Archive for the 'Motivation' Category

As you are walking down the corridor at work, you turn the corner and there in front of you… on a silver platter… is a plate full of brownies. They stare back at you, covered in their powdered sugar glory. They taunt you with ever step. You know you want one, but the 700 calories of sugar, flour, and oil will surely ruin your diet.

What do you do…???

You are in the check-out line at your favorite hardware store and you notice on the shelf to the left the All in Wonder Tool Set. This just isn’t any tool set… no… the tools in this set can fix that leaky faucet, hang the new curtains, and magically fix the broken sliding glass door. This is the solution to your problems… but at $295 it might just break your budget… better pull out the credit card…

What do you do..???

The holidays have been rough and you notice the spare tire growing around your middle (too many brownies?). All of a sudden a new infomercial comes on the TV for the save-all, end-all, exercise system. This baby has it all, power rods, adjustable seat, multi function, and four easy payments of $199. Just four easy payments… you glance at your gut and then reach for the phone and your wallet.

What do you do…???

The impulse to do something right now is overwhelming. You need to make a decision and make it now. Do you brush off that small little voice that says you shouldn’t do it and grab the credit card…???

Or do you…

Count To Ten

Do you take this simple step and give yourself time to think… to make a logical decision… to match the decision with your budget and with your goals…

Or do you fire the impulse and just go for it… and worry about it tomorrow.

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Pounds?

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Credit Card Bills?

Do You… Count to Ten or Count the Calls from the Loan Company?

It’s Your Decision…

Once you Count to Ten you may want to use the Desktop Decision Maker to help you make the right choice.

Just remember… you’ll thank yourself in January for your thoughtful decisions today.

 
Blink! The phone rings… it’s your boss and she wants you to sign on to a new 3 month project and she needs your answer now.

Blink! The e-mail notifier pops up on your computer screen… it’s an e-mail from a company selling online management courses and their latest course is now 50% off… if you act now.

Blink! Your fellow employee Bob pokes his head in the door… He says in a reassuring voice, “Remember that Toastmasters is meeting today at lunch in conference room A, I hope you can make it.”

In each case above, you need to make a decision and on average you’ll probably take about 3 seconds to make it. Yes or No … it won’t take long. The real question is… will your decision help you reach your goals?

Goals? You do have goals don’t you? You have spent the hour with pen and paper and written down the top 100 things you want to accomplish in life before you die? Or are they still locked away in your mind?

Surely you want to be featured on Jay Leno, and spend a few minutes on the Today show. You definitely want to climb a tall mountain and run in the New York Marathon. Most assuredly a job promotion is on your list. How about shaking hands with world leaders or speaking to a crowd of thousands about a cause you care about? And don’t forget, you certainly want to write a book!

Three seconds is all it takes…

Three seconds can make all the difference…

Three seconds can change your life… unless…

1. You give up before trying
2. Shun the challenge
3. Decide to stick with the status quo
4. Shirk responsibility
5. Do just the minimum required
6. Avoid taking action… out of fear

Author Les Parrott has written an amazing book on this very short subject. Three Seconds is the title and what you do in that time period can have a great effect on your future and your goals.

Over the next few days we’ll explore Dr. Parrott’s new book and see how three seconds can really change your life. In the meantime… you have written some of those goals down… haven’t you?

In our continuing series on John Maxwell’s book, Becoming a Person of Influence, we find chapter six on mentoring and enlarging other people. John explains that we must build others up and help them reach their goals. We should share our time and talents with others and motivate them to do better.

Joel Osteen in his book, Become a Better You, brings up a great point about enlarging people. He says..

Remember your thoughts do not bless anybody but you…

The idea of this statement is that we need to let others know what we are thinking. We need to make the phone calls and write the e-mails to let people know when they are doing a great job. If we keep it to ourselves, the other person is not built up and consequently does not receive the blessing.

If I see you doing a great presentation, I need to stop by afterwards and give you a word of encouragement. If I read your blog post, and it captures my interest, I need to comment that you did a great job.

Simple words of encouragement can really help someone move to the next level in their career. They can help others take a leap of faith and start a new business.

This is an area that I have been focusing on in the past few weeks. Trying to learn how to better communicate with people. I realize that time commitments and my perfectionist streak hinder me from making quick replies to e-mail or leaving a quick comment on a blog.

Joel’s statement got me thinking… isn’t it better to send a short note saying "great job," than not sending a more elaborate note because I don’t have time to write it.

Rather than a two paragraph work of literary art, how about if I just leave a one sentence comment on someone’s blog? I can’t tell you how many of those two paragraph masterpieces I’ve had in my head that never were written.

