Attitude and Perspective Articles

A well-functioning team is like a symphony, each part working in harmony with the rest. Unfortunately, some teams don't work that way at all!rn So, what can you do if you find yourself in the midst of a team that makes more noise than music? rnThe first step is always to consider how you can change your own behavior, attitude or level of participation. Ask yourself, "Am I fully engaged in this team right now?" After all, you choose to contribute - or hold back - at every mome

The topic may not be new, but it still does not lose its relevance especially in the midst of global recession. You may have searched some topics related to this, and you might have read the findings from studies or surveys about how to make money at zero costs. Yet, the question is: do they work? It would be better then to get to the root of the subject matter. You might as well think about specific proposals and ideas of how to start a business without spending even a penny.

It was January in 1962, still summer in 32 Motor Street, Westdene Johannesburg.. Marie gets the news that she is pregnant again. This is the seventh baby on it way, after the loss of triplets before her last child. She feels very despondent and does not know what to do. Her husband is very confused about life at this stage of her life, he does not contribute to the household, and is drunk most of the time, a very arrogant and stingy man, and yet she loves him. He is after all the father of her children. He plays the accordion the way he walks, completely natural.

Two houses, both thirty years-old stand side by side on a neighborhood street. Both houses are for sale. Both houses have exactly the same design and were built at the same time. One house is valued thirty percent higher than the other because the real estate agent has determined that one is ...

How you BE in your business can make a big difference to how fulfilled you are in your business, and how many clients you get. I urge you to ask these questions – because they get you to consider human behavior andalignment – stuff you have to work with because trying to change them is an uphill battle you can’t win: What/Who do your ideal clients want their [coach/mentor consultant/etc.] to BE? What personality trait, value or approach inspire and motivate them so they take action and get results?

Sometimes technology can do more harm than good…rn… because many people are putting the cart in front of the horse: • They worry about what bells and whistles to put on a yet-to-be-built website before they define their message and niche • They pull their hair out about the nuts and bolts of autoresponder before they start their lead generation effort and having a list to mail to • They drive themselves up the wall about shopping cart set up before they decide what products to creater

Have you been performing certain tasks for clients (often just “throwing it in”) and delivering phenomenal results, yet haven’t made it “official” that you’re offering it as a standalone service so you can be compensated for it fairly and squarely? You probably have a dozen reasons why you aren’t doing it (yet.) At least half of which seem VERY convincing. I’m going to go out on a limb and bet there’s a 95% chance that those “reasons” are just excuses so you don’t have to OWN IT. Because when you do, you really have to STEP UP and do it like you mean it.r

In the last post that I had put on this website I was talking in that entry about awards and, in particular, MVP, most valuable player. That was taken from Episode 80 of my weekly show and in that interview my guest, Fr. Michael Lightner, proceeded to make a reference to St. John Vianney. Someone who listened to that interview emailed me and was saying what they knew of that particular saint. The thing is, the gospel writers have gained widespread notoriety, but there are cou

One of the most important things I think we can do while we are this earth is to help others. We all have the opportunity everyday to be someone’s miracle. I believe that you may not change the entire world, but you can change someone else’s world by being their miracle.

One of my favorite quotes on gratitude is by Zig Ziglar. He states that “Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.” When I read that quote it just reminds me that we always need to be grateful for everything in our life. I mean everything. Can you imagine being grateful you were fired? Do you think you’d be happy if your significant other broke up with you? Can you picture yourself getting shot and saying, “Thank You!”?

Success, in most people's imagination, is like a slippery eel that will slide past your grasp before you even know you had it in the first place. Most people see it as a giant that will take their entire lives to get in chains; some of those people give up hallway foolishly thinking they are being wise and spend the rest of their lives trying to convince themselves they did the right thing. Most people are so overwhelmed when they get it to hold on to it in a beneficial way.

