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Sharpen Your Brain (WT512)
You might be familiar with Steven Covey’s book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People”. In the book, he talks about the concept of “Sharpening the Saw”. His metaphor is that if you were to spend 8 hours cutting down trees, he invest 6 hours sharpening the saw. Don’t quote me on the exact numbers, it has been a while since I read the book. The point is, he would invest the time in making sure his tools were in tip top condition to be able to do the job easily, quickly and efficiently which would ultimately produce more result. The same can be said for us. We need to make sure our...
Understand the “No” (WT539)
If you’re like me, I’m guessing you don’t like to hear the word “No” when you make a request. In fact, I don’t know too many people who do, unless of course, they have read “Go For No” by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz, but that’s a whole other Weekly Thought. Today, I want to focus on understanding what’s behind the “No”. Salespeople are taught to keep questioning until they understand the reason for the “No” and then, if they can, help the prospective customer overcome their objection, to make the sale. I’m intrigued that we don’t do this with our employees. For most of us, we simply get...
You Don’t Have to Do It – Why Do You Do It? (WT538)
Sitting at my computer, on a deadline to write this week’s thought, I looked to Ross for inspiration. “What can I write about this week?” I asked. “Why don’t you write about the Weekly Thoughts”, he replied. “What do you mean?” “Well, you don’t have to do them, you know.” I was aghast. “Of course, I have to do them.” “Why? Nobody is making you.” Whoa! That was confronting. It is true. Nobody is making me write these thoughts nor have they for the past 10 years. “Why do I do it?” I wondered to myself, which then led to even deeper questions, “Why do we do anything?” “What motivates us to do...
Don’t Let Them Leave Without Paying (WT537)
You might think that the title of today’s weekly thought is about people stealing. It’s not. Last weekend we went for a ride on our motorbike and came across a great little community market. Across the road from the market was an historic railway and to our delight the trains were running that weekend. The next train ride was scheduled to leave in an hour. We hadn’t had lunch and we were only about 10-15 minutes ride away from where we were staying, so we asked the cashier if we could buy a ticket and come back. “No. It’s first on, first served and when the train is full, that’s it.” “What...
What Did You Used To Do? (WT 536)
Catching up with one of my legends over the past couple of weeks, he was sharing what he did over the weekend. Finding himself with some time to himself he decided to go for a drive and a bushwalk. He ended up sitting by the ocean at the end of the walk and as he sat, almost meditatively looking out over the ocean towards the horizon, he became aware of all the things “he used to do”. These were things that he used to enjoy, like bushwalking and playing sport. As he sat and pondered on this, he wondered why he had stopped doing the things he loved to do. It’s a great question. What did you...
Permission to Speak Freely (WT535)
This week Ross and I hired a room at the local library to create some training videos for a 9 Day Business Freedom Challenge I’m about to launch (for just $9 if you’re interested). Following my Blueprint for Business Freedom, the very first step is to Know Yourself. As part of the challenge, participants are encouraged to raise their self awareness by asking team members and family and friends to give them some feedback about how they show up in the world. I referenced the military term “Permission to Speak Freely”. All too often I find that people at work will not speak freely. This...
I Don’t Even Know What to Ask (WT534)
During the week one of my friends rang me out of the blue. She lives in Queensland and it was lovely to hear from her. She’s normally jetsetting around the globe running events, which have all been put on hold, of course, until we can travel again. “Shirley, it’s the school holidays in a few weeks and we just need to get away, so I’m looking at hiring a motorhome”, she said. “Wonderful! Where are you planning to go?” “We want to go to Airlie Beach and up and down the coast. The thing is I’ve never done this before so I thought I would ask you for some advice. I don’t even know what to ask”,...
I Wish I Hadn’t Said Anything (WT533)
How many times have you said that to yourself? “I wish I hadn’t said anything.” The other night Ross was watching some teenage boys who kept looking around to see if anyone was watching. You know the look people get on their face when they know they are doing something wrong and they don’t want anyone to see. I watched for a few minutes too. They were doing their best to break a pipe on the side of a community building opposite from where we were staying. Knowing the story of Kitty Genovese, who was murdered in 1961 in New York and not one person even rang the Police to get help, even though...
Stop Looking For The Wrong Evidence (WT532)
You know that your brain is a goal achieving machine. Right! It’s going to go and find you the answers to the questions you give it. It’s also going to go and find you the evidence for whatever it is you are focusing on. Stop looking for the wrong evidence. Here’s what I mean: Say you decide that your work colleague or your partner or your friend or a relative doesn’t like you anymore. You decide that they are upset with you for something that you did or didn’t do. They haven’t said anything to you. (Of course they wouldn’t, nobody likes confrontation.) Your brain starts looking for evidence...
Hi Ho It’s Off to Work We Go (WT531)
It’s been miserable in Tasmania the past few days. The weather has been wild. Lots of wind and rain and snow in the mountain areas. “So what?” you might think. Well it doesn’t stop the penguins, plovers or pademelons from their daily routine. I’ve been so impressed watching the wildlife as we travel around. It doesn’t matter what the weather conditions are, they’re out fishing and foraging for food. They don’t complain. They don’t wake up and moan, “Oh, I don’t feel like it today. I think I’ll have a doona day. I think I’ll stay in bed. I’ll ring in sick.” Nope! That doesn’t happen. Hi Ho...