March 15th, 2009
How Are You Treated By Others?
Self-acceptance begins in infancy, with the influence of your parents and siblings and other important people.
Your own level of self-acceptance is determined largely by how well you feel you are accepted by the important people in your life.
Your attitude toward yourself is determined largely by the attitudes that you think other people have toward you. When you believe that other people think highly of you, your level of self-acceptance and self-esteem goes straight up.
The best way to build a healthy personality involves understanding yourself and your feelings.
Let the Light Shine In
This is achieved through the simple exercise of self-disclosure. For you to truly understand yourself, or to stop being troubled by things that may have happened in your past, you must be able to disclose yourself to at least one person. You have to be able to get those things off your chest. You must rid yourself of those thoughts and feelings by revealing them to someone who won’t make you feel guilty or ashamed for what has happened.
Understand What Makes You Tick
The second part of personality development follows from self-disclosure, and it’s called self-awareness. Only when you can disclose what you’re truly thinking and feeling to someone else can you become aware of those thoughts and emotions If the other person simply listens to you without commenting or criticizing, you have the opportunity to become more aware of the person you are and why you do the things you do. You begin to develop perspective, or what the Buddhists call “detachment.”
Be Honest With Yourself
Now we come to the good part. After you’ve gone through self-disclosure to self-awareness, you arrive at self-acceptance. You accept yourself for the person you are, with good points and bad points, with strengths and weaknesses, and with the normal frailties of a human being. When you develop the ability to stand back and look at yourself honestly, and to candidly admit to others that you may not be perfect but you’re all you’ve got, you start to enjoy a heightened sense of self-acceptance.
Do An Inventory of Your Accomplishments
A valuable exercise for developing higher levels of self-acceptance involves doing an inventory of yourself. In doing this inventory, your job is to accentuate the positive and minimize the negative.
Think of your unique talents and abilities. Think of your core skills, the things that you do exceptionally well that account for your success in your profession and in your personal life right now.
Think About Your Future
Think about your future possibilities and the fact that your potential is virtually unlimited. You can do what you want to do and go where you want to go. You can be the person you want to be. You can set large and small goals and make plans and move step-by-step, progressively toward their realization. There are no obstacles to what you can accomplish except the obstacles that you create in your mind.
Action Exercises
Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action:
First, sit down with your spouse, or a good friend, and tell him or her about something that is troubling you and is still causing you unhappiness.
Second, develop perspective on your problem by standing back from it and imagining that it was happening to someone else. What advice would you give to that person?
Third, think continually about the good experiences and accomplishments you have enjoyed in the past. Remind yourself regularly that you are a pretty good person and you’ve done a lot of good things in your life.
- You have more control over your destiny
- You become an active contributor rather than a passive observer
- Others look to you for leadership
- You gain the reputation as a problem solver
- You enhance your career opportunities
- You enjoy the satisfaction that comes from getting things done…the power of positive doing
- You experience less anger, frustration and helplessness – all leading to better physical health
- You realize a positive spillover effect into your personal life at home
According to Gallagher and Ventura, the most important words of personal responsibility are as follows:
The 10 most important words:
I won’t wait for others to take the first step.
The 9 most important words:
If it is to be, it’s up to me.
The 8 most important words:
If not me, who? If not now, when?
The 7 most important words:
Let me take a shot at it.
The 6 most important words:
I will not pass the buck.
The 5 most important words:
You can count on me.
The 4 most important words:
It IS my job!
The 3 most important words:
Just do it!
The 2 most important words:
I will.
The most important word:
Me
Tags: gift cards, incentives, rewards
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March 13th, 2009
“Thoughts of doubt and fear can never accomplish anything. They always lead to failure.” – As A Man Thinketh
There is significant economic evidence that the Great Depression might have been avoided but for the “panic” that swept over the country (and the world) after the 1929 stock market crash. What should have been no more than a deep recession altered our world forever because of the prevailing “thoughts of doubt and fear.”
So great were the thought of fear that President Roosevelt felt compelled to deliver a speech about it. By the way, FDR’s speech with his now famous, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” was suggested to him by Napoleon Hill, author of the classic, Think and Grow Rich.
If the thoughts of many can bring such great tragedy to our world, is it any wonder that our personal thoughts can do so much damage to our “individual world.” When we spend inordinate amounts of time fearing some thing or event in the future, many times that which we fear comes upon us. When it does, we wring our hands in despair and wonder why it had to happen to us, when in reality, we are responsible for our troubles.
