No entrepreneur is an island. You were created to work with others in a positive environment.
Your business success depends on you attracting customers and employees with whom you work well together. Such cooperation challenges the familiar notions of achieving success by becoming a self-made person and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. Despite its familiarity, such a notion is simply a myth. You’ve been the beneficiary of working with others since before you can remember.
Do you remember your mother and father getting up at two o’clock in the morning to feed you? Of course not. Even though it happened night after night for months, depriving your parents of much-needed sleep, these gracious acts of compassionate kindness your parents offered just because they loved you slip through your memory.
There are other gracious acts of cooperation others have done for you that similarly slip through. All of these cooperative acts combine to make you who you are today — a unique human being capable of a positive workstyle.
The people around you–customers/clients, employees/employers, family/friends, and vendors/suppliers — are there for you to lean on when the weight of doing business is too much for you to stand alone . . . and when isn’t it? These people are your team.
Cooperating completely with others presupposes that you are incomplete alone, but complete with others. Sometimes, our ego gets in the way of understanding this concept. Part of the challenge for entrepreneurs is that we are really good at so many and varied tasks that we buy the lie that we can truly do it all. The truth is if we really want to make our dreams come true, we must redefine our egotistical reality of “I can do it all” to “There is something I missed.”
One of the most essential ingredients of working positively and cooperatively with others is that how much you think you accurately perceive in life, there is something you miss — or some subject that someone else knows more about than you do.
No matter which direction your business is going — up or down — you can use some help. The good news is you have it. The universe is designed to partner with you, to provide resources beyond your control for your business’s well-being, including relationships with others who can help you.
The key to leveraging these relationships is to become the kind of person that you want to attract into your business life. You should be someone you would want to do business with.
Consider these questions in shaping yourself to attract positive business partners and clients:
What are my core values, i.e., those character traits that I want to exhibit in my business relationships? What would my family members say are my core values?
What are my life priorities--those matters in life that I consider most important not just in word, but in work behavior as well? How do my calendar and bank statement reflect these priorities?
What is my unique contribution to make in the world through my business and how do I live into it daily?
Just as “birds of a feather flock together,” you literally attract people with whom you share core values and life priorities. For example, if you conceive your business more positively, you will attract similar people with whom you can grow your business–and whom you can also help in their lives and businesses. Those who resonate on this frequency are drawn to you because of your common business life pitch.
Conversely, if your business life is more negatively grounded, you find people coming into your business–whether as customers/clients, employees/suppliers–who are more of a negative persuasion.
Do you ever find yourself complaining about your customers? They don’t pay their bills on time, or maybe they’re constantly trying to get something for nothing. Who attracted them to your business?
What about your employees? Ever hear yourself saying, “You just can’t find good help these days” or “Nobody wants to want work anymore”? Who hired these employees?
Now stop, and ask yourself: “How am I attracting these people? What is there about me that attracts them, that pitches them in my direction?”
One of the greatest challenges in creating a positive workstyle is understanding that like attracts like. These people onto whom you shift responsibility for your challenges are in your work life because you chose them. You attracted them by way of your business’s core values, your business priorities, and your business’s unique contribution.
Once you perceive your work life in a positive light, then, because you are created to cooperate completely, you begin to attract others to your team who share your positive direction. Those who choose to work positive will find their way to you.
This article is an edited excerpt from Work Positive in a Negative World, by Joey Faucette and published by Entrepreneur Press.
A manager has evolved from being a time keeper and making sure things get done into a coach, counselor and driver of corporate strategies. Since managers are the closest to front line staff and have more direct customer contact they are a wonderful source of information that provides leads regarding the need for future development and can more easily influence employees during times of change.
If you are a manager, you know you are not only sandwiched between executive level people with big requirments, you are also surrounded by employees who look to you for guidance, advancement opportunities, motivation and at times a friend. Being a manager on almost any playing field is one that may require you to walk gingerly through political land mines while keep things calm on the home front, your department.
