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Browse published articles attributed to William Cottringer, with full-archive search.
Common Sense Life Mission-Based Alignment Byr Bill Cottringer “Common sense and a sense of humor are the same things moving at different speeds.
BEST 10 CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS IN THE BUSINESSnBy Bill Cottringe n“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 ...
IS THERE A POINT OF NO RETURN IN RELATIONSHIPS?nby Bill Cottringe nn“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.nnn I have ...
“BEST RELATIONSHIP SUCCESS: Via Better Thinking and Better Communication” “Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” ~Henry Winkler
Technology: The Ritalin Cure For ADHD Byr 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.
Surprise: When You Are Slightly Off Keel You Are At Your Best! BynBill Cottringe nn“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 ...
LIKABLE COMMUNICATIONnby William Cottringe nn“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 ...
Anticipating and Avoiding Getting Fired Byr 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 Lincoln.
ACCEPT ADVERSITY, BOUNCE BACK & GET GOING Byr 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.”rn~Walt Disney. Life is often riddled with problems, obstacles and challenges which make it seem like one big test. The test is how you approach these adversities to develop the character you need to overcome them and end up at the finish line. This is your true legacy that nobody can deny you but yourself.
Trapped Under the Middle Part of the Bell Curve? Byr Bill Cottringer “Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” ~W.A.Tozer.
The Challenge for Returning Veteransr 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. This article is a special tribute to the military personnel now serving or returning from overseas duty in the many “war zones” around the world.
Success Built On Common Sense Byr 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 say the magnitude and complexity of today’s problems confronting us requires a super human “higher consciousness” to solve. I disagree and prefer to assign the best potential solution to our problems on to common sense.
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 rule: • The one thing that seems to be certain is change. • Life is basically a process of learning, growing and improving. • The one sure common denominator for success and happiness is adapting to change.
Common Sense Time Management Learned The Hard Way Byr Bill Cottringer “Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn. ~Delmore Schwartz.
What Is The Moral of Your Story? Byr 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 involves an assumed answer to three underlying possibilities: • Do we all have a common purpose in this life with set success rules to carry it out ?
Thinking Your Way to Success Byr Bill Cottringer “I want to know all God’s thoughts; all the rest are just details.” ~Albert Einstein.
AN IRRECONCILABLE CONFLICT? BynBill Cottringe nn“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 ...
Lessons From Early Team-Building Byr Bill Cottringer “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team. ~Lewis B. Ergen.
25 Sure Ways to Improve Communication Byr Bill Cottringer “The greatest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place.” ~George Be ard Shaw. Communication is the main currency in the today’s Information Age, but sadly, miscommunication is our number one failing problem. Good communication involves quality thinking and it can be achieved with a plan and a little effort. Here are twenty-five practical ways to improve your communication and achieve more success in what you are trying to do at work, home or play.
CONTROLLING VS. MANAGING BEHAVIOR Byr 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 authoritative or dominating influence over; to direct or command. Manage: To succeed in accomplishing, sometimes despite difficulty or hardship; to exert influence over for the better.
“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 ...
Byr Bill Cottringer “Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.” ~Lawrence Clark Powell.
20 Writing Tips for Better Resultsr 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 is clear, concise, complete, concrete, correct and compelling—with the right content and style to maximize understanding and impact. Below are some useful tips on producing better writing to help you go from getting good to excellent results:
LIFE”S HARDEST LESSON Byr Bill Cottringer. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” ~Rick Warren.
Best Perspective For Success In Closing The Gap That Matters Most Byr 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 choices in becoming your best self, so that you can share that best self and your success with others.” ~The Author.
Are There Still Differences Between Male and Female Psyches? Byr Bill Cottringer
Discussing Politics & Religion Byr Bill Cottringer “Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.” ~Mahatma Gandhi.
7 Locked Doors to Un-Doing Problem Behavior Byr Bill Cottringer “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” ~Mark Twain.
Don’t Let Your Ability Get In The Way Of Your Capabilityr By Bill Cottringer “You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'” ~ George Be ard Shaw. Is your current limited ability interfering with your desire and effort to explode into your unlimited capability? Is there a gap between the current you and the ideal you that you want to be and know you can be? Are you having trouble seeing past the roadblocks and obstacles in your way? Or do you just not know how to get started?
When Your Back is Against the Wall… by Bill Cottringer
#1 Success & Happiness Solution: Rubber Band Thinking Byr Bill Cottringer “I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but for the simplicity just on the other side of complexity, I would give my life.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Ten Easy Ways to Have Hard Conversations Byr Bill Cottringer “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” ~Ronald Reagan.
