Category: Success Attitude

Article Contributed by Colleen Slaughter

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
-Stephen R. Covey

Decisions. We all make them. From deciding what to wear to the office each day to choosing a new career path, we make choices every single day. How many times have we heard phrases like the following:

• The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
• Big risk can equal big reward.
• Hindsight is 20/20.

When you’re faced with a tough decision, do you let “what if”, fear-based thinking to creep in, or do you come at it from a balanced perspective, staying aligned with your values and vision?

In reality, we’ve probably all approached the decision-making process both ways during the course of a lifetime. Most of us don’t normally sweat the small stuff.

It’s the big “stuff” that counts – deciding whether to launch a new business, terminate a job, start (or end) a relationship, or move to a new location. Making decisions like these can stop even the most outwardly confident, successful people in their tracks.

As Forbes.com contributor Alex McClafferty so aptly states, “To solve difficult problems, you need to make difficult decisions.” Here are five helpful tips to help you navigate through the challenging decisions in your life:

1. Analyze your values. Before jumping in to make any big decision, take a good, honest look at your values. The decision you ultimately make should be strongly aligned with your most important values, beliefs, and intentions. If you haven’t done so in a while, I suggest making a list of the values that are most significant to you. This outline can serve as a visual aid as you go through the decision-making process.
2. Don’t put off tough conversations. In many cases, the decisions you make will impact other people – whether it’s your team at the office or family members at home. Have you been avoiding a difficult conversation – one that, although challenging, might provide you with greater insight and clarity into an issue? If so, have that conversation, no matter how difficult. Putting it off doesn’t solve anything, it’s unfair to you and the other person, and more than likely, will allow an issue to grow even bigger.
3. Maintain focus on what really matters. Understand that no matter how much information you have – how many details you’ve gathered – there will always be more out there. Many of us get stuck in a trap of “When I get more info, I can make the decision”. It’s absolutely fine to gather data to make your decision – just don’t get so caught up that you become paralyzed by it. As Forbes.com contributor Alex McClafferty says, “You will never have complete data to make your decisions. This is OK.”
4. Put things in perspective. Yes, hindsight is 20/20. But remember that most problems aren’t as bad as they seem. Make it a goal to maintain a positive mindset no matter what the outcome. Don’t become so personally invested in a decision that you lose your ability to choose objectively. If you feel yourself becoming too emotionally invested, consider consulting a trusted coach, mentor, or friend for an unbiased perspective (which is a good idea regardless).
5. Set a date. It’s great to be able to tick those simple decisions off your to-do list and feel that satisfying sense of accomplishment for doing so. Big decisions aren’t usually made in a brief moment, but it doesn’t mean you can’t set a deadline for yourself. Set aside time each day to evaluate the pros and cons of your choices, and create a roadmap of milestones you can work toward achieving.

Remember that this is not an excuse for putting off a decision you should have made a long time ago. Think back to a time where you said, “I should have done this sooner.” If you know you need to handle something, do it. Now.

Outline your values, understand the risks involved with your decision, be objective, and maintain a confident, positive mindset as you make your choice. Every decision you make won’t be the “right one”, but you can learn from everything so you don’t make the same error again in the future.

About the Author

Colleen Slaughter, founder of Authentic Leadership International, is a proven coach with a remarkable ability to motivate women to cultivate greater authenticity and fulfillment at home and in the workplace. Colleen’s dynamic experience allows her to skillfully guide her clients to navigate roadblocks and develop practical solutions to accomplish both personal and professional goals.

Being productive is a challenge for most of us in business today. Persevering and achieving your business dreams in the midst of a negative world is increasingly difficult. The uncontrollable negatives from riots to earthquakes to a tenuous economy assault us daily.

How do you focus your attention and achieve your business dreams in this doom-and-gloom environment?

Think of your attention as a finite resource like time. Become selective about to whom and what you give your attention.

Follow these 3 Keys to Increase Your Productivity today: 

Give Attention to Positive Thoughts

When you receive negative news, acknowledge your emotional reaction. Disappointment, anger, frustration, and other emotions must be processed to avoid blocking your emotional intelligence development.