Managers know that it can be a challenge to keep valuable skilled employee who are grateful but still keep an eye out for new and improved opportunities. After all, in today’s job market if you don’t see thing happening within 2 1/2 to 3 years at your company, it is time to move. The days of moving up in your own company are often limited because many executives and directors bring in their own teams for their own job security limiting advancement for mid-level managers and front line staff. Managers must keep nuturing their staff providing an environment that fosters cross-training in other departments, involvement in decisions and direction of the department and incentives to stay.
Regardless of our lovely economy, recent surveys reflect that over 80% of workers hope to change jobs in the near future. Job satisifaction is at a low. People need to feel valuable and appreciated and I don’t just mean during the holidays. One time in a job interview someone asked me “Why aren’t employees more loyal?” I almost burst out with a “Are you kidding?” Employees have felt since the 1980′s that companies are not loyal to them. Employees watched their mom and dad’s pension diminish or evaporate, we had Enron then we also began to see many mergers and buyouts. Company raises began to shrink from the once robust 10% increase down to a ceiling of 5% to 7%. Health benefits were beginning to shift into a more of a cost sharing type of thing.
As a manager, it is up to you and not just your employer to provide an valued incentive to stay interested in their job. If most people feel that their boss is doing what they can to keep the job and environment productive and interesting, they will invest added time. Also, if their manager sincerely cares about them as a human being and meets with them on a one on one basis once a month to hear about the family and the manager gives of themselves a bit, an employee will feel appreciated and enthusiasm will soar! As it has been for years, employees leave their jobs first and foremost because of their boss, the job itself and then, because of dissatisfaction with pay.
Going back in time we learn about how our roles changed over the decades contributing to our jobs today:
70′s …
Training focused primarily on discrimination, racism, and management by objectives.
80′s …
Popular training topics were behavior modeling, the first real push towards teamwork, empowerment, diversity, feedback, quality and employee incentives.
90′s …
Lots of manager training to become visionaries, learning groups, performance management, sexual harassment, re-engineering, fun incentives incorporating company executives and the evolvement of balancing work and life.
00′s …
A time when our employers want us to learn how to protect the company by attending training on topics such as employment law, computer security, workplace violence and prevention, stress management, differences between men and women managers and employee motivation to help with mergers and/or rightsizing.
Fun Ways to Provide that Added Incentive:
Fun Fridays
Funny Sock Fall Contest
Outdoor Meetings under the Trees
Host a surprise Un-Meeting
Bring a Treat Friday
Manic Monday Casual Day
Scavenger Hunt Thursday
College a Coupon for a Good Deed for a Prize
Being a manager is rewarding. The more you involve your team and keep them motivated, the better it is for you. Your team will help you meet your goals and your involvement with them will help them grow and feel valuable. Those at the executive level will quickly see that you can easily motivate your team to move ahead through change.
Find out how giving praise is the key to getting it
Happiness Thought for October: Praise early and often. As St. Therese of Lisieux wrote, “When one loves, one does not calculate.”
I’m a real gold-star junkie. One of my worst qualities is my insatiable need for credit; I always want the recognition, the praise, that gold star stuck on my homework. Recently, I was grumbling to my mother about the fact that some extraordinarily praiseworthy effort on my part had gone unremarked upon. My mother wisely responded, “Most people probably don’t get the appreciation they deserve.” That’s right, I realized – for instance, my mother herself! I certainly don’t give her enough praise for everything she has done for me. Our conversation started me thinking about the importance of praise, and how to praise effectively.
1. Be specific Vague praise doesn’t make much of an impression. Parenting experts often express this point of view: Praising a child means more when it’s specific than when it’s general. “What a beautiful painting!” is less gratifying than “Look at all the colors you’ve included! And I see you’ve used all your fingers with the finger paints. You’ve really made your picture look like a spring garden!” This is true for adults, too. “Great job!” is less satisfying than an enumeration of what, exactly, was done well. General praise sounds perfunctory and meaningless; specific praise seems heartfelt.
2. Never offer praise and ask for a favor within the same conversation It makes the praise seem like a setup for whatever you’re asking for.
3. Look for something less obvious to praise Highlighting a quality that a person hasn’t heard praised many times before shows that you’re really paying attention, not just repeating what other people have said.
