Archive for 'To Your Success'
Vision is Everything
January 21st, 2009. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
When was the last time you truly believed you were meant for greatness? When was the last time you actually envisioned yourself achieving a goal? Or for that matter, when was the last time you even set a goal? What’s the matter, scared?
Try the following: Every morning, make a strong affirmation of yourself, which includes three of your best personal traits and core strengths. For example, “I am compassionate, intelligent and funny, and these things help me and others live better lives. I am amazing.” Regular affirmations support positive thinking and help keep us on track to our goals. Feel yourself sliding towards negativity? Repeat your affirmations and stay the course. Motivating ourselves and getting psyched about bringing on new business is excellent. But in the long run, maintaining such motivation can be tiring. By practicing regular positive thinking, you will eventually reprogram yourself to simply expect positive results, which is much easier than consciously bolstering yourself. You must realize that consistent action and hard work now will pay off towards the good life. See you at the top!
Circles
January 14th, 2009. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
Feel like you’re going in circles, experiencing the same obstacles in your career or business? There’s a solid chance that you’re subconsciously allowing this to happen. Regardless of your upbringing or current environment, you are in full control of your thoughts and attitudes. Your current thought patterns are only habits, and habits can be changed. Try this exercise: The next time you’re driving home from a difficult presentation, or wrapping up a tough day on the phone, take the time to relax and reflect on your day. Don’t let discouragement or a sense of overwhelm drain you. Instead, mentally highlight positive things you accomplished that day. From finally remembering to turn off the coffee pot to telling yourself that you did a great job marketing your product, it could be anything-have fun with it. Positive thoughts are free currency and you should stock up on as much as you can. You simply can’t have too much positivity in your life. Yes, outside recognition is great, it really fuels the self-esteem, but giving yourself a mental pat on the back is what pays the residual dividends. Positive thought encourages self-confidence, which is much more permanent and empowering than any external accolades.
The Power of Positivity
January 7th, 2009. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
One of the best ways to be more positive is simply telling yourself, “Yes, I can.” And pinpointing areas where positive attitude shines will show you areas of strength to build off. The next time you feel the desire to flee a situation or are feeling overwhelmed by what seems like unobtainable goals, take a deep breath and stand up to the challenge. Oddly enough, some people find it easier to swallow unfilled dreams and cope with mini defeats instead of believing in themselves and putting their abilities to the test. But if you arm yourself with positive thoughts, then even defeat can be rewarding, because you’ll have the comfort of knowing you at least tried, and are sure to have learned something new in the process. An unsuccessful attempt will always be considered a victory when compared to the failure to act. Plus, a positive frame of mind maintains a more accepting mentality and creates openness to new opportunities. From this, you may begin to perceive previously unseen possibilities. Positivity is absolutely empowering and should be considered one of your most potent offenses, enabling you to tackle your biggest challenges with excitement and vigor.
Stay Positive
December 31st, 2008. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
A particularly effective way to stay positive is working on improving your core strengths, the positive attributes that distinguish you from others. Of course, it is good to work on areas that are lacking. However, you could end up spending a lot of time and energy working to improve weaknesses by only a minimal amount, while you could be improving your strengths exponentially. By no means is this a suggestion to give up and accept defeat in certain areas. Analyze your strengths and determine which ones a little mental elbow grease could improve, and which ones should be considered auxiliary. The majority of your energy should be directed towards building upon your strengths. People are most productive and content when they work on what they’re best at. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it? Yet, there are millions of people who work jobs their discontent with or dwell on tasks they dislike. This is why we encourage you to communicate openly and often with those you work with. Combining your team’s abilities means that you don’t necessarily have to tend to tasks you dislike or don’t excel at; bridge each other’s gaps. You’ll be most industrious, happiest, and more likely to accomplish your goals when you incorporate your core strengths.
What’s keeping you from success?
September 29th, 2008. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
What are your grand plans, your wildest dreams? Do you want to be manager, director, or CEO of your company, or do you fantasize about owning your own business? What is standing in your way?
In every situation, we face obstacles. Often we blame our bosses, coworkers and even our families for our limitations. We look outside of ourselves for mountains we can’t climb and rivers we can’t cross. No obstacle is too great if you have the right amount of preparation and planning to achieve your dreams. Take a clear look at the problem you face and size it up. With an accurate image of the rock in your road, you can go around it, remove it, or climb over it.
In 2007, 71-year-old Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to scale Mount Everest. He credits the support of his friends as being important to his success. Sometimes, if you don’t have the confidence within yourself, look to those around you for the energy you need move forward.
The tools you need to achieve your dreams lie within you. It is up to you to learn to use them.
Dealing with a Moody Boss
September 26th, 2008. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
What if you have a moody boss? Do you steel yourself before going to work every day and simply endure her slings and arrows until you are safely home again?
This is the boss who keeps changing the rules according to her mood. One day she loves it when you use loud colors in the design for a flyer, and the next day she insists that neutral pastels are the only true fit for the company image. To get along, you need to learn to read her body language. Stay away from her on her bad days and save important interactions for her good days.
If that solution is not possible, then wait for a good time to speak with her in private about your concerns. Keep your focus off her behavior and on the good of the company. In a non-threatening way, stress that you want to do the best work you can, and then point out that you sometimes are confused about the directions you receive. Ask for clarification on the latest communication that confused you. Be diplomatic in your choice of words. Don’t refer to her as “moody” or call her reversals “flip-flops.” Dwell only on your own difficulty with interpreting her messages. Stoop to conquer.
Dealing with an Incommunicative Boss
September 24th, 2008. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
Let’s face it. Despite widespread awareness of the Peter Principle, there are lots of mediocre managers are out there. Not every employee who is raised to his level of incompetence has the wisdom or humility to recognize it and step down. Robert F. Gately estimates that the success rate in promoting and hiring is about 50%.
So what do you do if you have an incommunicative boss? This type avoids the needed managerial task of routinely assessing the feelings and opinions of his employees. He keeps to himself mostly, except when he posts memos and sends out e-mails.
The first thing you need to do is accept that you are not going to change his management style. If his people skills are poor, you cannot wish him into good ones. Instead, resolve that from time to time you will be the one to initiate an interaction. Use the mode of communication that seems to be most comfortable for him. If he usually e-mails employees, then use e-mail to respond to him. If he frequently posts memos on a board, then put a written proposal on his desk and ask him to let you know later if he has any comments or suggestions.
Make yourself valuable to him by offering the employee feedback he actually needs to do his own job better.
When Downward Mobility Is a Good Thing
September 22nd, 2008. Published under To Your Success. No Comments.
Two brothers began different but related careers. John worked in an office for an oil company and James, in an office for a trucking company. John was detail-oriented, responsible, and efficient. He worked hard and spoke little. James was a hard worker in much the same mold as John, but also a joker and a back slapper with his co-workers.
Over time both were promoted. One brother proved to be a natural in management, while the other soon discovered he was in over his head.
It’s probably not hard to guess which brother asked to return to his former position. As a supervisor, John could not bring himself to challenge slackers and to encourage achievers. Uncommunicative by nature, he simply stewed about things that needed to be discussed.
Too often, employers assume that someone who is good at a job will be good at supervising others who do that same job. Yet the Peter Principle, explained in Dr. Laurence J. Peter’s 1968 book of the same title, states that competent employees rewarded with promotions eventually get promoted into positions for which they are unsuited.
Whenever that happens, a company is lucky to have an employee like John-someone honest enough to step down rather than pretend he is something he is not.