How to Increase Your Productivity

The trick to getting things done isn't to work more hours, it's to be more productive in the hours you already work. Use these strategies to boost your productivity so you can enjoy your time off.

Time management isn’t simply about managing your time during the work day. It’s about getting the most important work done within the amount of time you have allocated and enjoying your personal life when you’re not working. Hitting that sweet spot of productivity and leisure is what we really want when we seek out time management strategies.

Let’s take a look at the combination of strategies and techniques that can help us to have productive work days and carefree leisure time through successfully using our time well.

Focus List

In order to get the most important work done you have to know what the most important work is at any given point in time. One of the simplest and yet most effective tools is a Focus List. Not your Master List which includes all your projects, tasks and ideas, but a simple list of the top priority projects you are working on in a day. It can be as simple as a handwritten index card with one to three projects you have identified from your Master List as the most important for the day.https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/get-things-done.htm

This is probably something you have heard before, but what I want you to consider for a moment is all of the tasks, projects and ideas that are not on the list. They are not on the list because you have deemed them as less important at this time than the top priority projects you are going to do. So, don’t interrupt yourself and jump back to any of these items during your focus list work. Commit to getting the three done and then if you have more time you can recheck your Master List for the next three items.

Time Blocking

Blocking off time to do specific tasks can be as complex as scheduling appointments on your calendar for specific tasks or as simple as having two hour blocks of time allocated toward working on your Focus List work. 

It is not possible to block off every hour of every work day for focus list work. Email does need to be checked, phone calls need to be made, meetings attended and colleagues communicated with. So don’t try to convince yourself that you have 8 hours a day to accomplish your priority items. Instead block one or two 2-hour time blocks for working on your Focus List. During this time  close your door and put a polite but firm Come Back Later note on it, do not check email, and do not take incoming phone calls or make outgoing ones (unless these calls are your Focus List item). Everything else can wait for two hours. After all, these are your self-selected most important projects. Give them your full attention.

Focus Work Time

The key word here is focus. Start with the first item on your list and work on it. Work on only this project during your Focused Work time. You may be surprised at how often you interrupt yourself with non-priority things. You might say to yourself “I really do need to send a quick email to Susan about that meeting next week.” That email might take just 3 minutes to write and send, but it cost you momentum on your primary task. And if you do this more than once your two hours will be eroded, leaving you feel unproductive and like time got away from you.

Instead of doing the things that pop into your mind, write yourself a quick reminder about them so you can do them when your two hour Focus Work Time is over. You may find that over time this list will get shorter as you are able to just stay focused. Once you begin to trust that the other items on your list will get their own focus time, you’ll be less tempted to do them when you’re supposed to be doing something else.

Stop Working

When your time blocks are over, stop and take a break. Do the other things that are calling out to you and need to be done. Then you can dive back into your projects again if you haven’t finished.  It is as important to stop focusing as it is to stay focused. Otherwise all the other things that you need to do will pile up and cause problems. It is OK to do them. Also, it is unrealistic to work in Focus Mode all the time. It is the contrast of the two work styles that makes Focus Mode so productive.

When the end of the work day comes, stop working. The reason that you want effective time management in the first place is so that you have been productive enough to feel good about walking away at the end of the day. So do it. Walk away from work and leave it there - mentally and physically. Not only will your life feel better and like you actually have time to enjoy it, but you will be refreshed and restored able to work fully the next day.

If ideas or things you need to do keep popping into your mind, that’s OK. It doesn’t mean you have to do them right now. Like your Focus Time at work, this is your Focus Time during your leisure time. So just write yourself a note and when you’re back at work you can do them.

Give Yourself Permission to Do Nothing

Lastly, in society today it is very easy to become over-scheduled. Something to do every night, every weekend filled with activities and sports and events. No time to just relax and do nothing. Nothing makes you feel like your time needs managing more than having all of it filled up. Leave some blank space on your calendar. Make a firm commitment that you will have at least one night each week and one weekend a month with nothing on the calendar. If this means saying no to doing things with friends or un-volunteering for a committee or telling your kids to pick a sport that doesn’t have three practices a week and games every weekend, do it. This is your life. Enjoy it. 

https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/get-things-done.htm

How to Use Your Age to Your Advantage

Top 5 Most POWERFUL Speeches You Need To Hear Today | Goalcast

Keep Audience Attention Throughout Your Entire Speech

Want to keep your audience's attention beyond the first few minutes of your speech or presentation? These three suggestions can help you keep them engaged all the way to the end.

Business leaders often ask me this: “How can I sustain the audience’s attention throughout my speech?”

They go on to say: “Most audiences will be courteous enough to give the speaker a fair chance by listening closely for the first few minutes. Yet after that, I see their attention weakening. One person might be ignoring the host’s instructions about texting. Another is looking out the window. A third one is writing something, and I don’t think she is taking notes on my speech.”

With exasperation, they ask: “Do you have any strategies that will increase the attention span of my audiences?”

Fortunately, I do have recommendations that have worked for me and many presenters. Here are three of them.

FIRST: Move and keep on moving

Our eyes and our attention do not remain with still objects very long, yet we will stay focused on objects in motion. For example, suppose you and I are standing at the dock where cruise ships come in. We are watching a ship gliding across the horizon. Are we going to stop doing that, and begin looking at a docked ship? That’s not likely. Movement grabs us, not inactivity.

