Daily Thought Archives: October 2006

October 1
IT IS THE JOURNEY AS WELL AS THE DESTINATION
Goals are very important, and having the future pictured in your mind is going to drive your actions. However, your life is about the way you get to your goals, as much as the achievement of those goals. Live your life in a way that you will be able to not only enjoyment the achievement, but also the journey.

October 2
NEVER GIVE UP
Anything really worth doing (i.e. a real challenge) always has obstacles in the way. Very often when those obstacles come up, people just give up. Why not take the attitude that to achieve anything big, there will always be big obstacles in the way. Think of it as normal, and just get on with the thinking of the solutions and taking action. Be solution focused and not problem focused, and you will never give up.

October 3
BE CAREFUL OF GOALS/VALUES CONFLICT
One of the biggest problems people experience at times is the conflict between their goals and their values. For you to truly commit to your goals, you need to make sure that your behaviours are then consistent with your values. If they are not consistent, your actions will prevent you from reaching your goals. If they are consistent, your values will become a powerful enabler.

October 4
ACQUIRED QUALITIES TO BE SUCCESSFUL
Too many people think that successful people are born that way (that they have special genes). However, the truth is that all the qualities for a person to be successful are acquired qualities. Successful people just have the discipline to develop those qualities, where unsuccessful people don't.

October 5
DO MENTAL REHEARSALS
One of the most powerful habits of successful people is doing mental rehearsals. Successful people often appear quick thinkers in front of others, but most of them are no different than the rest of us. However, they take the time to do their mental rehearsals, going through in their head what questions they can expect and how to respond to them. Why not try doing mental rehearsals?

October 6
YOU CANNOT MEASURE WHAT IS NOT DEFINED
Almost anything doesn't really get improved unless it is first measured and the performance tracked. However, you can't really measure something unless it has been defined well. Take the time to define the most important outcomes, and then define the measures very well right from the beginning.

October 7
CLARITY PRECEDES MASTERY
The start of almost anything is clarity. Unless you are very clear on what you want or what you want to accomplish, you will never master what is necessary to get it. Clarity comes first, and if you don't have the clarity; then spend the energy to define that now. Clarity precedes mastery.

October 8
ONLY ONE PERSON KNOWS IF YOU DID YOUR BEST
The most critical evaluator of your own performance is yourself. You can sometimes hide things from others, but never from yourself. Act as if you had a camera on yourself for 24 hours a day, and you will be amazed at the increase in your focus and what you will accomplish (giving your best).

October 9
READ & APPLY
The best way to read books for your own development is to read for 15 to 20 minutes and then spend a few minutes on how you can apply what you have just read to your own daily life. Reading books for developing yourself gets real power when you take the step to ask yourself: "How do I apply it?".

October 10
A LIFE LIVED WELL IS A BALANCING ACT
We all have seen people who created successful businesses suddenly burnout. They put so much of themselves into their business that they had nothing left for anything else. True successful people understand that a life lived well is a continued balancing act. They keep all the key elements of their life in focus and make sure they keep the balance.

October 11
DON'T LET PAST EXPERIENCES STOP YOU
You are not your past. In fact, you are what you think, and you can change the thinking of the past to a thinking of the future. It is just up to you to take the decision to do it. Change your thinking and you can change your life. Just decide today.

October 12
AUTOMATE ONLY AFTER YOU SIMPLIFY
We are in times where everything is getting computerised. However, so many companies have rushed to implement computer systems without simplifying first. You see the same things happening with individuals as well with their PC's and PDA's. Remember, always simplify first before automating.

October 13
UNCHANGED LEADERS = UNCHANGED ORGANISATIONS
Successful leaders never stay the same. Business changes drive them to adapt, and also they are constantly working on their personal growth. A good way to evaluate an organisation is to look at their leaders. If the leaders are not changing, neither will be the organisation.

October 14
TAKE COMMAND OF YOUR EMOTIONS BY TALKING TO THEM
Whenever people get down or depressed, it is usually because they are listening to their own negative thoughts and actually building the problems larger than what they really are. Change from "listening" to "talking" to yourself. If you tell yourself - yes - I have a problem. However, let's think about the possible solutions and what action I can take right now to address it. "Talking" to yourself will drive you to action versus just thinking.

October 15
FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY WITHIN A FRAMEWORK
The very best companies provide an environment where their people have the freedom to make decisions. These companies very clearly outline the key principles and processes to work within and then allow their people to make things happen. The Framework is there to clearly define the responsibility that the people can take.