Bob Proctor says that the process begins first with a thought of doubt, which causes an emotion of fear, which manifests itself physically as anxiety. Anxiety robs us of our power, our energy and our purpose. Severe anxiety can even undermine our health. And it’s all brought on by a thought of doubt..
I have found three things that help me conquer doubt. First, change your mind about the doubt, and keep it changed. If you have a doubt about whether you’re going to have enough money to make it to the end of the month, change your mind about it. Whenever the doubt creeps in, affirm to yourself that “I always find a way to have enough of what I need.” I love what Emmet Fox says about this, “If you will change your mind concerning anything and absolutely keep it changed, that thing must and will change too. It is the keeping up of the change in thought that is difficult. It calls for vigilance and determination.”
The second thing that overcomes fear and doubt is action. “Do the thing you fear and fear will disappear” is more than a nice rhyming aphorism. It’s some simple wisdom that always works!
And the third and most important thing to overcoming doubt and fear is Faith. Fear and Faith are directly opposite views of the future and they cannot co-exist. My Faith is in a Creator who has given me dominion over all things. Your Faith may be elsewhere, but know this: Faith and fear cannot be present at the same time.
And that’s worth thinking about.
Tags: incentive programs, rewards
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March 11th, 2009
“It’s nothing personal; it’s just business,” is a commonly heard phrase in the workplace. However, I tend to disagree with anyone who tries to impersonalize business. At its heart, commerce is a human enterprise, founded upon relationships between people.
Most of us spend a majority of our waking hours in our business or at work, and our vocations endow our lives with meaning or purpose. When we devote ourselves to profession, we’re giving a piece of who we are to our work. In that sense, business is deeply personal.
In the workplace, as in the rest of life, relationships get messy. Sooner or later, we will be mistreated. A boss will unjustly fault our performance, a partner will fail to honor an agreement, or a co-worker will cut us down in a meeting. Since business is personal, those instances hurt us, and unless dealt with correctly, they can derail us. As a leader, we have to commit to taking the high road when others, intentionally or unintentionally, wrong us.
Four Tips For Travelling the High Road
1) It’s Not What Happens to You, but in You That Really Matters
During the Civil War, Confederate General W.H.C. Whiting envied rival general Robert E. Lee. Consequently, Whiting spread vicious rumors about Lee in an attempt to smear his character. Lee had the opportunity to get even, though. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, was considering Whiting for a promotion, and he consulted Lee’s opinion of the general. Without hesitation, Lee endorsed and commended Whiting. The officers who witnessed the exchange were astonished. Afterward, one of them asked Lee if he had forgotten all of the slander Whiting had spread about him.
“I understand that the President wanted to know my opinion of Whiting, responded Lee, not his opinion of me.” Lee did what high road travelers do. He refused to be dragged into a game of bickering and petty jealousies by treating another person with respect, even when that respect seemed unwarranted.
2) High Roaders See Their Own Need for Grace, Therefore They Extend It to Others
Let’s face it; we all screw up from time to time. Each of us has quirks that we know can be annoying, and bad moments when we’re not so pleasant to be around.
People who take the high road recognize their humanness, know that they need to be extended grace, and accordingly are more likely to extend it to others.
3) High Roaders Are Not Victims; They Choose to Serve Others
People who take the high road don’t do so because it’s the only available option. They don’t do it by accident either: the high road goes uphill and takes more effort to travel. Instead, high roaders choose their path as a conscious act of service to others. By taking the high road, they drain animosity and bitterness out of relationships, serving to keep them open and productive.
Interestingly, in serving others, higher roaders benefit themselves, too. As the author of Proverbs wrote, “It is a man’s glory to overlook an offense.” When we maturely respond to a slight by showing forgiveness, we display admirable character that elevates us in the eyes of others.
4) High Roaders Set High Standards for Themselves Than Others Would
Abandoned as an infant, author James Michener never knew his biological parents. Fortunately, he was taken in and raised by a widow, and he adopted her surname. However, each time James published a book, he received nasty notes from one member of the Michener clan. The relative chastised James for taking on the Michener name, which this person felt the novelist had no right to use.
Despite being berated, Michener did agree with one statement his relative had made, “Who do you think you are, trying to be better than you are?” As James Michener professed, “I’ve spent my life trying to be better than I was, and I am a brother to all who share the same aspiration.”