4.Praise people behind their backs The person you’re lauding usually hears about it, and behind-the-back praise seems more sincere than face-to-face praise. That’s why I make an effort to repeat any behind-the-back compliments I hear.
5. Match the quality of the praise to the difficulty of the task If a job was quick and easy, a hasty “Looks great!” will do; if it was protracted and challenging, be more lengthy and descriptive.
6. Remember the negativity bias The “negativity bias” is a psychological phenomenon: People react to the bad more strongly and persistently than to the comparable good. For example, within a marriage, it takes at least five good acts to repair the damage of one critical or destructive act. So when I praise someone, I remember that one critical comment will be far more memorable than several positive ones. If I want someone to walk away feeling great, I skip any negative remarks.
7. Praise the everyday as well as the exceptional When people do something unusual, it’s easy to remember to give praise. But what about the things they do well all the time without any recognition? I try to point out how much I appreciate the small services and tasks that someone unfailingly performs. Something like, “You know what? In three years, I don’t think you’ve ever been even an hour late with the weekly report.” After all, we never forget to make a comment when someone screws up.
Praise is gratifying to the person getting praised, of course, but it also boosts the happiness of the praiser – at least I’ve found that true of myself. Still, what about the opposite problem? I find it fun and easy to give gold stars, but so often I’m craving them myself. I struggle (admittedly with only moderate success) to master my need for gold stars. I’ve repeatedly asked my husband to give me more of them: “Manipulate me! Lavish me with praise, and you could have me jumping through hoops like a tiger at the circus! Just give me my gold stars!” He laughs, and he understands my nature, but he still doesn’t do it.
Some of my happiness-project resolutions are aimed at this desire, and I tell myself, Don’t expect praise or appreciation. Nevertheless, for all my efforts, I have to admit that I still crave those gold stars. It helps if I tell people I’d like gold stars. If you give a gentle reminder, they might happily shower you with praise. Here are some other strategies I use to try to curb my neediness:
1. Do things “for myself” For a long time, I self-righteously told myself that I made certain efforts “for the team” or “out of love for my family.” While this sounds generous, it led to a bad result, because I sulked when my husband or whoever was involved didn’t appreciate my efforts. Now I tell myself, I’m doing this for myself. This is what I want. I want to send out holiday cards. I want to organize the cabinets. This means I’m not waiting for a gold star. No one else has to even notice what I’ve done.
2. Find ways to reward myself Maybe other people aren’t giving me credit, but I can give myself credit. I keep a chart of my daily resolutions, and I get a little jolt of satisfaction when I reward myself with a check mark next to a resolution. I give myself gold stars!
3. Express your appreciation for what other people do One good happiness rule is that if I wish people would act a certain way toward me, I should act that way toward them. If I wish people would be freer with praise, I should make sure I’m ladling it out myself. Also, I’ve found, when I push myself to feel grateful for what others are doing, I remind myself of how much they do for me – and that eases resentment.
4. Remember that being taken for granted is a form of praise It’s ironic: The more reliable you are, the more likely you are to be taken for granted. If you always meet deadlines, if you never lose your temper, if you’re always prepared, people can overlook your efforts. And really, that’s a compliment. My only clear childhood memory of being picked up from school is the one day that my mother was late. Every other day – year in, year out – she was on time. As a child, did I ever say, “Hey, Mom, I really appreciate the fact that you’re never late”? Nope. But it mattered. How about you? Have you found effective ways to give or get praise?
Being a middle manager in a big corporation can be a wonderful position but it is one that presents it unique challenges. A middle manager is usually closer to front line staff than executives however at the same time, there is great responsibility to achieve higher level goals. Often times the compensation and incentives of a middle manager does not include stock options, travel in first class or the opportunity to be readily seen in action presenting additional promotional opportunities.
What is the best way to describe a middle manager in just a few words? I would describe it as the sandwich position. The middle manager’s staff often views their boss as someone who understands the day-to-day production push and sees first hand how hard they work. They view their boss as someone who can fight for their right and provide key information back to them from the top. Top level executive management views the middle manager as a producer and someone who needs to make it happen regardless of staffing levels, the right tools and is a sponsor for the cause but not one of the elite.