When you speak, get bold enough to walk away from the lectern, podium, table or wherever you have your notes and materials. Sure, this takes considerable courage at first. As happens with most changes, you will feel awkward initially. Before long though, going out into your audience will become easier.

Note how the eyes of your listeners follow you. Their minds will stay attuned as well.

TWO: Tell a compelling story

True, statistics can be impressive. When I read recently that 5.6 million Americans endure paralysis and that this number represents 1 out of every 50 citizens, that startled me.

Shortly afterward I read a heartwarming story about Devon Gales, a Southern University football player who was injured a season ago in a football game against the University of Georgia. Ever since that impact, he has been going through intense physical therapy, in hopes of regaining use of his limbs. Members of the Georgia football team have forgotten he was an opponent. They have visited him, comforted him, and encouraged fans to contribute toward purchasing a home for Devon.

Note how the statistic about paralysis could alert my audience for a couple of minutes, while the story about Devon will keep them enthralled and inspired for as long as I describe his quest for recovery.

Remember how children gave parents full attention when the parents said “Once upon a time”? That response does not disappear when we become adults.

THREE: Involve your audience

The era when audiences would sit passively for extended periods while a speaker remained the whole show has ended. As beloved comedian Jimmy Durante said frequently, “Everybody wants to get into the act.”

So find relevant, interesting, and tasteful activities that foster interaction. For example, if you are talking about customer service, give these instructions: “I’m sure that many of you have experienced great customer service. For the next five minutes, at each of your tables take turns identifying the companies that have given you the best customer service, and tell what made the service so impressive and memorable. So five minutes from now, we will have a leader you appoint at each table report the highlights of your discussion.”

During a half-hour presentation, design two or three interactive exercises, spacing them at intervals that provide a refreshing change.

SUMMARY

In order to maintain attention throughout your entire presentation stay in motion, tell compelling stories, and involve your audience in meaningful, relevant activities. Then you will hear this response from grateful participants: “I learned a lot, I enjoyed it, and the time flew by.”

https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/audience-attention.htm

The Importance of Asking Questions

Talking with people you don't know can be awkward and uncomfortable for both parties, but as a businessperson or consultant, you need to do it well. Here's how you can use questions to break the ice and develop relationships with people you've just met.

The ability to conduct a strong interview is, perhaps, the most important arrow in a consultant’s quiver. Shot with confidence and good intent, it pierces the awkwardness that naturally exists between two professionals who do not know each other.

My daughter is twenty-two and just graduated from college. Recently, I helped her move from Atlanta to DC, settling her in before she started her first job. U-haul trailer in tow, we had plenty of time during the ten-hour drive to talk in the car.

Somewhere around Greenville, South Carolina, she asked me about networking. She said her mentors told her to cultivate a network in her new job, that it would be key to her success in DC, but added, “Sometimes it feels awkward to chat at a cocktail party with people you don’t know about more professional topics that aren’t ‘social.’”

“Ask questions,” I said. “Everyone likes to be asked questions.”

She looked puzzled.

“Ask them about their job. Get them to open up. What do you do? Oh, the EPA.  What role do you play there? What are the three biggest challenges facing the agency right now? What are the competing schools of thought on how to best respond? What are other countries doing? Is there something to be learned from their experience?”

This is a variation on the idea that strong understanding comes from asking what Toyota used to call the “five whys.”

“You’re weird. It sounds like you’re interrogating them.”

“I’m telling you — a funny thing happens when you ask questions about people. They think you’re smart — and they enjoy the conversation more.”

You might think people like being interviewed because they like to hear themselves talk — that it’s vanity, a shiny mirror we put in front of people that lets them admire themselves, but I disagree. I think thoughtful questions are an invitation to create new understanding.

Look at the cocktail conversation again.

“What do you do?”

We get this question a dozen times in a week and most of the time, we answer back with a canned response.

“I work for the EPA.”

The canned response is a challenge, really. Having just told you what I do, I’m asking, “Are you really interested in that question or was that just polite chit-chat” The ball having been volleyed back, you have two choices. You can talk about the Knicks or you can say, “What role do you play there?” You can choose to go deeper. Go down that path and you are signaling you have more than a passing interest in the subject. You are saying, “I’m listening. I’m interested. Here’s a platform. I invite you to speak more on something about which you know quite a lot.”

Most people don’t get that invitation very often. Their spouses don’t ask. It doesn’t come up at the swim club. Their children don’t dig in on any given evening.

In I and Thou, Martin Buber writes,

“Man wishes to be confirmed in his being by man, and wishes to have a presence in the being of the other. Secretly and bashfully he watches for a YES which allows him to be and which can come to him only from one human person to another.”

When we honor those with whom we are in a relationship — treating them as a gift and not as objects — we invite the best in them to surface.

Most of us are busy rowing through life like conscripts in the Carthaginian navy. It’s rare we are invited to the foredeck and asked our opinion on the shape of the world. Not only is it a compliment to be asked, but more importantly, it is an invitation to think on a new, higher level. When we are asked good questions, we say things that surprise us. That’s because the question causes synapses to connect with each other in new ways. In speaking, we are engaging in the creation of new insights.

Asking great questions gives those with whom you are speaking the high gift of insight, perhaps verbalized for the first time. You are saying to them, “You work all day in a specific world. That gives you a unique and informed perspective that is valuable. What is it? Share with me your wisdom.”  Which, if you think about it, is at the core of what we do as trusted advisors.  We don’t have all the answers so much as we are eager to catalyze a process that develops answers in our clients.  Our clients pay us to solve problems and good questions, thoughtfully asked, are the ground on which that value is built.

https://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/ask-questions.htm

LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE TODAY! | DAN PENA MOTIVATION

Create Greater Success with Effective Goal Setting

Whether your big dream is to start your own business, earn more money in your job, or simply have more time to spend with your family, it all starts out with setting a goal. You can improve the odds that you'll achieve your goals by following these steps.