When we conduct ourselves according to the highest standard, we are less likely to become defensive and take the low road when others attack us. Once you’ve done all that you can, then you can let the noise of detractors roll off your back like rain.
Summary
In leadership, as in life, others will behave unkindly toward you. When ill-treated, don’t retreat into a defensive mode or strike back in anger. Instead, take the high road and discover how rising above offenses frees you from petty arguments and adds to your reputation.
Tags: build business relationships, incentives, motivate, rewards
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March 10th, 2009
Many people set low ceilings on their expectations and capabilities. In the process, they place themselves in a “box.” Alexander Whortley took that a step further and literally lived in a box. It was a mini-trailer, three feet wide, four feet long, and five feet high. He lived there until he died at the age of eighty. His box was made of wood, had a metal roof, and it housed him and all his meager belongings. Regardless of where he worked, Whortley chose to spend his life in that cramped space, even though larger, more comfortable quarters were always available.Few of us live in a “box.” However, too many of us have a tendency to “box” ourselves in and continue to do things one way because we’ve “always done it this way.” In many cases, time and experience have proven that “this way” is the best way. However, I challenge you to periodically take a long walk or quietly sit and think about the way you do things. Ask yourself if there might not be a better way. Could your procedures be simplified? Are they necessary at all? Could they be done more cheaply or efficiently? Could your product be longer? Shorter? A different shape? Another fabric? Another color? Sometimes you can come up with simple ideas that make a big difference. Incidentally, one advantage of a continual personal-growth-and-education way of life is that the broader and deeper your knowledge base, the more creative your problem-solving approach to life.
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March 10th, 2009
Once there was a time in business when you could experience a change and then return to a period of relative stability. Nowadays, changes occur constantly – one on top of another. We need to acknowledge change and realize that change is a continuous journey – a way of life rather than a one-time event that can be lived through. With considerable momentum and continuity building in our organization, it definitely can be said that nothing is ever absolutely certain (other than possibly death and taxes).
These changes and challenges that we are encountering can at times bring added strain to business organizations. What is not always clear to us is how much more trouble we would be in for if organizations failed to change. Oftentimes people can have a funny way of hanging on to old habits. In particular, we are often unwilling to quit doing what we can do well, even if it is no longer valuable to our customers. It is easy for people to get stuck in the thinking that got them to where they are today, even though that thinking cannot be used to get them where they need to be tomorrow. It is important that we continue to break through our traditional thinking and avoid any prevailing mindsets, such as the thinking “it has always been done this way.” We need to continually focus our efforts beyond our “business-as-usual” thinking. As progress calls for each of us to change, we need to remember that constant change is a way of life in business today. Together, we must simultaneously manage the present and plan the future.
Currently, some jobs are taking on totally new dimensions…making new demands…calling for new work habits. We need to be willing to alter our mindsets as well as our techniques. Rather than continuing with the same old job behaviors that worked well enough in the past, we must learn new routines and make the necessary shift in our mindset so that our thinking is aligned with our new company mission and the new realities of the present work world. We all need to focus our efforts on doing the right things for our customers. A key mistake can be ignoring how priorities and customer expectations have changed. We can be focused on doing things right, but we really are failing to do the right things. What can we offer our customers that they will value and be unable to get from anyone else? We need to have an intense and unwavering commitment to making a difference in the business of our customers. It is important that we look at change as an opportunity…and use
Tags: improve business relationships, improve relationships, incentives, perks, rewards
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March 9th, 2009
Positive self-expectancy is the first, most outwardly identifiable quality of a top-achieving, winning human being. Positive self-expectancy is pure and simple optimism: real enthusiasm for everything you do. And optimism is expecting the most favorable result from your own actions.
There never was a winner who didn’t expect to win in advance. Winners understand that life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. And they know that you usually get what you expect in the long run. So winners accept the belief that hope and a deep, unbreakable faith — forged into a fundamental attitude of positive self-expectancy — is the eternal spring from which all creative, motivating energy flows.
