E-zine
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February 17, 2007
Wherever You Are, Be There by Jim Rohn
One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or to create unique lifestyle is because we have not yet mastered the art of being.
While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home.
We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren't absorbing the message.
As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities. We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by.
We go through the day rather than getting something from the day. We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.
Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer. Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
Reproduced with permission from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine.
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February 16, 2007
How to Put a Little Z.I.P. Into Your Relationships by Chris Widener
Through the years I have spent hundreds of hours working with people in their relationships: Marriages, friendships, working relationships and social relationships. Through it all I have seen some wonderful things and some terrible things. It truly is the good, the bad and the ugly! But I have been able to find three core elements of successful relationships. These are things that, when done over time, begin to create for you the kinds of relationships that you truly desire. They are the kinds of relationships you have always dreamed of. So I wanted to give you a good way to remember some of the essentials with an acronym I have used to keep my mind on three important elements of relationships in my own life. It is the acronym Z.I.P. Z.I.P. stands for three things you can do - and begin to do immediately - to improve any and all of your relationships. Here are some thoughts on how to put a little Z.I.P. into your relationships!
Put some Zest into your relationships.
Cultivate more Intimacy in your relationships.
Develop a Purpose in your relationships.
Now, let's take a closer look at each of these three:
Put some Zest into Your Relationships.
By Zest, I primarily mean fun. Relationships were meant to be fun! We wouldn't have been made with the capacity to have fun if relationships weren't supposed to have a little zest in them! Think about it: Don't you usually start out most healthy relationships with a lot of fun times? Whether it is going out to dinner or a ballgame, or spending time playing a game or even just a lively talk, you usually have fun as a major part of the relationship. Fun is some of the glue that bonds the relationship. However, as life goes on, specifically in a marriage, but potentially in all relationships really, the fun starts to go by the wayside. More and more it is about getting the job done, whatever the job may be. To restore the relationship, to put a little zip into it, we need to reintroduce the idea of "zest."
Cultivate more Intimacy in Your Relationships.
First a couple of clarifications: One, I don't just mean intimacy in the common term of sexual intimacy. I mean for all intents and purposes, taking your relationship to a deeper level. Second, I don't mean that you have to start doing group hugs with your workmates or having revelation sessions where the tissue flows freely. What I do mean is that every relationship that is mutually satisfying has a level of depth to it that provides meaning. This is really what the search is for in our relationships -- meaning.
Remember when you first started your relationship, whether with your spouse or friend. All of that time was spent opening up, telling who you are, where you were from, and about your likes and dislikes. There was a deep sense of satisfaction with the relationship - that is why it continued. You liked who they were and you enjoyed being known by them. But then something happens. We get to a certain level and the pursuit of depth ends. We stop sharing feeling, likes and dislikes. We stop sharing joys and dreams and fears. Instead, we settle into routines. The daily grind takes over and we stop knowing one another and we simply exist together. Now don't get me wrong, every time you get together doesn't have to be deep. Remember, I am the one who advocates in the previous paragraphs just having plain old fun sometimes. But there is a need for regular times of intimate connection where we go deeper with others.
Develop a Purpose in Your Relationships.
The most meaningful relationships we have are those that are held together by a common purpose and vision for what the relationship can accomplish, not only for those involved but also for a greater good. Let's face it, when people have a common purpose they feel like they are part of a team and they feel bound together in that relationship. Even when people may be disappointed in the people they are in relationship with, if they have a purpose, such as raising children, they are much more likely to stick it out. Purpose creates bonds. So what happens if we are proactively involved in seeking out a common purpose with those we want a relationship with or those with whom we already have a relationship, but would like to see it go to a deeper level? Well, it gets better and stronger. Think about your strongest relationships. Aren't they centered around at least one area of purpose or a common goal? What about a relationship that has cooled? Think back and see if perhaps you used to have a common purpose but it has gone by the wayside.
So let's recap: You want your relationships to show a little "zip"? Then put a little Z.I.P. in them:
Put some Zest into your relationships.
Cultivate more Intimacy in your relationships.
Develop a Purpose in your relationships.
Chris Widener
Reproduced with permission from the Chris Widener Ezine
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