October 16
SEE IT COMPLETED AND IN PLACE
If you want to be more successful in life, you need to see your goals completed and everything in place. The power behind the actions to achieve your goals always comes from how well you picture your them. Picture your goals completed and in as many details as possible, and you will add real power to your actions.

October 17
TRANSFORM DIFFERENCES INTO OPPORTUNITIES
You can see this as a real opportunity if you have a diverse team of individuals. Use their differences to generate more creativity in your discussions. Too many managers do just the opposite, and try to introduce processes, etc that try to turn everyone to think in the same ways. Always look to transform differences into opportunities.

October 18
DESIRE AND EXPECTATION
Two thoughts/feelings can propel you to success. They are desire and expectation. Desire is what gives you the fuel to take off on your dreams and goals. Expectation is what provides you the confidence to overcome any obstacles that get in your way.

October 19
LIFE IS A NOW MOMENT
It is what you do today and every day that creates your life, and you could say that life is a NOW moment. It is what you are NOW that is either taking your closer or further away from your goals (i.e. what you want!). Therefore, always think of your life as a NOW moment.

October 20
EVALUATED EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER
They say that experience is the best teacher, but it is evaluated experience that is important. Unless you take the time to capture the learning from the new experiences, you don't really get the full future benefit. Take the time to capture the learnings from every new experience.

October 21
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, ANYTHING WILL DO
If you don't know what you want, anything will really do. And, if you don't know what you want, how do you know that you don't already have it? Everything starts with what you want. So, if you don't know (and in the right details), spend the time right now thinking and deciding that. Knowing clearly what you want makes all the difference to leading a very happy and successful life.

October 22
YOUR ATTITUDE WON'T TAKE CARE OF ITSELF
Your attitude will never stay positive unless you continually feed it with positive and inspiring messages. These positive messages come from being around other positive people, reading books that will inspire and energise you, listening to inspiring speakers, etc. Feed your attitude daily to keep it positive.

October 23
HOW CAN I IMPROVE?
Many times, the questions we ask ourselves is what drives us to make the changes in our lives. Sometimes just a simple question as "How can I improve?" can create some great ideas on the ways to improve and the changes to make. Why not ask yourself today - "How can I improve?".

October 24
WHAT'S THE BEST USE OF MY TIME RIGHT NOW?
A great question to ask yourself throughout the day is "What's the best use of my time right now?". Ask this question and you will find yourself making better choices on how you use your time. Remember, the better choices you make, the more productive you will be.

October 25
OUR THOUGHTS ARE OUR CURRENCY
A really great way to look at the power of our thoughts is to think of them as currency. We can accomplish whatever we put our thoughts to. If we invest our time thinking, then we get a return. If we spend out time in other ways (TV, etc), we do not get hardly any return. Remember, our thoughts are our currency.

October 26
TRAINING TEACHES YOU HOW, EDUCATION TEACHES YOU WHY
Too often people look at training as giving them all of what they need. However, training often only teaches you how, but an education is what teaches you why. The people who learn the why will always be leading the people who only learn the how.

October 27
WE ARE ALL FREE AGENTS
A great way to think of ourselves is that we are all free agents. We get from the world (the marketplace) whatever we bring to it. To get more, we need to bring more. Bringing more means to grow ourselves (each and every day) so that we can provide more value to others. Therefore, think like a free agent.

October 28
ACT AS IF YOU HAVE NO LIMITS
Too many people put limits on the expectations of themselves. In fact, they are their own biggest barrier to achieving what they really want. How about you? Do you put your own limits on what you can do? In reality, there are no limits, but only the ones you create for yourself. Therefore, why not act as if you have no limits - today and every day.

October 29
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
The most powerful belief you can have is the belief in yourself. It is the one necessary ingredient for success and the one that no one else can do for you. A good question: How can you expect others to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself first? Believe in yourself and you will attract the help of others just like a magnet.

October 30
AGREE TO DISAGREE, BUT NOT BE DISAGREEABLE
We will never agree with everyone in life, and it is important for all of us to speak up when we don't agree with something (especially when it is important to us). However, we should always discuss our disagreements in a positive and constructive way. That way we have a much larger chance that they will be listened to with an open mind. We may end up disagreeing, but never in a disagreeable way.

October 31
DON'T LET PEOPLE PUT UP WALLS
Many times we let people influence our actions. We listen to people shoot down our ideas and say this or that will not work. We are allowing them to put up walls in our minds about what we can accomplish. Don't listen to others and follow your own path. All the advances successful people have made have come when they did what others thought couldn't be done. Think of breaking down the walls and don't let others put anymore up.