October 2007

MARK'S DAILY THOUGHTS: October 2007

2007-10-01 - Separate the Person from the Problem
You see this all the time. The minute a problem becomes personal, it is always getting larger and in all the wrong ways. Whenever you have a problem with a person, always strive to separate the problem from the person. All problems are more quickly solved when they don't get personal.

2007-10-02 - Your Filter - Strength or a Weakness
Your greatest strength or weakness is the filter you use to look at your world and how you take everything in. This is what you focus on and what/who you actually listen to. Successful people have a filter that is in tune with their passion. What is your filter in tune with?

2007-10-03 - The One Who Makes Things Happen
Everyone carries with them a reputation, with some having good ones and others bad ones. A great reputation to have is "the one who makes things happen", as the best reputation is a reputation for ACTION. Would others say that you are "the one who makes things happen"?

2007-10-04 - Discipline Opens the Door to your Potential
Think about the success of any person you admire, and you will see the discipline in them that enabled their success. That discipline opened the door so that they could use their potential, and it can do the same for you. Open the door to your potential by putting more discipline into your life and behind your dreams.

2007-10-05 - People Not Holding Back
Look at every successful team, and you will see that their team meetings are quite lively. Successful teams have people who don't hold back, as they are always expressing what they are thinking and feeling. With everything out in the open, it is much easier to resolve any issues. Almost always a team with "quiet happiness" is the least productive. If you lead a team, encourage your people to not hold back.

2007-10-06 - Don't Be Seduced Back
Too many people have given up on their dreams because they have been seduced back into a more comfortable job and for a more comfortable life. Very often, these people were only a short time away from a key step that would have enabled them to go on and achieve the dreams. Remember, when you are seduced back by comfort, you are really giving up your dreams.

2007-10-07 - Believe It to Accomplish It
If you believe it, you can accomplish it. Successful people have accomplished great things by having an equal great belief in themselves that they would be able to do it. When setting out to accomplish something big, build the belief in yourself first to the size of what you want to accomplish.

2007-10-08 - Make a List of your Excuses
We all have used excuses in the past when we haven't done what we promised to do. Why not make a list of every excuse you have ever used. Then, throw away that list and say to yourself that from this day forward, there will no longer be any excuses, only "doing". You can either make excuses or results. You just can't do them both at the same time.

2007-10-09 - The Battle is Maintaining our Motivation
For everyone, whether successful or not, the real battle is maintaining our motivation at a high level. Too many people, and mostly unsuccessful ones, think it is others who should help them maintain their motivation. The truly successful people drive and maintain their own motivation, and in fact, their great attitude attracts the help of others to maintain it just naturally.

2007-10-10 - Nothing is Stopping You, but You
Almost always, those who never achieve what they want to seem to blame others for their lack of achievement. In fact, we all enter the same world each day and the people who achieve what they want know it is themselves who make it happen. Nothing is stopping you, but you.

2007-10-11 - Don't Let Ideas Escape
Have you ever noticed that successful people are never without a pencil or a pen to write with? They know that if they don't write down their ideas, they will either forget them or remember later on after the opportunity has already passed. Don't let your ideas escape. Write them down immediately, and better yet; ask yourself how you can put them into action right away.

2007-10-12 - Someone Can Always Pay More
People are motivated in different ways, and for most people, money is not really at the top of their list. If you are a leader, remember, someone can always pay more. The best approach is to consider what motivates each individual in your team, and then tailor their work and recognition to it. You'll get both increased performance and loyalty, and it won't necessarily have come from more money. Remember, someone can always pay more.

2007-10-13 - You Build Your Reputation Every Day
The way you act each and every day is building your reputation with others (and interesting, with yourself as well). Picture the reputation you would like to have and then focus yourself to act each and every day to build it. This can be a powerful motivator for yourself and you will also become a more positive influence on others,

2007-10-14 - Review Your Goals Daily
Very focused and successful people are reviewing their goals daily. It helps them to keep their focus on what's most important, and to not divert all their time to the purely urgent. How often do you review your goals? Try reviewing them daily as well, and you will keep a much stronger focus on what's important to you.

2007-10-15 - Don't Leave Home Without It
You probably have heard the phrase "Don't Leave Home Without It" in an old American Express Card commercial. Another great thing to not leave home without is your "Positive Attitude". People with a positive attitude are more productive and their attitude encourages the help from others as well. Remember; don't leave home without that positive attitude.

2007-10-16 - Move from "Know It" to "Do It"
Almost always when people hear a motivational speaker, you have several people say, "I already know that". Of course they know that, because all the key factors for success involve common sense. However, the key is whether they "Do It". You will become even more successful when you move more from "Know It" to "Do It".

