Daily Thought Archives: June 2010

June 1
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR ADVANTAGES
Everyone has strengths & abilities, and can use those strengths in unique ways. That's really their advantages. To achieve more, it is about taking advantage of your advantages, and you do that by focusing the majority your actions on those advantages.

June 2
CHANGE INSIDE TO CHANGE THE OUTSIDE
Most people go through life looking for those around them to change, and then everything will be right. However, change doesn't work that way, and the world around us only changes when something inside us changes first. Therefore, the best approach is to expect change from ourselves before ever expecting change from others.

June 3
GROW YOUR PASSION TO FUEL YOUR GROWTH
Our personal growth is what drives our success, and what drives our personal development is both passion and discipline. Our discipline helps us follow through on our commitments. However, it is our passion that creates the fuel for starting the action in the first place. Grow your passion to fuel your growth.

June 4
THE POWER OF MENTAL REHEARSALS
As they say, practice makes perfect, and the people who are the best at anything are practicing all the time. Wherever they are, they have the ability to do their mental rehearsals. They make faster progress and keep that progress with the mental rehearsals they do throughout their day.

June 5
WORTH TAKING A RISK FOR
Risk taking is really "taking a hold of life". Many people don't take risks as they don't define an achievement worth taking a risk for. Take a look at any risk taker, and you will always see that they are aiming at greater achievements than others. In your own life, create achievements worth taking a risk for.

June 6
THE SAME UNDERSTANDING
In business, most problems come from people understanding situations in different ways. You can never get everyone perfectly aligned, but you can always focus on the three main things that people should understand in the same way. When you have common understanding on the major things, the minor things won't be a problem.

June 7
HAVING THE COURAGE TO SPEAK UP
Very often there are great ideas in the meeting room, but the people who have those ideas just don't share them. In fact, this slows down the growth in more companies than you think. Successful companies and their leaders focus on building their people's confidence & courage, and encourage them to speak up and share their ideas.

June 8
EVERYONE IS AN EXAMPLE FOR SOMEONE
We often look to role models, and use them as an example of how to behave & who we could become. If we look back in time, we would notice that we have made both good & bad choices of role models. Everyone is a role model (an example) for someone, so we should all strive to live our life and be the best example we can be.

June 9
EVERYONE OWNING THE DECISION
There's a big difference in companies who execute well and those who don't, and it involves who is owning the decisions. In successful companies, they execute well because the decisions are owned not just by the leader, but with everyone who is involved in implementing them. Do your people own the decisions in your company?

June 10
WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE?
Everyone has a unique talent or a group of abilities that forms a unique talent. When people realise what their unique talent is and focus on it, then their "magical" life begins to happen. That being true, one of the best investments of your time could be in getting clarity on what exactly your unique talent is.

June 11
LEADERSHIP IS EARNED EVERY DAY
The foundation of our life is really what we do each & every day, and not any specific events throughout the year. It is the same with the leadership of others. Our daily habits & behaviours is the foundation for our leadership success, and the trust we get from our people is earned (and re-earned) each & every day.

June 12
UNDERSTAND YOUR PRIORITIES
Every successful person has clarity on one thing that the unsuccessful person doesn't. The successful always understand their priorities, where the unsuccessful are always thinking that everything is a priority. Get clarity on your priorities, and you will achieve more than what you are currently achieving.

June 13
CULTURE IMPACTS MORE THAN YOU THINK
Successful leaders understand that their culture plays a huge role in turning their strategies into action. A successful culture is about enabling progress and the teamwork necessary to maintain that progress over time. Therefore, the right culture is key to delivering top performance year after year.

June 14
WHAT YOU BUSY YOUR MIND WITH
Our thoughts create our feelings and our actions. Therefore, the thoughts we dwell on all day long impact both how we feel and what we accomplish. It is really what you busy your mind with that determines your success in life and how happy you are. What are you "busying" your mind with now?

June 15
EASY TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH
The quality of our relationships drive the quality of our lives. As the pace of life increases, we think we have less time for our most important relationships. However, the possible ways of staying in touch are also increasing, so there's no real excuse not to stay in touch. Also, quality time is far more important than quantity time.

