Browse published articles attributed to Roger Seip, with full-archive search.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I believe to be the central challenge facing our clients right now, along with the rest of our society. It’s not an original concept by any means, but more and more I come to believe that it is the key to unlocking every success principle in existence. Discipline. I see the results of real discipline every day. I also see the results of the lack of discipline every day.
What do I mean by “Leadership with a small l”? I wrote about Leadership with a Big L for SelfGrowth.com http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Leadership_with_a_Big_L_-_4_Keys_to_Leading_When_it_is_Your_Job.html - that is being a leader when that is your job and responsibility to set objectives, map a course of action and get results from a group of people. This usually shows up in your job title. For instance, you could be a manager, a coach, a director etc.
If you live in fear of forgetting prospects' names, sometimes within mere seconds of being introduced to them, you're not alone. Surveys show that 83% of the population worries about their inability to recall people's names. Ironically, while most of us hate having our names forgotten or mispronounced, the majority of us claim we just "aren't good at remembering names" or putting faces together with names when we meet people again.
What’s scarier to most Americans than spiders, heights, or even death? There hasn’t been a horror movie made about it yet, but more than 75% of Americans surveyed report that they suffer from “glossophobia,” a debilitating fear of public speaking. Statistically, far more of us claim that we would prefer death to giving a speech; even comedia Jerry Seinfeld used to joke that at a funeral, most people would rather be lying in the casket than delivering the eulogy. Why is the prospect of trying to communicate information in front of even one person so horrifying?
I want to discuss a defining characteristic of successful people that I’ve met worldwide. I’ve found that successful and joyous people are usually very skilled at counting their blessings. They focus on what’s right about their life instead of what’s wrong. Why is this important? It goes back to the incredibly simple but undeniably profound thought expressed in Earl Nightingale’s great album The Strangest Secret. He said that “you become what you think about all day long.” If you think about that, you’ll realize it’s true.
As a reader of SelfGrowth.com, you’ve likely given some thought to the whole idea of your “attitude.” Some offices I've been to usally have a corny but helpful poster with some pithy saying about “attitude” right? Some of the more popular ones: “Attitude is everything!” “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude that determines your altitude” “Attitude is contagious- is yours worth catching?” Or pick your favorite. There are lots of options, and I think that’s great- in fact I have some of those very posters!
I recently was made aware of two comparative statistics that I thought you might find extremely valuable. I learned that the average American reads less than 2 books per year, one and a half to be exact, with almost two thirds of those going unfinished. On the whole, Americans have lost the habit of reading good books. There is a notable exception, however. CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies read, on average, roughly FOUR BOOKS PER WEEK!
Every single day, and I mean literally everyday, there are some decisions that you have to make. Actually, we are all required to make them regardless of our professional position in life. I am going to discuss two of these decisions from a list of seven that I have discovered. When we make these decisions, we have to choose either/or. There is no third option to pick from and there is no such thing as not deciding.
If you’re a reader of this article, there are a few things I know about you. You are likely more knowledgeable about goals than most. I’d guess that you and most of your peers would describe you as “goal oriented” in the most positive sense of the word.
Leadership with a big L is the kind of leadership that comes with a title: Manager, Vice President, Director, CEO etc. It is when you are responsible for a group of people and providing direction to a predetermined result in a business, church, school or family. I’m going to share 4 keys that apply to anyone who’s in charge of anything involving more than one person. Is that you? I bet it is….. These 4 keys come from an incredible book I read last year called The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni.
There’s a timeless principle that successful people live by, that I realized can be used as an immediate and powerful boost to your self-esteem and your emotions. Volumes have been written and spoken about this principle over the millennia, but I still see people not understanding or misunderstanding it all the time, and the result is a major amount of unnecessary stress. The principle I’m referring to is what we call Be, Do, Have. I definitely did not invent this terminology, but it IS descriptive.
If you want to grow as a person, professionally or personally, you must overcome some barriers to growth. One barrier to growth I have seen hold people back, time and time again, is an unwillingness to take decisive action. The Solution? You must be willing to take decisive action! Take quick and powerful action if you want to see growth. If you want to see growth, you must begin moving. If what you are currently doing or trying is not working, what should you do?
