Daily Thought Archives: November 2009

November 1
THE RIGHT "SURROUND SOUND"
Who you listen to has a huge impact on what you think and the way you live your life. Successful people understand this, and actively seek out the best people to surround themselves with, while others just accept who happens to be there. Create the right "surround sound" for your life.

November 2
CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE?
Sometimes we struggle to understand a new concept presented by others. In these situations, the best question to ask is: Can you give an example? Examples always help us understand new concepts, as we begin to see right away how we could apply them. Remember to provide examples to others.

November 3
JUDGMENT ON WHEN TO GET INVOLVED
Leadership is about influence, and the best leaders understand how to apply it in the right way. These leaders invest time to reflect on their actions, and this creates their ability to judge when and when not to get involved (when influence is needed and when their people need to go on their own & grow).

November 4
REALLY WANT IT OR NOT?
We all have some things in life that we constantly think about and would really like to have. However, we don't seem to take action on it, or progress the action in the right pace. Maybe the best question to ask ourselves is: Do I really want this or not? It helps clarify if you have the "emotion" power to go get it or not.

November 5
DOWNTIME IS REALLY UPTIME
Everyone is so busy these days and think that they can't really take a break. However, it is often our breaks that help us keep perspective and to refocus on what we want versus what others what us to do. This downtime has the power to create "uptime" by boosting our attitude and focus our action.

November 6
PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT
There's no magic to becoming good at something, but everyone is always trying to find the shortcut. It is only after we practice what we learn, that we make it part of our habits & behaviours - making it permanent. If you learn something important, then it is also worth doing the practice to make it permanent.

November 7
"SPECIFIC" TIME
There's one big difference between successful and unsuccessful people. Unsuccessful people put off an action they need to do until just "later". Successful people determine right away the "specific" time they will do it, and then discipline themselves to keep their own promise.

November 8
HALFWAY IS NOWHERE
People often start initiatives, make some progress, and then something else comes along that grabs their time and attention. They have gone halfway, feel some progress, but halfway is really nowhere (nothing was achieved). Success always comes to those people who make the commitment upfront to go all the way.

November 9
LEADERS FACE CONSTANT CRITICISM
Leaders are the driver of change, and not everyone likes change. Therefore, leaders are always facing criticism, and must not let that criticism alter the direction they are driving. The best leaders listen to the criticism, stay true to the direction, and may alter the approach for a faster implementation of the change.

November 10
SIMPLE, BUT NOT ALWAYS EASY
When we think about it, all the behaviours for success are quite simple, but not always easy. The biggest problem most people face is trying to improve many behaviours all at once. These people are turning the simple into the impossible. The best approach is to focus on one key behaviour change at a time.

November 11
VALUE DRIVEN VERSUS EGO DRIVEN
People who achieve long lasting success have one thing in common. They are all value driven versus ego driven. Success to them is not about themselves, but about focusing on providing great value to others. Success is really measured by how much value you provide to others.

November 12
LEADERSHIP IS FRONT LOADED
Leaders are those people who think ahead and enable the conditions for their people to create the success. Managers, on the other hand, are trying to control their people and fix the problems as they occur. You could say that a leader's main activities are front loaded while the manager's are more back loaded.

November 13
GIVE YOUR DREAMS A DATE
Everyone dreams of something better for their life. However, not everyone puts a date on those dreams (the by when they want them to become true). You never get the right sense of urgency on taking action unless you put a date to something, and the most powerful "something" is a DREAM.

November 14
REMINDING YOURSELF WHAT YOU KNOW
Everyone has within themselves everything they need to know in order to become successful. Very often, knowing is not the problem. It is about reminding ourselves what we already know in order to drive ourselves to take action on it. The more we remind ourselves, the more action we will take!

November 15
AVOID SUGARCOATING BAD NEWS
You can always recognise weak leaders, because they are always the ones who are trying to sugarcoat bad news. The best leaders have found out that providing bad news in a direct way is being more fair to their people, and that sugarcoating the bad news is never doing their people a favour.