The idea that faith conquers all has been verified from biblical times to current-day medical histories to daily stories of heroism and come-from-behind victories and rags-to-riches success we read about every day in the newspapers. They’re human biographies of greatness we read about, hear about, and watch on TV. And we marvel over these special people who pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
Let me ask you this: Did it ever occur to you that you, also, are one of these special people? Well, you are! You see, most of the real winners in life are so busy contributing, they don’t even think of seeking publicity for their acts. Most of them are discovered by the media, caught in the act of winning. Only a few famous people are winners, and only a few winners will become famous people. That’s because success is a very individual thing. Success is the way you spend your minutes doing your best for others. It is the way you take the talent you were born with, and the knowledge and skills you have since developed, and use them fully, toward a purpose that makes you feel worthwhile, according to your own individual, internal standards.
In your quest for excellence, there are two powerful sets of great expectations affecting your life. First, there are the expectations that others close to you have for you. And then there are the expectations that you have for yourself. While we all try to rise to the expectations others have for us, there is no question that our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.
As a behavioral scientist studying the lives of thousands of winners and losers, I find that “psycho,” the mind, is your own best fortuneteller to forecast the actions of “soma,” the body. And understanding this mind-and-body, psychosomatic relationship is the key to understanding the importance of the first, most outwardly identifiable quality of a winner: that of positive self-expectancy. Winners expect another good day, a promotion, a raise, to find a parking place, a productive meeting, and a harmonious family life — and they usually get them. Winners know that their actions will be controlled by their current obsessions. Losers generally expect more of the same frustration, more problems, the loss of a job, a dull evening, bad service, and failure. Most importantly, losers expect to feel bad and get sick — and they do.
Careful studies of the life histories of thousands of widely differing people have shown that the probability of health changes, such as sickness, accident, even pregnancy, can be predicted. We are learning that all disease is not necessarily caused by germs. All of us have germs, but only a few become ill as a result. Instead, the cause of disease is loosely linked with the way individuals react to life. The link between stressful life changes, expectant anxiety, and health changes seems to be associated with the body’s immune system, which makes antibodies to fight foreign material and germs. Situations that arouse fear and anxiety suppress antibody production as well.
Distrustful situations may also upset production of hormones, which have a role in emotional balance. An emotionally upset individual is much more prone to accidents.
But what does all this have to do with positive self-expectancy and winning attitudes? Simply this: Mental obsessions DO have physical manifestations. You do become that which you fear. You get what you suspect. You are that which you expect to be. This power of the self-fulfilling prophecy is one of the most amazing phenomena of human nature. What do you expect for yourself? You should expect the best. The winners in life, believing in the self-fulfilling prophecy, keep their momentum moving upward by expecting better jobs, more money, good health, better family relationships, financial security, warm friendships, and success.
All really successful individuals fervently desire and expect to win — no matter what curve life throws at them. Think about Helen Keller, who graduated magna cum laude and devoted her entire life to the service of others, although she had been deaf and blind since infancy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had polio. The modern artist Matisse created some of his best work when he was nearly blind, aged, and bedridden. A young woman named Patti Catalano overcame the self-destructive habits of overeating and chain-smoking to become one of the top 10 marathon runners in the world. I remember a little girl who took her optimism from the back streets of Harlem to the center court at Wimbledon — Althea Gibson. In spite of their handicaps, they expected to do their best. They wanted to achieve and expected to excel.
But there’s more to positive self-expectancy than meets the eye. Medical researchers have discovered that the body produces natural morphine-like substances that operate on certain receptor sites in the brain and spinal cord. These natural internal opiates are called endorphins. Secreted and used by the brain, endorphins reduce the experience and screen out unpleasant stimuli. In fact, the presence of endorphins actually causes the feeling of well-being.
In one related study, actors were wired to electrodes and connected to blood catheters. They were then asked to perform various scenes. When they portrayed characters who were angry or depressed, endorphin levels dropped. But when the scene called for emoting joy, confidence, and love, endorphin levels shot up dramatically. Science has shown that positive thoughts produce endorphins. Endorphins, in turn, encourage feelings of optimism and well-being. So it works both ways. You sing because you’re happy, and you’re happy because you’re singing. Sixty to 70 percent of the population who visit physicians are sick as a result of an emotional feeling of stress because of the pressure they feel from life. That’s why it’s critically important to remember that the key to winning positive self-expectancy is to understand that in the long run, every individual receives just about what he or she expects. And if you have faith that if you do things the right way, you’ll be rewarded accordingly — you’ll be a winner!
