Daily Thought Archives: March 2007

March 1
CONTRACTS WITH YOURSELF
People often think of goals in a too general way. They think of them as wishes or intentions. Why not think of goals as Contracts with yourself. This way your goals are put in the proper perspective and drive the sense of ownership to make them happen. Set Contracts with yourself today.

March 2
YOU LISTEN WITH YOUR EMOTIONS
We all take in more of what others say when we are not only interested in the subject, but if it also creates some emotion within us. We actually listen better when others engage us not just intellectually, but emotionally. That is why the best speakers are great storytellers. They engage our emotions.

March 3
ENOUGH MOTIVATION TO GET STARTED
People are always looking for the motivation to do what's necessary to get what they want in life. To take the action on what we need to do, just learn to develop enough motivation to get started. Most of us get the inspiration to finish the action once we get started on it. Build the motivation inside to just get started, and you will accomplish more in life.

March 4
WHEN A DREAM IS BIG ENOUGH AND YOU COMMIT
When you make a big dream and commit yourself to making it a reality, the odds to achieve it often don't matter. You accept that there will be big challenges in your way. However, with the expectation that you will reach your dream, you meet each challenge with the expectation that you will find the solution.

March 5
RAISE YOUR LEVEL OF THINKING
If you want to raise your level of income, you need to raise your level of thinking. People achieve only to the limits of their thinking. When people expand their thinking, they begin to take actions that are consistent with that expanded thinking; and accomplish a great deal more and earn more. Raise your level of thinking today.

March 6
IF OTHERS OVERREACT - STAY CALM
The ability to control your emotions can really help you to have more power and control in all situations. People who overreact are showing a weakness that can be exploited, and often they are not thinking clearly or in a balanced way. If you remain calm, this gives you a tremendous advantage to control the situation in your favour.

March 7
HAPPINESS BEGINS WHEN SELFISHNESS ENDS
True happiness begins when we become less selfish and more caring of others. People grow long-term in the support or service of others and never at the expense of others. Set a goal to help others and you will receive back in others ways many times your efforts.

March 8
FOCUS ON YOUR "BEST" CONTRIBUTION
In whatever activity you are involved with, always focus on your "Best" contribution. This is especially important when you are part of a team. You might have a number of skills, but some are more important to the success of the team than others. Remember; focus on your best contribution.

March 9
YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM IS YOU
If we are all honest, our biggest problem or barrier to success is ourselves. The same world is out there for everyone and all the opportunities are there. It is up to each of us to focus on what we want and develop ourselves to be the person who can get it. It's never anyone else who is preventing us from what we want. It is just us!

March 10
FOLLOW THE TRACKS OF SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
If you do (habits & behaviours) as other successful people, you will get the same results. It's really based on the law of cause and effect. Therefore, a good strategy to focus on is to follow the tracks of successful people. Find out what they are doing and put those habits and behaviours into your days and weeks.

March 11
RELATIONSHIPS DRIVE OUR HAPPINESS
When we think about our lives, it is really the relationships that drive our happiness. Those family, friends and co-worker relationships drive the level of happiness in our lives. However, as in other things, we only get out what we put in. What have you put into your key relationships lately?

March 12
IS IT A "SHOULD" OR A "MUST"?
You hear many people saying (I should do ______.) However, a "Should" is not really making a commitment. If everything you need to do is a "Should", then you are going to disappoint yourself and others much too often. Change the "Should" in your mind and your spoken words to a "Must", and make the commitment.

March 13
MANAGE YOUR BRAND (YOUR REPUTATION)
Just like companies, we as individuals have an image we project to others, and it is our brand. Our brand (or reputation) is based on the way we behave with respect to our relationships and the way we keep our commitments. Manage yourself as a brand and your reputation will soar.

March 14
HOW CAN I GET THE BEST FROM YOU?
A great goal for a leader is to get the best from each of their people. So, why not ask them: "How can I get the best from you?" You will be surprised at how open and honest they will be on what motivates them, and just how powerful their ideas can be to you as their leader.

March 15
THE DOER MAKES MISTAKES
You could say that the person who reaches his or her goals the fastest is the one who makes the most mistakes. Successful people know this best. They take action and if it doesn't work, they try something different. Remember, the doer makes mistakes, but also makes things happen.

March 16
IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO MAKE TIME
We all say it. "If I had more time I would like to..." The reason we haven't done it is because we haven't made it important enough to make time for it. Review each week what's important to you, and you will make time for what you have made important.

