I heard this recently: Happiness in life doesn’t come from enjoyment. Happiness in life comes from victory.
Imposing self-discipline is a victory. We can celebrate it when we do it, and it produces other victories to celebrate, as well.
Posts Tagged ‘attitude’
Happiness
Monday, June 21st, 2010The Foundation of Leadership
Monday, November 2nd, 2009James Kouzes, co-author of “The Leadership Challenge” distills the foundation of successful leadership to credibility.
Credibility creates trust. To be trusted, we must be trustworthy. We may admire what others have; we may respect what they do. However, we will not trust them until we feel we know who they are.
Credibility comes from what we do consistently – under pressure and over the long term. Leaders remain consistent. Leaders stay true to their values.
If you’ve been leading people for any length of time, they know what you value. If it differs significantly from what you’ve been saying, you are killing your own credibility and eroding your own leadership foundation.
Why Do We Do It?
Friday, September 11th, 2009We are goal directed beings. We’re always accomplishing something. Which means there is always a reason for what we do. Getting a glass of water, getting drunk; talking about our faith, telling a lie; starting a business, selling a business, or any of millions of possible choices, there’s always a reason why.
Usually, we don’t examine that reason – we don’t even think about it. We don’t do things intentionally.
But, what if we always understood the intent behind our actions? Would we make better choices? I think so.
The implications could be life changing – couldn’t they?
That’s one reason why writing our goals and reviewing them regularly is so powerful. These two actions identify and reinforce our framework and helps guide the selection of what we do daily. Subconsciously, we make better choices. Better choices yield better results.
Writing and reviewing our goals creates a direction for us and frees us from the need to constantly examine the reason behind every action. So, I guess goal-setting is a life skill and a time management skill.
Franchise Players
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009I was talking with a friend of mine, today. While he might disavow this, he embodies EXCELLENCE. He executes well, is supremely competent, operates from impeccable integrity, is well-known and well-respected in his field, and – I say this with all sincerity - is amazingly humble.
In less than 9 months, he has had significant positive impact on the growth of his company’s bottom line – in a down economy.
He is a “franchise” player.
We love the ”franchise” player. They work longer and harder, need less attention, solve more problems, and raise the bar for everyone (who wants to play in their league).
The problem? “Franchise” players present a different leadership/management challenge. While we don’t have to discipline them, we do have to discipline ourselves.
Give them all they can handle, but not all we want them to handle.
Otherwise, we risk losing them – to our competition, or to burn out. In either case, our organization will be worse off.
Everyone’s Got a Story
Saturday, August 8th, 2009I was at a Dale Carnegie Course graduation this week.
One of the graduates was talking about what he gained from his twelve weeks in the program. His realization – everyone’s got a story.
We often (usually?) make judgements about others based solely upon what we see. It’s like looking through a keyhole in the front door of a mansion and claiming to know where everything – rooms, paintings, tapestries, furniture, silverware, closets, beds, linen, etc. – is inside. We can’t even see the entire front hallway.
Dale Carnegie said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested you.” It’s amazing, when we strive to “Become genuinely interested in other people” (principle #4), they do become genuinely interesting to us.
The hard part is getting past our own initial judgement, so we can at least open the door and see the hallway.
End Construction
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009Recently, I came to one of the many US highway areas “under construction.”
At 1:00 am, the maze of orange cones, orange barrels, flashing lights, concrete barriers and reflective tape was very noticeable in the pitch black. What was not noticeable? The entrance to the labyrinth. I’m sure the traffic engineer who designed this knew exactly how traffic was supposed to navigate through it. But, it’s not intuitively obvious at 75…. errrr at 65 miles per hour.
I slowed to a crawl, found the entrance, and breathed a sigh of relief when I finally saw the “end construction” sign several miles later.
What’s it like for your prospect navigating through your company’s sales process; or your customer navigating your customer service process; or maybe one of your employees navigating some new software or procedure?
Just because it’s obvious to you (the builder) doesn’t mean it’s obvious, friendly, or easy to anyone else. While we can rush right through it, they need to slow down, get their bearings and at least see the entrance.
When your sales, customer service, and human resource professionals try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view, they’ll be more able to reassure, guide, and build trust with with your prospects, customers, and employees
Laughingstock no longer
Thursday, July 30th, 2009How does one ship go from a laughingstock to winning the Battle “E” in twelve months? (And then winning the next cycle.)
Imagine a car race between 14 Ford Mustangs. For eighteen months, they race around the same track. And, only one car wins.
The US Navy “race” is called the Battle Efficiency Award (the Battle “E”). For eighteen months, US Navy ships compete against other ships just like them. The ships are nearly identical; the officers and crews have similar levels of experience and expertise.
Each ship goes through a bunch of inspections (supply, gunnery, engineering, navigation, damage control, communication, etc.), in addition to assessments of operational readiness, responsiveness, administration and so on. At the end of eighteen months, a winner is selected based, in large measure, on these results.
One particular ship was the laughingstock of the waterfront. Not only had it recently failed a major engineering operational inspection, it took six separate attempts, over a two-week period, to successfully leave port for a five-day transit along the coast.
So how was it twelve months later, this ship won the Battle “E”?
Leadership – and it wasn’t the Commanding Officer. It was “TJ” – the new CHENG (CHief ENGineer).
He called the engineering department together and told us he knew how we could pass the re-inspection. He told us he’d successfully passed this inspection with six separate engineering departments. It would take hard work and long hours, and, if we did as instructed, we would pass.