It’s relatively easy to set your goals, even if you have never done it or not done it much before. You start by breaking down a broad mission a dream into workable smaller parts.  You begin by writing down your broad mission and dream goals so you can create goals today that will put you on the path of achieving these long-range goals.  Put a specific date by each goal that represents when you would like to have it achieved.  The more short-term goals you create, the better, because it will fill you with more confidence as you achieve them on your road to even greater success.

Keep in mind that just writing all your professional and personal goals out on paper is not exactly a great accomplishment, in itself.  True, by thinking your plan through this far you have already done more than the average dreamer out there.  Thinking is not exactly doing though, is it?

What really matters, and what will make you ultimately successful in life, is taking action.

This is why it’s important to write down your goals with specific target dates for completion.  When you do this, it will help you actually accomplish your goals.  When you accomplish your short-term goals you know that you are on the path to achieving your long-range goals.  How would you feel to know this?  How would it feel to know that you are more consistently achieving your goals?

Let’s say you want to open a new office in another part of town.  You will want to put the exact date (month, day and year) you would like to have it open for business as the first step.  Then you will write down all the activities required for you to achieve this goal along with specific dates for completion.  As you check each activity off the list you know you are coming closer to opening the door of a new office on the date you specified.  You can always change any of your goals along the way, if you need to.  If you think one of your goals is especially intimidating, then try pushing it back to a later date.  You are not abandoning this goal, but perhaps moving it from the one-year mark to the two-year mark.

Remember to write each goal in a positive light and approach each new step with excitement.  It will help to put in exact dates and amount of money you need to help you visualize the plan and measure your achievements.

Fulfilling Your Goals

How can you write a plan when you don’t know the future?  Make no mistake about it: life isn’t always fair, and you can rest assured that things will probably not go your way at least once or twice. I simply call this, ‘life happens.’ Why does this happen?  It may not be due to any mistake on your part.  Sometimes you have to plan for the unpredictable element.

You cannot predict the future, so attempting to determine the outcome of your every endeavor might leave you feeling disappointed.  Instead, focus on what you wish to accomplish with the experience.  You can certainly determine your own performance.  Try and set goals that you have more direct control over.  This way, even a financial or personal setback will not interfere with the achievement itself.  There could be any number of obstacles that could prevent an outcome-oriented goal from being accomplished: Government law could inhibit your professional goals. Weather or climate could ruin an important event.  A bad economy could prevent you from achieving high numbers for the year.

You must also beware that others should not influence you to set unrealistic goals based on outcome or performance.  Your views on what success means could be influenced by the media, by employers or even by one’s own family.  The problem is, when others try and set the standard for success, they do so in ignorance of your personal desires and ambitions.  What makes one person successful does not necessarily make you happy.  What one person sees as high performance in a short period of time, you may well consider exhausting or you don’t view it as high performance, based on your own circumstances, desires, and ambition.

Setting Smart Goals

If you are looking for a system of goal setting that is easy to remember then consider the word “SMART.”  This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timed.  Your goals should be specific, measurable, and at the same time relevant to your vision and measurable in physical terms.  Some people think their goals have to be ‘realistic.’  Realistic is somewhat relative.  I believe that setting a goal that may seem a bit out of reach or a challenge works to motivate me more.  If I don’t achieve this goal I still feel better that it was a stretch over what I would have set it I set a realistic goal.  You need to set your goals the way it motivates you the most.  Lastly, by attaching timing to your performance-oriented goals, you can induce yourself to take action.

Remember that you can and should modify your goals as time passes.  As you gain valuable life experience, you may find that some goals are just too easy.  If this is the case then you may want to rewrite those goals to be more personally challenging.  On the contrary, you may find that some goals are beyond your capacity, at least within a short period of time.

You may decide that it’s best to rework some of your goals into a more manageable solution.  This is acceptable.  I call this course correcting at any time.  What’s important is that you are continuing to pursue your objective and prospering at your own pace.  This is far more effective than setting very unrealistic goals and then falling by the wayside because of discouragement.  As long as you have a plan, then you are heading in the right direction.

You must write your plan with a view to taking action.  Goal setting means nothing unless you actually follow through with your plans to finish each step.  Do not sabotage your future by creating goals that are not in-synch with your abilities or time frame.  Start slowly and work your way towards the top of the mountain.  See the difference that goal setting makes in your life and as the quality of your life starts to improve.  Begin today.

One of the Greatest Speeches Ever | Jeff Bezos

How To Be A Team Leader Through Influence

Countless experts on leadership have emphasized that in order to lead, you have to put yourself last. While there is some truth in that, it is also true that to be a good leader, you have to be your best self, which means focusing at least some of your energy on yourself.

We have all heard the phrase, “There is no ‘I' in team.” However, in reality, there are actually two. Understanding the role each “I” plays in your team will result in great leaders who lead great teams. Before you can be a leader of anyone or anything, you need to have some understanding of yourself. 

One of the things our world is currently teaching us is to put others first: the customer comes first, your family comes first, your *insert group here* comes first. However, if you continually put others first, where does that leave you?

