Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 464, July 31 - August 1, 2007
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Improvement Newsletter, Click here!Please Visit Our Sponsors
Self Improvement Newsletter
Issue # 464, July 31 - August 1, 2007
FREE Self
Improvement Newsletter, Click here!
Please Visit Our Sponsors
* Self Improvement and Personal Growth Weekly Newsletter
*
Issue # 464, Week of July 31/August 1, 2007
Publisher: David Riklan -
http://www.SelfGrowth.com
In this issue:
-- Quotes of the Week
-- Personal Growth Products and Services
-- Article: Leadership Principles in a Changing Workplace – By Joe Farcht
-- Article: Pulling Against the Leash – By Joyce Shafer
-- Book Review: Change Your Thoughts -- Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of
the Tao – By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
-- Brief News of the World
-- How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe from this Newsletter
Current Subscribers – 259,341 subscribers
Removal instructions are listed at the end of the newsletter.
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*** Quotes of the Week ***
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We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility
for our future. – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Dramatist and Literary
Critic
I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness
because it shows me the stars. – Og Mandino, 1923-1996, American Motivational
Author and Speaker
We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that
no one can take for us or spare us. – Marcel Proust, 1871-1922, French Novelist
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*** Article: Leadership Principles in a Changing Workplace – By Joe Farcht ***
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Change in the workplace is accelerating. Technology development and infusion
into new products is almost a daily event. Companies are in endless pursuit to
drive costs down to become more competitive. Rightsizing, downsizing,
reorganization with layoffs are the norm. Changes driven by Six Sigma or
Continuous Improvement are commonplace events. Global competitive pressures
require new thinking, redeployments, and radical new ways of conducting
business. The workplace is filled with the turmoil of change, and many people
question the value of these changes. In this article, I will examine the
changing workplace, leadership principles, and present a call to action.
The Changing Workplace
Change is and has been a universal constant. Civilizations have risen and
fallen. The Wild West in America was tamed and populated. The model T Ford was
mass produced and made an affordable means of transportation. Refrigerators were
invented, and the ice box became history. Men traveled to the moon and back.
Computers and the Internet shrunk the world. Moore's law promises even greater
leaps in productivity, quality of life, and unimagined changes.
Humans adapt well to change over the long-term. The short-term is another story.
Many people exert a measure of effort and work to achieve some status, goal, or
outcome in life. When they arrive, they hold the belief that they have earned
their way, and now life owes them. They often become comfortable, content,
relaxed, complacent, and stagnant. All the while, changes occur around them,
slowly making their skills, competencies, and value obsolete. Others embrace
change, race to be in front of the wave of innovation, and find energy and
opportunity in their world of work. I have described two different types of
people. One person rests on their laurels unconcerned with change. The other
person exercises effective personal leadership to adapt to change.
Leadership Principles
Principles are comprehensive and fundamental laws or rules. Researching
leadership principles, I found that the Marine Corps had listed 11. Other
organizations had similar lists. Examining and organizing them, I discovered
that effective leadership principles in the changing world are actually
unchanging. They are constants of the universe just like change. People have
been exercising effective leadership principles in a changing workplace since
the dawn of time. Here are the timeless leadership principles I have identified.
Life Vision
Human beings are endowed with unlimited potential and greatness. They limit
their development, what they enjoy, and the success they achieve by what they
learn and how they think about work and life. Ignorance is the enemy of people
developing and enjoying greater success. Destroying ignorance is called
self-development, personal growth, building personal leadership, or developing
mastery of your job and life. This requires knowing yourself, seeking wisdom,
and forming a vision of what you can become. That vision is essential in
breaking free from the routines of work and life that trap many people. That
vision must include embracing change.
Guiding Values
When you don't know what you value, then anything that comes along catches your
eye and diverts you from your vision. List all the things that are important to
you. I'll bet there are upwards of 100 or more. Don't worry, I had the same
problem. Organization being one of my strengths and over several years of work,
I finally found three foundational values to guide my work and life. They are:
Integrity. Keep every commitment that you make, even those you make to yourself.
Be honest, honorable, truthful, self-disclosing, trustworthy, and authentic.
Stewardship. Be responsible and accountable for every resource you manage, be
responsive, and develop/grow as a person. Manage your money, time, attitude, and
people in your life to achieve the very best results. Exercise courage and risk
where it counts.
Love. Love is the greatest power that exists in the universe. Love, accept, and
nurture yourself first. That equips you to love, serve, and share with your
fellow human beings. This means extending unconditional respect, dignity, and
fairness to everyone. It's about having gratitude, appreciation, and awe for
everything at work and in your life.
Purpose
Every person arrives on this earth to fulfill a specific purpose. That purpose
is unique and essential to the proper functioning and evolution of the earth.
Finding your unique purpose is critical to working with your natural gifts and
competencies. If you discover your purpose, your work and life will become
seamless and easy. Your life will be filled with more joy and happiness.
Mission
What you do at work and in life is called your mission. You fill certain roles
like husband or wife, father or mother, provider for your family, homemaker,
business leader, or manager. In each role you provide specific services. Looking
over all the services, some common themes may emerge. Your mission may also
include the quality of your services like the standard of "excellence."