More than five years ago middle managers were casualties during the need for downsizing. Vice Presidents and above were then required to manage lower level staff saving their companies money yet at times sacrificing employee development and needed coaching. This action came at a sacrifice to some companies effective growth and efficiencies.
As the Recession began to show signs of its seriousness coming down the pike at lightening speed towards us, companies began to look at mergers as a survival tool. Together companies could more readily competite in a world market that was becoming very challenging. Companies everywhere seems to be preparing for mergers and takeovers by window dressing. Window dressing is when a company hires a multitude of executives to appear stronger and more strategic therefore, becoming more attractive to suitors.
iddle managers are once again being viewed as a key role because they can manage diverse responsibilities at a closer level and act as catalyst for change. Middle managers offer an incentive to their employers by performing job functions and not just look at spreadsheets all day as many executives are required to do. These managers also discover auspicious opportunities because of how close they are to customers and employee cost saving production finds. If our economy improves, we will experience a demand for middle managers as many existing middle managers who survived downsizing and executives retire.
Being a middle manager is not easy. Employers need to recognize the demands placed on these people and demonstrate appreciation for their efforts because they are an integral part of a companies ability to more quickly positioning themselves through necessary change. One on one development is actually more important at the mid level than it is on the front lines because these people are the best suited to be future leaders and should be developed. We already know that these middle managers already posses Emotional Intelligence which we all know is paramount skill for an upper level executive.
Corporate America has moved away from the value of promoting from within. We have hired others from outside our companies looking at them as if they were more valuable with greater shine. What is valuable is right in front of our eyes! When we hire from outside the company, new hires often times bring in their own staff or other managers they know closing the door to development and promotion. We then are all faced with unhappy and unmotivated staff. Should we blame them for their sentiment? What happened to the song and dance about promotion from within that we sing loudly during the recruitment process? Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence? Is there no value to someone that can hit the ground running and bring seeds fresh for planting?
Middle managers work hard and are often the unsung heroes. We need to provide them with incentives so that they do not just feel like an unrecognized work horse. Your managers are your spokesperson to your vendors and customers. They are your cheerleaders and messengers of the company’s vision. They translate complex directives into a possibilities motivate and provide an incentive to front line staff to execute and succeed.
The incentive market is improving, according to Incentive’s annual Sales IQ survey. Compared to last year, we saw more than a 40 percent increase in the number of respondents who said their companies have increased their overall sales incentive budgets—from 29.8 percent in 2010 to 42.7 percent in 2011. Also, more than two-thirds of the respondents said they are spending more per recipient in 2011, compared to fewer than half in 2010.
The survey was conducted between March 23 and May 23 via e-mail. Exactly 500 readers of Incentive magazine and its e-newsletters responded.
How well those companies are spending their money was another survey question. We asked the respondents to rate their sales incentive programs, and just over half answered “extremely effective” or “very effective.” Around 40 percent said “somewhat effective,” and seven percent called their sales incentives “not at all effective.”
A number of reasons were mentioned for the lack of effectiveness, but there were a couple of recurring themes. Lack of funding was cited by many. One respondent commented, “We do not have enough funds to offer a big enough incentive to motivate high-volume salespeople.” Issues with program design also were noted. Another respondent pointed out a “need to correlate incentives to performance more effectively,” while a third person noted, “It can be difficult to purchase incentive rewards that are well liked by everyone equally.”
Do you walk into your office asking yourself what happened to the energy of your once vibrant sales staff? There is hope, you just have to give everyone their red balloon back. No matter what the age of the individual on your team, everyone still has a kid inside. A child lives inside of all of us whether rich or poor, educated or not, young or old. We all yearn for wonder, excitement and fulfillment, our red balloon.
