Archive for the 'Personal Development' 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.

I’m an avid fan of Business oriented audio books. I listen to them almost every day while driving or exercising. Quite a few are resident on my new iTouch.

Audio books provide Learning and Entertainment at the stroke of the play button. If you don’t have an iPod or other MP3 player, you can buy them in CD format and play them in your cars CD player.

In the past year I’ve listened to over 50 business titles, which works out to thousands of written pages in paper bound books. I’ve raved about audio books for the past two years and even developed another blog around them. I thought I knew all there was to know about them… until…

Until my wife and I took a driving trip from Southern California to Seattle, Washington. Our car has an XM radio which provided satellite radio coverage throughout the trip. I brought along my iPod with a cadre of audio book business titles and we had one additional item that a friend sent along.

This item was housed in a colorful little box and I didn’t realize the magical power it contained until half way through the trip. On our way back from Seattle, we open the package, undid the shrink wrap and popped the contents into our CD player.

The item was a Fiction Based Audio Book from Carl Hiaasin.

This magical little book did something that my wife and I had never experienced before…

It cut our perceived travel time in half.

This book was so interesting and the characters so outlandish, that it took us from the 5 freeway in Washington state and transported us to a small town in Florida. The freeway disappeared and the everglades appeared in our minds. Hours passed and the book drew us further in with mystery and intrigue.

Dear readers… I have never experienced anything like this before. It was like we were traveling hundreds of miles an hour. The time flew by and suddenly I was aware that we weren’t in Washington anymore. As I saw the sign that said welcome to Oregon, I realized that this book had transformed our trip.

Instead of dreading the 18 hour journey, we now found ourselves transformed by the voice of the narrator, and we had a hard time stopping since we both wanted to know what was coming next.

The audio book was about 6 hours in length and we listened to it in two or three sessions over the first day. It cut hours of perceived time from our travels and made an otherwise boring trip into an exciting adventure.

If you travel often by car, bus, or plane be sure to pick up an iPod and download some fiction based audio books. One book that I can highly recommend to all audiences, especially if you have kids along is Carl Hiaasin’s book Hoot. A story about a middle school boy and his adventures in Trace Middle School in humid Coconut Grove, Florida.

Beware… Once the barefooted running boy runs past you in the story… you won’t be able to stop listening!

Riddle me this… What is scarier?…

1. Driving an Indy Race Car at 230 miles per hour
2. Dancing on TV in front of millions of viewers

While both are scary, only Indy car racing can kill you on any lap. Yet for me I would rather take my chances in a race car than humiliate myself in front of millions of people with my two left feet.

Helio Castroneves has overcome both to become a two time Indianapolis 500 race winner and now the winner of the Dancing with the Stars dance competition. Helio is an amazing person and his performance on this popular TV show these last few weeks has been a real inspiration to millions of viewers.

Helio, a 32 year old Brazilian race car driver, showed what it takes to overcome fear, both on the track and now on the stage. He faced fear in the eye and focused instead on winning.

Helio showed…

1. Vision: He knew what he wanted and he figured out a path to get there. In racing it was the coveted Indy 500 trophy and kissing the bricks at that famous racetrack. In dancing, it was the Mirrorball trophy. In short… Helio wanted to win!
2. Passion: Helio showed that he wanted to become the best he could be. Whether it is driving or dancing he exhibited incredible passion every step of the way. That is what makes him so exciting to watch. Without passion, he would have been just another dancer. From his bright yellow suit to his huge jump across the stage he showed he had the passion to win.
3. Determination: Dancing and driving are full of setbacks, and winning means overcoming them and learning from them. Helio and his dance partner, Julianne Hough, showed they had the determination to overcome a bad dance or a stubborn judge. Instead of getting down or letting fear overtake him, Helio pushed on with his signature smile and the attitude to do whatever it would take to make the next dance better.
4. Personality: Helio showed that winning is about being the best you can be… not trying to be someone else. With his smiling personality and glowing attitude the fans really got behind him. One week, he tried to play the bad guy, with a serious look and a bad attitude… it didn’t work. The judges scores reflected this. He learned from this and during the rest of the competition his true personality came out.