However, do so quickly. Give yourself a little time to experience those emotions. Then flush them. Yes, multiple flushes are required sometimes. Sure, some emotions circle the bowl more than once.

Flush. Move on. Now.

As you flush quickly, you create room in your mind for what you can do to redirect the negative news. You focus on what you can control and influence, refusing to rent space in your head to what is beyond your reach.

Give attention to positive thoughts that are actionable.

Give Attention to Positive People

When you receive negative news, there typically is a messenger. If it’s technology-driven, cut it off. If it’s human, thank them and excuse yourself.

There are negative persons who enjoy delivering bad news. If there’s too much good news, they create negativity.

I call them Eeyore Vampires.

Their mantra is “It’ll never work.” They suck positive attention from you even when away from work trying to love what you do with those you love.

Treat Eeyore Vampires like they have a contagious disease and you’ll catch it.

Give your attention to positive people. Those persons who bring out the best in you, who have your best interests at heart, and who ask questions like, “How may I best serve you?”

Give Attention to Positive Outcomes

Each of us experiences outcomes that fall short of our expectations regardless of how hard we work or how much we prepare. When your negative news is of this kind, remind yourself of a previous experience when you exceeded your expectations and succeeded.

Celebrate that experience once more. Give attention to sustaining that celebrative attitude. Tell yourself, “If I did it once, I’ll do it again.”

Most likely, that positive experience was the accumulation of previous learning experiences of “bad news” like the current one. Reliving that success guides you to the next.

Give attention to positive thoughts, people, and outcomes, increase your productivity, and  achieve your business dreams today.

You know the scene, it’s 2 hours after the deadline, you reckon you can slip it in late, but your house is really, really clean.

You get the picture.  You have this article to write and it has to be in by the 20th.  You open up a shiny, clean new page (real or virtual) and then you pull a massive blank.

Like so blank, you can’t even come up with the title.

You stand up, stretch and look out your office window.  And then you remember, you haven’t put on the washing yet this morning. So you go gather the load, put it on and while you’re there, just give the kitchen a quick wipe-over.

You go back to your office.

Write the title and 2 lines but feeling uninspired, you delete it all.

You check in to Facebook, hoping you might see an inspirational quote that will give you an idea for your article.

Instead you catch the title ’10 Weirdest Diseases You Probably Can’t Avoid in Your Lifetime’ – knowing it’s absolute garbage and a total waste of time, you click through.

You were right, the article is ridiculous but that doesn’t stop you reading it all AND clicking through to another one from the link and the crazy title at the bottom of the page.

45 minutes later you return to your blank screen.  You’re beginning to feel desperate, and hungry.

You go back to the kitchen, make yourself a cup of tea and open the fridge.  Then the cupboard, then the fridge again.

Armed with tea, a cookie (two actually!) you head back to your blank screen.

Rinse and repeat…until you end up 2 hours after your deadline, hoping and praying you can still get it completed; ashamed of all your wasted time.

Sound familiar? Don’t despair, here are some strategies that WILL help you, I promise – they’ve changed my habits and my productivity BIG TIME!

1. Go for a walk before you even start, to clear your mind.  As you begin your way back home, allow yourself to think gently about what you can write.
2. Choose the right time of day to write (do you know when that is for you?).
3. Go into your office and shut the door.
4. Then shut down Facebook (I mean really shut it down)
5. If you are still distracted – go to a coffee shop and don’t leave until your article is completed!

Of course, the most important thing – just do it, get the darn thing done! You’ll feel so much better, and then you can go celebrate – you’re finished and you might even have a clean house

I woke up at 4.30am with my heart pounding, completely disoriented and with no idea why I felt such panic.

Then I remembered, it was the big day. The day I had been planning for for over 9 months, it was the big event.

I tried to fall back asleep but realized it was useless. I started visualizing my day and felt the pain in my stomach intensify.

It was excruciating. I was sick with fear. And yet excited and happy and ready to take to the stage.

I had prepared more for this than anything I’d ever done before. I had spent weeks walking the story, telling it to anyone who would listen.

I had been coached, received a ton of feedback, written and rewritten, recited and practiced.

If not now, I would never be ready.

And yet I was sick with nerves.