When I was a little girl my grade school teacher announced that we were all going to sit Indian style on the floor and watch a French movie. We all thought, “Wow, a movie all the way from France at our school just for us!” What could it be about? As the teacher began to set things up for our movie, we were all so excited. It took her several minutes to get us situated and sitting quietly on the floor. She then told us the movie’s title ”The Red Balloon”. We all laughed with excitement because after all, what kid does not love a balloon? What a fun title I thought! It seemed so perfect to me that I quickly sat quietly with anticipation of this French movie. When the projector went on, I remember hearing the movie reel go around and around as it began to show the movie on the pull down screen in front of the chalk board. Thinking back to moment, it was really amazing how a 1/2 hour story about a red balloon befriending only one little boy could ignite a fever of excitement and motivation amongst 20 children that lasted the rest of the week.
“What is in it for me”, the question heard throughout every organization at literally every level. Whether those that do business with you are your employees, clients or donors, they all want to know the answer. Give them their choice of incentive. Either provide them year long discounts to theme parks, dinning or their choice of vacation.
Those that manage sales teams have opportunities to give their teams red balloons providing them with incentives that bring out their energetic inner child. Whether their inner child responds to incentives they can share with their families, experience with their buddies or fun from a new electronic toy, their “red balloon” is one that will not soon be forgotten. Like most kids we all share fun stories about experiences or prizes we have won. An incentive is usually shared imediately with others via email, text or photographs providing you with added advertising and sales. The best advertising of all is of course, the word of mouth.
Our red balloon provides us with an incentive to reach and stretch for our goals. It may seem that it is out of reach at first but as we continue to keep the incentive in our minds eye, we find ways to make that final jump grapping the string tightly holding it with pride and joy. We have reached success and have the red balloon for all to see.
How do you use the phone to your advantage, and connect with people that you can’t see, and who can’t see you? You do this by matching some key vocal characteristics of the person you’re talking with.
Match voice volume
Some people talk louder than others, others speak more quietly. Loud talkers may be hard of hearing, and quiet talkers may not know how hard they are to hear. Talk at a similar volume to create that sense of common ground.
Match talking speed
Some people talk faster than others, others talk slower. Talk at a similar pace as the person on the other end of the call, you’ll find it easier to get and maintain that positive connection!
Match speaking rhythm
You’ll find it easier to maintain confidence and speak with ease by hearing and matching the rhythm of the person you are talking with. Their voice is your guide.
Match their energy
If a person has a subdued energy, dial yours down. If the person has a lot of energy, amp yours up!
Match vocal variety
Some people talk in a consistently high voice tone. Others in a consistently low voice tone. Others are somewhere in the middle. Some people practically sing their words. Others speak in a monotone.
Match sentence length and word choices
Short and to the point communications are great in email. But people who get too much to the point may find that they’ve failed to give their listener the detail they need to make sense of what they’re hearing.
Likewise, some people use technical language and jargon, others use colloquialisms. Notice this and respond in kind, and you will make better connections over the phone and in general.
First Thing Every Morning
If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400 – with no balance carried from day to day – what would you do? Well, you do have such a bank…time.
Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as “lost” whatever you have failed to use toward good purposes. It carries over no balances and allows no overdrafts.
You can’t hoard it, save it, store it, loan it or invest it. You can only use it – time
Here’s a story that drives the point home.
Arthur Berry was described by Time as “the slickest second-story man in the East,” truly one of the most famous jewel thieves of all times. In his years of crime, he committed as many as 150 burglaries and stole jewels valued between $5 and $10 million. He seldom robbed from anyone not listed in the Social Register and often did his work in a tuxedo. On an occasion or two, when caught in the act of a crime by a victim, he charmed his way out of being reported to the police.
Like most people who engage in a life of crime, he was eventually caught, convicted and served 25 years in prison for his crimes. Following his release, he worked as a counterman in a roadside restaurant on the East Coast for $50 a week.
A newspaper reporter found him and interviewed him about his life. After telling about the thrilling episodes of his life he came to the conclusion of the interview saying, “I am not good at morals. But early in my life I was intelligent and clever, and I got along well with people. I think I could have made something of my life, but I didn’t. So when you write the story of my life, when you tell people about all the burglaries, don’t leave out the biggest one of all… Don’t just tell them I robbed Jesse Livermore, the Wall Street baron or the cousin of the king of England. You tell them Arthur Berry robbed Arthur Berry.”
