Why are you doing this? Ask that question of yourself before you invest your time, money or effort. Clarify the purpose of each meeting, program or decision before you commit.
Why are you making this phone call? Why are you attending this networking event? Why are you investing in this marketing idea? Why are you spending time on this administrivia?
Before every meeting, clarify the purpose and time limit. Your meeting will be more productive and people will be more willing to meet with you. For example, I almost never return a phone call in response to a message that states, “Call me”. My first thought is, “Why?” What would be the purpose of my return call?
Many rules and policies have lost their purpose.
If you find that people are answering your question about purpose with “We’ve always done it this way”, then you know that they are overdue to seriously address this question.
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This is part of the Top 10 Tips to Make 2012 a More Productive and Profitable Year as originally broadcast on the radio show Business in Motion on 93.3 CFMU by your host, George Torok. To listen to the 30 minute radio show, visit the Business in Motion podcasts.
It’s a waste of time and repeatedly frustrating because you will never achieve that goal. You will never be perfect. It’s not your fault. It’s just not possible. Instead strive to be better. Set a series of achievable steps. That will reward you with an ongoing stream of successes. They might only be small successes but even a small success is better than failure after failure.
Some say that Edison failed ten thousand times before he invented the light bulb. My guess is that he viewed each experiment a success because he eliminated another false possibility.
Success encourages your confidence. Small successes generate the desire to reach out again and be better.
Real life is not a report card. It’s not about getting A or 100 percent because those yardsticks are not measures of real success. That’s just school stuff.
Instead of chasing perfection, chase one small success after another. That’s more practical and rewarding.
I know many successful people but no one that’s perfect. Successful people get comfortable with imperfection. They focus on success.
Deal with problems more effectively by understanding the difference between acute and chronic problems. Tips in this video from George Torok about how to recognized the differences and how to attack the problems.
If you’re not getting the answers you want – change the questions.
I heard this valuable advice from Joe Calloway. Let’s look a little deeper into this gem. I agree that asking the right question is much more difficult than answering the question. Asking the question determines the perspective, responsibility and value of the answer.
Smart people ask smart questions. Stupid people ask stupid questions.
Don’t buy into the myth “There are no stupid questions.”
The reality is that there are stupid questions. If you want better results, ask smarter questions.
For example:
If you have been asking, “Why won’t anybody hire me?” change the question to “What can I do to get hired?”
If you have been asking, “Why is business slow?” change the question to “What can I do to improve my business?”
If you have been asking, “Why do I feel so down?” change the question to “ What can I do to feel excited about my possibilities?”
If you don’t like the answers – change the questions.
I’ve never considered myself brave. Bold maybe, but not brave.
What’s the difference?
Brave always meant to me doing something that placed my life in danger. I don’t believe that I was brave. I probably placed my life in danger without intending to. That might have been foolishness.
Bold. That was different. Bold meant challenging norms, facing embarrassment or public failure.
I’m often bold. I often state my opinion even when or especially when it is contrary to the group think. I’ve done things that others might have considered brave but I only considered bold. I backpacked around the world at the age of 20. I quit a good corporate job to become an entrepreneur.
Maybe you don’t need to be brave. Just be bold. Do or say something against the norms.
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. - Phyllis Diller
The world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~ Author Unknown
A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks. ~ Charles Gordy
A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home. ~ Author Unknown
Everyone smiles in the same language. ~ Author Unknown
I’ve never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~ Author Unknown
The shortest distance between two people is a smile. ~ Author Unknown
It’s a waste of time and repeatedly frustrating because you will never achieve that goal. You will never be perfect. It’s not your fault. It’s just not possible. Instead strive to be better. Set a series of achievable steps. That will reward you with an ongoing stream of successes. They might only be small successes but even a small success is better than failure after failure.
Some say that Edison failed ten thousand times before he invented the light bulb. My guess is that he viewed each experiment a success because he eliminated another false possibility.
Success encourages your confidence. Small successes generate the desire to reach out again and be better.
Real life is not a report card. It’s not about getting A or 100 percent because those yardsticks are not measures of real success. That’s just school stuff.
Instead of chasing perfection, chase one small success after another. That’s more practical and rewarding.
I know many successful people but no one that’s perfect. Successful people get comfortable with imperfection. They focus on success.
How did you respond? Did you state your name? Did you say that you are with the bride’s side of the family? Did you state that you knew the deceased in high school? Did you mumble that you are the child, spouse, parent, or cousin of some one else?
Did you respond with your title? President, manager, or janitor?
Did you respond with a description of your work? Are you a business owner, company executive, accountant, sales rep, mechanic, truck driver, factory worker, nurse, lawyer, clerk, cook, reporter, editor, real estate agent,
Who are you really?
How many times have you asked yourself that question?
Are you an individual or are you only defined in relationship to someone or something else?
We are Borg. That’s one way to answer. Perhaps it’s not about you, It’s about your community.
None of us are one thing. We are individuals living in a complex world. We have many sets of relationships.
Are we defined by relationships?
Are we defined by tribes?
Are we defined by roles?
Are we defined by current, past or future work?
Are we defined by our dreams and hopes?
Are we defined by our pain, mistakes and failures?
Are we defined by our beliefs, opinions and dreams?
Perhaps you’ve seen the TV shows or movies where a police negotiator convinces a frantic person to “come back off the ledge” of a skyscraper. “Take my hand. Don’t jump. You have so much to live for.”
Now imagine that you are that negotiator striving to bring a depressed person back off the ledge.
What would you say to the person who justifies their planned suicide with:
“I can’t find a job. Nobody wants to hire me.”