March 17
A SPECIFIC FOCUS WILL TAKE YOU FURTHER
Every successful person will tell you that his or her success began the instant they believed in themselves and focused all their energy on what they wanted. When you are specific on what you want, you will make the right choices on how you use your time to get it faster. A specific focus will take you further and faster.

March 18
CONSTANTLY TEST NEW IDEAS
One thing is really important if you are going to be successful in the long term. You have to constantly test new ideas and approaches. If you stay the same, everyone else will just go right by you. What new ideas or approaches have you either tested or adopted recently?

March 19
WATCH OUT FOR COLD CONFLICT
In life and in business, not everyone will get along with each other. To make business teams work together, it is often better to create a little warm conflict. When only cold conflict exists, people avoid talking about the issues and teamwork suffers. By creating a little warm conflict, you drive people to more openly discuss the issues and agreements/solutions are often reached. Encourage some warm conflict to create a better team.

March 20
COMMIT YOURSELF
Commitment is what really turns a dream into reality. Until you truly commit yourself to something, that something stays more like a dream. Commitment drives the need for a plan to get there and the discipline to execute what's on the plan. Commit yourself and your dream will become a reality.

March 21
A CLEARLY DEFINED OBJECTIVE
Most people fail to achieve what they want in life because they never spend the time to clearly define what they want. A clearly defined objective will drive more creativity and more action to make it happen. When things are not moving forward fast enough for you, take the time to put more clarity in what you want. Create that clearly defined objective.

March 22
RESPOND TO THE FEELINGS, THEN THE FACTS
Whenever you are engaged in a conversation filled with emotion, respond first to the feelings, then the facts. If you acknowledge the other person's feelings and make him or her more comfortable, they will be in a much better state to discuss (listen) to the facts.

March 23
ELIMINATE THE WORDS "I WANT TO STOP..."
We all have things we wish we would stop doing, but a good phrase to eliminate from both our thinking and talking would be "I want to stop..." The reason is that you have to think and focus on the very thing you want to stop in order to tell yourself you want to stop it. In a way, it is keeping you focused on what you really don't want to do. A much better way is to replace what you want to stop doing with something you want to do more of. Try it. It works!

March 24
REGARDLESS OF...YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN
When we have big goals, we will always have challenges that will get in our way. A good phrase to keep in our heads is that "regardless of..." any challenges that come our way, we will always find a way to succeed. People who say "because of" usually make excuses, versus the people who say "regardless of..." always make it happen.

March 25
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
The one thing that everyone wants to do is to live with integrity. That means that we need to be true to ourselves and really know who we are. Who we are is based upon the principles we chose to live by, and the habits and behaviours we show to others and ourselves. Be true to yourself.

March 26
ATTITUDE IS NOT DEPENDENT ON CIRCUMSTANCES
Many people set their attitude based on how others treat them during the day. They are letting outside circumstances decide how they want to live the day. Attitude is not an outside thing. We all need to determine our attitude before the day hits us, and why not decide to have a good one from the very beginning of the day.

March 27
WHEN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT PROBLEMS
Have you ever noticed that whatever you complain about only gets worse? Whenever we complain about problems, we then focus our minds on those very problems. This gives our sub-conscious mind something to focus on as well, and it helps point out more of the same problems to it. You get what you focus on. Remember, complaining about problems only helps to make them increase.

March 28
PERSISTENCE IS SELF-DISCIPLINE IN ACTION
A great way to look at persistence is that it is self-discipline in action. Persistence is the fuel that never burns out, and the visible actions you take show the world that self-discipline is inside you.

March 29
ACT ON NEW IDEAS QUICKLY
We all get new ideas every day. However, successful people make fast decisions on which ideas are worth pursuing and take action right way on those ideas. Get in the habit of taking action right away on your new ideas.

March 30
PAST YOUR LEVEL OF COMPETENCE
You hear this one often. They say he or she rose in the organisation past their level of competence. What happened? Those people stopped their own personal development and were no longer prepared to meet the increased challenges they encountered as they rose through the organisation. Keep your personal development going, and you will never rise past your level of competence.

March 31
HOW WELL IS YOUR FUTURE DEFINED?
Many people struggle to achieve what they want in life because they haven't defined it well enough. We all need to define our futures in such detail that it drives our daily actions and habits. If your desired future isn't driving your daily actions, you probably need to go back and define it in much more detail.