This is a topic I discuss on a weekly basis, and usually when I begin this discussion, I immediately get people jumping to conclusions regarding selfishness, narcissism, religion, and politics. These are all important things to consider; they have legitimate influence that we, as individuals and as leaders, must understand.

People often associate with what is most prevalent in their lives—the things that create the most noticeable influence. I understand the knee-jerk reaction to assume that focusing on yourself means that you are selfish or narcissistic; however, this is not always the case. I recommend putting yourself first in order to be the best leader for your team. We have all had experience with those who do put themselves first, only think about themselves, and do not use this mentality for the betterment of anyone except themselves. Many of us have even worked for someone who says, “Do as I say, not as I do,” thinking they are above the standard they preach. 

To start, you must understand this: the word “individual” is not always singular. In its most basic use, it implies that we are discussing one singular being or thing. But when many individuals are working together as a team, they become one Individual (which I will characterize with a capitalized I). They are, collectively, Individual because they are moving together towards the same goal as one.

As an individual, the single most important responsibility you have in life is the influence you have over those you lead or those that are influenced by you. In every aspect of your life, for all entities which you have influence over, you deserve and owe it to others and yourself to be the best you can be. This is your responsibility as being the only you this world has. 

Leaders must be their best self in order to lead their team effectively. To be your best, you must center yourself, understand what influences you, and what influence you have on others. When you have a strong sense of self and understand your spheres of influence, you ensure that you are always in the best position to lead your Individual team. By extension, your Individual team has a great influence on others too, both singular individuals and collective Individuals.

Finding a balance between being the best for yourself and leading your team while not coming across as arrogant or condescending, can be difficult for most people. As the leader of any group (appointed, hired, or gifted), humans assume that the title defines your role. If you are the owner or executive of a company, people generally assume you have some inherent right to treat people as you see fit to accomplish the goals that you have been tasked with either creating, managing or both. 

There are some circumstances where hierarchy dictates immediate observance of a position, without a lot of effort having been put into earning any real respect. For example, in the military, you may have a 22-year-old come out of one of the military academies and assume leadership of men twice his age with more knowledge and experience, yet they defer to the new officer. However, in that world there are standards and policies that govern and protect the true leadership needs so that the individual coming from an academy can assume leadership while simultaneously leaning on the experience of the individual who does not have rank; here, the whole Individual unit gains from the influence each individual has.

If we assume a leadership role is an emotional thing when we become the leader of other individuals we can experience a number of internal feelings. Those feelings we get can help us or hinder us. Anxiety can numb our ability to make decisions, trust other team members, and trust our own decisions. Fear has the same effect. While these are negative on the surface, they play a part in tempering some of our other human emotions and feelings, such as confidence or aggressiveness.

These negative feelings are usually fed by ego. Ego can be the one thing that turns what should be positive and pragmatic leadership into narcissistic, dictatorial leadership. Would you be surprised to learn that a great many people don’t quit jobs because of the work? Many people quit because of the lack of leadership and poor influence they receive as part of the organization. 

Look at any company with high turnover and most of the time it will be because of a lack of positive leadership. How do you control those inner impulses that tell you that you’re the boss so what you say goes? You earned this right, didn’t you? You put your time in, or you got that degree, or you were born into the right family. 

That feeling that you are better than everyone should not influence how you treat other individuals. If you have those feelings, put them into perspective. Who is really making you great? If you put the time in, someone taught you. You had a mentor or teacher or someone who helped you get to where you are now. 

The fact is that to be a good leader you need to recognize your value. Your value as a leader is your influence to help people work together for the benefit of the company, the team, and all the other individuals they all influence. When you recognize this and use your influence in a positive way, you create more positive influence. 

One example I like to use is the kitchen exhaust cleaning (KEC) industry. These are companies that clean the kitchen exhaust hoods for restaurants and cooking industries; it is a dirty and thankless job. The pay is generally menial, and the labor is treated as such. If you poll owners of these companies around the country, most of them will complain about the high turnover and blame it on the dirty job, lousy hours, and lower pay. 

I could introduce you to KEC companies that don’t have these problems. They have the same job, work during the same hours, and charge the same, or similar, amounts. The difference is the influence the leaders have created for their companies. The customers don’t look at these people as menial; they look at them as fire safety professionals because that is the purpose of their work. That is how leaders communicate. The leaders pay wages commensurable with the value of the work being performed; for that, they get quality work and content individuals that understand the importance of their work.

How you convey to yourself and your team the meaning of your work, individually and together Individually, is the influence that can set the foundation for your leadership. Leading with a positive attitude and setting an example for your team will set you apart from those who lead through demand, fear, or expectation. How you view yourself will have a dramatic influence on how others perceive you. Positively influencing your team by being your best self will allow your team to perceive you as a leader who supports their, and the company’s, overall goals. Your team will give you the respect you deserve when you lead them with the influence that they deserve. 

The No.1 Habit Billionaires Run Daily

How To Improve Your Self Talk

Self-talk is our internal dialog -- the words we say to ourselves. These words reflect and create our emotional-physiological states. We can feel confident or nervous, motivated or discouraged, often depending on what we tell ourselves.

"Oh no! I have to speak at the committee meeting next week! I can't possibly find time to prepare for it. I'll do a terrible job. I always get nervous and make mistakes. It will just be another disaster. I'm such a klutz!"

Do you recognize this negative self-talk? Sounds dismal and depressing, doesn't it? How many times have you had a similar conversation with yourself? Let's try it again.

