December 30, 2013 Focus Point

A New Year A New You

"A real decision is measured by the fact that you have taken new action." ~Tony Robbins

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." ~Napoleon Hill

"You have no guarantee of tomorrow.  If you want to express love, you had better do it now." ~Rick Warren

"I'd rather fail at something I love, than succeed at something I hate." ~ George Burns

"When you come to the table you either have the menu or you are the menu." ~John Maxwell

A new year brings such hopes and a new determination to develop new routines and new habits. The ambition to try something new, to stick with that exercise plan, to take a chance at a new opportunity to prove your abilities. Yet most New Year's resolutions fail by sometime in February. The secret to success in a New Year's resolution is like Stephen Covey teaches. "Think carefully about your commitments before you make them. Make a commitment and keep it, but only make it if you intend to keep it." This includes commitments to yourself as in a New Year's resolution. As well as to others, as in with your work associates, family members, and so forth. It is as if motivation gets you going but internal commitment and discipline keep you going. The new year inspires everyone to feel motivated with a breath of freshness, but what happens when the going gets tough a few weeks into it? Only those with a firm resolve will continue.

In life you can either live with discipline or regret. Don’t mistake movement for achievement. It’s easy to get faked out by being busy. The question is busy doing what? Is it the action that you had actually intended or is it just something that you hope will be good enough to get by? Have hope in your accomplishments but never hope more than you work. Hope is a fuel, but not a strategy. Work will always do more for you than hope.

Make this year the best ever by making commitments and keeping them. By setting new goals and achieving them. By believing in yourself and your abilities. By hoping for a brighter future and most of all working hard towards it. Happy New Year!

December 23, 2013 Focus Point

A Season Of Love And Giving

"Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours." ~Tom Hopkins

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." ~Ecclesiastes 3:1

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." ~Luke 2:11

"Show kindness through your face, your eyes, your smile, and through the warmth of your greetings.  Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well." ~Mother Teresa

"Anger blows out the candle of the mind." ~R.G. Ingersoll

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." ~John Wooden

"I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved." ~George Eliot

What a great time of year when we have an opportunity to think less of ourselves and to think more of someone else.

I remember Stephen Covey telling a story about a man who came up to him at a break in one of his workshops asking how he could generate love for his wife and in his marriage once again. The gentleman explained how there was no love left in their marriage whatsoever. Covey said, "Love her." Once again the gentleman explained "There is no love, in fact there is not even any feeling of love left at all." Covey taught a powerful principle that love is a verb, something that we choose to do and show through action. The feeling of love is the product of showing love and comes after we take action. In her book The Secret Rhonda Byrne describes love as one of the most powerful emotions and forces that exists in human life.

What is the purpose of love and giving in your life? What is the purpose of the Season?

December 16, 2013 Focus Point

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

"Successful people are simply those with successful habits." ~Brian Tracy

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ...I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." ~Robert Frost

"Great leaders win over the hearts and the minds of others." ~John Kotter

"To master something someday, you have to work on mastering it everyday." ~John Maxwell

What a powerful statement and bold at that; Everyone Communicates, but only few of them truly Connect. To connect it requires so much more energy and effort. Anyone can say words and it takes no effort at all. But to really and sincerely reach someone's heart takes some good effort.

Like Kotter says in the above quote, we must win the hearts and minds. Notice that the heart is first, in fact the heart is always first. How can you win someone's mind until you have first won their heart? The best leaders and communicators know that you always touch a heart before you ask for a hand. You must reach their heart first in order to truly connect. You must identify with them, relate to their situation, ask caring questions, and listen intently. You must connect with them on their level. If you do this you will win with people and in life. Most people do not lead their life, they only accept their life, and these practices will help any person take charge and lead themselves and others more effectively.

December 9, 2013 Focus Point

What Is Your Most Valuable Asset?

