THE HARDEST LESSON IN LIFE TO LEARN
By
Bill Cottringer
“It isn’t what you think you know that is most important, but rather how you feel about what you think you know.” ~Unknown author.
What is this hardest lesson for us all to learn in life? Learning what to take seriously and what to ... Views: 2298
PUTTING THE POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY MOVEMENT IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE
“Happiness is not a goal, but rather it’s a byproduct.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt.
This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt puts a lot of things in proper perspective, especially the popular movements for change driven by the mass media ... Views: 2292
BEST 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS IN THE BUSINESS
By
Bill Cottringer
“Good customer service is 90% listening and follow-up and 10% talking.” ~The author.
1. Leave your bad moods, frustrations and other agendas at home or at least put them aside and out of mind and heart when you are engaged with ... Views: 2264
IS THERE A POINT OF NO RETURN IN RELATIONSHIPS?
by
Bill Cottringer
“There is a point at which everything becomes simple and there is no longer any question of choice, because all you have staked will be lost if you look back. This is life's point of no return.” ~Dag Hammarskjold.
I have ... Views: 2210
TEN SURE WAYS TO SUCCEED IN THE WORKPLACE
By
Bill Cottringer
“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” ~Oscar Wilde.
It doesn’t matter whether you are engaged in your dream career or just working at a job; not trying your best to succeed at the ... Views: 2197
Live, Love & Laugh
By
Bill Cottringer
“When done correctly by individuals, living, loving and laughing greatly improve the quality of life for humanity.” ~The author.
The more you do these three things, the more successful and happier you and others will be. But first you have to ... Views: 2169
MANAGING METAPHORS ABOUT LIVING AND DYING FOR EVERYDAY LIFE
By
Bill Cottringer
“Key metaphors help determine what and how we perceive and how we think about our perceptions.” ~M.H. Abrams.
Metaphors: Creative communication of words that magically simplify huge, complex realities into ... Views: 2148
Common Sense Life Mission-Based Alignment
By
Bill Cottringer
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same things moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense dancing.” ~ William James.
A few years ago, a colleague of mine wrote an important business book ... Views: 2147
Surprise: When You Are Slightly Off Keel You Are At Your Best!
By
Bill Cottringer
“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” ~ Oprah Winfrey.
I am sure I am not the first person to discover this powerful reality, but…You are poised to be at your best ... Views: 2142
Make Your Point!
By
Bill Cottringer
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~George Bernard Shaw.
Consider the beginning of communication: We first invented words to stand for objects we couldn’t carry around on our shoulders to show ... Views: 2128
“BEST RELATIONSHIP SUCCESS: Via Better Thinking and Better Communication”
“Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” ~Henry Winkler
And where do we make and express these assumptions but in our mind and with our mouths? The way to the biggest gains in best relationship success ... Views: 2085
Welcome Back Kotter (Likeability)!
By
Bill Cottringer
“Welcome back, Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about…”~John Sebastian, Lov’n Spoonful.
One of the most popular TV programs of my generation was “Welcome Back Kotter.” I can ... Views: 2082
Technology: The Ritalin Cure For ADHD
By
Bill Cottringer
“For normal people, the artificial urgency created by today’s hyper-speed technology is a demon to be tamed; for people with ADHD, it turns out to be an angle in disguise just needing to fly itself into being tired.” ~The author.
... Views: 2078
LIKABLE COMMUNICATION
by
William Cottringer
“Our brains quickly perceive others to be likeable, neutral or unlikeable; the words that follow verify that initial perception.” ~The author.
Ron and Jennifer are both successful professionals. Jennifer is on the top of her career as a CEO ... Views: 2063
Why Some Religions Are Dying While Others Are Thriving
By
Bill Cottringer
“Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson.
If you want to know a real secret worth knowing about success, look at the religions today ... Views: 2009
ACCEPT ADVERSITY, BOUNCE BACK & GET GOING
By
Bill Cottringer
“All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
~Walt Disney.