Hmmm… how about a paraphrase… A few words written are much better than a perfect paragraph in my head…

When I was in second grade I was a very shy kid. The thought of sharing in front of the class was pretty scary. But I had a great teacher named Mrs. Reyer who was also a great coach. Her motto was “Yes You Can!” I’ll never forget one autumn afternoon in class. We had to stand up in front of the class and give a report about a former president.

John Adams was my subject, and suddenly I was called on to stand and deliver. Mrs. Reyer looked at me with an encouraging smile on her face and motioned for me to start. I stood straight up and with a loud voice shared about the second president of the United States.

Like a track coach during a race, Mrs. Reyer coached me to victory that day. Her encouraging gestures during my speech energized me. When I was done speaking, she said something to me that I never forgot. “John, that was a great presentation, someday you will be a great politician or public speaker.” For a seven year old kid, those words were gold. That day I experienced victory… victory over the fear of sharing in class.

Having faith in other people and helping them experience victory is the third tenet in John Maxwell’s book, Becoming a Person of Influence. John covers a lot of territory in this chapter but the one thing that stood out was that we should help others by experiencing some wins together. John explains…

“Coming alongside others to help them experience some wins with you gives them reasons to believe they will succeed. In the process they will experience victory. That’s when incredible things begin to happen in their lives.”

When People Sense Victory

• They sacrifice to succeed
• They look for ways to win
• They become energized
• They follow the game plan
• They help other teams members

When People Sense Defeat

• They give as little as possible
• They look for excuses
• They become tired
• They forsake the game plan
• They hurt others

Years ago when I first got into outside sales, I had an incredible sales manager named Gary Murphy. Making cold calls is never easy, but Gary had a great way with people. He spent a few days working with me and he helped me experience the thrill of closing a sale.

Gary had a positive attitude and always looked for a way to help his customers. His technique was win-win and more often than not we would walk out of a new prospect with a smile and an order. At the end of the day, I was energized. That energy translated to a much better attitude on my part and a large increase in sales.

When people believe in you there is an incredible power that fills you up. Suddenly the impossible becomes possible. Great coaches will help you visualize success.

John gives four action points to help us have faith in others…

1. Find a Strength. Instead of looking at weaknesses look for strengths in others. Find one that can be nurtured. Point it out to them and offer ways for them to use it. (A great book on the subject that offers an online strengths test is Strengths Finder by Tom Rath)

2. Build on Past Successes. If you have to give someone a difficult or challenging task, take time to recall their past successes. This will give them encouragement for the future and help turn a demanding situation into a positive one.

3. Help Others Overcome Defeat. If you have friends or colleagues that have recently experience a defeat of some kind take time to talk with them about it. Be a good listener and when you are done make sure you value them and let them know that you believe strongly in them.

4. Start off Right. The next time you recruit new people for your club or organization, start the relationships off right. Instead of waiting until they prove themselves, make it a point to express your faith in them before they give you results. You be pleased by their desire to live up to your expectations.

Make someone’s day today… have a little faith in them.

Technorati Tags: John Maxwell, Faith, Strengths

Here are ten simple things that you can do today to improve your life and help you reach your goals. Pick one of them and take deliberate action to complete it today. You’ll find that action equals results.

1. Take A Different Route To Work: See something new, turn a different corner, and see a different neighborhood. They say that variety is the spice of life and taking a new route actually stimulates your brain. Researchers find that doing this routinely helps the mind stay active and actually helps it learn and remember better.
2. Walking: Turn your walk into an effective interval aerobic workout. When walking outside on the street, walk to the first light pole, then run or jog to the second. Again walk to the third and run to the fourth. Keep this interval up and you’ll keep your heart rate up with a minimal impact on your body. You’ll burn 30-40% more calories with this simple twist.
3. Reduce Caffeine: Next time you go to Starbucks or other coffee shop order a half-caff instead of a full strength coffee. After a few more trips order a third-caff and continue that for a few days. Finally wean yourself to straight decaff. This will allow you to get off caffeine without the usual headaches. Tuning your caffeine intake is a good thing to do every few months.
4. Reduce Carbs & Calories: One of the easiest ways to reduce both carbohydrates and calories at a meal is to eat your sandwich or burger open-faced. Just remove the top bun with all the high calorie mayo and throw it away (or take it home for your dog). Enjoy your burger open faced or bend the bottom bun in half and make a burger “taco” or “gyro.” You’ll reduce about 1/3 of your calories and actually have a tastier sandwich.
   
5. Get Up Earlier: Set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier tonight and enjoy more productivity tomorrow. As the days go by, slowly set the alarm clock earlier and earlier in 5 minute increments. You’ll soon find you have an extra hour to get things done.
   