Remember that inner geek you tried so hard to leave at home when you were in high school? Or that angry misfit in you that was dying to come out but got stuffed back into the box every time you tried to blend in? They may not be good for high school survival, but turns out there may be a thing or two we can learn from them to stand out and get more clients: 1. Channel Your Geek for Client Care & Acquisitionr The cool ones pretend they don’t care. They pretend they’ve so many friends that they don’t give a crap about anyone.r

Have you ever felt like you want to throw your hands up in the air and walk away? … or, stared at a long-ass to-do list but have NO idea what to DO? … or, just wanted to shut it all down and take a perma-vacation… from everything? Last week, I froze. My worst business nightmare came true. I created an offer, put the word out, but felt disconnected from it and couldn’t get myself to promote it anymore. I cooked up a list-building project, got the word out to a few partners and then lost steam. I tried to write a blog post, gibberish came out.r

There comes a time when people need to decide on what their priorities are. It sometimes come down to what is needed the most. The rest that do not meet the standards are left to be unaccomplished. This is where success differs from one person to another. The say that there are two kinds of workers. Those who can multi-task,and those who need to focus on just one thing. This is what separates the achievers from the failures.One must be able to work multiple duties in order to

I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." Robert McCloskey With conscious communication we can attract the life we want in our personal relationships and in our businesses. Spend time today being conscious of what you say to others and how others react to your words. ...

I heard a segment of a program about branding on NPR this morning when I drove over to feed my daughter’s cat. In this brief snippet, the host and his guest were talking about “sheeple”, that is, people who will follow the crowd, the style, the latest fad like sheep going to slaughter. Another term for such people could be “lemmans”, derived from lemmings – those rodents who periodically follow one another over the cliff to their deaths – and humans – those mammals who occas

If your business offerings fall in areas that are considered “vague”, “out-there” or “woo-woo”, you probably find yourself banging your head against the wall every time you go through some marketing training and were told to “list out the benefits” that are concrete, solve an urgent problem, or just plain “sellable.” Or maybe you have gotten dinged too many times during those 5-minutes-of-fame coaching calls and sent back to the drawing board to twist yourself into the “come up with something the sells” box. What if... you can get your clients to buy whatever YOU want to offer?r

I have bones with the gurus talking about “success habits” and such. It’s a personal thing, and here is why. I am never a morning person, and I have two kids 2.5 and 5.5. Whenever the gurus say – for the first 90 minutes in the morning, keep everyone out so you can meditate, exercise, make green juice, journal till you turn blue and set intention for your day – I laugh. Reality is, my kids wake up at some ungodly hour like 5.30am and no, I don’t have it in me to drag my ass up at 4am to meditate. If they find me anywhere other than my pillow, I would not have a moment of peace.

If I were to ask you for one good reason why any company wouldn't want you to get better at sales, better at customer service, improve your communication skills, study leadership, become more productive or just be a nicer person, could you answer that question? Do you think you could come up ...

Your most recent attempt to persuade your boss of how much you deserve that raise/bonus/perk landed in the unfathomable depths of his “No way no how” with barely a ripple. You are depressed, disgusted, and yes - truth be told - massaging your hurt ego with liberal doses of self-pity. Which brings to mind all the times your boss has been less than appreciative of your skills, talents, efforts, unpaid overtime, etc. Like always! And down the road of history you go, your self-p

Long story short - my kid gave me the Frozen Treatment. Here is the long story: This personal experience has a few poignant lessons that I hope, will open up space for you.

Short answer is, Yes, and No. No – because “niche” is somewhat an intellectual construct that helps us wrap our head around the marketing thing, and it is very useful. It gives us a starting point, a home base and a framework to do our research, communicate* our message and create our offerings. (* communicate, not create – that’s why it should not be the driving force in my opinion. More on that soon.)

A number of years ago, I documented my values and beliefs regarding how I want to live my life. It was a valuable exercise. Documenting these things, however, is not nearly as important as comparing them to my actual behavior and actions. That exercise has created many “Holy sh**” moments for me. I rarely live up to my own standards, and frequently fail miserably at being the man I want to be. I’ve discussed this approach with friends and colleagues periodically. When I

The coaches, consultants and service professionals I work with are a special breed. They are multi-passionate, multi-talented, and have a creative streak in them that makes stuffing themselves into the “usual” marketing box not only frustrating but also the cause of patchy results. They face a unique set of challenges, which leads to 3 common mistakes they tend to make in marketing their businesses – whether they are just starting out, or have been in business for a while but just can’t seem to hit the bull’s eye. Mistake #1 – Lack Cohesive Message

The other night I watched the Smallville series finale and I must admit it was pretty good. Certainly took it in a direction that was surprising. The thing that really got my attention though was at the heart of the show. Clark Kent, AKA Superman, is always questioning himself, doubting who he really is, uncertain as to where he fits in “This World”. Allowing fear to control his every move because of the failures from the past; the people that he has lost either through death or just relationships gone bad. This fear has caused him to be afraid to step up and claim his destiny…..