Little Things That Can Help a Good Relationship Stay That Way By Bill Cottringer “A man's sense of self is defined through his ability to achieve results; a woman's sense of self is defined through her feelings and the quality of her relationships.” ~John Gray.
The Flashing Red Flags of Fatally Crashing RelationshipsnBy Bill Cottringe n 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 ...
Double Vision Decision-Making Byr Bill Cottringer “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” ~Phil McGraw. Double vision decision-making is a very useful and valuable skill in maneuvering around in today’s plethora of information overload that confronts us all. Basically, double vision is seeing both sides of the decision-making equation, or things like: • What information you already have and what you may need, and using what you already have smarter?r
Brain and Heart Management for Better Success Byr Bill Cottringer The lion’s share of success and failure is mostly due to how well we manage our brains and hearts—specifically how we learn, grow and improve the thinking and feeling which drives our behavior. Psychologists have never really explained the complicated process of thinking and feeling very well, notably as to which causes which and where one stops and the other starts. They are inter-twinned and seemingly inseparable but still called different things.
A Simple Life Gap Map That Makes Sense Of The Ones You Have To Pay For Byr Bill Cottringer “Life gets to be fun only when we begin to feel free to live it; but there is no real freedom apart from responsibility and ownership.” ~Dr. Henry Cloud. Here are two important things you know than no one else does: First, only you know exactly where you are on your journey (probably not exactly where you would really like to be). And secondly, only you know where you want to be (living your dreams and goals happily and dealing with misfortunes gracefully).
CHARACTER-BUILDING By Bill Cottringe nn 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 ...
Why You Want To Abandon Your Comfort Zone Right NownBy Bill Cottringe n“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 ...
Three Beatitudes for Better Communication Byr Bill Cottringer “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~George Be ard Shaw.
The Obvious But Most Misunderstood Quality Behind Success Byr Bill Cottringer “I look for a role that hopefully I feel empathy with and that I can understand and love, but also that has that challenge for me to play - a different kind of role, a different type of character, a different time period.” ~Kathy Bates
A Mission Every Employer Has with Every Employee Byr Dr. Bill Cottringer “The obscure takes a while to see, but the obvious even longer.” ~Anonymous. The above quote relates to a lesso I seem to have to keep relea ing and remembering from the first book I wrote several years ago—“You Can Have Your Cheese & Eat It Too.” The important lesson is in understanding how to do this by understanding the opening quote. Oddly, the solution to this challenging paradox is rather obvious, yet obvious things usually take longer to see than even more obscure ones.
The Ego DietnBy Bill Cottringe nn “Learning that just increases self-importance and autonomy, isn’t really learning at that point, it is over-nourishment of the ego, just like too much food causes the body to become obese.” ~The author.nnn We pretty well understand the importance of ...
TRANSFORMATIONAL THINKING: Healing The Crack In The Cosmic Eggnby William Cottringer, Ph.D.nnn“You can’t solve a problem with the same type of thinking that created it.” n~Albert Einstein. My Native American Totem is the deer. What this means for me is that the deer spirit is here to ...
God’s Five Favorite Hiding Places byr Bill Cottringer Sometimes God is hard to find, let alone know very well. Not being able to see God, we have to go places where a God-like presence can be sensed in some distinct way. Here are God’s seven favorite hiding places, where such an invisible presence can be felt from the heart and validated by the mind. Troubled Waters
ANGRY HEARTSnby Bill Cottringe nn There is an unexpected side-effect of being mentally and spiritually healthy: You become more aware of and obligated to help resolve the phenomenon of angry hearts. And this can be more time consuming, draining and beyond what you may think you are ...
An Ever-Growing Gap Between Managers And Employees In The Information Age Byr William Cottringer When we first started on the path of the Information Age in the early eighties, we had no earthly idea where it was going to take us. Ironically, here in 2014, we still don’t know the answer to this question because the possibilities keep expanding. And, there is no end in sight if what they say about knowledge doubling every few years is true.
James Gray’s “Two Lovers” with Joaquin Phoenix, Gwenth Paltrow, and Vinessa Shaw was an amusing, but predictable movie. The plot involved a confused young man carrying on with two completely different lovers—one very passionate, slightly out-of-reach relationship with all sorts of possibilities, good and bad, and the other a comfortable love that he could easily grow into. He follows his heart and gets jilted at the last minute in his plans to run away with the hoped-for love, but luckily still has the comfortable, fall-back relationship as an alte ative to his suicidal thoughts.
Five Questions We All Have At Work Byr Bill Cottringer “All good work has magic in it, and addresses the mind in a subtle way.” ~Duane Michals.