Call to Action
If you are clear about the vision for your life, then you will be learning,
growing, and seeking greater wisdom. In pursuing your vision, you will develop
more of your unlimited potential and greatness and serve your fellow human
beings more effectively. Identifying and knowing your guiding values helps you
stay on course during your journey. Without clear values you will wander
aimlessly and arrive wherever. Getting in touch with your purpose gives you the
big "why you exist." Knowing that, your journey has great value and can fill you
with enthusiasm and passion. Becoming clear about your work and life roles, the
services that you provide, and the standards of your toil, make your work and
life meaningful and important to yourself and other people.
Embracing these leadership principles will equip you to adapt and even embrace
the changes that are ever present in the workplace. Without this solid
foundation of personal leadership, change becomes an obstacle to creating the
life you were meant to live. Developing personal leadership skills and
competencies will assure that you ride the wave of change and opportunity.
Embracing change, thriving on it, and growing as a person will assure an
exciting workplace and life filled with success, joy, and happiness.
How are you doing? Evaluate yourself in these areas. If you find that there is a
need to change, you have a choice. Stay the way you are or find a way to develop
more effective personal leadership and live the life you were meant to live. The
choice is yours.
About the Author:
Joe Farcht is the founder and president of Leadership Advantage, Inc. His
purpose for living is to develop and coach leaders, executives, managers, and
supervisors to new levels of performance and success in their work and life. He
is the author of the book "Building Personal Leadership: Inspirational Tools &
Techniques for Work & Life." You may learn more about him and his services at
http://www.leadershipadvantageinc.com. Please contact Joe at
joefarcht@cox.net or at 602-996-1802.
Check out the Experts page for Joe Farcht, the Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to
Leadership Skills:
http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/joe_farcht.html
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*** Article: Pulling Against the Leash – By Joyce Shafer ***
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Ah...to live a dog's life.
While in the park, I saw a young girl walking her miniature dog. Something
caught its eye that I couldn't see yet because shrubs blocked my view. The dog
would surge forward, barking non-stop at the top of its miniature voice, and the
leash would pull it back. I watched this surge/pulled-back action repeat over
and over, and thought that life is sometimes like that. Then, I saw what was
causing the behavior when a man came around the point with a very large dog on a
leash. Whether wise or not, the little dog was fearless in the presence of the
bigger dog. That little dog believed in itself. It was 100-percent into its
dogness. It was authentic.
We talk about how nice it would be to live a dog's life. We mean that in terms
of how dogs have their needs met and are lavished with affection, sleep when
they need to, and are always ready to play. If we think about this, we could
create a "dog's life" for ourselves. Emphasis on the COULD. And we could note
that in our human lives, we aren't always so fearless about taking on
challenges, no matter the size. Nor are we always as passionate about them as
the little dog was.
Sometimes we surge forward and are pulled back. Are we as willing to aim to gain
even a few "inches" if that's what we can do at that moment? The little dog was
focused on a target and was willing to continue moving forward until it reached
it.
The little dog's target may have been an inappropriate one. I don't know what
its expected outcome was, but had the bigger dog been in a bad mood, the outcome
might not have been a desired one. And let's not ignore that there was a
protective control factor at work here since both people monitored what was
going on so they could prevent a negative result.
When we are aware of our connection to the larger consciousness and how we
participate with it, know and trust that it operates on our behalf; we see it
functions like the people, the caregivers, who held the leashes. When we focus
on targets that are inappropriate for us and may actually create negative or
unpleasant outcomes, we should appreciate the "fail-safe" that is in place. The
little dog was forced to abandon its target because it was on the end of a
leash. It did not focus on the inappropriateness of straining to hit a target it
shouldn't. We, however, are able to pay attention and recognize that a
particular target is not the right one for us. Perhaps, it actually led us to a
different target, the one we should aim at.
We can consider and choose, reassess, change our target at will, take aim, and
reach it. We may recognize that aspects of a dog's life are ones we'd like to
have, and as I said earlier, we COULD create for ourselves; but we also have the
option to decide, mindfully, what is truly appropriate for us.
Also, consider how a dog owner must appear to the dog. We probably appear as
quite powerful to them. We'd benefit if we thought of ourselves the way our pets
do. And another thing we can borrow from a dog is to choose to "wag our tails"
in joy and play more often. A dog is always willing to make the most of every
moment. Life is what we make it.
About the Author:
Joyce Shafer is a life empowerment coach and author of "I Don't Want to be Your
Guru, but I Have Something to Say" and "How to Have What You REALLY Want,"
published in various online and hardcopy venues. Visit
http://www.joyceshafer.com. You can
email her at jls1422@yahoo.com.
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*** Book Review: Change Your Thoughts -- Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of
the Tao – By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer ***
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Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu
in ancient China dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate
commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses,
called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is
balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good.
In this book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao
Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom
of Lao-tzu to today's modern world. This work contains the entire 81 verses of
the Tao, compiled from Wayne's researching of 12 of the most well-respected
translations of text that have survived for more than 25 centuries. Each chapter
is designed for actually living the Tao or the Great Way today. Some of the
chapter titles are "Living with Flexibility," "Living Without Enemies," and
"Living by Letting Go." Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao
and concludes with a section called "Doing the Tao Now."
Wayne spent one entire year reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu's
messages, practicing them each day and ultimately writing down these essays as
he felt Lao-tzu wanted you to know them.
This is a work to be read slowly, one essay a day. As Wayne says, "This is a
book that will forever change the way you look at your life, and the result will
be that you'll live in a new world aligned with nature. Writing this book
changed me forever, too. I now live in accord with the natural world and feel
the greatest sense of peace I've ever experienced. I'm so proud to present this
interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and offer the same opportunity for change
that it has brought me."
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