Here are six terrific truths about time:
First: Nobody can manage time. But you can manage those things that take up your time.
Second: Time is expensive. As a matter of fact, 80 percent of our day is spent on those things or those people that only bring us two percent of our results.
Third: Time is perishable. It cannot be saved for later use.
Fourth: Time is measurable. Everybody has the same amount of time…pauper or king. It is not how much time you have; it is how much you use.
Fifth: Time is irreplaceable. We never make back time once it is gone.
Sixth: Time is a priority. You have enough time for anything in the world, so long as it ranks high enough among your priorities.
Everything that any of us do during the day has a purpose, of course; otherwise most of us would probably be couch potatoes watching Netflix all day. Luckily, everyone has something they need to do, whether it is grocery shopping, doing homework, or going to work. People, and the motivations behind their actions, are what make our world go round; Incentives.
Our motivations responsible for our actions are visible from the very beginning. Even from the first few times that we began to converse with our parents, every action we did had an incentive behind it. Take the average 3 years old. As a parent it is an unspoken law that we must make our children eat vegetables. “If you eat your yams, you can have ice cream for dessert!” Sound familiar? Incentives are responsible for everything we do; they are unavoidable. Take parties for example. If you don’t invite people at least one month before the actual party, hopefully your five finger friends can save the party and round up some last minute invitees. People don’t respond to R.S.V.P.’s for a reason; they are simply waiting to see if a better offer will come up in the time being, one with a greater incentive. Let’s say your party has “party people”, you live in a higher middle class home, and your social status is on the higher side. You will probably have more guests than your friend, who lives in the average sized home and is a little lower on the social totem pole. People will go to your party instead because your guests are assumed to have better business and social connections. Not saying that your friend’s guests don’t have the same qualities to offer, but having to choose between the two is night and day. People are magnetized towards money and social butterflies because the opportunities that are at your party offer a greater incentive than your friend’s party. Incentives transfer over to every business, everywhere. Our salary is what drives each and every one of us at work to perform better, be on time to that 7:00 am meeting, and even stay that extra 10 minutes late to impress our bosses. Most of us would only perform the minimum each day at work if there wasn’t an incentive keeping us hooked on the line. Would you go on that business trip to China for two weeks if there wasn’t something in it for you? Without incentives many people would be left unmotivated and would never continue to climb the ladder at their companies, because there wouldn’t be anything to strive for. Incentives motivate everyone, whether it is an aspiring chef hoping to open a restaurant, your average college student longing to be the editor for a newspaper, or the ten year old down the street hoping to have a paper route in order to buy that new video game. So, we ask why we do the things we do. The answer: incentives
It’s time to change your mind about money and wealth.
Freedom is more than financial, and living a wealthy life is about more than just making money.
Below are the top 10 principles you need to know when pursuing more money so that you end up with a happy, healthy, and wealthy life…
1. Give More Than You Take
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
To build true wealth, you must help improve other people’s lives as you improve your own. When you give more value than you take it helps everyone around you. Living this way means the growth of your financial wealth becomes a measure of how much you have given to others. Your success becomes an act of contribution.
Always remember, taking value may bring you temporary financial success but it can never lead you to happiness and fulfillment.
2. Live With Integrity
Never cause harm to other people or the environment, encroach on the property of others, or violate moral laws. Never insult, lie, or cheat for financial gains.
Follow the simple rule, “If it doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t”. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable telling your family about.
When faced with the choice between expediency and integrity, choose integrity because no amount of wealth can replace peace of mind and a clear conscience.
3. Find Your Inner Motivation
Building financial wealth is not an easy path. It is a long and challenging journey that requires a deep rooted motivation strong enough to see you through to the achievement of your goal. Superficial motivators like a fancy car or endless vacations sipping umbrella drinks on a tropical beach won’t cut it.
Below are four proven motivators that can help you stay the course long enough to succeed:
Freedom from daily labor: This will allow you time to connect with family, indulge in your passion, or pursue personal growth so you can live your life to its fullest potential.
