Use the little time in your day, the cracks, to get something done – or at least started
Scarcity Mentality
“Often, people with a Scarcity Mentality harbor secret hopes that others might suffer misfortune – not terrible misfortune, but acceptable misfortune that would keep them “in their place.” They’re always comparing, always competing. They give their energies to possessing things or other people in order to increase their sense of worth. They want other people to be the way they want them to be. They often want to clone them, and they surround themselves with “yes” people – people who won’t challenge them, people who are weaker than they.” – Stephen R. Covey Daily Calendar for Highly Effective People (March 10th)
Live Fair
“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.”
– H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Supply And Demand
“Just because you have a supply (a skill, an inventory, a location) that doesn’t necessarily mean you are entitled to demand.
The market decides what it wants.
You can do your best to influence that choice, but it’s never (alas) based on what you happen to already have.
There’s a reason that garage sale prices tend to be pretty low.
We could get pretty self-involved on supply, forgetting that nothing works without demand.”
– Seth Godin
Ask Confidently
“People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence. Don’t be shy or feel intimidated by the experience. You may face some unexpected criticism, but be prepared for it with confidence.” – Jack Canfield
See the Positive
“Do you see the positive or concentrate on the negative” – “Do you give yourself the credit you deserve for the think you got done?” – “Do you see and recognize your progress?”
Facts vs. Story
I have found the longer that I or someone else needs to talk the less that has been actually and truly accomplished – and we know it. We need to be able to speak in clear and defined terms when we establish commitments and when we discuss plans and results. Telling a story in words and using text is much easier than show hard core facts and being ready to commit to being held accountable to these facts.
Too often we fall into “feeling really good about …” or “feeling confident about …” or “feeling like things are getting … “ with little to no factual information to back up our story of the past, the present or the future. And many times we are allowed to get away with this. Few people in our lives are going to call us on being nebulous, few are going to “call it tight” on us. We are at the top of the pyramid, we are the drivers, the owners, the CEOs, the Presidents. There are very few people, and probably none, who are going to call us out for a weak story and face the risk of being chastised, fired or assigned the task of making it better.
Important vs. Strategic
Important and strategic are not the same thing. A person can be extremely important to your business and at the same time not be a strategic asset to you or your company. Sometimes I offer important people in my company to share in the success of the company, but that does not mean I ask them, or allow them, to participate in the planning, analysis or decisions that set the strategy for my company in the medium or long term. People can play key roles and be critical the perception of your company in your client’s eyes and not sit at the table that determines growth targets, profitability targets, health care options, new product offerings or expanded service offerings.
In fact, important people can get a seat at the strategic table and then get distracted by the demands of this seat. The stress of spending clock time on both strategic items and on their day-to-day tasks can cause them to perform poorly at both of these levels – even though these people got what they wanted – or thought they wanted – or even what they specifically asked for.
Revenge is a Two-Edged Sword
“When two Win-Lose people get together – that is, when two determined, stubborn, ego-invested individuals interact – the result will be Lose-Lose. Both will lose. both will become vindictive and want to ‘get back’ or ‘get even’ blind to the fact that revenge is a two-edged sword.”
– Stephen R. Covey in his Daily Calendar for Highly Effective People (April 9th)
The Crazy Mirror Room at the Carnival
“If the only vision we have of ourselves comes from the social mirror – from the current social paradigm and from the opinions, perceptions and paradigms of the people around us – our view of ourselves is like the reflection in the crazy mirror room at the carnival.”
Stephen R. Covey – Daily Calendar for Highly Effective People (April 8th)