I really enjoyed the Dancing with The Stars program this year. Every week was about people showing what passion, practice, and determination can produce. Marie Osmond showed incredible courage after she fainted on stage one week and experienced the death of her father a few weeks later. At 48 years old, she made it to the finals and truly showed that age is not a factor to true greatness.

Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls showed what practice and determination can produce. With almost perfect moves dance after dance, her and her partner Maksim had the highest judges scores throughout the competition. Her performances were truly inspiring and they took her to the final round.

Cheetah girl, Sabrina Bryan, brought some amazing talent to the competition but showed how important personality and communication is to winning. One week her fans took it for granted that she would be in the finals and didn’t bother to call in and vote. Since the fan vote was half of the score, she was eliminated that week of the competition in the biggest upset of the series.

Fear and a negative attitude can keep us from trying different things and truly becoming the person we were meant to be. This show is a great example of what can happen when we face fear in the eye and forge ahead! Truly amazing things can happen!

I love iPods. They allow me to take my music and audio books wherever I go. They make a great learning tool and have really helped me with my personal productivity. I have had a Video model for over a year and it is a daily companion, mainly for playing audio books in the car.

I stopped in to my local Apple store last week to see the new products that have been recently released. What caught my eye immediately was the new iPod Touch. This device looks like an iPhone but a little smaller. It has wireless internet access and an amazing touch interface. Everything is done with your finger on the touch screen interface.

The salesman in the store demonstrated the device for me, showing me the built-in safari web-browser and the amazing way the browser window resizes when you turn the unit in a horizontal position. It only got better from there.

He then pushed the main menu button and the device returned to the main interface screen. He pushed the You-Tube button and within seconds there was the latest You-Tube video streaming on the device in full dynamic color. I was impressed with the speed and the clarity of the screen when playing video.

Back to the main menu he went and then he pulled up the iTunes interface and scrolled with one finger effortlessly through the stored music files. WOW! The album cover interface was fast and you could tell instantly what was available for listening.

Another click of the menu button and the built in calendar popped up, ready to synchronize with the calendar app on your computer. Another click brought up the contacts screen, organized by phone number, e-mail, and web addresses.

He didn’t have to go much further until I could see some amazing productivity uses for this device. I had him bring out an 8-gig model and I was soon the owner of this amazing device.

After bring this unit home and putting it through its paces I find that it works very well. The interface is very intuitive. The screen is very sharp and bright and you can easily use the device in different lighting conditions including the car and outdoors.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be testing this as a personal productivity tool. This looks to take the iPod to a whole new level, with video learning applications, collaborative tools, and video podcasting as just a few of the new uses that will be available.

This holiday season, be sure to stop into your local Apple store and take one for a test drive. You can also order one online from Apple or pick one up with no shipping from Amazon.com. Make 2008 your most productive year yet!

I am a big fan of the Five Factor Fitness program by Harley Pasternak. This little book outlines a fitness program that almost anyone can do in 25 minutes per day. This book provides a combination of Aerobic exercise along with weight training in a twenty five minute, interval style workout.

The book provides pictures and diagrams of the exercises and the routines are broken down into 5 minute phases. While I have enjoyed the program, it can get a little complicated at times, and you need to have the book along to follow the routine.

With my hectic schedule I have found that some days I don’t have a 25 minute block of time to exercise. I want to get the benefits, but I have needed a way to break things up. What has worked for me is to create some handy cards with simple exercises that I can do without any equipment. I put a different exercise on each card and put down a number of repetitions that would correspond to a 5 minute interval.

I carry the cards along in my pocket and do the exercises during the day.

Here is an example of how I have used them…

In the morning, I may have a free 15 minute period. I shuffle the cards, turn them upside down, and pick one at a time. The first one turns out to be 50 jumping jacks. I do the exercise and then pick another card. This one is 15 push ups. I do the push ups and then pick a final card. This one is running in place for five minutes. I glance at the clock and do the running for 5 minutes. When I’m done, I have had a great little workout to get the blood flowing, with the added benefit of drawing a random card to make things interesting.