He didn’t promise extra pay, extra time off, world peace, or the end of global warming. He treated us like adults – and we responded as adults.
Did we work hard? Oh, yeah.
Did we pass our next inspection? With one of the highest grades on record, at the time.
The momentum from that success carried on for the next three years.
When your organization is experiencing tough times, don’t be afraid to trust your people. Be honest with them. They’ll appreciate it, and you can expect they’ll work harder to ensure you (and they) succeed.
Do You Care Enough to Sell?
Friday, July 24th, 2009My friend was telling me about his first solo sales presentation. Coming back from it, my friend’s father (who owned the business my friend worked in) asked, “Well, how did it go?”
“It was great. He’s a really nice guy.”
“Did you get a check?” asked his father.
“No, but he’s going to do it.”
“So, is he enrolled?”
“No, but he’s thinking about it.”
“Do you think we can really help him?”
“Without a doubt. He really needs it.”
“What,” asked his father, “would you have told him if he were your brother?”
“I’d have told him: Get your **s in class, or I’ll drag you there.”
“So, are you telling me you don’t care as much about this guy because he’s not your brother?”
Sales people are “too nice” when we care more about ourselves (don’t want to lose this prospect/customer/sale; what if they don’t like me?) than we care about our customers or prospects.
Will being less “nice” win more sales for us? Probably. More importantly, it changes our self-perception from product peddler to sales professional.
So, do you really care enough to sell?
Emotionally Rewarding
Monday, July 20th, 2009Dale Carnegie’s first principle is: “Don’t Criticize, Condemn, or Complain.”
Simple – NOT easy. In fact, this principle goes so against our natural inclinations that Dale Carnegie put it first.
Does not criticizing mean we are always “positive”? Nothing is ever wrong?
No. If it did, how would we correct the real-life performance or behavior problems existing in all of us (and in everyone else)?
This is more about the attitude we choose (yes, choose) when confronting daily problems. It changes the questions we ask ourselves in a given situation from: “Why are they like this/doing this?” to “How can I change this behavior/outcome/situation to achieve a different result?
For instance, when we’ve got an employee who isn’t performing, rather than go use our brainpower to explain why this person behaves the way they do (they’re a jerk, they never talk to anyone, they’re lazy, they’re stupid, etc.), let’s use it to identify or develop a solution to it.
In the short run, it may not be as emotionally rewarding as what we’re accustomed to doing. That said, in the (not very) long run, not only is it more emotionally rewarding, it is significantly more financially rewarding (particularly when we learn to apply it to ourselves).
Constantly Warming-Up
Thursday, July 9th, 2009How many football games have we seen – high school, college, NFL – where the players didn’t “warm up”? Football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, field hockey, soccer, bowling, badminton, softball, track and field – players warm up at all of them. In fact, in my times of attending sporting events as a fan – or player – I can recall ZERO times when the players didn’t warm up before the game.
How about you?
That’s what I thought.
What makes “warming up” so important it’s done before every game? What does “warming up” do for the players?
- Warming up gets muscles loose and prevents injury.
- Warming up helps players focus on the upcoming game.
- Warming up gets players into the rhythm of the game so it’s more like stepping onto one of those moving sidewalks instead of jumping onto a speeding train.
- Warming up helps eliminate (or at least minimize) pre-game jitters.
Golfers also have a “pre-shot” routine. Most golfers focus on what NOT to do (i.e. DON’T hit in the water; DON’T hit out of bounds; DON’T hit into the sand; DON’T move my head, etc.). Good golfers focus on what TO do (i.e. keep my head still; hit it straight swing easy, hit hard). Great golfers focus on the OUTCOME (i.e. high, straight drive off the tee, two bounces and rolling to a stop ten yards left of the tree at the dogleg).
Essentially, it’s a “warm up” for every shot.
What happens? Golfers tend to get what we focus on. Most golfers hit into the water, out of bounds, into the sand. Good golfers tend to keep their heads still, hit it straight(er), swing easier and hit harder. Great golfers tend to hit the high straight drive off the tee, two bounces and rolling to a stop ten yards left of the tree at the dogleg.
It happens for almost every shot.
A couple of days ago, I was out calling on new business. I was dragging my ……errrr..… feet. Trudging to the entrance of an office building in North Texas, I was focused on how hot it was, how hard it is with the current economy, how much harder it is to find businesses willing to invest in their people. Walking toward the mirrored glass building, I saw my reflection. I didn’t like what I saw.
My posture looked dejected. If I was a business owner and saw a salesman with my look coming in, I wouldn’t want that person talking to my people. I wouldn’t have believed him or her when they were talking about changing attitudes and behaviors for the good, overcoming stress and worry, creating a more positive work environment. I would’ve thought: “You need to take your own medicine.”
So, I did.
At the risk of sounding Pollyanna”ish,” I realized my “negative” self-talk was affecting my results negatively. At least it was affecting my own attitude negatively. So, I changed my self-talk.
I noticed an immediate change in my attitude, motivation, posture, and expression.
William James said it many years ago:
“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.
The voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully. and act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. To feel brave,act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and courage will very likely replace fear. If we act as if from some better feeling, the bad feeling soon folds it tent like an Arab and silently steals away.”
Will this make the economy better? Probably not. Can it help us deal more effectively with whatever comes our way? Probably so. Can it help my results? Maybe. Will I enjoy it more. Definitely.
We all have “warm-up” or “pre-shot” routines we perform regularly. The big question is: “does your warm-up routine help you – or hurt you?”