Optimism is a way of life. Some techniques for generating a greater attitude of positive self-expectancy include the following: First, look at problems as opportunities — search for the favorable aspects of every situation. Next, learn to stay relaxed and friendly, no matter how much pressure and tension you’re under. In the beginning, it’s likely that you’ll have to fake it. But the truth is that both calmness and courage are learned habits, and there’s no better way to learn a good habit than by actually getting in and doing it and living it. Next, and this is very important, in dealing with other people, instead of griping, try praising. In place of cynicism, try optimism. Instead of being unhelpfully critical, try being constructively helpful. You know these are learned habits, too. And everyone is dependent on others for at least part of their own positive self-expectancy.
And next, get excited and enthusiastic about your own dream. This excitement is like a forest fire. You can smell it, taste it, and see it a mile away. Everybody loves a winner. But nobody crowds around a loser’s locker room. Don’t run around with the doomsayers who look up and shout that the sky is always falling. Optimism and realism go together. They are the problem-solving twins. Pessimism and cynicism are the two worst companions. Surround yourself with the “no-problem, can-do’ type with big dreams like your own. It’s the excitement of the big dream that carries you through the setback that you encounter. The single most outwardly identifiable quality of a winner is positive self-expectancy — optimism. It’s the key to good health. It’s the key to happiness, and it puts the favorable inclination toward the achievement of every goal you set. Positive self-expectancy is the winner’s edge.
Tags: incentives, motivate, motivating, rewards and incentives
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March 7th, 2009
“Great is the heartfelt joy when, after innumerable and apparently unsuccessful attempts, some ingrained fault of character is at least cast out to trouble its erstwhile victim and the world no more.” – The Mastery of Destiny
James Allen is sharing with us the rewarding (heartfelt joy) for finally overcoming a personal character deficit. However, what he’s really sharing with us is the value of persistence.
If I had to pick one character trait that I think is a “must have” in order to be successful in any endeavor, it would be persistence. In fact, it seems to be the one trait that is the dominant trait in every single, super-successful individual I know. I believe it to be the one trait that any ordinary person can use to become extraordinary (”extra-ordinary”).
Napoleon Hill, who wrote “Think and Grow Rich”, devoted an entire chapter to Persistence and said that the only thing that was different about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison was their persistence.
I’ve long since forgotten where I read it, but I’ve never forgotten the story of the tribe in Africa that confounded all of the anthropologists. It seems that this tribe had for centuries enjoyed a 100% success rate with its rain dance. In comparing this tribe to other tribes who did rain dances but who didn’t always experience success, the experts couldn’t find anything that differentiated the one tribe. They performed the same rituals, praying the same incantations to the same gods, in the same costumes. Like all the tribes, they sometimes danced for days, even weeks on end. Finally an astute observer noticed something very telling. The successful tribe did one thing – and only one thing – different than the other tribes. It ‘Always’ danced ‘Until’ it rained!
If your head is hanging low today as mine has done on many a day, I hope you’ll find the encouragement to know that you really only need to do one thing a this point — “Persist’. And that means taking just one step in the right direction — even a half step in the right direction.
Yes, maybe you need to review your plan or change your plan or maybe you even need to create a plan in the first place  But the one way you can ensure that you will meet with success (it’s absolutely guaranteed) — is to “dance until it rains!”
And that’s worth thinking about.
Tags: incentives, persisitence, rewards and recognition
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March 6th, 2009
Ready to leave your job behind and become your own boss? It takes a certain kind of person to make it through the first few years. To help you along, we’ve culled the best tips from our own members – people with years’ of experience in running their own business.
- Don’t work for less than you can afford to, but do offer a discount to customers or clients who sign contracts with you.
- Find people who will refer jobs to you. If they send you nightmare jobs, make sure they’re balanced out with rewarding (profitable!) ones.
- Surround yourself with supportive people and don’t be discouraged by anyone. If your idea is good and you’re determined to stick with it through the first few difficult years, your chances of success are great.
- Be flexible in your thinking. Prepare to change the way you work, the products you use and the services you offer, in order to meet the demands of your customers.
- Admit your mistakes, correct them and carry on.(For example, if you purchase a piece of equipment that does not meet your expectations, send it back, sell it or exchange it!)
- Develop a good relationship with your bank manager and creditors. Show a genuine interest in solving problems. Pay as much as you can afford to, to everyone to whom you owe money.