“My wife left me. I thought we would be in love forever.”
‘I hate my parents. They don’t understand me.”
“I ran out of money. I can’t pay the bank.”
“Cancer. Why me? Why suffer any longer?”
“The love of my life died. I’m alone without him.”
“I’m a loser and nobody cares.”
“Everyone is against me.”
You have the opportunity to save this person and bring them back off the ledge. Say the wrong thing and watch them dive to their death.
What would you say?
I suggest that you think about these scenarios and plan your plea. Why? Because you might save a friend some day and you might save yourself.
Add your own “ledge crisis” to this list and search for the answer because maybe the jumper you need to reach is yourself.
Be ready to motivate yourself with the “come back off the ledge” speech.
I rode my motorcycle to Port Dover. I’ve been there many times throughout my life but it was my first trip by motorcycle.
I mapped out a route that would avoid the logical roads that I would take by car. I wanted to get away from the traffic.
Of course it took me much longer – almost two hours. I stopped a few times to check my maps. I took a wrong turn and had to back track.
When I arrived I toured the town then stopped for lunch. Munched a burger and fries at the Port Dover landmark “The Arbor” then strolled around.
My visit to Port Dover lasted about 45 minutes then I headed back on the same route. Total time out was about 4 hr 30 min.
Later when I related my journey to a friend he laughed about the curious time imbalance. That’s when I realized that it was never about the destination. That was just a goal of convenience. It was the journey that thrilled me.
It’s not that setting and chasing goals is bad. Maybe it’s a Maslov hierarchy thing where achieving goals meets one level of need and enjoying the journey is a different level.
Maybe…
Or it just might be the musings of a middle aged guy too infatuated with his motorcycle.
I love to ski. So you can imagine my ecstasy over my first day of the season on the slopes. It was wonderful as I rediscovered my skiing skills which had been dormant for 10 months.
My friend and skiing buddy, Wayne, was equally excited about our first day of skiing.
However, while we rode a chairlift up the hill we felt the biting wind which was especially chilling on our faces.
My inner voice was thinking, “Damm that’s cold. Maybe we should quit early”. Apparently Wayne was thinking the same thing. That makes two voices screaming “quit”.
Sounds like an easy decision.
No, because another voice was saying, “You came here to ski. It’s too early to quit.”
What could we do?
We skied to another slope facing a different direction. It was less windy. We waited a few minutes at the bottom of the hill to warm up. Then we rode this chair up the hill. It was less windy and all of our voices were singing in harmony – “Let’s go skiing”.
We changed our position, took a brief break and encourage each other to continue skiing.
No challenge or pain is permanent. It might feel devastating at the time. Take a break.
Change your position, perspective or approach and the pain becomes history.
Friends like you because of your strengths. They tolerate your weaknesses.
Companies hire and promote you because of your strengths. They might fire you because of your weaknesses.
Your strengths describe your personal brand.
Your strengths make you unique and memorable.
You win because of your strengths.
You can motivate yourself with your strengths.
It’s too easy and a mistake to overlook the power of your strengths. That’s who you are.
Write your strengths down so you can remind yourself when you need that motivational boost. For a special boost ask your best friends to describe your strengths.
The last few days were hot, hazy and humid. The next few days look like the same.
I don’t want to go outside on these days. I even feel lazy while inside. I went for a run early this morning and didn’t accomplish much the rest of the day.
If you feel that way – don’t beat yourself up. We are sensitive to the influences around us.
The good news is that all of it is temporary. Hot changes to cold and cold to hot.
Allow yourself to experience down moments, hours or days. And be prepared to spring back. The secret is to spring back.
Everyone needs to be re-motivated from time to time.
As an entrepreneur I am motivated about growing my business.
As a life long learner I am motivated about learning new concepts.
As a creative thinker I am motivated about discovering new ideas.
As a motivational business speaker I am motivated by delivering my presentations and the feedback to them.
As a business author and writer I am motivated by publishing my articles and the occasional comments.
As a professional speaker I am motivated by attending the convention of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. I just returned from the annual CAPS convention. I’m recharged and eargerly preparing for 2009. I know that it will be a challenging and rewarding year.
It was time for me to get up and go for a run. But it was cold in the room and warm in the bed.
I wasn’t motivated to get up because I was comfortable and getting up would disturb that comfort. So I laid in bed a bit longer. Enventually I got up and went for my run. The transition from warm comfortable bed to cold room and then even colder outside was still uncomfortable.
Once I was moving – it was easier to keep moving. I needed the motivation to move – to make the first moves. That was the hard part. We only need motivation to do things that are uncomfortable. Then we are surprized at how easy it is to keep moving.
I needed motivation to escape the warm bed and open the front door to the cold outside. Once I started those first steps little motivation was needed to keep me running.
We need motivation to change to make those transitions from comfortable to uncomfortable. The transition might only last seconds or minutes.
Canadian born actor, Jim Carey, is publishing a self-help book on motivation. One of his insights is based on his personal experience. He was feeling depressed and Prosac didn’t work. So he changed his diet and in particular added vegetables. Then he felt better.
Wow! Imagine that Jim. Eat healthy and feel healthy.
I wonder if Jim gave his mother credit for that advice.
I wonder how many mothers are trying to drum that into the heads of their children. Well now they have funny guy, Jim Carey on their side. Is it maturity setting in?
"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the President. You realize that you control your own destiny."
Structure is important to your presentation success. This is a fundamental that many poor speakers overlook. Your presentation needs an Opening, a Body and a Close. The Opening and Close are more important than you might think. Watch this video:Presentation Tips on Twitter Presentation Skills Club on FacebookExecutive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips […]
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