Now, let me tell you, this was not unexpected. I mean, it’s not like it had never happened before. I had spent years as a sufferer of stage fright where it had gotten the better of me and I never performed. And years since, that I had handled it quite well and managed to even enjoy the stage.

And this was a tough one – it was hitting me hard.

So I started my routine.

And as I felt me pulse ease and my excitement and nerves channeled to where I needed them – I began to cherish my process, seeing how beautifully it worked.

So here are the 5 secrets to feeling the fear and knocking it out of the court!

1. Get Moving! – stretch, walk, dance, jump – do whatever gets your circulation going and makes you feel good. Be careful not to exhaust yourself but make sure you whole body feels the movement.

2. Get Thinking! – review your notes, practice a few last times, remind yourself that you know this stuff really well, and for sure, a lot more than your audience knows.

3. Get Looking Good! – take a shower, put on your nicest and most comfortable clothes, arrange your hair and face, smile!

4. Get Food! – don’t forget to eat something small, light and preferably really fresh (fruit, salad, protein – keep away from carbs. & fats)

5. Get Help! – call the person that loves all you do and all you are – tell them you need a boost, tell them you’re nervous, ask for reassurance!

So, I called my love. He said, ‘Lis, you’ve gotta get over this’ – I thought at first that wasn’t so supportive. And then he said, ‘because I know there is so much more of this scale of work coming your way, and no one deserves it more than you’.

That worked!

Last but not least. I got on the stage before the audience arrived, to check it out, to get into the atmosphere, to practice. Something was missing. I didn’t feel as connected as I wanted to feel.

As they announced my name and invited me on to the stage, I took off my shoes. Barefoot, deeply connected and channeling all the nerves and fear into being of service and with great respect and love for my audience, I started the story.

It was one of the best performances of my life!

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

While studying Great Depression businesses created by successful entrepreneurs, I discovered five core practices that were daily habits for them. They asked themselves five questions daily that charted their course to success.

You become a successful business person, also, by asking yourself these same five questions daily:

What Am I Thinking?

It really is all in your head. Everything starts or stops there. Your thoughts guide your every action, relationship, and sale. Your thoughts either help or hinder your journey through the current economy. Your business either succeeds or sucks because of your thoughts.

Positively successful people guard their thoughts religiously, insuring that they only rent space to positive ones. They place border guards around their mind that maintain a singular perspective: focus on the positive and filter out the negative. They have little patience with purveyors of negativity—think 24/7 news channels—and constantly feed their minds mentally positive nourishment.

Who Am I Attracting?

While success begins in your head, it bears fruit in relationships with customers, clients, suppliers, team members and others with whom you invest time. As Jim Rohn reminded us so well, “You are the average of the five persons with whom you spend the most time.”

Positively successful professionals guard their relationships like their thoughts, insuring they invest time only in positive ones. They have firm social boundaries that limit availability to negative persons—“Eeyore Vampires”—and focus on attracting ideal customers, clients, team members, and suppliers. They know it costs too much to do business with some people and delete them from their contact databases.

Why Am I Working?

Success begins in your head, and reflects back through relationships into your heart. “Why am I working?” clarifies your purpose and desire. Successful people engage emotionally on a passionate level with their labor. Their work matters.

This positive engagement fuels their imagination and frees them emotionally to discover solutions to customers’ problems in innovative, added-value ways. Such creative expression satisfies their “Why?” and furthers their success journey.

How Am I Doing?

Positively successful business people understand that the what, who, and why questions beg for reflection, i.e., “How am I doing?” The key is to acknowledge areas for improvement while accelerating what’s moving forward now.

Their singular focus is, “How am I strategically acting on my what, who, and why?” This positive focus is the clear pathway to successful achievements.

Where Am I Going?

These Great Depression gurus understood that once positive results emerge from their positive mental, social, and emotional achievements, the successful path requires sustaining. You must keep going.

They discovered that what serves them best is to serve others. They ethically acted in the best interests of their team and community, giving servant leadership to improve others’ lives daily. Gratitude for their achievements fueled their philanthropy.

So how’s your work? Ask yourself these five questions daily and enjoy success as you Work Positive!

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Business Success coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.GetPositive.Today.