2007-10-17 - Passion Equal to the Size of your Goals
To achieve anything great in your life, you need to have passion. The amount of passion needed is always in proportion to the size of your goals. The larger the goals, the larger the passion needed. For your key goals, evaluate your level of passion, and if necessary, invest time to add fire to that passion by building the "WHY" larger on why you want to achieve that goal.

2007-10-18 - Focus on "Being" versus "Having"
We all have heard about people who achieved success in business, but never really felt happy or fulfilled. Often these people set a focus on "Having" versus "Being". If you focus on "Having", you can never have enough! However, a focus on "Being" drives you to grow and be the best person possible, and this is the foundation of your happiness.

2007-10-19 - We Accomplish to the Level of our Beliefs
Where we are in our lives today is really based on the beliefs we have had in ourselves up to this point. Our actions are driven by our beliefs, so if we want a different life for ourselves; we need to start with what we "Believe". Our beliefs create who we are, and who we are determines what we accomplish.

2007-10-20 - More of What and Less of What
For all of us to accomplish more in our lives, we need to be clear on our focus and invest more time for the most important things. A good exercise to do is to think through what you need to do more of and what you need to do less of. It helps you to put more focus on how you use your time, and you will then accomplish more of the important things in your life.

2007-10-21 - What are You Committed to Achieve?
The key question for all of us is what are we committed to achieve? Without commitment, we really only have desires, as commitment turns desires into reality. In order to focus your energy and your life, ask yourself: What am I committed to achieve?

2007-10-22 - A Plan Detailed Enough to...
Planning is what allows us to use our time effectively and to achieve the most we can with that time. In companies, people very often ask how: How detailed do our plans need to be? A plan needs to be detailed enough to drive the right level of alignment among people in the team and to provide the foundation (information) for fast decision-making. With a plan, you achieve more and faster.

2007-10-23 - Put the Focus on Others
Whenever your feel down, you probably have all your focus on yourself. Look at successful people and you will see that their focus almost always is on others. They know that success comes from the service of others and not the opposite. They get their "buzz" from helping others and this is what enables them to stay positive and happy.

2007-10-24 - Shine the Light on What's Right
They say that it takes ten positive feedbacks to erase one negative feedback that you get from others. That being said, a key outcome for every leader is to shine the light on what's right (positive feedback) as much as he or she can. There almost never can be too much positive feedback.

2007-10-25 - Responsible To Versus Responsible For
Many inexperienced leaders tend to take on the problems of their people. They are thinking they are "Responsible For" them. However, the very best leaders understand they are not "Responsible For", but "Responsible To". When you are "Responsible To", you are much more action oriented and look to support your people in any way you can. Be a "Responsible To" leader.

2007-10-26 - What is your Uniqueness?
Unless there is something unique about yourself, and that you exploit it; you are really appearing "just average" to others. Everyone has that something unique in them, and all successful people have discovered it in themselves and then exploited it. They exploited their uniqueness by making it a focus, and continuously developing it to be "world class". What is your uniqueness and how will you exploit it?

2007-10-27 - Don't Just Think - Do!
Everything we accomplish in life begins with our thoughts. However, unless we take action on our thoughts, we will never accomplish what we are capable of. Success comes from taking our thoughts into action, and only action creates results. Thinking is important, but the action makes things happen.

2007-10-28 - You Only Accomplish in the Present
Many people spend their life either in the past or the future. They are either wishing they did it a different way or dreaming of something better in the future. However, you can only accomplish something in the present. Learn from the past. Use your future to motivate you. But take action now and make it happen.

2007-10-29 - Courage to Be Who You Are
One of the biggest problems for many people today is that they really don't have the courage to be who they really are. There's so much pressure to be "one of the group", that most people are just following, but following whom? Have the courage to be who you are.

2007-10-30 - Easy to Do, but also Easy not to Do
All the habits for success are easy to do. Very often we think that something needs to be complex or difficult to provide the big results. However, the habits of success are easy to do, and just require one thing we all find difficult - Discipline. Because they are easy to do, they are also easy not to do. To be successful, create the DISCIPLINE to just DO IT.

2007-10-31 - Illusion of Security
People who don't take risks have the illusion of security. Today's business runs at such a fast pace, and if you don't take any risks, you will find yourself being left behind very quickly. Therefore, you can see that not taking risks can be your biggest risk, and that taking risks provides greater overall security to both you and your company.

September 2007 « » November 2007

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