Capacity to share: Contribution is a powerful motivator because the more you have the more you can share. Wealthy families have significantly empowered social and environmental causes through the charitable foundations they’ve created. Maybe giving is your reason for getting.
Personal growth: When you’ve achieved financial freedom you will have more time to pursue personal freedom and achieve true wealth.
Capacity to inspire: Your success will inspire the people around you to follow in your footsteps and pursue their dreams. By achieving true wealth you will have the chance to help people break free from the shackles of financial mediocrity.
4. Have The Courage To Find Your Own Path
As social beings, we are afraid to do things differently and independently. However, wealth won’t be achieved by conforming to the majority. Wealth comes from doing things that others don’t so you can acquire the wealth they never will. It comes from following your own unique path in life.
Dare to be different. Be brave enough to take on new paths and learn new skills so you achieve your goals — even if it causes you discomfort.
5. Discipline Is The Key
Wealth isn’t built overnight. Get-rich-quick is a lie.
Instead, financial wealth results from many little things done right that accumulate and compound over your lifetime. This is good news because it means anyone can do it. There are no magical answers or sudden strokes of luck required. Instead, success depends on simple daily habits like saving, investing, and re-investing. It depends on regular investment education through reading and listening to podcasts that develop your financial and business intelligence daily.
When you have discipline you take regular action that produces regular results. Without discipline you will fall prey to the leading wealth killer – procrastination.
6. Live A Modest Lifestyle
The foundation of wealth is delayed gratification. Spend less than you can afford so you can invest the difference for greater value in the future. Materialism doesn’t bring happiness but it does keep you from achieving wealth. It will keep you attached to the superficial rather than connecting to the deeper motivation that drives you to achieve wealth.
Don’t be fooled by the consumerism myth that being wealthy is about living a conspicuous lifestyle. Most self-made millionaires live modestly — that is how they built their wealth. The truth is lifestyle conflicts with wealth building. Your resources are limited and can only serve one master.
7. Create Supportive Environments
The path to financial freedom is not easy. Few succeed even with the best laid plans because life incessantly gets in the way by throwing up obstacles and distractions. The key to success is focused, consistent and unyielding action. To achieve this objective create a support system that maintains your focus as you work toward wealth.
Properly designed environments will literally pull you toward your wealth goals. Structure your relationships, financial habits, daily routine, family and work environments to support and reinforce you plans. Eliminate contradictory environments that distract or drain your resources. Shaping your environments is the most efficient path to achieving your goals with the least effort required.
8. Nobody Builds Wealth Without Leverage
Leverage is the key principle to building wealth. You will achieve greater results in less time when your efforts aren’t limited by your own resources.
Below are the 6 types of leverage you should consider using:
Knowledge Leverage: How to work smarter — not harder.
Financial leverage: Other people’s money.
Marketing Leverage: How to connect with many for the same effort as one.
Systems and Technology Leverage: How to get more done with less effort — automation, streamlining, standardized protocols.
Time leverage: Other people’s time — employees, volunteers, assistants.
Network Leverage: Other people’s connections.
You will never build wealth by trading time for money, and you will limit your success as long as you’re limited by your own resources. The key principle required for breaking through the obstacles that curb your success is leverage. It literally separates those who can build wealth from those who never will.
9. Manage Your Money Like A Business
Treat your money like a business because that’s exactly what it is — a growing wealth management business. Employ proven success principles in your wealth plan similar to a traditional business plan as follows…
Competitive advantage
Risk management
Strategic planning
Accurate record keeping
Accountability milestones
You wealth plan should include all of these business principles while also incorporating your unique skills, interests, and resources so that it’s custom fitted to your personal life situation. You wouldn’t expect to succeed in business without a plan so why should wealth be any different?
10. Use Money Responsibly
You don’t own wealth: you’re merely its temporary guardian. Everything must pass including you and your money. Since you can’t take it with you the only alternative is to use it wisely while you are here and give it carefully upon death.