November 16
MOVING FROM "IF" TO "WHEN"
Achievement is a real high, while wanting something and stopping short of that achievement is just the opposite. Very often, our achievements are powered by our language, and just changing the IF to a WHEN can set the expectation in our minds that we "will" make it happen.

November 17
YOU MOVE TOWARDS WHAT YOU FOCUS ON
Life is what we make of it, and that is based on what we choose to focus on. Our focus is really determining our direction, and we move in the direction of what dominates our focus. What is dominating your focus?

November 18
DEDICATION TO THE FUNDAMENTALS
Look at all successful leaders and successful coaches of sports teams, and you will notice one thing they all have in common. They all have a dedication to the fundamentals, and focus on driving excellence in the fundamentals that drive theirs and their organisation's success.

November 19
STEP BACK TO STEP UP
Life is lived at a fast pace these days, and most people don't invest the time for reflection. The successful leaders know that they must step back and reflect in order to see the changes that can take them and their organisations to the next level. We need to step back in order to step up.

November 20
WHEN YES IS NOT ENOUGH
In negotiations with others, we are always wanting that yes to our demands. However, and especially in negotiating services, we not only want a yes, but also the other party being able to implement that yes. Getting a yes that can not be implemented is really a no.

November 21
THE VERY THING YOU ARE AVOIDING
Breakthroughs in our lives come from changes, and often those changes are driven by disciplining ourselves to do the very thing we have long been avoiding. What are you currently avoiding? It is the very thing that is preventing you from growing and achieving more.

November 22
DESIRE & BELIEF
Desire is like a "starter" that drives us towards what we want. However, desire is not enough. We also need the belief that we can make it happen. Therefore, desire starts the effort, and belief completes it.

November 23
ONLY WHEN IMPLEMENTED
Making decisions is key in both business and for our lives as well. Our decisions help us to define our direction and to move faster in that direction. However, the power of our decisions comes only after the decisions are implemented (after our action and the will to carry them through to completion).

November 24
MOVING FAST ON PEOPLE ISSUES
As a leader, you will always have some issues with certain people in your organisation. The best leaders understand that people issues only get worse if left along, and address them early. This is always a challenge, as you almost never heard a leader say that they moved too early on the people issues they encountered.

November 25
INFLUENCING YOUR OWN DESTINY
Successful people all share one key attribute in common. They all want to influence their own destiny, while unsuccessful people are always surrendering the direction of their lives to others. Remember, there is no better person than yourself to set the direction of your life.

November 26
GOT A MINUTE IS NEVER A MINUTE
If you are a leader, you hear this all the time - "got a minute". One thing for sure, "got a minute" is never a minute. However, leaders can always limit the time on these interruptions by always taking them standing up. It always encourages others to be more concise in their explanations.

November 27
RESULT OF HOW YOU THOUGHT
Your thoughts are like life's travel agent, as your thoughts are always taking your life in a certain direction and experiences. The direction and experiences you have today is a result of your past thoughts, and your current thoughts will determine where you go in the future. Where are your current thoughts pointing you?

November 28
THINK AHEAD, BUT RUN ALONGSIDE
In order to drive an organisation in a certain direction, the leader always has to think ahead of their people. However, while thinking ahead is important, it is also important to run alongside and help coach their people to keep the direction and pace. Sometimes, leaders run too far ahead and loose contact with their people.

November 29
WHEN YOUR REPUTATION IS ON THE LINE
Successful people always produce their best performance when their reputation is on the line. They know this, and will often make very visible their commitments to personally put their reputation on the line. This is key, as successful people put pressure on themselves first, before others have to.

November 30
CREATING CHALLENGES TO DRIVE CREATIVITY
We often don't get creative ideas from our people, because we don't give them challenges that require them to use their creativity. Sometimes, creativity needs a little starter, and always having some challenges (interesting problems) to solve helps your people always keep their creativity going.