January 2007

MARK'S DAILY THOUGHTS: January 2007

2007-01-01 - Growth comes from Discomfort
Personal growth comes from taking ourselves out of our comfort zones and stretching ourselves to try new things. Our initial reaction is to stay in our comfort zone, but that really means not growing. Learn to live outside your comfort zone and you will never stop growing.

2007-01-02 - Make Common Sense a Common Practice
You often hear others say something that really is common sense. However, when you think about it, you really don't do it for yourself. The successful people make common sense a common practice. They make them habits, where unsuccessful people do not have the discipline to turn common sense into habits. For your success, make common sense a common practice (a habit).

2007-01-03 - Put Yourself in a Position to Win
You can't win unless you put yourself in a position to win first. Putting yourself in a position to win means doing your preparation: developing the right skills and behaviours, and taking risks (growing your courage to try what you currently think is impossible). Put yourself in a position to win.

2007-01-04 - Find a Purpose you are Crazy about
People who aren't motivated by what they are doing will never be "good enough" at it, and certainly won't be successful. Successful people have a purpose in their life that they are crazy about and totally enjoy what they are doing. Find a purpose you are crazy about.

2007-01-05 - Be Aggressive, but Protect the Downside
Successful people in life are not timid or tentative in their approach. They are aggressive with their initiatives, as they know they need to be out in front to win. However, they always work on options to project the downside and are quite creative in the ways they do it. Remember; be aggressive, but protect the downside.

2007-01-06 - Losers say I wish, Winners say I will
Ever notice the language used by winners and losers. Quite different isn't it. Winners are constantly looking at everything as possible and deciding ways to make it happen. They have a "will" attitude, and magical things happen to people with a "will" attitude.

2007-01-07 - Be Proactive with People Decisions
If you are a leader, a good bit of advice is to always be proactive with people decisions. Almost always, people issues will get worse with time. The faster you address them, the more solutions you will have available to you and the better the outcome. Remember; be proactive with people decisions.

2007-01-08 - Use the Power within your Team
There are too many meetings where the same people in your team do all the talking, and they probably don't have the best ideas all the time. Find ways to get input from the whole team. Have everyone first write all their ideas on post-it notes, and share all the ideas before having the discussion. This helps you to use the "full" power within your team.

2007-01-09 - Thought plus Drive = Power
Thought and drive together creates tremendous power. Ever notice people that are very action oriented, but don't spend the time to do some quality thinking up front. Then you also have the people who are all thought and no action. Be a person of thought and drive (action) and you can accomplish anything you want in life.

2007-01-10 - You've got to Fantasise to get what you Want
If we only look at things in a conservative way, there would not be near as many inventions created every day. We all need to fantasise, especially on what we want in life. When we fantasise we engage our emotions and also begin to see possibilities that we never knew could be achievable. Fantasise to get what you want, and you will see the possibilities and ideas to action them.

2007-01-11 - Spend more Time with the Right People
Charles "Tremendous" Jones says that you will be the same in the future except for the books you read and the people you meet. Who you spend your time with has a big impact on what you achieve in life. The right people will help you grow and see opportunities that you would never see otherwise. Are you spending your time with the right people?

2007-01-12 - Why do you feel that way?
Whenever one of your employees is behaving in a negative way, a good question to ask is "why do you feel that way." Often managers ask the employee "why did you do that", but this is a much more confrontation way to ask them. Sometimes, the question you ask can make a big difference.

2007-01-13 - Increase your Thinking Time
Today's life is at such a fast pace that we sometimes don't stop long enough to get in some quality thinking time. However, it's our thinking time that produces ideas and possible actions that helps us make step changes in our lives and how we do things. If you feel you are not improving at the rate you would like, maybe you should increase your thinking time.

2007-01-14 - Want Others to Develop, Develop Yourself
If you really want to develop your people, start with developing yourself first. You cannot develop your people effectively unless you are developing at a faster pace than your people. Your development (learnings and experiences) is the best source of development for your people, as they have an excellent role model in front of them every day. At what pace is your development?

2007-01-15 - Blaming Others is nothing more than Excusing Yourself
Nobody ever wins when they blame others. Everything that happens to us in life is based upon what we do and how we attract others to interact with us. Therefore, blaming others is nothing more than excusing ourselves.