... Views: 1961
Anticipating and Avoiding Getting Fired
By
Bill Cottringer
“If you intend to go to work there is no better place than right where you are; if you do not intend to go to work you cannot get along anywhere. Squirming and crawling about from place to place can do no good.” ~Abraham ... Views: 1950
SUCCESSFUL SUPERVISION: SEVEN SURE SOLUTIONS
By
Bill Cottringer
“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.” ~Galileo Galilei.
There is no shortage of information about being a successful supervisor. But, that is a problem in itself—there is ... Views: 1948
Are You A Worry Wort?
By
William Cottringer, Ph.D.
“You know you are in big trouble when you start worrying about how much you are worrying.” ~ The Author.
With all the stresses from the overload that now plagues us today, we all probably worry too much about the past, present and ... Views: 1923
The World’s Worst War: The Bullies vs. The Bullied
by
Bill Cottringer
“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” `Benjamin Disraeli.
The Problem:
Today we are witnessing a major showdown between two failure extremes—the strong vs. the weak, or more in today’s terms, the bullies ... Views: 1921
How to keep a Job in Tough Times
By
William Cottringer, Ph.D.
“The quickest way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” ~Oscar Wilde.
In tough economic times, it is not a good thing to be unemployed. And if you are lucky enough to have a job, you don’t want ... Views: 1904
The Best Way To Thrive Is To help Others Survive
By
Bill Cottringer
“We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving.” ~Jose Ortega y Gasset.
The best way to thrive is to help others survive…but first you have to master surviving ... Views: 1901
The Challenge for Returning Veterans
By
Bill Cottringer
Veterans Day is a day we can all be thankful for the men and women who generously and unselfishly served our country, past and present and some with their lives, to keep the rest of us safe and secure in the freedom we cherish. ... Views: 1901
Trapped Under the Middle Part of the Bell Curve?
By
Bill Cottringer
“Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” ~W.A.Tozer.
Are you one of the “lucky” few people who have used your special talents smartly, worked with persistence in never giving up on ... Views: 1899
Success Built On Common Sense
By
Bill Cottringer
“Common sense is the simple knack of seeing something the way it is and doing something the way it should be done.” ~Mark Twain.
Is it just my imagination or is common sense being bred out of the human gene pool entirely? Some ... Views: 1881
We are all Prisoners In The Vicious Circle Tit For Tat Bullying Tag Game
By Dr. Bill Cottringer, in association with Storm Door Productions.
“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” ~Benjamin Disraeli.
Bullies
Bullies come in all shapes and sizes—
Countries, religions, girls ... Views: 1864
Top Ten Happiness Robbers
By
Bill Cottringer
“You can never make another person happy, only unhappy. ~The author.
Are you happy enough with your happiness bank account balance? Knowing that a happiness bank account balance can never be high enough, here are a few bank robbers you ... Views: 1852
AN IRRECONCILABLE CONFLICT?
By
Bill Cottringer
“There is no squabbling so violent as that between people who accepted an idea yesterday and those who will accept the same idea tomorrow.” ~Christopher Morley.
In his recent movie, Gone Baby Gone, Director Ben Affleck leaves his brother ... Views: 1843
Resurrect Your Dreams
By
Bill Cottringer
“Deep down, nobody is ever quite satisfied with the amount of their childhood dreams they have actually realized and we are all disappointed with the amount that slipped away.” ~The author.
I consider myself having lived about half my early ... Views: 1837
Common Sense Time Management Learned The Hard Way
By
Bill Cottringer
“Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn. ~Delmore Schwartz.
Today, given the tons and miles of information overload that the Internet and other technology has produced and the ... Views: 1819
A Better Relationship in a Week
By
Bill Cottringer
No matter how good or bad your present relationship is it can always be better with minimal planning, effort, and cost. And in this economy that is a pretty good deal! Here is a very practical and easy way to have a better ... Views: 1815
What Is The Moral of Your Story?
By
Bill Cottringer
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The answer to this intriguing title question ... Views: 1812
“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” ~Arthur Schopenhauer.
This article is both a description of failing and a prescription of succeeding. Back in the early seventies two therapists ... Views: 1804
IF YOU CAN’T KEEP AN OPEN MIND, ARE YOU SURE YOU HAVE ONE?