Later in the day at work, I may have a few minutes to spare. I grab the 5 minutes on the stairs card, and run up and down the stairs for 5 minutes. When I’m done, I put this on the bottom of the stack. When I get home at the end of the day I may grab another couple of cards after dinner and work off a few calories with some sit ups and leg lifts.

These cards are simple, fast and fun. They are easily printed out on business card stock in under 5 minutes. They can easily be modified with repetitions and exercises that work for you. They make a great addition to a structured fitness program, when you are limited for time or on the go. As always, be sure to check with your doctor before starting any type of fitness or exercise program.

Instructions for use:

• Download the Five Minute Fitness Template for MS Word
• Open the template(s) and modify as necessary
• Print out on Avery Business Card Stock (10 Card)
• Break cards apart
• For portability, stack cards in order and clip together with mini clip
• Transport easily in pocket or purse
• Keep in a quick access location like a desk drawer or file cabinet
• Optional: Add info cards to your Walleteer organizer

Technorati Tags: fitness, exercise

In our final look at the book Becoming a Person of Influence by John Maxwell, I would like to look at the last two chapters. Chapter 9 is entitled empowering people and chapter 10 is reproducing other influencers. John lists four qualifications of an empowerer. They are…

1. Position

2. Relationship

3. Respect

4. Commitment

To empower people you must be in a position of leadership. Others can encourage, but permission comes only from an authority figure such as a parent, boss, or spiritual leader. To empower people you have to be in a position of power over them.

To engage people to  help them reach their potential you need to evaluate them on their knowledge, skill, and desire. When you know where they are, you can model for them a direction to excel in. Using the analogy of a mother bird and her babies, people need to know what it looks like to fly. As a mentor, you have the best opportunity to show them.

Model the flight and work ethic you would like them to embrace. Expect people to succeed! Be sure to verbalize it and reinforce it. Once people understand that you genuinely want them to succeed, they will begin to believe that they can accomplish what you want them to do.

Once they are ready to proceed, transfer authority to them. That includes sharing both your authority and influence with the people you are mentoring and developing. When you begin to empower other people, give them challenges you know they can rise to. This will help them be confident and give them a chance to experience their new authority and learn to use it more effectively.

Once they have taken the reins and they have shown you their ability to complete the task, publicly show your confidence in them. Give them the credit for a job well done. Be sure to give them positive feedback. Don’t dwell on the negative and be sure to include constructive ideas along the way.

Once they have taken flight, release them to continue in their own. Give them as much freedom as possible. In conclusion give authority, responsibility, and offer needed assistance along the way.

John makes the point that the benefits of empowerment are very high. Empowerment helps people become more confident, energetic, and productive. It also has the ability to improve your life, giving you additional freedom to promote the growth of your organization.

One of the most incredible stories of empowerment that I have witnessed is the story of Kathy Gaulton. Kathy worked in the business world for over 30 years in retail management. In 1998 she took a short term missions trip to Tanzania, Africa, where she witnessed poverty and a community of people who desperately needed help.

Kathy had the idea of having the local people make drawstring bags from local fabrics. She took 5 treadle sewing machines which were idle and gave the local people training on them. Soon the machines were whirring away and within two days there were 300 completed bags that could be sold.

The people were really excited and Kathy realized how far a little training and some local materials could go to empower the local people to become self sufficient. Through this simple beginning came Heavenly Treasures, an organization that empowers impoverished people and communities all over the world to break the cycle of poverty through micro enterprises.

From the Kip Karen Krafters in Kenya to the Dorcas Design Team in China, Kathy’s seeds have sprouted in a big way. Amazing products are being turned out by the thousands and people’s lives are being changed.

These livelihood projects help reproduce other influencers. Once people become self sufficient they can teach other people the same skills. Soon the more skilled workers become leaders and the process repeats itself. Some of these onsite leaders have gone on to create new enterprises in other areas of the world.

Organizations like Toastmasters and Rotary International can help you learn the skill of empowerment. In Toastmasters it is not uncommon to see amazing transformations. All it takes is a caring person with a vision along with an unselfish passion to help others succeed.