No matter what your profession, building self-esteem and confidence in yourself is the key to success business interactions. All things being equal, the higher your conviction in yourself, the higher your results will be. So, how do you build your own positive mental attitude, self-esteem and confidence? More importantly, how can you build it immediately and start using it to your advantage today? I am going to borrow this material from Stephen Covey in his great book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
I have done many informal surveys with people about whether their attitude is a talent or a skill. Talent being something that you are either born with or not; either you have it or you do not.
A saying that you’ve probably heard a lot in business, in sports, and human performance in general is controlling the controllable. What does that actually mean? I wanted to take this concept of controlling the controllable, which is actually really good advice by the way, and take it out of the realm of being a cliché and into the realm of something that we can actually do. In our workshops we’ll use something called the CIA Model to help students gain understanding of this concept and reduce stress in their own lives.
I was driving around last week listening to a guy named Andy Andrews in my car, and he said something that hit me right between the eyes. Mr. Andrews (author of the book The Traveler’s Gift) was saying that if he was allowed only 1 minute on stage and one thing to say that would change someone’s life, it would be an easy decision for him to know what to cover. He said his advice would be to: SMILE WHILE YOU TALK That’s it- crazy, huh? Seems so simple, but it’s such a common denominator.
I believe that everyone reading this understands that no matter what business you are in- Real Estate, Financial Services, Teaching, Auto Sales, or any other profession, we are all in the PEOPLE BUSINESS. It’s been said that fully 85% of your success in life is directly related to your ability to effectively work with people. So I wanted to pass on a little tip that will make all your dealings with clients or co-workers much more effective. It is laid out extremely well in Dale Carnegie’s all time best selling book How to Win Friends & Influence People (definitely recommended reading).
If you believe that accelerated loss of your mental acuity is inevitable with age, and that the loss of your competitive edge is certain to accompany that memory loss, you're not alone. But you are wrong. Age does have some effect on memory, but it's not an especially significant factor. Nonetheless, people tend to use their age as an excuse for poor or weakened performance. In fact, the opposite is true: For most people in business, the prime earning years are their 40s and 50s because they have invaluable maturity and experience.
Your palms begin to sweat and you avoid eye contact with someone you know is a client, but you just can't remember his name. Your heart sinks as you hang up the phone after a phone call with a furious prospect; you forgot you'd made an appointment with her. You pound your forehead in frustration as you realize, too late, what you should have told a customer that would have made the sale. Have you ever thought, "If only I'd been born with a better memory, I'd be better at sales?" Unfortunately, no one is inherently talented at instant memory recall; scientists have been unable to prov
I want to talk about how to deal with one of the most frustrating and demotivating things that happen to people- the slump. We all face them at one point or another, and how you handle yourself through a slump or “losing streak” determines how quickly you get out of it. As Dr. Suess says, “Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.” Here are a 3 tips that I’ve found helpful: 1.
I want to talk with you about one of the most impactful, powerful, and highest leverage things that you can do to make this year a success.I’m talking about something that all of the top performers in any field do. I’m talking about a coach. Someone in your life, whether it’s a mentor, a friend or I would actually recommend hiring and paying for a coach to help you live your life more prosperously. There are two reasons why it’s so important to get a coach to help in achieving your professional and personal goals: 1.
When our clients are exposed to our company, they are often impressed with how we really stress the concept of Freedom - and well they should be. Our central core value is Freedom, our web address is deliverfreedom.com, heck- it’s the name of our company! At the same time I see that the vast majority of individuals I meet do not have the kind of professional or personal Freedom they really desire and deserve. Do you? The role of our choices is central to how much Freedom we experience.
In the coaching relationships I have with our clients, the major problem I see is that individuals end up in the same place - over and over and over again. They mean to save money and build wealth, only to end up (again) with “too much month at the end of the money.” They’ve lost the same 15 pounds 8 times in the last decade. They quit one job only to end up doing the exact same job with the exact same pay for a different company. They end a relationship and then start dating the same person with a different name. Sound familiar?
What ever your goals are, they all boil down to one thing- you want GROWTH! Congratulations! You’ve taken the first step towards seeing positive results. I thought it might be helpful to make you aware of four barriers that must be overcome to experience any kind of real growth. These are barriers that nearly everyone has naturally, and it takes conscious decision and effort to remove or compensate for them. 1. Unwillingness to Accept Full Responsibility Today and every day, your growth is up to you and you alone.