JJ's (June '06) Tips in this issue: 1. Reflecting To Prevent Wake Up Calls 2. Favorite Quotes 3. Tele-Coaching & Tele-Mentoring Use the following tips as training tools. Present this situation to your group and brainstorm solutions together, or submit your own situation question to be answered in an upcoming newsletter. ------------------------------------- SITUATION QUESTION: ------------------------------------- A participant in one of my management seminars recently asked me this question. "The feedback from your day of evaluating our environment yesterday was a wake up call for me. The comments and perceptions of those who work around and for me were not positive so I'm asking for your guidance to improve. What do I need to do to change quickly and make it permanent too?" --------------------- SOLUTIONS: --------------------- Plan time to plan (don't skip this part), make a plan and then work your plan. Take the suggestions from the consulting and training and make a list of the most important things to change. Prioritize them in order of importance that will make the biggest and fastest impact. It takes approximately 21 days to change a habit. It's called spaced repetition learning. You can change any behavior pattern if you make a complete commitment to the change, have consistent daily display of the new habit, and have an excitement about the benefits you'll be receiving from it. Having support people around you personally and professionally will also help you quickly reach your goals. Those companies that have asked me to evaluate their environments with one-on-one confidential interviews with their management and a cross section of the rest of their departments always benefit on all levels. It's a wake up call for many. It is often the first time those that are interviewed have ever been able to express exactly what they thought about their managers, supervisors, peers and other management people above and beside them. They say it is great therapy. Most participants will allow me to quote them in the debriefing to management later if I find it necessary, but a few will refuse me permission. Some are afraid of retaliation or their management's reaction to their constructive comments. This tells me they don't trust their manager, and open and honest communication has not been established. Once presidents, directors, managers and supervisors decide the comments are true, or at least, the perceptions are, it is time to work on themselves. Perceptions are reality for those making the comments, therefore managers must find a way to change the negative perceptions through their actions. You can't change others, you can only change yourself, and when you change yourself enough, the possibility that you'll be able to influence others in a positive direction is much greater. You'll still be the same person, so don't fear that you'll lose yourself. Instead you will be adding more options and ways to flex to others' personality work styles. You'll then find win-wins in your interactions. Look within yourself first. Day of Reflection: Early in my speaking and training career I remember speaking at a conference after the great motivational Earl Nightingale delivered his keynote address. I stood in the hallway mesmerized by his words. He told a story of how he was off fishing alone one day when he found his mind becoming very reflective and offering up solution after solution to his problems. He said you need to take a break every so often and get away by yourself so you can reflect on how things are REALLY going. That story has run through my mind for the last 25 years. I still follow his suggestion to get away alone to reflect on all areas of my life. Wonderful solutions have come every time. Accept the challenge to create positive changes in yourself by taking a Day of Reflection. Choose a vacation day to do this after your major projects have been completed or are not as pressing. Decide to let yourself relax and daydream about any and everything. I started my last Day of Reflection by not having anything scheduled for my day. After six weeks on the road speaking, training and consulting with companies, I was stressed and tired. Three all-day customer care and management coaching seminars, lack of sleep and an early morning travel schedule had left me exhausted. On that day, after stepping into my morning shower, the hot water began to relax my tension and tiredness away. My mind started reflecting on the difference my consulting and training had made with the companies I'd visited. It was a great feeling that came over me knowing I had been at my best with them. Then more reflecting started on how to plan my travels so I could get more sleep and feel rested during and after my visits to companies. Solutions were coming to me right and left. My creativity kicked in and the subject and details of my next newsletter started going through my mind. It was awesome! During the rest of my relaxing day, I discovered a plan for completing other projects that had been tabled, answers to clients questions, solutions for clients I'm coaching and exciting new things to learn in communication and personal development. There were reflections on where I had been and how to do it better. Then reflections came on where I was headed, and even better, solutions to get there. It was great! It was another Earl Nightingale day of reflection! During my reflecting, I thought about a young man seated next to me at a dinner party the other night. We asked each other what we did and he said he repaired elevators in San Francisco. He said it wasn't an exciting job, but it paid the bills. Then this week, another young man said he had found in every job something that he loves to do. His father had told him at a young age to look for that something to love so he would enjoy his work. As you reflect about your occupation, have you looked for something to love about your job? Perhaps you need to find another occupation that you will love performing. Many times people say they can't go back to school or prepare themselves for another career because it will take so many years. You're going to be so many years older by then anyway, so why not go for what you would really love to be doing. Also remember that every job has its down side too. You know what I'm talking about, sacrifices of your time, long hours of preparation, travel time, dealing with upset people. That's life. As long as the pleasure and satisfaction of your work outweighs the down side, you're in the right place. Keep minimizing the down side and improving the upside. Scott, my retired husband, asks why I don't want to retire. I tell him that I love making a difference with companies and the people who work there. You are in the right job if you would do the work anyway, even if no one ever paid you. That's what I did in the beginning. Of course, one feels more appreciated when there is compensation. Are you in a job or a career? And do you know the difference between the two? In a job you watch the clock so you can go home soon. In a career, you are so excited about what you are accomplishing with your team that you forget the time and must discipline yourself to go home at a decent hour. A career person needs to find balance in their personal and professional lives or they will burn out as a workaholic. Your family and friends are your support team helping you to recharge, grow and stay healthy. If your support team is not supporting you, that is the place to reflect for answers to improve your whole life. During your day of reflecting, conduct a 1 to 10 evaluation on these things: (Use 1 as the least and 10 as the best.) If you give yourself any number below a 9 or a 10, ask yourself, what do I need to be a 10 in that. Your answers will reveal what you need to start working on right away. Evaluate your health, weight, exercise, balance of work and play, flexing to others' personality work styles, sense of humor, change and stress level this last year personally, change and stress professionally, work satisfaction, personal relationships, wife, husband, children, etc. Go into your Day of Reflection with a positive attitude that life is good regardless of your circumstances. Solutions will come in the areas that you need positive change. It's your life, make it what you want it to be. Your mind is powerful to help you accomplish it. Be good to yourself, relax, and enjoy the journey! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JJ's FAVORITE QUOTES: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Earl Nightingale died on March 28, 1989, Paul Harvey broke the news to the country on his radio program with the words, "The sonorous voice of the nightingale was stilled." In the words of his good friend and commercial announcer, Steve King, "Earl Nightingale never let a day go by that he didn't learn something new and, in turn, pass it on to others. It was his consuming passion." Quotes by Earl Nightingale "You become what you think about." - Earl Nightingale "People with goals succeed because they know where they are going... It's as simple as that." - Earl Nightingale "What's going on in the inside shows on the outside." - Earl Nightingale "Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm." - Earl Nightingale "You are, at this moment, standing, right in the middle of your own, acres of diamonds." - Earl Nightingale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tele-COACHING & Tele-MENTORING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRY our one-on-one Tele-Mentoring (phone coaching service) that is available to business owners, executives, managers, supervisors and staff members. Call for your FREE CONSULTATION now! 800 500-9656 or 408 445-1590 DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE in an area? * Dealing with irate internal or external customers? * Motivation and growth of your people? * Leading and Coaching your staff? _________________________________ EVALUATION OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT: _________________________________ Have you had an Evaluation of Your Environment lately so you could receive suggestions on improving it? (It's like the doctor's check up, you often don't know you need it, until after you've had it.) http://www.jjlauderbaugh.com/about.html **************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: jj@jjlauderbaugh.com _______________________________ |