- Seek new opportunities. Discover how you can be more involved with the things you love to do for others. It will be your key differentiator and make daily life more meaningful.
- Go green: at home, at work. Then tell as many people as you can about how you've turned to more sustainable energy sources, recycled, and conserved. Seek out green vendors and green buildings. Make it your corporate culture.
- When you see a problem in the world, something inefficient and clunky and done simply because it's always been done that way, ask yourself, "How could this be improved? Is there an opportunity here?"
- Identify your passions. Really dig. Then channel your resources and stick to your mission.
Be transparent. - Toss the corporate hyperbole and be open with your employees, your consumers and your vendors about your vision, the obstacles and plans for the future. They will be more likely to help you reach your goals.
- Build an ecosystem that empowers and educates the people around you
- Think globally. No matter how small your business, you are not limited to local talent, resources or consumers.
- Turn philanthropic. A philanthropic culture creates a positive environment both at the office and within you.
- Consider the whole life cycle of your product or service. What's missing? How could it be better for the environment or community?
- Keep it super simple. Whatever it is
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Your top 10 to-do list to improve your professional life
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Daily rituals
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just stand there.” – Mark Twain
Daily six rituals : willingness, daily quiet time, service, love and forgiveness, and gratitude
Others-First Actions
“Others-first actions” will help move you from “What’s in it for me?” to “What’s in it from me?” Gratitude, love, and service to others is the best way to pull your focus off your own self-interests. When you act to benefit others, it’s not about what you’re going to get from others; it’s about what you’re going to give to others. Here are several examples:
· Let the first five people you meet everyday who are wrong about something be wrong (in other words, don’t challenge them or rub it in).
· Say “Good morning” to someone on the elevator or on the street.
· Pay the toll or fare for the person behind you in line and bask in their smile (or their shock).
· Really listen to people. This is a big one. Start with listening for one minute without saying anything on your agenda.
· Spend 5 minutes alone before your weekly staff meeting. Consider what you might say or do to build up others in the group.
· Start each staff meeting by expressing gratitude for specific strengths each person brings to the group. Use this same people-building technique with family members before the evening meal.
· Be willing to say “I’m sorry” if you make a mistake. Avoid thoughts of retaliation and let the mistake go. Thank the person for bringing it to your attention. Learn from the experience.
Me-First Actions
“Me-first actions” are also important to a balanced life. Always putting others first can eventually lead to feelings of burnout, exhaustion, and often resentment. Taking time out allows you to give from a position of joy and inner strength as you are rested and revitalized. If you
86 87 have trouble finding motivation for self-care, remember that it’s only by nurturing ourselves that we can positively nurture others. Consider the following “me-first actions”:
Get 8 hours of sleep a night, even if you don’t think you need it, and eat smart. Your body is an organic machine that needs downtime and fuel to restore itself to optimal operating efficiency.
Take three deep, lung-expanding breaths after you step outside in the morning.
Go for a 10-minute walk alone before you get to your office
Establish the limits of what your responsibility is, as well what the responsibility is of others, and draw your line before taking on more projects.
Drive to a parking lot with a cup of tea or mineral water and read an inspirational or humorous book for 15 minutes.
When someone asks you to volunteer, simply say, “That sounds interesting. I will check my schedule and call you back.” Then take a quiet moment to look in your heart and see if this is where you want to spend your time.
Sign up with an online message service to have something uplifting or humorous sent by email daily.
Daily six rituals : willingness, daily quiet time, service, love and forgiveness, and gratitude
Others-First Actions
“Others-first actions” will help move you from “What’s in it for me?” to “What’s in it from me?” Gratitude, love, and service to others is the best way to pull your focus off your own self-interests. When you act to benefit others, it’s not about what you’re going to get from others; it’s about what you’re going to give to others. Here are several examples:
· Let the first five people you meet everyday who are wrong about something be wrong (in other words, don’t challenge them or rub it in).
· Say “Good morning” to someone on the elevator or on the street.
· Pay the toll or fare for the person behind you in line and bask in their smile (or their shock).
· Really listen to people. This is a big one. Start with listening for one minute without saying anything on your agenda.
· Spend 5 minutes alone before your weekly staff meeting. Consider what you might say or do to build up others in the group.
· Start each staff meeting by expressing gratitude for specific strengths each person brings to the group. Use this same people-building technique with family members before the evening meal.