- Get trained! You’ll be spending a lot of time doing things that have nothing to do with your area of expertise, like bookkeeping, marketing, and IT support!
- Avoid isolation. Even if you work closely with your clients, you won’t be part of a gang anymore. Develop your own network of entrepreneurs that you see regularly and bounce ideas off. Ideally they’ll allow you to vent your anger and share your successes.
- Separate your work and personal life. Set your working hours and stick to a strict timetable. When you’re not available to clients, leave a message on your answer machine letting them know when they can expect a reply from you. Let them know how to reach you in an emergency.
- Plan some ‘thinking time’ into every day. If you pack your diary with back-to-back activities, your business will never grow.
- Plan time to do something you enjoy at least a few times a week – recharge your batteries!
- Write a business plan so you’re clear about what you’re doing, and update it every year.
- Develop an excellent telephone manner and react quickly to any complaints or problems.
- Confirm orders personally and immediately, especially those you receive on email.
- Never lose sight of the big picture – look for innovative, little-explored directions in which to take your business.
- When you find someone cleverer than you, employ them!
- Solicit advice from people who know, for example, other entrepreneurs and reputable small business advisers – the DTI offers lots of information and support for new businesses.
- Don’t enter a business or a venture that you know nothing about. You’ll be running to catch up for the rest of your business life.
- Have an existing, loyal customer base and start locally.
- Be aware that you will get through any initial investment quickly, so ensure you are covered financially until at least the end of the second year.
- Focus on a specific goal and work at it until it’s achieved
- Never worry about how to get things done when you are first developing your idea.Money and resources will come together once you have set your goals and begun to work at them.
- Make quality in every aspect of your business your primary focus and aim. If it isn’t, you will eventually go out of business.
- Use the Internet. Use email. Build a website (if you aren’t familiar with websites, try HTML for Dummies), send out email newsletters, buy online banner advertisements and register your site with all the major search engines.
- Delegate. You might have to hire a good PA, lawyer, or marketing professional to ensure you’ll be profitable in the future.
Tags: gift cards, how to build relationships, how to motivate, incentives, rewards
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March 5th, 2009
Goal setting seems to be a perennially hot topic! Could it be that you hear and, perhaps, read about it so often because it’s a subject that is easy to know about and difficult to practice?
It would be very surprising to find an adult in the work force who has not heard about goal setting. A Harvard study of their graduates over thirty years found that there were only a small percentage (3%) of them who actually wrote down their goals–and these were the most successful! You can be certain that every one of those students had repeatedly heard the value of goal setting. Yet only 3% actually wrote down their goals consistently. Imagine what you can do if you both write down your goals and, then, focus on them consistently every day, every week, until they are accomplished!
What is it that causes what I call the “New Year’s Resolution Syndrome”? You probably know the one I’m thinking of. People make resolutions, work hard at them for a few weeks, maybe even a few months, and then forget them. Next year, they make the same New Year’s Resolutions. That is the syndrome. It is self- defeating and self-sabotaging. So why do so many people do it?
They may be making goals that are too global, too extensive, too unrealistic for the time frame, body type or current finances. That is not to say that they are not worthy goals. They need to be broken apart into smaller, more specific, attainable pieces. The elephant analogy is still the best one I know of to illustrate good goal setting. You probably know it. “How do you eat an elephant? One spoonful at a time.” So it is with goals. Make spoon size goals and accomplished them easily. One you’ve mastered this, get a bigger spoon!
You may have too many people in your life who consciously or subconsciously are unwilling or unable to support you to reach your goals. On my tape, Creating Your Life: You are the Master Mind of Your Masterpiece, I talk about your personal “tribes”. If you have created agreement among your tribe members that you are a certain way, or you do certain things.
They are comfortable with you as long as you are and do those things. They may even be enthusiastic about your desire to change something or accomplish something new. Just know that, as you change and accomplish, they may not like it. They may even go so far as to put you down in small ways or make light of your accomplishments. Do you know why? It is usually because your changes and accomplishments remind them, on some levels, that they could be doing it, too…and they aren’t! So surround yourself with people who want you to have what you want for yourself. Be mutually supportive and you’ll all achieve your highest goals. This is called master minding.