"Gee, I get to speak at the committee meeting next week! Hmmm. Maybe I can rearrange my schedule to allow for preparation time. The last time I spoke, I felt nervous and made mistakes. I'm sure I can do better this time. I know I can improve if I keep at it."

Does that sound different?

Self-talk is our internal dialog--the words we say to ourselves. These words reflect and create our emotional-physiological states. We can feel confident or nervous, motivated or discouraged, often depending on what we tell ourselves. Self-talk can influence self-esteem, outlook, energy level, performance and relationships with others. It can even affect health, determining how we react to stress, and how easily we change bad habits such as smoking, overeating, or drinking.

Many of us are careful about how we communicate with others, but give little thought to how we communicate with ourselves. To improve the way you communicate with yourself, the first step is to recognize negative self-talk and replace it with positive self-talk. This article will tell you how.

Avoiding the Negative

How would you feel if a friend said to you, "You're just not smart enough! You screw everything up!" Some friend! Yet, do you ever talk that way to yourself? Perhaps it's a defense mechanism against the possibility of making mistakes. Perhaps a pre-emptive self-rejection will somehow lessen the hurt if others reject you or disapprove of your ideas. Negative thinking really doesn't make things better. Negativity breeds pessimism and anxiety. It impedes problem-solving, distorts perceptions, and hinders interpersonal relationships. Cognitive psychologists, such as author and founder of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Dr. Albert Ellis, have identified the types of "irrational" thinking that forms the basis of negative self-talk. Here are a few examples:

• Focusing Only on Problems: This means complaining and focusing only on what's wrong, rather than on what could be done to solve the problem.
• "Catastrophizing": Everything that goes wrong is a horrible disaster! We expect the worst and magnify problems.
• Stereotyping: We put others into preconceived (usually negative) categories so that we don't have to bother with understanding them, or seeing how they are similar to us.
• "Shoulds": Sometimes we think we should choose what others want us to, rather what we truly want to do. When we give in to the "shoulds," we feel resentful, but if we don't we feel guilty! Too often we judge our own or another's behavior by saying what they "should have done." It's like closing the barn door after the cow has run away. "Should have done" doesn't solve the problem.
• Thinking in black and white: We think in extremes without allowing for shades of grey. The project was either a complete success or a complete failure.
• Blaming: Instead of looking for a solution to the problem, we look for someone to blame.
• "Yes-but": When someone offers advice or a new point of view, we think of reasons why that won't work.
• Generalizing: We take a few examples, or maybe even one, and generalize what we perceive to an entire class or category. "I can do anything right. Everyone hates me!"

Examine Your Self-Talk

You can replace negative self-talk with positive self-talk. Listen to what you say to yourself. According to Harriet Braiker, author of Getting Up When You're Feeling Down, negative self-talk usually occurs when emotions are in turmoil, or during a stressful event or personal transition.

When you find yourself using negative self-talk, take a deep breath, calm yourself, and remove yourself from the situation if you can. Some psychologists recommend saying a commanding "STOP!" to yourself to jar yourself out of a negative rut. Ask yourself: "Is what I'm saying to myself true? Are there other possibilities, solutions, or explanations?"

You can replace your negative self-talk with objective and encouraging thoughts. Fill your mind with uplifting ideas. Read inspiring books. Listen to joyful music. Hang out with upbeat people! Give recognition to your strengths and comfort yourself when things go wrong. Let your self-talk sound like the soothing words of a friend, counselor, or mentor. As your self-talk improves, commit to changing your actions accordingly. Braiker says, "Thinking correctly does alter your negative moods, but enduring change comes only with modifying your behavior."

Say "Yes!" to Affirmations

One way to get into the habit of positive self-talk is by using affirmations. Affirmations are short, declarative statements that you repeat to yourself often in order to change your limiting beliefs and sullen attitudes. "I am an asset to my company" is a positive affirmation. Affirmations gain power through repetition because our emotions, perceptions, and actions are shaped by our most dominant thoughts.

Much of negative self-talk is actually negative affirmations. Examples are, "I'm just a klutz," or "I have a terrible memory for names." Unfortunately, such oft-repeated ideas can actually lower our expectations of ourselves, reinforce weaknesses and bad habits, and decrease performance.

No one is completely sure how affirmations work. Perhaps repeated thoughts form neural pathways in the brain that eventually streamline to the point of being automatic. Alternatively, the theory of cognitive dissonance states that the mind cannot entertain two opposing ideas simultaneously and as the mind tries to resolve the difference, the idea that receives the most repetition will win out. The theory of psycho-cybernetics states that frequent thoughts represent goals which the subconscious mind will strive to actualize. Thus, what we most often tell ourselves becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Guidelines for Affirmations

Make your affirmations personal. Don't try to change others. Your affirmations should reflect your goals and values. Personal affirmations contain words such as "I" and "me" and "my."

State your affirmations in the present tense. If your affirmations are future-oriented (as in "I will...") then your subconscious may feel no urgency to produce results now. If you feel awkward expressing an affirmation in the present tense, as in "I am a confident speaker," then state your affirmation as a process of improvement instead: "Each day I am more confident in my speaking abilities."

Make your affirmations believable and realistic so that you say them with sincerity. Begin with small achievable goals and eventually work up to bigger achievements. "I am the world's greatest teacher" is a fine affirmation, but probably more believable as "I am a good teacher who knows my subject matter and I get along well with my students."