2007-01-16 - Applaud the Beginner
We often give recognition to the person who succeeds on the project or goal, but it is also good to recognise or applaud the person who takes the action to begin (to get started). Many times it is this type of recognition or applause that gives the person to energy to keep going.

2007-01-17 - Be Honest with Yourself
The person you need to be the most honest with is yourself. If you are honest in your evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses, you will drive a much more focused personal development plan. Just keep in mind that an honest appraisal of your talents will focus your growth in areas where you will get the biggest return.

2007-01-18 - Tentative is an Expression of Weakness
If you really want something in life, you have to be active and go get it. Your own self-esteem, confidence and strength come from the very actions you take. When you are tentative, you are really expressing your weakness.

2007-01-19 - Don't Let Poor Performers Slow You Down
Every organisation has poor performers, and how a leader handles them will determine how successful the organisation will be. Too often a leader's time gets consumed by these poor performers. However, the best leaders always focus their energy and time for their best people, those who are really driving the organisation's success; and limit the time that poor performers drain from them.

2007-01-20 - Adversity is a Call to Greatness
No one really grows while they are in their comfort zone. It is very often the adversity that brings out the very best in all of us. The challenges we face test our character and call upon abilities that we didn't think were inside us, and this makes us stronger. So, you could say that adversity could be your call to greatness.

2007-01-21 - Self-Esteem is your Reputation with Yourself
A great way to look at self-esteem is that it is your reputation with yourself. If you have a good reputation with others, it means that they have confidence in you, your character and your abilities. The same can apply to you. When you have high self-esteem you have the confidence in your character and abilities to create the success you desire. How is your reputation with yourself?

2007-01-22 - Your Attitude won't take care of itself
Your attitude will never stay positive unless you continually feed it with positive and inspiring messages. These positive messages come from being around positive people, reading books, listening to inspirational speakers, etc. Remember to feed your attitude daily to keep it positive.

2007-01-23 - Making the Right Choices
If you think about it, our lives are all about making choices. To make choices, we always need some type of criteria. For our lives, the goals we set and review frequently provide the criteria for the choices we make and what we choose to do and not do. Remember, Goals help us make the right choices.

2007-01-24 - Power of a Committed Decision
There is nothing more powerful in the world than a committed decision. Many people think they are making decisions, but unless there is a powerful commitment behind those decisions; they are not decisions but preferences. Make sure your decisions are real decisions (not preferences) and add the commitment.

2007-01-25 - Your Past does not Equal your Future
There are too many people who have the equation in their head that their past equals their future. That is only true if they don't change the way they are thinking. However, we all have the ability to change our thinking, and the day we do is the first day of our completely new future.

2007-01-26 - Be Positive & Have Power to Influence Others
There's a big difference in people who are either negative or positive. Being negative doesn't attract others to you and they really don't want to listen to you. However, if you are positive, others want to be around you and will listen to you more. Remember, be positive and have the power to influence others.

2007-01-27 - The Ability to Recognise Ability
One of the most important abilities in a leader is the ability to recognise ability. Great leaders build a winning team around them. They not only recognise the ability in others, but also know how to use it to the fullest for the good of the team. How's your ability to recognise ability.

2007-01-28 - Feel the Feelings and Get Started Anyway
We all procrastinate and getting started on some tasks because we don't feel like it. However, almost always after we start that task we get the inspiration and energy to then finish it and do it well. It is just getting started that is the difficult thing. Remember, feel the feelings and get started anyway.

2007-01-29 - What are your Personal Growth Goals?
We get more out of life and more opportunities when we develop ourselves to do more. However, most people haven't set goals for their development and without goals they develop at a much slower pace. Why? Their development has no focus. Give your personal development a focus and establish your Personal Growth Goals for the next 12 months.

2007-01-30 - Invest vs. Spend your Time
It is a good idea to think about what you do as an investment in your time versus spending your time. An "Investment" has a great connotation that you will get a return (something of value) versus spending that has the connotation of time just being used up. Remember to invest vs. spend your time.

2007-01-31 - Lead by Example
There are all different ways to lead people, but probably the best is to lead by example. A leader's ability to display their character through their daily actions has the biggest impact on their people's actions as well. Lead by example.

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