When was the last time you took a serious objective look at your life situation? Are you really satisfied with the way things are going? Well, if you are an optimist or find yourself in a good mood, you may be tempted to say that things are all right in your life right now. And even if they are not all right now, they will get better soon. What are you relying your assumption upon? Are there noticeable facts that point to the idea of improvement? Have you done anything lately in order to make the situation better? Things are not always what they seem to be

What you think is what you get. Whether you think you’re a victim of your circumstances or you think you’re creating your circumstances, you’re right! Luckily at any moment you can choose to start creating your circumstances instead of letting them create you. No, you can’t change things like the kids you have or the color of your (natural) hair. What you can change is the way you think about those things. When you take your focus away from things you find displeasing

I've heard the “R” word quite a bit of late as I have listened to NPR's reporting of the riots in Britain. This morning it was particularly ubiquitous as the government, the police, and the rioters talked about who was “reponsible”. Let's start off by making something abundantly clear: responsibility and blame are not the same thing. What I heard on the radio this morning was everyone trying to find someone else to blame for what happened. Responsibility is a different and

While our businesses are still “young” we push our limits and work hard in order to make them grow. As soon as our business goes through the roof and becomes somewhat independent, we might become overwhelmed with joy. However, it is important to stay grounded at that moment in order to avoid any bad decisions and in order for the business to keep running smoothly. What Does it Mean to Stay Grounded? The state of being overwhelmed by joy of success and by overworki

Indecisions are open loops, which means they are energy-suckers. They distract us from other things that may be more important. We can all be more effective if we make better decisions, faster. Some get caught in indecision when they feel they don’t have enough information. Or they overload themselves with data and facts that got them stuck in overthinking, or analysis-paralysis.

10 tips that will end the game in your favor It has been said "when the student is ready the teacher will appear". I have found this to be true through out most of my life. Knowing this, I accept that when the teacher does appear it can take many forms. More often than not the teacher does not ride in with a team of white stallions but, rather is revealed in a faint whisper, almost disce ible in a breeze or in the motion of the branches of tall trees as a bird lights upon a l

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend with my 14-year old niece, Morgan, who competed in the National American Miss Pageant. You can imagine my excitement as her name was called and won the title of National American Miss, Miss Massachusetts Jr. Teen 2013!

When ABC News interviewed me for their upcoming show on the pros and cons of positive thinking and the Law of Attraction, one of their questions was, “Why are there so many self-help books?” Apparently a published skeptic felt that if self-help books really worked, we wouldn’t need so many of them.rnDoes that make sense to you? Consider – With all the cookbooks in the world, there will always be more published, guaranteed. With all the books on psychology, or sales, o

rnWhether the challenge is work, education, or relationships, everybody has a few mental boundaries that they do not want to cross. She might see other people crossing them, but think it is too big of a risk. While it might be difficult, there are a few reasons that stepping out of your comfort zone could improve self growth. Thinking Differently About Fear This is not as blasé of a point as merely saying that you can overcome your fears. You can reinterpret those fears. If

Panic attack disorders can make your life very hard to live, and can even turn into social anxiety disorders like agoraphobia if they go untreated. In this article I would like to give you the top 3 panic attack disorder mistakes that people make, and how to avoid them. To start with, if you are not familiar with what a panic attack is, let me fill you in. Panic attacks occur when we perceive a situation to be dangerous or threatening, even when there is no real threat. Pa

It's not hard to imagine. You've probably done it yourself. You're on a cross-country car trip with the family. After ten hours or so, and just a couple of bathroom breaks in that time, you've decided that you can't drive anymore. You look over to the passenger seat where your spouse has been ...

Do you ever have these out-of-body experiences, when you are doing something that you enjoy very much, and then you just relax and your mind goes to places and thinks about things that are SO far away from the real world, that you wish to stay there forever? Such utopias come to you when you feel either very good or very bad. Reminds me a bit about that speech Morpheus gave Neo about the real world and the dream world. Which pill would you choose?