State affirmations in the positive. If you state your affirmations in the negative, it only focuses your thoughts on the things you want to avoid. For example, you could say "I don't eat fattening foods," or you could say "I eat nutritious, slenderizing foods." Which statement is more motivating? If I say to you "Don't think about a blue cow!" what image comes to mind? A blue cow, of course! But I told you NOT to think of a blue cow! Be careful where you direct your thinking because that's where your energy follows.

Make your affirmations short and easy to remember. "I like myself," is better than "I am now achieving the psychological state of self-esteem and personal dignity that is essential to positive mental health."

Affirmations can become a part of your daily routine. Write them on index cards and post them in prominent places in your home and office. Make a tape recording of affirmations and play it for yourself as you fall asleep at night. Set your affirmations to music and sing them! Say them aloud while driving alone in your car. Write them in a journal. Make posters of them for your walls. Have your favorite one printed on a tee-shirt. Everyone I know who uses affirmations can attest to their beneficial influence---and you can too!

Decades ago, the great French philosopher René Descartes stated this simple concept: "Cogito, ergo sum." It means "I think, therefore I am." If, indeed, the act of thinking is a measure of existence, then there is surely a relationship between the quality of our thoughts and the quality of our lives. Let's value our internal dialogs and keep our self-talk healthy, productive, and caring.

The Most Honest Advice About Getting Rich

How A Simple 'Thank You' Can Make You A Better Leader

Remember the last time a client, a boss or a co-worker gave you a hand-written thank-you note to tell you you’re doing a good job? Maybe someone at work has surprised you with flowers, an unexpected gift or a bonus. Has a vendor ever slipped you a gift card worth the price of a cup of fancy coffee, just to show appreciation for your loyalty?

It felt good. It might even have prompted you to keep up the good work. You might have thought back to that gesture when you toyed with moving to a different company or switching to a cheaper vendor.

Your gesture of appreciation doesn’t have to be a gift. Simply saying “thank you” can go a long way toward improving employee morale, retaining valuable staff members and keeping your clients coming back. In fact, in survey after survey, more than 20 percent of employees have said:

• If they don’t feel recognized for doing good work, they have recently applied for a different job—compared with 12 percent of employees who do feel recognized.
• More appreciation from bosses would make them happier at work.
• They prefer written or oral “thank yous” over extra time off or gifts.

Saying “thank you” is a simple but powerful gesture. And it can lay the foundation for a positive relationship with bosses, subordinates and co-workers when the time comes for you to ask someone to go the extra mile.

Showing appreciation builds goodwill. People appreciate being appreciated. Someone who feels appreciation from you is more likely to return the gesture by agreeing to your requests. They want to let you know that they appreciate you, too.

Professional salespeople—at least the good ones—know this. They keep in touch with their customers long after they have made the sale. They thank them for their business. They check later to ask if the customers are happy with their major purchases. They ask what else the customer might need that they can offer.

It’s all part of creating a “customer for life,” and it’s a strategy that any employee, manager or vendor can imitate in an effort to create good working relationships and agreeable clients, staff and co-workers.

Consider the late Bob Bergland, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and member of Congress who later worked as the general manager of an association with hundreds of employees. He was known for making the effort to learn the names of as many of those employees as he could, and for taking the time to stroll around the building every now and then to shake their hands and thank them for their service—by name.

When it came time for him to ask employees to go the extra mile, they were happy to return that goodwill.

I can share a practice of my own that works for me: As a small business owner, I hand-write thank-you notes on fancy paper and mail them in time for Thanksgiving delivery each year to every client, employee and vendor I have ever done business with—even former ones.

When I find myself in need of a favor, a discount or a rush job, they’re happy to help me.

Especially if someone gives you something you really want, like a raise, a promotion, a job or new business, it’s important to show your gratitude. In fact, most hiring managers say they expect a thank-you email from every job applicant who got an interview.

Even if you didn’t get the raise or job you asked for, show your gratitude to the person who spent time and consideration on your request. And don’t show that gratitude just once. Continue to follow up with everyone who has helped you or considered it.

That kind of follow-up not only sets you up for positive results with this person in the future, but it signals that the professional relationship you want reaches far beyond a single transaction. It says you care enough to stay in touch.

You don’t have to spend a ton or money or time saying “thank you.” Simple gestures can be just as powerful as grand ones. For example:

• A note—handwritten or via email—that includes a specific reference to something the recipient did for you or talked to you about can elevate a casual business relationship to a more important one.
• After crashing on a deadline, an in-person pat on the back for a job well done—again, with specific mentions of achievements—lets an employee know that you notice and appreciate hard work.
• Posting a positive online review for a company or a service professional takes just minutes. But its impact can be enormous if it results in additional business for the vendor.
• Returning a favor after someone has done one for you tells the other person that the relationship is not one-sided.
• Some sincere words of appreciation can pick up an employee or coworker who is showing signs of burnout or depression.
• A gift card worth as little as $5 is still a gift. Hand them out to people who serve you year-round, like the person who delivers packages to your office, the agent at the rental-car company you frequent or the receptionist in the lobby of your building. Don’t wait for the holidays; make it a surprise.

When you say “thank you” to someone who said “yes” to a request, you pave the way for the next “yes.” Follow the lead of the most successful sales professionals whenever someone gives you something or does something for you: Realize that hearing a “yes” isn’t the end the deal. It’s the start of the next one.