BY
Bill Cottringer
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin.
Here are the few important realities in life that have held to be true long enough to be the exception to this ... Views: 1798
Lessons From Early Team-Building
By
Bill Cottringer
“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team. ~Lewis B. Ergen.
Effective team-building has always been known as essential to any success, whether we are talking about work teams, sports teams, ... Views: 1774
Thinking Your Way to Success
By
Bill Cottringer
“I want to know all God’s thoughts; all the rest are just details.” ~Albert Einstein.
In today’s Information Age, quality thinking is the success currency of choice. Have you thought about the quality of your own thinking lately? I ... Views: 1769
25 Sure Ways to Improve Communication
By
Bill Cottringer
“The greatest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place.” ~George Bernard Shaw.
Communication is the main currency in the today’s Information Age, but sadly, miscommunication is our number one failing ... Views: 1731
FIVE “HELPING” THINGS WE ALL WANT FOR OURSELVES AND NEED TO LEARN HOW TO GIVE TO OTHERS
By
Bill Cottringer
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ~Dr. Seuss
I have been involved in the helping business on both ends of giving ... Views: 1729
CONTROLLING VS. MANAGING BEHAVIOR
By
Bill Cottringer
“One of the biggest sources of frustration comes from trying to control the uncontrollables; on the other hand, great satisfaction comes from gradually learning to manage the controllables better.” ~The author.
Control: To exercise ... Views: 1722
Slowing Down to Understand the Real Purpose of Life
By
Bill Cottringer
“The purpose of life is not to be happy, successful and have peace of mind; but rather to learn how to be happy doing the few things that will result in a sense of progress at having greater happiness, success and peace ... Views: 1718
By
Bill Cottringer
“Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.” ~Lawrence Clark Powell.
Having been a reader and writer of the self-growth industry for over 5 decades now, I think I have something to say that needs saying. It all began with my serious reading and ... Views: 1680
The Flashing Red Flags of Fatally Crashing Relationships
By
Bill Cottringer
You may wonder why anyone in their right mind would miss these blatant red flags before they found themselves stuck in a fatal relationship; but the real problem becomes more of how to get out of such a ... Views: 1672
20 Writing Tips for Better Results
By Bill Cottringer
Excellent writing has never happened by chance. It takes open-mindedness and an insatiable drive to continually learn how to improve what you are trying to say and the hard work that goes along with that challenge. Excellent writing ... Views: 1666
Why You Want To Abandon Your Comfort Zone Right Now
By
Bill Cottringer
“The security and safety of a comfort zone are a persistent illusion; but the only real security is in accepting your insecurities as you venture outside of your comfort zone.” ~The author.
Here are six very good reasons to ... Views: 1662
Making Relationships Less Difficult
By
Bill Cottringer
“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” ~Anonymous.
It is not easy to be successful at anything today because of the many obstacles that ... Views: 1661
Best Perspective For Success In Closing The Gap That Matters Most
By
Bill Cottringer
Success is not—
What you do,
What you get,
Or what you have;
But what you attract,
From being who you are.
“Success is a certain sense of progress accumulated from making all the right little ... Views: 1655
LIFE”S HARDEST LESSON
By
Bill Cottringer.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” ~Rick Warren.
A doctor and her patient were having a defining-moment discussion about life’s hardest lesson. “So tell me what it is, said the impatient patient to ... Views: 1648
7 Locked Doors to Un-Doing Problem Behavior
By
Bill Cottringer
“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” ~Mark Twain.
For most of us, we spend half our lives trying to carry a cat by the tail and the other half trying to change the results ... Views: 1644
Discussing Politics & Religion
By
Bill Cottringer
“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” ~Mahatma Gandhi.
Just like the real reason for paying attention to the warnings of the Ten Commandments, being to help you avoid unnecessary pain, ... Views: 1644
CHARACTER-BUILDING
By Bill Cottringer
If you do a Google search on “character-building programs in schools” you will uncover nearly a quarter of a million hits. Why is character-building such an important topic getting so much attention in our schools? First of all it is not ... Views: 1643