· Be willing to say “I’m sorry” if you make a mistake. Avoid thoughts of retaliation and let the mistake go. Thank the person for bringing it to your attention. Learn from the experience.
Me-First Actions
“Me-first actions” are also important to a balanced life. Always putting others first can eventually lead to feelings of burnout, exhaustion, and often resentment. Taking time out allows you to give from a position of joy and inner strength as you are rested and revitalized. If you
86 87 have trouble finding motivation for self-care, remember that it’s only by nurturing ourselves that we can positively nurture others. Consider the following “me-first actions”:
Get 8 hours of sleep a night, even if you don’t think you need it, and eat smart. Your body is an organic machine that needs downtime and fuel to restore itself to optimal operating efficiency.
Take three deep, lung-expanding breaths after you step outside in the morning.
Go for a 10-minute walk alone before you get to your office
Establish the limits of what your responsibility is, as well what the responsibility is of others, and draw your line before taking on more projects.
Drive to a parking lot with a cup of tea or mineral water and read an inspirational or humorous book for 15 minutes.
When someone asks you to volunteer, simply say, “That sounds interesting. I will check my schedule and call you back.” Then take a quiet moment to look in your heart and see if this is where you want to spend your time.
Sign up with an online message service to have something uplifting or humorous sent by email daily.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Three laws of entrepreneurial gravity
First Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Growth Sucks Cash
Second Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Buy Low, Sell High
Thrid law -Visibility Equals Credibility
Second Law of Entrepreneurial Gravity -- Buy Low, Sell High
Thrid law -Visibility Equals Credibility
Thursday, August 2, 2007
#1 capability of Brian
The #1 capability of the brain? Why we can learn? Hit a golf ball? Read this insight? Race a car?
The answer is: Pattern Recognition. Our brains are uniquely wired to do this one thing brilliantly. Therefore, the key to mastering anything (and making great decisions fast) relies on you feeding your brain appropriate data and then letting it do its thing -- find the patterns within the chaos!
Whoever learns faster wins! You need a certain frequency and amount of data to recognize appropriate patterns. If you only get data once a month, it takes several months for your brain to see certain trends; if you get data weekly, then it will be several weeks; and if you get and discuss data daily, your brain will see critical patterns within days. It's not any more complicated than this, which is why companies that huddle daily and track appropriate data will out-decide firms with longer learning cycles.
Gather data from customers/employees daily or weekly. This is the power of GE's Quick Market Intelligence (QMI). This is why I strongly recommend executives talk with one customer per week and have lunch with one employee. This is why Lou Gerstner, the famous CEO of IBM, required the top 240 executives of IBM to talk with five customers per week and five employees per week. These are all mechanisms for feeding key decisions makers' brains streams of data that aids in identifying trends quicker than the competition.
90% hiring success rate -- pattern recognition is also the power behind the Topgrading interview process. The structured interview process that Brad and Geoff Smart have perfected over the decades provides the kind of consistent chronological data that helps the brain rapidly establish patterns of performance
The answer is: Pattern Recognition. Our brains are uniquely wired to do this one thing brilliantly. Therefore, the key to mastering anything (and making great decisions fast) relies on you feeding your brain appropriate data and then letting it do its thing -- find the patterns within the chaos!
Whoever learns faster wins! You need a certain frequency and amount of data to recognize appropriate patterns. If you only get data once a month, it takes several months for your brain to see certain trends; if you get data weekly, then it will be several weeks; and if you get and discuss data daily, your brain will see critical patterns within days. It's not any more complicated than this, which is why companies that huddle daily and track appropriate data will out-decide firms with longer learning cycles.
Gather data from customers/employees daily or weekly. This is the power of GE's Quick Market Intelligence (QMI). This is why I strongly recommend executives talk with one customer per week and have lunch with one employee. This is why Lou Gerstner, the famous CEO of IBM, required the top 240 executives of IBM to talk with five customers per week and five employees per week. These are all mechanisms for feeding key decisions makers' brains streams of data that aids in identifying trends quicker than the competition.
90% hiring success rate -- pattern recognition is also the power behind the Topgrading interview process. The structured interview process that Brad and Geoff Smart have perfected over the decades provides the kind of consistent chronological data that helps the brain rapidly establish patterns of performance
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