Mamba Mentality - Kobe Bryant (Motivational Video)

The Importance Of Positive, Hopeful Thoughts

Positive hopeful thoughts are vital for several reasons. We very often will think much more creatively and function much better anytime we're feeling positive and well. If you are on top form, your esteem levels will go through the roof and this can only help you in your work and personal life because of positive hopeful thoughts. If you possibly could sustain yourself using regular challenges and also truthful self evaluation with positive hopeful thoughts, the rewards are actually huge.

Anxiety induces us to put the brakes on; to stop having positive hopeful thoughts. Due to the fact that our judgement has become clouded with negative thinking overpowering our positive hopeful thoughts, we have a tendency to become timid in the face of adversity. Negative thoughts are usually emotions like anger, fear, anxiety, jealousy regret, sadness. These kinds of emotions are capable of not only having a powerful, unwanted effect upon you physically, and also of having a significant influence on your positive hopeful thoughts and the way you conduct your life. Negative emotions can engrain habits of constraining decision making.




One of the great things about personal development is that it may encourage all the healthy areas of yourself to evolve and less savoury parts to disappear. It may perhaps increase our own general well being and so make us even more harmonious inside. Our emotional processes, attitudes, ideals, our positive hopeful thoughts and motivations are interconnected.

If life was easy then all of us would have nothing to be motivated for. For this reason by getting other challenges and goals, whether it is studying an additional language or taking up a new creative hobby, you are able to develop a highly disciplined mind that will assist you in many other areas of life. Maintaining confidence, positive hopeful thoughts and determination is the secret to lasting success. Nevertheless, permanent success can be achieved from short term targets! What exactly this suggests is as a result of setting smaller goals and then rewarding yourself for realising them on a regular basis.

Thinking well is being well. You will find only a minority of people who become successful without having any belief in themselves or even in what they do. Be proud of the actual positive steps you have decided to take in asserting control over your life and maintain your positive hopeful thoughts.

Think well of yourself. Change negative self-talk to positive self-encouragement. Give yourself the same thought you'd give a cherished close friend. Once you've banished all these negative thoughts and replaced them with positive hopeful thoughts, you need to switch your attention towards trying to think up an action plan. The effects of this are that you'll be proving to yourself you can have control of your own future. With a clear structure in place, you will in no way lose focus from the task in hand or detract from your positive hopeful thoughts. This will help to avoid the feelings of helplessness and submissiveness that could happen to people who feel like they are not in control of a situationThe Importance Of Positive, Hopeful Thoughts

8 Things Successful People Never Waste Time Doing

As a mentor, people often come to me when they are overwhelmed, stressed and feeling like they’re not accomplishing their goals, the things they most want to do in life. They feel stuck. They are at a point which they don’t know what to do

So one of the first things I do first is identify their time-wasters, the things that are getting in the way of them being successful, keeping them from moving forward, toward what they want to accomplish.

I think we all, from time to time, get ourselves involved in activities that do not contribute to our greatest success or happiness. I definitely did at one time, but I made the necessary changes once I became an entrepreneur and learned how valuable each second of the day was—that there really wasn’t any time to waste on activities that didn’t grow me or my business.

We’re all looking to be successful in life, but sometimes we are wasting our time doing things that are holding us back from reaching our full potential. And, often, we don’t recognize those things until someone points them out.8 Thing Successful People Never Waste Time Doing

It’s important to analyze how we spend our days, hour by hour, and regularly look for ways to work smarter, ways to eliminate time-wasters. So, to get started, here are eight things that productive, successful people never waste their time doing (and you shouldn’t either):

1. Productive, successful people don’t get sucked into social media.

Being on social media—checking notifications Facebook, scrolling through pictures on Instagram, reading quick updates on Twitter, whatever—it’s part of everyday life. But if you don’t control how much time you spend on it, the hours will fly by and you won’t have accomplished anything on your to-do list.

So either put a time limit on it—set an alarm for when you need to minimize it, close the app, do something else—or only get on after completing necessary work projects. Use social media as a reward.

2. Productive, successful people don’t go through the day without a plan.

Successful people have a purpose, a laser-focused plan of things they want to achieve on a particular day. I believe in writing things down—but only the top two or three priorities I need to accomplish that day, not a long list of things.

Write down your top priorities and break down those large tasks into more reasonable steps and you’ll see yourself wanting to get them done and crossed off the list.

3. Productive, successful people don’t do emotionally draining activities.

If you want to step into a truly successful life, you have to focus on things that positively fuel your life. Productive people don’t waste their time on things that emotionally drain them.

Before committing to activities on your schedule, be sure the activity will positively add to your life. If you believe it won’t, then think about saying no to it. Also, don’t feel obligated to give an answer right at the time you’re being asked to do something. Think before you say yes and know that it’s OK to say no to requests for your time.

4. Productive, successful people don’t worry about things they can’t control.

Successful people realize that worrying gets you absolutely nowhere in life, especially if you can’t do anything about a situation.

So turn your thoughts to action-based activities. Focus on things you can get done.

5. Productive, successful people don’t hang out with negative people.

It’s said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So if you want to be your best, you have to surround yourself with the best people.

Be sure to eliminate negative, toxic energy around you. If you want to soar in life, you need to unload what is weighing you down.

6. Productive, successful people don’t dwell on past mistakes.

Successful people make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. The key to being successful in life is not making the same mistake twice, learning and growing from mistakes, and becoming a better person because of them.

So when you make a mistake, get into a mindset that the mistake is done with and you can’t go back to the past. Focus on what you learned and design a strategy to positively move forward from it.