Always remember that money is a flow that passes through your control while you pass through this lifetime. Whether or not you use that temporary power wisely will determine the legacy of your life.
It will also determine if you lived with true wealth.
The goal for true wealth is not just financial success. It is about leading a balanced and fulfilling life that honors your deepest values. It is a about a life well lived.
As John Wicker wisely pointed out, “Wealth is not in making money, but in making the man while he is making the money.”
When you follow these ten key principles you will grow your financial wealth, and more importantly, you will grow personally.
Situation 1: Jeff and Maria are co-workers at a company that lets employees set their own hours. Jeff usually saunters into the office about 10 a.m., while Maria is there promptly at 9 a.m. She often has to take care of Jeff’s customers due to his lateness. He rationalizes that all is OK because he stays until 6 p.m. to “make up his time.” However, his clients usually stop calling at 5 p.m. Maria is angry with Jeff and becomes irritable and frustrated with him. She takes it out on him in daily interactions and sometimes even in staff meetings. Clearly, their conflict is an issue.
Situation 2: Allen and Leo are both managers. In almost every staff meeting, they bicker. They try to cut each other off, they criticize each other’s comments, and they waste time that could be devoted to essential business matters.
In both of these situations, conflict results in a waste of time, energy and productivity. Are business situations like these rare? Or is this kind of conflict exclusive to large companies?
Hardly. Conflict is all around us, and it occurs in every office to varying degrees and with almost every employee.
So what is conflict?
If you ask the average person, the responses could range from a negative situation to an extreme dislike for another person. At the same time, others could define it as anger, distrust, antagonism or simply something they dislike. These are all negative views, and I find them too narrow.
I suggest that conflict does not need to be characterized as just negative. In fact, it can be neutral or even positive. Conflict can simply be defined as tension.
Tension can be good, bad or neutral. Just because two people disagree doesn’t mean their disagreement is negative or poisonous; it can simply be a difference of opinion. However, left unaddressed and allowed to fester or grow, that neutral tension can become negative and possibly harmful. Then everyone, including the organization, suffers.
Whatever definition is used, we can agree that most people don’t like conflict. Indeed, they go out of their way to avoid it. In many cases, people view conflict in terms of arguments, anger, hurt feelings or being yelled at. And no one likes those situations. As a result, when conflict arises, most people will steer clear of it or pretend it doesn’t exist. Nonetheless, it is real, and it may become problematic.
So how should you deal with conflict in your workplace?
Address It Directly. When conflict arises, you need to raise the issue with the parties involved. You want to emphasize the need for your employees to address it. At that time, you can explain that negative feelings and thoughts can be handled in an appropriate manner that can actually make them positive and productive.
Listen to Both Sides. Speak with each party separately to gain their perspective on what the tension is all about. Make sure that along with any emotional information, you discuss specific facts or events that led up to or inflamed the situation.
Bring Both (All) Parties Together. Allow them to share their version of the events or issue. Often, this step will elicit issues or facts that the other party was unaware of.
Find Common Ground. This is very important, because often each side has some concern the other party can agree with, and this will become the foundation that enables you to bridge the gap that separates the parties involved.
Encourage Compromise. For the sake of working together, each person must be willing to give in a little. This step may take a while because the sides are already firmly entrenched in their own viewpoint or version of what should happen to resolve the issue. When this is accomplished, everyone will feel a little better.
Confront Negative Feelings. The feelings and thoughts that arose during the conflict stage have to be worked out. Unless this happens to everyone’s satisfaction, the problem may go away for the moment, but the hard feelings or thoughts will persist, and then a repeat conflict might occur.
Be Positive. Resolve to address future conflicts in a positive manner. The model, of course, would be similar to how this one is being resolved.
Based on the experience the employees just practiced, they should now have the skills and a process in place to turn negative conflict into positive tension that propels them to deal with future problems.
Dr. David G. Javitch is an organizational psychologist, leadership specialist, and President of Javitch Associates in Newton, Mass. Author of How to Achieve Power in Your Life, Javitch is in demand as a consultant for his skills in assessment, coaching, training and facilitating groups and retreats.
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