You may have filled your schedule with so many things that there is little room for your goals to grow. We must be careful not to confuse busyness with progress. Be selective about how you use your time and what you focus on. Success often comes when you know what to leave out, rather than what to include in your life. Notice, too, how much time you spend on trivia. It has a nasty way of taking your attention from what you say you want to focus on, doesn’t it? Have you ever just “had” to clean your office before you could begin your project? Then you know how this works!
Goal setting is like the pig and chicken who were out for a walk in town early one morning. The chicken became really excited when she saw a sign that said “Ham & Eggs, $2.99″. She said to the pig, “Look, we’ve got double billing again.” The pig grunted and said, “That’s all right for you to say. For you, it’s all in a day’s work. For me, it’s total commitment.” Goal setting is all in a day’s work. Goal achievement is total commitment.
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© Rhoberta Shaler, Ph.D. August, 1999 All rights reserved. Article used with permission.
Rhoberta Shaler, Ph.D., is a Speaker, Author, Consultant & Executive Coach that helps to build cooperation and capability within organizations and individuals. Visit her web site – Rhoberta Shaler’s OPTIMIZE! INSTITUTE
… Solving ‘People Problems’ for Peak Productivity and Profit!
Tags: incentives, rewards
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March 5th, 2009
About a year ago I wrote a column on the ABCs of selling. When I came to the letter T, there was no doubt what that word would be: Trust. It’s the most important word in business. Trust is central to doing business with anyone. Without it, you have another word that begins with T: Trouble.
Unfortunately, trust in business plummeted worldwide last year, according to an Edelman survey released in late January. The public relations firm discovered that just 38 percent of respondents aged 35 to 64 said they trusted business, down from 58 percent a year earlier—the lowest rating in the survey’s 10-year history. It’s interesting that U.S. respondents ranked third. People in Ireland and Japan were even more suspicious.
As a life-long businessman I find this especially troubling. In my business, there is nothing more important than trust, although I would list likeability, people skills and chemistry close behind.
I’ve always believed that telling the truth is the best policy. In business, especially today, it’s a must. A few years back, the Forum Corporation of Boston, Mass., studied 341 salespeople from 11 different companies in five different industries. Their purpose was to determine what separated top producers from average producers. When the study was finished, the results were startling. It was not skill, knowledge or charisma that divided the pack. The difference came down to one trait: honesty. When customers trust salespeople, they buy from them!
At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we don’t tolerate anything less than honest negotiations and delivery guarantees. An envelope is a very standard commodity. Sure, the paper, the glue, and the size can vary. The end product can probably be duplicated by a hundred companies. But nobody can match us day in day out, job after job, envelope after envelope, smile after smile. Our customers know we’ll do what we promise and try to deliver even more. They’ve even occasionally forgiven us for an honest mistake because they know we’ll make good on our word.
When bailouts, bankruptcies and corporate scandals erupt and occupy the front pages for months on end, people tend to mistrust all of corporate America. That’s not fair, but something of a natural reaction.
Is this a recent development? Not exactly. Nearly one hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt addressed the issue: “We demand that big business give people a square deal. In return, we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right, he shall himself be given a square deal.”
When people get in trouble, what do they typically do? They consult someone they already know and trust. When a problem hits, it’s a poor time to look for help. How can you depend on someone you have known for half an hour? I would rather rely on someone I know I can count on, even if his or her experience is limited, than start from scratch. That person can usually lead you to someone who can help you if different skills are necessary.
Trust is key.
Wayne Huizenga, the only person in history to have founded three Fortune 500 companies (Blockbuster, Waste Management and AutoNation), knows plenty about building trust. He says: “I don’t want to be just a voice on the phone. I have to get to know these guys face-to-face and develop a sincere relationship. That way, if we run into problems in a deal, it doesn’t get adversarial. We trust each other and have the confidence we can work things out.”
When trust exists in an organization or in a relationship, almost everything else is easier and more comfortable to achieve. Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time.
Author Marsha Sinetar said: “Trust is not a matter of technique, but of character. We are trusted because of our way of being, not because of our polished exteriors or our expertly crafted communications.”
Trust is telling the truth, even when it is difficult, and being truthful and trustworthy in your dealings with customers and staff. People do not or cannot trust each other if they are easily suspicious of one another. Trust involves being optimistic, rather than pessimistic. When we trust people, we are optimistic not only that they are competent to do what we trust them to do, but also that they are committed to doing it.
Mackay’s Moral: It takes years to build up trust, but only seconds to destroy it.
Tags: incentives, perks, rewards
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