"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition." ~Martha Washington

"Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have." ~Dale Carnegie

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet." ~J. Robert Oppenheimer

"A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships." ~Helen Keller

There is a story told of an old farmer down on his luck and discouraged. Well as good luck would have it he ended up with a goose who one day delivered a golden egg. Being true to his senses he thought that the egg was not real gold. Finally he had it examined by experts and found that it was indeed real gold and every day the goose would lay yet another precious golden egg. And every day the farmer grew more and more impatient to retrieve the next egg and eventually became so impatient that he thought: "I will kill the goose, reach inside and get all of the gold eggs rather than waiting any longer." So the next day he carried his plan out but as he reached inside the dead goose, sure enough, no eggs. His greed and impatience led to the destruction of the very thing which was serving him.

The things that are given to us at no cost are the things that carry the most value. Our minds, bodies, talents, and gifts. Most people place little value on them because they come as standard equipment at birth. But the things that can be replaced they value. What do you consider to be your most valuable asset in life? Is it your mind, knowledge or experience? Is it family, friends, or mentors who have offered direction? Maybe it is possessions, investments, and so forth... Whatever it is that you value in life are the items that should be protected and respected. For the things in life of most value are those that cannot be replaced.

December 2013 Leadership Connect

Are The People You Lead Working In Their Strengths?

"The self proclaimed "experts" who spend their time telling others what's wrong with them never win with people." ~John Maxwell

"I would much rather hire experience than knowledge any day of the week." ~Paul Martinelli

"The praises of others may be of use in teaching us, not what we are, but what we ought to be." ~August W. Hare

"All players have a place where they add the most value. That place is their "strength zone." ~John Maxwell

A fact based on research states that: Every person can do at least one thing better than ten thousand other people. The trick here is to locate within yourself what your own strengths are. What do you enjoy? What are you good at? And then take it to the next level and help those you lead, do the same.

In his book Good to Great Jim Collins talks about the idea of getting the right people on the bus, and getting the right people in the right seats on the bus. This is such powerful information because we see that it is important not only to hire the right people, but to also know their strengths so that we can place them properly.

From a survey that was taken across the United States, we learn that 85% of those interviewed said that they could work harder on the job. More than half of them claimed that they could double their effectiveness if they wanted to. These are huge numbers. Why would that be we ask? It is because so few people are actually working in their areas of strength. What about you? Do you get excited and feel motivated when asked to work in your weakness? I certainly don't.

Understand a powerful truth. When someone is working in their area of strength, they do not need much external motivation. It's like they take off and skyrocket in terms of effectiveness and production. A successful person finds the right place for himself or herself. But a successful leader is able to find the right place for others. How do you get unbelievable results from a person? Have unbelievable expectations about that person and help them discover and work in their strengths.

December 2, 2013 Focus Point

Information and Its Application

"A mind that is expanded by a new idea, concept, or experience, can never be satisfied in going back to its old dimensions."  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

"I don't mind the question if you don't mind the answer." ~Bill Bailey

"Give up what you want now, for what you want eventually." ~Stephen R. Covey

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." ~John Wooden

"You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read." ~Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

"Learn as if you are going to live forever, live as if you will die tomorrow." ~John Wooden

Isn't the right kind of information amazing with the value that it carries? But when we really understand its true impact we know that it will not serve us unless it is applied properly. It must be applied properly in order for a person to realize its full value, and this process of growth and improvement takes time. You cannot tear up the flower to see how the roots are doing. You must keep the roots in the proper soil or environment, so they can produce.

Think of the right information in terms of informative or in other words enlightening. It teaches us what we need to do in order to become better. It teaches us where we need to make changes. However, in order to benefit, we must act upon the knowledge and information. It's a tough gap but an important gap to step across. In fact the biggest gap on earth is the gap between knowing and doing. We must know in order to do, but to truly know, is to do. In life many people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know.

This week in all of your getting get understanding. And with understanding become aware of the application points necessary to move onward, after all, it's what happens in you that counts, not what happens to you.