6. Set Goals Today: Download our free goal setting toolkit and write down some achievable short and long term goals Today. Don’t wait until tomorrow… tomorrow never comes (when it does come it’s actually called today). Keep these cards on your desk or in your car where you’ll see them on a daily basis. You’ll soon find that the act of writing them down is probably the hardest thing you’ll have to do to achieve them.
7. Drink More Water: When you get up tomorrow morning, start the day with a large glass of water. Have another large glass with each meal throughout the day. This will give you at least four glasses per day out of the recommended eight. Adding more water to your diet will help you naturally lose weight and you’ll feel better if you are properly hydrated.
8. Call A Friend: Download our deliberate actions card-set and print out a page on Avery business card stock. Break the cards apart and write down a few names on the individual cards. Make a deliberate goal to take action on one of them today. The easiest is the phone call or e-mail card. Pick someone you haven’t talked to in a while. You’ll be amazed how this simple action will make your day.
9. Play The Productivity Game: If you are trying to get things done around the house you might find it helpful to play the productivity game with a spouse or other family member. Put some money on the line and let them draw a card. In fifty minutes you’ll see some real progress. It’s a fast and fun way to get going on a lazy Saturday morning.
   
10. Weightlifting: If you do weight training as part of your regular exercise routine try this little trick next time you work-out. Count one to five on the upward stroke and one to five down. This motion keep you going smoothly and slowly. You’ll find you get a lot more workout for your time spent.

Technorati Tags: motivation, productivity, fitness

I love to listen to Audio Books. Over the past year I have downloaded over 35 business titles, and have enjoyed then while driving, running and working out. The amount of shared knowledge on these volumes has been amazing. Yet there is something missing from the whole equation. Even though the titles contained information on changing my life in many ways… my life remains very much the same as it has always been.

There have been some standout books and probably a half dozen that I’ve taken action on. The majority of the information, while interesting, has been processed by my brain and mostly forgotten. This is a sobering fact with learning, that if we don’t do something (take action) with what we learned, the knowledge is slowly lost.

This is the premise of Ken Blanchard’s new audio book, Know Can Do. Mr. Blanchard teamed up with Paul J. Meyer and Dick Ruhe to answer the question “Why don’t I do what I know I should do?” The book is written in Blanchard’s famous “fable” format and gets quickly to the heart of the problem.

In our modern world with a myriad of communication sources we are over-saturated with information on a daily basis. The TV blares out the latest news, sports and weather information. We then pick up the remote and flip over to HGTV and find out the latest home decorating techniques. A few more clicks has us on the food network with someone creating a scrumptious gourmet meal. Yet the only action most of take while sitting on the same old couch watching these shows is to eat some junk food out of a bag.

Ken talks about information overload and the fact that most people that attend his seminars and read his books never do anything with what they have learned. He has come up with some simple techniques to overcome this learning-forgetting cycle that so many of us experience.

His number one technique is to focus on just a few things, instead of being a seminar junkie and attending seminar after seminar and reading book after book. He suggests reading a book at least four times through and practicing spaced repetition. His tip to avoid information overload is learning less more, not more less. This is a book that should be required reading for learners of all types.

On a personal level, I have found that audio books give me a great preview of information and fill a usual unproductive time like driving with learning. But if I really want to take action on a subject I need to listen more than once and many times it’s necessary to pick up the written volume for reference.

Three books quickly come to mind that I’ve listened through multiple times and have picked up the corresponding printed book for reference. Here are three that have caused me to take action in the last few months…

Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath. This is a communicators bible. There is so much good information in this book with a simple checklist to see if your material will “Stick” in your audience’s mind. A must read for speakers, presenters, and marketers from all subject areas.

The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. If you are looking for a quick way to simplify your life and have more time to do the things you want, look no further. Tim Ferriss is the master of efficiency. He will get to the bottom of a problem and offer the quickest and most efficient solution. I was amazed at his answers to seemingly overwhelming daily problems such as e-mail overload, phone interruptions, and the crush of junk mail. Don’t end up in the Red BMW… read this book!

How To Connect In Business In 90 Seconds Or Less by Nicholas Boothman. I listened through this book for the second time on a driving trip last month. I found myself replaying different sections and doing some of the simple exercises over and over. Nick is a great speaker and this book is chocked full of great tips for communicating with people. This is one of the most practical and useful books you can buy if you are in sales, marketing, or just want to network with people.

Why not take a deliberate action today… Know… Can… Do…

Technorati Tags: Learning, Ken Blanchard