When you show genuine respect to people, they will most likely respect you and trust you in return. There's no magic with it. It is just the way it is. Respect is the foundation of trust. And most of the times, people will do business with someone who respects them – someone whom they trust. As respect grows, the likelihood of a lasting relationship also grows. Showing respect should have no exception. It should be done to anyone whether he or she is a business partner, or

We have the power to explore, experiment and dream toward tomorrow. I’ve found that power to consider my tomorrows is part of what gives me a growth oriented point of view. For me, a big part of self-growth is about exploring my awareness of what I’m grateful for. My attitude of gratitude, here and now, guides me in choosing what I do next. In fact, it’s an attitude of gratitude that helps me experiment each day with growth. Because I push off into the day with awareness of

Words that describe nonsense in the dictionary include pointless, meaningless, irritating, disrespectful, obnoxious. Nonsense is words or actions that others don’t understand. Doing or saying things that seem illogical. In my experience, nothing is really illogical. If it seems illogical I don’t know all the facts. We send and receive nonsense from childhood onward. We act and speak in puzzling ways accidentally or on purpose. We may or may not become aware of it. It can affect our lives temporarily but usually not permanently.

What is addiction? Addiction is only the result of abuse. Abuse is the imbalance of how you live. Too much of something, is imbalance. We are all addicts of some sort, some sociably acceptable and others sociably unacceptable. Part of the problem lies within the derogatory attitude people have towards the sociably unacceptable addicts. They are labelled and are pushed aside, or shoved into rehab centres that do not even have the right approach to help them. The actual success rates of rehabs are very low.

Attitude might not exactly be everything when dealing with conflict management, but it sure plays a big part. The most productive attitude in addressing disputes, especially in the initial stages, is one of letting go of resentment toward the other party. Regardless of what events have ...Attitude might not exactly be everything when dealing with conflict management, but it sure plays a big part. The most productive attitude in addressing disputes, especially in the initial s

Sometimes life throws us opportunities that are way out of our comfort zone, but last week I realized that if you really want to take your business, relationships or life to the next level you’ve got to Step Up and Step In, or Step Out. I hopped on a plane to Asheville, North Carolina to attend Uplevel Live, a three-day retreat led by the amazing Christine Kane, a mentor to women entrepreneurs. The event took place at The Grove Park Inn (a swanky resort where US presidents s

A coaching client was nearing the end of her intensive program. We were at the stage to design a marketing plan for the next 6 months so she can cut the busywork and do what truly matters. She is an experienced coach using a particular method. However, she has been “selling” the method in a very generalized manner without much focus. As a result, she had only been doing some workshops here and there for anyone and everyone who walked into the door, and never been able to funnel many of the participants into private clients and charge a premium for her services.

Website content writing is an expression used to scheme the good possessions of a website into such constructive wordings that the active readers of the aperture get a clear representation about the intricate information of the website through the black and white pages filled with loads of website content writing. The website content writing helps to attract more and more customers of the website and transform them into the buyers if they are just the window shoppers. The att

There are many ways to get an affordable website design. There are few software which can create a website for you within fractions of time but you cannot take help of such software because you want unique and well functioning website not bunch of problems. You can get website development based on templates but it again is not unique in nature so only one best way is left for you and that is custom design. Always attempt to build website from the scratch and according to your

When I first started blogging, I did a lot of research and invested in quite a few trainings. Most touched upon how to come up with topics to write about. Many covered how to re-appropriate content so it looks like you are “everywhere.” A few shared deeper tactics on promotion and syndication. Another handful delved into using content to launch/promote products and programs. But soo I realized all those strategies and tactics were only half the story…r

Everyone alive or who has ever lived has/had their own individual and unique values. Without our values, we likely would not survive just as our ancestors couldn’t have done without their mythologies (if they hadn’t been able to form some sort of explanation for the systems in their environment, they wouldn’t have thrived as well as they did). For example, how could we hope to stay alive in our current forms for as long as we’re meant to if we didn’t value giving ou

In the second of this three part series on taking action, we discussed how to recognize and overcome limiting beliefs to bring yourself closer to attaining what you want from life. In Part 3, you will learn how to get the support you need to get you the rest of the way there. If you missed the previous part of the series you can access them here: Part 1: Create clarity and accuracy Part 2: Recognize and overcome your limiting beliefs Part 3: Get support In his groundbreaking

We have heard it all the time – “If you change your attitude, you can do much better”. Even in school the teachers say – “If you change your attitude, you will get good marks”. At work, the boss say – “If you just change your attitude, you will go so far”. When the employers are looking to hire people, they are looking for the right attitude. Why is it, that Attitude is so important? What do we really mean by Attitude? And how do we change our Attitude to ge