June 16
GET HELP TO SEE YOUR BLIND SPOTS
Some of the most important growth areas for our personal development are not very visible to us. They are those blind spots in our behaviours that we don't see, but others do. Ask a trusted friend on what they see as your key growth areas, and you will always uncover at least one area you couldn't see for yourself.

June 17
BUILD THE BRIDGE TO OTHERS
We all struggle with some key relationships from time to time, and often we look to others to take the first action. We expect them to build the bridge to us versus us building the bridge to them. We will always have more rewarding relationships when we choose to always build the bridge first.

June 18
HELPING OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES
Helping others has a plus and a minus. If we help others who don't believe in their own abilities, then we are just creating a continued need for help (they will always be relying on others). The best help we can ever give is helping others help themselves. That's the approach with a long-term impact.

June 19
SUCCESS STARTS WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
In every situation in life, it's the people that make the difference. Who we surround ourselves with each day is really our choice. Many successful people can point back to the time in their lives when they made the choice to invest more time with people who they could learn more from than those they could impress.

June 20
EVERY LEVEL UNDERSTANDING THE MESSAGES
Successful businesses have great alignment across the company on the key focus areas, and this creates the teamwork that enables their success. Leaders of these businesses have learned that the key enabler for this teamwork is that every level of the organisation understands the key messages in the same way.

June 21
QUESTIONING OUR ASSUMPTIONS
Many people want to make changes in their lives, but just can't seem to make it happen. For those people who made the changes, it often took questioning their assumptions to ultimately create the power for their change. Almost all fundamental change requires us to question our assumptions.

June 22
THE DECISIONS YOU ARE MAKING
A key part of a leader's job is to make decisions, but what decisions? Successful leaders empower their organisations to make as many decisions as they can on their own. That drives accountability and speed, with the leader then focusing on those critical few decisions that set the direction and overall pace.

June 23
WHAT WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR
Gratitude is a powerful feeling, and most people don't realise just how powerful it can be. Those who do, understand that what they are grateful for always multiplies in their lives. Since most people focus on what they don't have versus what they are grateful for, they miss this power. Don't you.

June 24
IT STARTS RIGHT THERE IN YOUR HEAD
People are always searching for the answers, and often looking for others to provide them. However, the seeds for all your accomplishments started in your head, and you started making them happen when you decided to take action. Your decisions (not other's) are what drives your life.

June 25
AN EXAMPLE IS THE BEST TEACHER
Take a look at the best teachers and you will see that they are always using examples for the students to grasp new ideas faster. It's the same for leaders, as they are always using stories & examples to illustrate their key points. An example is the best teacher.

June 26
THE INVISIBLE POWER
What makes a person successful is often invisible to others. It's their preparation time, the time when they confirm their focus (the important) and plan the key actions and meetings with others that will help them achieve that focus. What's invisible to others can power your success.

June 27
HAVING TRUE BELIEF
There are various levels of belief that people have in what they are doing. Answers to the question - Do you really believe it? - always uncovers everyone's level of belief. That's a good question to ask ourselves, for if our belief is not strong, then our actions will not be strong as well.

June 28
LOOKING BEYOND THE DIFFERENCES
Everyone we meet are different to us in some way, as no two people are ever exactly the same. Some people focus on the differences and struggle with their relationships with others. However, those with strong people skills are always looking beyond the differences and focus on what they have in common, which brings them closer together.

June 29
CHIP AWAY WHAT IS NOT YOU
Your focus (the important) is key as it drives how you use your time, which is really your life. Also, that focus should be on using your strengths and in those areas of your passion. When you do that, the real you is in action. When you begin chipping away from your life the unimportant, you bring more of the "real you" into your life.

June 30
CREATING A SHARED SENSE OF PURPOSE
In organisations, teamwork is what creates the success, and you can spot successful teams from others by the way they behave. Leaders of these teams invested in creating a shared sense of purpose (a common goal) that drives everyone to help each other in order to achieve that goal faster.