7. Productive, successful people don’t focus on what other people are doing.

It’s great to be inspired by what other successful people are doing, but when you’re constantly comparing yourself to the next person and it’s bringing you down, it’s time to shift your mindset.

Be inspired by others, but focus your mindset to only compete with the most important person: yourself.

8. Productive, successful people don’t put themselves last in priority.

We all go through times that we don’t get enough sleep or exercise because we need to work on a big project. But for long-term success and happiness, you must put yourself first on the priority list.

Some great ways to do this is to kick start your day by doing something you love to do—maybe it’s completing a great workout, meditating, journaling or reading your favorite book. Do what works for you. Because when you start off your day doing something you love and that is good for you, you’ll feel happy, focused and strong the rest of the day.

Are there things on this list that have been time-wasters for you? Eliminate them so you can step into your best life.

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5 Common Characteristics of Entrepreneurs

Here are 5 common characteristics typically found in people who have found success in their chosen field as small business owners.

Vision

The 'spark' or idea that sets a person in motion is typically something that is fueled by passion or in the least a personal interest! This 'vision' is usually unique in some way and is supported by the strong belief or faith that it can indeed become reality! Thus it is the passion of most successful entrepreneurs that keeps their dreams alive! Their vision also serves as the 'target' that keeps them on track allowing them to effectively plan the required course of actions needed to achieve their goals!

Self Confident

Being successful at anything requires having a certain degree of confidence in yourself and your choices! As any entrepreneur will tell you, this confidence is critical primarily because most of the time you'll be working alone and making decisions based upon your own research and judgment!

Resilient

All small business owners are familiar with the fact that setbacks and mistakes are inevitable! The most important thing here is not the mistakes or setbacks you may encounter but rather how you react to them! Truly successful entrepreneurs view their setbacks as learning experiences and not as something that will discourage them from pursuing their goals! The attitude that the more mistakes you make the more you learn encourages people to bounce back and continue moving forward! Without this continued effort, success, in most cases will never be experienced!

Motivated

The willingness to 'roll up your sleeves' and do what it takes is rare in most people! This is especially true when working alone without the support or encouragement of others as the typical entrepreneur finds themselves doing! Remember however that it is the 'vision' as previously mentioned that sets people into motion towards making it a reality and that this vision is fueled by passion! Being passionate is a tremendous source of motivation and can easily sustain a persons drive even without the support of others!

Adaptable

Quite often change is required due to consumer demand, marketing strategies that are no longer effective and overall market conditions! In fact change is about the only thing small business owners can count on therefore their ability to adapt is vital! Without this adaptability you might as well give up your quest but in this area, once again, most successful entrepreneurs tend to excel!

There are certain characteristics of entrepreneurs that are most helpful in their being successful as small business owners! The good news here is that successful entrepreneurs are typically not born with particular attributes or talents but rather developed them along the way and so can you! For the most part the most prominent characteristics people need to succeed as small business owners are the 5 discussed here today! With a little imagination along with a 'dash' of discipline there's little holding you or anybody else back from being successful at developing a profitable small business of your own!

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What Makes People Different.

Early on in life, it becomes obvious that we have lots in common with other folks along with a strong pull toward our own uniqueness, our individual differences. Do you think these differences are based on bodily size, or do they just come from our heritage along with experience and education? Or some of all of the above?

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Some learned minds consider intelligence to be a fixed thing that we are born with and yet, we have seen the development in increased attention, in memory, in judgment and in our ability to unfold more intelligence than we were at our births. We have seen minds - starting with our own - become developed through training, experience and that unseen force called personal effort. We have seen some individuals exceed all that was expected of them.

Is there one way that is more accurate than any other in considering individual differences? Business people have a settled sense about the contribution of genetics or environment when it comes to how productive their employees are, and about how to improve this performance.

Your philosophy about all this has a profound impact on your success. Your "I can't" concepts can lock you into your current spot and you can move beyond that spot by changing to an "I can" concept. You might surprise yourself.

If you have a set series of beliefs captioned "This Is How I AM" and you also hold the belief "This Is How's It's Always Going To Be", you have what is referred to as a fixed mindset. You think: "This Is All I Can Accomplish." This mindset is limiting.

There is another way of being called the growth mindset. The growth mindset can see opportunities; it knows about capabilities; it isn't afraid of being "caught out" deficient. The growth mindset thinks: I can change and grow through application and experience. Having a growth mindset works really well to foster more success in business, vs. having a fixed mindset.

It's not possible to see your own end point from here or how far you'll get along the progress time line, but if you believe "I can develop into much more" you'll move far along that line. These tips will help you achieve a growth mindset and then experience more success:

- Look for friends who will encourage you to stretch, to grow in areas formerly not even thought of.

- Decide that you will consciously work to go beyond where your achievements are right now.

- Promise yourself that you will persevere through thick and thin.

Even when my Big Dream looked impossible, I continued to search for ways to make it come true for me. Having a group of friends that you can lean into will help you stay fresh, keep up with technology, use the concepts that others used to become successful. I looked for folks ahead of me on the path so that I could augment improvements to help me get to my next bigger vision. I found my perfect levels of rest, exercise, nutrition to support my own dreams. I became aware of my own mindset when it came to improvement and that's what I'm sharing with you because it seems to have worked for me. I'd love to think that these suggestions to absorb how wonderful you and your individual differences are and put these ideas to work to celebrate those differences.



"Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun." ~ George Scialabra